e Arna Bontemps and Richard Wright.

Wright's novel "Native Son" was widely acclaimed. In it, he depicted the
inner anger and hatred felt by many young Negro men as dominating
characteristics of the hero's personality; eventually, his life was
destroyed. The first Negro to win a Pulitzer Prize was Gwendolyn Brooks,
who won it for her poetry. Later, Ralph Ellison was awarded a Pulitzer
Prize for his novel "Invisible Man".

Since the Second World War, innumerable Negroes have made significant
contributions to American culture through the mass media: radio,
television, and movies. Large numbers have also joined the ranks
of professional athletes in every field from tennis to football.
Nevertheless, complaints persist that prejudice continues in these areas.
While they are often included as performers, rarely do Negroes achieve
significant decision-making authority in their field. In the 1968
Olympics, several black athletes, especially Carlos and Smith, claimed
that instead of being accepted on an equal basis, they were being
exploited.

The decade of the 1960s has been marked by a militant spirit throughout
the Afro-American community; this spirit was reminiscent of the new Negro
of the 1920s although it appears to be more cynical and disillusioned.
LeRoi Jones and James Baldwin are only the best known of dozens of
contemporary black writers. Their bitterness, undoubtedly, springs
partly from the dashed hopes of the new Negro. Unfortunately, at the
very time that the Afro-American community was stepping forward with new
confidence, the nation was tottering on the brink of economic disaster.
The year 1929 brought a harsh end to the optimism of the 1920s.

Black Nationalism

Although Langston Hughes had been confident that the American dream could
be made to include his people, thousands upon thousands of other
Afro-Americans, especially among the lower classes, were extremely
dubious. In 1916, Marcus Garvey came to Harlem, and before long his
Universal Negro Improvement Association had opened chapters in urban
centers all across the nation. As mentioned previously, Garvey did not
believe that blacks could be taken into American society. Hundreds of
thousands, who apparently agreed with him, followed his banner. Whatever
was the actual number of members of the U.N.I.A., the movement gained
more grass-roots support than had any other organization in Afro-American
history. While the nation was willing to tolerate t