HIST 16 - African Americans and the 1920s

Chapter 17: African Americans and the 1920s

1. What examples of progress against racial discrimination could leaders like W.E.B. Du bois, James Weldon Johnson and A. Philip Randolph point to in the 1920s?

2. Why did so many African American leaders reject Marcus Garvey, while so many African Americans seem to embrace his programs? How does the racial nationalism of the Universal Negro Improvement Association compare to the racial nationalism of say the Ku Klux Klan?

3. How distinctive would you say black writers, artists, and musicians were from white writers, artists and musicians of the time? Were their creative works essentially a part of American culture, challenging it or separate from it?

PART V: THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II

Chapter 18: Black Protest, the Great Depression and the New Deal

4. Identify some of the positive aspects that the New Deal agencies and programs have on the lives of African Americans and their communities. What were some of the adverse or negative affects it had on urban and rural African Americans?

5. Why were W. E. B. Du bois’s Crisiseditorials “on segregation” so divisive and explosive? How did black activists and scholars respond to the idea of voluntary self-segregation?

"The Great Depression and World War II"

Chapter 19: Meaning of Freedom: Culture and Society in the 1930s and 1940s

6. How did the Great Depression affect black culture? What role did the Works Progress Administration (WPA) play in democratizing black culture? How did black religious culture change during this era?

7. How did Hollywood films portray black Americans during the 1930s and 1940s? How did these images affect white Americans’ attitudes and behavior toward black Americans? How did these representations contribute to the emergence of an alternative or independent black cinema?

Chapter 20: The World War II Era and the Seeds of a Revolution

8. How did World War II affect the status of black workers in America? What was the significance of A. Philip Randolph’s March on Washington Movement, and how did President Roosevelt respond to it? How did his response contribute to the debate between the powers of federal and state governments?

9. How did the Cold War affect black militant demands for the restoration of civil rights for blacks? How did World War II and the post anti-colonial movement stimulate international racial consciousness among African Americans? Why did the State Department attempt to downplay black dissent in America?

10. Why did President Harry S. Truman decide to desegregate the U.S. military? What do you think contributed the most to divide African Americans favoring full civil rights at any cost and those who felt more aligned to pan-African and anti-colonial movements?