Nov. 7, 1916.
_My dear Mr. Woodson:_
Your letter in the interest of THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY is
welcome. I will try to send you a subscriber or two.
Allow me to suggest a point. It may have been well covered
already without my knowing of it. In Louisiana and, I think, in
some other states, in Reconstruction days, the
lieutenant-governorship was conceded by the Republican party,
regularly, to a man of color. These men were sometimes, to say no
more, of high character and ability. Such a one in Louisiana was
Oscar J. Dunn, the first of them. He was of unmixt African
origin. His signal ability and high integrity were acknowledged
by his political enemies in the most rancorous days of his
career, and his funeral was attended by Confederate generals.
I wish your enterprise the fullest measure of success.
Yours truly,
(Signed) GEO. W. CABLE.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
1443 R ST., N. W.,
NOV. 1 --17.
MR. CARTER G. WOODSON,
1216 You St., N.W.,
Washington, D. C.
_Dear Sir:_
I recently received from you a letter followed soon by a volume
of THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY edited by yourself which I have
scanned and am much impressed with its merits and consider a
valuable contribution to our historical literature.
It is somewhat unusual to find colored men in America of American
birth who are individually conversant with all of the West Indies
a part of South America and the western part of Europe.
My advent in life began at an epoch in the early history of
Baltimore when incidents occurred that seem to have escaped the
notice of the numerous writers of the history of our race which I
shall briefly relate.
Owing to the rapid decadence of the sugar industries of the
British West Indies on the Abolition of Slavery and the gravity
anent the threatened ruin of the peasantry, some philanthropists
and business men from England were sent to Baltimore to try to
get free colored people to go to Trinidad. They spoke in many
colored churches and succeeded in interesting them so that
several shiploads were sent. My father and mother and three
children were of the number. I was an infant in arms.
I received an education there and after I grew up was variously
employed as bookkeeper, clerking in dry goods stores, in the City
Hall, overseer on sugar estate, coach and sign painter, was
afterwards sent for by my father who was at the gold mines of
Caratal in Venezuela and on my return to Trinidad visited several
other islands of the West Indies.
I next returned to America my natal home the second year of
Andrew Johnson's term.
I have not since led an idle life. For nearly 25 years I have
been engaged as an itinerant private tutor teaching adult folks
and I flatter myself that I was very successful among the
hundreds of my pupils.
I found on my arrival in America that education was at a very low
ebb amongst the members of my race perhaps not more than 15% of
adult folks one would encounter in the streets could read and
write.
When the Amendments were passed by Congress conferring
citizenship upon colored people I threw myself into the political
current and was the first vice president of the 11th ward of
Baltimore city which a few years subsequently chose a colored
councilman, Harry Cummins.
I became a merchant meanwhile experimenting in groceries, but
after a year relinquished this for dry goods for which my early
acquaintance therewith amply fitted me. I kept a dry goods store
in Baltimore for seven years then went to Jacksonville, Fla.
where I successfully continued the business for eighteen years.
While I was in Baltimore I twice passed the Civil Service
examination with a handsome percentage this I did simply from
curiosity. I kept strictly to merchandise and have never earned a
dollar of Uncle Sam's money.
In 1909 and again in 1912 myself and wife, both of us having a
knowledge of French and Spanish and I a little Italian made a
tour of Western Europe viz, Gibralter Italy Switzerland France
Germany Holland Belgium and England plodding on foot amongst the
common people studying sociological conditions and comparing with
our own people. I find the contrast of the humbler class of
Europe also the colored races of the West Indies and South
America with less opportunities possessed of more enterprise and
ambition than the colored people of America.
It is a lamentable fact that the principal attraction of those
who should be our strong men and leaders in enterprise those of
high school and college training consists of Uncle Sam's bounty
and in the absence of this to cling to some white man in private
life.
I have for many years been an ardent advocate of business amongst
our people and to this end I have written contributions to the
_Commonwealth_ of Baltimore a paper once edited by John E. Bruce
(Bruce Grit) the Colored American of Washington, and to other
papers edited by our race.
My attitude towards other enterprises is that we are sufficiently
and disproportionately represented in other branches, especially
teaching preaching politics governmental patronage &c which
require no financial responsibility; consequently the results
place us in the attitude of a Castillian gentleman who is
facetiously described thus--_Caballero sin caballo, Mucho piojo,
poco dinero_, that is, a knight without a horse, Plenty of lice,
little money.
As a race we are the poorest numerically of any race in America.
We have so little ambition and so envious and void of race pride.
We don't mind a white man climbing over our heads but a colored
man never and if you doubt me keep a store.
I have grown weary of the struggle and am leaving the fight to
the younger men who I hope may prove vigorous champions.
I have done my part, I am
Yours very truly
(Signed) STANSBURY BOYCE.
LONDON, ONT. October 25/1918
DR. CARTER G. WOODSON,
_Journal of Negro History_,
Washington, D. C.
_Dear Dr. Woodson_,
I have been reading your "Century of Negro Migration" with
interest. On page 36 you speak of a change of attitude on the
part of Canadians towards the refugees. I do not know to what
this refers. The attitude of the Canadian government never
changed--it granted asylum and protection right up to the Civil
War and afterwards. From the very earliest days there was an
occasional show of prejudice but I doubt if this was greater in
1855 than in 1845 or 1835. The laws were administered fairly, the
Negro exercised his vote, could get land cheaply if he desired to
farm. The chief prejudice was shown in the schools though this
only in some places, this city for instance. But this was only
occasional, not general, and you are quite correct in saying that
"these British Americans never made the life of the Negro there
so intolerable as was the case in some of the free States."
On the same page there is a slight error in the use of the word
"towns" in connection with the settlements of refugees in
Southern Ontario.
"Dawn" was not a town but a farming community, "The Dawn
Settlement" "Colchester" was the same, it is the name now given
to a township in Essex county.
"Elgin" was not the name of a Settlement but of the association
which managed the settlement. Buxton was the settlement founded
by the Elgin association.
"Bush", _i.e._ "The Bush" is the term applied to a great tract of
country north of Toronto, bushland, in which there were some
Negro farmers.
"Wilberforce" was also a tract of land divided into farms and
termed the Wilberforce settlement. It is in Middlesex county,
near London.
"Riley" should be "Raleigh," it is the township in which the
Elgin association's settlement was located. It is in Kent County.
"Anderton" is also the name of a township in Essex county.
"Gonfield" should be "Gosfield." It is also a township in Essex
county.
These are only minor matters but you might desire to make the
change in another edition.
I think I shall write something dealing with the Canadian end of
your subject, from the economic standpoint. The _Journal_ is a
publication of which as Editor you can be proud. It maintains a
high standard. I intend to have it added to the Western
University's list of periodicals this year.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) FRED LANDON.
BIRD-IN-HAND, PA., Aug. 21, 1918.
CARTER G. WOODSON, ESQ.,
_Dear Mr. Woodson_:
I have read most of the articles in the JOURNAL with deep
interest and think it a valuable periodical. One or two mistakes
I noticed; one writer says that President Lincoln thought that
"the war should be over in ninety days." It was Seward, _not_
Lincoln that cherished this almost insane idea.--Please do not
set me down as a carping critic when I say that I am very sorry
that the long article on "Slavery in Kentucky" was printed
without comment or correction. To speak of Henry Clay as an
anti-slavery man seems absurd to people like myself, born into
_real_ anti-slavery families and familiar almost from infancy
with the anti-slavery struggle. The interview with Mr.
Mendenhall, a Friend (Quaker) is told somewhat differently from
what I heard it in my childhood. I always understood that a
delegation of Friends called upon him and he told them to go
home, that his "Negroes were sleek and fat." The comparison
between Friends and his negroes, as given in Mr. McDougle's
article is even more insulting than is anything in the story as I
heard it. One of my earliest recollections is seeing in my
grandmother's kitchen in Phila., "Clary" a little octoroon woman,
who was, I was told, either once the mistress or else the
daughter of Henry Clay. From this you may judge what his moral
reputation must have been.
Very truly yours,
(Signed) (MRS.) MARIANNA G. BRUBAKER.
SOME CORRECTIONS
BIRD-IN-HAND, PA., April 21, 1920.
MR. CARTER G. WOODSON,
_My dear Mr. Woodson:_
On the next page will be found a correction of the article "The
Negro Migration to Canada after 1850," which you may print or
not, as you choose. In a historical periodical, accuracy is
important, is it not?
Very truly yours,
Signed (MRS.) MARIANNA G. BRUBAKER.
On page 30 of the _Journal of Negro History_ for January
reference is made to the famous Christiana Riot of Sept. 11,
1851. Christiana is about nineteen--not two--miles from
Lancaster. Parker, the hero of this event, was a wonderful man.
He returned to Christiana in the summer of 1872, spoke at a
political meeting there and spent some time visiting friends, by
whom he was greatly admired and respected. The exact distance
from Lancaster is important because of the very different
character of the two communities.
(Signed) MARIANNA G. BRUBAKER.
BIRD-IN-HAND, PA., April 21.
DOCUMENTS
The following letter was addressed to the City Council of Washington,
D.C., July 15, 1833, by Joseph Jefferson, Sr., and Mr. Mackenzie,
managers of the Washington Theatre.[1]
_Dear Sir:_
"Permit us to take the liberty of representing to you a burden
that oppresses us most heavily, and of requesting your kind
endeavors so to represent the case before the mayor and council
that we may obtain all the relief that it is in their power to
grant.
"You must be aware that we pay nightly to the city a tax of $6
for permission to perform in the theater; in the year 1832 this
amounted to nearly $1,400 in the aggregate; we pay this tax
cheerfully, and all we ask in return is a liberal protection and
support from the city authorities.
"There is at present a law in force which authorizes the
constables of the city to arrest the colored people if on the
street after 9 o'clock without a pass. A great proportion of our
audience consists of persons of this caste, and they are
consequently deterred from giving us that support that they would
otherwise do.
"Can there be any modification of that law suggested, or will the
mayor and council authorize us to give passes to those colored
persons who leave the theatre for the purpose of proceeding
directly to their homes?
"In the city of Baltimore, where we have a theatre, and pay a
smaller license than we do here, the law, as regards the colored
people, is not acted upon when they are coming or going to the
theatre.
"In a pecuniary point of view, we look upon this law as a
detriment to us of $10 nightly, and we have great reason to hope
that a law that rests so heavily upon us alone may meet with the
kind consideration of the mayor and council, and be so modified
as to relieve us from the heavy loss that it causes us at present
to incur.
"We have the honor to be, dear sir, your obedient servants,
"JEFFERSON & MACKENZIE,
"Managers of the Washington Theater."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Submitted by Professor Walter Dyson.
Lee, Mass. April 23, 1917.
CARTER G. WOODSON,
Editor, _Journal of Negro History_,
Washington, D. C.
_Dear Sir:_
The enclosed tracing of a manuscript in my possession may, or may
not be of interest enough to publish in your magazine. The Ms.
came into my hands in the autumn of 1863 while I was serving in
the ranks of the 10th Mass. Inf. At that time the regiment was
stationed at Bristoe Station, on the R. R. between Alexandria and
Fredericksburg. A detail which had been sent to Prince William
Court House at Brentsville for some purpose brought to our camp
some manuscripts, among them that from which the tracing has been
made, and which I thought of interest enough to preserve.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) D. M. WILCOX.
A Marriage Contract made this 12th day of January in the Year of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Fifty six Between John
Brunskill of the Parish of Hamilton and County of Prince Willm
Clerk, and Edward Humston of the above said Parish and County
Witnesseth that the sd John--Brunskill doth Contract & agree with
the said Humston, that he the said John Brunskill will have to
his wife Ann Humston, daughter to the said Edward Humston and in
Consideration of which the said Humston doth agree to & with the
said Brunskill that he the said Humston will at the day of
Marriage Lend unto the sd Ann Humston as a Maintenance during her
life The Following Negroes, To wit, Jude, Lucy & three children
John, Mary and Betty, and also one Negroe man named Tom, Jun. on
proviso yt the said Brunskill doth pay unto ye said Humston ten
pounds P Ann for four years in Consideration of the hire of the
said Negroes, And at her ye said Ann Humstons death ye sd Negroes
to fall to her Eldest son by the ye sd Brunskill but if she
shou'd not have a son by the said Brunskill they are to fall Heir
by the sd Brunskill they are to fall to her Eldest Daughter by
the said Brunskill, but if she should die without Heir by the sd
Brunskill they are at the Death of her and the said Brunskill to
fall to the Heir at Law. And for the Performance of the above
Contract. We do bind ourselves our heirs &c Either to other in
the Penal sum Of five hundred Pounds Sterlg. In witness whereof
We have set our hands & seals the day and Year above Written--
[Transcriber's Note: In the signature below, {X} signifies
where a larger X appears in the text.]
Signed sealed and Deliver'd }
in the Presence of-- }
EDWARD HUMSTON (L.S.)
JOHN BRUNSKILL JUNr (L.S.)
THO. MARSHALL
his
JOHN {X} WARRING
Mark
At a Court held for prince William County the 22. of March 1756
This Marriage Contract was proved by the oaths of the witnesses
hereto & ordered to be recorded.
Test JOHN GRAHAM _Clerk_.
LETTERS ON RECONSTRUCTION RECORDS
TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, ALABAMA.
July 3, 1920.
DR. C. G. WOODSON,
1216 U Street, N. W.,
Washington, D. C.
_My Dear Dr. Woodson:_
Attached are names of additional Negro members of the North and
South Carolina legislatures and a letter from Mrs. M.E.
Richardson about an additional member of the Alabama legislature.
Attached also is a letter by Mr. John W. Cromwell. These should
be published in the _Journal_. Kindly publish the same in the
_Journal_, under documents and oblige,
Yours very truly,
(Signed) MONROE N. WORK.
Monroe N. Work,
Editor, Negro Year Book.
MNW/FEH
Three enclosures.
To the Editor of _The Planet_:
Will you for the sake of history allow this communication in your
columns? It has been repeatedly charged that we have no racial
history. If we are challenged with respect to certain events we
admit the imputation by our silence. A different course would
correct much error. _The Journal of Negro History_ for January
has rendered a very great service by publishing the names and
number of Negroes who have been members of their respective State
Legislatures since the Civil War reconstruction. It was
interesting and informative to note the names and numbers of
members of our race from these different States.
When it came to Virginia the contrast was most painful. To behold
the absence of detailed information similar to that supplied the
other States, from North Carolina to Florida, from the Atlantic
to the Rio Grande. For a time I felt like disowning that Virginia
was my native State. Finally the obligation incumbent on all
those who have lived in Virginia during the last fifty years or
familiar with its history asserted itself, hence I begin but I
must acknowledge my sense of gratitude to Rev. G. F. Bragg, Jr.,
who in the current number of _The Journal of Negro History_ has
contributed from his recollection and given names of members whom
he knew.
Peter J. Carter, Northampton
George Teamoh, Norfolk County
John Brown, Southhampton
Peter G. Morgan, Petersburg
John Watson, Mecklenburg
Resa Hamilton,
Jas. W. D. Bland, Prince Edward
Frank Moss, Buckingham
Caesar Perkins, Buckingham
Willis A. Hodges, Princess Anne
John Q. Hodges, Princess Anne
Littleton Owens, Princess Anne
John M. Dawson, James City
John B. Syphax, Alexandria, Co.
Robert D. Ruffin, Alexandria, Co.
Miles Connor, Norfolk, Co.
William H. Andrews, Surry
Henry Cox, Powhatan
Peter K. Jones, Greenville
William P. Mosely, Goochland
Rufus S. Jones, Hampton
Daniel M. Norton, Yorktown
Most of these are recollected by Professor Cromwell and those
with the asterisk are furnished by others.
Robert Norton, Yorktown
David Canady, Halifax
John Freeman, Halifax
Henry Clay Harris, Halifax
John Robinson Cumberland
John W. Poindexter, Louisa
Alfred W. Harris,
Robert G. L. Paige, Norfolk, Co.
*Alexander Lee, Elizabeth City.
*Robert M. Smith, Elizabeth City.
*John H. Robinson, Elizabeth City.
*James Fields, Warwick
---- Lipscomb, Cumberland
---- Matthews, Petersburg
B. F. Jones, Charles City
---- Lyons, Elizabeth City
Rev. Mr. Bragg mentions those whom I do not recall:
Armstead Green, Petersburg
Neverson Lewis, Powhatan
Guy Powell, Brunswick
Shed Dungee, Cumberland
Batt Greggs, Prince Edward
Archie Scott, Amelia and Nottoway
J. R. Jones, Mecklenburg
A. A. Dodson was another from Mecklenburg, a senator as I
remember. I have a vague recollection that Tazewell Branch was at
one time a member, also that Nansemond county sent a
representative.
I make no claim to accuracy in every case, but unless there is
specific contradiction I will claim these named as men who played
an honorable though an humble part in framing the laws of the
commonwealth which has given eight Presidents to our Republic. I
will be glad to hear from any one who can give further
information on this subject.
Respectfully yours
(Signed) J. W. Cromwell
1429 Swann St., N. W.
May 13, 1920.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
July 6, 1920.
DR. C. G. WOODSON
_Journal of Negro History_.
Sir:
In addition to the Negro members in the Virginia legislature
mentioned in my letter published in the Richmond (Va.) Planet of
June. There should be included,--
Rev. Ceasar Perkins, Buckingham
" Fountaine M. Perkins, Louisa
William P. Lucas, "
Samuel P. Bolling, Cumberland.
This makes the number forty-nine (49)
Respectfully yours,
(Signed) J. W. CROMWELL.
Tuskegee Institute Alabama
May 13, 1920.
MR. M. N. WORK,
Department Records and Research,
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.
_Dear Mr. Work:_
In looking through the last number of _The Journal of Negro
History_, I note that you are asking for information concerning
those Negroes who were members of the State Legislatures during
reconstruction days, just following the Civil War.
I do not know if it has already been called to your attention or
not, but my grandfather, Shandy Jones, was at that time a member
of the Alabama Legislature. I do not know the year, but think I
can get the dates for you if it is of interest to you.
His early life was spent in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was a very
successful business man, barber by trade. His later life was
actively spent in church work. He was presiding elder in the A.
M. E. Z. church and was nominated for bishop, but his age was an
obstacle.
He lived in Mobile, Alabama at the time of his death at 70 years.
He was still in the ministry at this time.
Very truly,
(Signed) MRS. M. E. RICHARDSON.
245 WEST 139TH ST.,
NEW YORK CITY,
July 22, 1920.
CARTER G. WOODSON, Ph.D.,
Editor _The Journal of Negro History_,
1216 You St., N. W.,
Washington, D. C.
_Dear Sir:_
You have presented the matter of the Reconstruction Period in
splendid shape and no doubt it will be read with much interest
especially by the few "old timers" who can recall those halcyon
days.
There are some errors I would like to correct and a few additions
I would like to make as it was not my intention to slight any
person engaged in that laudable work of making Negro history, and
I would like to know at your earliest convenience if there will
be time before the July number goes to press. There is just one
error I want to correct now and that is relative to myself. In
the foot notes it is stated that I was a page in the House of
Representatives in the Reconstruction Period. I do not know how
Mr. Work made the error as there is nothing in my retained carbon
copies to show that I gave him that information. It was my
brother, Dr. J. E. Wallace, now with the Standard Insurance
Company of Atlanta who occupied that position. I certainly would
have preferred that job as it was more remunerative than the one
I held. I was employed in the post office at Columbia, S. C.,
from March 1, 1871 to August 15, 1886, when I resigned under the
democratic postmaster, Major W. H. Gibbes, notwithstanding the
fact that he requested me to continue in the position. It was
owing to my position that I came in contact with the prominent
people from all over the State and was thus enabled to get much
information that has helped me greatly in compiling the data.
Handling the mail for several years of these Reconstructionists
made me quite familiar with their names and as the impressions of
youth are lasting they remained with me.
As I understand it the Reconstruction Period is from the close of
the civil war to April 20, 1877, when the United States troops
were withdrawn from the New Orleans, La., state house, the troops
having been withdrawn from the state house in Columbia, S.C.,
April 10, 1877. Therefore data since then would not be considered
as belonging to the Reconstruction Period.
Very Respectfully,
(Signed) HENRY A. WALLACE.
245 WEST 139TH ST.,
NEW YORK CITY,
August 6, 1920.
DR. CARTER G. WOODSON
1216 You St., N. W.,
Washington, D. C.
_Dear Sir:_
In looking over the data published in the January number of _The
Journal of Negro History_ relative to the Reconstruction period
in South Carolina I find several errors which I would be glad to
have you correct in the next number:
Page 81--The christian name of Senator Bird is Israel.
Page 83--The initials of Fraser, representative from Colleton
County are W. H.
Page 84--Aaron Logan was from Charleston county and Samuel P.
Coker from Barnwell county.
Page 89--Opposite name of Joseph H. Rainey, strike out 46th, 47th
and 48th and insert 43rd. See sketch on page 95.
Page 90--F. B. Perry should be B. F. Perry.
Page 97--under Robert C. DeLarge, should be 1868-1870 as a member
of the House of Representatives.
Page 98--Under Francis L. Cardozo--four years as State Treasurer
instead of two. See page 89.
Pages 103 and 104--A. Q. Jones should be A. O. Jones.
Page 104--countries should be counties.
Page 85--Jervay, Page 107--Jervay and Jarvey--should be Jervey.
Page 100--Under Thomas E. Miller--1866 should be 1886 as member
of the S. C. House of Representatives.
Additional members of the Senate:
Jared Warley--Clarendon County Dublin I. Walker--Chester County
J. L. Duncan--Orangeburg County Additional Members of the House
of Representatives: Abbeville Co.--Everett Cain, H. A. Wideman,
Aiken Co.--Gloster H. Holland, W. B. Jones Barnwell Co.--B. W.
Middleton, E. M. Sumpter Charleston Co.--R. B. Artson, P. P.
Hedges, J. J. Hardy, J. J. Grant, J. W. Lloyd, C. F. North, Lewis
Simmons Chester Co.--Ceasar Simmons Colleton Co.--Sherman Smalls,
R. S. Tarlton Edgefield Co.--David Graham, Augustus Simpkins
Georgetown Co.--Charles H. Sperry Kershaw Co.--Frank Adamson
Laurens Co.--James Young Marion Co.--William A. Hayne Marlboro
Co.--Jacob Allman Newberry Co.--Isham Greenwood Orangeburg
Co.--John Dix, Abram Dannerly, H. Reilly Sumter Co.--W. W.
Ramsey, J. C. Wilson Williamsburg Co.--Fortune Giles, E. H.
Gourdin, Thomas Pressley
Relative to Hon. J. H. Rainey I would state that he was the only
Negro Congressman who presided over the U. S. House of
Representatives. That courtesy was extended to him by Speaker
James G. Blaine.
The following may be interesting in connection with Senator W. B.
Nash:
"It is not too much to say that the leading man of the
Republican party in the Senate is Beverly Nash, a man wholly
black. He is apparently consulted more and appealed to more,
in the business of the body, than any man in it. It is
admitted by his white opposition colleagues that he has more
native ability than half the white men in the State" _The
Prostrate State_--J. S. Pike.
"Beverley Nash of Columbia is probably the foremost Negro in
the State. He has made many speeches, which, homely in
manner, have, nevertheless, a subsoil of strong common
sense. He has been employed by the Military authorities from
time to time in aiding, by "moral suasion" to preserve
peace; is about 45 years of age; was formerly a hotel
servant in Columbia where he still resides. Some months ago,
on the same platform with Gen. Wade Hampton and other
distinguished citizens he made a speech to the colored
people recommending qualified suffrage; but subsequently was
obliged by high-pressure to recant, and to set himself right
has since become intensely radical. His idea now is that the
Negro is entitled to everything the white man enjoys--an
opinion which has been encouraged by his appointment as
magistrate, General Sickles having conferred the office upon
him to punish the citizens of Columbia for an assault made
by two intoxicated young men on a itinerant radical speaker
and his traveling companion while in that town"
"Q" in _New York Times_--March 23, 1868.
The above would indicate that Senator W. Beverly Nash was the
first Negro to exercise judicial power in the United States.
Concerning Associate Justice J. J. Wright I would add that he
graduated from the Lancaster, Pa., High School--studied law at
Montrose, Pa.,--admitted to the Bar in Susquehanna county, being
the first Negro to practice law in Pennsylvania--four years
before going to South Carolina.
Very respectfully,
HENRY A. WALLACE.
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 9, 1920.
_Dear Mr. Woodson:_
_The Journal of Negro History_ is among the most valuable
periodicals that it is my privilege to receive. I make it a rule
to read all the articles of a _purely historical_ nature.
Your recent effort to gather and print a list of the Negro
officeholders of the reconstructive period is highly commendable,
and should be aided by all persons possessing accurate or
approximate facts on the subjects. There were numerous such
holders of small offices, national, state, county and municipal,
in the Southern states in that period. As a boy, I knew two such
in the town and county in which I lived. Doubtless many other
persons of 50 years or less know of several.
Mr. John W. Cromwell's articles in the April number, "The
Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection," is not only scholarly
and interesting but a very valuable contribution to history.
There is a vast amount of _fact_ reposing only in the memories of
elderly people now living that should be rescued and recorded
while they live, lest it is lost forever. Perhaps the record of
it will not be _history_ proper but only _annals_, or a record of
events. It is none the less important to secure it. It is of
minor importance whether it be written in polished literary form.
It will constitute source matter for the future historian. For
some time to come we shall be in less need of dissertations that
are philosophy of Negro history than of accurate records of
events--facts, facts, facts!
I have conversed with a number of elderly colored men and women
in this city who have a wonderful fund of recollection of
interesting and valuable historical data never in print. There
are such people everywhere. Some cannot write, others will not
write. If discriminating chroniclers are encouraged to write down
the stories of such people for publication in your Journal, the
result should be fruitful.
I congratulate you on the average excellence of the subjects
covered by the Journal and the scholarly editing thereof.
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) R. C. EDMONSON.
DR. CARTER G. WOODSON,
Editor, _Journal of Negro History_.
SOME UNDISTINGUISHED NEGROES
FRED FOWLER
Fred Fowler was born about 1832 in Frederick County, Maryland. His
first master, Michael Reel, had a farm and a flour mill about four
miles from Frederick City. Reel owned sixteen slaves, among whom were
Fred's mother and her eight children. Fred's father belonged to a man
named Doyle, who had an adjoining farm. Doyle sold the father to a man
named Fisher, who subsequently put up the first gas factory in
Frederick.
On the death of Michael Reel, in 1847, his estate had to be divided.
Some of the slaves were disposed of according to appraisement, others
at auction. Fred, then about fifteen years old, was taken at the
appraised value of $400 by a son of the deceased Reel. If auctioned
off, he thought he might have brought somewhat more.
At this sale his mother and one child were bought for $500 by a man
named Todd, who subsequently sold her to Dr. Shipley. Four children
were purchased by men supposed to be traders, who presumably took them
to Georgia, which, according to the sentiment of "Nellie Gray," was
the slave's notion of some far-away place where the speculators found
a market. No one of these four was ever seen or heard from after they
were put on the train for Baltimore. The other children, two sisters,
were taken away by a man named Roach, but that was all that was then
known. The almost invariable rule in the inter-state slave-trade was
that separation ended all communication with those left behind. In
1887--forty years after the sale--these sisters wrote a letter to a
colored church in Frederick asking for information about the slaves
that belonged to the Reel family. Someone in the church knew that Fred
Fowler was living in Washington, D.C. The letter was forwarded to him
and from it he learned that these sisters had been taken to Columbia,
Tennessee and were still living. A meeting soon followed.
When Fred was twenty years old, young Reel, who was about to move to
Springfield, Illinois, sold him privately for $1,000 to Dr. Willis who
lived in New Market, Frederick County, Maryland. That was a high
price for the time and place. Fowler was with Dr. Willis for three or
four years as a farmhand. The Doctor was the physician for the
notorious inter-state slave traders B. M. and W. L. Campbell. They had
a large jail in Baltimore for their purchases in Maryland. In New
Orleans they had another, where most of their sales were made. The
Doctor went to Baltimore once or twice a week to examine and prescribe
for the Campbell slaves. In the farming season, when there was need of
extra labor, he would bring some of them out to work for him.
Mrs. Salmon, a Quaker, told Fowler that Dr. Willis contemplated
selling him the following winter, probably because some less valuable
slave could do the work. All slaves dreaded being sold, for, if young
and strong, it usually meant being "sold South." So in the spring of
1858 Fowler made up his mind to run away. He and another slave started
one Saturday night and safely walked to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by
the early morning.
Promptly on Monday Dr. Willis issued a handbill offering $200 reward
for the recovery of his runaway. Fowler knew no details of this until
perhaps thirty or forty years later, when a son of Dr. Willis gave him
one of the handbills. It was shown about 1905 to the present writer
who had it carefully typewritten as to the lines and capitalization,
but the size of the letters could not be reproduced. The original was
duly returned to Fowler, but unfortunately he subsequently lost or
mislaid it. It was tiny for a handbill--only about six inches long and
four inches wide and was worded and lined thus:--
"$200 REWARD!
Ranaway from the subscriber, living at New Market, Frederick Co.,
Md., ON SATURDAY NIGHT, THE 8TH. OF MAY inst., a Negro Man, named
FRED FOWLER, aged about 26 years, five feet ten or eleven inches
high, stout made, dark copper color, round full eye, upper teeth
full and even, has a down look when spoken to, lisps slightly in
his speech, and has small hands; no other marks recollected. Had
on when he left, dark pants and coat and light-made shoes.
The above reward will be given for the arrest of said Negro, if
taken out of the State of Maryland, and his delivery to the
subscriber; or one hundred dollars, if taken in the State, and
secured in jail.
Dr. W. L. Willis.
New Market, Md., May 10, 1858."
The same wording long appeared as an advertisement in the Baltimore
_Sun_. Both were all in vain.
A free Negro, associated with the underground railroad in Pennsylvania
and working as a mason for a company of men who built large barns in
Maryland, had told Fowler to report in Gettysburg to a man by the name
of Mathers. The runaways did so and were concealed until the next
night. They then walked to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There they remained
that day. During the night they went on to Harrisburg. Some
Abolitionists took charge of them and put them on a farm about eight
miles from town. In August, they proceeded to Bradford, Canada West.
There Fowler found an aunt who had run away with a party of twelve,
many years before. He worked on a farm until May, 1862, when he went
to the American Hotel in Lockport, New York to become a waiter. In
August, 1863 he left for Hartford, Connecticut, to enlist in the 29th
Regiment of Connecticut Colored Volunteers. The regiment was turned
over to the Government in March, 1864, and was then taken by boat from
Hartford to Annapolis Maryland, and there transhipped to Beaufort,
South Carolina.
At Beaufort they had a few little skirmishes. Once they were about
surrounded by the Confederates for five days, and were without food a
part of the time. The Confederates were between Beaufort and Hilton
Head, but did not know to what disadvantage they had the colored
regiment.
In the summer of 1864 the regiment was moved to Bermuda Hundred,
Virginia. On the day of landing they took part in an engagement at
Malvern Hill. They were in several skirmishes and were finally
attacked at Strawberry Plains. From there they were taken to the
Weldon railway, for the purpose of cutting off the southern connection
with Richmond. They fought there three days and tore up the track. To
make the rails useless they were heated red-hot and twisted around
trees. Later, the regiment was taken back to the neighborhood of Fort
Harrison, on which they made an attack. After a few weeks they took
the Fort and remained there all winter and until a few days before the
fall of Richmond.
Early in April, 1865, on a Sunday afternoon the troops in Fort
Harrison saw a large mass of Confederates marching in plain view in
front of them. "We thought there must be a million of them marching
there!" It was supposed that the Confederates intended soon to attack
Fort Harrison. The occupants of the Fort sent out videttes so as to
give the earliest possible notice of it. Those in the Fort made every
preparation for resistence. But there was no attack. That night three
unarmed Confederates came to the videttes and reported that there were
no troops in front; that the Confederate lines had long been very thin
and that the Federals could march right into Richmond.
This was found to be true, for on the following day the Union troops
started for the Confederate capitol. Fowler's regiment reached there
on the morning of the fall and went to State House Hill, but camped
close to Libby prison, down near the river. A few days later--a day or
two before Lincoln was shot--they left Richmond for City Point, where
they first heard of his death. From there they were taken to Point
Lookout, Maryland, to aid in the search for Booth. After Booth was
captured, the regiment returned to City Point, and a week later was
ordered to Brownsville, Texas, for the special purpose of getting the
supplies,--a great collection of cotton, wagons and all sorts of
munitions--that General Kirby Smith had tried to take to Mexico. The
regiment remained there until the 15th day of October, when Fowler and
the others were mustered out of the United States service.
In the spring of 1876 he was appointed a messenger in the Library of
Congress, which was then and until about 1900 in the Capitol just west
of the great dome. He was a strong willing worker. Doctor Spofford
relied on him to find and bring forth from dark and dusty storerooms
the files of old newspapers when needed for historical purposes. By
the time that the magnificent Library of Congress building was
completed and things were in shipshape, Fowler had reached an age when
he was entitled to and given less heavy work.
For nearly twenty years he was daily at the door of the Reading Room
to admit readers and to refer sightseers to the gallery for the best
view of the grand and beautiful rotunda. He was always so cheerful and
polite that it gave one pleasure to see and exchange greetings with
him. His remarkable and most honorable career caused him to be
regarded with much wonder by persons of the young generation,
especially if from the North. By the whole staff of the Library and by
the many research workers that daily came there, he was regarded with
a fondness such as was felt toward no one else.
He died October 9, 1919, at the advanced age of about 87 and was
buried in the great National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. There
his grave and name can be seen among those of men who fought to
preserve the Union, and in doing so destroyed slavery--the "sacred
institution" of the old South and "the corner-stone" of the
short-lived Confederacy. Fred Fowler served his race and his country
well and he was well rewarded.
F. B.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE DEATH OF RACHEL PARKER.
On the 21st of February 1918 the _Oxford Press_ carried the following:
The death on Monday in Oxford of Rachel Parker Wesley, an aged colored
woman, recalls an incident of the slavery times previous to the War of
the Rebellion, in which Rachel was a principal figure. The question of
slavery was paramount then, and later became one of the burning issues
of the war. Maryland was a slave State, and an ablebodied negro man
was worth in the slave market as much as $1400, while a girl often
brought $1000. Frequently negroes were taken from the free State of
Pennsylvania across into Maryland, where they might be sold.
Rachel Parker lived at the time with the family of Joseph Miller, on
the farm in West Nottingham now owned by S. S. Boyd.
It was on the last day of December, 1850, that she was kidnapped from
this home by three men, Thomas McCrery, John Merritt and George
Alexander, the latter figuring as the driver of the wagon. It was
about 11 o'clock in the morning.
The team took a road, now vacated, that led to old Pine Grove school
house. They found the road blocked by the wagon of James Pollock, and
his son Samuel, who were loading wood. On demand that the wagon be
removed so that they could pass at once, James Pollock refused, and
when McCrery drew a sword he brandished his axe.
The kidnappers then turned and made their way to Nottingham, and by
way of Stubbs' Mill, Chrome and Calvert, proceeded to Perryville, from
which point they entrained for Baltimore.
When the capture of Rachel Parker became known there was considerable
excitement in the community. Rachel was born of free parents and that
she had been carried away into possible slavery was too much for the
sturdy abolitionists of that day.
A party of eight was organized to go in pursuit. They were Joseph
Miller, William Morris, Samuel Pollock, Lewis Melrath, Jesse B. Kirk,
Abner B. Richardson, Benjamin Furniss, H. G. Coates.
These men went to Perryville and that night took a train for
Baltimore. They went to a house of detention or slave pen in that city
where runaway slaves were kept. While they were there McCrery appeared
with Rachel Parker in a wagon.
The Pennsylvanians protested that the girl was not a slave, but was
free, and the authorities ordered that she be held and given a trial.
The Pennsylvanians met an acquaintance named Francis Cochran, who
resided in Baltimore. When he learned their errand he told them they
were in mortal danger, and advised them to get at once on a train and
not leave it until they arrived at Perryville.
Joseph Miller left the car, or the train, and was not seen again by
his friends, although search was made for him. His body was found some
hours afterwards, hanging in a woods near Stemmer's Run. Just how he
met his death is a mystery that never was made clear. It was claimed
at the time that investigation proved that Miller was dead before his
body was hanged to the tree, and that he had been poisoned.
Rachel Parker was gone more than 14 months, most of that time locked
up in Baltimore. Her trial was postponed from time to time.
It was claimed in Baltimore that Rachel Parker was a member of a
family named Crocus, and that they were runaway slaves. In an effort
to prove this, people were sent to this neighborhood to try to
identify other members of the Parker family as in reality belonging to
the Crocus family. The attorney who ably defended Rachel Parker was
Lloyd Norris. She was acquitted, and she is said to have been the only
person so freed in a slave State.
For more than 40 years Rachel lived with the Coates family, near
Glenroy. To Granville Coates, Sr., _The Press_ is indebted for the
details of the affair, which are from records which he has faithfully
preserved.
On the 28th of February, 1918 the _Oxford Press_ carried the
following:
The account of the death in Oxford of Rachel Parker Wesley, an aged
colored woman, in last week's _Oxford Press_, has been closely read.
Some older citizens, in town and country, recall the circumstances and
the high excitement that prevailed at the time Rachel Parker, then a
girl, was kidnapped.
Of all the men who desired that justice be done Rachel Parker, who was
kidnapped by Thomas McCrery and others on the last day of 1851, from
the home of Joseph C. Miller, West Nottingham, township, not one took
deeper and more determined interest in the matter than the late Dr.
John Miller Dickey of Oxford. He became a leader in the affair and
repeatedly went to Baltimore, where Rachel was in jail, and got a
number of the most influential citizens of Baltimore interested to
have justice brought about. The late Levi K. Brown of Lancaster county
was also active in the matter and rendered much valuable assistance.
The matter had now become so generally known that effectual help was
received from the late Senator Henry S. Evans, West Chester, who
brought the circumstances to the attention of our Legislature, by
which means the case became a State affair.
Dr. Dickey and others attended the trial in January, 1853. The
proceedings lasted eight days, during which, as one of the claimant's
attorneys expressed it, "an entire neighborhood" appeared and "an
avalanche of testimony" was borne to the girl's free birth. Evidence
was produced from Baltimore that she was not the girl who had been
lost. Forty-nine witnesses were heard and many more were ready when a
compromise was proposed and agreed to. Notwithstanding this
overwhelming evidence, there was still some fear that a Baltimore jury
would decide against the girl, and it was thought wise to give way.
The chief end was gained: Rachel Parker was declared free born; the
same jury gave a verdict also for her sister Elizabeth who had been
found in New Orleans and brought North, and the two were restored to
their mother.
The costs of the trial were divided, these amounting to $1000, besides
$3000 expended by the State of Pennsylvania and heavy outlays by
friendly citizens of Baltimore and Chester County.
Judge Bell of West Chester, one of the Pennsylvania counsel, wrote
thus after all was over to the West Chester _Republican and Democrat_:
"Too much praise cannot be accorded to the host of witnesses from
Chester County and the neighboring districts, who promptly on the call
of justice and humanity, exchanged the comforts of home for the
inconvenience and supposed dangers of sojourn in a strange city, under
circumstances well calculated to deter a merely selfish person from
obeying the summons. This praise is peculiarly due to the numerous
ladies of our county whose sense of right overcame every merely
personal consideration."
The "supposed dangers" referred to, of which the murder of Joseph C.
Miller was a sign, were realized by Dr. Dickey, who his son, the late
J. M. C. Dickey, Esq., told, "would go to trial in Baltimore, not
knowing how he would come back. Once he was very near death at their
hands."
The concluding local action of this case of wide agitation was as
follows:
West Nottingham, Jan. 17, 1853.
At a meeting of the witnesses and others who attended the Court of
Baltimore county, in the case of the girls, Rachel and Elizabeth
Parker, the following was passed:
"Whereas, By the blessings of Divine Providence, the two girls
Rachel and Elizabeth Parker, have been restored to the State of
Pennsylvania, where they were threatened, by a lawless and unjust
removal; and whereas, similar cases are likely to occur, and in
the excited state of public opinion on the subject of Slavery,
both in the Northern and Southern States, difficulties exist in
the way of the administration of law and justice where colored
persons are petitioning for their freedom, we regard it as a duty
we owe to those who may be engaged in similar prosecutions, as
well as to those who have mainly aided in obtaining success in
this case to put upon record the following resolutions:
"That we regard with great satisfaction the conduct of the
Executive of our State, who, at the suggestion of the Senator and
Representatives of our county, assumed the control and
responsibilities of the trial; and that we tender our sincere
thanks to the distinguished counsel, Attorney-General Campbell
and Judge Bell, who visited at different times this place to
become familiar with and to give encouragement to the witnesses
to about to testify in another State, thus accomplishing the
object as well by their urbanity as well as by their professional
skill.
"That we express our sincere acknowledgement of the courtesy
shown us by the Court of Baltimore county, both by the bench and
bar and especially to Wm. H. Norris, Esq., for his invaluable
services, associated as counsel with those from our own State.
"That we deplore the death of Joseph C. Miller, a witness in the
first trial before the magistrate's court, and believing, as we
most positively do, that he came to his death violently by other
hands than his own, we implore the Executive to offer a suitable
reward, in addition to that offered by his friends, for the
discovery and apprehension of his murderers.
JOHN M. DICKEY,
_Chairman_."
HUGH ROWLAND, _Secretary_.
It may be added that the Grand Jury of Chester county brought in a
true bill against Thomas McCrery and Merritt, his associate, for
kidnapping. But Governor Lowe of Maryland refused the requisition for
apprehension and delivery, going behind the record, contrary to the
law, as Governor Bigler of Pennsylvania demonstrated clearly in the
published correspondence.
SOME OHIO NEGRO PIONEERS
In 1835 some of the earnest free colored people of Virginia were
interested in reports of the great opportunities for colored folk in
the State of Ohio, so often called the Buckeye State. At that time
there were no railroads from the slave State Virginia to Ohio, a free
State. But the determined freemen and their families undeterred by
this drawback went forth in covered wagon trains.
One of the earlier groups of pioneers consisted of several families
from and near Richmond Virginia; namely, Abraham Depp and his wife
Mary Goode-Depp, Elias Litchford, James Poindexter, and Archer Goode,
with their families, and Samuel Willis Whyte accompanied by his son
bearing the same name, all of whom settled in central Ohio, not far
from Columbus. Abraham Depp purchased five or six hundred acres, south
of Delaware; Litchford about the same number of acres nearer Columbus;
the elder Whyte, being a mechanic, purchased only about two hundred
acres. Samuel W. Whyte Jr. later left his trade for the profession of
medicine and became noted as a specialist of chronic diseases. Dr.
Samuel Whyte married Miss Louisa Goode, daughter of Archer Goode. She
was of a peculiar sweet disposition, a model companion, and a loving
earnest mother. She as often called Saint Louisa by those who knew her
best. She died in 1905.
The Doctor always kept in touch with the leading thoughts and
achievements of his day. He was a brilliant scholar, a great logician,
with a keen wit, having a dash of eccentricity throughout; in fact, he
was a born philosopher, and a man of many parts. He was educated for
missionary work to Liberia, but he remained at home and became one of
the landmarks of Central Ohio in politics and medicine. He was born in
1815 and died in 1902, when, as it happened in the case of his wife
whom he survived seven years, he was borne to his final resting place
from the home where he had lived since 1835. Dr. Whyte and his wife
had a large family of whom the writer, H. Georgiana Whyte, alone bears
the family name. The old homestead is retained by the descendents.
All through Ohio settled many such high minded, thoroughgoing
Christian Negro families that helped to build up Ohio and left large
families, of worthy descendants. Of this pioneer group one of the most
prominent characters was James Poindexter, who sold his farm of forty
acres and went to Columbus, Ohio to live. He was a playmate and always
an ardent friend of Dr. Samuel Willis Whyte, Jr. There James
Poindexter became a Baptist minister and during later years became one
of the foremost citizens of Columbus, having become a member of the
city council and for over forty years served as pastor of the most
prominent Baptist church in the city. He was in great demand as an
orator before and after the Civil War. He lived to a ripe old age.
H. GEORGIANA WHYTE.
THE ALEXANDERS
Henry Alexander a mulatto who lived at Mayslick, Kentucky, and who
purchased his freedom when twenty-one years of age, sent his two
oldest daughters to school in Philadelphia as early as 1846. He was a
store-keeper and grain merchant. In the fifties he sent three younger
ones to Oberlin, Ohio where Louisa Alexander was graduated in 1862.
She and her older sister Rachel taught in the South during the
Reconstruction period and had many thrilling experiences. In several
instances their schools were closed and they were given so many hours
to leave town. Maria Ann, who went to school in Philadelphia, taught a
while in Covington, Kentucky, strange as it may seem, before the war.
She was later married to the late Judge Mifflin W. Gibbs, an
unflinching advocate of human rights.
Q. G. H.
BOOK REVIEWS
_The Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter_, 1826-1876, Volume
II. Edited by CHARLES HENRY AMBLER. Washington, 1918. Pp. 381.
This comprises the twelfth report of the Historical Manuscript
Commission and is published as the Annual Report of the American
Historical Association for the year 1916. The contents are a callendar
of papers and addresses by Robert M. T. Hunter heretofore printed, a
callendar of letters to and from him printed in this volume, and the
correspondence of the statesman. The work of the author appears to be
more of that of a collector than that of an editor, for the volume has
very little annotation. In the short preface the author undertakes to
give the place of Robert M. T. Hunter in the history of his State and
of the nation and to evaluate his correspondence. The excuse for such
a short sketch is that Robert M. T. Hunter did not stand out as a
great statesman himself but owes his importance to following the
leadership of John C. Calhoun, and the period in which he lived was
one of declining influence for his State and later one of civil strife
between the great sections of the nation. Although he served the
public almost continuously during the period of thirty years he held
only a few positions of trust, most of his service being in the United
States Senate.
These letters, as a whole, are unusually valuable in that they throw
light on various problems perplexing the country during this critical
period of American history between the year 1826 and 1876. Students of
Negro history will be primarily interested in the letters in which we
find mention of the African trade with Brazil, his speeches on
slavery, on the fight for Missouri and Kansas, and on the abolition
movement. His correspondence shows, moreover, what he thought about
the extension of slavery, the stealing of slaves, legislation
regarding the institution, and the power of Congress in the
territories. There are references to the Compromise of 1850, the
execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, the struggle in Kansas, and the
demands of the South in the great crisis. The space which he gives to
the opinions and the doctrines advanced by Stephen A. Douglas, the
rights of the slave States in the territories, the attitude of
Seward, and the election of 1860 is considerable.
As Robert M. T. Hunter lived to see the Reconstruction worked out, it
is interesting to note his attitude on the part he felt that the Negro
should play in it. He did not believe that the elevation of the Negro
to the status of citizenship with the right to vote or hold office
would be good for this country. He referred frequently to the
experience of Negro governments in Haiti and Jamaica to support his
theory. He felt that it would result in the formation of the black
man's party which would persecute the white man and the Negro control
of affairs would result in the destruction of all the elements of
material prosperity and moral progress. He believed that, as it
happened in these islands, the black man's party would so persecute
the whites that they would be driven from the country, just as the
Haitians had persecuted the whites and made it illegal for them to
hold real estate in the island. Even if the Negroes did get control of
the Southern States and persecute the whites in the way that he
suspected that they would, it would only be a matter of time before
the North would rise up against the blacks thus exalted and overthrow
them. Hunter disclaimed any hostility toward the Negroes but insisted
that their welfare was to be promoted in a way that was contrary to
their own future plans.
* * * * *
_Finding a Way Out._ By ROBERT RUSSA MOTON, An Autobiography.
Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1920. Pp. 295.
This story, according to the author, was written because of the
repeated and urgent solicitation of those of his friends believing
that such a story would serve an essential purpose in helping to a
clearer understanding of the hopes and aspirations of the Negro and
the difficulties which they have had to overcome. The author has
endeavored to record these events which have given character and color
to his life and at the same time to reflect the impressions made upon
his mind by experiences that he could not always reconcile with what
he had learned of American ideals and standards.
The story begins with an interesting account of the coming of the
ancestors of Dr. Moton out of Africa to serve in the new world. There
is a short sketch of early life on the Virginia plantation where his
parents first connected themselves with America, covering the
boy-hood, early training and first impressions of the author of this
work. The chapter treating of the Reconstruction period, when as a
youth the author was seeking an education and had to withstand the
temptation of being drawn into the inviting political world of these
days of a seeming golden age, adds increasing interest. Following this
there appears an account of his career at Hampton in the connection
with General Armstrong as an outstanding figure of inspiration and
love. How the author at the close of his student days solved the
problem of the choice of a life work and became a leader among the
black, the white, and the red, brings the reader to the consideration
of actual achievement. Serving Hampton as a representative travelling
through the North and the South, Dr. Moton found his way into larger
fields of usefulness by touching the life of the Negro in all of its
ramifications.
The close connection between Dr. Moton and Dr. Booker T. Washington
whom he succeeded, is made the important feature of the book. The
comradeship of these two men and their cooperation in a common cause
stand out as eloquent facts leading the way to the choice of Dr. Moton
as the successor of his great friend at Tuskegee. In this he states
how he has taken up this unusually hard task and solved the problems
which have come his way. The calls upon him for service in other
fields requiring his time in all matters touching the uplift of the
Negro race show an enlarging usefulness of the man. Among these
efforts may be mentioned the work in connection with the National
Urban League, the Young Men's Christian Association, the war work
movements, and his mission to the colored soldiers in France after the
war. On the whole, this story of the direct descendant of an African
brought to a tobacco plantation and finally rising to a position of
usefulness and honor, is of much value. It not only throws light on
the history of that group of which he formed a part in a State
considered one of the most important in the Union, but served also as
a striking example of the ability of the Negro in spite of all of the
handicaps against which he must struggle.
* * * * *
_Unwritten History._ By BISHOP L. J. COPPIN. The A. M. E. Book
Concern, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1920. Pp. 375.
Here we have under this peculiar caption the auto-biography of a man
who for a number of years has figured very largely in the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. In his preface he says that, intermingled
with this unwritten history, is the story of his life. He frankly
states that it is all from memory with the exception of a number of
verifications. The effort toward a thorough biography has not been the
objective of the author, for as he states he has merely written down
those things that impressed him most and facts that seem to him the
most significant among the things to be noted.
The work begins with an account of his birth and boyhood in Frederick
Town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where Frederick Douglas was
born. There is much information about the life of Frederick Town
referring to particular places along the rivers and bays and various
persons who figured in the life of these people. Bishop Coppin directs
attention to the social, moral and intellectual condition of the State
at the time of his birth, giving full account of the religious
atmosphere in which he lived and the particular strivings of his
oppressed people.
Leaving this phase of the story one finds the book more interesting in
that part discussing the events leading up to the Civil War and the
role which the Negroes played in that drama. The sketch of the
situation after the Civil War is equally well set forth because of the
increasing power of the author during this period to appreciate and
participate in the larger things which concerned the Negro people. His
call to the ministry, service in various fields and the election to
the bishopric add further interest to the story. How in his travels in
this country and abroad men and things impressed him, constitute
another value of the autobiography. The book closes with a chapter
giving a view of the domestic life of Bishop Coppin, making honorable
mention of his family.
For the popular reader this book may appear to be distinctly rough in
style and certain details may prove to be tiresome in that the author
omitted a good many things that some persons might want to learn and
drifted into those things which, by the average reader, may not be
considered worth while. On the whole, however, the scientific student
will find this autobiography just what it is entitled, _Unwritten
History_. Here is an opportunity to learn of the struggles of a Negro
during the period of great handicap and to understand his reaction to
what was going on in the world about him. It will be from such
biographies that some one in the future will have to write an actual
history of the Negro race to set forth exactly what this group has
thought and felt and done. A book of this sort, therefore, must have a
value. It is to be hoped that other distinguished churchmen and
Negroes who have thus touched the life of the race will emulate the
example of Bishop Coppin in leaving a written record.
* * * * *
_Negro Migration during the War._ By EMMETT J. SCOTT,
Secretary-Treasurer of Howard University. Oxford University
Press, New York, 1920. Pp. 189.
Under the imprint of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
and the Editorship of Professor Kinley, Mr. Emmett J. Scott has
brought out a monograph study of Negro Migration during the War, based
upon the careful and wisely distributed observation and records of
several collaborative agents and agencies. The subject is of too great
and too immediate economic and social importance to have waited for
the final interpretation as to results or the finer analysis as to
causes which must ultimately be given it. The entire series, in fact,
modestly styles itself a series of preliminary economic studies; and
as such, Volume XVI presents a sanely proportioned, clearly expounded,
and systematic survey of the vital and outstanding facts of one of the
most significant movements in the recent economic life of America.
Profounder consequences may ensue from this movement of the Negro
population, which, though started by war conditions, has by no means
halted with the war, than can be realized on superficial observation.
In this light, Mr. Scott's diagnosis is as important as his chronicle
of the facts. The reaction of the Negro masses away from untoward and
repressing social conditions and their awakening to the simple but
effective expedient of carrying their labor to better markets, are the
significantly new features of the after-war aspects of the Negro
problem. Economic adjustment, in most respects automatic--and
fortunately so--would be the controlling factor were there not
considerable evidence to show that the efficient causes of the
movement are social. In which case, as the concluding chapter
suggests, better living conditions, a more liberal social attitude,
improved interracial feeling will prove to be the only stabilizing
remedy. That the South has awakened to the realization of this, and is
about to apply to the situation more constructive and well-intentioned
effort than hitherto, is the confident belief and optimistic message
of the writer.
Reactions and effects of the Exodus upon northern community conditions
have not been gone into as thoroughly as the reactions upon conditions
in the South; though there is evidence pointing on the whole to
salutary effects in both sections. Certainly the study serves to call
timely attention without undue alarmist effect to very momentous
changes, and should be read by every alert, public-minded citizen.
In such delicate issues, however, facts outweigh opinions. Mr. Scott
has wisely struck the balance in favor of a dispassionate recital of
facts. It is a positive gain and welcome change of tone in the recent
discussion of racial issues to note in this study, as in Carl
Sandburg's _Chicago Riots_, the growing tendency to be objective and
to leave conclusions to the intelligence of one's readers. Indeed,
since it is facts that are of paramount interest, it is regrettable
that, with the great resources of the foundation, more explicit
statistics concerning the movement could not have been compiled. It is
this aspect of the subject which in consequence calls for further
treatment. Without the scientific pretensions, therefore, of Mr.
Epstein's intensive study of the Negro migrant or Dr. Woodson's
historical survey, the book, as a capable popular treatment of the
public questions and social issues involved in the recent migration of
the Negro population, serves its own distinctive purpose, and achieves
a measure of real public service.
ALAIN LOCKE.
NOTES
On the 18th and 19th of November the Association for the Study of
Negro Life and History will hold its annual meeting in Washington.
This will be a convocation of teachers and scholars throughout the
United States, now giving attention to research and instruction in
this field. The management of the Association is endeavoring to make
this meeting one of the most representative ever assembled.
The purpose of the meeting is to promote the collection of
sociological and historical documents, to stimulate studies in this
field through clubs and schools, and finally to bring about more
harmony between the races by interpreting the one to the other.
The reports of the work accomplished by the Association during the
past year will be made, further plans for the more successful
prosecution of the work will be devised and a number of instructive
addresses will be delivered by some of the most distinguished men of
the country.
Among the speakers will be A. B. Hart, Professor of History at Harvard
University, Franz Boas, Professor of Ethnology at Columbia University,
L. Hollingsworth Wood, President of the Urban League, and Oswald
Garrison Villard, the Editor of the _Nation_. These addresses will
cover almost every phase of Negro life and history.
* * * * *
Three important works bearing on the Negro have recently come from the
press. Among these are _The Voice of the Negro_, by Robert T. Kerlin,
Professor of English, Virginia Military Institute, published by E. P.
Dutton and Company, New York; _The Negro Faces America_, by Herbert J.
Seligman, formerly a member of the editorial staff of the _New York
Evening Times_ and the _New Republic_, published by Harper and
Brothers, New York; and the _Republic of Liberia_, being a general
description of the Negro republic with its history, commerce,
agriculture, flora and fauna, and present methods of administration,
by R. C. F. Maugham, Consul General at Monrovia, published by Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York. Reviews of these books will appear in the
next number of the _Journal of Negro History_.
_The United States in Our Times, 1865-1920_, by Paul L. Haworth, is
the title of a work recently brought out by Charles Scribner's Sons.
Covering the period during which the Negroes have had a chance to play
a part in freedom, it contains some information and comment which will
be mentioned in this publication.
During the academic year 1920-1921 Dr. C. G. Woodson will, in the
capacity of Dean, reorganize the College Department of the West
Virginia Collegiate Institute. He will endeavor to finish this work
during one or two years, at the expiration of which he plans to devote
all of his time to research and publication. This new task of the
Director will not necessitate any change in the management of the
Journal of Negro History. The editorial office will remain in
Washington as formerly.
* * * * *
[Transcriber's Notes:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other
inconsistencies.
The transcriber noted the following issues and made changes as
indicated to the text to correct obvious errors:
1. p. 6, Duplicate footnote markers for footnote #20
2. p. 30, beseiged --> besieged
3. p. 60, heriditary --> hereditary
4. p. 67, Duplicate footnote markers for footnote #6
5. p. 68, not the case. --> not the case."
6. p. 70, No footnote marker for footnote #9.
7. p. 71, Multiple footnote markers for footnote #10
8. p. 71,72, Multiple footnote markers for footnote #11
9. p. 72,73, Multiple footnote markers for footnote #12
10. p. 76, No footnote marker for footnote #14.
11. p. 82, No footnote marker for footnote #21.
12. p. 89, Convenion --> Convention
13. p. 104, Gleaves --> Gleaves,
14. p. 104, Thomas --> Thomas,
15. p. 115, Misisssippi --> Mississippi
16. p. 121, goverenment --> government
17. p. 124, He said: There --> He said: "There
18. p. 184, chieflly --> chiefly
19. p. 187, esitmate --> estimate
20. p. 194, serivce --> service
21. p. 223, Footnote #30, Drewery -->Drewry
22. p. 243, Leglistature --> Legislature
23. p. 263, Signé) --> (Signé)
24. p. 273, Footnote #5, Loftt --> Lofft
25. p. 273, Footnote #10, Holdworth's --> Holdsworth's
26. p. 276, Longueil --> Longueuil
27. p. 277, Two footnote markers #15 are found on page 277. As
footnote #15 appears on the previous page, the ones on
page 277 have been numbered #16 to match footnote text.
28. p. 280, Duplicate footnote markers for footnote #18
29. p. 280, Duplicate footnote markers for footnote #19
30. p. 285, Duplicate footnote markers for footnote #27
31. p. 286, Footnote #30, wha --> who
32. p. 289, attenton --> attention
33. p. 289,290 Page contains footnote #37 text only.
34. p. 295, Januaray --> January
35. p. 295, No footnote marker for footnote #9.
36. p. 302, behvaiour --> behaviour
37. p. 303, Gabette --> Gazette
38. p. 309, goal --> gaol
39. p. 318, No footnote marker for footnote #5.
40. p. 326, Footnote #16, Mich. Hist. Coll. 1 --> Mich. Hist. Coll. I
41. p. 330, No footnote marker for footnote #28.
42. p. 332, Footnote #34 has missing page number.
43. p. 332, Removed reference to itself in footnote #39.
44. p. 332, Signé) --> (Signé)
45. p. 337, Footnote #40, Roght --> Right
46. p. 337, Removed reference to itself in footnote #46.
47. p. 338, Footnote text has no number or marker. Used #46a.
48. p. 343, Footnote #8 has missing page number.
49. p. 346, Executive Council --> Executive Council)
50. p. 352, crimes is --> crimes in
51. p. 358, Page contains footnote #31 text only.
52. p. 361, Footnote #4, George 111 --> George III
53. p. 361, Footnote #5 has missing page number.
54. p. 367, mainfested --> manifested
55. p. 368, Footnote #13, babendo --> habendo
56. p. 370, Footnote #16 has missing page number.
57. p. 382, Jouranl --> Journal
58. p. 409, acquiesed --> acquiesced
59. p. 410, Cockrane --> Cochrane
60. p. 411, Original says November 22, 1914.
61. p. 435, therefor --> therefore
62. p. 444, No footnote marker for footnote #9.
63. p. 456, de-departed --> departed
64. p. 459, lieutenant-governnorship --> lieutenant-governorship
65. p. 464, it it not? --> is it not?
66. p. 469, (Signed --> (Signed)
67. p. 484, arces --> acres
68. p. 484, Secreary --> Secretary
69. p. 485, Philadlphia --> Philadelphia
70. p. 487, pupose --> purpose
71. p. 491, regretable --> regrettable
Also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain
as published.
End of Transcriber's Notes]