Clifton’s work was originally discovered by Langston Hughes who was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes included some of Clifton’s earliest works in his anthology The Poetry of the Negro. The Harlem Renaissance was not necessarily a cohesive movement with unifying themes. It was, rather, a time in history in which many African American writers and artists rose to prominence. These included writers and artists such as Hubert Harrison, Anne Spencer, Fenton Johnson. and Zora Neale Hurston.

The Harlem Renaissance gave rise to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s, which was founded by Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones) and was closely associated with the Black Power Movement. It was distinguished from the Harlem Renaissance by a deliberate separation from mainstream Western culture, focusing instead on African American culture and creating art directed explicitly toward communicating with African Americans. Reciting poetry was a way to rally crowds, and spread a message in a way that was concise, powerful, and memorable. Poets of this movement include Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez, Robert Hayden, Nikki Giovani, Larry Neal, Mari Evans, June Jordan, and others. The focus of the Black Arts Movement was to reclaim pride in African culture and African aesthetic, bringing up their rallying cry “Black is beautiful.