African-American History – Page 4 – Old Magazine Articles

Foreign-Aid on Behalf of the American Civil Rights Struggle
(Quick Magazine, 1951)

Recognizing that the United States has seldom ever been without civil libertarians, of one form or another, who could always be relied upon to file papers in the courts on behalf of one injured tribe or another – I often wondered why, if this was the case, was so much progress made in the American civil rights struggle of the 50s and 60s as opposed to other periods? This article answered that question.

Radio Moscow noted the warnings of a Klansman in South Carolina, that there will be bloodshed if Negro students attend white schools. But ignored the admittance of 1,000 Negroes to colleges in 15 Southern and Border states, schools formerly for whites only.

Dan Burley, Editor
(Pic Magazine, 1943)

Dan Burley (1907 – 1962) was a much admired man of his day; noted editor and columnist who served at a number of respected African-American newspapers and magazines, a Boogie Woogie pianist, sports writer covering the Negro League and he was to Jive what Samuel Johnson was to English – a lexicographer. This PIC MAGAZINE profile centers primarily on his efforts to translate famous English lines into Jive talk and chronicle the slanguage .

More about the African-American press corps can be read HERE.

President Truman and Civil Rights
(Commonweal, 1948)

When President Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights submitted their findings to the White House in December of 1947, the anxious and skeptical editors at COMMONWEAL MAGAZINE eagerly waited their conclusions. Knowing that this Southern president was the only Klansman (1924 membership) to have ever attained such high office, they were doubtful that any good would come of it, and in this column they explain why they felt that way.

Four years later an article was written about the gratitude many African-Americans felt toward President Truman and his stand on civil rights – read it here…

The 1964 Harlem Race Riot
(Pageant Magazine, 1964)

James Baldwin remembered other Harlem riots he had witnessed…Read more …

The Bible and Slavery
(The North American Review, 1864)

This is a book review written during the American Civil War of a British work titled, Does the Bible Sanction American Slavery by a well known anti-imperialist of the time named Goldwin Smith (1823-1910).

Is African slavery, as it exists in our Southern states, an evil or a good thing? Is it, or is it not, consistent with a high sense of duty to man and to God, and with the requirements of that state of Christian civilization which the foremost nations of the world have reached?

The second part of the article is available upon request.

What the Negro Thinks
(The Bookman, 1929)

This is the 1929 book review of What the Negro Thinks
by Robert Moton (1867 – 1940).

[To the Negro] the white man sometimes seems a bit pathetic in his insistence upon keeping the worth of the Negro hidden, in refusing to recognize skill and talent, honor and virtue, strength and goodness simply because it wears a black skin. To him, the white man’s apparent dread of the Negro is incomprehensible…

The Hampton Institute as it Stood in 1921
(The Independent, 1921)

Attached is a 1921 account of the Hampton Institute; it’s past, present and future is entirely outlined in this magazine article that was written by a celebrated journalist of the time, Mr. Talcott Williams (1849 – 1928).

Click here for the Ku Klux Klan Archive.

Racial Segregation in Truxton, Virginia
(Popular Mechanics, 1919)

A small notice appeared in POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE that announced African Americans will be allowed to live in a new town located in Virginia intended to house the employees of the naval station in nearby Portsmouth. Due to small reports as this, Truxton proved to be a destination during the African-American migration period.

Agent is Held for Enticing Negroes
(The Atlanta Georgian, 1917)

One of the seldom remembered casualties in the Northern migration history was the prosecution of those Whites who both encouraged and provided monetary favors to the African-American families seeking a better life in the North.

To learn how many African-Americans served in the W.W. I American Army, click here.

American Arts and the Black Contribution
(Literary Digest, 1917)

The attached column is an abstract of an article that first appeared in THE NEW YORK EVENING POST in 1917. The original article was penned by NAACP secretary James Weldon Johnson (1871 – 1938)

I believe the Negro possesses a valuable and much-needed gift that he will contribute to the future American democracy. I have tried to point out that the Negro is here not merely to be a beneficiary of American democracy, not merely to receive. He is here to give something to American democracy. Out of his wealth of artistic and emotional endowment he is going to give something that is wanting, something that is needed, something that no other element in all the nation has to give.

Johnson was quick to point out that American popular culture was enjoyed the world-over and these dance steps and catchy tunes were not simply the product of the Anglo-Saxon majority.

An Interview with Dr. George Washington Carver
(Ken Magazine, 1938)

A profile of Dr. George Washington Carver (1864 – 1943):

One of the greatest agricultural chemists of our day was born a slave 80 years ago. He has given the world approximately 300 new by-products from the peanut…Today Dr. Carver is the South’s most distinguished scientist. He turned the peanut into a $60,000,000 industry.

I simply go to my laboratory, shut myself in and ask my Creator why He made the peanut. My Creator tells me to pull the peanut apart and examine the constituents. When this is done, I tell Him what I want to create, and He tells me I can make anything that contains the same constituents as a peanut. I go to work and keep working until I get what I want.

The First Elected African-American Judge
(Literary Digest, 1924)

An article about Albert B. George (1873 – ?) of Chicago, the first African-American to be elected as a municipal court judge:

An epochal scene will presently be enacted in one of the divisions of Chicago’s Municipal Court, pointed out several editors, when there will ascend to its bench Albert Baily George, the Negro just elected Municipal Judge on the Republican ticket by 470,000 votes. In the past a Negro here and there has been appointed judge, notably Robert H. Terrell (1857 – 1925) of Washington, we are told, but this is the first election of one to a regular judicial office.

Judge George’s ancestors were slaves in old Virginia. His success, says the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ‘has sent a thrill of hope through the black belts – a new incentive to work and decent living.; It is considered ‘a milestone in the journey of the negro race out of the wilderness of slavery, an application of the principles of democracy which may point the way to better things for both races.’

Racial Integration in the U.S. Army
(Coronet Magazine, 1960)

Inasmuch as racial integration was the social goal for a vast majority of Americans in 1960, this article made it clear that racial harmony in the U.S. Armed Forces was not simply the goal, it was the reality. Written by a journalist who visited as many as ten U.S. Military establishments throughout Europe and North Africa in order to see how President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 had effected American military culture.

Read about racism in the U.S. Army of W.W. I

Tolerance at the Polls
(Pageant Magazine, 1953)

Speaking of thawing ice:

In 1942 Roper Poll found only 42 per cent of Americans saying ‘yes‘ to the question ‘Are Negroes as intelligent as Whites and can they learn just as quickly if given education and training?‘ After W.W. II the number rose to 57 per cent.

The Negro’s Northern Exodus
(The Literary Digest, 1931)

Click here to read a second article about the great migration.

‘The Tenth Man”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1939)

This is a light history of the African-American people; weak in some spots, informative in others, it’s greatest value lies in telling the story of Blacks in the Thirties.

Because the colored race comprises almost a 10th of the population of the United States, sociologists sometimes refer to the Negro as ‘the Tenth Man.’ As such, he is little known to the other nine. Yet there are 12,500,000 colored persons in the nation – black, brown and some so white that 10,000 pass over the color line every year to take up life as whites.

Origin of the Term ”Jim Crow”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

The first three paragraphs of this article explain the 19th Century origins of a moniker that represents the most hideous institution born on American shores. The term in question is Jim Crow – a sobriquet that came into use decades before the American Civil War but was refashioned into a synonym that meant institutional racism. The article goes on to recall one African-American Congressman and his fruitless efforts to clean up Jim Crow.

White Primaries in Georgia
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)

On January 29, 1947, the Georgia House of Representatives approved the Democratic white primary law – which was intended to exclude any African American in that state from voting in state primary elections.