1903
W.E.B. Du Bois publishes The Souls of Black Folk, which declares that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line," and discusses the dual identity of black Americans.
1903
In protest to the ideology of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois suggests the concept of the "Talented Tenth"--a college-trained leadership cadre responsible for elevating blacks economically and culturally.
1904
Joe Gans, perhaps the greatest fighter in the history of the lightweight division, loses to welterweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott in a 20-round draw.
1905
The Niagara Movement is founded as a group of black intellectuals from across the nation meet near Niagara Falls, Ont., adopting resolutions demanding full equality in American life.
1905
Madame C.J. Walker develops and markets a method for straightening curly hair, on her way to becoming the first black female millionaire in the United States.
1906
President Theodore Roosevelt orders 167 black infantrymen be given dishonourable discharges because of their conspiracy of silence regarding the shooting death of a white citizen in Brownsville, Texas.
1906
After educator John Hope becomes its president, Atlanta Baptist College expands its curriculum and is renamed Morehouse College.
1907
Black Primitive Baptist congregations formed by emancipated slaves after the Civil War organize the National Primitive Baptist Convention, Inc.
1909
A group of whites shocked by the Springfield riot of 1908 merge with W.E.B. Du Bois's Niagara Movement, forming the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
1911
The National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes (National Urban League) is formed in New York City with the mission to help migrating blacks find jobs and housing and adjust to urban life.
1914
George Washington Carver of the Tuskegee Institute reveals his experiments concerning peanuts and sweet potatoes, popularizing alternative crops and aiding the renewal of depleted land in the South.
1915
Jack Johnson, first black heavyweight champion of the world, loses the title to Jess Willard, the "Great White Hope," in 26 rounds in Havana. Rumors claim he lost to avoid legal difficulties.
1917
Racial antagonism toward blacks newly employed in war industries leads to riots that kill 40 blacks and 8 whites in East Saint Louis, Ill.
1918
James Van Der Zee and his wife open the Guarantee Photo Studio in Harlem. The portraits he shoots later become a treasured chronicle of the Harlem Renaissance.
1919
During the "Red Summer" following World War I, 13 days of racial violence on the South Side of Chicago leave 23 blacks and 15 whites dead, 537 people injured, and 1,000 black families homeless.
1920
Marcus Garvey, leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, addresses 25,000 blacks at Madison Square Garden and presides over a parade of 50,000 through the streets of Harlem.
1921
Oscar Charleston, perhaps the best all-around baseball player in the history of the Negro leagues, leads his league in doubles, triples, and home runs, batting .434 for the year.
1922
Louis Armstrong leaves New Orleans, arriving in Chicago to play second trumpet in cornetist King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. Armstrong's work in the 1920s would revolutionize jazz.
1922
Aviator Bessie Coleman, who later refuses to perform before segregated audiences in the South, stages the first public flight by an African-American woman.
1923
Charles Clinton Spaulding becomes president of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. He builds it into the nation's largest black-owned business by the time of his death in 1952.
1923
Blues singer Bessie Smith, discovered by pianist-composer Clarence Williams, makes her first recording. She will eventually become known as "Empress of the Blues."
1924
Spelman Seminary, which began awarding college degrees in 1901, becomes Spelman College. The school began in 1881 with two Boston women teaching 11 black women in an Atlanta church basement.
1925
In an era when Ku Klux Klan membership exceeds 4,000,000 nationally, a parade of 50,000 unmasked members takes place in Washington, D.C.
1925
Countee Cullen, one of the finest poets of the Harlem Renaissance, publishes his first collection of poems, Color, to critical acclaim before graduating from New York University.
1925
Singer and dancer Josephine Baker goes to Paris to dance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in La Revue nègre, becoming one of the most popular entertainers in France.
1925
A. Philip Randolph, trade unionist and civil-rights leader, founds the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which becomes the first successful black trade union.
1926
Pianist, composer, and self-proclaimed inventor of jazz Jelly Roll Morton records several of his masterpieces, including "Black Bottom Stomp" and "Dead Man Blues."
1927
Painter Henry Ossawa Tanner, whose works include "The Raising of Lazarus," becomes the first black American to be granted full membership in the National Academy of Design.
1928
Poet and novelist Claude McKay publishes Home to Harlem, the first fictional work by an African-American to reach the best-seller lists.
1929
John Hope, noted advocate of advanced liberal arts instruction for blacks, is chosen as president of Atlanta University, the first graduate school for African-Americans.