The correspondence of the editor often has an historical value as the
following communications will show:
February 13, 1922.
_Dear Dr. Woodson:_
Your JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY has been so full of good material
that I hesitate to call attention to two things in the last
(January) number that seem unsuitable.
The first is the leading article on Slave Society on the Southern
Society. For more than thirty years I have been combating with
all my might the theory of slave-holding sovereignty set forth in
that article. It is the essentially Southern view--a magnified
view and an unreal view. The article is practically a mild form
of the panegyric of the slave plantation which has been the stock
in trade of defenders of slavery for a hundred years.
The reasons for slavery given on pages 1 and 2 do not accord with
the facts, and if they were true would have minimized the
protests against slavery, past and present. It is ridiculous to
say that white men endanger their lives by working in the South
when you consider how large a part of the cotton crop is raised
entirely by white men.
The description of what was said to be the "usual" type of
plantation house does not in my opinion apply to more than two
hundred or three hundred plantations in the South at the outside.
I have traveled very extensively in the South and have never seen
more than three or four such mansions. The testimony of Olmsted
and other writers is that ordinarily the slaveholder's house was
poor and that he lived in a very poor fashion. As for the twelve
sons and daughters in the planters' families, and the fifteen to
twenty-five children in the negro families, it is perfect gammon.
Not one family in a thousand had such numbers. None but a very
few of the richest planters lived in the profusion described on
page four. As for the enrolment in colleges between 1859 and
1860, and the incomes of the higher institutions, that is all
bosh. Francis Lieber was a German by birth, found his service in
South Carolina very uncongenial, and stood by the union. To
compare slavery to apprenticeship is an affront. The day's work
set down by Murat (whose history of the United States is a very
obscure work) is contrary to evidence North or South. Regular
nurseries were built only on a few large plantations. The
arguments in favor of slavery on pages nine and ten are stated
without qualification or contradiction. I deeply regret that a
Journal of Negro History should admit an article so full of
statements both untrue and dangerous to the Negro race.
The experience of a Georgia peon "seems to me very doubtful. I am
personally acquainted with the story of Dade's stockade, and have
passed within a few miles of it, and I do not believe in the
least that there is now, or has been in the past thirty years,
any plantation in the South where families are brought up in
servitude. The only Ponce-de-Leon spring that I know is in
Florida, which is not on the road between Georgia and
Mississippi. The man seems to think that Chattanooga is on the
west side of the river. It is a dangerous thing to accept any
such statement without thorough investigation and calling upon
the relater to state exactly where these things happened, and
what was his course of travel.
I should not venture to write so decidedly but that you have done
so much for the cause of the Negro race, and I don't like to see
you give ammunition to the enemies of your race.
Sincerely yours,
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART.
326 FLOWER ST.,
CARTER G. WOODSON, Ph.D., CHESTER, PA.,
The Journal of Negro History, June 26, 1922.
Washington, D. C.
_My dear Doctor Woodson:_
The following list of Negro delegates to the Republican National
Conventions from 1868 to 1920, inclusive, from South Carolina,
may be of sufficient interest for publication. As the proceedings
of the conventions do not differentiate as to the racial identity
of the delegates it is necessary that this data should be
collected before it is too late, especially as it pertains to the
Reconstruction period. While a reduction in the numbers of
delegates from South Carolina, as well as from most of the
Southern States, was made by the Republican National Committee in
December, 1913, the State still sends a majority of Negro
delegates:
1868--Chicago, Ill., May 20-21.
Robert Brown Elliott, Henry B. Hayne, Stephen A. Swails,
Joseph H. Rainey, Wm. J. McKinlay, Robert Smalls,
Henry L. Shrewsbury.
1872--Philadelphia, Pa., June 5-6.
At-Large--Alonzo J. Ransier.
1st District--Stephen A. Swails, F. H. Frost, Henry J.
Maxwell.
2nd District--Robert Smalls.
3rd District--Robert Brown Elliott, Wm. Beverly Nash.
A. J. Ransier on Committee to notify nominees.
At the Convention of 1872, General Elliott was called
upon from the floor to address the convention. His
speech will be found in the proceedings of the convention.
1876--Cincinnati, Ohio, June 14-16.
At-Large--Robert Brown Elliott, Richard H. Gleaves.
1st District--Stephen A. Swails, Joseph H. Rainey.
2nd District--Wm. J. McKinlay.
3rd District--Wm. Beverly Nash.
5th District--Lawrence Cain, Robert Smalls.
Joseph H. Rainey on Committee to notify nominees.
1880--Chicago, Illinois, June 2-8.
At-Large--Robert Brown Elliott, Samuel Lee.
1st District--Wm. A. Hayne.
3rd District--Charles M. Wilder.
4th District--Wilson Cooke.
5th District--Wm. F. Myers, Wm. J. Whipper.
Messrs. Hayne, Myers and Whipper went down to defeat
with General U. S. Grant. All received medals for
their loyalty.
1884--Chicago, Illinois, June 3-6.
At-Large--Samuel Lee, Robert Smalls.
1st District--John M. Freeman.
2nd District--Paris Simpkins, Seymour E. Smith.
4th District--Charles M. Wilder, Wilson Cooke.
5th District--Eugene H. Dibble.
6th District--Edmund H. Deas.
7th District--Wm. H. Thompson.
Samuel Lee on Committee to notify nominees. Major
John R. Lynch, delegate from Mississippi, was elected
temporary chairman, the first and only time that a colored
man ever presided over a Republican National Convention.
1888--Chicago, Illinois, June 19-25.
At-Large--Wm. F. Myers, Robert Smalls.
1st District--John M. Freeman.
2nd District--Fred Nix, Jr., Paris Simpkins.
3rd District--F. L. Hicks.
4th District--Peter F. Oliver, F. A. Saxton.
5th District--Charles C. Levy, Zachariah E. Walker.
6th District--Edmund H. Deas.
7th District--George E. Herriott.
Paris Simpkins on Committee to notify nominees.
Peter Oliver seconded the nomination of General Alger
for president.
1892--Minneapolis, Minn., June 7-10.
At-Large--Edmund H. Deas, Dr. Wm. D. Crum.
1st District--John H. Fordham.
2nd District--Paris Simpkins, Seymour E. Smith.
3rd District--A. S. Jamison.
4th District--Irwin I. Miller.
5th District--Wm. E. Boykin.
6th District--Rev. Joshua E. Wilson.
7th District--R. H. Richardson.
E. H. Deas on Committee to notify presidential nominee.
J. H. Fordham on Committee to nominate vice-presidential
nominee.
1896--St. Louis, Mo., June 16-18.
At-Large--Dr. Wm. D. Crum, Robert Smalls.
1st District--Robert C. Brown.
2nd District--Wm. S. Dixon.
4th District--Charles M. Wilder.
5th District--Wm. E. Boykin.
6th District--Edmund H. Deas, Rev. Joshua E. Wilson.
7th District--Zachariah E. Walker, John H. Fordham.
E. H. Deas on Committee to notify presidential nominee.
1900--Philadelphia, Pa., June 19-21.
At-Large--Edmund H. Deas, Robert Smalls.
1st District--Dr. Wm. D. Crum.
2nd District--Wm. S. Dixon, B. J. Dickerson.
5th District--Wm. E. Boykin.
6th District--Rev. Joshua E. Wilson, Wm. H. Collier.
7th District--John H. Fordham.
E. H. Deas on Committee to notify presidential nominee.
1904--Chicago, Illinois, June 21-23.
At-Large--Edmund H. Deas, Dr. Wm. D. Crum.
1st District--Wm. F. Myers, A. P. Prioleau.
2nd District--Wm. S. Dixon, E. J. Dickerson.
4th District--Pratt S. Suber.
5th District--Wm. E. Boykin.
6th District--J. R. Levy, J. A. Baxter.
Dr. Crum on Committee to notify vice-presidential
nominee.
1908--Chicago, Illinois, June 16-19.
At-Large--Edmund H. Deas, Thomas L. Grant.
1st District--C. M. English, P. T. Richardson.
2nd District--Wm. S. Dixon.
3rd District--G. C. Williams.
4th District--Dr. Wm. Tecumseh Smith.
5th District--Wm. E. Boykin.
6th District--J. A. Baxter, J. R. Levy.
7th District--Wm. T. Andrews.
Thomas L. Grant on Committee to notify presidential
nominee.
1912--Chicago, Illinois, June 18-22.
At-Large--Wm. T. Andrews, J. R. Levy.
1st District--Thomas L. Grant, A. P. Prioleau.
2nd District--Wm. S. Dixon.
4th District--Thomas Brier.
6th District--Rev. Joshua E. Wilson, J. A. Baxter.
7th District--Dr. J. H. Godwyn.
Rev. J. E. Wilson on Committee to notify presidential
nominee.
1916--Chicago, Illinois, June 7-10.
At-Large--Dr. J. H. Goodwyn, John H. Fordham.
1st District--Gibbs Mitchell.
2nd District--Wm. S. Dixon.
4th District--J. A. Brier.
6th District--J. R. Levy.
7th District--L. A. Hawkins.
J. R. Levy on Committee to notify presidential nominee.
W. S. Dixon on Committee to notify vice-presidential
nominee.
1920--Chicago, Illinois, June 5-9.
At-Large--W. S. Dixon, Dr. J. H. Goodwyn.
1st District--Gibbs Mitchell.
2nd District--J. M. Jones.
5th District--G. A. Watts.
6th District--I. J. McCottrie.
7th District--L. A. Hawkins.
W. S. Dixon on Committee to notify presidential nominee.
I. J. McCottrie on Committee to notify vice-presidential
nominee.