ALPHA PHI ALPHA BROTHERS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE (1920-1935) By Brother Julius E. Thompson
he Harlem Renaissance era, generally referred to as the period between 1920-1935, holds a special place in the history of African-Americans. Also called the Black Renaissance, the period witnessed a tremendous outpouring of literary, historical and artistic productions by black people in the United States; with Harlem, New York, serving as the major vantage point of the movement.1 During this period, Alpha Phi Alpha celebrated its second major decade of growth and development, and Alpha Brothers were major contributors to the Black Renaissance.2 In fact, this Article documents the roles of twenty-one Fraternity Brothers during the Harlem Renaissance. The Black Renaissance occurred during a critical period of modern Black American history. Politically, socially and economically, an Age of segregation gripped black life in America, especially so in the South. With the coming of World War I in 191418 and into the 1920's, many blacks sought to escape the harshest consequences of American racism by migrating from the South to the North. Hundreds of thousands left the South, and took their talents and skills with them. When combined with the native northern black populations, an urban phenomenon took place, transforming the black population in the United States from a largely rural people to one concentrated in cities. One scholar estimates that "at the end of the 1920's there were 164,566 black people living in Harlem, making it the most densely populated black area in the world."3 Black writers, artists, intellectuals and leaders were especially attracted to New York City, because of its major importance in the economic, cultural and political life of the nation. New York was extremely important because of its size, the largest city in America; the banking and commercial activities of the region; the press; its foundations; and the national book publishing and other cultural institutions which were prominent there, and its role in bringing together a large range of black artistic and literary talent. The list of outstanding black figures who contributed to the Black Renaissance—and made New York their home—(at some stage of their career), reads like a who's who among AfricanAmericans of the Twentieth Century, including: James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Jessie Fauset, Marcus Garvey, Walter White, Brother Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Brother Eric Walrond, Brother W. E. B. DuBois, Rudolph Fisher, Nella Larsen, Claude McKay, Wallace Thurman, Arna Bontemps and Zora Neale Hurston among others. Yet, it must be understood that the Black Renaissance also took place in many other cities throughout the United States, such as Chicago, Illinois, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia.4 It should also be clearly understood that although the
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CELEBRATING THE MILLENNIUM
Harlem Renaissance had perhaps its greatest impact in the area of literature production - (poetry, stories, and novels) - the movement also encouraged an expansion of black jazz, gospel and blues; other fine arts, such as painting, sculpture and theatre; education (what we today would now call black consciousness); and the study of Africa and blacks outside of the mother continent, especially United States black history, life and culture.5 Certainly the impact of the movement was impressive. Scholar Nathan Irvin Huggins notes that the Harlem Renaissance: "left its mark as a symbol and a point of reference for everyone to recall.. .the very name continued to connote a special spirit, new vitality, black urbanity, and black militancy. Through the activities, the writings, the promotion of Negroes in the 1920s, Harlem had become a racial focal point for knowledgeable black men [and women] the world over".6 Within the world of the Black Renaissance characters, at least twenty-one Alpha Phi Alpha Brothers made remarkable contributions to the movement. Of twenty-one Brothers listed, ten were bom in the South, seven in Eastern states, three in the Midwest, and one in a foreign country, Guyana. At least eighteen of the Brothers were bom in the Nineteenth century: (four in the 1860s, one in the 1870s, six in the 1880s, and seven in the 1890s). Collectively, they were a highly educated group. Sixteen of the Brothers attended historically African-American colleges and universities, with the top three being Howard (6), Virginia Union (4) and Fisk (2). Many of the Brothers received their undergraduate degrees, or advanced training at thirtyfour historically white institutions. Four each who attended the University of Chicago, and Columbia University, and two each at Cornell and Northwestern. Howard University had the most from historically black institutions with six Brothers. One Brother attended a third world institution, Cairo University, in Egypt. Four outstanding Alpha Brothers hail from the theater world: Brother Dick Campbell, who, in 1935, became one of the first blacks to manage a professional theater company, the Negro People's Theatre in Harlem, and later with his wife, Mauriel Rahn, the Rose McClendon Players. He also performed in Hot Chocolates, in 1929.7 Brother Duke Ellington was a leading composer and bandleader of the era. In fact, during his career, he composed over 1,000 musical compositions, including such famous ones as "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got that Swing," "Satin Doll" and "Sophisticated Lady." During the Renaissance he contributed music for Chocolate Kiddies (1925) .8