Historiography of Charles H. Wesley as Reflected through the Journal of Negro History, 1915-1969

Abstract

CHARLES H. WESLEY. Struggle of Haiti & Liberia for Recognition, Vol. II, no. 4, October, 1917, 369-383. -----. Lincoln's Plan for Colonizing the Emancipated Negroes, Vol. IV, no. 1, January, 1919, 7-21. -----. Employment of Negroes as Soldiers in the Confederate Army, Vol. IV, no. 3 July, 1919, 239-253. -----. Remy Ollier, A Mauritian Journalist and Patriot, Vol. VI, no. 1, January, 1921, 54-59. -----. in the West Indies, Vol. XVII, no. 1, January, 1932, 51-66. -----. Neglected Period of Emancipation in Great Britain, 1807-1823, Vol. XVII, no. 2, January, 1932, 156-178. -----. Emancipation of the Free Colored Population in the British Empire, Vol. XIX, no. 2, April, 1934, 137-170. -----. Reconstruction of History, Vol. XX, no. 4, October, 1935, 411-427. -----. Religious Attitudes of Youth - A Preliminary Study of Opinion in an Urban and Rural Community, Vol. XXI, no. 4, October, 1936, 376-393. -----. Document, Abou Bekir Sadiki, Alias Edward Doulais, Vol. XXI, Jan.-Oct. 1936, 52-55. -----. Negroes of New York in the Emancipation Movement, Vol. XXIV, no. 1, January, 1939, 65-103. -----. Concept of Inferiority In American Thought - An Address, Vol. XXI, no. 3, July, 1940, 540-560. -----. Manifests of Slave Shipments Along Waterways, 1800-1864, Vol. XXVII, no. 2, April, 1942, 155-176. -----. Participation of Negroes in Anti-Slavery Political Parties, Vol. XXIX, no. 1, January 1944, 33-74. -----. Suffrage in the Period of Constitution-Making, 17871865, Vol. XXXII, no. 2, April, 1947, 143-168. -----. Carter G. Woodson - As a Scholar, Vol. XXXVI, no. 1, January, 1951, 12-24. -----. Racial Historical Societies and the American Heritage, Vol. XXXVII, no. 1, 1952, 11-35. -----. Dilemma of the Rights of Man, Vol. XXXVIII, no. 1, January, 1953, 10-26. -----. Civil War and the American, Vol. XLVII, no. 2, April, 1962, 77-96. -----. Creating and Maintaining an Historical Tradition, Vol. XLIX, no. 1, January, 1964, 13-33. -----. W.E.B. Du Bois - The Historian, Vol. L, no. 3, July 1965, 147-162. If, indeed, we believe that historiography represents the history, the writing of history and its interpretation, then, the fifty years of written commitment by Charles H. Wesley in The Journal of History between 1917 and 1965 is perhaps one of the finest examples of devotion to the science and art ever witnessed in the annals of American historiography; particularly, when juxtaposed against this scholar's many other pursuits and endeavors as university President, minister, community activist, fraternal member, and not to mention, race straggles during the 20th Century. However, the black American historiographer finds himself put upon with the burden of race at almost every turn, all too often accused of being single issue oriented and concerned with only race related topics, and, of course, the logical consequence of such thinking that the scholarship is neither sound nor scholarly therefore, not worthy of serious consideration by the large scholarly community. This, of course, is the very reason for the founding of the Journal, i.e. to cover topics which have been neglected in the African's story in America. Only in recent years have similar publications begun to correct such willful omissions. To illustrate the point more clearly, in 1946, the Social Science Research Council had commissioned one of the most exhaustive studies on theoretical constructs of historiography undertaken in the profession, entitled, Theory And Practice In Historical Study: A Report Of The Committee On Historiography. In chapter three of that study, Howard K. Beale wrote an interesting essay entitled, What Historians Have Said About The Causes Of The Civil War, and he devoted a special section about the efforts of Negro historians' theoretic concepts about the historiography of the period. …