African-American History Timeline: 1896 to 1929
1896
1905
1909
1914
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1929
- Plessy v. Ferguson: This landmark Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is constitutional, paving the way for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South.
1905
- W.E.B. DuBois founds the Niagara movement, a forerunner to the NAACP. The movement is formed in part as a protest to Booker T. Washington's policy of accommodation to white society; the Niagara movement embraces a more radical approach, calling for immediate equality in all areas of American life.
1909
- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded in New York by prominent black and white intellectuals and led by W.E.B. Du Bois. For the next half century, it would serve as the country's most influential African-American civil rights organization, dedicated to political equality and social justice In 1910, its journal, The Crisis, was launched. Among its well known leaders were James Weldon Johnson, Ella Baker, Moorfield Storey, Walter White, Roy Wilkins, Benjamin Hooks, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Julian Bond, and Kwesi Mfume.
1914
- Marcus Garvey establishes the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an influential black nationalist organization "to promote the spirit of race pride" and create a sense of worldwide unity among blacks.
1920
- Zeta Phi Beta, an African-American sorority, is founded at Howard University.
- The Negro National Baseball League is founded by Andrew Rube Foster. Eight teams are part of the league.
- The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified. The amendment grants women the right to vote. However, African-American women residing in Southern states are barred from voting through poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses.
- Marcus Garvey holds the first international convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in New York City.
1921
- Shuffle Along, written by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, debuts on Broadway. The musical is considered the first major theatrical production of the Harlem Renaissance.
- The Tulsa Race Riots begin on May 31. When the riot ends the following day, an estimated 60 African-Americans and 21 white residents are killed. In addition to these casualities, the African-American business district known as Deep Greenwood is destroyed.
- Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander becomes the first African-American woman to receive a PhD. Soon after, Eva B. Dykes graduates from Radcliff and Georgiana R. Simpson graduates from the University of Chicago.
- Harry Pace establishes Black Swan Phonograph Corporation. The company is the first African-American record company. Prominent artists includes Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, and Ethel Waters.
- An exhibition of African-American artists is held at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library. Artists such as Henry Ossawa Tanner were featured in the exhibit.
- The Binga State Bank is established in Chicago by Jesse Binga. The banking institution is considered the largest African-American bank in the United States before the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
1922
- William Leo Hansberry, a professor at Howard University, teaches the first course on African history and civilization at a university in the United States.
- Sigma Gamma Rho, an African-American sorority is founded in Indianapolis.
- The Harmon Foundation is developed to assist African-American artists.
1923
- The Rosewood Massacre occurs.
- Marcus Garvey is arrested for mail fraud and sent to a federal prison in Atlanta.
- The Cotton Club opens in Harlem.
- Bessie Smith records “Down Hearted Blues,” which becomes the first million-selling record by an African-American recording arts.
- Garrett T. Morgan patents the caution light.
- The National Urban League begins publishing the magazine, Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life. Edited by Charles S. Johnson, the publication becomes one of the leading news organs of the Harlem Renaissance.
- Rojo Jack is the first African-American to participate in a professional car race.
1924
- James Van Der Zee begins his career as a photographer.
1925
- Alain Locke publishes The New Negro, an anthology featuring African-American writers and visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
- The National Bar Association is founded by African-American attorneys in Des Moines, Iowa.
- A. Philip Randolph establishes the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids.
- The American Negro Labor Congress, a communist-based organization, is developed to recruit and help African-Americans fight racism and discrimination.
- Clifton Reginald Wharton becomes the first African-American to become a U.S. ambassador by rising through the ranks of the U.S. Foreign Service.
1926
- Historian Carter G. Woodson develops Negro History Week commemorating the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
- Dr. Mordecai Johnson is the first African-American president of Howard University.
- Arturo Alfonso Schomburg sells his collection of books and artifacts to the Carnegie Corporation. The collection becomes part of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.
1927
- The Harlem Globetrotters basketball team is established in Chicago by Abe Saperstein.
- Marcus Garvey is deported from the United States.
- Journalist Floyd Joseph Calvin becomes the first African-American radio host when he begins broadcasting from WGBS in Pittsburgh.
- Oscar DePriest is the first African-American to represent a northern, urban district when he is elected to Congress representing the South Side of Chicago.
- Atlanta Daily World, an African-American daily newspaper, begins publication.
1929
- The musical Ain’t Misbehavin debuts on Broadway.