Here we have under this peculiar caption the auto-biography of a man who for a number of years has figured very largely in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In his preface he says that, intermingled with this unwritten history, is the story of his life. He frankly states that it is all from memory with the exception of a number of verifications. The effort toward a thorough biography has not been the objective of the author, for as he states he has merely written down those things that impressed him most and facts that seem to him the most significant among the things to be noted.
The work begins with an account of his birth and boyhood in Frederick Town on the Eastern Sh.o.r.e of Maryland, where Frederick Douglas was born. There is much information about the life of Frederick Town referring to particular places along the rivers and bays and various persons who figured in the life of these people. Bishop Coppin directs attention to the social, moral and intellectual condition of the State at the time of his birth, giving full account of the religious atmosphere in which he lived and the particular strivings of his oppressed people.
Leaving this phase of the story one finds the book more interesting in that part discussing the events leading up to the Civil War and the role which the Negroes played in that drama. The sketch of the situation after the Civil War is equally well set forth because of the increasing power of the author during this period to appreciate and partic.i.p.ate in the larger things which concerned the Negro people. His call to the ministry, service in various fields and the election to the bishopric add further interest to the story. How in his travels in this country and abroad men and things impressed him, const.i.tute another value of the autobiography. The book closes with a chapter giving a view of the domestic life of Bishop Coppin, making honorable mention of his family.
For the popular reader this book may appear to be distinctly rough in style and certain details may prove to be tiresome in that the author omitted a good many things that some persons might want to learn and drifted into those things which, by the average reader, may not be considered worth while. On the whole, however, the scientific student will find this autobiography just what it is ent.i.tled, _Unwritten History_. Here is an opportunity to learn of the struggles of a Negro during the period of great handicap and to understand his reaction to what was going on in the world about him. It will be from such biographies that some one in the future will have to write an actual history of the Negro race to set forth exactly what this group has thought and felt and done. A book of this sort, therefore, must have a value. It is to be hoped that other distinguished churchmen and Negroes who have thus touched the life of the race will emulate the example of Bishop Coppin in leaving a written record.
_Negro Migration during the War._ By EMMETT J. SCOTT, Secretary-Treasurer of Howard University. Oxford University Press, New York, 1920. Pp. 189.
Under the imprint of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Editorship of Professor Kinley, Mr. Emmett J. Scott has brought out a monograph study of Negro Migration during the War, based upon the careful and wisely distributed observation and records of several collaborative agents and agencies. The subject is of too great and too immediate economic and social importance to have waited for the final interpretation as to results or the finer a.n.a.lysis as to causes which must ultimately be given it. The entire series, in fact, modestly styles itself a series of preliminary economic studies; and as such, Volume XVI presents a sanely proportioned, clearly expounded, and systematic survey of the vital and outstanding facts of one of the most significant movements in the recent economic life of America.
Profounder consequences may ensue from this movement of the Negro population, which, though started by war conditions, has by no means halted with the war, than can be realized on superficial observation.
In this light, Mr. Scott"s diagnosis is as important as his chronicle of the facts. The reaction of the Negro ma.s.ses away from untoward and repressing social conditions and their awakening to the simple but effective expedient of carrying their labor to better markets, are the significantly new features of the after-war aspects of the Negro problem. Economic adjustment, in most respects automatic--and fortunately so--would be the controlling factor were there not considerable evidence to show that the efficient causes of the movement are social. In which case, as the concluding chapter suggests, better living conditions, a more liberal social att.i.tude, improved interracial feeling will prove to be the only stabilizing remedy. That the South has awakened to the realization of this, and is about to apply to the situation more constructive and well-intentioned effort than hitherto, is the confident belief and optimistic message of the writer.
Reactions and effects of the Exodus upon northern community conditions have not been gone into as thoroughly as the reactions upon conditions in the South; though there is evidence pointing on the whole to salutary effects in both sections. Certainly the study serves to call timely attention without undue alarmist effect to very momentous changes, and should be read by every alert, public-minded citizen.
In such delicate issues, however, facts outweigh opinions. Mr. Scott has wisely struck the balance in favor of a dispa.s.sionate recital of facts. It is a positive gain and welcome change of tone in the recent discussion of racial issues to note in this study, as in Carl Sandburg"s _Chicago Riots_, the growing tendency to be objective and to leave conclusions to the intelligence of one"s readers. Indeed, since it is facts that are of paramount interest, it is regrettable that, with the great resources of the foundation, more explicit statistics concerning the movement could not have been compiled. It is this aspect of the subject which in consequence calls for further treatment. Without the scientific pretensions, therefore, of Mr.
Epstein"s intensive study of the Negro migrant or Dr. Woodson"s historical survey, the book, as a capable popular treatment of the public questions and social issues involved in the recent migration of the Negro population, serves its own distinctive purpose, and achieves a measure of real public service.
ALAIN LOCKE.
NOTES
On the 18th and 19th of November the a.s.sociation for the Study of Negro Life and History will hold its annual meeting in Washington.
This will be a convocation of teachers and scholars throughout the United States, now giving attention to research and instruction in this field. The management of the a.s.sociation is endeavoring to make this meeting one of the most representative ever a.s.sembled.
The purpose of the meeting is to promote the collection of sociological and historical doc.u.ments, to stimulate studies in this field through clubs and schools, and finally to bring about more harmony between the races by interpreting the one to the other.
The reports of the work accomplished by the a.s.sociation during the past year will be made, further plans for the more successful prosecution of the work will be devised and a number of instructive addresses will be delivered by some of the most distinguished men of the country.
Among the speakers will be A. B. Hart, Professor of History at Harvard University, Franz Boas, Professor of Ethnology at Columbia University, L. Hollingsworth Wood, President of the Urban League, and Oswald Garrison Villard, the Editor of the _Nation_. These addresses will cover almost every phase of Negro life and history.
Three important works bearing on the Negro have recently come from the press. Among these are _The Voice of the Negro_, by Robert T. Kerlin, Professor of English, Virginia Military Inst.i.tute, published by E. P.
Dutton and Company, New York; _The Negro Faces America_, by Herbert J.
Seligman, formerly a member of the editorial staff of the _New York Evening Times_ and the _New Republic_, published by Harper and Brothers, New York; and the _Republic of Liberia_, being a general description of the Negro republic with its history, commerce, agriculture, flora and fauna, and present methods of administration, by R. C. F. Maugham, Consul General at Monrovia, published by Charles Scribner"s Sons, New York. Reviews of these books will appear in the next number of the _Journal of Negro History_.
_The United States in Our Times, 1865-1920_, by Paul L. Haworth, is the t.i.tle of a work recently brought out by Charles Scribner"s Sons.
Covering the period during which the Negroes have had a chance to play a part in freedom, it contains some information and comment which will be mentioned in this publication.
During the academic year 1920-1921 Dr. C. G. Woodson will, in the capacity of Dean, reorganize the College Department of the West Virginia Collegiate Inst.i.tute. He will endeavor to finish this work during one or two years, at the expiration of which he plans to devote all of his time to research and publication. This new task of the Director will not necessitate any change in the management of the Journal of Negro History. The editorial office will remain in Washington as formerly.