ville, Alabama, "The Tenant System and some changes since Emancipation"; Monroe N. Work, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, "Negro Criminality in the South"; George E. Haynes, Nashville, Tennessee, "Conditions Among Negroes in the Cities"; Benjamin F. Lee, Jr., Philadelphia, "Negro Organizations"; S. B. Jones, Greensboro, N. C., "Fifty Years of Negro Public Health"; Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, "Industrial Education and the Public Schools"; W. E. Burghardt DuBois, New York, "The Negro in Literature and Art." On the Race question G. E. Haynes in the Survey for February 1st, discussed the "Basis of Race Adjustment"; Booker T. Washington, in the Independent for March 27th, wrote on "Solving the Race Problem in Detail." In the World's Work for November this same writer told of "What I am Trying to Do"; and in the Atlantic Monthly for June he discussed the "Negro and the Labor Unions." Dr. C. V. Roman's Paper before the Southern Sociological Congress One of the most notable and generally commented on addresses made by a Negro in 1913 was that of Dr. C. V. Roman, of Nashville, on "Racial Self-respect and Racial Antagonism," at the Southern Sociological Congress, Atlanta. This address was put in pamphlet form and widely circulated. The two striking things about this address was its literary merit and the candid manner in which the race question was discussed. Speaking of present conditions in the South, he said: Let us note some specific facts of racial contact in the South today. 1. There has arisen in the South a type of politician that proposes to make the white people happy by making the Negroes unhappy. They hope by some political alchemy to put more rights in the Constitution for themselves by taking out any rights the Negro may have, or thinks he has therein. 2. The races know and believe in the vices of each, but do not know or believe in the virtues of each other. 3. A belief that the Negro is unable to defend himself often makes white people tyrannical. A belief that the courts are unfair frequently makes the Negro desperate. By magnifying petty offenses, petty criminals are made grave and incorrigible offenders. Thus the seeds of race antagonism and anarchy are sown. 4. Racial contact is now, at the most disadvantageous and dangerous points (a) The vicious and criminal of both races in the saloons, brothels, and gambling dens. (b) The ignorance and poverty of the Negro with the wealth of the whites. The servant race gets an exaggerated idea of the wealth and influence of the master race; and the master race gets an exaggerated idea of the vice and ignorance of the servant race. Both confuse race and class. The Negro is the greater loser; for a lack of racial ideals is his greatest misfortune. Miscellaneous Papers by Negro Writers in the Current Literature of 1913 Kelley Miller, in Education for November, discussed "Moral Pedagogy." James D. Corrothers, of Washington, in the Century for June had a poem, "At The Closed Gates of Justice." William Stanley Braithwait, of Boston, a leading lyrical poet, published a poem, "Birthday," in Lippincotts for May; in this same magazine for March he had an article on "Foremost American Lyrist" and in the Forum for December he discusses the Lyrical Poetry of the Laureate. For the past nine years Mr. Braithwaite has made an annual survey of the poetry for the year. This year what he considered the best poems is put in a volume entitled "Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1913," published by himself at Cambridge, Mass. His estimate is of verse published in Harpers, Scribners, Century, Forum, Lippincott's, Smart Set, and the Bellman with a few selections from the Outlook, the Independent, Poetry, Poetry Journal, and the Yale Review. Mr. Braithwaite estimated that of 506 poems published in these magazines 212 are distinctive. From these 212 poems, 81 are chosen for the "Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1913." (Some of the more striking stanzas from James W. Johnson's poem) "FIFTY YEARS" Just fifty years-a winter's day- Yet, as we now look o'er the way, How distant seems our starting place! Far, far the way that we thave trod, To freedmen, freemen, sons of God, Then let us here erect a stone, To mark the place, to mark the time; A pledge to hold this day sublime. For never let the thought arise That we are here on sufferance bare; This land is ours by right of birth, Where once the tangled forest stood, The cotton white, the yellow corn. And yet, my brothers, well I know The tethered feet, the pinioned wings, The spirit bowed beneath the blow, The heart grown faint from wounds and stings; The staggering force of brutish might, That strikes and leaves us stunned and dazed. To hear some voice for justice raised. Full well I know the hour when hope Sinks dead, and 'round us everywhere Courage! Look out, beyond, and see We are a part of some great plan. The Negro's Place in American History as defined by Negre Writers The books of Negroes published in 1913 were in the field of poetry, history, biography, education, and the race question. The fact that standard publishers printed during the past year a number of books on history and biographies indicates a growing appreciation of the importance of the Negro in the nation and of the abil ity of Negroes to produce creditable works. The more important of the books published are: "Facts of Reconstruction," Major John R. Lynch, Neale Publishing Company, New York. This is an account of the Negro's part in National politics, based upon personal experiences of the author in Misissippi, as a member of Congrses and elsewhere during the Reconstruction period. "A Life of Norris Wright Cuney of Texas," by his daughter, Maud Cuney Hare, deals with Reconstruction and post reconstruction period. Crisis Publishing Company, New York. "Short History of the American Negro," B. G. Brawley, dean of Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia. Macmillan, New York. Gouldtown, Studies of some Sturdy Examples of the Simple Life, together with sketches of early colonial History of Cumberland County and Southern New Jersey and some Early Genealogical Records. W. and T. G. Steward, Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. "The African Abroad,” or, His Evolution in Western Civilization, Volumes I and II, W. H. Ferris, New Haven. Tuttle Morehouse Taylor. The author discusses the history of the Negro in Ancient and Modern times, and the Race Question in the United States. Several chapters of biography are devoted to distinguished Negroes of the past and present. Other books and pamphlets published by Negro authors during the year were: "A little Dreaming" (poems), Fenton Johnson, Peterson Publishing Company, Chicago. "The Conquest," Story of a Negro Pioneer, O. Micheaux, Woodruff Press, Omaha. "Masterpieces of Eloquence," edited by Mrs. Alice M. Dunbar. A collection of fifty speeches representing the best that the Negro has done in oratory from 1818 to 1913. Douglass Publishing Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. "Report on Negro Universities in South," Occasional paper No. 13, of the John F. Slater Fund, W. T. B. Williams, Field Agent for the Slater Jeanes Funds. "Household Ethics and Industrial Training in the Colored Schools of Kentucky," C. L. Timberlake, Bulletin No. 8, Vol. 6, Publications Kentucky State Department of Elocution. "A Quick Review in English Grammar and Elementary Composition," J. T. Phillips, Virginia, Collegiate and Industrial Institute, Petersburg. "Twenty Years in Public Life," T. O. Fuller, President, Howe Institute, Memphis, Tennessee. "Ballotless Victim of One Party Government," Occasional paper No. 16, of American Negro Academy, A. H. Grimke, Washington, D. C. "Gideon Bands for Work Within the Race and Work Without the Race," F. J. Grimke, Washington, D. C. "Conflict and Commingling of the Race," C. A. A. Taylor, Broadway Publishing Co. New York. Distribution and Number of Black People (Black people are natives of Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands. The black or Negro people of the world include true Negroes, those without admixtures of other races, and Negroids, those with admixtures of other races.) |