Dr. Turner was active in Catholic organizations and in societies for the advancement of the Negro. He founded in 1925 the Federated Colored Catholics (FCC), an organization, national in scope, composed of catholic Negroes who placed their services at the disposal of the Church for whatever good they were able to effect in the solution of the problems facing the group in Church and country.

FCC's intent was to fight racism and segregation in the Catholic Church and promote racial harmony. Turner was president until 1934. Contrary to his desire, the FCC was forcibly made part of the Catholic Interracial council in 1933. The group lost its focus and power after the mid-1930s, although the organization retained its identity until 1958. Turner, remained a loyal member of the catholic Church. in 1976, the Secretariat of Washington, D.C.'s Black Catholics named its highest award for Turner. the Thomas Wyatt Turner Award has become an annual honor. Turner was also Supreme Color Bearer of the knights of St. John. Thomas Wyatt Turner

*   *   *   *   *

Maurice Louis Rousseve was born September 22, 1906, in New Orleans, the son of Barthelemy and Valentine Mansion Rousseve, and is a younger brother of Charles Rousseve.

He began his elementary education at the Institution Catholique in 1912, but in 1915 transferred to Holy Family Boys' School from which he graduated in 1918. After two years at Xavier Preparatory School he entered St. Augustine's Seminary, Bay St. Louis, Miss., where he was ordained a priest in the Society of the Divine Word on May 23, 1934. This was the first time the Sacrament of Holy Orders was conferred at St. Augustine's Seminary, and Father Rousseve was one of the four Negro priests to be ordained. Matthews and Rousseve

*   *   *   *   *

The only data on the subject is contained in a letter from a Moor in Africa, asserting his relationship. And in an old schoolbook of my grandmother’s is a list of Indian names and birth dates, among which my grandmother’s name is listed." Her elementary school education was received at Corpus Christi School, Valena C. Jones School, and McCarthy Public School in new Orleans. She attended Albert Wicker Public High School, and St. Mary's Academy in New Orleans, graduating from the latter in 1936. Ora Mae Lewis

*   *   *   *   *

Pelican Heart—An Anthology of Poems by Lasana M. Sekou Edited by Emio Jorge Rodriguez Passion for the Nation is what comes out of Sekou’s poems at a first glance and at a deeper reading. The book is a selection gathered from eleven of Sekou’s poetry collections between 1978 and 2010. Rodríguez is an independent Cuban academic, writer, and essayist. He has been a researcher at Casa de las Américas’s Literary Research Center and founded the literary journal Anales del Caribe (1981-2000). María Teresa Ortega translated the poems from the original English to Spanish. A critical introduction, detailed footnotes, and a useful glossary by Rodríguez are also found in the book of 428 pages. The collection has been launched at conferences in Barbados, Cuba, and Mexico. Rodriguez’s introduction to Pelican Heart refers to Dr. Howard Fergus’s Love Labor Liberation in Lasana Sekou, which is the critical commentary to Sekou’s work that identifies three cardinal points in his poetics. I would add as cardinal points: Belief or Driving Force of people in political processes, like his political commitment to make St. Martin independent, as the southern part of the Caribbean island is a territory of the Netherlands, while the northern part is a French Collectivité d’outre-mer; Excitement over his literary passions, which led him to found House of Nehesi Publishers at age 23; co-found the book festival of St. Martin, organized with Conscious Lyrics Foundation and to expand his culture considerably; Enthusiasm, which springs out of his eyes and words when you listen to his poetry being performed or when you speak to Sekou in person.—Sara Florian

*   *   *   *   *

Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays Edited by Miriam DeCosta-Willis  Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a collection of fourteen essays by scholars and creative writers from Africa and the Americas. Called one of two significant critical works on Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late 1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of Carter G. Woodson and Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an historical context for understanding 20th-century creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone writers, such as Cuban Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist, and scholar Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the significance of Negritude in Latin America. This collaborative text set the tone for later conferences in which writers and scholars worked together to promote, disseminate, and critique the literature of Spanish-speaking people of African descent. . . . Cited by a literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."

*   *   *   *   *

The White Masters of the World

From The World and Africa, 1965

By W. E. B. Du Bois

W. E. B. Du Bois’ Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization (Fletcher)

*   *   *   *   *

Ancient African Nations

*   *   *   *   *

If you like this page consider making a donation

online through PayPal

*   *   *   *   *

Negro Digest / Black World

Browse all issues

1950        1960        1965        1970        1975        1980        1985        1990        1995        2000 ____ 2005        

Enjoy!

*   *   *   *   *

The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan  /  The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll  /  Only a Pawn in Their Game

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery / George Jackson  / Hurricane Carter

*   *   *   *   *

The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg

The Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804  / January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of Haiti 

*   *   *   *   *

BLACK CLASSIC BOOKS   BCP Digital Printing

updated 7 April 2008