_Fifty Years in the Gospel Ministry._ By THEOPHILUS GOULD
STEWARD. The African Methodist Episcopal Book Concern, 631 Pine
Street, Philadelphia, 1922. Pp. 520.
This is an autobiography covering the period from 1864 to 1914. It
carries an introduction by Dr. Reverdy C. Ransom, the editor of the
_African Methodist Episcopal Church Review_. Inasmuch as it is the
record of a distinguished minister in one of the leading Negro
denominations, it throws much light on this period, not only in
ecclesiastical affairs but in matters touching the life and
development of this race during that period. This is apparent to one
observing that the book covers the author's twenty-seven years in the
pastorate, sixteen years as a chaplain in the United States army,
seven years as a professor in Wilberforce University, two of his trips
to Europe and one to Mexico. The book is illustrated, but it has no
index.
Taking up the work of the General Conference of 1864, the author says
much to give the reader an insight into the characters and efforts of
the leading churchmen of his denomination at that time. Among those
passing in review are Bishops Quinn, Payne, and Nazrey, and others
like H. M. Turner and Alexander W. Wayman who later became bishops of
that denomination. Then follows his trip South, when the author had
the opportunity to participate in the early efforts for the uplift of
the freedmen, serving in Georgia and in South Carolina. He then tells
how he arose to a position of usefulness and later served larger
groups of communicants in Philadelphia and the District of Columbia.
Referring to his record as a chaplain in the United States army, the
author shows a larger acquaintance with the leading Negro statesmen
through whom he obtained the position. The account of his services in
this capacity, both in this country and abroad, and especially in the
Philippine Islands, sets forth information, not only as to what that
portion of the world was doing, but the reaction of this educated
Negro to this panorama. Other interesting experiences appear in the
account of his extensive travels.
The value of the book is incalculable when one takes into
consideration the dearth of such literature bearing on Negroes. This
work takes rank with the recent volume of Bishop Coppin entitled
_Unwritten History_, for certainly there are to be found therein
interesting romances taken from the life of the Negro and recorded by
one of the race in the manner in which these things were impressed
upon him and found expression in his mind. This is the sort of
literature for which the public has patiently waited and it is
devoutly to be desired that other churchmen may find time to leave a
written record like these of Bishop Coppin and Chaplain Steward. For
anyone desirous of studying the history of the Negro in its various
ramifications, such works are indispensable.
_The Negro in Literature and Art._ By BENJAMIN BRAWLEY. Duffield
and Company, New York, 1921. Pp. 197.
This is a revised edition of Professor Brawley's work which appeared
in 1918. It follows the general outline of the first edition and sets
forth additional facts but not sufficient to justify this claim to
revision. The work is biographical, largely devoted to the narrative
of the careers of Phyllis Wheatley, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Charles W.
Chesnutt, W. E. B. Dubois, William Stanley Braithwaite, Frederick
Douglass, Booker Washington, Henry O. Tanner, Meta Warrick Fuller, and
Charles S. Gilpin. The unsatisfactory short sketch of Gilpin
constitutes the best claim of the work to that of a revised edition.
While this work does not show by historic or philosophical development
the evolution of the Negro mind as expressed in the achievements of
the race in literature and art, it has some value. To have a publisher
place before the public the sketches of so many prominent Negroes who
might otherwise remain unknown to the public is a service to be
appreciated. The world has too long considered the Negro a human
machine restricted to drudgery. Any successful effort, therefore, to
bring before the public from time to time the achievements of worthy
Negroes, although it may be a repetition of what may be well known to
the better informed few, must be welcomed as an undertaking having a
direct bearing on popularizing the record of a neglected seventh of
the population of the world.
Let us hope, however, that in the near future some other author,
grasping more correctly the needs of the time, may set forth in
literary form the interesting story of how history has been influenced
by the Negro during the various stages of the world's progress and
especially how the Negro of today functions efficiently in the life of
Europe and America. The public will welcome too a work treating the
eloquent appeals of Negro orators, the beautiful poetry voicing the
strivings of this oppressed group, and its peculiar philosophy of life
constructed while enduring the ordeal of racial proscription.
_The Free Negro in Maryland, 1634-1860._ By JAMES M. WRIGHT.
Longmans, Green and Company, New York; P. S. King and Son, Ltd.,
London, 1921. Pp. 362.
This is a study in a neglected field of American history. Hitherto
very little has been done to inform the world as to the actual
contribution of the free Negro prior to the Civil War. Few persons
realize that there were half a million such Negroes in the United
States at that time. It is a mistake, therefore, to consider this
better selected group of the race so insignificant as not to influence
the history of the communities in which they lived. A number of
histories have been written since the Civil War, however, with a view
to meeting this need for a treatment of this neglected group. There
have appeared John H. Russell's _Free Negro in Virginia_ and
Brackett's _The Negro in Maryland_. But unfortunately such works have
been too rigidly restricted to the discussion of the Negro's legal,
social, and religious status as determined by the laws enacted for
these purposes in the South rather than to the study of the free Negro
himself. As it is well known that many of these laws were never
enforced, we are still at sea as to what the free Negro actually was
and what he was doing.
While Professor Wright has not altogether succeeded in meeting the
requirements for this more scientific study of the free Negro, he has
done his task much better than those who have hitherto invaded this
field. In addition to covering the ground of other such studies he has
undertaken to give the historic background and by statistical method
he has presented valuable information as to the apprenticeship of
Negro children, the occupations and wages of free Negroes, their
acquisition of property, their education and their religious
strivings.
In his long-drawn-out conclusion he does not seem to have an
altogether favorable impression as to the rôle played by the free
Negro in the State of Maryland. He shows that the Negro was led to
despise himself in keeping with the policy of regarding the white man
as the superior and the Negro as the inferior. Professor Wright says,
however, that the perpetuation of such a handicap for the most needy
part of the population was probably not sound social policy. Upon the
whites the effects were first to cause at least a formal realization
of race solidarity, and secondly, to intensify class lines within the
ranks, although not to define the "poor whites" as rigidly as in
certain of the sister slave States. On the whole, Professor Wright
believes that the free Negro was an asset to the State, but one laden
with many of the characteristics of a liability. "The managers of the
corporate body to which he (the Negro) belonged," says the writer,
"would have been relieved, could they have written him as an item off
their accounts. Nevertheless the sympathetic personal attachment of
many whites to individual negro servants, whether slave or free, was
permanent." Thus ends an informing book with several misconceptions,
but nevertheless fraught with valuable facts.
_Batouala._ By RENÉ MARAN. Albin Michel, Editor. Paris, 1921. Pp.
189.
This is a novel which was awarded the Goncourt prize in 1921. Inasmuch
as it is socially historical, it contains many facts throwing light on
the conditions of Africa. Born on the Island of Martinique where the
conditions of colonial rule were different from those obtaining in
Africa, the scenes of which inspired this indictment of the white
man's civilization, René Maran doubtless found the situation there so
revolting that it evoked from him this work. Without concealing the
faults of the natives, Maran discusses the robber concession companies
in Africa, forced labor, high taxes and exorbitant prices for goods
sold to the natives. Inasmuch as there were no railroads or "pack
animals," the Negroes themselves were impressed into a "pack-man
system" which together with the Tsetse fly has worked havoc in Africa.
The author maintains that this "pack carrying" has caused the death of
more than one million Negroes and cites as evidence that in one town
the blacks rebelled against this portage service because it was
considered better to die than to undergo such a hardship. The book is
intended to emphasize the importance of remedying these abuses and
suggests as the proper reform that the concessions granted these
private companies should be withdrawn and that nature should be given
the opportunity to repair the damage done by white men.
This is a stirring note from a man of African blood speaking for
Africa from the point of view of the native himself. It is a distinct
contribution in that we have a different view from that appearing in
the works of white men who have travelled through that continent,
seeing it from the outside and then only "through a glass darkly." The
cause of truth in that quarter is now fortunate in having there a
number of intelligent Africans who, after having been trained in the
mission schools and in the best universities of Europe and America,
are now beginning to give the other phase of the social, economic, and
political questions in Africa. Many of the conditions which have long
obtained in that continent have continued for the reason that persons
on the outside who might have been struck with holy horror, had such
been known, have never learned and, therefore, can hardly realize that
such appalling conditions exist. For this valuable contribution, not
only from the literary point of view, but from that of the
investigator of social and economic problems, the public must feel
indebted to René Maran.