The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-09-30
IMAGES and The NEGRO

alive in their stories, marks IN adj
vance beyond the days when only
whites wrote Of Negroes and wrote
OF them from the angle Of white
prejudice or OF well-intentioned
but misleading ignorance.
Another thing has happened
since the days of Dixon and his
kind: the science Of psychology has
become an influence in the Amer
lean scene. II has moved not only
into the forefront OF the human sci-
ences, but into the literature and
everyday thinking OF the common
man. Today il plays a major part
in building our image Of sound
minds in a sound society.
INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT
IMPORTANT
Out Of the various psychological
researches has come q kind OF
composite picture OF what the In
dividual needs il he Is TO be fully
equipped as a human being. Out
OF these researches, too, have
come pictures OF frustrated.
thwarted, and distorted human
beings, and OF the conditions un-
der which such failures in person.
atty take place. PSYCHOLOGISTS
have made Us conscious of how
powerfully environmental forces
can shape the individuals mental
and emotional life. They have ex-
ploded the complacent Action that
any man can be master of his own
soul. BY endless examples they
have shown how mans soul IL too
often mastered by his surrounds
ings. Out OF these researches. too.
have come techniques for discov.
ering what makes people what
they now are, and for making
them into different creatures by
changing the conditions Of their
Life.
Contemporary writers Of Act3sn
are net unaware Of the need fer Q
psychological approach % their
material. The pewer Of Richsra
Wright's novel Native Sen" uss
In its disclosure Of the vicious a..
fects Of evil environment upen
character. So does Lillian Smith's
Strange Fruit" PsyehsIs fists
could have No mere powerful way
Of getting their 0wn views sbout
envirenmental cendihouing dissem.
mated than through the pages q
such novels.
WRITERS SHARPEN or
LESSEN CONFLICTS
\ The time is more than ripe for
ncuon writers to examine this
whole program Of MATCHMAKING.
They have a profound responsible.
IIity for the pictures they create. BY
the turn Of a phrase, or by a sim.
pie description Of 4 Negro eharac.
ter, they can sharpen the racial
conflict or lessen IL. Their task
now-if they care about lesseninf
it Is to decide how they can hon.
estly portray the Negro In such
ways as to make him respected and
liked.
II Psychologists, too. are concerned
about true and false images and
thar effect upon human rulntiou.
ships Their chief problsm IN,
been to build up among people th1
image OF wholesome personality.
Might II not be immensely help
ful IL fiction writers and psychol.
ogists were to put their heads TO-
sether on this wholly fundamen-
tai problem Of the kinds OF i'm.
ages that need now to be created!
Psychologists could be helpful "a
writers by bringing to them the
results OF their researches into per-
sonality structure into what
makes people what they are; they
could also acQuaint them with
what has happened to certain de-
rogatory views about Negro men.
tally and character that ones
seemed to be substantiated by psy.
GEOLOGICAL tests. and that conse-
quently had a wide vogue among
the whites: furthermore. they could
check on the degree OF fdelity OF
life OF fctional portayals of the
! Negro: finally. they could widen
the scope Of hctional writing BY
revealing situations where the
/ events were those OF mind and
emotion rather than Of overt ac-
4 ton.
II The fiction writer. in turn. could
be OF help 10 the psychologist. for
ne Is himself kind Of psycholop.
ical scout He has a kind OF psy.
Geological sixth sense that helps
him to detect what the laboratory
psychologist often does not Der.
ceive. Contact with these psyche
logical "Held agents" would bring
to the man OF research problems
OF human relationship. particularly
under the intensified conditions OF
Negro life, that would otherwise
not find their way into his labora.
tory or clinic.
IMAGES OF NEGRO
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