Background information for the Fourth Issue of The Dawn of Tomorrow

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Colored Orchestra Goes To Manilla

  • Occurred during the Jazz Age, a period of American history during which African-American jazz music and dance styles became popular within white American society. This contract between these black musicians and the government hotel in America’s colony the Philippines is a testament to the new-found popularity of jazz.

Large Crowd at U.N.I.A. Meeting

  • The Universal Negro Improvement Association was a black nationalist fraternal organization. It was very popular and influential in the African-American community in the 1920s; it also held chapters in Canada, Central America, Africa, and Europe. The UNIA was founded and led by Marcus Garvey, a strong advocate for the Pan-African movement.

Whites Go Free

Our Young Men Pass On

  • Demonstrates that while there was a greater racial tolerance in Canada, racism was still prevalent. Economic opportunities were often unavailable to African Canadians.

We Greet the New Government

  • A reference to the Battle of Chateau-Thierry in July of 1918. A popular idea amongst black veterans returning from the First World War is that they had earned their Civil Rights through their sacrifices committed during the War.

Toronto Notes #7

  • The Liberia colony was founded by the American Colonization Society in the 1820s. Many blacks in Canada and America saw Liberia as an opportunity to escape the oppression of the US and achieve true freedom in Africa, while the white slave-owning members of the ACS saw it as an opportunity to get rid of the freed slaves before they could incite slave revolts. In the 1920s, Marcus Garvey was a strong advocate of the “Back to Africa” movement, encouraging the migration from America to Africa – especially Sierra Leone and Liberia