The annual meeting of the Association, held at Lynchburg on the 14th
and 15th of November, was the most successful conference hitherto held
by this organization. The proceedings appear elsewhere in this number.
At this meeting Prof. John R. Hawkins, for years a member of the
Executive Council, was elected President. A new Secretary-Treasurer,
Mr. S. W. Rutherford, was also elected. Mr. Rutherford is a well-known
business man in Washington. The Executive Council was reconstructed to
make it national. The following persons were added thereto: Bishop R.
A. Carter, R. R. Church, John W. Davis, Clement Richardson, and R. C.
Woods. Most of the former members of the Executive Council were
retained.
The Associated Publishers, Incorporated, Washington, D. C., have
brought out C. G. Woodson's _History of the Negro Church_. A review of
this work will appear in the next number. Another work, the _Negro in
Our History_, will be published some time in March.
_The Journal of Negro History_ has received for review Mason and
Furr's _With the Red Hand of France_, an account of a regiment of
Negro soldiers in France with the American Expeditionary Force.
A group of intelligent Negroes in North Carolina have formed a state
historical society to preserve the records of the race in that
commonwealth.
Dr. C. G. Woodson, the Director of the Association is now making a
study of slavery from the point of view of the slave himself. He has
sent out a searching questionnaire from which some results are being
obtained. He is also consulting local records and documents left by
slaves themselves and by those in a position to know their attitude
toward the institution. The cooperation of all interested in
unearthing the truth is earnestly solicited.
Professor A. A. Taylor, of the West Virginia Collegiate Institute, is
now making a scientific study of the influence of the Negro
congressmen on the legislation of Congress and on the general policy
of the country. He will appreciate any facts which may not be covered
by the public documents and books available.
Duffield and Company of Boston have published a new edition of
Benjamin Brawley's _The Negro in Literature and Art_.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF
NEGRO LIFE AND HISTORY, HELD AT LYNCHBURG, NOVEMBER 14 AND 15, 1921
The morning session of the annual meeting of the Association on the
14th at the Virginia Theological Seminary and College was called to
order by the Director, C. G. Woodson, who briefly traced the history
of the organization showing how it had gradually gained influence and
power and reached the position which it now occupies as a national
organization of concern to the people of both races throughout the
country. The Director then introduced Professor Charles H. Wesley of
Howard University, who delivered a most instructive and inspiring
address on the value of Negro History. After a few remarks by Dr. R.
C. Woods, a number of persons expressed their interest in the
Association by becoming members.
At two o'clock in the evening, the business session of the Association
was held. From the Executive Council, there was presented a
recommendation for the following amendments to the constitution,
which, after some discussion, were adopted by the Association:
That Article IV be amended so as to change "twelve" to
"fourteen," and to incorporate after the words "business
committee" therein the words "to fix salaries of employees." This
article would then read as follows:
The Officers of this Association shall be a President, a
Secretary-Treasurer, a Director and Editor, and an Executive
Council, consisting of the three foregoing officers and fourteen
other members elected by the Association. The Association shall
have three trustees, who ex-officio shall be the President,
Secretary-Treasurer, and the Director and Editor. It shall also
appoint a Business Committee to fix salaries of employees, to
certify bills, and to advise the Director and Editor in matters
of administrative nature. These officers shall be elected by
ballot through the mail or at each annual meeting of the
Association.
That Article V be amended so as to read as follows:
The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association
and of the Executive Council. He shall be ex-officio a trustee of
the Association, a member of the Business Committee and a member
of all standing committees. He shall perform such other duties as
may be required of him from time to time by the Executive Council
or by the Association.
In case of the absence of the President or his inability to act,
his duty shall be performed by the Secretary-Treasurer, who in
that event shall exercise any of the above mentioned powers of
the President. In case of the absence of both the President and
the Secretary-Treasurer, the duty of the President shall be
performed by the Director and Editor, who in that event shall
exercise any of the above mentioned powers of the President.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall attend all meetings and keep a full
account of their proceedings in a book to be kept for that
purpose. He shall through his Assistant keep a full and accurate
account of receipts and disbursements of the Association in books
belonging to the Association and shall deposit all monies and
other valuable objects in the name of this Association in such
depositories or safety vaults as may be designated by the
Business Committee. He and his Assistant shall be required by the
Executive Council to give bond as the Executive Council may
designate. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be ex-officio a trustee
of the Association, and a member of the Business Committee.
The Director and Editor shall be the executive of the Association
when it or the Executive Council is not in session. He shall
devise plans for the collection of documents, direct the studies
of members of the Association, and determine what matter shall be
published in the Journal of Negro History. He shall employ a
business manager and clerk, the last mentioned to serve also as
the Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer. He may employ other
assistants for administrative work and upon the approval of the
Executive Council may employ specialists to prosecute the
research to be undertaken by the Association. The Director and
Editor shall be ex-officio a trustee of the Association, and a
member of all standing committees except the Business Committee.
The Executive Council shall have charge of the general interests
of the Association, including the election of members of the
Association on recommendation of the Director, the calling of
meetings, the collection and the disposition of funds.
The report of the Director was read and adopted as was also the report
of the Secretary-Treasurer, which was referred to an auditor.
Important extracts from these reports follow.
The work of the Association has been successfully promoted. In
some respects the Association has merely maintained its former
status. Considered from another point of view, however, a decided
advance in several ways has been noted. In the fields in which
the work has advanced the progress has been so significant that
the year through which the Association has just passed has been
the most prosperous in its history.
The subscription list of the Journal of Negro History does not
show a large increase for the reason that it became necessary
more than a year ago to raise the fee from one to two dollars a
year and the current stringency in the money market has borne so
heavily upon teachers, and students to whom this publication must
appeal, that they have been unable to give it more liberal
support. Among the subscribers and members, however, there has
been manifested a deep interest in the matter published and a
keen appreciation of its value in the uplift of the Negro.
The membership of the Association for the same reason has about
remained the same as that of last year. The interest of the
members in the work and the value of the direction of the
Association to them, however, have both unusually increased. This
interest has culminated in the organization of clubs under the
supervision of the Director, who through them has been able to
give considerable stimulus to the work in remote parts of the
country. Among the clubs thus organized should be mentioned those
of San Antonio, Louisville, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington,
Philadelphia, Brooklyn and New York. Classes doing the same work
under the instruction of teachers have been formed in most of the
accredited Negro secondary schools and colleges. The work of such
classes at the West Virginia Collegiate Institute, the Virginia
Theological Seminary and College, Hampton Institute, Morehouse
College, Atlanta University, Paine College, Lincoln Institute in
Missouri, and the Kentucky State Normal School has been helpful
to the Association in its prosecution of the study of Negro life
and history.
With the cooperation of these friends and through travel the
Director has been making a study of _Slavery from the Point of
View of the Slave_. This has been done through questionnaires
filled out by ex-slaves and former masters, through the
collection of documents, and the study of local records. This
study, however, is just beginning and will require much more time
for completion. The Director expects to finish at an earlier date
his studies of the _Free Negro_ and the _Development of the Negro
in the Occupations_.
The most significant achievement of the Association has been the
success of the Director in increasing the income of the
Association to about $12,000 a year. This substantial uplift has
come in part from a large number of Negroes, who now more than
ever appreciate the value of their records and the importance of
popularizing the study thereof. A large number of Negroes have
made small contributions and as many as forty have given the
Association $25 each this year. Through the strong endorsement of
Dr. J. F. Jameson and other noted historical scholars the
Director secured from the Carnegie Corporation the much needed
appropriation of $5,000 a year for each of the next five years.
With this income the Association has paid all of its debts except
that of the bonus of $1,200 a year promised the Director for
1919-1920 and 1920-1921. Besides, the Association has been
enabled to employ a Business Manager and to pay the Director a
regular salary that as soon as practicable he may sever his
connection with all work and devote all of his time to the
prosecution of the study of Negro Life and History.
The details as to how the funds thus raised have been expended appear
in the following report of the Secretary-Treasurer:
November 12, 1921.
_The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History,
Washington, D. C._
_Gentlemen:_ I hereby submit to you a statement of the amount of
money received and expended by the Association for the Study of
Negro Life and History, Incorporated, from September 30, 1920, to
November 12, 1921.