The Harlem Renaissance was a big leap forward for African Americans in American society. The movement allowed them to express their frustration with America through art, music, and dance. W.E.B Du Bois, an African American sociologist believed that equality could be achieved through the arts. Du Bois urged African Americans to get educated as he believed that only through education could the negro become socially and politically active. Racial discrimination in the twentieth prohibited the negro from economic advancements. African American jazz musicians like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong through their sophisticated style and their advancements in the music industry helped change the expectations for the entire race. These musicians help defined the New Negro who was set out to reject second-class citizenship and would educate himself and others in order to facilitate just race relations