The Role Of African Americans In The 1920's

In the 1920s America was changing we just came home for the first world war and everything from economy to culture changed. The culture changed due to the Jazz Movement in 1929. Jazz became part of everyday culture in America due to its smooth and new sound. The creation of the Jazz movement in america is largely credited to African Americans, because they were the ones who originated it. One of the key people in the Jazz Movement was Louis Armstrong a famous trumpeter, composer, singer and actor who changed the 1920s with his musicianship, his fashion, and he eased the racial tension between blacks and whites at his time.

The 1987 film documentary Ethnic Notions directed by Marlon Riggs, identifies the evolution of African American cultural depictions through ethnic stereotypes and caricatures in American culture. I feel Ethnic Notions exposes the roots of false generalization from the beginning and presents a series of classifications for racial depictions that still are noticeable in today's society. These racial depictions identified with in this film begin in the mid 1800's and continue thought to the 1960's. I now after viewing Ethnic notions agree that there are generalizations and depictions that are exaggerated in American popular culture and entertainment.

The 1930’s was a time of great struggle in the USA. The New York stock market crashed in 1929 and triggered a spiral of economic depression, which hit African Americans hard.

The movie 'Ethnic Notions' describes different ways in which African-Americans were presented during the 19th and 20th centuries. It traces and presents the evolution of the rooted stereotypes which have created prejudice towards African-Americans. This documentary movie is narrated to take the spectator back to the antebellum roots of African-American stereotypical names such as boy, girl, auntie, uncle, Sprinkling Sambo, Mammy Yams, the Salt and Pepper Shakers, etc. It does so by presenting us with multiple dehumanized characters and cartons portraying African-Americans as carefree Sambos, faithful Mammies, savage Brutes, and wide-eyed Pickaninnies. These representations of African-Americans roll

Wilson stated that ''The truth is that often where there are esthetic criteria of excellence, there are also sociological criteria that have traditionally excluded blacks.'' He then continued on to say ''... raise the standards and remove the sociological consideration of race as privilege, and we will meet you at the crossroads, in equal numbers, prepared to do the work of extending and developing the common ground of the American theater.'' Through these powerful words Wilson is saying that in order to reflect American culture in the theater, the history of African American’s must be reflected. There have always been systems in place that have excluded African Americans and white Americans will never understand the way that sense of oppression felt. White Americans will never understand how it feels to be enslaved, be powerless in protecting your family, and being sold off as property, as Eliza Harris from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and millions of other slaves felt. Photographing the “American Negro” by Shawn Michelle Smith presented the idea that white Americans have tried to take away the histories of other races in America. People have always turned against embracing the histories of the African Americans because they were seen as alien to their owners. Their different skin tone separated them from the white Americans who thought of them as uncivilized before they were brought to work for them. Ultimately Wilson calls for Black Theaters to prevent the culture of the

Before the Reconstruction period, helping blacks was not even in the question; everyone’s focus was on the war. During the war, wealth had depleted even for the ones who had it. Even though there was nothing left when the war ended, at least the Confederacy had been almost completely wiped out. All in all, anything that had to do with the Confederates was not allowed in the formation of individual states. The fight was worth it in the end because in less than a couple of months the Freedmen’s Bureau was

The Kansas City Call summed up the general mentality of African Americans during the 1920s with the statement “The New Negro does not fear the face of day.” (pg 118) Unlike the old days of slavery, African Americans had become more radical towards their oppressor and were beginning to organize as a people. Harlem Renaissance poet Claude Mckay embraced the “New Negro” archetype in his work by stating “If we must die, let it not be like hogs/ Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot….. Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack/ Pressed

In the early 1900s, there was a lot tension and speculation on the subject of African American rights. This tension called many African Americans to want to demand change, including W. e. B. Du Bois, and others to want to maintain a hardworking attitude they hoped would bring them the rights that they were requesting, the philosophy of Booker T. Washington. The question is, which would have actually been successful in that time period? And would the terms have been lasting?

World War II invigorated the civil rights movement, galvanizing blacks who during the Great Depression had developed a greater awareness of their potential political influence. During the 1930s many blacks had switched their political affiliation from the Republican Party, "the party of Lincoln" that had freed the slaves, to the Democratic Party, and in 1936 had voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt to show support for his New Deal programs. The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 stimulated American industry and the demand for labor. As was the case with World War I, African Americans moved to industrial cities for employment but confronted discrimination in hiring and wages. A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,

The 1920’s was a great and important decade for the United States. After World War I, the United States went through events and changes that, overall, made the United States a much better place to live. New advances in technology and industry improved American life in more ways than just one. Americans had better wages during this time, more leisure time, and overall, had a better life than ever before. In addition, the 1920’s advocated social and cultural change as well. During this time period, the United States did not return to Normalcy, and instead developed attitudes that changed the life of the people of the United States forever thanks to social changes, cultural changes and changes in technology.

In the beginning of this essay, Hurston describes the superiority dynamic between herself and White Northerners passing through her hometown. Specifically, Hurston reflects that the passing white travelers only valued her as a source of amusement: “They liked to hear me speak pieces and sing and wanted to see me dance the parse-me-la.” (Hurston 42). Almost as if Hurston was a common servant; the passing white people would pay to see an innocent black girl dance and sing just as a king demands a show from his jester. Furthermore, Hurston’s youthful naivety in the racial hierarchy of Jim Crow America made her exploitation all the more grotesque. Hurston includes this reflection in her essay to show how black people were degraded by white society even as young children. Which creates the impression that the social hierarchy of races was thoroughly integrated into the lives of African Americans. Essentially, it was part of an African Americans social identity to be inferior due to their complexion.

In 1925, philosopher and leading black intellectual Alain Locke published the short essay The New Negro. In this essay, Locke describes the contemporary conditions of black Americans, and discusses the trajectory and potential of black culture to affect global change in its historical moment (Locke 47). Locke wrote this essay in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance, a period in which black artists and intellectuals sought to reconceptualize black lives apart from the stereotypes and racist portrayals of prior decades (Hutchinson). The New Negro and the discourse around Locke’s work attempted to push forth a bold project: that of reshaping the cultural identity of black America with respect to the existent structures of American culture, as

One of the leading African American social activists of the nineteenth century, W. E. B. Du Bois, in his essay The Conservation of Races asked himself: “If I strive as a Negro, am I not perpetuating the very cleft that threatens and separates Black and White America?” It is one question in a line of introspections that serves to ask of himself, of the African American community, of Americans as a whole, what role race, blood, and heredity have in this country. Du Bois later addresses his fury of vacillation as a brand of “incessant self-questioning,” one necessary to bring forth the best in humanity in the unification of varied ethnic groups. Yet here we are, a century and some change later, asking ourselves if Chris Rock stepped on some toes with his satirical blasting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their blatant disregard for actors of color. If the ghost of slavery still haunts, the flesh of racism has blood coursing through its veins.

In the Africa American culture, there has been a longstanding discussion of the black woman’s physical appearance and how they identify themselves in society. Though there are many themes of the Black experience in the media that discuss the standard of beauty Black women should have. However, theatre has a creative and tactful way of exploring these topics that are considered taboo in the African American culture. During the Black Arts Movement, topics such as black empowerment and self-identity were the blue print for what the movement stood for. In reference to, A Brief Guide to the Black Arts Movement Writers, “African American artists within the movement sought to create politically engaged work that explored the African American cultural and historical experience” (A Brief Guide to the Black Arts Movement Writers.1). Prolific writers such as, Ntozake Shange 's, Amari Baraka, and Nikki Giovanni, just to name a few, were revolutionary in a creative and political movement, which allowed for writers and poets to demonstrate the pains and qualms of what African Americans faced in Western society. Two African American playwrights, Lorraine Hansberry and Adrienne Kennedy, expounded on these topics in their plays A Raisin in the Sun and Funny House Negro. In the further exploration of stigmas of African American female hair and self-identification through theatre, these plays will be used as a platform to

The motto of the United States of America is "E Pluribus Unum" meaning ‘Out of one, many'. It neatly recognises that although America may be a single nation, it is also one originally made up of immigrants who arrived not only from Europe and Asia, but forcibly as slaves from Africa and of Native Americans. It's population is the most racially and culturally diverse in the world and for that reason is often referred to as a "Melting Pot".