The Advancement of African American Thought

By: Priya Chilana and Veronika Jachimek

The Great Migration

Before After 3 of every four African

Americans lived on farms

9 of ten lived in the south

1.5 million southern blacks moved to cities

Began to work in factories No longer relied on tenant

farming, sharecropping, and peonage

Black population in Chicago grew 148%, in Cleveland grew 307% and in Detroit grew 611%

The Urban League traces its roots to three organizations the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial

Conditions Among Negroes in New York (founded in 1906),

the National League for the Protection of Colored Women (founded 1906)

the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes (founded 1910)—

Focused on finding jobs for the urban African Americans

League was composed of social workers, white philanthropists, and black leaders

National Urban League

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Founded in 1909 in New York City by a group of black and white citizens committed to social justice

enactment and enforcement of federal, state and local laws securing civil rights, and by informing the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination

They won in court in favor of going against the grandfather clause (1915) and the restrictive covenants (1917)

Fought for equal rights in schools and elimination of segregation in Northern cities

Marcus Garvey Garvey attended school in Jamaica until he was 14 he founded (Aug. 1, 1914) the Universal Negro

Improvement and Conservation Association and African Communities League, usually called the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

Failing to attract a following in Jamaica, Garvey went to the United States (1916) and soon established branches of the UNIA in Harlem

He reached the height of his power in 1920, when he presided at an international convention in Liberty Hall, with delegates present from 25 countries

In 1920 with the help of the UNIA he held a 31 day march in Madison Square Garden in New York promoting the Back to Africa program. This was designed to enlighten the Black Americans to return to the homeland of Africa

The paper says, “There is more to Africa then famine, disaster, and war

Harlem RenaissanceA blossoming of African American

art and literatureGave African Americans a sense

of pride for their own workNew opportunities for stage

performancesMore interest in black history and

African American Folk Culture

Writers and Poets during the Harlem Renaissance

James Johnson- “Lift every voice and sing” … became anthem of NAACP

Claude McKay- “If we must die”Langston Hughes- The Weary BluesWriters usually had similar themes:

Black identityCommon heritageExploring the new worldResistance in the face of white prejudiceHope

Langston Hughes

Conflicts during the Harlem RenaissanceSome black artists felt that

others were using the way of the whites in order for their works to be respected

Some artists designed their work to show what their roots looked like while others wanted to show a new African American culture and cut off all past labels that were placed on them

Why was the time period called the roaring 20’s?African Americans were given

more freedom in some wayThey were able to express their

feelings more through art and music

They moved from the south to the north to leave behind their past of slavery and violence

References http://www.cartoonstock.com/new

scartoons/directory/n/naacp.asp http://

www.huarchivesnet.howard.edu/0002huarnet/cartoon1.htm

http://drs.tcsnc.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_3232805/File/Harlem%20Renaissance%20Notes.pdf

http://www.slideshare.net/juliahornaday/1920s-lecture-5-harlem-renaissance