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AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

1920

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By the year of 1920, the African-American population had nearly doubled in the major cities of the North; Chicago, St. Louis, New York City, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Washington DC, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Boston were the major cities of black migration from the South. Those African-Americans who stayed in the South were mainly employed as farmers (as owners of farms, as tenant farmers, or as sharecroppers).

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The Ku Klux Klan became a driving racist force and operated in over twenty-seven states in America with memberships over 100,000. 1924 Ku Klux Klan rally in West Virginia

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Prohibition went into effect, and illegal bootlegging of spirits and speakeasies sprang up and grew until the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933.

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The 19th Amendment took effect on August 18, 1920, and women in America got the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

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The National Negro Baseball League was organized on February 20, 1920. Negro Baseball League

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Eva B. Dykes (Radcliff College), Sadi T. Mossell (University of Pennsylvania), and Georgiana R. Simpson (University of Chicago) became the first African-American women to earn Ph.D.'s.

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Zeta Phi Beta sorority was founded on the campus of Howard University.

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Marcus Garvey's work with the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was at the pinnacle of success. His movement drew 25,000 to hear his plans for business and race relations at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The impact of his influence lasted up until 1922. Marcus Garvey

1921

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Bessie Coleman (1893-1926) beat the odds. She became the first person to receive an international pilot's license as a graduate of the Federation Aeronautique International in France. She was also honored to be the first black woman pilot and stunt aviator. She was killed when her plane crashed in Florida in 1926. Proposed coin to honor Bessie Coleman

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By the end of 1920 and on to the end of 1929, something special came out of Harlem, New York. The music, art, theater, and literature of African-Americans came alive. 1921 saw the renewal of interest in the productive, creative talents of African-Americans. This historical stage was called the Harlem Renaissance.

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Broadway opened its doors in New York City to "Shuffle Along" with Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle who brought jazz and creative talent to an all black cast including Florence Mills and later Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson. Stamp honoring Eubie Blake

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Tulsa, Oklahoma saw one of America's worst race riots on May 31, 1921. Sixty blacks and twenty-five whites were killed in a series of senseless attacks on the black section of town. The Ku Klux Klan were labeled as the instigators. Rioters in Tulsa

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Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (1837-1921), the first African-American to have served as a U.S. State Governor in Louisiana from December 9, 1872 to January 13, 1873 died that year.

1922

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A major Anti-lynching Bill was introduced in Congress with Representative L.C. Dyer from Missouri as the sponsor in 1921. It passed the House in 1922 but was filibustered and defeated in the Senate on January 26, 1922. There would be later attempts as well, but no federal anti-lynching laws would ever make it all the way through. Lynching

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Sigma Gamma Rho sorority was founded on November 12, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated May 30, 1922. African-Americans did attend but were separated by race in a segregated section for the ceremony. Lincoln Memorial

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The first all-black professional baseball team was formed by Robert Douglas from Harlem, New York. They were called the New York Renaissance or by their coined name, The Rens.

1923

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The Opportunity Magazine: Journal of Negro Life began its publication under the editorship of Dr. Charles S. Johnson (1893-1956). This magazine provided a vital voice for the published works of African-American writers, especially during the Harlem Renaissance period.

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Time Magazine came off the stand with its first issue in March of 1923. 75th Anniversary issue of Time Magazine

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Macy's department store had its first Thanksgiving Day Parade in November, 1923. Thanksgiving Parade in 1929

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Bessie Smith (1894-1937) was a favorite among record listeners. Her "Down-Hearted Blues" on the Columbia label sold over one million copies. Bessie Smith

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The 1923 all-black show, Running Wild, introduced the dance, "The Charleston," which caught on with white audiences and became popular worldwide by the year 1926.

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African-American writer, Jean Toomer (1894-1967) published his masterpiece novel, Cane.

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Garrett Morgan (1894-1937) received his patent for the traffic light on November 20, 1923. He later sold the patented invention to General Electric for $40,000. First traffic light in New York

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The violent activities of the Ku Klux Klan escalated with strong influences in Tulsa, OK, Pine Bluff, AK, and Dallas and Fort Worth, TX. The visible cross burnings, terrorist activities, beatings, murders, and vigilante lynchings increased by the hundreds. KKK in Louisiana, 1962

1924

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The Ku Klux Klan announced its membership at 4.5 million members in the United States in 1924. KKK in Georgia, 1948

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Opera star, Roland Hayes (1887-1977), became the first African-American to perform in recital at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

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Florence Mills (1895-1927) opened in her show, Dixie to Broadway, at the Broadhurst Theater in New York City.

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Noble Sissle (1889-1975) and James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (1883-1983) staged their musical, Chocolate Dandies, with Josephine Baker (1906-1975), September 24, 1924. Stamp honoring Eubie Blake

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William DeHart Hubbard (1903-1976) became the first African-American to win an individual gold medal in the Olympics, in the broad jump, held in Paris, France. He was on the track and field team at the University of Michigan. Sign at the Olympic Village in Paris, 1924

1925

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The Ku Klux Klan marched in their robes and hoods, without their masks, down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. An estimated 40,000 Ku Klux Klan marchers were on parade.

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Dr. Alain LeRoy Locke published his anthology of essays about the black experience and the expressions coming out of the Harlem Renaissance entitled The New Negro.

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A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979) organized the Pullman workers into an organized union called the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Most of these porters were men of African-American descent. A. Philip Randolph

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Paul Robeson made his first film in Oscar Micheaux's Body and Soul on November 9, 1925. Paul Robeson

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Josephine Baker (1906-1975) dazzled the Paris, France audiences with her dance routine in La Revue Negre, an American jazz production which was new to Paris in 1925. Josephine Baker

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F. Scott Fitzgerald published his The Great Gatsby which took place around the Gold Coast of Long Island. Robert Redford and Mia Farrow in The Great Gatsby

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1925 statistics reported that women were among those lynched in America. The numbers given were ninety women were lynched between 1889-1925.

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The National Bar Association, made up of mostly African-American attorneys, was established on August 1, 1925 in Des Moines, Iowa.

1926

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Dr. Charles R. Drew (1904-1950), who later established a system for storing blood plasma known as the "blood bank," graduated from Amherst Medical School in June 1926. Charles Drew

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Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), scholar and educator, as part of his untiring research with the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, formerly established Negro History Week, which later, in 1976, changed to Black History Month.

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Pilot Bessie Coleman (1893-1926), the first African-American to gain a pilot license, died when her plane crashed on April 30, 1926. Proposed coin to honor Bessie Coleman

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The first televisions appeared for the possible home market in 1926.

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Remember the Savoy Ballroom it opened on March 12, 1926. It was the place for top performers and dance groups during the 1920's. Savoy Ballroom in 1958

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The African-American architect, Paul Revere Williams (1894-1980), became the first member of his race to be accepted as a fellow in the American Institute of Architects. He became known as the "architect to the stars" because of the numerous homes he designed for celebrities.

1927

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The Harlem Globetrotters were formed as an entertaining basketball attraction. Marques Haynes of the Harlem Globtrotters in 1951

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Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1975) made his debut at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York on December 4, 1927. Duke Ellington in 1933

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Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) became the first African-American artist elected to the National Academy of Design. Sand Dunes At Sunset by Henry Ossawa Tanner

1928

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Lewis Latimer (1848-1928), inventor of the first incandescent electric light bulb with a carbon filament, died December 11, 1928 in Flushing, New York.

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The Atlanta Daily World newspaper was first printed in November 1928. It began publishing as a daily newspaper in 1932.

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Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was in the limelight as the star of ShowBoat. His "Ol' Man River" became part of his famed show tunes. Paul Robeson in 1950

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Oscar DePriest took office in Congress in 1928.

1929

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New York's Jones Beach opened August 4, 1929. Jones Beach

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. Dr. and Mrs. King in 1956

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Hot Chocolates, the Broadway musical which featured the great Fat Waller, opened in New York City at the Hudson Theatre.

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The United States stock market collapsed on "Black" Tuesday, October 29, 1929. This was the start of the Great Economic Depression. Worried people across the street from the Stock Exchange on October 24, 1929


African-Americans in the Twentieth Century
1900s
 1910s
 1920s
 1930s
 1940s
1950s
 1960s
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