The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916

Notes

"The Creed of the Old South," by Basil Gildersleeve, has come from the Johns Hopkins Press. This is a presentation of the Lost Cause to enlarge the general appreciation of southern ideals.

From the same press comes also "The Constitutional Doctrines of Justice Harlan," by Floyd B. Clark. The author gives an interesting survey of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, tracing the constitutional doctrine of the distinguished jurist.

The Neale Publishing Company has brought out "The Aftermath of the Civil War in Arkansas," by Powell Clayton. The author was governor of the State from 1868 to 1871. Not desiring to take radical ground, he endeavors to be moderate in sketching the work of different factions.

From the press of Funk Wagnalls we have "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; Musician, His Life and Letters," by W. C. Berwick Sayres.

Dean B. G. Brawley, of Morehouse College, contributed to the January number of "The South Atlantic Quarterly" an article entitled "Pre-Raphaelitism and Its Literary Relations."

C. F. Heartman, New York, has published the poems of Jupiter Hammon, a slave born in Long Island, New York, about 1720. Nothing is known of Hammon's early life. It is probable that he was a preacher. His first poem was published December 25, 1760. They do not show any striking literary merit but give evidence of the mental development of the slave of the eighteenth century.

Dr. B. F. Riley, the noted Birmingham preacher and social worker, is planning to bring out a biography of Booker T. Washington. Dr. Riley is a white man and is the author of "The White Man's Burden," an historical and sociological work written in behalf of the rights of all humanity irrespective of class or condition.

Dr. C. G. Woodson has been asked to write for the revised edition of the "Encyclopaedia Americana" the article on "Negro Education."

The Cambridge University Press has published "The Northern Bantu," by J. Roscoe. This is a short history of some central African tribes of the Uganda Protectorate.

J. A. Winter contributed to the July number of "The South African Journal of Science" a paper entitled "The Mental and Moral Capabilities of the Natives, Especially of Sekukuniland."

In "Folk Lore," September 30, 1915, appeared "Some Algerian Superstitions noted among the Shawai Berbers of the Aurès Mountains and their Nomad Neighbors."

Murray has published in London "A History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti" in two volumes, by W. W. Claridge. The introduction is written by the Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Hugh Clifford. It covers the period from the earliest times to the commencement of the present century. The volume commences with an account of the Akan tribes and their existence in two main branches–Fanti and Ashanti. Beginning with the early voyages, the author gives an extensive sketch of European discovery and settlement.

"A History of South Africa from the Earliest Days to the Union," by W. C. Scully, has appeared under the imprint of Longmans, Green and Company.

Fisher Unwin has published "South West Africa," by W. Eveleigh. The volume gives a brief account of the history, resources and possibilities of that country.

How the Public Received The Journal of Negro History

My dear Dr. Woodson:

I thank you cordially for sending me a copy of the first issue of The Journal of Negro History. It is a real pleasure to see a journal of this kind, dignified in form and content, and conforming in every way to the highest standards of modern historical research. You and your colleagues are to be congratulated on beginning your enterprise with such promise, and you certainly have my very best wishes for the future success of an undertaking so significant for the history of Negro culture in America and the world.

I feel it a duty to assist concretely in work of this kind, and accordingly I enclose my check for sixteen dollars, of which fifteen dollars are in payment of a life membership fee in the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and one dollar for a year's subscription to the Journal.

Very sincerely yours,

J. E. Spingarn

Dear Dr. Woodson:

Thank you for sending me the first number of your QUARTERLY JOURNAL. Mr. Bowen had already loaned me his copy and I had been meaning to write to you, stating how much I liked the looks of the magazine, the page, the print, and how good the matter of this first number seemed to me to be. I am going to ask the library here to subscribe to it and I shall look over each number as it comes out. Enclosed is my cheque for five dollars which you can add to your research fund.

Very truly yours,

Edward Channing,

Mclean Professor of Ancient

and Modern History,

Harvard University

My dear Dr. Woodson:

No words of mine can express the delight with which I am reading the first copy of your Journal, nor the supreme satisfaction I feel that such an organization as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History is in actual and active existence.

Inclosed find check for sixteen dollars for one year's subscription to the JOURNAL and a life membership in the Association.

Very truly yours,

Leila Amos Pendleton

Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir:

I have read with considerable interest Number 1 of The Journal of Negro History. The enterprise seems to me to be an excellent one and deserving of enthusiastic support.

Yours sincerely,

A. A. Goldenweiser,

Department of Anthropology,

Columbia University

Dear Sir:

Last week I chanced to see a copy of The Journal of Negro History, January number, and while I didn't have opportunity to read it fully, I was very favorably impressed with it; so much so that I am sending my check for one year's subscription, including the January number. Allow me to hope much success may attend this undertaking and that subsequent numbers be as elegant and attractive as this one.

Yours very truly,

T. Spotuas Burwell

Dear Sir:

I want to congratulate you on the appearance and contents of this first number. It has received most favorable comment from every one to whom I have shown it. I certainly wish it every success.

Yours truly,

Caroline B. Chapin

Englewood, N.J.

Dear Mr. Woodson:

I have examined with more than usual interest the copy of The Journal of Negro History which has just reached me through your courtesy. It certainly looks hopeful and I trust that the venture may prove its usefulness very quickly. I am sending you my check for a subscription as I shall be glad to receive subsequent issues.

Wishing you great success in your editorial position and hoping that the idea of the organization may be attained, I remain,

Yours very truly,

F. W. Shepardson,

Professor of American History,

The University of Chicago

My dear Dr. Woodson:

I looked over the first number of The Journal of Negro History with much interest. It bears every evidence of a scientific disposition on the part of the editor and his board.

Yours sincerely,

Ferdinand Schevill,

Professor of European History,

The University of Chicago

My dear Dr. Woodson:

Your magazine is excellent. I am noting it in the current Crisis.

Very sincerely Yours,

W. E. B. DuBois,

Editor of the Crisis

My dear Dr. Woodson:

Enclosed find my check for $1 for one year's subscription to The Journal of Negro History. I am enjoying the reading of the first issue and shall look forward with interest to the coming of each successive one.

With best wishes for the work, I am,

Very truly yours,

T. C. Williams,

Manassas, Va.

My dear Dr. Woodson:

I have read The Journal of Negro History with pleasure, interest, profit and withal, amazement. The typographical appearance, the size and the strong scholastic historical articles reveal research capacity of the writers, breadth of learning and fine literary taste. Having been the editor of the Voice of the Negro and knowing somewhat of the literary capacity of the best writers of the race, I cannot but express satisfaction and amazement with this new venture under your leadership. I sincerely hope and even devoutly pray that this latest born from the brain of the Negro race may grow in influence and power, as it deserves, to vindicate for the thinkers of the race their claim to citizenship in the republic of thought and letters. Count upon me as a fellow worker.

Yours sincerely,

J. W. E. Bowen

Vice-President of Gammon Theological Seminary

My Dear Dr. Woodson:

I have examined with interest the first number of The Journal of Negro History, which you so kindly sent me. It is a credit to its editors and contributors and I hope it may continue to preserve high standards and to prosper.

Sincerely yours,

Frederick J. Turner,

Professor of American History in Harvard University

My dear Dr. Woodson:

I am obliged to you for your copy of The Journal of Negro History and am interested in knowing that you have undertaken this interesting work. I shall endeavor to see that it is ordered for our library. I should suppose that if you could manage to float it and keep it going for a few years, at least, that it would have considerable historical value.

Very sincerely yours,

A. C. Mclaughlin,

Head of the Department of American History,

The University of Chicago

My dear Dr. Woodson:

Thank you for sending me the Journal of Negro History, which I have examined with interest and which I am calling to the attention of the Harvard Library. You have struck a good field of work, and I am sure you can achieve genuine results in it.

Sincerely yours,

Charles H. Haskins,

Dean of the Harvard Graduate School

My dear Dr. Woodson:

Please accept my thanks for an initial copy of The Journal of Negro History which you were kind enough to send me. I am delighted with it. Its mechanical makeup leaves nothing to be desired and its contents possess a permanent value. It should challenge the support of all forward-looking men of the race and command the respect of the thinking men of the entire country regardless of creed or color. I wish you the fullest measure of success in this unique undertaking.

Your friend,

J. W. Scott,

Principal of the Douglass High School,

Huntington, W. Va.

My dear Mr. Woodson:

I wish to acknowledge the receipt of the first number of The Journal of Negro History. I have read it with much interest and congratulate you, as the editor, upon your achievement. The more I think of the matter, the more do I believe there is a place for such a publication. The history of the Negro in Africa, in the West Indies, in Spanish America, and in the United States offers a large field in which little appears to have been done.

Very truly yours,

A. H. Buffinton,

Instructor in History, Williams College

My dear Sir:

A copy of The Journal of Negro History was received yesterday and I wish to thank you and the gentlemen associated with you for this magnificent effort. There is "class" to this magazine, more "class" than I have seen in any of our race journals. May I say, notwithstanding the fact that I edited a race magazine once myself, the whole magazine is clean and high and deserves a place in our homes and college libraries alongside with the great periodicals of the land.

Yours very truly,

J. Max Barber

Dear Sirs:

Please find enclosed my subscription of one dollar in cash to The Journal of Negro History, and permit me to congratulate you on your first publication.

Very truly yours,

Oswald Garrison Villard

Dear Sir:

The first number of your magazine reached me a few days ago. It is a fine publication, doing credit to its editor and to the association. I think it has a fine field.

Sincerely yours,

T. G. Steward,

Captain, U. S. Army, Retired

Dear Dr. Woodson:

I have the first number of The Journal of Negro History. Permit me to congratulate you and to earnestly hope that it may live long and prosper. It is excellent in purpose, matter and method. If the present high standard is maintained, you and your friends will not only make a most valuable contribution to a dire need of the Negro, but you will add in a substantial measure to current historical data.

Truly yours,

D. S. S. Goodloe,

Principal, Maryland Normal and Industrial School

"Why then, should the new year be signalized by the appearance of a magazine bearing the title The Journal of Negro History? How can there be such a thing as history for a race which is just beginning to live? For the JOURNAL does not juggle with words; by 'history' it means history and not current events. The answer is to be found within its pages...."

"But the outstanding feature of the new magazine is just the fact of its appearance. Launched at Chicago by a new organization, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, it does not intend 'to drift into the discussion of the Negro Problem,' but rather to 'popularize the movement of unearthing the Negro and his contributions to civilization … believing that facts properly set forth will speak for themselves.'"

"This is a new and stirring note in the advance of the black man. Comparatively few of any race have a broad or accurate knowledge of its part. It would be absurd to expect that the Negro will carry about in his head many details of a history from which he is separated by a tremendous break. It is not absurd to expect that he will gradually learn that he, too, has a heritage of something beside shame and wrong. By that knowledge he may be uplifted as he goes about his task of building from the bottom."

The New York Evening Post.

When men of any race begin to show pride in their own antecedents we have one of the surest signs of prosperity and rising civilization. That is one reason why the new Journal of Negro History ought to attract more than passing attention. Hitherto the history of the Negro race has been written chiefly by white men; now the educated Negroes of this country have decided to search out and tell the historic achievements of their race in their own way and from their own point of view. And, judging from the first issue of their new publication, they are going to do it in a way that will measure up to the standards set by the best historical publications of the day.

The opinions which the American Negro has hitherto held concerning his own race have been largely moulded for him by others. Himself he has given us little inkling of what his race has felt, and thought and done. Any such situation, if long enough continued, would make him a negligible factor in the intellectual life of mankind. But the educated leaders of the race, of whom our colleges and universities have been turning out hundreds in recent years, do not propose that this shall come to pass. They are going to show the Negro that his race is more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle; that Ethiopia had a history quite as illustrious as that of Nineveh or Tyre, and that the Negro may well take pride in the rock from which he was hewn. The few decades of slavery form but a small dark spot in the annals of long and great achievements. That embodies a fine attitude and one which should be thoroughly encouraged. It aims to teach the Negro that he can do his own race the best service by cultivating those hereditary racial traits which are worth preserving, and not by a fatuous imitation of his white neighbors.

At any rate, here is a historical journal of excellent scientific quality, planned and managed by Negro scholars for readers of their own race, and preaching the doctrine of racial self-consciousness. That in itself is a significant step forward.

The Boston Herald.

A new periodical, to be published quarterly, is the journal of "The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History," a society organized in Chicago in September, 1915. The commendable aim of the Association is to collect and publish historical and sociological material bearing on the Negro race. Its purpose, it is claimed, is not to drift into discussion of the Negro problem, but to publish facts which will show to posterity what the Negro has so far thought, felt, and done.

The president of the association, George C. Hall, of Chicago; its secretary-treasurer, Jesse E. Moorland, of Washington, D.C.; the editor of the Journal, Carter G. Woodson, also of Washington; and the other names associated with them on the executive council and on the board of associate editors, guarantee an earnestness of purpose and a literary ability which will doubtless be able to maintain the high standard set in the first issue of the Journal. The table of contents of the January number includes several historical articles of value, some sociological studies, and other contributions, all presented in dignified style and in a setting of excellent paper and type. The general style of the Journal is the same as that of the American Historical Review.

The Southern Workman.

An undertaking which deserves a cordial welcome began in the publication, in January, of the first number of the Journal of Negro History, edited by Mr. Carter G. Woodson, and published at 2223 Twelfth Street, N.W., Washington, by the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, formed at Chicago in September, 1915. The price is but $1 per annum. The objects of the Association and of the journal are admirable–not the discussion of the "negro problem," which is sure, through other means, of discussion ample in quantity at least, but to exhibit the facts of negro history, to save and publish the records of the black race, to make known by competent articles and by documents what the negro has thought and felt and done. The first number makes an excellent beginning, with an article by the editor on the Negroes of Cincinnati prior to the Civil War; one by W. B. Hartgrove on the career of Maria Louise Moore and Fannie M. Richards, mother and daughter, pioneers in negro education in Virginia and Detroit; one by Monroe N. Work, on ancient African civilization; and one by A. O. Stafford, on negro proverbs. The reprinting of a group of articles on slavery in the American Museum of 1788 by "Othello," a negro, and of selections from the Baptist Annual Register, 1790-1802, respecting negro Baptist churches, gives useful aid toward better knowledge of the American negro at the end of the eighteenth century.

The American Historical Review.

The Journal of Negro History
VOL. I., No. 3 June, 1916

Edited By

Carter G. Woodson

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

Colored Freemen as Slave Owners in Virginia ²³⁶

Among the quaint old seventeenth century statutes of Virginia may be found the following significant enactment:

No negro or Indian though baptized and enjoyned their own freedome shall be capable of any purchase of Christians but yet not debarred from buying any of their owne nation.²³⁷

"Christians" in this act means persons of the white race. Indented servitude was the condition and status of no small part of the white population of Virginia when this law was enacted. While it is not a part of our purpose in this article to show that white servants were ever bound in servitude to colored masters, the inference from this prohibition upon the property rights of the free Negroes is that colored freemen had at least attempted to acquire white or "Christian" servants. In a revision of the law seventy-eight years later it was deemed necessary to retain the prohibition and to annex the provision that if any free Negro or mulatto "shall nevertheless presume to purchase a Christian white servant, such servant shall immediately become free."²³⁸

If we see in these laws nothing more than precautionary measures against a possible reversal of the usual order of white master and black servant to that of black master and white servant, they are nevertheless significant as commentaries on the extent of the remaining unimpaired property rights of black freemen. Only in the light of these prohibitions do we see the full significance of the last clause of the act which reads: "but yet not debarred from buying any of their owne nation."

With no evidence beyond this explicit admission in the written law of the right of free Negroes to own servants and slaves of their own race it could scarcely be doubted that there were in the colony colored men known to the framers of this law who held to service persons of their own race and color. But when the court records are opened and the strange story of the free Negro Anthony Johnson and his slave John Casor is read and understood we are forced to a realization of the impartial attitude of the law toward black masters not only in its outward expression but also in its actual application. The story of the relation of these two black settlers in the young colony is worth relating in the quaint language of the times word for word as it appears in the manuscript records.

The deposition of Capt. Samll. Goldsmyth taken in open court 8th of March [16]54 sayeth that being att ye house of Anth. Johnson Negro about ye beginning of November last to receive a Hogsd of tobac, a negro called Jno. Casor came to this depo[nen]t & told him yt hee came into Virginia for seaven or eight years of Indenture; yt hee had demanded his freedome of Antho. Johnson his mayster & further sd yt hee had kept him his serv[ant] seaven years longer than hee should or ought; and desired that this Depont would see yt hee might have noe wronge; whereupon your depont demanded of Anth. Johnson his Indenture. the sd Johnson answered hee never saw any. The negro Jno. Casor replyed when hee came in he had an Indenture. Anth. Johnson sd hee had ye Negro for his life, but Mr. Robert & George Parker sd they knewe that ye sd Negro had an Indenture in one Mr. S[andys?] hand on ye other side of ye Baye. Further sd Mr. Robert Parker & his Brother George sd (if the sd. Anth. Johnson did not let ye negro go free) the said negro Jno Casor would recover most of his Cows from him ye sd Johnson. Then Anth. Johnson (as this dep't. did suppose) was in a great feare.... Anth. Johnsons sonne in Law, his wife & his own two sonnes persuaded the old negro Anth. Johnson to sett the sd. Jno. Casor free … more sth not.

Samll Goldsmyth.

Eight March Anno 1654.²³⁹

John Casor was not, however, permitted to enjoy long his freedom. Johnson decided to petition the county court to determine whether John Casor was a slave for life or a servant "for seven years of indenture." The court record of the suit is as follows:

Whereas complaint was this daye made to ye court by ye humble peticion of Anth. Johnson Negro ag[ains]t Mr. Robert Parker that hee detayneth one John Casor a Negro the plaintiffs Serv[an]t under pretense yt the sd Jno. Casor is a freeman the court seriously considering & maturely weighing ye premises doe fynd that ye sd Mr. Robert Parker most unrightly keepeth ye sd Negro John Casor from his r[igh]t mayster Anth. Johnson as it appeareth by ye Deposition of Capt. Samll Gold smith & many probable circumstances. be it therefore ye Judgement of ye court & ordered that ye sd Jno. Casor negro, shall forthwith bee turned into ye service of his sd master Anthony Johnson and that the sd Mr. Robert Parker make payment of all charges in the suite and execution.²⁴⁰

In thus sustaining the claim of Anth. Johnson to the perpetual service of John Casor the court gave judicial sanction to the right of Negroes to own slaves of their own race. Indeed no earlier record, to our knowledge, has been found of judicial support given to slavery in Virginia except as a punishment for crime. Additional gleanings from the records show that this black slavemaster was a respected citizen of wealth and one of the very earliest Negro arrivals upon this continent, if, indeed, he was not one of the first twenty brought in on the Dutch man-of-war in 1619. Every doubt of the correctness of this assertion should be banished by a perusal of the somewhat detailed evidence upon which the conclusion is based.

The discovery of the fact that Anthony Johnson was a slaveowner led to a further examination of court records and land patents for additional information concerning him. In the court records of Northampton County in 1653 it was found recorded that "Anth. Johnson negro hath this daye made his compl[ain]t to ye court that John Johnson, Senr. most unrightly detayneth a pattent of his for 450 acres of land (which pattent sd. Jno. Johnson negro claymeth & boldly affirmeth to bee his land."²⁴¹

A search in the early land patents of the State revealed a grant by the authorities of the State of two hundred and fifty acres of land in Northampton County to Anthony Johnson a Negro. The grant was made as "head rights" upon the importation by the Negro of five persons into the colony.²⁴² Still pursuing the record of this black freeman, who was able to maintain a slave, the following was discovered in the records of the county court of Northampton:

Upon ye humble pet[ition] of Anth. Johnson negro & Mary his wife & their Information to ye Court that they have been Inhabitants in Virginia above thirty years, consideration being taken of their hard labor and honored service performed by the petitioners in this Country for ye obtayneing of their Livelyhood and ye great Llosse they have sustained by an unfortunate fire with their present charge to provide for. Be it therefore fitt and ordered that from the day of the debate hearof during their natural lives the sd Mary Johnson & two daughters of Anthony Johnson Negro be disingaged and freed from payment of Taxes and leavyes in Northampton County for public use.²⁴³

Subtracting thirty years from 1652, the date of this order of the court, it appeared that this Negro and his wife were in Virginia in 1622. Examination of a census taken in Virginia after the Indian massacre of 1622 and called "The Lists of Living and Dead in Virginia" revealed the fact that there were only four Negroes in the colony beside the surviving nineteen out of the twenty that came in in 1619. The name of one of these four was Mary and the name of one of the first twenty was Anthony.²⁴⁴ It may with good reason be surmised, if it cannot be proved, that Mary became the wife of Anthony and that in the course of the next thirty years they acquired the surname Johnson as well as a large tract of land and a slave by the name of John Casor.