History in the Making: The Formation of the African American Identity
by Gabrielle LaBare, Student Success & Engagement Librarian
Returning home from the first world war Black soldiers had hoped to find a reformed America, but they returned to sharecropping disenfranchisement and labor exploitation, continued lynchings and illiteracy, and cultural conditioning of societal inferiority.[1] Many who remained in the United States during the war found a new place to call home, beginning the Great Migration, but found with the return of white soldiers the insecurity of the nation, leading to Red Summer where Blacks were “being mobbed, chased, dragged from street cars, beaten, and killed.”[2] In his 1925 book, The New Negro, Alain Locke noted that the new generation must step out of the shadows and reclaim their narrative and identity of what it means to be Black. This call to action was taken up by politicians, academics, educators and artists, believing that with “renewed self-respect and self-dependence, the life of the Negro community is bound to enter a new dynamic phase, a buoyancy from within compensating for whatever pressure there may be of conditions from without.”[3] Thus the New Negro Movement was defined, and with it defining of the African American identity.
In 1915 the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) was founded, seeking to preserve and disseminate Black history, culture and lived experiences to the masses. In 1926 Carter G. Woodson, one of the founders of the ASNLH and ‘father of Black history’ initiated Negro History Week. Maintaining the ASNLH’s publication, The Journal of Negro History, and promoting Negro History Week were his life’s work, which evolved into the Journal of African American History and Black History Month today. The beginning of the 20th century also fostered several longstanding Black institutions, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Urban League (NUL), Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Their popular publications like The Crisis, Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, The Messenger: World’s Greatest Negro Monthly and Negro World shared injustices in labor, housing and racially motivated crimes while promoting social and cultural growth. These publications were platforms for activists like W.E.B. DuBois, A. Philip Randolph, Chandler Owen, and Marcus Garvey to share their ideas, while creatives like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughtes, Claude McKay, Gwendolyn B. Bennett and Countee Cullen encapsulated the essence of the African American experience.
This February in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, Syracuse University Libraries is elated to honor and celebrate the achievements, history and culture of Black Americans. Our Black History Month display on the first floor of Bird Library showcases materials from our collection, including books, journals, databases and more. Everything is available for immediate circulation and access, including physical and digital resources. We have also curated an online Black History Month Research Guide, organized by topic to help you learn and celebrate. We encourage our campus community to participate in the many Black History Month Events that are listed on the University Events Calendar.
We appreciate the support and guidance of Michael-Daniel Vodzogbe, Program Coordinator for Belonging and Student Success, who assisted with the creation of this year’s display.
Please note: No book nor the display as a whole represents opinions or positions of the Syracuse University Libraries.
[1] DuBois, W.E.B., “Returning Soldiers” in The New Negro: Readings on Race, Representation, and African American Culture, 1892-1938, edited by Henry Louis Gates and Gene Andrew Jarrett (Princeton University Press, 2007), 91.
[2] “The Riots: An N.A.A.C.P Investigation,” The Crisis 18, no. 5 (1919): 242.
[3] Locke, Alain, “The New Negro” in The New Negro: Readings on Race, Representation, and African American Culture, 1892-1938, ed Henry Louis Gates and Gene Andrew Jarrett, (Princeton University Press, 2007), 113.