_A Social History of the American Negro._ By BENJAMIN BRAWLEY.
Macmillan Company, New York, 1921. Pp. 420.
As Negro history has been so long neglected, it will require some time
to develop in this field the necessary standard to secure a
distinction between the significant and insignificant and between
truth and fiction. On account of the emphasis which has been recently
given to this study, many novices lacking especially the historical
point of view have entered this field because it is so productive that
it is an easy task to write a work therein. Benjamin Brawley whose
chief preparation and efforts have been restricted to English is one
of these novices. Among his first efforts were _A Short History of the
American Negro_ and _The Negro in Literature and Art_. In neither of
these works does he exhibit the knowledge required by the standards of
present day historiography. This more recent work although more
extensive than the others has no better claim to its being called
history.
There can be no question as to many valuable facts contained in this
work, but it lacks proportion, style, and accuracy. The book begins
with a study of African origins based largely on Wiener's _Africa and
the Discovery of America_ and upon Lady Lugard's _Tropical
Dependency_. He next takes up the Negro in the Spanish exploration but
has little or nothing to say about the Negroes in connection with
other explorers. His treatment of the development of the slave trade
and of the introduction of slavery shows a slightly improved
conception of his task. In his discussion of the Negroes in the
colonies, into which he works servitude and slavery, the Indian, the
mulatto, the free Negro, and efforts for social betterment, he
presents a veritable hodgepodge. Passing then to the study of the
estrangement from Great Britain, the participation of the Negro in the
Revolutionary War, and the effect of that movement upon the Negro's
social and political situation, he exhibits no scientific grasp of the
status of the Negroes during the eighteenth century or of what they
were thinking and doing. The treatment of the new West, the South, and
the West Indies, which follows this portion of the book is merely
certain generalizations which may be obtained from an average
knowledge of American history and from such topical discussions of the
Negro history as may be found in B.A. Johnson's _History of the Negro
Race_ or in John W. Cromwell's _The Negro in American History_. In his
discussion of the Indian and the Negro there is an effort which serves
to direct attention to a neglected aspect of our history, that is, to
figure out the extent to which the races were associated and the race
admixture which resulted from such contact.
Coming nearer to our day to take up the discussion of the Missouri
Compromise, the abolition agitation, and the constitutional debate on
slavery, Mr. Brawley shows his inability to develop his subject for he
merely draws a few facts first from one field and then from another to
fill out certain topics in the book without correlating them in such a
way that the reader may be able to interpret their meaning. He has
endeavored not to write a history but to summarize what other persons
are now publishing as selected topics in this field. In other words,
he has added to the unscientific history of the Negro, which has
hitherto appeared in the so-called text books on Negro history, facts
culled from various sources but so improperly used as not to develop
the subject.
The chapter on Liberia should have been incorporated into the
treatment of colonization or made a supplementary chapter in the
appendix of the book. Placed in the middle of the work, it has been
necessary to repeat certain facts which could have been stated
elsewhere once for all. The same is true of his treatment of the Negro
as a national issue, and of social progress, which he takes up the
second time as topics inadequately developed in the earlier stages of
the treatise. In his discussion of the Civil War, the Emancipation,
the Reconstruction, and the Negro in the new South, he says very
little which is new. Under the caption _The Vale of Tears_, he drifts
almost altogether into opinion as he does also in the case of the
_Negro in the New Age_ and the _Negro Problem_. Judging, then, from
the point of view of an historian, one must conclude that this work
does not meet any particular want and that so far as the history of
the Negro is concerned the publication of it will hardly result in any
definite good. Mr. Brawley does not know history.
_William Lloyd Garrison._ By JOHN JAY CHAPMAN. Moffat, Yard and
Company, New York, 1913. Pp. 278.
This is a revised edition of a work of a similar name by this author,
published in 1913 by Moffat, Yard and Company, New York. After having
written the first edition the author made further investigation and
had other reflections which led him to think and to see things from a
different angle. He was impressed, moreover, with the fact that, being
now further removed from the Civil War, persons have learned to think
more seriously with regard thereto and to consider the value of the
deeds of the participants therein in a more sympathetic manner. This
work, however, has not been so very much enlarged; for it has only
eighteen pages more, but unlike the first edition it has an index.
Hoping, however, to give the subject of this sketch a larger place in
American history and to popularize the story of his career this
revised edition has been given to the public.
The work is not set forth as a scientific study. It is rather an
abridged account which may be read without much difficulty by the
average student in quest of concise opinion concerning one of the most
important American characters figuring in that great crisis between
1830 and 1860. On reading this work, one receives the impression that
the author has done his task very well. It borders somewhat on hero
worship, however, as is evident from the use of the following
language: "If one could see a mystical presentation of the epoch, one
would see Garrison as a Titan, turning a giant grindstone or
electrical power-wheel, from which radiated vibrations in larger and
in ever larger, more communicative circles and spheres of agitation,
till there was not a man, woman, or child in America who was not a
tremble." He says further: "We know, of course, that the source of
these radiations was not in Garrison. They came from the infinite and
passed out into the infinite. Had there been no Garrison they would
somehow have arrived and at some time would have prevailed. But
historically speaking they did actually pass through Garrison: he
vitalized and permanently changed this nation as much as one man ever
did the same for any nation in the history of the world."
The book gives a good background and then dramatically stages Garrison
as a striking figure. Next follows a dramatic presentation of the
antislavery struggle with pen pictures of the participants. The story
finally reaches the crisis when Garrison stood as a central figure.
The work contains a retrospect and a prospect, an excellent account of
the man in action, the Rynders Mob, Garrison and Emerson, and foreign
influence. The story closes with a summary and an impressive epilogue.
Although not a scientific treatise it certainly furnishes stimulus to
further study, and when a student thus interested has read it, he
will desire to study one of the larger biographies of this
distinguished man.
_The Education of the South African Native._ By CHARLES T. LORAM.
Longmans, Green and Company, London, 1917. Pp. 340.
This is a treatise written by a South African brought up among the
natives. He was once a Fellow in Teachers College of Columbia
University. At the time of writing this book he was serving as an
inspector of schools in Natal. The study, however, was undertaken as a
doctoral dissertation at Columbia.
Observing the shortcomings of writers on Africa, this author endeavors
to make a step ahead of them. He feels that they have dealt too much
with ethnology, and with the descriptions of customs and habits. He
does not think very much of the books primarily devoted to a
discussion of the conflicting opinions on craniology and psychology of
the natives. Taking up his own chosen task, however, he found it
rather difficult because the government has had no definite policy of
native education, and when there has been a policy among the four
important South African governments there does not appear to be any
uniformity of effort. No one, moreover, has undertaken to give the
problem of the uplift of the natives adequate treatment.
The author desired to make his work scientific but it appears that he
had not prosecuted this study very far before he found that important
facts were lacking and that in making his conclusions and suggestions
he would have to rely upon faith that what he may surmise may in the
future prove to be true, although some modification may be necessary.
Taking up this problem of education, however, he made use of the
reports of the government departments, reports of school officials,
books, pamphlets, articles in periodicals, statistical and
experimental investigations, personal experience, and the experiences
of his colleagues. While the work for the lack of some scientific
treatise blazing the way suffered from so many handicaps that it could
not be thoroughly scientific, it is the nearest approach to it and
must be considered the best authority in this field until superseded.
The work begins with a consideration of such scientific topics as race
contact in its larger aspects, the native problem and its proposed
solution, serving as a sort of introduction to the essential portion
of the work. The chief value of the book lies in its consideration of
why the natives should be educated, the early missionary enterprises,
the present status, elementary, industrial and higher education of the
natives, a comparison of the achievements of native education with
that of European, the basis for reconstruction of the native system,
the educational budget, and proposed changes.
The work is generally readable but grows a little dull in certain
statistical portions. The table of contents is detailed, but the book
could have been considerably improved had an index been added. On the
whole, the volume is a justification of some change in the political
status of the Negro for the good of all. South Africa cannot in its
own interest neglect the uplift of the natives, if it would promote
the social and economic progress of the whole group. The one element
cannot be elevated or kept up while the other is being held down.
Persons interested in education of belated peoples and in the
missionary enterprises should avail themselves of this volume.
_From Slave to Citizen._ By CHARLES M. MELDEN. The Methodist Book
Concern, New York and Cincinnati, 1921. Pp. 271.
This is a work written by one who has spent sixteen years as an
educator of Negroes in the South. His experience there was sufficient
for him to learn the Negro and his needs and he writes in the vein of
one speaking as having authority. Because of his long service among
the Negroes, the author has doubtless caught the viewpoint of the
aspiring members of the race. He aims, therefore, to present the
Negro's claim for recognition as a man, as a member of the human
family with the implied rights and privileges belonging to him.
The book presents a definite program. It proceeds on the basis that,
in a democracy, citizenship with its duties and its privileges must in
the long run be recognized. He does not feel that democracy means the
wiping out of racial preferences but the recognition of racial gifts
and endowments. The author considers it an injustice to hold the Negro
to the standards of democracy without training him to meet the
responsibility. He considers it unfair to require every individual of
the race to reach a prescribed standard before any of that group shall
be recognized. It is, therefore, a plea for treating the Negroes as
individuals and not as a single group, for fair treatment will not
lead to amalgamation in as much as Christianity has not been known to
promote that.
The chief remedy for the evils of racial conflict, according to the
author, is cooperation. This must be brought about through growth and
development from the contact of the two races on the higher plane of
Christian service. Men must learn to work together without
surrendering their fundamental connections. They must confer on all
matters pertaining to economic welfare. This means that the white man
must give the Negro a chance for initiative and leadership in the
program of cooperation rather than the eternal superimposed leadership
from without. In the language of Bishop W. P. Thirkield, who wrote the
introduction to this work: "The Negro must be offered not crutches but
a spirit of cooperation to make him strong that he may stand on his
feet and walk."
It is evident then that this book is primarily concerned with the
solution of the race problem. Yet written by a man who for years lived
in the South, it presents a point of view which will be of value to
the historian. From such topics as citizenship, social and legal
discrimination, disfranchisement, and mob law, the historian will
learn much by observing how these things impressed this worker in the
South and his reaction on them. Valuable information may be obtained
also from the discussion of the work of the Christian teacher in the
South, the mission school, and the silent protest in the form of the
exodus. There are valuable statistics in the chapters presenting the
progress in education, advancement in wealth, achievement in social
uplift, attainments in literature and art, and the record of the
Negroes in the World War. The last part of the book concerned with the
currents and counter-currents, the grinding of the mills of the gods
and a possible modus vivendi will decidedly interest the social worker
but will not concern very much the student of history. On the whole,
however, this volume is a valuable historical document which the
student of Negro life must read to be well informed as to what the
Negro has been doing in the South during the last generation and what
others have been doing for him.