St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1950-01-27
INTERPRETING NEGRO LIFE

INTERPRETING NEGRO LIFE
The Negroes Morale. BY Ar
mold VI. Rose. Minneapolis: The
University Of Minnesota Press,
1919. NHl53 PIP. $3.50.
The anthropological term ethOs
refers generally to what is called
the prevailing spirit" of a group.
Arnold Rose in The Negroes Nor
ale has attempted to project what
he believes to be the ethos of the
American Negro. Such a chimer-
ical and qualitative factor as the
spirit Of a people is difficult to
analyze, for one cannot be sure
whether the fundamentals upon
which he bases his premise are
sound. DR.. Rose has tried to lay
a foundation for his assumptions
largely on what has been said by
and about Negroes and through
a sociological Interpretation of
their actions, both individually
and in concert.
Considering the problem he
tackles and its significance in
American society, DR.. Rose has
done a commendable job in these
few pages. The history of Negroes
from slavery through the Civil
War and Reconstruction, the Re-
publican double-cross of 1876, the
Booker T. Washington era, the
emergence of new philosophy as
advanced by w. E. B. Dubois, the
two world-war migrations and
other developments are assessed
briefly but with a high degree of
accuracy. The relationship of these
events and factors to the current
morale of the Negro is handled
with skill and insight.
The treatment of factors retard-
ing the growth of morale, such as
the role of skin color, cleavages
due to class, the talented tenth"
theory, the fight for segregation
by Negroes with a vested interest
in its perpetuation, separating
elements traceable to poverty,
residential segregation, personal
and social disorganization, ethnic
distinctions, theological differences
and intra-group Negro hatred are
pointedly observed in relation to
the question of morale. The limit
ed space given to a study of
solidarity of the Negro with other
minority groups is devoted main
ly to an analysis of Negro-Jewish
relations, merely mentioning ORR
entails and a few others.
It is almost impossible to do an
exact and scientific job on Negro
morale purely from the literature.
The author is aware of his being
somewhat presumptious in writ
ing about a matter which so many
other persons could handle much
better" But believing that Negro
writers have not tackled the job,
he has proceeded in his efforts
with the result that a number of
defects serve to reduce the value
of his contribution.
The author land the guest
writer of his forword) thought he
was pioneering with this mono
graph, but had he consulted Alice
NJ. Dunbars Masterpieces of Ne
gro ElOquence, published in 1914,
he would have found in these col
lected essays story of Negro
morale. He discarded the studies
by Reid, Drake and Cayton,
Charles S. Johnson, Dubois, FraZ-
Ter, Doyle and others as simply
segmentary or local studies. But
it is indisputable by his own cri-
terra that these are Investigations
of Negro morale. Likewise, in view
of the sparse photography which
is appended, it is understandable
that he made several misintrepre-
tations about Negroes, of which
the following are representative.
There is little of the puritanism
and personal aloofness that char
acterizes the white American cul-
thre." Up. 74)
Significant fact is that West
Indian Negroes are not used to
living under caste" Up. III
Because Communism is such
an issue in America, and because