Civic Club Dinner Formally Launches the Harlem Renaissance

On March 21, 1924, Opportunity magazine hosted a dinner at the Civic Club in New York City to celebrate Jessie Fauset's novel 'There is Confusion'—the first novel by a Black woman published by a major press. The event brought together the Black literary world with white publishers and critics, and is widely considered the formal launch of the Harlem Renaissance as a recognized movement. Walter White's 'Fire in the Flint' had also just been accepted for publication.