Research Catalog

Title

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

Author

Kornweibel, Theodore.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973.
• Ivy, James W., 1901-1974.
• Lewis, Theophilus, 1891-1974.
• McKinney, Ernest Rice, 1886-1984.
• Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979.
• Schuyler, George S. (George Samuel), 1895-1977.

Description

2 folders

Summary

• 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.

Subjects

• McKinney, Ernest Rice, 1886-1984
• Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973
• Socialism and society
• Lewis, Theophilus, 1891-1974
• Ivy, James W., 1901-1974
• Messenger (New York, N.Y. : 1917-1928)
• Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979
• African Americans > Legal status, laws, etc
• African Americans > Social conditions > To 1964
• Interviews
• Black author
• Schuyler, George S (George Samuel), 1895-1977

Genre/Form

Interviews.

Note

• Audiotapes transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Source (note)

• Theodore Kornweibel

Biography (note)

• 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."

Call Number

Sc MG 826

OCLC

694087888

Author

Kornweibel, Theodore.

Title

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

Biography

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."

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Finding Aid

Local Subject

Black author.

Added Author

Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973.

Ivy, James W., 1901-1974.

Lewis, Theophilus, 1891-1974.

McKinney, Ernest Rice, 1886-1984.

Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979.

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

Research Call Number

Sc MG 826