The flowerings of the Negro Renaissance in Harlem (1917–1935) and Chicago (1935–1950) were initiated by Pan Africanism, which speculates that black people share an origin and a heritage, that the welfare of black people is inevitably linked, and that the cultural products of blacks should convey their particular fundamental beliefs. The “extended forms” that Renaissance leaders wanted to see were produced by Duke Ellington. However, the New Negroes may not have perceived these events as significant to their goals, since Ellington's works did not meet their social requirements: Renaissance...

The flowerings of the Negro Renaissance in Harlem (1917–1935) and Chicago (1935–1950) were initiated by Pan Africanism, which speculates that black people share an origin and a heritage, that the welfare of black people is inevitably linked, and that the cultural products of blacks should convey their particular fundamental beliefs. The “extended forms” that Renaissance leaders wanted to see were produced by Duke Ellington. However, the New Negroes may not have perceived these events as significant to their goals, since Ellington's works did not meet their social requirements: Renaissance leaders' use of the term “symphonic” (meaning “orchestra”) was stimulated by the politics of “racial elevation,” and of the noble aspirations of Alain Locke and other intellectuals.