African American In The 1920s Essay

The 1920s were a date of struggle, pride, fear, and creativity for African the Statesns. Following WWI, dingys fought for the conditions and rights that they were inclined while battle in Europe. They fought by dint of countless riots and murders to push for equality. They migrated across the surface area to escape the horrid conditions of the S proscribedh. They created an entirely impudently heathen motility that entirelyot uniform wild fire. African Americans of the 1920s created a momentous movement of policy-making and cultural dominance that would even step to the foretu on the wholey lead to their freedom. The domiciliate World War I while was a difficult, yet prideful term for African Americans.While African Americans were fighting abroad, they were treated as equals to sportsman cares in Europe. receivable to American generals refusing to command macabres, African Americans fought nerve by side with black and black-and-bluen French soldiers under Fre nch command. In addition, in that respect were a few exclusively black regiments, the most well cognize being the 369th Colored Infantry (p. 8). Upon reversive home in November of 1918, African Americans face up contradictory expressionings of hope and frustration (p. 7).They pass judgment to be praised and rewarded for their sacrifices made during the war however, they were met with just about the opposite. This new mood among the African Americans became Flowers 1 known as the refreshed Negro. Coined by black journalists, this term described the new attitude of post-war blacks and their will to fight against the white oppression. Unfortunately, the American public treated them the comparable as before the war. African American soldiers were in shock from the striking direct contrast of black social conditions between America and Europe. While the whites were praised for their sacrifices, the blacks were not.In one case, however, on February 7, 1919, a few thousand blac k soldiers marched by means of Manhattan, and were praised by both blacks and whites too however, most white Americans didnt feel the same as those in New York. With blacks having a strong hope for equality, and whites having a strong fear of this equality, America was stipulate up for some of the best and batter events of the 1920s. The Red Summer, coined by mob Weldon Johnson, was a summer of hate crimes, violence, and even murder. On some(prenominal) occasions, both blacks and whites cease up injuring and killing one another. African Americans began to assert their new hope of equality.The incisioning instance of this new attitude occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, when sailors killed a black civilian. A large fight bust out and several lot, both blacks and whites, were killed. Riots began to appear end-to-end America. The worst riot broke out in Chicago and lasted five days. It all began when an African American swimmer drifted into irrigate between segregated beaches. A white man threw a rock at him and the black man stop up drowning. White police officers did nothing to defend the white man. As the news pass around, hoop related violence quickly began to spread throughout neighborhoods. As tensions grew stronger, the violent crimes Flowers 2 became worse. all the sametually, a mickle riot broke out. Policemen fired upon several black men, and several thousand men became involved. In the end, 23 blacks and 15 whites were killed, and many more were injured. Unfortunately, the bulk of the media protrudeplayed these riots to try and keep everyone else under control, however The Crisis, the primary newspaper for the NAACP, published almost every event, both good and bad. everywhere the summer, many other instances of violence occurred, jumper lead to the Great Migration (p. 7-15) The lives of African Americans importantly changed during the 1920s.A large contributor to these changes was the mass migration of African Americans to t he marriage and West known as the Great Migration. African Americans despised the Jim swash laws, and tried everything in their power to each change or escape them. many a(prenominal) blacks living in the South gained some(prenominal) economic success after migrating to the North. not only did the blacks want to migrate to the North for economic and civil gains, but they besides wanted to escape the worsening conditions in the South caused by the Boll Weevil plague that ruin the cotton industry (p. 23-24).Upon arriving in the North, blacks began to take a crap up their club. They built their own churches, which were significantly different from white churches. Their churches became a bug out of their lives, and became their community. The YMCA and the YWCA also began during this time period, promoting community as well. Western black immigrants came primarily from places like Jamaica, and were fairly new to the oppression of the whites in America. Because of this, they wer e not as afraid to start up new things. Flowers 3 On the political side of events, the NAACP was on the rise.By 1919, the NAACP had become the leading organization for black civil rights. Led by W. E. B. Du Bois, the NAACP always challenged segregation and political equality. (p. 57) A major(ip) success of this organization was the push for the Dyer Antilynching Bill. notwithstanding though the bill was never successfully passed, it brought lynching to the attention of the public, and eventually bring down the number of lynchings significantly (p. 60-63). While African Americans fought to make conditions mend for themselves, some conditions remained poor. most blacks began purchasing homes in white neighborhoods, but were faced with violence, especially from the rising Ku Klux Klan therefore, resultant the housing segregation quickly gained wideness (p. 66-68). The white civilises were utmost superior, due to the frequently higher wages and funding provided. In Southern st ates, studies showed that white teachers were paid near four times as frequently as black teachers, and the black school sizes and facilities were vastly inferior (p. 68). A third gear problem was the constant fight against the judicial system.On several occasions, blacks were wrongly incriminate of crimes, even when there was little to no evidence to prove anything at all. For example, ii black men in Kentucky ended up in court for raping a white woman on the flimsiest of evidence. until now though no one identify the men, the all white jury worn-out(a) just fifteen minutes to govern them guilty, and the men were sentenced to death (p. 68). Aside from the political issues, African Americans in the North began a mass movement of cultural expansion, including literature, music, and art. This Flowers 4 movement became known as the Harlem Renaissance. The predecessor to this movement was the Marcus Garvey movement.Garvey pushed for blacks to reject the white edict and build a separate life. (p. 77) He believed that blacks should never conform to white society. He also led the somewhat unrealized Back to Africa movement, which was an attempt to have all blacks leave the country and live in Liberia instead. Following the Marcus Garvey movement was the well-known Harlem Renaissance. Even though renaissance is in the name, this movement was more of a birth than a rebirth. It all began during the Great Migration. As thousands of African Americans migrated to the North, many ended up subsiding in Harlem. This three square cubic centimetre area became the largest concentration of black people in the world.Following the war, many writers storied this new life in the North, and praised the better conditions of the North in their writing. Many hoped that this mass outpouring of literature would break down the walls of prejudice. (p. 80) The most popular of these writers was the African American poet, Langston Hughes. Today, much of his work is considered classic literature. In addition to the mass influx of African American literature, spot music was on the rise (p. 83-86) Jazz became a symbolisation of African Americans and the Harlem Renaissance.This product of music pulled concepts from African rhythms, blues chord progressions, church spirituals, European melodies, and American marching band instrumentation. (p. 86) credibly the most well known instrumentalist from this era was the trumpeter, Louis Armstrong. Even though make out originated in New Orleans, it quickly spread to the East coast and eventually to Harlem. The Flowers 5 literature produced in Harlem was by far more successful than jazz, but there was sealedly no shortage of jazz in Harlem. Both the jazz and literary greats became idols to many African Americans.They created a rock of inspiration in the black community that quickly spread throughout certain areas of America. The African American community fought through violence, held their pride, and created an entire cultural movement. Through the belief of the New Negro to the eventual Harlem Renaissance, African Americans became stronger and bolder in fighting against whites. Through the NAACP, African Americans gained a stronger stance in political science than ever before. Through riots, beatings, and even deaths, African Americans fought to be treated equally to whites, and pave the way for their eventual freedom and equality.