A Social History of the American Negro | Page 3

me opportunity for some study at first hand of educational and social
conditions on the West Coast of Africa; and most of all do I remember
the courtesy and helpfulness of Dr. E.C. Sage and Dr. J.H. Dillard in
this connection. In general I have worked independently of Williams,
but any student of the subject must be grateful to that pioneer, as well
as to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, who has made contributions in so many ways.
My obligations to such scholarly dissertations as those by Turner and
Russell are manifest, while to Mary Stoughton Locke's Anti-Slavery in
America--a model monograph--I feel indebted more than to any other
thesis. Within the last few years, of course, the Crisis, the Journal of
Negro History, and the Negro Year-Book have in their special fields
become indispensable, and to Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Professor

M.N. Work much credit is due for the faith which has prompted their
respective ventures. I take this occasion also to thank Professor W.E.
Dodd, of the University of Chicago, who from the time of my entrance
upon this field has generously placed at my disposal his unrivaled
knowledge of the history of the South; and as always I must be grateful
to my father, Rev. E.M. Brawley, for that stimulation and criticism
which all my life have been most valuable to me. Finally, the work has
been dedicated to the memory of a distinguished soldier, who, in his
youth, in the nation's darkest hour, helped to lead a struggling people to
freedom and his country to victory. It is now submitted to the
consideration of all who are interested in the nation's problems, and
indeed in any effort that tries to keep in mind the highest welfare of the
country itself.
BENJAMIN BRAWLEY. Cambridge, January 1, 1921.

SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO
CHAPTER I
THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA
1. African Origins
An outstanding characteristic of recent years has been an increasing
recognition of the cultural importance of Africa to the world. From all
that has been written three facts are prominent: (1) That at some time
early in the Middle Ages, perhaps about the seventh century, there was
a considerable infiltration of Arabian culture into the tribes living
below the Sahara, something of which may to-day most easily be seen
among such people as the Haussas in the Soudan and the Mandingoes
along the West Coast; (2) That, whatever influences came in from the
outside, there developed in Africa an independent culture which must
not be underestimated; and (3) That, perhaps vastly more than has been
supposed, this African culture had to do with early exploration and
colonization in America. The first of these three facts is very important,

but is now generally accepted and need not here detain us. For the
present purpose the second and third demand more attention.
The development of native African art is a theme of never-ending
fascination for the ethnologist. Especially have striking resemblances
between Negro and Oceanian culture been pointed out. In political
organization as well as certain forms of artistic endeavor the Negro
people have achieved creditable results, and especially have they been
honored as the originators of the iron technique.[1] It has further been
shown that fetichism, which is especially well developed along the
West Coast and its hinterland, is at heart not very different from the
manitou beliefs of the American Indians; and it is this connection that
furnishes the key to some of the most striking results of the researches
of the latest and most profound student of this and related problems.[2]
[Footnote 1: Note article "Africa" in New International Encyclopedia,
referring especially to the studies of Von Luschan.]
[Footnote 2: Leo Wiener: Africa and the Discovery of America, Vol. I,
Innes & Sons, Philadelphia, 1920.]
From the Soudan radiated a culture that was destined to affect Europe
and in course of time to extend its influence even beyond the Atlantic
Ocean. It is important to remember that throughout the early history of
Europe and up to the close of the fifteenth century the approach to the
home of the Negro was by land. The Soudan was thought to be the
edge of the then known world; Homer speaks of the Ethiopians as "the
farthest removed of men, and separated into two divisions." Later
Greek writers carry the description still further and speak of the two
divisions as Eastern and Western--the Eastern occupying the countries
eastward of the Nile, and the Western stretching from the western
shores of that river to the Atlantic Coast. "One of these divisions," says
Lady Lugard, "we have to acknowledge, was perhaps itself the original
source of the civilization which has through Egypt permeated the
Western world.... When the history of Negroland comes to be written in
detail, it may