Faith (New York, NY: Christian College Coalition, 1990), shift, changing the previous image of the rural, 204. uneducated African­American to one of urban, [54] Chewning, Business Through the Eyes of Faith, cosmopolitan sophistication. This new identity led to 29;66. increased social consciousness, and endowed a [55] Ibid., 194. population that until this time had only experienced [56] Michael Briznek, “S. Truett Cathy: From Young inferiority and depravity. This movement provided a Entrepreneur to a Foodservice Industry Leader,” Journal source of release of their oppression and gave them of Hospitality & Tourist Education 19, no. 4 (2007): 9. hope, faith, and inspiration to create an empowered [57] Auntie Anne’s Inc., “Store Locator,” Auntie Anne’s, identity. This new movement wasn’t just a coincidence, 2012, however, it was driven by several key circumstances http://web.archive.org/web/20010604192524/http://aunti and figures, and among the most important of these was eannes.know­where.com/auntieannes/region/intl.html, Charles Spurgeon Johnson. He, with the support of (November 2012). philosopher and professor Alain LeRoy Locke, guided [58] Calvin Redekop, Mennonite Entrepreneurs the emergence of African­American culture into white­ (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, dominated society, and this effort was formally and 1995), 162. symbolically launched through their orchestration of the [59] Cathy Enz, Hospitality Strategic Management Civic Club Dinner in Manhattan on March 21st, 1924. (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Songs, 2010), 107. [60] Nabil Ibrahim and John Angelidis, “Christian Migration to Harlem Companies and Their Secular Counterparts,” Journal of In the South, African­Americans were trapped in Business Ethics 58, no.1 (Spring 2005): 188­191. a sharecropping economy that hardly offered any hope [61] Fritz Allhoff and Dave Monroe, ed., Food & for advancement. Along with these poor economic Philosophy: Eat, Think, and Be Merry (Malden, MA: conditions, African­Americans were socially Blackwell Publishing, 2007), 97­98. disadvantaged within the Jim Crow system that didn’t [62] Simon, Everything but the Coffee, 202­203. acknowledge their voting rights, overlooked lynching, [63] Nancy Weingartner, “A new twist­Auntie Anne’s and disregarded unequal education opportunities. The rebrands,” Franchise Times, September 2006. North symbolized the opportunity to escape these [64] Paula Holzman, “International Twist: Auntie Anne’s horrors of the South as well as the possibility of grows globally,” Central Penn Business Journal. (June economic prosperity.[1] New York’s Harlem was among 25 2010), 19. the most popular cities of refuge, and by the 1920s, Harlem_became a center of black cultural life and the center stage for a cultural and political renaissance.[2] This migration forever changed the dynamics of the The Harlem Renaissance: nation, physically and mentally. The oppression the A Cultural, Social, and Political African­Americans were fleeing from also symbolized Movement the cultural image they were fleeing from: slave, uneducated, ignorant, oppressed, and inferior. They Sarah Ritchie hoped the North would be a haven from their oppression Eastern Mennonite University in the South and a place to re­establish their identity. This presented a complex dilemma for African­ The Harlem Renaissance was an explosion of Americans who wanted to embrace their heritage, yet creativity and culture within New York City’s African seek a new identity. W.E.B. Du Bois addressed this American community in the 1920s, however, its true double consciousness in his 1903 publication of Souls of impact far surpassed a mere cultural movement. It was Black Folk, stating that the Negro constantly had this the locus for the radicalization and politicization for a “sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes disenfranchised population. The creative minds behind of others." He claimed that it was the Negro’s “dogged the Harlem Renaissance used artistic expression to strength alone [that] kep[t] [him] from being torn prove their_humanity_and demand equality from an asunder” as he battled these two contrasting identities. often hostile white America. The literal migration of [3] In the presence of this duality, a new literary theme southern Blacks to the North also symbolized a mental emerged. As the African­American struggled with his S. Ritchie 49 own racial identity, many artists began to use this clash prejudice that whites had against blacks and the labels as the focal point of their works. This increasing stamped upon the two races that led them to believe expression of the struggle of double­consciousness they were opposites. In his report, he profoundly created a new market in the field of literature, proposing addressed the issue of racism against African­ a new battle: how to combine this distinct “New Negro” Americans by stating, “No group in our population is less identity with the rest of American culture.[4] responsible for its existence. But every group is responsible for its continuance and every citizen, Charles Spurgeon Johnson regardless of color or racial origin, is in honor and Charles Spurgeon Johnson was a lifelong advocate conscience bound to seek and forward its solution.[8]” for racial equality and promoter of the advancement of Johnson’s abilities extended beyond his African­Americans. As an African­American born of research skills. He was at the prime of his career in a mixed racial heritage in Bristol, Virginia in 1893 he could time of increasing militancy towards civil rights, yet he personally grasp and relate to the struggles of members didn’t approach the movement with the same intensity of his own race. He faced his own obstacles as an as his counterparts, such as W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus African­American in the South, having to travel to Garvey. Johnson preferred to take a more passive­ Richmond to attend a high school that accepted black aggressive approach. This is not to discredit his students. After graduating, he attended the historically­ enthusiasm or assertiveness, but more so to reflect that black Virginia Union University that was also in his strengths lied in coordinating and manipulating. Richmond.[5] Finally moving North in 1918, Johnson Johnson preferred to be a “sidelines activist” striving for attended the University of Chicago for his graduate practical ends through more conservative means. While work, where he studied under renowned sociologist Johnson was studying at the University of Chicago, Robert Ezra Park. It was Park that exposed Johnson to Robert Park planted in Johnson his theory that the theory that suggested that the way to break barriers increased interaction among races would bring about of segregation and discrimination could only come equality. Johnson would go on to promote that idea through contact, interaction, and personal relationships through his ability to orchestrate contact between whites with white people. Park claimed that, “’Personal and blacks. relations and personal friendships are the great moral solvents. Under their influence all distinctions of class, National Urban League caste, and even race, are dissolved into the general flux Meanwhile, in New York City, organizations which we sometimes call democracy.’”[6] It was this idea were also promoting civil rights for African­Americans. of contact among races that would permeate Charles The National Urban League had sprung from three Johnson’s work towards the advancement of the earlier organizations: the Committee for the African­American race. Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in Johnson was reaching the peak of his academic New York (founded in 1906), the National League for the career in 1918 while studying at the University of Protection of Colored Women (founded 1906), and the Chicago when sociology was making new inroads into Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes American universities. He looked to his academic (founded 1910). In 1911, these three organizations profession as a means for dismantling the barriers of merged into The National League on Urban Conditions racism. Always encouraged by Park to use his Among Negroes. Its name officially became The surroundings as a laboratory, Johnson used Chicago to National Urban League in 1920.[9] However, its mission demonstrate race relations and the way ideas of was the same all along—it was founded to eliminate subordination rise and remain within society.[7] As race racial segregation and discrimination among African­ riots were erupting in Chicago during the summer of Americans and other minority groups. The agency 1919, he conducted sociological research and produced always valued and believed in practical and technical an assessment for the Chicago Commission on Race approaches towards equality. One of its founders was Relation entitled “The Negro in Chicago.” This Edumund Haynes, who believed well­planned and assessment demonstrated that the institution of slavery realistic agendas were keys to the organization’s introduced, expanded, and maintained presumptions of success. When Haynes left the organization in 1918, he Negro inferiority and those attitudes remained even after handpicked Eugene Kinckle Jones as his successor as emancipation. This report penetrated the deep­seated Executive Secretary to carry on the league’s practical S. Ritchie 50 tactics to achieve racial equality. Under Jones’ direction, could be use as a more indirect tactic for attaining the League significantly expanded its multifaceted political