Don't Shout Too Soon (1917 - 1940)

Episode 3 of The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow

In the aftermath of World War I, a new round of race riots and lynching broke out, yet this was also a time of increasing strength for Black resistance movements.

Episode Three chronicles the years between the wars as a time of massive Black migration out of the South and continuing conflict within it. By the 1930's many African-Americans found their sole support from Socialists and Communists, who helped organize tenant farmers and sharecroppers and defended the "Scottsboro Boys," nine Black youths falsely accused of rape.

While NAACP counsel Charles Houston began a lengthy legal campaign designed to chip away at Jim Crow, Walter White waged war in the court of public opinion. As the world plunged toward World War II, Black labor leaders like A. Philip Randolph demanded an end to segregation in defense industries. Singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson declared that, "Change is in the air."