The Traveling Museum at the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey
Presentation 14A– Books
"Negro Makers of History" By Carter G. Woodson, PhD 3rd Edition 1942
A century of Negro Migration, the history of the Negro Church, and the mind of the Negro as reflected in letters. Negro Orators and their Orations. Free Negro Heads of Families in the U.S. in 1830, and the Negro in our history. The aim here is to facilitate the teachers' task of preparing children to play their part creditably in this new age. (1B)
"American Negro In The World War" By Emmett J. Scott 1919
The Negro in the great World War for Freedom and Democracy has proved to be a notable and inspiring figure. Negro Americans quickly recognized the fact that it was not be a white man's war, nor a black man's war, but a war of all the people living under the "Stars and Stripes" for the preservation of human liberty throughout the world. The Negro, in the great World War for Freedom and Democracy, has proved to be a notable and inspiring figure. The record and achievements of this racial group, as brave soldiers and loyal citizens, furnish one of the brightest chapters in American history. The ready response of Negro draftees to the Selective Service calls together with the numerous patriotic activities of Negroes generally, gave ample evidence of their whole-souled support and their 100 per cent Americanism. It is difficult to indicate which rendered the greater service to their Country---the 400,000 or more of them who entered active military service (many of whom fearlessly and victoriously fought upon the battlefields of France) or the millions of other loyal members of this race whose useful industry in fields, factories, forests, mines, together with many other indispensable civilian activities, so vitally helped the Federal authorities in carrying the war to a successful conclusion. (3B)
"Harriet Tubman" By Earl Conrad 1943
The author has gathered information from scores of persons with the understanding and diverse assistance that was necessary in effecting this completed life story of Harriet Tubman. (5B)
"Lifelines of Success" By Joseph R. Gay 1913
A Practical Manual of Self-Help for the Future Development of the Ambitious Colored American: The Whole Embracing an Inspiring Symposium on Our Present Day Opportunities, Lessons from the Ancient and Glorious History of the Race and The Wonderful Civilization of Our Ancestors as an Example to the Rising Generation: Words of Wisdom from the Wiseman's Philosophy as a Guide to a Happy and Successful Life, To Which is Added Life Lines of Knowledge, Presenting a Series of Valuable Instructions for the Self-Improvement of Those Who Desire to Keep Step with The Progress of the Race. An uncommon self-help book that was marketed to African American households, presumably by salesmen (or book agents) going door-to-door soliciting subscriptions. (6B)
"Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom" By Margaret Davidson 1968
"Why Am I A Slave?" when Frederick Douglass first asked this question he was just a small boy. He never received a satisfactory answer — and he spent the rest of his life working for freedom and equality for himself and his people. (7B)
"Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly" By Harriet Beecher Stowe 1878
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel by American abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe which treats slavery as a central theme. The work was first published on March 20, 1852. The story focuses on the tale of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering African American slave, the central character around whose life the other characters—both fellow slaves and slave owners—revolve. The novel dramatizes the harsh reality of slavery while also showing that Christian love and faith can overcome even something as evil as enslavement of fellow human beings. (11B)
"Fight For Freedom" By Langston Hughes Foreword By Arthur B. Spingarn
Nearing the end of a distinguished literary career that spanned nearly fifty years, Langston Hughes took on the daunting task of writing the official history of the national Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Beginning with the social, political, and economic contexts that led to the founding of the NAACP in 1909 and ending with a summary of its targeted goals for 1963, Hughes attempted to write a history that would be comprehensive in scope and singular in its purpose of highlighting the ways in which the Association had a direct and positive influence on racial justice in the United States. Focusing on the individuals who had the greatest impact on the NAACP and the issues with which the organization was most concerned in its first fifty years of existence, Hughes produced the widely acclaimed Fight for Freedom, striking an exceptional balance between biography and cultural history. Long before the publication of Fight for Freedom, Hughes had begun writing non-fiction prose about these same issues as a regular columnist and essayist for the nation's most influential African American publications, including the Chicago Defender and Crisis. A selection of these popular columns and other essays—which reveal the extent to which Hughes's unique, varied, and sometimes Blues- tinged narrative voice shifted in tone over the course of his extensive career—is included in this volume. Hughes intersperses historical facts with compelling anecdotes that often frame subtly ironic commentaries on various themes. The result is history that provides a lens through which to view Hughes's attitudes in the early 1960s toward the ways the NAACP addressed the vital social, cultural, political, and economic issues central to its agenda. (9B)