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Black Migration
After the Civil War about two million African Americans migrated from the South to northern cities between 1890 and 1920. They were looking for better opportunity, the start of a new life, and family members that might have escaped during slavery. -
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The Harlem Renaissance
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Formation of the NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, whose mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination." -
Claude McKay Publishes
Two of Claude McKay's poems are published in the white literary journal Seven Arts under the Alias Eli Edwards. -
Foundation of the United Negro Improvement Association
Marcus Garvey arrives in Harlem and founds the United Negro Improvement Association. It was a charitable, educational, society that worked to uplift African Americans and attempted to respect the rights of all as well as themselves. -
Silent Protest Parade
The protest was planned by the NAACP in response to a particularly vicious race riotin East St. Louis, Illinois, in which at least 100 black people were murdered, many of them lynched. The march was down Fifth Avenue. It was led by children, followed by the women and then the men, all dressed in white. -
Return From theWar
369th Regiment marched up Fifth Avenue to Harlem from returning to the US after WWI has heroes. Many had fought in the hopes that it would earn them respect and further the black cause. However, the year they came back was one of the worst years for the amount of black lynching. -
Race Riots
In response to African American lynching, and other violent crimes, race riots broke out in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Charleston, Knoxville, Omaha, and other cities from June to September. This was known as the "Red Summer of Hate." -
Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Convention
They attempted to try to figure out how to counteract deeds by the KKK and campaigned against lynching, Jim Crow laws, denial of black voting rights and racial discrimination. -
New NAACP Leadership
James Weldon Johnson becomes the first black officer (secretary) of NAACP. -
Charles Gilpin takes a lead role
Acclaimed American playwright Eugene O'Neil's drama The Emperor Jones opens at the Provincetown Playhouse with black actor Charles Gilpin in the lead role. The play is a mix of expressionism and realism and was his first play to receive great critical acclaim. -
Black Swan Phonograph Corporation
Harry Pace founds the Black Swan Phonograph Corporation and begins production of the race records brought jazz and blues music to a wider audience. -
Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake is the first musical revue written and performed by African Americans Broadway's David Belasco Theaterhe musical revue. Spark that ignites the Harlem Renaissance. -
Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill
First Anti-Lynching legislation approved by House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill of 1922 failed to become federal law -
Duke Ellington
Pianist, composer, and band leader Duke Ellington arrives in New York with his band, the Washingtonians. The Harlem Renaissance was in full swing now attracting black intellectuals, artists, and musicians to celebrate and explore black culture and creativity. -
Dance
Louis Armstrong joins Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, becomes the most popular dance band in New York -
There Is Confusion
The publication of Jessie Redmon Fauset's There Is Confusion marks the first Harlem Renaissance book by a woman writer -
The Cotton Club
The Cotton Club opened. It was a famous night club in Harlem, New York City that operated during Prohibition that included jazz music. While the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era. -
Civic Club Dinner
Civic Club Dinner, sponsored by Opportunity, bringing black writers and white publishers together. This event is considered the formal launching of of the New Negro movement. -
Jazz
The exciting new musical form known as jazz is showcased in the "First American Jazz Concert" at Aeolian Hall in New York -
New Negro Anthology
The New Negro anthology, edited by Alain Locke, introduces the work and ideas of the Harlem Renaissance -
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes's first volume of poetry, The Weary Blues, is published. -
Marcus Garvey deported
Ordered to leave the United States, Marcus Garvey returns to Jamaica. -
Harlem Globetrotters
Harlem Globetrotters established. The Harlem Globetrotters are a basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. They adopted the name Harlem because of its connotations as a major black community. -
Abraham's Bosom
In Abraham's Bosom by Paul Green, with an all-black cast, won the Pulitzer Prize -
Wedding
Poet Countee Cullen marries Yolande Du Bois, daughter of the great black leader, in an extravagant wedding that is one of the most memorable social events of the Harlem Renaissance -
New organizations
During this year, the Negro Experimental Theatre was founded, the Negro Art Theatre was founded, and the National Colored Players was founded -
Harlem
Wallace Thurman's play Harlem opens on Broadway, becoming the most successful production of its time by a black author. -
stock market crashes
The stock market crashes, setting off the economic downturn known as the Great Depression -
New Schools
Artist Augusta Savage opens the Savage School of Arts and Crafts in Harlem -
Scottsboro trial
Scottsboro trial: April to May. They were convicted of alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers on the Southern Railroad freight run from Chattanooga to Memphis. -
Works Project Administration
A number of Harlem Renaissance writers and artists find employment with the Works Project Administration, a government-sponsored program designed to put Americans back to work -
Harlem Race Riot
Harlem Race Riot was sparked off by rumors of the beating of a teenage shoplifter. Three died, hundreds were wounded and an estimated $2 million in damages were sustained to properties throughout the district, with African-American owned homes and businesses spared the worst of the destruction
