|
Books by Marcus Bruce
Christian
Song of the Black Valiants: Marching Tempo
/
High Ground: A Collection of Poems /
Negro soldiers in the Battle of New Orleans
I am New
Orleans: A Poem
/
Negro Iron Workers of Louisiana: 1718-1900 /
The Liberty Monument
* * *
* * Books By Carter G. Woodson Books
The Education of the Negro Prior to
1861 /
The Negro in
Our History /
A Century of Negro
Migration .
The Miseducation of the Negro
The Story of the Negro Retold
(1959) /
The History of the Negro Church (1990)
African Myths Together with Proverbs (1928)
The African Background Outlined
(1969) /
Negro Orators and Their Orations (1925)
African Heros and Heroines (1944)
Mind of the Negro as Reflected in Letters, 1800-1860
(1991) /
Free Negro Owners of Slaves in 1830 (1969)* * * *
*
Letter 17
Dr.
Carter G. Woodson's office
Responds to Christian
THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF NEGRO LIFE
AND HISTORY, INCORPORATED --
The Journal of Negro History,
Carter G.Woodson
Director and Edito,
1538 Ninth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
September 20, 1937
My dear Mr. Christian:-
Your letter addressed to Dr. Carter G. Woodson under date of September 18th has been received in his absence. Dr. Woodson is abroad for the
summer but your letter will be brought to his attention upon his return about October 8th.
Respectfully yours,
(Mrs.) Ethel A. Forrest, Assistant to Dr. Woodson
<<---Previous Next--18->>
* * * *
*
 |
Carter
Godwin Woodson (b. Dec. 19, 1875, New Canton, Va., U.S.--d. April 3, 1950,
Washington, D.C.). Born of a poor family, James Henry and Ann Eliza
Woodson, former slaves and later sharecroppers, Woodson worked in the coal
mines of Kentucky. As a result he did not enroll in Douglass High school
until he was nineteen years old. After graduation
and several semesters at Berea College and a teaching assignment in
Winona, West Virginia, he returned to Douglass High School, four years
after his graduation, as principal.
Leaving Berea College, Woodson
received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of
Chicago and in 1912 received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard
University. The second to do so after W. E. B. Du Bois. |
 |
 |
In 1915
Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and
History for modern scholarly research in the history of blacks at
home and abroad. This field of study had been neglected or distorted in
the hands of historians who accepted the stereotypical and traditional
images propagated by white Americans and Europeans. In 1916
Woodson edited the first issue of the association's principal scholarly
publication,
The Journal of Negro History, which, under his
direction, remained an important historical periodical for more than 30
years.
Woodson was dean of the College
of Liberal Arts and head of the graduate faculty at Howard University,
Washington, D.C. (1919-20), and dean at West Virginia State College,
Institute, W.Va. (1920-22). While there, he founded and became president
of Associated Publishers to bring out books on black life and culture,
since experience had shown him that the usual publishing outlets were
rarely interested in scholarly works on blacks. To focus attention on
black contributions to civilization, he founded (1926) Negro History Week, which was expanded in the 1960s to Black History Month. |
Woodson had his first book published in
1915,
The Education of the Negro Prior to
1861. Other important
works by Woodson include the widely consulted college text
The Negro in
Our History (1922; 10th ed., 1962); and
A Century of Negro
Migration (1918). He was at work on a projected six-volume Encyclopaedia
Africana at the time of his death.
Published in 1933,
his book
The Miseducation of the Negro
is still considered as a
classic in the discipline of Black Studies. Single-handedly, Dr. Woodson,
through these writings and his organizational ability, promoted and
insured the viability of Black history in schools and colleges in this
country. He was convinced that if a race had no recorded history, its
achievements would be forgotten or ignored, and eventually claimed by
others.
On April 3, 1950, Woodson died at the age
of 74. At his death, according to Lerone
Benett, Woodson, the father of African
American History "had erected millions of monuments to
his own memory in the hearts and minds of his people."
Woodson became a devout Christian at an early age
and recognized the invaluable role the black church plan in the
community. He spent his life promoting the principle that all
races are equal and each is deserving of respect. He said, "One
race has not accomplished any more than any other race, for God
could not be just and at the same time make one race the inferior
of the other." * *
* * *
Selected Letters
Selected Diary Notes Memories of Marcus B. Christian
(Cains) Christian's
BioBibliographical Record Introduction to I AM NEW
ORLEANS
A
Theory of a Black Aesthetic Magpies,
Goddesses, & Black Male Identity
Activist Works on Next Level of Change
Intro to I Am New
Orleans
Letter from Dillard University
A
Labor of Genuine Love
Letter of Gift of
Photos
Letters from
LSU and Skip Gates * * *
* *
|
Negro Iron Workers of Louisiana: 1718-1900
By Marcus Bruce Christian
Study of the blacksmith tradition and New
Orleans famous lace balconies and fences.
Acclaimed during his life
as the unofficial poet laureate of the New Orleans
African-American community, Marcus Christian recorded a
distinguished career as historian, journalist, and literary
scholar. He was a contributor to Pelican's
Gumbo Ya Ya, and also wrote many articles that appeared
in numerous newspapers, journals, and general-interest
publications. |
 |
 |
Slavery’s
Constitution: From Revolution
to Ratification
(2009)
By David Waldstreicher
Taking on decades of received wisdom,
David Waldstreicher has written the
first book to recognize slavery’s place
at the heart of the U.S. Constitution.
Famously, the Constitution never
mentions slavery. And yet, of its
eighty-four clauses, six were directly
concerned with slaves and the interests
of their owners. Five other clauses had
implications for slavery that were
considered and debated by the delegates
to the 1787 Constitutional Convention
and the citizens of the states during
ratification. This “peculiar
institution” was not a moral blind spot
for America’s otherwise enlightened
framers, nor was it the expression of a
mere economic interest. Slavery was as
important to the making of the
Constitution as the Constitution was to
the survival of slavery.By
tracing slavery from before the
revolution, through the Constitution’s
framing, and into the public debate that
followed, Waldstreicher rigorously shows
that slavery was not only actively
discussed behind the closed and locked
doors of the Constitutional Convention,
but that it was also deftly woven into
the Constitution itself. |
For one thing, slavery was
central to the American economy, and since the
document set the stage for a national economy, the
Constitution could not avoid having implications for
slavery. Even more, since the government defined
sovereignty over individuals, as well as property in
them, discussion of sovereignty led directly to
debate over slavery’s place in the new republic. Finding meaning in silences
that have long been ignored, Slavery’s Constitution
is a vital and sorely needed contribution to the
conversation about the origins, impact, and meaning
of our nation’s founding document.
* *
* * *
|
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
|
 |
* * *
* *
Audio:
My Story, My Song (Featuring blues guitarist Walter Wolfman Washington)
* *
* * *
posted 17 April 2010
|
