The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
Although most of the book is naturally concerned with the revolutionary
period, the author brings his account up to date by giving a very brief
resumé of the history of Haiti from 1804 to the present time. This
history is marked by the frequent occurrence of assassinations and
revolutions, but the reader will not allow himself to be affected by
disgust or prejudice at these facts particularly when he is reminded, as
Mr. Steward says, "that the political history of Haiti does not differ
greatly from that of the majority of South American Republics, nor does
it differ widely even from that of France."
The book lacks a topical index, somewhat to its own disadvantage, but it
contains a map of Haiti, a rather confusing appendix, a list of the
Presidents of Haiti from 1804 to 1906 and a list of the names and works
of the more noted Haitian authors. The author does not give a complete
bibliography. He simply mentions in the beginning the names of a few
authorities consulted.
J. R. Fauset.
_The Negro in American History_. By John W. Cromwell. The American
Negro Academy, Washington, D.C., 1914. 284 pages. $1.25 net.
In John W. Cromwell's book, "The Negro in American History," we have
what is a very important work. The book is mainly biographical and
topical. Some of the topics discussed are: "The Slave Code"; "Slave
Insurrections"; "The Abolition of the Slave Trade"; "The Early
Convention Movement"; "The Failure of Reconstruction"; "The Negro as a
Soldier"; and "The Negro Church." These topics are independent of the
chapters which are more particularly chronological in treatment.
In the appendices we have several topics succinctly treated. Among these
are: "The Underground Railroad," "The Freedmen's Bureau," and, most
important and wholly new, a list of soldiers of color who have received
Congressional Medals of Honor, and the reasons for the bestowal.
The biographical sketches cover some twenty persons. Much of the
information in these sketches is not new, as would be expected regarding
such well-known persons as Frederick Douglass, John M. Langston, and
Paul Laurence Dunbar. On the other hand, Mr. Cromwell has given us very
valuable sketches of other important persons of whom much less is
generally known. Among these are Sojourner Truth, Edward Wilmot Blyden,
and Henry O. Tanner.
The book does not pretend to be the last word concerning the various
topics and persons discussed. Indeed, some of the topics have had fuller
treatment by the author in pamphlets and lectures. It is to be regretted
that the author did not feel justified in giving a more extensive
treatment, as the great store of his information would easily have
permitted him to do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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