The 1920s: From New York to LA Dr. Josh Sides, CSU Northridge 1. Economic Prosperity and Its Perils 2. Labor and Great Migrations 3. African American Renaissance in New York and Los Angeles
People are Stepping Into Banks Saturday Evening Post, October 3, 1925, p. 65
A window display in Harlem urges community participation in solving Harlem's problems.
Chicago’s South Side
Major Race Riots
Chicago Defender
Harlem Apartment
Survey Graphic, which announced the arrival of the New Negro
Langston Hughes
Hughes, “Dinner Guest, Me” I know I am The Negro Problem Being wined and dined, Answering the usual questions That come to white mind Which seeks demurely To Probe in polite way The why and wherewithal Of darkness U.S.A.-- Wondering how things got this way In current democratic night, Murmuring gently Over fraises du bois, "I'm so ashamed of being white." The lobster is delicious, The wine divine, And center of attention At the damask table, mine. To be a Problem on Park Avenue at eight Is not so bad. Solutions to the Problem, Of course, wait.
William Johnson
Aaron Douglas
Tuskegee: Concert at the Institute, 1903 Concert at Tuskegee Institute, 1903
Tuskegee: Girls were taught cooking and table setting, dressed in maids' uniforms with white caps and aprons.
Shoemaking at Tuskegee
And then, there was Los Angeles “Los Angeles is wonderful. Nowhere in the United States is the Negro so well and beautifully housed, nor the average efficiency and intelligence in the colored population so high. Out here in this matchless Southern California there would seem to be no limit to your opportunities, your possibilities.” ----W.E.B. Du Bois, Crisis (August 1913)
"At the cross", boundary between the Black and White sections of Santa Monica and Venice beaches, circa 1925.
African American Social Club, 1930
African American girls on car, 1924
Manual Arts, 1940
Manual Arts Gardening class, 1940
Manual Arts Biology Club, 1940
Jefferson High club 1935
African American homeowner, 1930
Pullman Porters, 1945