In the chapter discussing "Africa from Ancient Times to the Nineteenth Century" there is little more than a casual sketch of the invasion of the Vandals, the Mohammedan conquest, followed by a rather brief and unscientific discussion of the natives of Africa. This chapter, however, presents in epitome the leading facts of the explorations of Europeans beginning with Prince Henry of Portugal, the forerunner of other adventurers from England, Italy, Spain and France.
Taking up the slave trade, the author becomes a little more interesting. He discusses the question from two points of view, distinguishing between the Mohammedan slave trade and the European traffic in men on the West Coast of Africa. He undertakes to give the causes of the West African slave trade in terms of the commercial revolution. Then follows a more detailed account of the participation therein by various European nations. In this connection is treated also the effort of philanthropic Europeans who exposed the horrors of the slave trade and finally abolished it. Further efforts for the improvement of the Negroes are traced to the establishment of Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The author then shows how this interest in the Negro, developing along with European expansion into Africa, led to further exploration and settlement and to the missionary enterprise of David Livingston. The interest in the uplift of the natives, however, as the book admits, was lost sight of after the Franco-German war, the prelude to the scramble for Africa. Then came the beginning of Belgian Congo, the Anglo-Portuguese treaty of 1884, the general acts of the Berlin Conference, the Congo atrocities, and the partition of the continent into Northeast-Africa, East-Africa, South-Africa, West-Africa and other spheres of influence. There followed also another sort of scramble in building African railways, tapping the wealth of the hinterland of Africa. The bearing of the Anglo-French Convention of 1904, the Franco-German Agreement of 1911 and other European treaties are all set forth.
Discussing North-Africa, the author first makes a comparison of the situation in the different parts of the continent, allowing for such influences as the proximity of that portion of the continent to Europe, the effect of the orientalization of Egypt, Tunis, Algeria, Tripoli, and Morocco. This discussion, however, is not carried out in all of its ramifications and the reader must make further investigation for adequate information.
In Chapter VIII the author reviews the settlements of the Dutch in South-Africa, the British occupation of the Cape, the conflict of the British and the Dutch, the rise of the Boer Republic, and the Kaffir wars. In keeping with so many writers who endorse almost anything which Europeans do, this author finds some justification for the intrusion of the Europeans in Africa. The cruel oppression visited upon the natives as a result of this conquest does not cause the author any grief. In the same way, he discusses the conquest and settlements of France and Great Britain in West-Africa, their dependencies, and methods of development. Treating the late campaigns in Africa, the author makes an effort to bring this information up to date as far as possible, trying to account for the territorial settlement in that continent as shown by the reconstructed map of Africa. The book closes with a discussion of such African problems as the elimination of Germany from Africa, the plurality of powers in Africa as an advantage to the Africans in bringing about mutual checks, and the effect of the World War upon the relation between whites and blacks.
A Boy's Life of Booker T. Washington. By W. C. Jackson, Vice President of the North Carolina College for Women, and Professor of History, Greensboro. (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1922. Pp. 147.)
The author does not pretend to add anything new to what is generally known about Booker T. Washington, or to what may be found in such works as Up from Slavery, My Larger Education, and Booker T. Washington: Builder of a Civilization. The aim is to tell this story in such simple language as to make it comprehensible for children. The author hopes that by reading this book some of them may be inspired to higher ambition and encouraged to nobler effort. While the reader may not agree with all of the observations made by the author, he must commend this effort to popularize the record of the distinguished citizen who by his achievement demonstrated that the race has within it the possibilities of other groups. This effort, then, has an important bearing on the dissemination of information concerning the Negro and on the preservation of the records of the race.
The details of the life of the subject of the sketch are omitted except that the interesting beginnings of Booker T. Washington as a boy, and his rise through poverty and ignorance to a position of leadership, are given with some degree of thoroughness. The author endeavors to impress upon the youth the bravery, courage, backbone, energy, fair-mindedness, honesty, wisdom, intelligence, judgment, modesty, patriotism, will power, self control, and love of humanity of Booker T. Washington. To do this, each important trait in the man is portrayed by reference to some achievement which served as a striking example of his character. In this way, the author draws upon his planning for an education, school days at Hampton, beginning life in the outside world, first efforts at teaching, the beginning of Tuskegee, early hardships, struggles to raise money, speech-making, leadership, political experiences, and travels abroad.
The book is well printed and neatly bound. It is also adequately illustrated so as to concentrate the attention of the youth on certain important achievements and events in the life of Washington. Among these illustrations appear the monument recently unveiled at Tuskegee, which constitutes the frontispiece of the book. Then follow various illustrations of the many activities of the institution. While there is not given a general view of the whole school, the various groups given will impress the reader with the magnitude of the work undertaken at Tuskegee. The cuts of Washington and his family show the home life of the man.