Citizens of sound: negotiations of race and diaspora in the anthems of the UNIA and NAACP

Abstract

The development of large-scale black protest organizations in the early decades of the twentieth century precipitated an unparalleled amount of communication and exchange between African descended populations. This paper argues the centrality of black organization anthems to the enterprise of black diaspora formation and solidarity. Through the composition and ritualization of their anthems, black organizations defined and announced an agenda for their membership, who similarly constructed their identities through the performance of the song. Anthems were central to the efforts to solidify and mobilize these organizations yet they also contained important contests that highlighted the differences in access and experience amongst the membership. The anthems of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are central to an examination of these complicated processes. The organizations’ sonic histories are highlighted here in order to trace the creations of modern, black citizenship.