African American History: Garvey, Randolph, and the Harlem Renaissance

Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

• Black Star Line (1919): Garvey initiated a fleet of four, poorly maintained ships with the goal of transporting African Americans back to Africa. The efficacy and safety of this plan were points of debate.
• Voice of the Working Class: Garvey became a prominent voice for working-class African Americans, addressing their needs and concerns, a demographic that felt unrepresented by intellectual elites like W.E.B. Du Bois.
• Advocacy for Black Superiority: Garvey preached that "Black is beautiful" and that African Americans should view themselves as superior, similar to how white people perceived themselves, challenging societal conditioning that encouraged inferiority.
  • Meeting with KKK (1922): In a controversial move, Garvey met with leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, explaining his rationale as seeking common ground based on a shared belief in racial superiority, albeit for different races.
  • Quote: "I don't understand why we walk around not acting like we're not superior. Where did we get that from?" He believed this mindset of inferiority was a result of conditioning, not genetics.
• UNIA Initiatives: Within their communities, the UNIA established self-sustaining institutions:
  • Grocery stores, laundries, and restaurants.
  • Black Dolls: They were the first organization to create and distribute black dolls for black children, addressing a significant lack of representation (e.g., the speaker's personal anecdote of moving from Detroit to Iowa and being unable to find a black doll).
  • Schools for education.
• Core Beliefs: Garvey's movement centered on several points, including:
  • God made all people equal, and therefore, all should view themselves as superior without exception.
  • The movement to transport people to Africa largely failed, resulting in deaths by $1940$. He maintained that "our values of the quality should be based on the fact that we are all superior."
  • Call for Intelligence: "Never forget that intelligence rules the world and ignorance carries the burden. Therefore, remove yourself as far as possible from ignorance and seek as far as possible to be intelligent."

W.E.B. Du Bois vs. Marcus Garvey: A Philosophical Divide

• W.E.B. Du Bois: Represented highly educated, often upper-class, African Americans. He possessed a PhD and was seen as speaking to an elite group, advocating for civil rights and intellectual advancement.
• Marcus Garvey: Resonated with working-class African Americans who felt neglected by the elite. He appealed to their desire for better wages and immediate self-improvement, rather than focusing on higher education or integration with a dominant society.
• Tensions and Accusations: Their ideologies led to significant friction:
  • Du Bois reportedly felt Garvey was "aiming too low" or was a "sellout."
  • Garvey believed Du Bois had an "easy life" and was "shusty" (likely meaning snobbish or arrogant), accusing him of being out of touch with the struggles of ordinary black people.

A. Philip Randolph: Labor Activist and Union Organizer

• Role in Labor Movement: Randolph became a leading figure in advocating for labor rights for African Americans, especially as millions moved North, facing issues like being "last hired, first fired" in major cities.
• Vision: Advocated for an interracial class society with fair pay for all.
• Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters:
  • Context: Trains were the largest employer of Black men outside the South at this time (the Pullman Company, operating passenger railroad cars, was a major employer). These men, known as "porters," were often universally called "Joe" or "George," dehumanizing them.
  • Unionization Efforts (August 1925): Randolph played a crucial role in organizing these men, and importantly, also included the "maids" (women) working on the trains, leading to the creation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
  • Goals: The union aimed to achieve:
    1. Better working conditions.
    2. Higher pay/wages.
    3. A signed agreement to formalize these improvements.
  • Outcome: Between $1926$ and $1929$, their efforts led to a partial wage agreement, a significant win for black labor unionization.

The Harlem Renaissance (c. $1920$ - $1935$)

• Definition: Primarily a literary movement, but also an explosion of art, music, and culture. It was led by well-educated African Americans, fostering a new sense of pride in the Black experience.
• Epicenter: Harlem, New York City, though intellectual and artistic movements also flourished in Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.
• Factors Enabling the Renaissance:
  • Emergence of a Black middle class with disposable income for arts and entertainment.
  • Increased opportunities for Black writers to be published and for artists to display their work.
  • Development of Black-owned radio stations, movie companies, and theaters.
• Art Forms: Encompassed literature, music (especially Jazz), art, history, theater, and poetry.
• Key Figures and Works:
  • Claude McKay: A profound poet, novelist, and essayist, considered the first significant writer of the Harlem Renaissance.
    • "If We Must Die" (1919): Written during the Red Summer, this powerful poem urged Black people to fight back against oppression rather than die passively, a message still resonant today.
  • James Weldon Johnson: Prominent Black poet, co-wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing" with his brother.
  • Zora Neale Hurston: Known for her vivid imagery and writing in southern Floridian vernacular, often depicting the lives of the poor and unschooled. She established a school of dramatic arts at Cleveland Cumberland College in $1934$.
  • Jazz as a Unifier: Nightclubs emerged as one of the few places in segregated America where racial integration occurred.
    • Louis Armstrong: A legendary figure in Jazz music.
    • Josephine Baker: A highly famous African American stage dancer who achieved immense success and millionaire status in Europe due to lack of segregation. She later returned to the U.S. to participate in the Civil Rights Movement, being the sole female speaker at the March on Washington in $1968$.
• Race Films: (Between $1910$ and $1950$)
  • Over $30$ mostly Black-owned movie companies produced more than $500$ black-themed movies.
  • These films were shown in over $300$ Black-owned movie houses, a necessity due to segregation.
  • First Black Film Company: Established in Chicago, Illinois, by William Foster in $1910$.

Black History Month

• Founder: Carter G. Woodson is considered the "father of Black History Month." (It began as Black History Week).
• Significance of the Month: Woodson purposefully chose February because it coincided with the birthdays of many prominent civil rights activists, not because it was the shortest month of the year.