Final answer:
The Harlem Renaissance introduced a literary form that celebrated African American culture with a sense of racial pride, spearheaded by authors such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Their works embraced black vernacular and explored themes distinct from European influences, marking a departure from previous writing styles.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Harlem Renaissance and Literary Forms
A new literary form introduced during the Harlem Renaissance was a body of work that focused on African American life, culture, and experience with an unprecedented sense of black pride and cultural identity. This movement included a significant embrace of the black voice and vernacular, as well as a pan-African perspective. Figures like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Claude McKay brought perspectives into American literature that were both uniquely African American and universally human, challenging the prior norms that mirrored European styles. These authors wrote works that celebrated black dialogue and explored themes such as racial pride, urban community, and the black middle class, which set them apart from the European-influenced works of the past. Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, although published later in 1937, is a prime example of the dynamic and innovative storytelling that characterized this literary form.