At the beginning of the 20th century, driven by brutal poverty and racist conditions in the American South, and enticed by opportunity in the north, some six million African Americans migrated from rural Florida, Alabama, Georgia and other southern states to cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City. This huge movement of people totally transformed American history; among many other cultural gifts, the migration resulted in the Harlem Renaissance, where writers like Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, visual artists like Aaron Douglas and Augusta Savage, thinkers like Alain Locke, helped define twentieth century thought and culture. And maybe most notable of all, musicians like Ma Rainey, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith and many, many more created the music known as jazz. Against this backdrop, one of the very greatest American writers paints her vibrant, poetic tale of love and murder set in 1920s Harlem, taking both its rhythms and its title from the music it fostered.

Sometimes, disturbance and upheaval create fertile ground for creativity. Do you know of any other times in history when this has happened? Have you ever found this to be true at a personal level?