Early Civil Rights Movement
Tuskegee Airmen
. In WWI, 1914-1918, African Americans were only allowed to participate in support positions and not in combat. Ultimately, a group called the Tuskegee Airman was formed. They were an all African American group of pilots who worked for the Air Force. Benjamin David Jr. was the first black general in the Air Force.
À Phillip Randolph
A. Phillip Randolph convinced Roosevelt to stop racial discrimination in the government and in companies working for the government.
Anti-Lynching Crusade
For many African Americans growing up in the South in the 19th and 20th centuries, the threat of lynching (hanging) was commonplace. The popular image of an angry white mob stringing a black man up to a tree is only half the story. A black journalist named Ida B. Wells was outraged, and attacked the evils of lynching in her local newspaper; she also encouraged the black residents of Memphis to leave town. Wells wrote many pamphlets exposing white violence and lynching and defending black victims. In 1909, she helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1922, an anti-lynching bill actually passed the House of Representatives but southern senators used the filibuster power to prevent a vote on it and it never became law.
Marcus Garvey and the UNIA
Garvey, who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica in 1914, moved to the United States in 1916. He settled in Harlem and established the U.S. branch of the UNIA to help blacks achieve economic independence in the United States and unite black communities around the world. He organized parades and massive rallies to boost black pride and encouraged black-owned companies to do more business within the community. On the other hand, the UNIA also encouraged blacks to leave the United States and resettle in their ancestral homes in Africa.
Niagra Movement (1905)
In 1905, a "Niagara Movement" arose, led by Du Bois and several other black supporters drafted a list of demands that included an end to segregation and to discrimination in unions, the courts, and public accommodations, as well as equality of economic and educational opportunity. Although this movement attracted the attention of like-minded whites, it had little impact on popular opinion.
Président Roosevelt
President Roosevelt (president from 1933-1945) often consulted with African American leaders . Mary Mcleod Bethune was one of these African American leaders. These advisors became known as the "Black Cabinet." Their role was to help the president become aware of and fight for the concerns of African Americans
W. E. B. Du Bois
a Harvard-educated black historian and sociologist argued that blacks should fight for social and economic equality all at once. Du Bois also hoped that blacks would eventually develop a "black consciousness" and cherish their distinctive history and cultural attributes.
Booker T. Washington
president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, encouraged African Americans to become economically sufficient before challenge whites on social issues
Langston Hughes
published poems, plays, and novels about African American life.
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909-1910 in New York City by a group of white and black intellectuals. United in their opposition to Jim Crow, the NAACP leaders sought, first, to make whites aware of the need for racial equality. To do this, the organization launched a program of speechmaking, lobbying, and publicizing the issue. It also started a magazine, the Crisis. At the same time, the NAACP attacked segregation and racial inequality through the courts, achieving some limited success. In 1916, the organization expanded to the South. By 1920, NAACP membership had grown to ninety thousand, of which nearly half was in the South.