Political Thought in the Harlem Renaissance: Crash Course Black American History #27

Summary

The video argues that the Harlem Renaissance was not only a flourishing of Black art and culture; it was also a period of political debate and organizing. Black Americans in Northern cities continued to face racism, segregation, low wages, and dangerous working conditions, even after migrating from the South.

Political Ideas and Organizations

• The “New Negro”: Labor activist A. Philip Randolph and economist Chandler Owen described a generation unwilling to accept accommodation, segregation, or delayed civil rights. In The Messenger, they called for:

  • Political equality and universal suffrage.
  • Labor-union protections comparable to those available to white workers.
  • Protection from economic exploitation, including inflated prices for basic needs.

• Civil-rights organizing: The NAACP and National Urban League pursued grassroots campaigns against discrimination and segregation.

  • Under Eugene K. Jones, the Urban League boycotted businesses that refused to hire Black people and pressed city schools to provide job training for Black workers.
  • Under James Weldon Johnson, the NAACP expanded to about 100,000 members across 300 chapters.
  • Walter White investigated lynchings, sometimes passing as white, as part of the unsuccessful push for a federal anti-lynching law.
  • The NAACP won legal victories, including the Supreme Court’s 1917 decision in Buchanan v. Warley, which struck down city ordinances restricting where Black people could live. In 1926, it also defended Black physician Ossian Sweet against murder charges after an attack on his home.

• Black history as a field of study: Historian Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926 to highlight African American contributions. It later expanded into a month-long observance and became federally recognized in 1976.

Marcus Garvey and Black Nationalism

• Marcus Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica in 1914. After moving to the United States, Garvey built a large following among Black working-class communities in Harlem.
• The UNIA’s newspaper, The Negro World, began in 1918. Amy Jacques Garvey edited its women’s page and wrote about issues affecting Black women.
• Garvey’s Pan-Africanism emphasized the shared experiences and interests of people of African descent around the world, and called for unity in the struggle against oppression and colonial rule.
• Unlike integrationist organizations such as the NAACP and National Urban League, Garvey promoted Black nationalism: Black self-reliance, separation from white society, and the possibility of returning to Africa to establish a nation-state.
• The UNIA also addressed immediate community needs, including voter registration, health care, and education.
• The Black Star Line, a shipping company launched in 1919, was intended both to connect the African diaspora and to strengthen a global Black economy by transporting goods.
• Garvey’s legacy was controversial. His separatist ideas led to an unlikely relationship with the Ku Klux Klan, which also favored Black people leaving the United States, and he expressed derogatory views about some African people. His business venture was also marred by fraud: he was convicted of mail fraud in 1923, sentenced to five years, and deported to Jamaica in 1927. The UNIA declined after his exile.
• Despite these controversies, the video credits Garvey with lasting influence on later Black political movements, including Rastafarianism and the Black Power movement.

Overall, the video emphasizes that Black Americans used art, literature, music, and political organizing to assert their claims to equal civil, social, and political rights, even as activists disagreed about the best strategy and ultimate goal.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Speaker/presenter: Clint Smith, host and narrator.
• Thought Bubble: An animated explanatory segment narrated as part of the video; no separate speaker is identified.
• Historical figures discussed: Booker T. Washington, A. Philip Randolph, Chandler Owen, Eugene K. Jones, James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, Carter G. Woodson, W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Amy Ashwood Garvey, Amy Jacques Garvey, J. Edgar Hoover, and Ossian Sweet. Malcolm X is mentioned through his parents’ UNIA membership.
• Organizations and publications discussed: The NAACP, National Urban League, UNIA, The Messenger, The Negro World, the Black Star Line, the FBI, and the Ku Klux Klan.