Hughes ' life and work were an important part of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s , alongside those Zora Neale Hurston , Wallace Thurman , Countee Cullen , Richard Bruce Nugent , and Aaron Douglas , who together started a magazine Fire ! ! Hughes ' life and work were enormously influential during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s , alongside those of his contemporaries , Zora Neale Hurston , Wallace Thurman , Claude McKay , Countee Cullen , Richard Bruce Nugent , and Aaron Douglas .