North Carolina Quakers, Anti-Slavery, and the Underground Railroad: 1920-1949

Date

General African American Timeline

Local Quaker & African American Timeline

1920

Marcus Garvey holds a national convention of the Universal Improvement Association on August 1 in Harlem.

1920

Warren G. Harding, a Republican, is elected President of the United States on November 3.

1921

The Tulsa Race Riot takes place on May 31 to June 1 and results in the death of 39 to possibly 300 African Americans. Tulsa, Oklahoma's segregation ordinances were still in effect even though they were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1917. Within the black community, prosperous neighborhoods and businesses had developed. But there was an active Klu Klux Klan organization in Tulsa and many lynchings had occurred. During the riot, the Greenwood District, known as 'the Black Wall Street' was burned to the ground.  At the time, it was the wealthiest African-American community in the United States. There were 35 city blocks destroyed by fire, and an estimate of 10,000 left homeless.

This event was mostly omitted from local and state history until 1996, when the state legislature commissioned a report. It was completed in 2001.

After 300 Klansmen parade in High Point, a local newspaper boasts that High Point has the "largest Klan in the entire country."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot

1922

At the national convention for the Republican Party in 1920, support for passage of an anti-lynching law was promised. Leonidas C. Dyer sponsored such a bill in 1921 that was passed by the U. S. House of Representatives in January 1922. The bill was, however, defeated by the Senate in December 1922 with a filibuster of Southern white Democratic Senators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States

1923

President Warren Harding dies on August 3. He is succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.

1923

The Rosewood massacre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre

1924

Carnegie Negro Library on the campus of Bennett College at East Washington St. opens and boasts that it has 150 books.

1925

Malcolm X (Malcolm Little) is born on May 19 in Omaha, Nebraska. He would later become an African-American Muslim leader and human rights activist.

J. R. Nocho, an early teacher and civic leader in Greensboro, has a newly developed middle-class African American neighborhood named for him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X

1925

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters is organized on August 25. It is the first labor organization to receive a charter from the American Federation of Labor (AFL).  Civil rights leaders A. Philip Randolph becomes its first president and C. L. Dellums, the vice president. The union motto was "Fight or Be Slaves."

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Pullman Company was one of the largest employers of African Americans. Although Pullman had a reputation as a benevolent supporter of black churches, newspapers and some other organizations; the conditions were difficult for the porters. Much of their income had to be derived from tips given by white passengers; and they had to give back from this to pay for items stolen by these same passengers. They were also often referred to as "George", for George Pullman, founder of the company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Sleeping_Car_Porters

1925

African-American historian Daniel A. P. Murray, the Assistant Librarian of Congress, dies on March 31 in Washington, DC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_A._P._Murray

1927

Greensboro Negro Hospital opens on East Washington Street. It is the first major health facility for African-Americans in Greensboro and later would become L. Richardson Hospital.

1930

U.S. Census of 1930:

  Total population:    122,775,046
  Black population:      11,891,143 (9.7%)

1930

Total population...................................................

122,775,046

White.......................................................

110,286,740

Black.........................................................

11,891,143

American Indian.......................................................

332,397

Asian and Pacific Islander....................................................

264,766

Percent distribution by
  population group:

Total population...................................................

100.0

White.......................................................

89.8

Black.........................................................

9.7

American Indian.......................................................

0.3

Asian and Pacific Islander....................................................

0.2

1931

The Scottsboro Boys case takes place in Alabama when nine African American teenagers are accused of rape. Between false accusations, attempted lynchings, posses, poor legal representation, prison escapes, and pardons by Governor George Wallace in 1976, this case had a long period of notoriety and controversy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsboro_Boys

1933

The Greensboro branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is established in Greensboro by African-American leaders

1937

A boycott of Greensboro movie theaters is led by Bennett College students after the owners refuse to show African American audiences anything other than stereotypical roles.

1937

Nocho Park, a nine hole golf course for African Americans, is opened in Greensboro and contains the new Windsor Community Center.         

1939

Hayes-Taylor YMCA opens on East Market Street for African Americans. $50,000 was donated by Caesar Cone II with a request that it be named in honor of his African American butler, Andrew Taylor, and cook, Sallie Hayes.

1940

U.S. Census of 1940:

  Total population:    131,669,275
  Black population:      12,865,518 (9.8%)

1940

    Total population................................................

131,669,275

White.......................................................

118,214,870

Black.........................................................

12,865,518

American Indian.....................................................

333,969

Asian and Pacific Islander.......................................

254,918

White, Spanish mother tongue/¹............................

1,861,400

White, not of Spanish mother tongue/¹..................

116,530,640

Percent distribution by
  population group:

    Total population.................................................

100.0

White.......................................................

89.8

Black.........................................................

9.8

American Indian.....................................................

0.3

Asian and Pacific Islander.......................................

0.2

White, Spanish mother tongue/¹............................

1.4

White, not of Spanish mother tongue/¹..................

88.5

1947

Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in Major League Baseball when Branch Rickey signs him with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1948

President Harry S. Truman issues Executive Order 9981 that abolishes racial discrimination in the armed forces. This eventually ended segregation in the services. A. Philip Randolph and Grant Reynolds had begun a renewed push for this with the formation of the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training in 1947, the prior year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_9981