University of Virginia Library

PREFACE

In writing this volume it has been my object to
show what the Negro himself has accomplished in
constructive directions. I have not undertaken to
discuss the many problems which have arisen
through the contact of the Negro with other races,
but to tell a simple, straight story of what the Negro
himself has accomplished in the way of attaining
to a higher civilization.

It ought to be explained, too, that I have not
undertaken to write any formal or detailed history
of the entire Negro race. In many cases names of
worthy and successful individuals have been
omitted for want of space. In other cases I have
used names merely as illustrations of what the race
has been able to accomplish.

I want to make grateful mention, also, of the
service which Dr. Robert E. Park has rendered
in the preparation of this volume. Without his
constant and painstaking assistance I could not have
accomplished the object which I have had in view.
I am deeply grateful, also, to Mr. Monroe N. Work
for valuable assistance.

If the reading of these chapters shall in any degree
inspire any Negro to make himself useful and successful

in the world, and if in any degree what I have
written will cause any individuals, not members of
my own race, to take a more generous and hopeful
view of the condition and prospects of the Negro,
I shall feel that I have accomplished what I started
out to do in the writing of these pages.