American History

The African Americans are the descendants of those originally born in Africa, who then migrated to America among all countries of the world. A couple of centuries ago, African Americans were taken as slaves from Africa during the slavery period, an era characterizing the human relationships at their lowest. The society had to evolve from this state to a more developed form in all its aspects thus, African Americans had to fight for their human identity and dignity. Throughout history, African Americans suffered the most severe forms of injustice perpetrated by white Americans following the early Christian beliefs and sentiments that the African is a savage.

In this connection, the issue of being black and originating from the areas, where the Africans practiced different rites of worshipping God, as compared to people coming from Europe and New World at that time, evoked negative attitudes. In this respect, the paper will analyze the historical progression of African Americans in 1920 to 1945, by dissecting the political, economic, social, cultural and intellectual aspects of their daily lives.

The history of African Americans would not be complete without mentioning the black movement that took the form of the renewed identification, rebirth, self respect and new thinking to the blacks. As symbolized by the artists of this time, the blacks revived songs, created new works of art, dances and pieces of literature. This movement had far reaching effects as it affected almost all blacks in the United States from the South to the North. The question of the blacks civil rights made famous by Martin Luther King, would arise from the work of that time that blacks basked in the black aesthetics, new thinking,  black women literature and iconic leaders, like Kwame Nkrumah, writers like Wole Soyinka, famous black men like Marcus Garvey  and Alex Harvey. This renaissance of African Americans catapulted to the tumultuous response from anti-black activists that led to assassination and lynching later in the following decades of the 1950 and 1960s and affected the historical space of the black people (Virginia Historical Society, 2004).

The social cultural fervent of this time was a complete change from the older form. Before this head reeling moment, the blacks were treated with prejudice of an amounting hatred and retrogressive stance. In the societal circles, the black family was not allowed to exercise its tenable rights of pursuing the inalienable rights to happiness, to life and freedom as stipulated in the American constitution and also the Declaration of Independence of 1776. According to the historical fact, the blacks had been emancipated from slavery by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. However, this was not the case in terms of the social and cultural perspective in the 1920s, 30s and 40s (Jefferson, Fink,  United States, 2002).

By the turn of the 20th century, Jim Crows laws were the largest challenges that the African American faced. Under these laws, they faced segregation by separate and equal policy which allowed for the inferior treatment and poor living conditions ranging from economic, educational and social disadvantages. The schools meant for the black children were of lower quality and poorer learning conditions in comparison to the whites schools. In addition to this, the public forum was meant for only the whites thus the best places were reserved for the whites and no colored were to be seen in such places.

Women defined the course of events in the 1920s as they pushed for equality with men in terms of jobs, marriage and political platforms in addition to changes in other areas. They went as far as to form women alliances in Ku Klux Klan that advocated for white supremacy, family ideals and moral decency. This movement was a revival of the one that took place in the 1870s during the reconstruction after the civil war that had a pro-white character. Thus, the issues of the 20th century concerning the African American delineation from the mainstream American politics and all aspects of life had a long history. At this time, the economy of America was flourishing and the womens liberation formed the female marketing style that introduced females governing the marketing scenes. However, this was not for the African American women who were not even allowed to vote at the time (Moses  Hartmann, 1995).

Men worked hard to provide for their families, but the new increased pressures of life led to family break ups. The need to satisfy greater and higher social statuses saw the collapse of many marriages and the African American women were not left out. The spreading of religion among the blacks was accomplished by the blacks churches. They identified and allowed women and men, elders and preachers, toward the heavenly inclination and away from the social disgust and frustrations in the society, meted to African Americans.

Economically, the situation was not different from the social life of the black people. African Americans and other minority groups came last in terms of materials and jobs held. 1920s being the age of prosperity, the rise of corporate business under the culture of consumption, black men held the lowest paid jobs and thus were on the lowest level of the socioeconomic ladder. The initial reference to the golden 20s was soon retreating, as the Great Depression of 1930s came. The blacks life was characterized by the great second immigration to the North from the troubled Deep South (Canaan, 2001).

The blacks were placed between a rock and a hard place that even years of hard working never brought them relief, but debts. Nevertheless a certain economic improvement was noticed with time, as free families were allowed to own a certain amount of property. However, the blacks experienced massive unemployment. They could not afford to buy or rent houses for their families and there was insufficient money for seeking medical care. They worked in industrial factories with poor payment and frequent sacking. Besides, the presence of whites-only hospitals made their lives even worse. Their squalid living conditions, homes with no electricity, could hardly allow conducting any activities for economic emancipation.

The unemployment issue was the consequence of the First World War, which found expression in the labor unions strikes and deals that halted the industrial works in America. By the fact that African Americans formed the lowest class in the society especially in the South, this depression completely affected him with large magnitudes. The provision of services in the black neighborhoods was poor since they were segregated from the highest power of government finding expression in the stigma, hatred and prejudice in the ordinary lives of African American (Briggs, 2004).

The 1930s were the years that saw the preparation of the African American official civil struggle that was to take strong grounds in the 50s and 60s. The African American at this time suffered almost silently. The social networking of black people and funding of small activities that raised their voice against the segregation laws in addition to the recruitment against the segregation were rife. Before the famous Montgomery bus boycott, the ground had already been laid for the integration of seasoned activists and leaders under the black organizations, like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) whose sole interests lay on the African American. These activities saw the birth of the civil movement, we shall overcome which is historic today of the black power and emancipation from the depressive conditions during this early twentieth century (Brown  Webb, 2007)

In the matters of education, African Americans in the period of 1920 to 1945 faced a massive discrimination. The belief that the blacks were not capable of learning and would hold back white children in class was the raw point argument of segregation in schools. In the South the presence of African American high schools was very inconsiderable. Similarly, the quality of education in comparison to the whites schools was of lower standards, thus, it was impossible for blacks to pursue further education and reach much academic success.
Teachers of the day had to unite with the union leaders to voice their dissatisfaction with low salaries in the New Deal pact. Most of the black schools could not obtain funding for paying the teachers and supporting the black student. At the same time the racial segregation would not allow a better representation of these black students since no blacks held high positions in the sphere of education, thus, lobbying for school funding was almost impossible (Reed, 2004).

In this respect, African Americans had to invent and innovate new ways of circumnavigating against the gridlock. This led to people, parents, teachers, and the community combining efforts in materials, personal finances and other help in order to support black education. They had to make up self help concept rather than depend on the state of the art machinations which were already bent angles away from their cause. This was in the form of  the communal farming, saving the meager salaries and offering hand help where it was needed.
This racial segregation was most felt in the South as Philanthropists felt that due to the incapacity of blacks to perform like whites in learning, the need to advocate for the technical education which would ensure that blacks ended in the lowest paid position often with unskilled or semi skilled workers took the position of high schools. In this kind of education cooking, laundry, metal work, carpentry, sewing and bricklaying were meant to belittle and make the African American more disadvantaged.  The Depression continuously affected education efforts that even the concerted self help by the blacks were thwarted.

However, this does not rule out the fact that there was a step up situation as black colleges later appeared and black people built their schools to serve the national purpose though they were heavily taxed.  In response to segregation, blacks developed Education Equality leagues like that of Philadelphia that focused on hiring black teachers, desegregation in schools and the appointment of black school board of representatives which was supported by the National Association for the Advancement Colored People
(NAACP) in court houses (Brundage, 1993).

African Americans participation in arts, literature, culture and music is another concern of the historical progression of the 1920s to 1945. With the 20s being a roaring age, new technology, new ways of perception and inventions in music dance and writing came to life. The social life of the Americans ranged from the increased interest in baseball game, youthful women who defied the old social order by engaging in flaunting activities that were a complete opposite of the earlier times and the social scare of the  Reds all mixed up to create a new platform for the Americans.

The New Negro essay in 1925 was a call to change in the psychology of African Americans to rally them away from stereotyping and usher them to modernity which was explained through arts and literature and found expression in Harlem renaissance. The art work of African American and literature was developed by people like Langston Hughes, Zole Nearle, Marcus Garvey, Aaron Douglas, Duke Ellington and others who contributed in number of ways to put the African culture in the world limelight thus raise America high in terms of the contribution to the world arts.

The influence of this renewed way of asserting existence of the African way of life and culture led to the development of Euro-African improvement in the visual arts thus would lead to the full liberation of the blacks. In the film industry, images of the great depression were incorporated in a light manner and saw the emergence of black actors and scriptwriters with black theme and government situation as the major concerns. Issues like unemployment, economic difficulties, labor strikes and the rise of crime hit the airwaves as the era between 1920s and 1945 went on to give way to the 50s and 60s.

The 1934 Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) organized the artistic activities and created employment for a considerable number of jobless artists. Roosevelt after becoming the president of the USA in 1932 initiated the creation of the artist program after he was urged by a fellow artist and advised on the importance of such a move. In the end African Americansorganized a very strong company Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 that was very successful in craftsmanship and was know all over in Washington State Park. This is completed under the New deal times after 1929 when the start of the Great depression up to the end of world war. The arts and literature of this time crush at the end of the World War II as the proponents and leaders of the program die out. The intense explosion of culture led to creation of drama and poetry, and the maturity of great intellectuals like Alain Locke, W. E. B. Dubois, and Booker T. Washington among others (Curtis, 1996).

The African American men were never to be left out in the Second World War though they had been sidelined in other areas of social and public life back at home. The women volunteered in huge numbers and national coast guards, navy and the air force where they served the country dutifully with diligence and sacrifices. However, this was not easy since in the war under the service to their country they faced segregation and discrimination and many challenges emanating from that, but they endured all difficulties. It is during this period that African Americans realized that they were not different from the whites. The way they feared death, the blood spill and explosive blasting of the whites during the war was just like African Americans.

After the war these ideas formed the basis of the demand for equality and the strengthening of the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s after the recovery in late 30 and after the Second World War. Thus, the historical progression of African Americans is not fully covered by the paper having analyzed it from the political, social, cultural, socioeconomic and intellectual points of view, in relation to the blacks emancipation, freedom and fight against  the discrimination  and the wish to prove they are not in a single respect inferior to their white counterparts.