White, Walter (1893–
1955): NAACP executive
secretary who fought
against lynching.
Desegregation: The
elimination of laws and
customs that separated
the races in schools,
public accommodations,
and neighborhoods.
Randolph, A. Philip
(1889–1979): Union
leader and architect of
the March on Washington
Movement.
Garvey, Marcus(1887–
1940): Black nationalist
from Jamaica whose UNIA
promoted a ‘Back to
Africa’ movement.
Black Nationalism: The
political ideology that
espouses solidarity
among blacks the world
over and total control
of black culture and
institutions.
Great Migration: The
movement of millions of
blacks from the South to
the North for a century
after the Civil War, trans-
forming society and
politics and setting the
stage for the civil rights
movement.
be overcome by ceaseless agitation, NAACP leaders W.E.B. Du Bois, James
Weldon Johnson, and Walter Whitepublicized the evils of lynching in their
journal The Crisis, lobbied Congress for protective legislation, encouraged
voting, sued in court to desegregatejobs, housing, and public facilities, and
denounced European colonialism in Africa. A. Philip Randolph, the editor
of a socialist magazine, ridiculed the NAACP’s reformist ideology as elitist,
condemned the black church as a business, and labeled obsequious black
politicians as ‘the worst enemies of the Negro race.’ At the heart of Randolph’s
vision was his belief that exploitation was not a racial problem but an eco-
nomic one. A well-paying job was the first step toward social and political
freedom. To that end, he founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,
which became the largest black union. Marcus Garvey, a charismatic
Jamaican, believed that neither color-blind laws nor unionization would free
black people from racism. His solution was black nationalism, in which
blacks would control their own businesses and institutions within America.
Better still, blacks would abandon efforts to integrate with white society
and go ‘Back to Africa,’ their ancestral homeland. The unabashed racial pride
of his Universal Negro Improvement Association made it the largest mass
movement in black history until Garvey was deported for mail fraud.
When World War I broke out, a half million blacks joined the Great
Migrationin heading to Chicago, Detroit, New York, and other cities in the
‘Promised Land.’ They were weary of second-class citizenship, frightened by
relentless violence, and attracted by higher-paying industrial jobs in the
North. The migrants discovered their flight from Dixie was a mixed blessing.
With the help of the Urban League, a new social welfare organization, the
material well-being of blacks improved in the industrial cities, where they
adopted a more cosmopolitan identity. Although blacks could vote for the
first time and send their children to school for the entire year, they still held
poor jobs and lived in rundown housing in segregated neighborhoods.
Competition for jobs tightened when the veterans returned from war. Some
blacks tried to become white, through expensive, painful processes of light-
ening their skin and straightening their hair. Others lashed back against
whites in deadly riots that broke out throughout the Midwest in the Red
Summer of 1919. The ‘New Negro’ would fight back when violence came
his way.
When the Great Depression afflicted the nation in the 1930s, black
America was flat on its back. Half of urban blacks had no jobs at all, and rural
blacks lost money with every cotton harvest. Whites suddenly competed for
‘Negro jobs’ in foundries, garbage collection, and domestic service, and
murdered black firemen and railroad workers who did not step aside.
When president Herbert Hoover seemed paralyzed by the emergency, he
was soundly defeated for reelection. His Democratic successor, Franklin D.16 THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Urban League: Founded
in 1910 to promote eco-
nomic progress for blacks.