The Omaha guide., 1934-10-06
,APPLAUS GREETS ]. W. JOHN
SONS 1ST n. y. UNIVERSITY
LECTURE


NEW YORK, Sept. 2s-Prolonged
applause greeted James Weldon
Johnson's first lecture last night in
the purse on Racial Contributions to
American Culture at the School of
Education, New York University. This
marked the first appearance of a
Negro as visiting professor In any
university in New York City.
The class of ZOE was 80 per cent
women, with ten or twelve Negroes
in attendance, and ranged in age from,
the very young to grey-haired pro-
fessors. Upon Mr.. Johnson's appear
Inc he raj greeted with spontan-
o u applause which was repeated at
the conclusion Of his talk. This is
said to be unprecedented.
Tells of Contributions
Beginning his lecture Professor
Johnson told of the origin and de-
velopmeHE of the four major and
minor contributions of the Negro to
American culture. The former were
the spirituals, the secular music, folk
lore and daa1cing; the latter were
speech humor cookery and ministrelsy.
The latter he held to be the one and
only distinctively American contribu-
ton to the theatre, which has had a
profound effec on literature about
and attitudes toward the Negro. No
racial group, he said, has contributed
so much to American culture but It's
history is a blank in American his
, tory to the average white American.
>, He quoted from numerous historians
: and anthropologists of authority tc
{ prove his statements.
He cited evidence that the Negro
preceded the whites in the discovry
Of Amrica in that primitive Mexican
drawings and sculpture showed Ne.
: gro characteristics and features, anc
that the sweet potato, peanut, cot
ton and tobacco came originally from
) Africa. He showed that Negroe.
were not only with Columbus but alsc
I with Balboa DeSoto anr Cortez.
Negro Not Empty" Upon Arrival
! Mr.. Johnson said it was ~neceessary
: to break up the sterotypes Of tn
Aframerican which constitutes a yer,
: real factor in making Of racial at
? titudes. The first stereotype necessar.
to destroy, he c~ontended, was: "Whel
the Negro arrived in America he wa
: culturally, aesthetically and moral,
empty and we have tried to fill hin
; up" 1t was false, he declared, t.
land that Africans were all alike il
{ color and physique. Africans ha'
learned how to smelt iron whel
: Europeans were still using tools %
. stone and their color ranged fror
black to red and light yellow. H
pointed to the early invention O
musical instruments by the African
> and the magnificent wood carving
6 and bronzes from Berlin. This al
profoundly influenced all modern ar
lC odlQ. DONll ddI1CCo as IlIO 116DdIIGL
and the Tango, while coming fror
q Spanish America, originated in Afr
y ca. Africa's period Of decline h
charged, began with the slave trad
q and up to the partitioning of the cor
: tinent by European powers.
Il Referring to the influence of is
Negro on American speech, Mr.. Johr
l. son pointed out that grammarians al
now saying, in seeking to simplif
Z our language that the subjunctive
dead and should be done away witt
5 Negro dialect, however, beat them
le it by stasting out without any sui
o junctives. The English spoken by tn
: whites in the South and initiated b
s. cultured whites throughout he cour
. ry, he said, was that Of the Negro
g Mr.. Johnson will deliver nine nor
~Iectres during the first and secon
. terms this winter at New York I'm
l. versity.
IS