11) The Harlem Renaissance

The 'lost generation' was a term coined by a group of young white writers, like Fitzgerald and Hemmingway, who fought in the war. They felt they had lost what it meant to be young while away at war and were now having to deal with returning to normal society. They were very restless.

The African-Americans had a very different experience though. Those living in Harlem, New York found their identity through the war with their art and culture beginning to boom in the post-war years. They were the 'found generation'. They were returning home to honour and celebrations allowing them to strive for a more equal society.

In the 1920s, 300,000 African-American farmers and unskilled workers migrated northwards. The majority were young men in their 20s who were looking for jobs. Some did also move because of violence and legalised inequality (the Jim Crow laws) in the south. The southern economy was also fairly poor compared to the north.

The economic factors in the south weren't good. For example, bad weather including droughts were killing all the crops. Many farmers were also share croppers so they worked on someone else's land and then a portion of all the harvest had to be given to the owner. Finally, there were also infestations of the Boll Weevil which ruined cotton and made crops unusable. This all meant the African Americans were losing a lot of harvest.

The declining European population in the north also meant there was a huge demand for workers. Around 4 million people were conscripted for military service so they had to leave. Employers sent people to the south and gave free train tickets to the north to incentivise people to work there. Wages were also much better in the north for African Americans.

The African Americans were used by employers to bust trade unions, but they let themselves be used in this way as the trade unions were racist and exclusionary anyway.

The soldiers' training camps were segregated with the African-Americans having inferior training and facilities. They were sometimes promoted to ranks like officer and captain, but there was a preference for those who were less educated to fill these ranks, perhaps with the intention of making them fail. The black soldiers in the army were mainly intended for labour, like cooking and cleaning.

Harlem's 369th regiment, the 'Hellfighters', were well remembered as they spent 191 days in the trenches and were treated as heroes on their return home. Although, this regiment is perhaps better known for their marching band. Lieutenant James Reese Europe's regimental band led the procession through Manhatten to Harlem when they returned, and their music was soon spread through Europe. Jazz music was thus introduced. Many historians use this event to mark the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance.

Other African-Americans were inspired by the story of the 369th regiment and believed fighting in the war might lead to more equality.

But, the southern migrants and returning soldiers in the north didn't always receive a warm welcome. e.g. in East St Louis, thousands of African-Americans arrived largely due to the demand for workers and the employers' anti-union plans. Race riots broke out and African-Americans were burned out of their homes by the whites. They held a silent protest down 5th Avenue in July 1917 involving 10,000 black marchers. Significantly, they all seemed to be wearing the same hat, including those in the crowd, maybe as a show of solidarity.

Another example can be found in Houston on the 23rd August 1917. The black people were receiving brutal treatment by the white officers and harassment by the police. The 24th battalion raged through the streets killing many white people. The offenders were court marshalled. Many were executed and others served life sentences. People called for more executions, but the president stepped in and ended the punishments.

There was a growing sense of pride among the black people and they increasingly sought equality.

The African-Americans decided they wanted a new identity, not the subjugated one where they were afraid of white people. The 'New N egro'. They moved away from their parents' generation, much like the white people were also doing, and so developed a youth culture. The new n egro was very mad and refused to accept that treatment anymore. Newspapers like the Harlem Crusader talked of the new n egro and how they would no longer be afraid of the white people. The old n egro was gone.

There were different approaches to achieving this new n egro though. Some, like Alain Locke, used peaceful means away from violence and race wars. He wrote a book called 'The New N egro' which became a central text to the Harlem Renaissance.

Apartments in Harlem were promoted to African Americans. It was a very compact area and was extremely densely populated. The African Americans created very successful businesses, like cabarets. But there was some friction between the African Americans and the African Caribbeans.

Marcus Garvey was a very influential African Caribbean from Jamaica. He arrived in New York City in 1916 and believed the Africans should be returned to Africa and Africa should be returned to the Africans. He established the United N egro Improvement Association (UNIA) which believed in one God, one aim and one destiny. But, his belief that the Africans should be returned to Africa met resistance as, by this point, the African Americans saw Africa as backwards and they didn't want that. Garvey was also only mainly accepted by the working classes. This is likely because the middle class was more educated than the working class, and Garvey liked pomp which further put them off. He did have lots of followers among the working class though.

James Van Der Zee was a professional photographer working in Harlem. He took many famous pictures including one of a woman dressed up beside a car which shows the African Americans were also consuming in the 1920s.

Another of his pictures shows a naked young girl staring into a fire, but everything around her is fake, including the fire. It shows how women during this period were caught in the middle of a constructed interior created by men that led to constructed gender roles.

Another of his photos shows a prophet leaning over a book which highlights the importance of black education which was forbidden during this period.

Aaron Douglas also produced great paintings that showed the transformation of the lives of the African Americans, right from their original days in slavery to their position at that point.