African American Historical Scholarship Archive of The Journal of Negro History with Essays by John Hope Franklin, Charles W. Cobb Jr., and Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán

C G. Woodson

Ephemera and pamphlets

Woodson, Carter Godwin. The Journal of Negro History. Archive of three significant issues published between 1943 and 1946 documenting the continued expansion of African American historical scholarship during the Second World War and immediate postwar period. The material records Black intellectual production, historical recovery, and interdisciplinary scholarship through the editorial and publishing work of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, founded by Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland in 1915. These issues include archival evidence and field research on slavery, Black political organization, African diasporic identity, labor systems, and racial discrimination across the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The journal served as one of the central institutional vehicles through which African American scholars circulated research challenging dominant white historical narratives while building an international framework for Black historical studies. The archive provides primary-source evidence for the maturation of mid-century African American historiography and the broadening geographic scope of Black intellectual inquiry during the 1940s.

Woodson, Carter Godwin, ed. The Journal of Negro History. Washington, D.C.: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1943 and 1946. Three issues in publisher’s printed wrappers comprising Vol. XXVIII, No. 3 (July 1943); Vol. XXXI, No. 3 (July 1946); and Vol. XXXI, No. 4 (October 1946). Each issue measures approximately 10 x 6.5 inches and ranges between 111 and 137 pages. [1] Vol. XXVIII, No. 3 (July 1943). Includes Vincent W. Byas’ “Ethnologic Aspects of the Martinique Creole,” examining Creole identity and cultural formation in the French Caribbean; John Hope Franklin’s influential “Slaves Virtually Free in Ante-Bellum North Carolina,” reassessing the legal and social complexities of slavery in the Upper South; W. Sherman Savage’s “The Contest over Slavery between Illinois and Missouri,” addressing sectional political tensions; and Arthur J. Alexander’s “Federal Officeholders in New York State as Slaveholders 1789–1805,” documenting Northern political participation in slavery. [2] Vol. XXXI, No. 3 (July 1946). Features Charles W. Cobb Jr.’s “The Outlook Regarding State FEPC Legislation,” analyzing anti-discrimination policy and fair employment campaigns during the early civil rights era; Mozell C. Hill’s “The All-Negro Communities of Oklahoma: The Natural History of a Social Movement,” documenting Black autonomous communities and rural self-governance in Oklahoma; and Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán’s “Tribal Origins of Slaves in Mexico,” tracing African ethnic origins and cultural survivals within Mexican slavery and the broader Atlantic world. [3] Vol. XXXI, No. 4 (October 1946). Opens with the Annual Report of the Director and includes Bernard H. Nelson’s “Confederate Slave Impressment Legislation, 1861–1865,” examining the forced wartime conscription of enslaved labor; Marion J. Russell’s “American Slave Discontent in Records of the High Courts,” focusing on legal evidence of enslaved resistance; Bella Gross’ “The First National Negro Convention,” revisiting antebellum Black political organizing; and John A. Schutz and Maud O’Neil’s “Arthur Holt, Anglican Clergyman, Reports on Barbados, 1725–1733,” documenting Caribbean plantation society through missionary observation.

These issues record the international and interdisciplinary character of African American scholarship under Woodson’s editorial leadership during the 1940s. Contributors examine Black political organization, labor systems, diasporic identity formation, and legal structures across multiple regions of the Atlantic world. Work by John Hope Franklin, Charles W. Cobb Jr., Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, and other scholars reflects the journal’s role in shaping modern African American and African diasporic historiography during the mid-twentieth century. Light edge toning and faint foxing to wrappers with minor handling wear; overall very good to near fine condition. An archive documenting the intellectual development and international reach of Black historical scholarship in the World War II and immediate postwar era.

Item #21791

Price: $485.00