Less than a half-century after the Emancipation Proclamation was ordered, the state of African-Americans in the country – and more specifically, in New York City – had changed drastically over a relatively short time span.  In 1909, not only were they free from the bonds of slavery, but they were also permitted, with some substantial limits, to live and work alongside whites in the city; consequently, they were invited both to participate in and to watch the Hudson-Fulton Celebration.  The extent of these limits is evident not only in the social and economic standings of most African-Americans at the time, but also in some of the practices that occurred throughout the course of the celebration.

The year 1909 was a both a year of progress and a year of prejudice for African-Americans.  For the overwhelming majority of black New Yorkers, living in the city was inhumanely difficult.  After a sudden influx of immigrants from Europe, many black men were locked out of the job market.  Most of the professions that had once typically belonged to them transferred into the hands of poor, white people who worked for little money and were more favorable in the eyes of white employers. ^[i]   Black students were harassed and assaulted on their ways to school, causing many to drop out, and those who did attend school received an inferior education to that which was taught to white students.  African-American families had no choice but to live in tenement houses that white people had deemed uninhabitable, and even then, white New Yorkers complained about the presence of black neighborhoods within the line of vision of “respectable white people.” ^[ii]

However, despite these deplorable conditions, 1909 did see the beginning of an era of positive change for New York’s African-American community.  In 1896, just over a decade earlier, the National Association of Colored Women, the first national organization of its kind, had been founded at 9 Murray Street. ^[iii]   Its officers included Frances Jackson Coppin, after whom several educational institutions are named, and Mrs. Booker T. Washington, the wife of the famous African-American educator.  In 1884, segregation had been legally abolished in New York City public schools.  The year 1902 had seen the first Broadway revue produced by a company of black men, titled “In Dahomey,” with lyrics by renowned black poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.  And in the year 1909, several important changes had their humble beginnings.  On February 12, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded, a small, grassroots effort that would blossom into a nationally recognized and powerful organization.  At the same time, NAACP member Mary White Ovington was working to persuade wealthy New Yorkers to invest in modern housing to improve the living conditions of African-Americans living in San Juan Hill. ^[iv]   Although the fight for African-American rights was far from its peak, its roots were firmly planted in the early twentieth century.  These progressions indicated an increasing societal acknowledgment of African-Americans as a recognizable, cultural community – a concept that was clearly demonstrated by the inclusion of black New Yorkers in the Hudson-Fulton Celebration.  

AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE CELEBRATION

In the spirit of this slowly growing desire for tolerance and integration, the Hudson-Fulton celebration opened up participation in some of its events to the black community.  Most of the celebratory events that included African-Americans were geared toward black children.   Strangely (and perhaps unsurprisingly) enough, despite the Commission’s desire to portray the city as a diversified, cultural hub, black New Yorkers were not invited to participate in events that showcased their own culture ­– in fact, there were no such events.  Rather, they were included in events like the Children’s Festival Parade, where “[t]here were about ten dances, including a Japanese Dance by the colored girls of the Abyssinian Baptist Church Sunday School….” ^[v]   Similarly, in a set of photographs taken at the celebration, there exists an image of a group of African-American  adolescents at the Children’s Festival.  The caption reads, “Colored children impersonating Indians.” ^[vi]   The children are all dressed in traditional Native American costume, their hair braided and stuck with feathers.  This inauthentic representation of several races is exemplary of the flawed tolerance that New York was attempting to promote at the time – an effort to move toward a kind of social awareness that most did not yet fully understand.  In incorporating minorities into the celebration, these groups were mixed together carelessly.  Having black children dress up as Native Americans was acceptable because both groups were marginalized – they were essentially the same in the eyes of many New Yorkers.  This misconception made cultural planning relatively simple; rather than searching out an African dance for black children or recruiting a group of Japanese children, the event’s planners could combine two distinct cultures to create what they saw as the same effect.

In 1909, there was still a great deal of racism that lingered from the age of slavery.  Even in an effort to foster cultural education, New Yorkers were cautious about which cultures to expose their children to.  At the time, folk dances, like the Japanese dance in which the black girls participated, were accepted as valuable methods of diversity education – they were appropriate for children and they could be taught and supervised in public places like playgrounds. ^[vii]   However, because these dances were taught out of their original context, the meaning of their gestures was lost, most likely contributing to the sense that other cultures were, albeit intriguing, mostly ridiculous, frivolous, and strange.  It can be presumed that, in order to protect their “respectable” white children from what was then seen as savagery, American educators exposed students to only “the best” – that is, the most developed, educated, and internationally respected – of human civilization, in hopes of sheltering them from traditions that could undermine what was considered to be the highest levels of human achievement. ^[viii]

INTEGRATED EVENTS AND DISCRIMINATION

Aside from the events that centered on African-American participation were some that included black New Yorkers along with other races.  The Children’s Festival, in addition to its dances and impersonations, included a number of activities that incorporated people of all ethnicities.  Most New York City public schools sent students to the event, including primarily black institutions.  Although segregation in New York schools legally ended in 1884, it continued in actuality well into the twentieth century; even in 1913, the NAACP reported that less than 200 black students in the city attended racially mixed high schools. ^[ix]   According to American historian Alessandra Lorini,

500,000 children of all nationalities were involved in the festival.  Children were organized into forty divisions, throughout the city parks and avenues, and all did the same exercises, sang the same songs, gave the same salutes, took the same oath of allegiance to the flag, and produced their dance tableaux, which told the story of different periods of New York history since Hudson sailed. ^[x]

The Historical Parade also included members of a number of ethnicities, this time not limited to just the youthful.  According to the press following the event, approximately 300 African-Americans participated in the parade marches and floats. ^[xi]   This participation refers to spots on the floats and in the groups marching, such as the 50-person Colored Band. ^[xii]   African-Americans were primarily featured, however, in the groups of foreign immigrants who marched in the procession.  Although most were simply of African descent, not having actually immigrated to the United States themselves, this placement of black New Yorkers among “foreigners” speaks a great deal to the isolated nature of African-American life in the early twentieth century.  The Commission condescendingly outlined its purpose in this procession as way to unify the representatives of as many as possible of the nationalities composing the cosmopolitan population of the State, so as to make them feel that the heritage of the State’s history belonged to them as well as to those more distinctively American. ^[xiii]

Clearly, this attempt to incorporate African-Americans (and people of other “nationalities”) into a celebration – planned, for the most part, by upper class white men – was far from perfect or fair, though perhaps well intentioned for its time.  After all, this was a time when the idea of whites and blacks together in the workforce was unheard of; many black men would be considered lucky to be hired to menial, dead-end jobs that paid half the minimum monthly wage. ^[xiv]   While the celebration may have been an attempt to rise above such socioeconomic divides, the realization of this goal was sometimes limited.  In fact, there was one instance in particular that demonstrated prejudice’s ability to inject itself even into the supposedly unifying festivities.  After the momentous Naval Parade, one of the highlights of the celebration, headlines of black newspapers like the New York Age were ablaze with claims of discrimination toward African-American sailors.  Black New York residents were incensed at the exclusion of African-American sailors from the Naval Parade, especially due to the fact that a number of Filipino sailors were permitted to parade with the white sailors.  Instead of parading, the black sailors were assigned to duty on battle ships.  The New York Age reported, “In last Thursday’s parade the Negroes were made conspicuous by their absence…. Many remarked that it was strange that while there are several hundred Negro sailors with the American fleet, not one was seen in the parade.” ^[xv]

The intentional failure to include the black members of the U.S. Navy in the parade made a profound statement about the position of African-Americans in 1909 society.  While white New Yorkers could accept African-Americans as a presence inthe city, and even minimally as a source of cultural diversity, America was not prepared to showcase its black community as a component of its military – as a contributor to its strength as a nation.  In the eyes of early twentieth century Americans, black people were still an impediment, not an asset, to the power of their country.  It appears that, as was the prevalent theme among black issues at the time, the steps made toward equality in the Hudson-Fulton Celebration were worth recognition.  However, most were overshadowed by the glaring presence of prejudice of the year in which they occurred.