 It published increasing amounts of poetry, stories, and other work of Harlem intellectuals as the area became the center for black culture.Although lacking a literary editor, "The Messenger" was influential in the Harlem Renaissance; it published a range of new writers before they had reached literary reputations.Theophilus Lewis, the magazine's drama critic from September 1923 till May 1926, supported the African-American little theatre movement, and helped develop a black aesthetic in the theater.