What was the source of African American discontent during the 1920s and 1930s?

Answer 1

There were several major problems. The biggest one was segregation. Up north, Negroes (as they were called back then) had more opportunities, but things still were not completely, or even partially, equal; many neighborhoods did not want black residents and many professions refused to hire even the most qualified black people. Still, up north at least black people could attend a wide range of colleges and many did enter professions that had previously been mostly white. Some even found success in the arts, during the so-called Harlem Renaissance, and many white people respected and admired the work of these black musicians, sculptors, painters, and playwrights. But down south, segregation prevented most black people from advancing and it limited their professional opportunities. It also could get them killed: too often, black people (men especially) were denied even a semblance of justice. A negro was often accused of having committed a crime, and without any evidence or proof, they were arrested and confined; if the charges were serious enough (such as accusations of rape of a white woman), mobs would come and get the prisoner and lynch him.

Another source of black frustration was lack of economic opportunity during the Great Depression. Even government jobs during the Roosevelt administration either paid black people less than whites or excluded them entirely. Further, the governments of too many states continued to accept and in some cases defend segregation. There was even a failure in the US Congress to pass laws against lynching. As much as some black people up north and in certain big cities in the Midwest were living far better lives than they had when they were in the south, most felt the country did not respect or accept them for who they were. Black newspapers of that era constantly editorialized about the patronizing and contemptuous treatment black people lived with on a regular basis. But things did not seem to be changing, and many Negroes wondered if they ever would.