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A Century of Negro Migration
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- GenresHistory
Paperback
First published January 1, 1918
About the author
Carter G. Woodson
146 books271 followersConvinced that the role of his own people in American history and in the history of other cultures was being ignored or misrepresented among scholars, Woodson realized the need for research into the neglected past of African Americans. Along with William D. Hartgrove, George Cleveland Hall, Alexander L. Jackson, and James E. Stamps, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History on September 9, 1915, in Chicago. That was the year Woodson published The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. His other books followed: A Century of Negro Migration (1918) and The History of the Negro Church (1927). His work The Negro in Our History has been reprinted in numerous editions and was revised by Charles H. Wesley after Woodson's death in 1950.
In January 1916, Woodson began publication of the scholarly Journal of Negro History. It has never missed an issue, despite the Great Depression, loss of support from foundations, and two World Wars. In 2002, it was renamed the Journal of African American History and continues to be published by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).
Woodson stayed at the Wabash Avenue YMCA during visits to Chicago. His experiences at the Y and in the surrounding Bronzeville neighborhood inspired him to create the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915. The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History), which ran conferences, published The Journal of Negro History, and "particularly targeted those responsible for the education of black children". Another inspiration was John Wesley Cromwell's 1914 book, The Negro in American History: Men and Women Eminent in the Evolution of the American of African Descent.
Carter Godwin Woodson was an American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He was one of the first scholars to study African-American history. A founder of The Journal of Negro History in 1916, Woodson has been cited as the "father of black history". In February 1926 he launched the celebration of "Negro History Week", the precursor of Black History Month.
Woodson believed that education and increasing social and professional contacts among blacks and whites could reduce racism and he promoted the organized study of African-American history partly for that purpose. He would later promote the first Negro History Week in Washington, D.C., in 1926, forerunner of Black History Month. The Bronzeville neighborhood declined during the late 1960s and 1970s like many other inner-city neighborhoods across the country, and the Wabash Avenue YMCA was forced to close during the 1970s, until being restored in 1992 by The Renaissance Collaborative.
He served as Academic Dean of the West Virginia Collegiate Institute, now West Virginia State University, from 1920 to 1922.
He studied many aspects of African-American history. For instance, in 1924, he published the first survey of free black slaveowners in the United States in 1830.
The time that schools have set aside each year to focus on African-American history is Woodson's most visible legacy. His determination to further the recognition of the Negro in American and world history, however, inspired countless other scholars. Woodson remained focused on his work throughout his life. Many see him as a man of vision and understanding. Although Woodson was among the ranks of the educated few, he did not feel particularly sentimental about elite educational institutions.[citation needed] The Association and journal that he started are still operating, and both have earned intellectual respect.
Woodson's other far-reaching activities included the founding in 1920 of the Associated Publishers, the oldest African-American publishing company in the United States. This enabled publication of books concerning blacks that
In January 1916, Woodson began publication of the scholarly Journal of Negro History. It has never missed an issue, despite the Great Depression, loss of support from foundations, and two World Wars. In 2002, it was renamed the Journal of African American History and continues to be published by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).
Woodson stayed at the Wabash Avenue YMCA during visits to Chicago. His experiences at the Y and in the surrounding Bronzeville neighborhood inspired him to create the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915. The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History), which ran conferences, published The Journal of Negro History, and "particularly targeted those responsible for the education of black children". Another inspiration was John Wesley Cromwell's 1914 book, The Negro in American History: Men and Women Eminent in the Evolution of the American of African Descent.
Carter Godwin Woodson was an American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He was one of the first scholars to study African-American history. A founder of The Journal of Negro History in 1916, Woodson has been cited as the "father of black history". In February 1926 he launched the celebration of "Negro History Week", the precursor of Black History Month.
Woodson believed that education and increasing social and professional contacts among blacks and whites could reduce racism and he promoted the organized study of African-American history partly for that purpose. He would later promote the first Negro History Week in Washington, D.C., in 1926, forerunner of Black History Month. The Bronzeville neighborhood declined during the late 1960s and 1970s like many other inner-city neighborhoods across the country, and the Wabash Avenue YMCA was forced to close during the 1970s, until being restored in 1992 by The Renaissance Collaborative.
He served as Academic Dean of the West Virginia Collegiate Institute, now West Virginia State University, from 1920 to 1922.
He studied many aspects of African-American history. For instance, in 1924, he published the first survey of free black slaveowners in the United States in 1830.
The time that schools have set aside each year to focus on African-American history is Woodson's most visible legacy. His determination to further the recognition of the Negro in American and world history, however, inspired countless other scholars. Woodson remained focused on his work throughout his life. Many see him as a man of vision and understanding. Although Woodson was among the ranks of the educated few, he did not feel particularly sentimental about elite educational institutions.[citation needed] The Association and journal that he started are still operating, and both have earned intellectual respect.
Woodson's other far-reaching activities included the founding in 1920 of the Associated Publishers, the oldest African-American publishing company in the United States. This enabled publication of books concerning blacks that
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 20, 2014
Before The Warmth of Other Suns and before Slavery by Another Name, there was this book. This is Woodson's chronicle of how African-Americans have to come to live in the various states and Canada, Africa and parts of Mexico. Compiled from various books, periodicals magazines, church and personal records, local, state and Federal recores chronicle of African-American migration and the reasons for it.
It is a sordid story of United States history of slavery and peonage; Jim Crow laws, exploitation, terrorism, political repression and psychological mayhem about inflicted on minority citizens by the God-fearing (?) white majority since the start of the Republic. It is not only about the Southern states but also about the Northern states also.
It is a sordid story of United States history of slavery and peonage; Jim Crow laws, exploitation, terrorism, political repression and psychological mayhem about inflicted on minority citizens by the God-fearing (?) white majority since the start of the Republic. It is not only about the Southern states but also about the Northern states also.
May 23, 2023
One of the best history books I ever read. Stalling on reading Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction has worked in my favor. The book is super easy to follow, well written. I feel like I now have a strong grasp on the early 1800s-WW1 migration trends of Black people, the debates regarding reverse colonization of the formerly enslaved, as well as differing views on moving out of the south among Black people themselves.
June 25, 2011
The topic of this book was of interest to me, and it is available for free on the Kindle. Written in 1918, I read the book not only as a monograph on African American migration through the U.S., but also as a piece of history in and of itself. While I had several complaints about the work (see below), I did enjoy seeing how the perspective of a self-made, self-educated African American historian influenced his writing and his message.
One outcome of this perspective was an elitism that pervaded the book. While Woodson is critical of those who exploited Black labor--slaveholders, white landowners, racist Northerners--at times he also accuses his own race of lacking ambition or foresight. He acknowledges and can be very sympathetic about the fact that slaves were purposefully kept ignorant and never gained many skills necessary for economic self-sufficiency, but one cannot read the book without cringing at lines like, "The undesirable aspect of the situation was that most of the migrating blacks came in crude form." The message Woodson tries to emphasize at the end of A Century of Negro Migration is for educated blacks to quit wasting time getting elected to Congress and ending up mired in a bureaucratic quagmire, and to instead create communities where African Americans become indispensable for their economic and cultural impact. He believes that all African Americans must seek education, establish businesses, write great literature, and attend church on Sunday. This message is consistent with many of Woodson's contemporaries in the Talented Tenth, but I found it problematic that he let it pervade into the book's first half--the presentation of pre- and post- Civil War migration. His ethos of self-discipline felt a little anachronistic when discussing migration that occurred a century earlier--like the present dictating its values to the past. My other major complaint is that Woodson organizes the chapters thematically and roughly chronologically, but as he bounces from region to region he tends to also ricochet backwards and forwards in time. I would have preferred a chronological narrative organized by region, beginning and ending with a summary of the themes.
Despite all this criticism, I did really enjoy reading the book. It was a quick read, but one that has stuck with me and generated a lot of thought and questioning about both migration and the writing of history.
One outcome of this perspective was an elitism that pervaded the book. While Woodson is critical of those who exploited Black labor--slaveholders, white landowners, racist Northerners--at times he also accuses his own race of lacking ambition or foresight. He acknowledges and can be very sympathetic about the fact that slaves were purposefully kept ignorant and never gained many skills necessary for economic self-sufficiency, but one cannot read the book without cringing at lines like, "The undesirable aspect of the situation was that most of the migrating blacks came in crude form." The message Woodson tries to emphasize at the end of A Century of Negro Migration is for educated blacks to quit wasting time getting elected to Congress and ending up mired in a bureaucratic quagmire, and to instead create communities where African Americans become indispensable for their economic and cultural impact. He believes that all African Americans must seek education, establish businesses, write great literature, and attend church on Sunday. This message is consistent with many of Woodson's contemporaries in the Talented Tenth, but I found it problematic that he let it pervade into the book's first half--the presentation of pre- and post- Civil War migration. His ethos of self-discipline felt a little anachronistic when discussing migration that occurred a century earlier--like the present dictating its values to the past. My other major complaint is that Woodson organizes the chapters thematically and roughly chronologically, but as he bounces from region to region he tends to also ricochet backwards and forwards in time. I would have preferred a chronological narrative organized by region, beginning and ending with a summary of the themes.
Despite all this criticism, I did really enjoy reading the book. It was a quick read, but one that has stuck with me and generated a lot of thought and questioning about both migration and the writing of history.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews