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Week 11: Renaissance in a Time of War — Transcript

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0:02Hello and welcome back. Last week we
0:06looked at the ongoing conflicts of the
0:09Jim Crow era as well as the growing
0:12movements against those same societal
0:14sins such as lynching as well as
0:18opposition movements led by Booker T.
0:20Washington, Web Duboce and Ida B. Wells.
0:25At the end of our lecture, we also saw
0:26the development of those two different
0:28groups who believed in very different
0:30ways of approaching the violence of the
0:33age. Accommodation led by Booker T.
0:35Washington and pan-Africanism led by
0:39Duboce. And as these debates emerged, so
0:43too did a new world uh emerge with the
0:46Great War or World War I in 1914, which
0:51is going to be the subject of today's
0:54class. It's this world, this changing
0:56world uh during and after wartime.
1:01But first, I want to point our attention
1:03to this week's case study. Lieutenant
1:06James Ree Europe was born in Alabama in
1:091881 and at a young age he was exposed
1:12to formal music training and by the
1:15early 1900s he lived in New York City
1:18and was a prominent figure in the black
1:20music scene. In 1910, for instance, he
1:24had founded the KFT Club, an all black
1:27musicians union and orchestra in New
1:29York, which provided performance
1:32opportunities
1:33um and uh community spaces for black
1:36artists.
1:40When the United States entered World War
1:42I in 1917, which we'll talk more about
1:45momentarily, but looking ahead,
1:49James Ree Europe saw an opportunity for
1:52black musicians to serve their country
1:55while elevating African-American music
1:58on a global stage. So to do this, he
2:01enlisted in the 15th New York National
2:03Guard Regiment, which would later become
2:06the 369th Infantry Regiment. more
2:10famously known as the Harlem Hell
2:12Fighters.
2:14And Lieutenant Europe was uh
2:15commissioned uh and tasked with forming
2:18a military band to boost soldiers
2:21morale.
2:23He recruited top black musicians, many
2:25of whom were from Puerto Rico, uh and
2:28created a multicultural military
2:30ensemble.
2:32The band combined elements of ragtime uh
2:36blues music and early jazz, bringing a
2:40new and distinctly AfricanAmerican sound
2:43to military music which had been
2:46dominated by European forms of music uh
2:50like marches um since the earliest uh
2:53days of the military in the United
2:55States.
2:58The Harlem Hell Fighters Band became a
3:00sensation, especially in France, where
3:03they played for both American and French
3:06troops. Their music introduced French
3:08audiences to jazz for the first time,
3:12influencing European musical trends.
3:16And one of their most famous
3:17performances was actually in Paris in
3:20the capital in 1918
3:22where they played songs like Memphis
3:25Blues and the St. Louis Blues.
3:28um leaving a lasting impact on the
3:31French music scene even to this day. But
3:35unlike most military bands, the Harlem
3:37Hell Fighters were also combat soldiers
3:40and the 369th Regiment spent more time
3:44on frontline combat um 191 days more
3:49than any other American unit in this
3:51war.
3:52So, Lieutenant Europe uh as a result of
3:55this himself saw battle and was wounded
3:59even in a mustard gas attack.
4:04Lieutenant Europe and the service of
4:06black men in combat delivered more than
4:08just music. The Harlem Hell Fighters,
4:11for instance, proved that black soldiers
4:13could excel both as warriors and as
4:16cultural ambassadors
4:19um as representatives of African-Ameans
4:22on an international stage. And their
4:25success would help to weaken those
4:27racist beliefs about black inferiority
4:30in the military uh despite the
4:32persistence of segregation and
4:35discrimination.
4:37Tragically, after the war, very shortly
4:40after the war, Lieutenant Europe was
4:42actually stabbed uh in 1919 after an
4:45altercation backstage after a show. But
4:49his influence and leadership would help
4:52to pave the way for the focus of this
4:54week's class, the Harlem Renaissance and
4:57how it emerged out of the First World
5:00War.
5:03to pick up where we left off last week
5:05then with the continued impact of black
5:08codes and Jim Crow laws particularly in
5:10the south and across the nation. Um many
5:15moved to all black towns like in uh
5:18Kansas and Oklahoma while another
5:20200,000 moved from the south northward.
5:25By the 1910s, that northward migration
5:28had grown exponentially.
5:31And with the transformation of these
5:32demographics in the north during the
5:341910s came also a transformation of
5:37African American identity and
5:40established self-sufficient communities.
5:44This process of relocation came to be
5:47known as the great migration. So between
5:491915 and 1930, over 2 million uh black
5:54African-Americans abandoned the South
5:57and most headed north.
6:00Those who uh who left were often leaving
6:03behind a plantation and sharecropping
6:06life representing a rural to urban
6:10migration.
6:12And the people who left the south
6:13described their reasons in terms of push
6:17and pull factors of migration.
6:20Push factors included economic hardship
6:24such as the decline of the cotton
6:26industry as this international community
6:28of uh farm workers uh particularly took
6:32on cash crops like cotton. Um in part uh
6:37also due to a bowl weevil infestation.
6:40that's an insect of uh cotton farms and
6:43other natural disasters like floods
6:46which left farms destitute.
6:50Another push factor was political and
6:53social repression, uh things like Jim
6:56Crow laws, continued racial violence
6:58like lynchings and economic
7:00exploitation. All of this made life
7:03increasingly difficult for black men and
7:06women in the south.
7:08Conversely, whole factors provided hope
7:11and promise for those uh hoping to leave
7:14the south as economic opportunities in
7:17northern cities presented themselves,
7:19promising significantly higher wages.
7:21For instance,
7:23southern black men uh at this point were
7:25earning around 75 cents a day.
7:29They could make the same uh for the same
7:31amount of work could earn $5 a day in
7:34the north.
7:36So better schools and political
7:38representation also awaited migrants and
7:41by the mid 1910s these pushandpull
7:44factors existed along with the spectre
7:46of an outbreak of war in Europe which
7:49had further destabilized the global
7:51economy and made it harder to get ahead.
7:55So I also want to talk a little bit
7:57about patterns of this migration.
8:00Uh chain migration or the process
8:03through which family members would urge
8:05those they left behind to join them in
8:07these cities saw waves of migration
8:11especially making use of the railroad
8:14system which we've seen develop over the
8:15course of this uh the time period of
8:18this class.
8:20And railroads offered group rates to
8:22accommodate this chain migration. So
8:26industrial hubs, railroad hubs like uh
8:29New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia,
8:32these all saw massive growth of black
8:35migrants as areas specifically like
8:39Harlem saw a dramatic rise from some
8:4350,000 to 200,000
8:46African-American migrants by 1930.
8:51For those who chose not to migrate from
8:53the south, their reasons varied uh
8:57significantly.
8:59Some said it might be better to stay
9:01with the devil they knew and to
9:03transform the south, their ancestral
9:06homelands through resistance and through
9:09self-help.
9:10Others wanted to maintain the
9:12connections that they had built in the
9:13post-war period and to avoid the labor
9:17conflicts in the north like race riots
9:20and overcrowding in the cities which
9:22would become a consistent problem and
9:24point of conflict.
9:29A particular example we can examine as a
9:32case study was migration to Chicago.
9:35Migration to Chicago was in part spurred
9:37by the efforts of a newspaper called the
9:40Chicago Defender, which popularized the
9:43city's race relations to over 230,000
9:47readers nationwide. So, these newspapers
9:49are being used to popularize
9:52uh this city life, the hope and
9:56ambitions and opportunities of
9:58migration.
10:01They argued that one could hop a train
10:03in the south and ride on the train a day
10:06and a night to freedom in Chicago.
10:10And within four years, 50,000 blacks
10:12from the south relocated to Chicago. And
10:15this process, which again was
10:17popularized in these newspapers as the
10:20black exodus, took on biblical
10:22proportions.
10:24This was to not only leave the south but
10:26to find oneself uh relocated to a
10:30promised land. Um just as the Hebrews
10:33had left the Egyptian Pharaoh uh in the
10:36biblical book of um Exodus um or freedom
10:40in the promised land of Canaan.
10:47Black communities supported this
10:48migration at every step. black churches
10:52and uh mutual aid societies like the
10:54Urban League and newspapers like the
10:57Chicago Defender. All of these helped
10:59migrants adjust to these new locations
11:02and lives.
11:04Meanwhile, women's organizations such as
11:06the Phyllis Wheatley Homes provided
11:09housing and job assistance.
11:12These Wheatly Homes were named after the
11:15poet Phyllis Wheatley, who we started
11:17this class by reading. Um, these homes
11:21provided young women safe places to live
11:24while they searched for work. And these
11:26black settlement houses were modeled
11:29after um other settlement houses such as
11:33those created by famed feminist Jane
11:36Adams and the whole house which was also
11:39located in Chicago.
11:41These settlement houses served the needs
11:44of immigrant women as they adjusted to
11:46life in America. And these organizations
11:49provided jobs, housing, medical care, uh
11:53police protection and centers of
11:56community for black urban youth.
12:02The great migration also significantly
12:04influenced black religious life um
12:07especially in northern cities with the
12:09establishment of black churches to
12:11expand outreach and to accommodate the
12:13growing black populations.
12:16However, tensions emerged between the
12:19southern black migrants and northern
12:21black congregations who had very
12:23different forms of worship.
12:25Established middleclass black church clo
12:29church churchgoers often found the
12:30worship styles of southern newcomers to
12:33be too emotional while migrants
12:36struggled to connect with the more
12:37formal and structured services of the
12:40north.
12:42Many southern migrants felt out of place
12:44in these traditional northern churches,
12:47which would lead to the rise of what are
12:49called storefront churches and
12:52Pentecostal congregations, which
12:54preserved that lively, spiritfilled
12:57worship style of the south.
13:01So, a storefront church uh is a place of
13:03worship that has replaced the commercial
13:06building. Um so rather than building uh
13:09a church created from scratch to fill
13:12the needs of a congregation, they might
13:14uh take over um perhaps on weekends when
13:17the building might otherwise be closed.
13:20Um
13:22these commercial buildings which were
13:23meant for stores or as shops
13:27um they were filled uh by these um
13:30Pentecostal congregations.
13:33So with this rise of Pentecostalism in
13:36part led by uh William Seymour whose uh
13:40Isuza Street revival in 1906 in Los
13:43Angeles so local to us had introduced
13:46Pentecostalism to many black
13:48worshippers. And by 1919 Chicago had at
13:52least 20 Pentecostal storefront
13:54churches. And in 1922
13:58um the Robert's Temple Church of God in
14:00Christ was established as a permanent
14:02worship center. So we see the
14:05exportation of these worship styles
14:07across the nation and then finding
14:10permanent uh locations over time.
14:15But this shift in religious practice
14:16contributed deeply to the evolution of
14:19things like black gospel music uh which
14:22blended those traditional spiritual
14:24music uh with blues rhythms and deeply
14:27emotional vocal expressions. So, black
14:30religious life became more diverse and
14:33reflected both middleclass urban
14:36congregations and workingclass migrants
14:39uh um who sought a more expressive and
14:42culturally familiar worship experience.
14:48Newcomers to the north would also uh
14:50greet a different form of segregation
14:53um at work uh than they had recognized
14:56in the south. The most serious tensions
14:59between blacks and whites in this period
15:02of migration in the north was over
15:04housing and jobs.
15:07For housing, their growing populations
15:09exceeded beyond uh those housings which
15:12were available and districts would soon
15:15become overcrowded. You would have
15:17problems of sewage control and policing
15:20and lighting. Electricity was scarce.
15:23Meanwhile, rents were high and food was
15:26expensive. Moving
15:29beyond the black belt, as it was called,
15:32was to face down uh white homeowners
15:35associations who used legal obstacles
15:39and violence to prevent black
15:41communities from forming uh in different
15:43cities. And these are still tactics
15:45which are used by homeowners
15:47associations today.
15:50In Chicago between 1917 and 1921,
15:55um at least 58 race bombings targeted
15:58black homes, these communities
16:02forming a sense of terror uh in places
16:05where blacks and whites were most
16:07closely um living amongst each other.
16:11Segregation in the north was also what
16:13we call de facto or regulated by custom
16:17and social pressure rather than by law
16:21or djour as it was in the south. So
16:24segregation in the north was very real
16:27as hospitals, communities and workplaces
16:29were segregated on the nature of race.
16:31However, that segregation is different
16:34than it appeared in the south which had
16:36legalized segregation um and individual
16:40states had worked to formalize that
16:43segregation. Whereas in the north it
16:46emerged uh
16:49not out of legal pressure but out of
16:52social pressure
16:54primarily. There are exceptions but
16:57broadly this was the reality.
17:02In the north, black voting rights were
17:05not usually legally obstructed and as a
17:09result, these growing communities
17:12offered another voting block that could
17:14put black politicians into office. So
17:17this was furthered by the passage of the
17:1919th amendment in 1920, which allowed
17:22women to vote, including black women.
17:25And in 1928, black voters in Chicago
17:29sent uh Representative Oscar Depri to
17:32the US House of Representatives. You are
17:35not going to see these same kinds of
17:36developments in the South, which had uh
17:39through Jim Crow laws and black codes uh
17:42obstructed black voting rights um to
17:46immense uh success.
17:51But the 1910s was also a period marked
17:54by the outbreak of the Great War or
17:57World War I as it is also known. World
18:00War I was spurred on by long-term
18:03legacies of uh European colonization and
18:06imperial rivalries. And we're going to
18:09dive into these rivalries and try to
18:12find some uh stable ground for which to
18:15understand this very important conflict.
18:18So, as Germany and other European
18:20empires attempt to one up one another,
18:22they also attempted to check uh rival
18:25powers through a system of alliances
18:27called the Bismarian alliance system
18:32named for German Chancellor diplomat
18:34Otto Van Bismar. Russia and France
18:37allied to counter a perceived threat of
18:39Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Italy.
18:42And the creation of the German Navy
18:44caused Britain to join this system of
18:46alliances making terms with the Russian
18:49Zar Nicholas II and with the French. So
18:53the alliance between Great Britain,
18:54France and Russia was known as the
18:57triple on tant which is the French word
18:59for friendship. So the three friends
19:02elsewhere threats to Europe emerged in
19:06the east especially through the Ottoman
19:08Empire in Turkey. And in 1914, these
19:12alliance systems and balances, these
19:14checks, these rivalries
19:16fall apart into conflict when Serbian
19:19national Gabrielo Princet
19:22wanted to free Bosnia from
19:24AustriaHungary, who again was allied
19:27with Germany,
19:29assassinated the heir to the
19:30AustriaHungarian throne, the arch the
19:34archduke France Ferdinand, uh, for whom
19:37the band France Ferdinand is named.
19:41This is a lot of information because
19:42this is all a very interconnected war.
19:45For the United States, the reasons
19:47surrounding the conflict and the United
19:49States joining the conflict are more
19:52clear.
19:55In the United States, alliances and
19:56diplomacy were made not for military
19:59balance, but for economic gain. They
20:03wished to expand their transatlantic
20:05economy to benefit from the trade
20:07generated from a peaceful Europe. And
20:10since the time of George Washington
20:11himself, the United States had followed
20:14the belief that the nation should try
20:16its best to avoid foreign alliances and
20:20that a large military system was
20:23contrary to liberty as dangerous to the
20:26freedoms of Americans.
20:28The United States by this time um had a
20:32military coming out of the civil war. Um
20:35but the attitude remained the United
20:38States was more interested in building
20:39up its own economy and society
20:43distracted with you know industrial work
20:46and therefore not particularly
20:48interested in those international
20:50struggles for world power.
20:52But the period of industrialization also
20:55made the United States recognize that
20:57its military was increasingly out ofd as
21:01tech like airplanes, cars, submarines,
21:04and modern firearms and artillery in the
21:07American military were desperately
21:09outdated.
21:11So to answer this problem, Congress
21:13passed the Davis Act in 1908 and the
21:16National Defense Act in 1916, which
21:19created the National Guard and a reserve
21:22military. States had funds set aside for
21:26their own trained militaries to respond
21:27to local emergencies, working under the
21:30understanding that if a global con uh
21:32international conflict broke out, those
21:36state militaries would respond as well.
21:40So the United States attempted to stay
21:43out of the system of alliances,
21:44exercising their own policy called
21:47isolationism.
21:49Isolationism in the context of World War
21:51I and early 20th century America refers
21:54to a foreign policy stance characterized
21:58by the United States desire to avoid
22:01becoming entangled in the political and
22:04military affairs of other nations,
22:07particularly those in Europe.
22:09This approach was rooted in the belief
22:11that the United States should focus
22:13again on its own development to maintain
22:16neutrality and to refrain from forming
22:18alliances or participating in conflicts
22:21that did not directly threaten its
22:23national interests. And President Woodro
22:26Wilson was a huge proponent of this and
22:30even offered a declaration of neutrality
22:32in 1914. However,
22:35this would soon change for three major
22:39reasons.
22:42The first major reason why the United
22:44States entered the war was over economic
22:46concerns.
22:48In October of 1914, President Wilson
22:50approved uh credit loans to the
22:53combatants in Europe, profiting off of
22:55the war overseas.
22:58And by the time that war broke out in
23:001914, the United States was a rising
23:02industrial and economic power, deeply
23:05connected to these global markets. So
23:08while the United States initially
23:09maintained a stance of neutrality, its
23:12trade relationships were anything but
23:15neutral. American industries and banks
23:18had significant financial ties to those
23:21allied powers, to the triple Anton, but
23:24especially with Britain and France.
23:29A second reason and a pivotal turning
23:31point was Germany's use of unrestricted
23:34submarine warfare, a strategy it
23:37employed to counter the British naval
23:39blockade.
23:40German Ubot or submarines uh targeted
23:44merchant and passenger ships headed for
23:46Britain, arguing that these vessels
23:48carried war supplies. And the most
23:51infamous example occurred in May of 1915
23:55with the sinking of the British
23:56passenger liner Lucatania, which killed
23:59nearly 1,200 people, including 128
24:04Americans who died in this attack.
24:08Though the Germans had issued warnings
24:11and argued the ship carried munitions,
24:14the loss of American lives in this
24:16attack sparked outrage. and President
24:20Wilson issued strong protests, but the
24:23US remained neutral for the time being.
24:27The final straw would not come until the
24:29revelation of what is called the
24:31Zimmerman telegram in March of 1917.
24:35This was a secret communication sent by
24:37German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman
24:40to the German ambassador in Ma in
24:42Mexico.
24:44intercepted and decoded by British
24:47intelligence, the telegram proposed a
24:49military alliance between Germany and
24:51Mexico and promised Mexico the return of
24:54its territories lost to the United
24:57States in the Mexican-American War. So
24:59those would be Texas, Arizona, and New
25:02Mexico.
25:04and it promised those territories back
25:06to Mexico if it joined the war on the
25:10side of the central powers or uh on the
25:13side of Austria, Hungary, the Ottoman
25:15Empire and Germany.
25:18When the British shared the telegram
25:20with Washington, it caused an uproar.
25:22The idea that Germany would incite a
25:25conflict so close to United uh to the
25:28borders of the United States,
25:30potentially dragging the war to the
25:31Western Hemisphere, was seen as a direct
25:35threat rightfully uh to American
25:37sovereignty and to security. And in
25:40April of 1917, the United States joined
25:43the war.
25:47And it should be no surprise to us that
25:49African-Americans played a pivotal role
25:51in their service during the war. Over
25:54380,000 black Americans served in this
25:57war, though only 42,000 of those black
26:00men saw combat. This in part due to um
26:04different segregation
26:06uh concerns as the military at this
26:08point was still still segregated. Uh and
26:11black soldiers were often kept to
26:14service roles. um rather than be seeing
26:18frontline combat such that they may have
26:20less opportunities to interact with
26:23Europeans
26:24um who had far more progressive views of
26:27race relations for instance.
26:30So these army units were segregated and
26:33the marines and nursing units uh
26:36excluded black service altogether in
26:39World War I.
26:41White soldiers would not salute black
26:43officers and provisions for black
26:45regiments were often unequal to whites.
26:48A particularly famous unit, as I
26:50mentioned earlier, was the 369th
26:52Infantry Unit known as the Harlem Hell
26:54Fighters. Uh they came from New York and
26:57these men fought alongside the French
27:00and the French awarded the unit their
27:03highest military honor. In the United
27:06States, no black soldiers received
27:08awards for their service in this war.
27:11Even so, upon their safe return home,
27:14black soldiers were met with cheering
27:16crowds. And this was seen within black
27:19communities as an opportunity to prove
27:21one's loyalty to the nation,
27:25their equality in arms, and much as they
27:28had in previous wars and conflicts. But
27:30this was on a grander scale.
27:33So the war is actually going to end very
27:35shortly after the United States joined.
27:38And on November of 18 uh November 18th,
27:421918, the conflict was over. So the
27:46United States joined with less than a
27:47year left in the conflict but provided a
27:51pivotal boost to European uh to the
27:55British and to the French um at an
27:57important moment helping to turn the
28:00tide.
28:04But the so we have the end of the war
28:07and now we are going to push ourselves
28:09into the postwar period. Immediately
28:12after returning from the war, we are
28:15going to see eruptions of racial
28:17violence culminating in what is called
28:19the red summer of 1919. Uh this was a
28:23term coined by James Weldon Johnson of
28:25the NAACP
28:27which was used to describe the wave of
28:29deadly race riots.
28:32Excuse me. Rising racial tensions were
28:35fueled by competitions again for jobs
28:38and housing.
28:41particularly in northern cities where
28:43black migrants from the south saw
28:45opportunities.
28:47White resentment often exacerbated by
28:50employers who were using black workers
28:52to break labor strikes for instance led
28:55to violent clashes. And one of the worst
28:58outbreaks of this violence actually
28:59occurred uh in this period in East St.
29:02Louis uh where thousands of white
29:06workers angered by the hiring of black
29:08laborers launched violent attacks
29:12and a white mob killed 125 black
29:16residents, destroying their homes and
29:18causing massive property damage.
29:22In response, the NAACP organized what
29:25they called the Silent March, where
29:2610,000 black protesters marched down
29:29Fifth Avenue, New York City to condemn
29:32this violence.
29:37Some of the most intense racial violence
29:40of the Red Summer took place in Chicago
29:42in in July of 1919.
29:45This violence was triggered when a black
29:47teenager who was swimming in Lake
29:50Michigan unknowingly drifted into a
29:53whitesonly swimming area. White men
29:56threw stones at him and caused him to
29:58drown. When white policemen refused to
30:01arrest the attackers, protests escalated
30:04into a 5-day riot, resulting in 23 black
30:08deaths, 15 white deaths, over 500
30:11injuries, and the distraction the
30:13destruction
30:15of over 100 of over 1,000
30:18um black homes.
30:21And across the nation, race riots are
30:23going to break out in at least 25
30:25cities, including uh Washington DC,
30:28Omaha, Nebraska, Charleston, South
30:31Carolina, and Long View, Texas. And many
30:34black veterans of World War I played key
30:38roles in resisting white attacks, now
30:41emboldened by their military service and
30:44unwilling to accept continued
30:46oppression, having just served, put
30:49their life and limb on the line during
30:52the Great War.
30:56Uh, an author um from this period which
31:00will become known as the Harlem
31:01Renaissance. We'll talk about it in just
31:02a moment. An author named Claude McKay
31:06captured this new spirit of defiance in
31:08his poem titled If We Must Die, which
31:12encouraged blacks to fight against
31:15racial violence. In the poem, McKay
31:18wrote, "If we must die, oh, let us noly
31:21die so that our precious blood may not
31:24be shed in vain."
31:26Then even the monsters we defy shall be
31:30constrained to honor us though dead. Oh
31:34kinsmen we must meet the common foe
31:37though far outnumbered. Let us show us
31:40brave.
31:42And for their thousand blows deal one
31:45death blow.
31:47What though before us lies the open
31:49grave. Like men will face the murderous
31:53cowardly pack, pressed to the wall,
31:56dying, but fighting back.
32:00The Red Summer marked a turning point.
32:04It demonstrated that black Americans
32:06would no longer passively accept racial
32:09violence, though they had not. On this
32:12grand scale, you are going to see
32:14massive resistance, massive open
32:17resistance, which is going to foreshadow
32:20the organized movements of resistance
32:23and activism which would define the
32:25civil rights struggles in the coming
32:28decades.
32:32So at this same time, it should be no
32:35surprise that this was also a revival of
32:37hate groups like the Ku Klux Clan. The
32:41organization was revived in Georgia
32:43first, inspired by the film Birth of a
32:46Nation and uh a terrible event where a
32:50Jewish factory manager named Leo Frank
32:52was lynched after being falsely accused
32:55of murdering a white girl.
32:57anti-semitism was going to fuel the clan
33:00to attack and provide hate beyond just
33:04antilack violence.
33:06Uh so likewise I mentioned the film
33:08Birth of a Nation. This film popularized
33:11the KKK and even President Woodro Wilson
33:15praised the film and its message uh
33:18displaying the film um in the White
33:21House, the first film to ever play in
33:24the White House.
33:26By 1925, the KKK had three million
33:29members nationwide and used terror to
33:32prevent black homeownership and economic
33:34advancement.
33:36And the new clan went beyond just the
33:38South, but also to northern and western
33:40states. The clan gained political power
33:43and helped to elect mayors, governors,
33:45and cities uh um in cities like
33:49Indianapolis, Denver, uh in Atlanta. And
33:53in 1922, Texas even elected an openly
33:57clanup supported US senator, Senator
33:59Earl B. Mayfield.
34:03The clan at this time attracted middlecl
34:05class white Americans rather than just
34:08poor southerners at as previous uh uh
34:12forms of the KKK had before.
34:16Recruitment was tied to Protestant ch
34:18churches and to fraternal organizations
34:21and large rallies, picnics, parades, and
34:25speeches were all used to attract
34:26members. For instance, women joined
34:30through uh organizations like the women
34:32of the KKK founded in 1923.
34:37This is to say that this is seen as a
34:39community, a way to build connections
34:41between one another through shared
34:44anxieties, through shared anger, through
34:46shared discrimination of others in
34:49social life, those who they hoped to
34:51exclude from society.
34:54And so it is no surprise that the return
34:56of the KKK is also going to see a
34:59return, a growth of violence,
35:02intimidation, lynch mobs, kidnappings,
35:05and other violent attacks.
35:11between migration, resistance to
35:13political and interpersonal violence,
35:16and a collective service in World War uh
35:18one, a new form of black identity began
35:22to uh emerge in communities like New
35:26York's Harlem. New forms of expression
35:29through literature, art, dance, and
35:32music serve to affirm black identity and
35:35culture, providing a sense of pride uh
35:38in black heritage and accomplishment.
35:42And this cultural moment and identity is
35:44called by historians and by people at
35:46the time such as Elaine Lach who coined
35:49this term as the movement of the new
35:51negro in which he described uh the
35:54movement as a new vision of opportunity.
35:58So the label was used by blacks
36:00especially in northern cities uh by
36:03those who had self-confidence to rise to
36:06challenges and discrimination.
36:10So one such opportunities presented by
36:12this new movement um was in uh
36:17scholarship.
36:19The early 20th century saw a rise in
36:21social science research and historical
36:23scholarship focused on African-American
36:26life largely driven by black scholars
36:29and uh black institutions.
36:32A key moment in this intellectual
36:34movement was the Chicago Commission on
36:36Race Relations, established after the
36:391919 Chicago race riot.
36:42Sociologist Charles S. Johnson, a
36:45graduate student at the University of
36:47Chicago, played a central role in
36:49researching and writing its report
36:51titled The Negro in Chicago, published
36:54in 1922, which was a landmark study uh
36:57analyzing black urban life and the
37:00causes of racial conflict. And Johnson
37:04was part of the Chicago School of
37:06Sociology which argued that racial
37:08inequality was shaped by environmental
37:11and structural factors rather than by
37:14genetics which was a major shift from
37:17the racist pseudocience which had
37:19dominated scholarship to this point. So
37:22this was a push back against those
37:23earlier forms of social Darwinism which
37:26we've spoken about in previous weeks.
37:30At this same period, the NAACP also
37:33expanded, particularly under James
37:35Weldon Johnson, uh, who became the first
37:38black executive secretary in 1920.
37:42The organization grew to 100,000
37:44members, and there were over 300
37:46chapters, all of them pushing for legal
37:49challenges to racial discrimination. So
37:52coming out of law school and challenging
37:55uh in the courts um including uh
37:58situations like Buchanan versus Warley
38:01in 1917 which struck down racial zoning
38:04laws.
38:06The NAACP and these court efforts also
38:09tried to pass federal anti-ynching
38:11legislation but they were report uh
38:14repeatedly blocked by southern
38:16legislatures.
38:19In historical studies Carter G. Woodson,
38:21who you see pictured here, led efforts
38:24to document black history. He founded
38:27the Association for the Study of Negro
38:29Life and History in 1915 and launched
38:33the Journal of Negro History in 1916,
38:36um, the first major scholarly journal
38:40dedicated to African-American history.
38:42In 1926,
38:44Woodson established Negro History Week,
38:48which would later become Black History
38:50Month. In 1976,
38:53Woodson took very seriously the study of
38:56African-American history and culture.
38:59And we here today in this classroom owe
39:02a lot to him for the fact that this
39:04class which we are studying exists
39:07today.
39:10So while individuals like Woodson used
39:12the law and literature and journalism to
39:15change perceptions of black people in
39:16America, other individuals like Marcus
39:19Garvey and the Universal Negro
39:21Improvement Association or UNIA were
39:24more openly militant.
39:27Marcus Garvey was an individual who
39:29relocated from Jamaica to Harlem in
39:321916,
39:33where the UNIA rapidly expanded,
39:36reaching 4 million members by 1921.
39:41Marcus Garvey's message was one of black
39:43pride and racial unity and
39:46self-determination, which resonated
39:48deeply, particularly in the wake of
39:51wartime and post-war racism.
39:55Unlike the NAACP, which sought integr
39:58integration and large reform,
40:01um the UNIA was separatist, meaning that
40:05they were advocating for black
40:07self-sufficiency
40:08and the creation of an independent black
40:11nation in Africa.
40:14For many, Garveyism functioned like a
40:17religion, and his networks relied on
40:20black ministers to recruit individuals
40:22to his cause.
40:25The UNIA engaged in economic
40:28nationalism, which means that they were
40:30establishing black businesses um such as
40:33the Negro Factories Corporation and the
40:36Black Star Line, which was a steamship
40:39company meant to connect black people
40:41globally. So many African-Americans
40:44were inspired by Garvey's Africa for
40:47Africans ideology and they invested in
40:50that black star line hoping it would
40:52lead to African independence and
40:54economic empowerment globally.
40:59Garvey's charismatic leadership and his
41:01grand ceremonies featuring militarystyle
41:05uniforms, mass parades, and African
41:08nationalist rhetoric. All of these
41:10helped to build a powerful movement. And
41:13his weekly newspaper, The Negro World,
41:15had a circulation of over 200,000
41:18members at its peak, spreading UNIA's
41:22ideas internationally.
41:25However, Marcus Garvey's opposition to
41:28racial integration and his controversial
41:30meetings with uh members of the Ku Klux
41:33Clan um led to conflicts with other
41:36black leaders including web Duboce who
41:40called him quote the most dangerous
41:42enemy of the Negro race.
41:46Um, the US government also saw Garvey as
41:51a threat and in 1923 Garvey was
41:54convicted of mail fraud related to the
41:57Black Star Line. The government uh threw
42:02many different legal cases at Garvey to
42:04see what would fit uh what would stick
42:06and again ultimately they got him on
42:09mail fraud.
42:12He was imprisoned in 1925 and deported
42:15to Jamaica in 1927, which led to the
42:18decline of the UNIA. But this form of
42:21black nationalism and this form of
42:23resistance would continue well into the
42:25civil rights movement.
42:28So all of these are happening in this
42:30moment of the late 1910s.
42:34And if there was a singular place where
42:36the spirit of this new negro movement
42:38could be squarely identified, it would
42:41be in this area of Harlem.
42:44Harlem was considered the race capital,
42:48home to black intellectuals, artists,
42:51writers, musicians, politicians. The
42:55Harlem Renaissance was a major cultural
42:58and intellectual movement of the 1920s
43:01that celebrated black identity,
43:04creativity, and authentic
43:06self-expression of African-American
43:09experiences.
43:11And figures like we've already spoken
43:13about like Elaine Lach uh who was
43:15Harvard educated and a philosopher
43:18promoted Harlem as a hub of black
43:20cultural rebirth.
43:23And in his 1925 publication, The New
43:26Negro, which was an anthology showcasing
43:29African-American literature, poetry, and
43:32essays, this would become the defining
43:35text of the Harlem Renaissance.
43:39But there are other major figures of the
43:40Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neil
43:43Hursten, who incorporated
43:45African-American folklore and dialect in
43:47her storytelling.
43:49um and who is pictured here uh Langston
43:52Hughes whose poetry captured black
43:55resilience and everyday experiences poet
43:58Claude McKay who we've already heard
44:00from and others like Jean Tumer whose
44:02book Kane's uh um whose book Kain
44:07published in 1923 explored themes of
44:11black identity and cultural heritage
44:13from slavery to spirituality to identity
44:16development.
44:18Others like Aaron Douglas created
44:20murals. Um he was an immigrant from
44:23Kansas City to Harlem who used
44:25raceconcious visual art uh to explore
44:29themes of African-American history and
44:31folk culture such as connections between
44:34African-Americans and Africa.
44:38So this movement transformed music,
44:42dance, and visual arts. Jazz and blues
44:46flourished in venues like the Cotton
44:48Club and the Savoy uh ballroom, led by
44:53musicians such as Duke Ellington and
44:54Louisie Armstrong uh who would also find
44:57success making use of the widespread
44:59popularity of radio which had made its
45:02way into homes in 1920s.
45:04So Harlem's vibrant nightlife and music
45:07scene helped jazz become a defining
45:09American art form even outside of black
45:12communities.
45:14While the Harlem Renaissance affirmed
45:17black pride, it was also supported by
45:20white patrons, which would lead to
45:22tensions over artistic freedom and
45:25commercialization.
45:27While figures like WB
45:30Duboce believed that black art should
45:33serve as direct and open propaganda for
45:37racial uplift while younger artists
45:40sought creative autonomy
45:44and I would suggest if you have not
45:46already uh looking into the music and
45:48art of this period. The music is
45:51gorgeous. The art is incredibly
45:54creative. Um, this is just such a period
45:58of creativity. I would highly suggest
46:00taking a look if you have not already.
46:03The Harlem Renaissance empowered changes
46:06in black identity and expression,
46:10affirming the power of race conscious
46:12art and African-American culture. And
46:15for several years, the energy put
46:16forward by this renaissance was
46:18unstoppable.
46:20It would only begin to slow alongside
46:23the global economic meltdown of the
46:26great depression which will be the
46:27subject of our lecture in the coming
46:29weeks. All right.

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