C. G. WOODSON: Negro History Week the Third Year........ 121 WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL: Interesting Notes on Great Brit- Records illustrating the Condition of Refugees from Slavery REVIEWS: NOTES Ovington's Portraits of Color; Bullock's In Spite of Handicaps; 150 185 199 208 213 THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF NEGRO LIFE $4.00 A YEAR PRINCE AND LEMON STREETS, Lancaster, P▲. 1538 NINTH STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, D. C. $1.25 A COPY FOREIGN SUBSCRIPTIONS, 25 CENTS EXTRA Volumes I and II in bound form $7.50 each Other volumes in bound form $5.00 each. The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 The History of the Education of the Colored People of the United States from the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War BY CARTER GODWIN WOODSON, Ph. D. (HARVARD) 460 pp. $2.00; by mail $2.65 "This book is neither a controversial treatise on Negro education nor a study of recent problems. Dr. Woodson has given us something new. He has by scientific treatment amassed numerous facts to show the persistent strivings of ante-bellum Negroes anxious to be enlightened. What they accomplished is all but marvelous." The author aims to put the student of history in touch with the great movements which effected the uplift of the Negroes, 'and to determine the causes which finally reduced many of them to heathenism. The titles of the chapters are: "Introduction," "Religion with Letters," "Education as a Right of Man," "Actual Education," "Better Beginnings," "Educating the Urban Negro," "The Reaction,” “Religion without Letters,' Learning in Spite of Opposition," "Educating Negroes Transplanted to Free Soil," "Higher Education," "Vocational Training,' 19 66 Education at Public Expense.' In the appendix are found a number of valuable documents. The volume contains also a critical bibliography and a helpful index. OPINIONS " "I like it very much. You seem to have loosened up on your style a bit and you have done an excellent piece of research. I hope that your book will have a good sale."-Edward Channing, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History Harvard University. "It seems clear to me that you have made a substantial contribution to the subject and I know I shall profit by it."-Frederick J. Turner, Professor of History, Harvard University. "I thought at first it would be out of my line, but on turning its pages, I discovered that it may well hold the attention of everybody with an intelligent interest in the colored people. You write easily and flexibly and have certainly compiled important material in the true spirit of scholarship. I congratulate you sincerely."-Ferdinand Schevill, Professor of History in the University of Chicago. "It seems to me that you have taken a field of which little has been known and developed in It a most interesting and valuable book. I am glad to have it in my library and rejoice that I have had the privilege of some personal acquaintance with the author."-Francis W. Shepardson, Professor of History in the University of Chicago. "I am delighted with the thoroughly scholarly way in which it has been put together and I know enough about the subject to appreciate what it has cost you in time and effort to perform this work."Dr. Robert E. Park. "It is the story of the effort on the part of certain agencies to educate the Negro. It is above all the story of the strivings of the Negro himself under tremendous difficulties and opposition, to learn things, to know more, to be more. ... Apart from the fund of information on the subject which Dr. Woodson has here offered, the supreme point of this study is the unconquerable will of the Negro. The book, as a whole, is an illumination of the recent development of education among the colored people."-The Washington Star. THIS BOOK MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE ASSOCIATED PUBLISHERS, Inc. 1538 Ninth Street, Northwest Washington, D. C. THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY VOL. XIII-APRIL, 1928-No. 2 NEGRO HISTORY WEEK THE THIRD YEAR The third annual observance of Negro History Week was more than encouraging. A larger number of people heard of the effort, more agencies participated, and more desirable results were obtained than in the case of the celebration last year. All sections of the country interested in the teaching of history were reached in some way by this effort. Persons giving attention to the popularization of the truth rather than propaganda welcomed the effort as timely. No thinking man could refuse to cooperate when it had been made clear that the purpose of the celebration is neither to eulogize the Negro nor to decry others but to give the race its proper place in history. The unusual success was due in the first place to the warmhearted support of the press. Newspapers gave ample space to the notices of the celebration and published convincing editorials commending the effort. The Norfolk Journal and Guide presented the appeal to the public editorially on the fourth of February, in this effective way: The third annual Negro History Week will be observed February 5 to 11. The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, director, expects this observance to be the most wide-spread of any yet held. Although only 3 years old, Negro History Week so far has been observed very commendably. School teachers, principals, ministers and leaders in various other uplift undertakings have taken hold of the movement and are creating admirable interest in it. This is as it should be. Doubtless, more has been said, written and otherwise demonstrated concerning the ancestry, historical past and buried deeds of the Negro in the past four or five years than at any time during the modern era of civilization. Dr. Woodson, the eminent Negro historian, who has devoutly and sacrificially pursued the compiling of race history and to whom so much is owed in national gratitude for his enduring contributions to general education, states that Negro History Week is by no means meant to bring about a diminution of interest in general hisstory, nor to suggest less attention to the achievements of other races or nations but rather to give the Negro his place among them. He says: "Any tendency to eulogize the Negro unduly or to leave the impression that the race has done more than some other group that has done its best would be decidedly unwise. The purpose of this celebration is to disabuse the public mind of this very sort of bias. The record of the Negro is well taken care of if the race is given the same consideration which is accorded to others." That is a lofty and fair exposition of the purpose of Negro History Week. With this thought in mind we can pursue its observance without the danger of suffering warped judgment on the facts of the history of the world and races. It is to be hoped that during next week every city, town and hamlet where there is a race conscious individual of ordinary intelligence will make some effort toward celebrating Negro History Week. Teachers and preachers in our city last year gave much attention to the event. They will do no less this year, we feel certain. Knowledge of the history of the race means pride of race, and pride of race is an inspiring factor toward self-reliance and greater contribution toward civilization. The study of Negro history must be popularized by the Negro himself before it becomes a topic of general interest outside of scientific intellectual research. Let us make the celebration of the third annual Negro History Week the most effective ever attempted. On the fourth of February the Pittsburgh Courier said in an editorial: It is the purpose during this week to accelerate the popularization of the study of Negro life and history and to secure more funds and support for its promotion. Meetings are to be held by interested groups in various communities throughout the country and it is hoped that greater interest will be aroused among our people. At present, despite the laudable efforts of Carter G. Woodson and his associates, there is a lamentable ignorance among the American people concerning the history and achievements of Negro people in this country and elsewhere. This is unfortunate. Indeed, it is a menace and an obstacle to the cultivation of better race relations and the development of that group assurance, confidence and understanding born of knowledge of the real work and achievements of those who have passed on. Quite aside from the duty of knowing the past, it is real interest and entertainment to be derived while acquiring this knowledge. An evening spent with almost any one of the volumes published by the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, is by far more entertaining than an evening spent over a whist table, a pool table or a punch bowl. But merely reading is not enough. There is a wealth of material hitherto uncollected that awaits the patient researcher; but researchers must eat and pay rent while collecting this material, and printers must do the same while getting it in form to read. In other words, money is required-and lots of it. If we want these valuable facts collected, intelligently edited and then published, it is obvious that we must pay for it. There is no better time to do our bit in this connection than during Negro History Week, and there is no better way to do it than by purchasing one or more of the books already published and by subscribing to The Journal of Negro History. And everybody can participate in supporting this work regardless of color or creed. The Philadelphia Tribune, commenting likewise on the importance of the effort, said on the second of February: A member of a race with a glorious history is proud of his race. A man who holds his race in high esteem is usually willing to work and fight to maintain his race in that exalted position. And if perchance through misfortune or otherwise those of his blood have been dethroned he will with superhuman effort attempt to enthrone them. The converse of the above proposition is also true. Witness, therefore, the frantic efforts of those in power to enshrine in memory of man the glorious achievements of a certain race and expunge from the records any accomplishments of the Negro. |