The first exhibition to recognize the Harlem Renaissance as the first African American-led movement of international modern art, "The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art emphasizes the critical role the movement took in shaping modern Black identity and its far-reaching influence on transatlantic modernism.

From it’s beginnings in London at the turn of the 20th century, through the first World War and the start of the New Negro Movement, Pan-Africanism became the primary descriptor under which a host of movements, philosophies and organizations were grouped and understood. By the second decade of the century, New York stood out as a beacon of Black life and a center for the emerging themes of Black culture.