Ap World History Dbq Research Paper

The socioeconomic condition of African Americans underwent many superficial transformations from 1910 to 1930. Even though phenomena such as the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance cannot be discredited; the actual experience of the majority of African Americans remained stagnant. In other words, although the African American population experienced a notable shift from rural to urban and a subsequent cultural awakening in the time period between 1910 and 1930, they remained second-class citizens: confined to racial enclaves resulting from housing segregation and barred from the economic opportunities available to whites. African Americans were universally excluded from the social changes that the rest of the nation experienced during

For example, black schools received far less funding than white schools and the same held true for all segregated public institutions. As the majority of the African American population was concentrated in the South these developments affected millions. Although the Progressive Era is referred to as a golden age of agriculture, the vast majority of African Americans were sharecroppers and thus benefited minimally. African Americans were painfully aware of the exploitive nature of sharecropping as evidenced by the Southern African American folk saying, “[d]e white man he got ha’f de crop/Boll-Weevil took de res’” (Doc 1). The dissemination of such folk sayings reveals the commonalities of the southern African American experience. However, most African Americans were unable to afford landownership and so remained stuck in the familiar dynamic of white supremacy. The few who could moved to urban centers, signaling the beginning of the Great Migration. However, racism was not confined to one region in America and African Americans nationwide continued to experience racially motivated discrimination and violence (Doc 4). Racial violence was

African Americans who joined the military were excluded from the navy entirely and subject to segregation in the regular army. So, rather than creating an environment of camaraderie, military service further perpetuated the established racial system. Domestically, the Great War generated an enormous demand for labor in industrial cities, demand that could no longer be met by immigration, which essentially ceased during the war. The result was that many African Americans in search of greater socioeconomic opportunity began moving to the North. It was only now that the Great Migration began in earnest as evidenced by the incredible growth of the African American population in Chicago, which more than doubled between 1910 and 1920 (Doc 7). White populations, both native and immigrant, were already hostile towards the newcomers thanks to longstanding racial prejudices. The common practice of using African Americans as strike breakers aggravated this tension. Even when African Americans were employed alongside whites their workplaces were still segregated, which was considered integral in order to “preserve the peace” (Doc 3). In addition, African Americans were excluded from most unions, and limited to unskilled and low paying labor.