BOOK REVIEWS

The Bantu, Past and Present. By S. M. Molema. Edinburgh, W. Green and Son, Limited. Pp. 398. Price, 25/net.

This is an ethnographical and historical study of the native races of South Africa. The author of the work is a member of the race whose life he has described. To some extent, then, he has told here his own story, "relying somewhat on the life of the people in interpreting the psychological aspect which must be invaluable to a foreigner." As this book, however, is replete with quotations from various works of white men who have seen the country only from the outside, and the work contains no evidence that the writer has extensively traveled in his own native land, it drifts too much in the direction of a summary of what these various travelers have thought of Africa. The book, moreover, is not altogether scientific; and fraught with too many of the opinions of others who should know less about Africa than the native himself, it does not satisfy the need for a definitive account of the life and history of the various peoples of South Africa. On the whole, however, it is far in advance of most works bearing on the achievement of that continent and is certainly a step in the right direction, when the story of Africa will be told as it must be told by the native of Africa himself.

The book begins with an interesting introduction of that part of the work called The Revelation, which consists of an account of the antiquity of man in Africa, prehistoric Africa, the unveiling of South Africa and the distribution of the primitive races. In that portion of the work styled The Past there is a valuable summary of African ethnology, setting forth the various stocks of the southern part of the continent, their manners and customs, moral conduct, religious beliefs and language. This portion of the work is valuable, because it is a brief summary of valuable matter scattered through a large number of volumes.

In that part of the work styled The Present there is much matter which may be found in almost any history of Africa. What is said about missionaries, missions, the South African wars, and the like, may be found in various works, and in some more extensively treated. In those chapters bearing on the education [Pg 376]of the Bantu, the relation of the races and the attitude of the government to the natives, there are adequately set forth the race problem in that part of the world and the effort toward its solution as expressed in such strivings of the natives as the Bantu National Congress and the Bantu Press. There is, moreover, the reaction of an intelligent native of Africa to the impressions made upon him by the European civilization there implanted.

The author does not seem to be very hopeful. On the whole, the ring of the book is rather pessimistic. Yet he mentions intellectual possibilities as well as impossibilities, bright prospects for religious developments as well as an unfavorable religious outlook, social and economic prospects favorable and unfavorable, and finally the hope that relations between the races may be amicably adjusted so as to secure to the black and white the privileges of a common government.

An American History. By Davis Saville Muzzey, Ph.D. Revised edition. New York, Ginn and Company, 1920. Pp. 537.

This new edition of the author's former work brings the narrative down to the spring months of the year 1920. The author has entirely recast that part of the book following the Spanish war and has made considerable changes in the preceding chapters to emphasize the social and economic factors in our history. Some illustrative material has been added, the maps have been improved and the bibliographical references brought down to date.

This book follows the line of the most recent writers of American history in giving less attention to the problems of the early periods to treat somewhat in detail movements culminating in our day. It does not contain so much about the discovery and exploration of the new world and gives only limited space to colonial history. The treatment of the birth of the nation, the development of the Constitution and the rise of political parties, is more interesting. The author is more elaborate in his discussion of the sectional struggle between the North and South, the crisis of disunion and the Civil War. The drama of reconstruction, however, is decidedly neglected; but the problems confronting the people thereafter are more extensively treated.

When a reader in quest of the truth has read this text-book of American History, however, he will be compelled to ask the question as to why there appears throughout this volume references to the [Pg 377]achievements of all groups influencing the history of this country, and there is no mention whatever of what the Negroes, constituting a tenth of the population of the United States, have thought and felt and done. It is unreasonable to think that such a large element of the nation could be so closely connected with it without having decidedly influenced the shaping of its destiny, and history shows that the record of the Negro race in the western hemisphere is so creditable and far-reaching that it is impossible to write the history of the United States and omit the achievements of this group. Professor Muzzey's American History, therefore, is not a balanced and unprejudiced account of the rise and progress of the United States, but such a treatise as he believes that the American mind will absorb, and such a story as conforms with the biased minds of pseudo-American historians who do not desire to publish to posterity the achievements of all the people of this country.

The Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1918, Volume II. The Autobiography of Martin Van Buren. By John C. Fitzpatrick. Washington, 1920. Pp. 808.

This autobiography of Martin Van Buren was presented to the Library of Congress by Mrs. Smith Thompson Van Buren in 1905, at the same time when the Van Buren papers were presented to the Library. It is a manuscript copy in seven folio volumes, made by Smith Thompson Van Buren, the son and literary executor of the President, from Van Buren's original draft. The editor reports that portions of Volumes VI and VII are in another hand and the last fifteen pages of the manuscript have many changes and corrections by Van Buren himself. A portion of the book was edited by Mr. Worthington C. Ford. The notes of Van Buren himself are distinguished by letters from the numbered notes of the editor of the work.

A study of this manuscript leads the editor of this work to the conclusion that it is written "with engaging frankness, and the insight it afforded to the mental processes of a master politician is deeply interesting." Van Buren's desire to be scrupulously fair in his estimates is evident, and if he did not always succeed, his failures are not discreditable. Mr. Fitzpatrick does not believe that the autobiography compels a revision of established historical judgments, although it "presents authority for much in our political [Pg 378]history hitherto somewhat conjectural and records political motives and activities of the period in an illuminating and suggestive manner." On reading this work one must agree with its editor that, "in analyzing men and measures, Van Buren all unconsciously paints a picture of himself."

For students of Negro history certain parts of this work are both interesting and valuable. This is especially true of Chapter XI, in which Van Buren sets forth his own views on the slavery question and discusses the men and their measures proposed for dealing with it. This chapter not only gives a review of the history of slavery in the United States up to the time of the crisis of thirties, but brings out additional facts throwing light upon the situation at that time. In the beginning of Chapter XVIII, and on pages 528-529, Van Buren takes up the question of the concession of Great Britain by treaty stipulation of the right of search to prevent the prosecution of the slave trade under our flag, which he considered merely a pretense on the part of Great Britain for the impressment of our seamen. Near the end of Chapter XXX may be found other interesting comments and facts concerning the action of the leading statesmen of this country during the critical period of conflicting sectional interests. Much of the book has to do with slavery directly or indirectly, but those portions referred to may be of special interest to the reader.

Two Colored women with the American Expeditionary Forces. By Addie W. Hunton and Katherine M. Johnson. New York, Brooklyn Eagle Press, 1920. Pp. 256.

This is one of the first volumes published since the war to set forth the truth concerning the participation of the Negro troops in that struggle. While their achievements have evoked appreciative expressions from those who learned of the war from afar, this volume undertakes to present the observations of two women of culture who went forth with these black soldiers to war. The story is set forth in an interesting manner, under such topics as The Call and the Answer, The First Days in France, Welfare Organizations, The Combatant Troops in contradistinction to the Non-Combatant Troops, Pioneer Infantries, Over the Canteen in France, The Leave Area, Relationship with the French and the Religious Life Among the Troops. Many of these facts do not strike the reader as new, but the human touch given the story by these authors, who participated [Pg 379]in the events themselves, makes the volume readable, interesting, and valuable.

The work is otherwise significant. From chapter to chapter there appear various documents giving unconsciously convincing evidence as to the part the Negro troops played in the war. While the authors make no pretense to scientific treatment, they have certainly facilitated the task of the historian who must undertake the writing of a definitive history of the Negroes' participation in the World War. The book, moreover, is well illustrated and well printed. It will be read with interest and profit by all persons who seek the truth and endeavor to record impartially the achievements of the various elements constituting the population of this country.

The greatest value of this work, however, lies not so much in the interesting facts set forth and the beautiful story told, as in the example set by these women of achievement. They are writing not only to convince the present generation as to the important service rendered by the Negro troops in France, but they would hand down these facts in printed form that coming generations may not be so biased as the present in estimating the character of the Negro and his worth to the nation. It is to be hoped that every Negro who, during his service at the front, received such impressions and had such experiences as to throw light upon the many phases of that world cataclysm will in the near future follow the example of these worthy women. The public will welcome history of divisions and regiments and will certainly be interested in the mere personal narrative presenting the experiences peculiar to those individuals placed in strategic positions to see at close range what was actually happening and had the time and availed themselves of the opportunity to record it.

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