The Backdrop of the Harlem Rennaisance (The Independent, 1921)The excitement that was 1920's Harlem can clearly be felt in this article by the journalist and Congregational minister, Rollin Lynde Hartt:
"Greatest Negro city in the world, it boasts magnificent Negro churches, luxurious Negro apartment houses, vast Negro wealth, and a Negro population of 130,000..."
Social Differences Among the Lighter Skinned and Darker Skinned Blacks
(The Literary Digest, 1922)The varying degrees of color found among American Blacks has been, and still is (as Senator Harry Reid learned), a sensitive topic and it was addressed in 1922 with some wit by an African-American journalist whose work is attached.
This article is good deal of fun to read and speaks of a social structure that, we like to think, is gone with the wind; words appear in this article that seem queer in our era; there is much talk of
"yellow gals"
"golden-skinned slave girls"
"tawny-skinned maids"
"midnight"
"stove-pipe"
-all originating from African-American verse and popular song. The author of this digest summed up the topic just so:
"Like all indications of caste, they require some tradition and enough of a leisure class or a class having genteel employment to entertain itself. A little more race pride is the remedy."
Click here to read about feminine conversations overheard in the best New York bathrooms.
The Bible and Slavery (The North American Review, 1864)This is a book review written during the American Civil War of a British work titled, "Does the Bible Sanction American Slavery" by a well known anti-imperialist of the time named Goldwin Smith (1823-1910).
"Is African slavery, as it exists in our Southern states, an evil or a good thing? Is it, or is it not, consistent with a high sense of duty to man and to God, and with the requirements of that state of Christian civilization which the foremost nations of the world have reached?"
The second part of the article is available upon request.
Black Mammy (Confederate Veteran, 1918)Those sensitive beta-males in the editorial offices of CONFEDERATE VETERAN were teary-eyed and waxing winsome that day in 1918 when they saw fit to recall one particular long-standing Southern institution that was "gone with the wind":
"The most unique character connected with the days of slavery was the old black mammy, who held a position of and confidence in nearly every white family of importance in the South... She was an important member of the household, and for her faithfulness and devotion she has been immortalized in the literature of the South."
What the Negro Thinks (The Bookman, 1929)This is the 1929 book review of What the Negro Thinks
by Robert Moton (1867 – 1940).
Like other writers of his race who have treated the question of the Negro's place in American life, Dr. Moton discusses the discrimination against the Black man...he dwells upon that popular prejudice which has brought the Negro to believe that he has no chance at the polls or in the courts."
"[To the Negro] the white man sometimes seems a bit pathetic in his insistence upon keeping the worth of the Negro hidden, in refusing to recognize skill and talent, honor and virtue, strength and goodness simply because it wears a black skin. To him, the white man's apparent dread of the Negro is incomprehensible..."
FDR, African-Americans, and the 1944 Election (Yank Magazine, 1944)This article is a segment from a longer piece regarding the 1944 presidential election and the widespread disillusionment held by many Black voters regarding the failings of FDR and his administration:
"...the Negro vote, about two million strong, is shifting back into the Republican column."
The report is largely based upon the observations of one HARPER'S MAGAZINE correspondent named Earl Brown.
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