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“By 1920, despite white opposition, black Americans had demonstrated that they would not accept economic subservience and the denial of their rights” (Hine 395). In response to the continuous racism that dominated the country, and the corresponding deprivation of political and social equality, a number of developments occurred that improved the quality of life of blacks, as well as gave them hope for a more promising future. Among such developments were: the NAACP, as a powerful organization securing constitutional rights; the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) lead by Marcus Garvey; and the cultural awakening of the Harlem Renaissance. However, as the decade came to an end, the progress that African Americans made suffered a harsh blow from the Great Depression of 1929-1933, as many blacks struggled to barely escape starvation. Nonetheless, the emergence of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program helped many African Americans on many levels. Furthermore, the NAACP expanded its legal campaign against racial discrimination, and the Scottsboro case set significant legal precedent, while bringing the race problem in the United States into the international arena. The developments of the 1930s advanced the state of African Americans, while raising expectations for a better tomorrow. Racism in the 1920s found expression through “scholarly studies” reflective of Social Darwinism, and through the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan. Lothrop Stoddard was one such pseudoscholar that wrote and preached about the inferiority of blacks, and the impossibility of their ever being equal. The reborn Ku Klux Klan that grew to prominence in the 1920s had approximately five million members from across the nation, and from numerous walks of life. Although the Klan declined by the end of the decade, it succeeded, along with the “scholarly studies”, in upholding and extending the racist fervor of the nation, and exalted the importance of white supremacy. African Americans were lead by the NAACP in responding to the racism of the time. James Weldon Johnson and the NAACP fought hard in Congress to secure passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill in 1921 and 1922. Although the legislation failed, the NAACP became the first civil rights organization to lobby Congress, and it succeeded in publicizing the continuous gruel some behavior of mobs.
Approximate Word count = 1397
Approximate Pages = 5.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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