1920 EVENTS
ISpringarn Medal I Review of "The Emperor Jones" I NAACP Executive SecretaryI
Springarn Medal Awarded
The Springarn Medal is awarded by the NAACP to author, historian and educator W.E.B. Du Bois for "the founding and the calling of the Pan African Congress."
Review of "The Emperor Jones" In November 1920, the New York Times and Tribune described actor Charles Gilpin's portrayal of Brutus Jones in Eugene O'Neill's play 'The Emperor Jones' as "a performance of heroic stature." This was the first dramatic production in an all-white theater to star an African-American actor. Gilpin had premiered in the play earlier that month with the Provincetown Players in Greenwich Village. Gilpin was named one of the ten most important contributors to the American theater of 1920 and in 1921 received the NAACP's Springarn medal for his work.
Author James Weldon Johnson becomes the first African-American executive secretary of the NAACP in November, 1920.