35 Experiences of African Americans in the early twentieth century by Hayden Booker
1. The social and cultural impacts of African Americans during the Interwar period
Bessie Smith (1936) by Carl Van Vechten, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
| Curriculum context | VCE Unit 1 Modern History, Area of Study 2 (VCAA, 2020) |
| Historical context | Social and Cultural shifts > Interwar period > Early 20th century > United States |
| Historical thinking concepts | Ask and use historical questions
Establish historical significance |
| Learning intentions | Develop substantive and procedural historical knowledge – explore and understand the social and cultural impacts of African Americans in the face of Jim Crow laws during the early 20th century. |
Previously you will have looked at the restrictive, harsh and unjust realities faced by African Americans during the Interwar period under Jim Crow laws. We will now have a look at stories that challenged this narrative. In this activity you will explore the achievements and lasting influence of African Americans in the early stages of the 20th century by investigating and establishing the historical significance of an event, period or phenomena.
In small groups chose ONE of the following areas to explore:
- 1936 Olympic Games
- Negro Leagues Baseball
- Chicago blues music
You are to implement the 5 Rs (Counsell, 2004) in assessing your chosen areas historical significance:
- Remarkable – observed as important by those of the time or now.
- Remembered – important at some point in history within the shared memory of a group/s.
- Resonant – impacted people after the period or event.
- Resulting in change – had future effects.
- Revealing – of or links with some other aspect of the past.
You are to expand your thinking on these 5 categories and present your findings to the class. Use the images and links provided as a starting point for your group’s research.
1936 Olympic Games
Jesse Owens (left), Ralph Metcalfe (second left), Foy Draper (second right) and Frank Wykoff (right), the USA 4×100 metres Relay Team at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The USA won the gold medal in this event, by Unknown (IOC Olympic Museum, Switzerland), Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Links:
Negro Leagues Baseball
First colored world series, opening game Oct. 11, 1924, Kansas City, Mo. / photo by J.E. Mille[r], K.C., by Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.
Links:
Chicago Blues music
Maxwell Street Camp Meeting, By IMLS Digital Collections & Content, Flickr, (CC BY 2.0)
Links:
Discovering Music: the Blues– see the section “A Short History of the Blues”
References
Britannica (n.d.). Negro league. https://www.britannica.com/sports/World-Series
Counsell C (2004. Looking through a Josephine-Butler-shaped window: focusing pupils’ thinking on historical significance, Teaching History, 114(30), 33-36.
Holocaust Encyclopedia (n.d.). The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-olympics-berlin-1936?series=22
IOC (n.d.). Olympic Games Berlin 1936. https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/berlin-1936
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (n.d.). Negro Leagues History. https://www.nlbm.com/negro-leagues-history/
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (n.d.). Undeniable Episode 2: The International Impact of the Negro Leagues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaYZ77VOADs
The Open University (2023). Discovering music: the blues. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/discovering-music-the-blues/content-section-5
VCAA. (2020). VCE Study Design: History 2022-2026. Victorian Curriculum And Assessment Authority. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/history/Pages/index.aspx
2. Voices of the past: Tweets of African American experiences during the early 20th century
Social Media – The Noun Project icon from the Noun Project, By XOXO, Noun Project, (CC0 1.0)
| Curriculum context | VCE Unit 1 Modern History, Area of Study 2 (VCAA, 2020) |
| Historical context | Social and Cultural shifts > Early 20th century > United States |
| Historical thinking concept/s | Exploring historical perspectives
Historical empathy (Sharp et al. 2022) |
| Learning intentions | Explore and understand the social and cultural impacts of African Americans in the face of Jim Crow law during the early 20th century. |
Using the areas of historical significance that your group previously investigated, as a class, you are to create a social media feed from the perspective of the individuals of the time. Keep the “posts” brief – 280 characters to encapsulate the thoughts of your chosen historical person of interest.
This activity requires you to explore the perspectives of how those in the past saw the world in which they lived. You may need to do a little more research on your chosen individual. Below are some examples:
Jesse Owens – Winning gold in front of the Fascist dictatorship.
Ralph Metcalfe – Contrast experience between Germany and USA.
Tidye Pickett – 1st African American woman to compete at an Olympics.
Satchel Paige – Illustrious and storied baseball career spanning 5 decades!
Jackie Robinson – 1st African American to break the MLB colour barrier.
Rube Foster – Incredible player, successful team owner and organiser of the 1st Negro League.
Roberto Clemente – Outstanding Puerto Rican player – inspired by NgL in Caribbean?
Muddy Waters – Pioneering Chicago Blues musical – thoughts on arriving in Chicago.
Ella Fitzgerald – Queen of Jazz – thoughts or experience with Chicago Blues.
Bessie Smith – Empress of the Blues- thoughts on the experience of black working class women and the music industry
Willie Dixon – Influential Chicago Blues musician – migrated to Chicago from the South.
Remember these are just a few examples – you may have someone else that you found interesting.
References
Sharp H, Dallimore J, Bedford A, Kerby M, Goulding J, Heath TC, von Güttner D & Zarmati L (2022) Teaching Secondary History, Cambridge University Press.
VCAA. (2020). VCE Study Design: History 2022-2026. Victorian Curriculum And Assessment Authority. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/history/Pages/index.aspx
VCAA (2022). Advice for Teachers – History. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/history/advice-for-teachers/Pages/Index.aspx
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![First colored world series, opening game Oct. 11, 1924, Kansas City, Mo. / photo by J.E. Mille[r], K.C.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1924_Negro_League_World_Series.jpg){kind=link}