| EMINENT NEGROES IN WORLD AFFAIRS 1951 BLACK HISTORY THEME |
| In the years following World War II, ASALH's theme focused on the changing role of peoples of African descent on world affairs and the passing of Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History. |
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This 26th Negro History Week Kit is being prepared for publication. Perhaps the holocaust will be avoided. Even if it is, the statesmen of the world will have to face so-called 'Free World.' For the world is not free so long as millions of colonial subjects have little voice in their own government and small return for their labor. "Most of these exploited colonial subjects are Negroes. One of the greatest consequences of World War II was the gaining of independence or self-government by more than a half billion "brown" people in Asia. But not one black colony has gained independence or self-government. Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in 1903: 'The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.' We might well write in 1950: 'The problem of the second half of the twentieth century is the problem of independence or self~government for 200,000,000 black colonial subjects.' "Today many Negroes have demonstrated their ability to make important contributions to this problem. Some of them are featured in this 26th Negro History Week celebration. Others might well have been included. Gone forever are the days when it could be said that Negroes should be only hewers of wood and drawers of water. But these eminent statesmen, with few exceptions, are unknown even to many Negroes. By making them better known, we not only give added evidence of the ability of Negroes to meet the highest standards of performance but we also focus attention upon a most important piece of unfinished business in the second half of the twentieth century. "It is entirely appropriate that Dr. Carter G. Woodson should be included in this list of eminent Negroes. This is the first Negro History Week since his death, April 3, 1950. But he is included also for his sustained interest in world problems affecting the Negro. In the first issue of the Journal of Negro History he published two articles about Negroes in Africa. To date the Journal has included more than one hundred articles about Negroes in other parts of the world. The Journal has also reviewed more than one hundred twenty-five books about Negroes in other parts of the world. "Dr. Woodson glimpsed the importance of race and color as factors in world politics when he served as a supervisor of education in the Philippines in the early part of the century and when he returned to the United States by way of Asia and Europe. He realized that the lowly status of Negroes in other parts of the world had a direct bearing on the status of Negroes in the United States. Conversely, he understood that improvement in the status of Negroes in the United States would weaken the argument of those who insisted that the Negro was incapable of governing himself. This improvement is no longer open to question. Much of it is due to a changed attitude about the capabilities of Negroes. Perhaps no one man contributed as much as he did to this change in attitude. We, therefore, salute him as one of the pioneers among the 'Eminent Negroes in World Affairs.'" |
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