Langston Hughes is one of the most prominent names associated with the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural and literary movement centered in the majority-Black neighborhood of Harlem, New York. Although Hughes does not specify where exactly "Thank You, Ma'am" is set, the background of poverty against which Roger and Mrs. Jones live suggests the story takes place in Harlem in the 1950s.
Located north of Central Park in Manhattan, Harlem became a predominantly Black neighborhood in the 1920s with the Afro-American Realty Company encouraging African-American families from other parts of New York City where living conditions were worsening to move to Harlem. The rising Black population was followed by the establishment of Black-owned businesses, a Black entertainment district, and Black-run churches. Over 100,000 white people left the neighborhood in that decade, while nearly 90,000 Black people moved in.
The Black population continued to grow in the 1930s because of migration from the West Indies and the U.S. South. Tensions between white and Black residents led to discriminatory housing policies that involved white landlords refusing to rent to Black families, and Black landlords doing the same by evicting white tenants. Low employment during the Great Depression led to riots in 1935 and 1943. Meanwhile, Black southerners continued to settle in New York, and particularly Harlem. In the early 1940s, out of 485,000 Black New Yorkers, 300,000 lived in Harlem.
The influx of new residents contributed to housing shortages, rising rents, and extreme crowding. In 1950, a census survey found that half of the housing in Harlem was unsound and unsanitary, despite relatively high rent prices. Harlem also had a much higher population density than the rest of New York City, with people crammed into apartments. Landlords would divide up large buildings into several single-room "kitchenette" apartments—such as the one Mrs. Jones rents in "Thank You Ma'am"—that would house several strangers who shared bathrooms. The exploitative conditions precipitated rent strikes and pressure groups who advocated for high-quality housing alongside educational and employment opportunities for Black New Yorkers.
In 1957, the Fair Housing Practices Law made New York the first U.S. city to pass legislation to counter racial and religious discrimination in the housing market. However, the living conditions in Harlem continued to decline into the 1970s and 1980s, with many residents leaving the neighborhood if they could afford to and economic turnaround only starting in the 1990s.
