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"Don't Buy Where You Can't Work": An Investigation of the Political Forces and Social Conflict Within the Harlem Boycott of 1934
INTRODUCTION
On August 4, 1934, a huge crowd of Harlem residents gathered in front of Abyssinian Baptist Church. An atmosphere of excitement and satisfaction was evident; the spirit of celebration was not dampened by a prolonged rainstorm. This rare collection of men, women, and children represented a cross-section of the class and political spectrum of one of the most celebrated communities in Black America Harlem's citizens were assembled to participate in a victory parade sponsored by the Citizen's League for Fair Play. Just ten days before, Blumstein's Department Store signed an agreement to hire forty-five "colored clerical and sales...clerks." A six month campaign had broken the most powerful white merchant on 125th Street.(1)
Organizers tried to postpone the event at 1:00 p.m. because of the foul weather. Thousands "who braved the rain" eventually "wended their way homeward" when word of cancellation reached them. Nearly 1500 celebrants refused to leave and waited patiently for the leadership to reconsider its decision. By 4:00 p.m. the "first ray of sunshine brightened the scene" and the dedicated began to march down Lenox Avenue to 110th Street. Carrying signs which read "Don't Trade Where We Can't Work," the marchers recaptured the rhythm and joy of the 1920s. Some even danced the "two-step" as the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and the Jenkins Orphanage Bands provided the necessary music to inspire those who traveled the route. "While the parade was still moving up Seventh Avenue..., the marchers took occasion to roundly boo while they were passing the office of the Amsterdam News."
Those who were keen observers must have been impressed with the diversity of community participants. Some of Harlem's "finest" rocked with the music and shouted "cries of victory." Fraternal groups, church clubs, ministers, women's societies, celebrities, and professionals joined the unemployed, push-cart vendors, street corner spokesmen, cult members, and Garveyites to form an impressive united front. At Dorrence Brooks Square two loud speakers, supplied by the Dunbar Radio Company, amplified the voices of the boycott leaders. Each "reiterated the story of the fight and...what the League planned to do in the future."(2)
By mid-September 1934, the Citizen's League...