Evening star., 1937-11-01
HISTORY. OF. NEGRO
CITED AT MEETING
Mrs. Mary Bethune Calls on
Race to Be Heartened
by Achievements.

In sounding the keynote at the an
Bual meeting Of the Association for
the Study of Negro Life and His
tory, In session today at the Garnet
Patterson High School, Mrs. Mary
Mcleod Bethune, president of the or
: ganization, called on her race to be
heartened by its thrilling history, more
particularly by the remarkable achieve
ments OF recent times in the United
States
Difficulties and problems confronting
Negro writer's were discussed inform
silly today at breakfast held at the
: Phillis Wheatley Association, Rhode
Island avenue and Ninth street NV.
More than score of writer's were
present. Dr. Charles H. Wesley of
Howard University presided.
! Visit Colored Schools.
After visiting a number Of colored
schools, including secondary schools
and institutions of higher learning, the
delegates gathered for an afternoon
session at which John M. Candy, presi-
dent of Virginia State College, pre-
aided
The program included an address by
Prof. N. N. Puckett of Western Re-
serve University on Negro Names"
and a paper by DR.. George Herzog on
"Some Thoughts Growing Out of the
Study of Native Life in Liberia"
= At the session tonight Prof. Lloyd A.
Cook of Ohio State University will
Tn, orio 1ic,V An, Tv,fn
tion." and Prof. w. Lloyd Warner of
the University of Chicago will discuss
"The Negro in the American Social
9 Hierarchy"
: Addressing the opening session Of
this national conclave of historians.
educators and scientists yesterday
afternoon, Mrs. Bethune said of her
people:
: when they learn the fairy tales
: OF mythical king and queen and
$ princess. We must let them hear. too.
of the Pharoahs and African kings
: snd the brilliant pageantry Of the
2 Valley Of the Nile. When they learn
(. OF Caesar and his legions, we must
teach them of Hannibal and his ele-
phants. When they learn Of Shakes
: peare and Goethe, we must teach
{ them of Pushkin and Dumas. When
they read Of Columbus, we must intro
duce Alonzo Pietro.
r. When they are thrilled by Nathan
Hale, barring his breast and regretting,
4 have but one life to give for my
country we must make their hearts
leap to see Crispus Attucks stand and
fall for liberty on Boston Common,
with the red blood Of freedom stream
ing down his breast"
Has IlIustriOus Figures.
Pointing out that the race has had
its full share of illustrious figures in
the arts and sciences, in every line
OF endeavor, from the test tube to the
boxing arena, Mrs. Bethune added:
Certainly, too, it is our task to
make plain to ourselves the great story
of our rise in America from less than
dust to the heights of sound achieve
: ment. We must recount in accurate
{ detail the story of how the Negro
population has grown from 100000
IN 1900 to almost 100000 in 1880.
The Negro worker is today an in
dispensable part of American aericul-
ture and industry. His labor has
built the economic empires of cotton,
, sugar cane and tobacco He fur
nishes nearly II per cent of all Amer
lean breadwinners, one-third of all
servants, one-fifth of all farmers"
She cited the contributions Of COL
ored legislators, authors, educators,
musicians and artists to American
life.
Illiteracy in the race. she pointed
cut, has decreased from about IS
per cent in 1865 to only 1863 per cent
IN 1880. She added:
In the very States that during the
dark days of reconstruction prohib-
tied the education of Negroes by law,
there are today over 100000 pupils
IN $4,000 elementary schools, 100000
pupils in 1000 high schools and u.s.
900 students in the more than 100
Negro colleges and universities.
116 Elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
"Some l16 Negroes have been elect
ID to Phi Beta Kappa in white North
ern colleges, over 60 have received
the Pm. D. degree from leading Amer
lean universities and 81 are men
Mrs. Bethune said:
From this history our youth will
gain confidence, self-reliance and
courage. We will thereby raise their
mental horizon and give them a base
from which to reach out higher and
higher into the realm of achievement"
Citing the heartbreaking poverty,
oppression and lack Of opportunity
that still shackle her race, she urged
her people to summon fresh pride and
courage for the battles ahead.
Prof. Lawrence D. Reddick of Dill
hrd University. in an address on
Race, Cast and Class" deplored the
prejudice OF certain school histories
which are based ON "the pseudo-scien-
tific theory that one race is inferior
to another"
He added that truth crushed to
SdrIH IL TlSlng again IN the new school
Of thinkers who are rewriting the-his-
tory OF reconstruction dispassionately.
These persons" he said, mot only
know the rules of modern historiog-
Yaphy, but they understand also the
teaching of science. They are retro
spective, moreover, in that they look
back over the distant past and see the
rise and fall of man with varying at
titudes of one toward the other. These
new thinkers, seeing through the mist,
can discern the revolution against
bias and the triumph of truth"
DR.. G. c. Wilkinson, first assistant
dfa o.z, 40 -....:>