"No crystal stair: Black life and the Messenger, 1917-1928" interviews, 1970-1972.

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"No crystal stair: Black life and the Messenger, 1917-1928" interviews, 1970-1972.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/694087888

The Theodore Kornweibel "No Crystal Stair: Black Life and the Messenger, 1917-1928" Interviews consist of six oral history interviews Kornweibel conducted in 1970-1972 to provide firsthand accounts for his book "No Crystal Stair: Black Life and the "Messenger," 1917-1928," published in 1975. The book examines the political, economic and social alternatives available to black people in the 1920's, including Garveyism, socialism and trade union movements. Interviewees are: Arna Bontemps, James Ivy, Theophilus Lewis, Ernest Rice McKinney, A. Philip Randolph and George S. Schuyler, all of whom either contributed articles to the "Messenger" or were on its board. "The Messenger" was a monthly political magazine published by and for African Americans between 1917 and 1928. It was co-founded in New York City by economist Chandler Owen and labor activist A. Philip Randolph to promote socialist ideology and New Negro strategies for racial progress. The magazine included articles on many of the issues important to African Americans during World War I and the postwar period, and thus helped to strengthen African-American intellectual and political identity in the age of Jim Crow. It also played a critical role in the development of the Harlem Renaissance; after 1920, "The Messenger" featured a greater number of articles about black culture and began to publish rising black writers, featuring poetry, fiction, and literary criticism. The interviewees discuss their role in the "The Messenger" among other related topics. Randolph's extensive interview focuses on his reasons for founding the magazine, its stance against World War I and his personal opposition to the Russian Communist Party because it was "anti-labor in action." Schuyler discusses other staff members as well as the shift, beginning in 1923, in the content of the articles from a radical to a middle class focus.

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New York Public Library System, NYPL

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SNAC Resource ID: 7995159

New York Public Library System, NYPL

Related Entities

There are 7 Entities related to this resource.

Randolph, A. Philip, 1889-1979

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jj4bwm (person)

Asa Philip Randolph (born April 15, 1889, Cresent City, Florida-died May 16, 1979, New York City), African-American labor leader and early civil rights spokesman. Influenced by the socialism of Eugene Debs, Randolph began publishing his magazine The Messenger in 1917. He opposed U.S. entry into the first World War. In 1925 he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. His associations with Bayard Rustin and James Farmer influenced his dedication to nonviolence. Randolph was a founder of ...

Kornweibel, Theodore.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d8077b (person)

Theodore Kornweibel, retired professor of African-American history at San Diego State University, and author and editor of six monographs. His works include "Investigate Everything: Federal Efforts to Compel Black Loyalty During World War I," "Seeing Red: Federal Campaigns Against Black Militancy, 1919-1925" and "No Crystal Stair: Black Life and the Messenger, 1917-1928." From the description of "No crystal stair: Black life and the Messenger, 1917-1928" interviews, 1970-1972. (New Y...

McKinney, Ernest Rice, 1886-1984

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cg0m3v (person)

Born in Malden, West Virginia, in 1886 , McKinney, also known under the pseudonym David Coolidge, was the son of coal miner. At different points in his life McKinney endeavored a variety of jobs which included becoming editor of, This Month; a columnist for the Pittsburgh Courier (1932); Executive Secretary of the Unemployed Citizens' League of Allegheny County (1933); a Social Worker; and Assistant to the Director, Kingsley House. In 1916 an oral history conducted at Columbia University resulte...

Ivy, James W., 1901-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69k577d (person)

Lewis, Theophilus, 1891-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cj996k (person)

Epithet: Lieutenant-Colonel British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000361.0x0001fe ...

Schuyler, George S. (George Samuel), 1895-1977

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j966hc (person)

African American writer and journalist; author of the satirical fantasy "Black no more." From the description of Papers of George Samuel Schuyler [manuscript], 1932-1966. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647833639 Author, journalist; interviewee d.1977. From the description of Reminiscences of George Samuel Schuyler : oral history, 1960. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309724720 George S. Schuy...

Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z329rw (person)

African-American poet, critic, playwright, novelist, author of children’s books, librarian. From the guide to the Arna Bontemps Papers, 1927-1968, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) Teacher in New York, N.Y., and Huntsville, Ala.; head librarian, Fisk University; professor, University of Chicago; curator of James Weldon Johnson Collection and visiting professor of English, Yale University; writer in residence, Fisk University; and author. ...