January 1919

During the summer and fall of 1919, white mobs attacked Black communities in more than three dozen American cities including Chicago, Washington D.C., Elaine Arkansas, and Knoxville Tennessee. Hundreds of Black people were killed. Coined 'Red Summer' by writer James Weldon Johnson, the violence also catalyzed unprecedented Black armed self-defense and political organizing, including early NAACP anti-lynching campaigns.

Incorporated June 27, 1919, the Black Star Line Shipping Company—financed by selling $5 shares to Black investors worldwide through UNIA networks—purchased four steamships and carried cargo between the U.S. and Caribbean. The corporation represented the largest Black-owned business enterprise of its era before collapsing by April 1922 amid mismanagement and federal infiltration orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover.

Incorporated June 27, 1919, the Black Star Line Shipping Company—financed by selling $5 shares to Black investors worldwide through UNIA networks and the Negro World newspaper—purchased four steamships and carried cargo between the U.S. and Caribbean. The corporation represented the largest Black-owned business enterprise of its era before collapsing by April 1922 amid mismanagement and federal infiltration orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover.

Jamaican-born poet Claude McKay published 'If We Must Die' in The Liberator in 1919 in direct response to the Red Summer racial violence. The sonnet calling for armed resistance and defiant self-defense became one of the most celebrated poems in Black American literature and an anthem of Black assertiveness. Winston Churchill later recited the poem in a different context during World War II.

By 1919 Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association had grown into the largest mass Black organization in American history, with chapters across the United States, Caribbean, and Africa. Garvey combined Black nationalist ideology, Pan-Africanist vision, and entrepreneurial organizing in a way that resonated with hundreds of thousands of working-class Black people, particularly recent migrants and WWI veterans.

Hundreds of thousands of Black veterans returned from World War I having fought for democracy abroad, demanding its application at home. Many returned in uniform to face lynch mobs and racial violence, and some were lynched in uniform. Their determination and the betrayal of their service expectations became a powerful driver of the New Negro movement and intensified civil rights organizing.

Hundreds of thousands of Black veterans returned from World War I having fought for democracy abroad, demanding its application at home. Many returned in uniform to face lynch mobs and racial violence, and some were lynched in their uniforms. Their determination and the betrayal of their service expectations became a powerful driver of the New Negro movement and intensified civil rights organizing.

Fritz Pollard, an All-American halfback from Brown University, joined the Akron Pros in 1919, becoming one of the first Black players in what would become the NFL. He would go on to become the first Black head coach in professional football in 1921. His presence on the field was a direct challenge to racial segregation in American professional sports.

Fritz Pollard, an All-American halfback from Brown University, joined the Akron Pros in 1919, becoming one of the first Black players in what would become the NFL. He would go on to become the first Black head coach in professional football in 1921, a direct challenge to racial segregation in American professional sports.

Returning Black veterans and Great Migration newcomers to Northern cities increasingly rejected accommodation and demanded full citizenship rights, giving rise to what observers called the New Negro. Journals, newspapers, and organizations reflected a new militancy. Claude McKay's poem 'If We Must Die,' written in response to Red Summer violence, crystallized the defiant spirit that would define the Harlem Renaissance.

By 1919 Harlem had solidified its position as the capital of Black America, with a dense concentration of newspapers, churches, political organizations, theaters, and cultural institutions. The concentration of Black migrants, West Indian immigrants, intellectuals, and artists created the conditions for the explosion of creative and political work that defined the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

By 1919 Harlem had solidified its position as the capital of Black America, with a dense concentration of newspapers, churches, political organizations, theaters, and cultural institutions. The concentration of Black migrants, West Indian immigrants, intellectuals, and artists created the conditions for the explosion of creative and political work that defined the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

W.E.B. Du Bois organized the first Pan-African Congress in Paris in February 1919, coinciding with the Paris Peace Conference. Delegates from African colonies, the Caribbean, and the United States called for international attention to the rights of African peoples and an end to colonial exploitation. Though limited in immediate impact, it established the Pan-African Congress movement.

W.E.B. Du Bois organized the first Pan-African Congress in Paris in February 1919, coinciding with the Paris Peace Conference. Delegates from African colonies, the Caribbean, and the United States called for international attention to the rights of African peoples and an end to colonial exploitation. Though the conference had limited immediate impact, it established the Pan-African Congress movement.

After returning from World War I, James Reese Europe recorded a series of jazz and blues tracks for Pathe Records, including 'Memphis Blues' and 'How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm.' These recordings are among the earliest documented jazz recordings and captured the sound Europe's band had introduced to France. Europe was murdered by a band member in May 1919.

After returning from World War I, James Reese Europe recorded a series of jazz and blues tracks for Pathe Records, including 'Memphis Blues' and 'How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm.' These recordings are among the earliest documented jazz recordings and captured the sound Europe's band had introduced to France. Europe was murdered by a band member in May 1919.

Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, who had been performing together since meeting in 1915, developed material throughout 1918 and 1919 that would coalesce into 'Shuffle Along,' the landmark 1921 Broadway musical that helped launch the Harlem Renaissance. Their vaudeville performances and musical collaborations during the war years built the artistic foundation for the show that would transform Broadway.

The National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, founded in 1908 under Adah Thoms, intensified its campaign for equal treatment of Black nurses during and after World War I. Thoms lobbied the War Department and Congress to recognize Black nurses' service, and the organization documented the systematic exclusion of qualified Black women from military medical roles despite critical nursing shortages.

Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, who had been performing together since meeting in 1915, developed material throughout 1918 and 1919 that would coalesce into 'Shuffle Along,' the landmark 1921 Broadway musical that helped launch the Harlem Renaissance. Their vaudeville performances during the war years built the artistic foundation for the show that would transform Broadway.

The National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, founded in 1908 under Adah Thoms, intensified its campaign for equal treatment of Black nurses during and after World War I. Thoms lobbied the War Department and Congress to recognize Black nurses' service, and the organization documented the systematic exclusion of qualified Black women from military medical roles despite critical nursing shortages.

In 1919, Father Divine (Major Jealous Divine) moved his Peace Mission movement to Sayville, Long Island, establishing a communal household that drew hundreds of new followers through the 1920s, including his first white converts. He held free weekly banquets, helped newcomers find employment, and preached racial equality and economic cooperation. The movement would grow dramatically after 1932 when it relocated to Harlem.

In 1919, Father Divine (Major Jealous Divine) moved his Peace Mission movement to Sayville, Long Island, establishing a communal household that drew hundreds of new followers—including his first white converts—through the 1920s. He held free weekly banquets, helped newcomers find employment, and preached racial equality and economic cooperation. The movement would grow dramatically after 1932 when it relocated to Harlem, but its communal roots were established in the Sayville decade.

The planning and organizing that led to the founding of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority began in 1919 at Howard University, culminating in its official founding on January 16, 1920. Arizona Cleaver Stemons and others developed the vision for a sorority committed to finer womanhood, scholarship, and sisterly love, with a constitutional sisterhood with Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.