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The Abolition of Slavery
The 13th Amendment was adopted into the Constitution on this day, several months after the end of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. This outlawed slavery in any form throughout the US, making it one of the last nations to abolish slavery in the western hemisphere. It was followed shortly after by Portugal, Cuba, and Brazil. -
Beginning of the Great Migration
The Beginning of the Great Migration occurred in the 1890s, ending within a period around the 1920s. The Great Migration essentially consisted of African Americans migrating to the North. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the rural South relocated in the North. Reasons for the Great Migration were a result of Southern practices such as sharecropping, enforcement of Jim Crow laws, disenfranchisement, and the deep hatred with occurred all around the South as a result of segregation. -
Establishment of the NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the NAACP for short, was established in 1909 by a group concerned by the challenges consistently facing African Americans in society, especially after the Illinois Race Riot had occurred in 1908. As an interracial organization, the NAACP sought to not only fight issues against African Americans, but also to support movements which favoured equality and fairness to all peoples. -
Establishment of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
Marcus Garvey founded this establishment in Jamaica which relocated to Harlem in 1916. It was a reform association dedicated to racial pride, the establishment of educational and industrial opportunities for blacks, and black economic and political independence. By 1920, thousands of branches and divisions were created all around the world. It influenced blacks to celebrate and be proud of their African heritage. It was a model of black nationalism, which arose in the U.S. after World War II. -
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The Great Migration
During this period, many blacks moved to urban cities in the North because they sought better standards of living and relief from racism in the South. Many of African descent came from the Caribbean and Africa seeking a better life in the U.S. after World War I. As a result, Harlem became an African-American neighborhood and would serve as the symbolic capital of this culture and a place of artistic experimentation. However, white racism continued and affected these African American communities. -
The 369th Infantry is Federalized
The 369th Infantry Regiment, also known as the “Harlem Hellfighters”, was an African American infantry regiment that fought in France during World War I. Led by Colonel William Hayward, they had 1,500 casualties during the course of the war and spent 191 days in the trenches, which was the longest out of any American unit. -
Silent Protest Parade
Around 8,000 to 10,000 African-Americans silently marched against lynching and anti-black violence down New York’s Fifth Avenue.It was organized by a civil rights activist who was the first African American to earn a doctorate named W.E.B. Du Bois with the help of the NAACP. This protest was held in hopes to influence President Wilson to carry out anti-lynching legislation and promote black cases. Wilson failed to complete his promise and federal discrimination increased during his presidency. -
The Red Summer of 1919
This event was a series of riots that occurred in more than thirty cities throughout the United States due to the resentment of African Americans cause by competition for employment and growing racial tensions. Organizations were created to fight against racial inequality. Others would protest against this issue through literature pieces, articles, theater, and music. African Americans throughout the country would begin to protest and appeal to the federal government for human rights. -
The Musical Shuffle Along Premiers at Broadway
Shuffle Along was a musical comedy with an all black cast. It brought jazz music and African American culture to a white audience and had 484 performances before its closure on July 15, 1922. -
Civic Club Dinner
An event significant in bringing about the Harlem Renaissance is the Civic Club Dinner of 1924. On the 21st of March in 1924, Charles S. Johnson held an event at the Civic Club, in Manhattan. This dinner brought together over a hundred attendees, both White and African American. With African American intellectuals such as W. E. B. Dubois and James Weldon Johnson, to White American writers and publishers and poets such as Carl Van Doren of Century Magazine, this event was truly one of diversity. -
The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement was a movement to end segregation and oppression for African Americans. Activists used nonviolence and peaceful protests to make their voices heard, with two of the most famous being Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. During this time period the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which stopped states from barring African Americans from voting, were passed.
