Art for Equality: The NAACP’s Cultural Campaign for Civil Rights

3. Du Bois's Crisis and the Black Image on the Page

63 3 du Bois’s Crisis and the Black Image on the Page The front cover of the April 1911 issue of the Crisis shows a hand-colored photograph of a young African American woman in profile (figure 1). She is dressed smartly and demurely, wearing a high-necked and long-sleeved blouse, trimmed with lace. She is looking down at a hand-drawn copy of the Crisis. The photograph was taken by Addison Scurlock, photographer to black Washington, dC. Scurlock was known for his images of famous African American figures, society ladies, businessmen, and the great and good of the capital. A number of Scurlock’s photographs appeared in the Crisis; they were consistent with W. E. B. du Bois’s ethos of using images that showed a side to black life that challenged racial stereotypes. This photograph is just one example of how the NAACP’s cultural strategy was put into practice in the magazine. Creative work was used in numerous ways, from showing black accomplishment and challenging stereotypes to encouraging racial pride and establishing an African American identity . The black image on the page, in its many guises, was thus part of the NAACP’s campaign against racial prejudice. The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races, the NAACP’s monthly magazine, established by W. E. B. du Bois in 1910, was a tool with which the association could fight racial discrimination. This battle was waged through its editorials, reports, investigations, essays, and articles on every area of black life. From the first issues it included paintings, short stories, poems, and plays by and about African Americans. The Crisis used the arts to combat racism in a myriad of ways. It provided a space to demonstrate the artistic talents and achievements of African Americans. This reflected the NAACP’s belief that one way of demonstrating black equality was to show that the race could produce great works of art and literature. The association encouraged this artistic endeavor not only by providing an outlet for publication and an alternative to white patronage but also Figure 1. Photograph by Addison Scurlock, Crisis (April 1911): front cover. Image from the library of Congress. Du Bois’s Crisis and the Black image on the Page 65 by establishing competitions that rewarded and raised the profile of black participation in the arts. yet there was much more to the NAACP’s cultural strategy than simply proving thatAfricanAmericans could create works of art and literature. The body of work in the Crisis helped to forge a collective black identity that was crucial to the NAACP’s fight. It created a sense of racial pride, not only by demonstrating the talent of fellow race members but also by foregrounding black faces and characters and black life. The magazine became a place where African Americans could see pictures, photographs, stories, and dramas about themselves. The issue of how these black faces appeared is complicated and contentious. The NAACP has been accused of favoring lighter-skinned members of the race, reflecting its supposed assimilationist tendencies. The images of women in particular provide a fascinating insight into this debate; there are numerous examples of fair-skinned beauties on the front cover of the magazine, such as the one described above. However, notions of a shared black and African identity complicate the message about racial pride. The representations of African Americans in the Crisis challenged prejudice by offering alternative images to racial stereotypes. The depiction of black women provides one example of how this was done. Another is the prevalence of representations of the black middle classes. depicting black professionals and successful, hardworking, and decent members of the race exposed as false the claim that the race was lazy, foolish, or bestial. If the images in the Crisis were supposed to represent the magazine ’s readers, this suggests that a collective black identity was to be built around the middle class. The issue, however, is more complicated than simple arguments that the magazine reflected an interest in only this section of black society. It raises the question of the extent to which du Bois censored material to fit his own ideas. Furthermore, it is complicated by the representations of other African Americans, such as workers, in the creative texts of the Crisis. The importance of the Crisis in encouraging and shaping the arts has been recognized by scholars. They have discussed its role in providing a...