The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919. VariousЧитать онлайн книгу.
of the gradual emancipationists. "These men, unlike the followers of Garrison, who were restricted to the free States," said he, "were found in all parts of the Union. They embraced great numbers of leaders in politics, business and education, and while far more numerous in the free than in the slave States, they nevertheless included a large and respectable element in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri." He has in mind here, of course, the conservative slaveholders of the border States who had for a number of years felt that slavery was an economic evil of which the country should rid itself gradually by systematic efforts. Feeling that they contributed in the end a great deal to the downfall of the regime and in some respects exercised as much influence as the abolitionists, he has undertaken to set their story before the world.
The author begins with the first attack upon slavery, the early anti-slavery movement in Kentucky, the colonizationist idea, the work of the anti-slavery societies, and the efforts of the church to exterminate the evil. In the eighth and ninth chapters he treats more seriously the main question at issue, namely, exactly how men of that slave-holding commonwealth persistently endeavored to find a more rational means of escaping the baneful effects of the institution. His important contribution, therefore, is that abolition found little favor in Kentucky while gradual emancipation moved the hearts of men of both parties and even of slave-holders. How the struggle between these pro-slavery and anti-slavery parties culminated in 1849 in the defeat of the latter, is the concluding portion of the book. He shows that Kentucky exceeded most of the border slave States in permitting the freer and more extensive discussion of that question than any of the other commonwealths similarly situated.
Professor Martin's work, therefore, is a complement of Dr. I. E. McDougle's Slavery in Kentucky. Whereas Professor Martin deals primarily with the work of the gradual emancipationists, Dr. I. E. McDougle directs his attention largely to some other aspects of the question. Both of these works may be read with profit. In them the whole question has been adequately discussed and there will not soon be a need for further investigation in this field.
NOTES
Within a few years from the time the United States army will be reduced to a peace status, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History will publish a scientific history of the Negro soldiers in the great war. As this effort will require a large outlay, it is earnestly desired that persons interested in the propagation of the truth will give this movement their support. A campaign for funds has begun and the encouragement hitherto received indicates that the amount necessary to finance this enterprise will be secured.
At present it is impossible to indicate exactly the extent of this work. It will be first necessary to make an extensive research into all of the sources of information as to the Negroes' participation in the war and when the data thus collected will have been properly digested, a more detailed description of the work may be forecasted. It is safe to say, however, that the work will consist of several volumes written by the Director of Research.
This same interest is set forth, as follows, in an item appearing in the December number of the Crisis:
"The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has appropriated funds and commissioned the Director of Publications and Research to collect the data and compile a history of the Negro in the Great War.
"Dr. DuBois has invited a number of Negro scholars, soldiers and officials to form an Editorial Board, which will be able to issue an authentic, scientific and definitive history of our part in this war.
"The personnel of this board will be announced later. Meantime, we want the active coöperation of every person who can and will help. We want facts, letters and documents, narratives and clippings. Let us all unite to make the record complete. Correspondence may be directed to this office."
The following important announcement appeared in the December number of the Crisis:
The husband of Pocahontas wrote in 1619: "About the last of August came a Dutch man of warre that sold us twenty Negars." From this beginning sprang the present twelve million Americans of Negro descent.
Next August will mark the Three Hundredth Anniversary of this vast transplantation of a race, which ranks easily as one of the most significant movements of mankind. Such an event can hardly be "celebrated," for it connoted too much of misery and human sorrow. On the other hand, it is too stern and meaningful a happening to be forgotten. For this reason, a group of thirty-three colored men met in New York, October 19, 1918, at the invitation of a committee appointed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
They determined to inaugurate "A Solemn Memorial of the Tercentenary of the Transplanting of the Negro race to the United States." In order, however, to give all sections and interests of the Negro race adequate voice and representation in these plans, this committee set about choosing a Committee of "Three Hundred and More," in whose hands the Memorial will take final shape. This Committee is now being chosen and will meet in New York early in January, 1919.
The Linchoten Vereeniging has published for Mr. E. C. Godee Mossbergen two volumes of Reizen in Zuid-Afrika in de Hollandse Tijd.
From the press of Longsman two volumes bearing on Africa have been published. One is by Sir Hugh Clifford, entitled the German Colonies, with special relation to the native population of Africa. The other, by H. C. O'Neill, is the War in Africa and the Far East, dealing largely with the conquest of the German colonies.
Houghton, Mifflin and Company have published a study entitled Lincoln in Illinois by Miss Octavia Roberts. This work is largely a compilation of the recollections of his contemporaries.
To extend the work of the Association the Director of Research is now making an effort to secure the cooperation of five persons who, like Mr. Julius Rosenwald, will contribute $400 annually to the support of this cause. Mr. Moorfield Storey and Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge have each pledged themselves to give this amount. It is earnestly hoped that other philanthropists will subscribe.
The Journal of Negro History
Vol. IV—April, 1919—No. 2
THE CONFLICT AND FUSION OF CULTURES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEGRO 79
Under ordinary circumstances the transmission of the social tradition is from the parents to the children. Children are born into society and take over its customs, habits, and standards of life simply, naturally, and without conflict. But it will at once occur to any one that the life of society is not always continued and maintained in this natural way, by the succession of parents and children. New societies are formed by conquest and by the imposition of one people upon another. In such cases there arises a conflict of cultures and as a result the process of fusion takes place slowly and is frequently not complete. New societies are frequently formed by colonization, in which case new cultures are grafted on to older ones. The work of missionary societies is essentially one of colonization in this sense.
Finally we have societies growing up, as in the United States, by immigration. These immigrants, coming as they do from all parts of the world, bring with them fragments of divergent cultures. Here again the process of assimilation is slow, often painful, not always complete. In the case where societies are formed and maintained by adoption, that is by immigration, the question arises: How far is it possible for a people of a different race and a different culture to take over the traditions and social inheritance of another and an alien people? What are the conditions which facilitate this transmission and, in general, what happens when people of different races and cultures are brought together in the intimate relations of community life?
These questions have already arisen in connection with the education of the Negro in America and with the work of foreign missions. If the schools are to extend and rationalize the work they are already doing in the Americanization of the immigrant peoples, questions of this sort may become actual in the field of pedagogy. This paper is mainly concerned with the Negro, not because the case of the Negro is more urgent than or essentially different from that of the immigrant, but because the materials for investigation are more accessible.
Admitting, as the anthropologists
This address was delivered before the American Sociological Society convened in annual session at Richmond in 1918.