American History - Part 166 - Coolidge - Being Black in the 1920s

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• published: 05 Aug 2013
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The years just before and after 1920 were difficult for blacks. It was a time of racial hatred. Many whites joined the Ku Klux Klan organization. The Klan often terrorized blacks. Klan members sometimes burned fiery crosses in front of the houses of black families. And they sometimes beat and murdered blacks. The Ku Klux Klan also acted against Roman Catholics, Jews, and foreigners. But it hated blacks most of all. The United States also suffered a series of race riots in a number of cities during this period. White and black Americans fought each other in Omaha, Philadelphia, and other cities. The worst riot was in Chicago. A swimming incident started the violence. A black boy sailing a small boat entered a part of the beach used by white swimmers. Some white persons threw stones at the boy. He fell into the water and drowned. Black citizens heard about the incident and became extremely angry. Soon, black and white mobs were fighting each other in the streets. The violence lasted for 2 weeks. Thirty-eight persons died. More than five-hundred were wounded. The homes of 100s of families were burned. The violence in Chicago and other cities did not stop black Americans from moving north or west. They felt that life had to be better than in the South. Black Americans left the South because life was hard, economic chances few, and white hatred common. But many blacks arrived in other parts of the country only to learn that life was no easier. Some blacks wrote later that they had only traded the open racism of the rural Southeast for the more secret racism of Northern cities. Blacks responded to these conditions in different ways. Some blacks followed the ideas of Booker T. Washington, the popular black leader of the early 1900s. Washington believed that blacks had to educate and prepare themselves to survive in American society. He helped form a number of training schools where blacks could learn skills for better jobs. And he urged blacks to establish businesses and improve themselves without causing trouble with whites. Other blacks liked the stronger ideas of William Du Bois. Du Bois felt that blacks had to take firm actions to protest murders and other illegal actions. He published a magazine and spoke actively for new laws and policies to protect black rights. Du Bois also helped form a group that later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP became 1 of the nation's leading black rights organizations in the 20th century. Probably the most important leader for black Americans in the 1920s did not come from the United States. He was Marcus Garvey from the Caribbean island of Jamaica. Garvey moved to New York City in 1916. He quickly began organizing groups in black areas. His message was simple. He said blacks should not trust whites. Instead, they should be proud of being black and should help each other. Garvey urged blacks to leave the United States, move to Africa, and start their own nation. Marcus Garvey organized several plans to help blacks become economically independent of whites. His biggest effort was a shipping company to trade goods among black people all over the world. Many American blacks gave small amounts of money each week to help Garvey start the shipping company. However, the idea failed. Government officials arrested Garvey for collecting the money unlawfully. They sent him to prison in 1925. And 2 years later, President Coolidge ordered Garvey out of the country. Blacks also showed their feelings through writing, art and music. The 1920s were one of the most imaginative periods in the history of American black art. Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen were 3 of the leading black poets during this time Among the leading black novelists were Jessie Faucet, Jean Toomer, and Rudolph Fisher. The 1920s also were an exciting time for black music. Black musicians playing the piano developed the ragtime style of music. Singers and musicians produced a sad, emotional style of playing that became known as the blues. And most important, music lovers began to play and enjoy a new style that was becoming known as jazz. Jazz advanced greatly as a true American kind of music in the 1920s. Musicians Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Eubie Blake played in gathering places and small theaters. White musicians and music experts from universities came to listen. Soon the music became popular among Americans of all kinds and around the world. Blacks began to recognize in the 1920s their own deep roots in the United States. They began to see just how much black men and women already had done to help form American history and traditions. By 1932, blacks would vote by a large majority for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Franklin Roosevelt. And blacks continue to be a major force in the Democratic Party.