In this small volume Dr. DuBois presents facts to show that, contrary to general belief, the Negro has developed and contributed to civilization the same as all other groups of the human race. The usual arguments that the backward state of Negro culture is due to the biological inferiority of the race he shows to be without foundation, since these arguments have been largely abandoned by creditable scholars. Much of the material in the book has been known for several years to readers of works of scholars on race questions. As is commonly the case, truths which tend to destroy deep-rooted prejudices reach general readers with considerable slowness. While it is not possible to treat but briefly a large subject in such small compass, the facts set forth by the author will put many persons on their guard against individuals who continue to spread misinformation about the Negro race.
The book is divided into twelve chapters, contains a helpful index, has a topically arranged list of books suggested for further reading, and an index. All of the chapters make interesting reading; but those treating of the achievements in state building and general culture of the ancient African Negro are especially stimulating. The author points out that in Egypt, both as mixed Semitic-Negroids and pure blacks from Ethiopia, Negro blood shared in producing the civilization of Egypt. Another center of Negro civilization was the Soudan. There strong Negro empires like Songhay and Melle developed under Mohammedan influence and existed for many centuries. In West Africa there was a flourishing group of Negro city states, the most famous of these being the Yoruban group. Recent discoveries of Frobenius in these parts of the continent show that the people reached a high stage of development in the terra cotta, bronze, glass, weaving, and iron industry. In the regions about the Great Lakes, inhabited largely by the Bantu, are found many worked over gold and silver mines, old irrigation systems, remains of hundreds of groups of stone buildings and fortifications. The author explains that the decline of this ancient culture was due to internal wars, Mohammedan conquest, and especially the ravages of the slave trade. The fact of the existence of such culture in the past stands as evidence of the capacity of the race to achieve.
It is worth noting what the author thinks about "the future relation of the Negro race to the rest of the world." He states that the "clear modern philosophy ... assigns to the white race alone the hegemony of the world and assumes that other races, and particularly the Negro race, will either be content to serve the interests of the whites or die out before their all-conquering march." Of the several plans of solutions of the Negro problems since the emancipation from chattel slavery he tells us that practically all have been directed by the motive of economic exploitation for the benefit of white Europe. Because all dark races, and the white workmen too, are included in this capitalistic program of economic exploitation, he believes there is coming "a unity of the working classes everywhere," which will apparently know no race line. But the colored peoples are more largely the victims of this economic exploitation. In answer to it the author concludes: "There is slowly arising not only a strong brotherhood of Negro blood throughout the world, but the common cause of the darker races against the intolerable assumptions and insults of Europeans has already found expression." He expresses the hope that "this colored world may come into its heritage, ... the earth," may not "again be drenched in the blood of fighting, snarling human beasts," but that "Reason and Good will prevail."
J. A. Bigham.
The American Civilization and the Negro. By C. V. Roman, A.M., M.D. F. A. Davis Company, Philadelphia, 1916. 434 pages.
This volume is a controversial treatise supported here and there by facts of Negro life and history. The purpose of the work is to increase racial self respect and to diminish racial antagonism. The author has endeavored to combine argument and evidence to refute the assertions of such writers as Schufeldt and agitators like Tillman and Vardaman. But although on the controversial order the author has tried to write "without bitterness and bias." The effort here is directed toward showing that humanity is one in vices and virtues as well as in blood; that the laws of evolution and progress apply equally to all; that there are no diseases peculiar to the American Negro nor any debasing vices peculiar to the African; that there are no cardinal virtues peculiar to the European; and that all races having numerous failings, one should not give snap judgment of the other, especially when that judgment involves the welfare of a people.
The work contains an extensive zoological examination of man as an inhabitant of the world, the differences in the separate individuals composing races, the forces with which they must contend, the morals of mankind, and the general principles of human development. The question of Negro slavery in America is discussed as a preliminary in coming to the crucial point of the study, the presence of the colored man in the South. The author frankly states what the colored man is struggling for. Making a review of the history of the Negroes of the United States, he justifies their claim to political rights on the ground that they are reacting successfully to their environment.
The book abounds with illustrations of prominent colored Americans, successful Negroes, individual types, typical family groups, arts and crafts among the Africans, public schools and colleges.
J. O. Burke.
The Police Control of the Slave in South Carolina. By H. M. Henry, M.A., Professor of History and Economics, Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia, 1914. 216 pages.