The Story of the Negro is a history of Americans of African descent before and after slavery. Originally produced in two volumes, and published here for the first time in one paperback volume, the first part covers Africa and the history of slavery in the United States while the second part carries the history from the Civil War to the first part of the twentieth century. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery, worked menial jobs in order to acquire an education, and became the most important voice of African American interests beginning in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
The Story of the Negro is valuable in part because it is full of significant information taken from hundreds of obscure sources that would be nearly impossible to assemble today. For instance, Washington discusses the rise of African American comedy with names, places, and dates; elsewhere he traces the growth and spread of African American home ownership and independent businesses in the United States; and his discussion of slavery is informed by his own life. Washington wanted African Americans to understand and embrace their heritage, not be ashamed of it. He explains, as an example, the role of music in the lives of the slaves and then notes how, nearly a generation later, many African Americans were ‘embarrassed’ by this music and did not want to learn traditional songs. Washington is able to reflect on the first fifty years of his life embracing a range of experiences from share-cropping to dinner at the White House. It is just this autobiographical element that makes the volume compelling.
Washington, with his indefatigable optimism, worked his entire life to achieve equality for African Americans through practical means. Founder of the first business association (the National Negro Business League), leader of the Tuskeegee Institute, where George Washington Carver conducted research, and supporter of numerous social programs designed to improve the welfare of African Americans, Washington was considered during his lifetime the spokesperson for African Americans by white society, particularly those in positions of power. This led to criticism from within the African American community, most notably from W. E. B. Du Bois, who considered Washington too accommodating of the white majority, but it took Washington’s farsightedness to recognize that the immediate concerns of education, employment, and self-reflection were necessary to achieve the ultimate goal of racial equality.
Daftar Isi
VOLUME I
PART I. THE NEGRO IN AFRICA
Chapter 1. First Notions of Africa
Chapter 2. The American Negro and the Native African
Chapter 3. The African at Home
Chapter 4. The West Coast Background of the American Negro
PART II. THE NEGRO AS A SLAVE
Chapter 5. The First and Last Slave Ship
Chapter 6. The First Slaves
Chapter 7. The Indian and the Negro
Chapter 8. The Negro’s Life in Slavery
Chapter 9. Slave Insurrections and the Negro ‘Peril’
Chapter 10. The Free Negro in Slavery Days
Chapter 11. Fugitive Slaves
Chapter 12. Negro Settlements in Ohio and the Northwest Territory
Chapter 13. The Negro Preacher and the Negro Church
Chapter 14. The Negro Abolitionists
Chapter 15. The Negro Soldier’s Fight for Freedom
VOLUME II
PART III. THE NEGRO AS A FREEMAN
Chapter 1. The Early Days of Freedom
Chapter 2. The Rise of the Negro Land-owner
Chapter 3. The Negro Labourer and the Mechanic in Slavery and Freedom
Chapter 4. Negro Crime and Racial Self-help
Chapter 5. The Negro Teacher and the Negro School
Chapter 6. The Negro Secret Societies
Chapter 7. The Negro Doctor and the Negro Professional Man
Chapter 8. The Negro Disfranchisement and the Negro in Business
Chapter 9. The Negro Bank and the Moral Uplift
Chapter 10. Negro Communities and Negro Homes
Chapter 11. Negro Poetry, Music and Art
Chapter 12. Negro Women and Their Work
Chapter 13. The Social and Mission Work of the Negro Church
Chapter 14. Law and Order and the Negro
Chapter 15. The Negro’s Place in American Life
Index
Tentang Penulis
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was the long-time Principal of the Tuskegee Institute and founder of the National Negro Business League. Born a slave, Washington was educated at the Hampton Institute and received honorary degrees from Harvard and Dartmouth. He wrote a number of acclaimed books, including his autobiography, Up from Slavery, and Frederick Douglass.
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