I woke up this morning and realized that I never clicked submit last night. >____>.
The Exhibit of American Negroes
"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." These words are among the most prophetic in American history. They were written by the historian and sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois for the Exhibit of American Negroes displayed at the 1900 Paris Exposition. They are words whose force has echoed throughout this century.
This digital archive/exhibit is an attempt at an historical reconstruction. It tries as much as possible, within the limitations of the documents that have survived, to recreate and interpret the Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 Paris Exposition--an exhibit that was on display for a few brief months, at the dawn of the twentieth century. The reconstruction attempted here is by definition imperfect.
Although the great majority of the material from the exhibit survives, important parts were lost--in particular the physical artifacts of the exhibit. The Exhibit of American Negroes was a collaborative creation of Black colleges and universities and the Library of Congress. The driving force behind the exhibit was the Black sociologist and historian William Edgar Burghardt Du Bois. He described the materials sent to Paris as:
...an honest straightforward exhibit of a small nation of people, picturing their life and development without apology or gloss, and above all made by themselves. In a way this marks an era in the history of the Negroes of America.
The Exhibit of American Negroes, part of Group XVI (Economie Sociale Congres), was displayed in a large, plain white building along the banks of the Seine, opposite the Rue des Nations. According to Du Bois, the building and its exhibits were intended to:
...have housed the world's ideas of sociology. As a matter of fact, any one who takes his sociology from theoretical treatises would be rather disappointed at the exhibit: for there is little here of the `science of society.'
Instead, according to DuBois, most of the exhibits were a miscellany of different aspects of philanthropy and programs intended for social improvement. Exhibits were included on the building and mutual aid societies of France; the working-man's circles from Belgium; the city governments of Sweden; the Red Cross; and Germany's state insurance program.5 In the United States section of the building there were models of tentement houses, a small exhibit of the American Library Association, as well as various exhibits related to industrial regulation.6 In the right hand corner of the American exhibit, just as one entered, was the Exhibit of American Negroes, which perhaps more than any other display in Group XVI, reflected an attempt to develop an exhibit of scientific sociology. The intention of the exhibit, as described by Du Bois, was:
...to give, in as systematic and compact a form as possible, the history and present condition of a large group of human beings.
The exhibit was "planned and executed by Negroes, and collected and installed under the direction of a Negro special agent, Mr. Thomas J. Calloway."
The purpose of the exhibit was fourfold: first, it was concerned with showing the history of the American Negro; second, it attempted to decribe "his present condition;" third, "his education;" and fourth "his literature."
Source has a ton more information and images!
Thanks for the heads up,
bluetooth16!
Previously this month: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five, Day Six, Day Seven, Day Eight, Day Nine
The Exhibit of American Negroes
"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." These words are among the most prophetic in American history. They were written by the historian and sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois for the Exhibit of American Negroes displayed at the 1900 Paris Exposition. They are words whose force has echoed throughout this century.
This digital archive/exhibit is an attempt at an historical reconstruction. It tries as much as possible, within the limitations of the documents that have survived, to recreate and interpret the Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 Paris Exposition--an exhibit that was on display for a few brief months, at the dawn of the twentieth century. The reconstruction attempted here is by definition imperfect.
Although the great majority of the material from the exhibit survives, important parts were lost--in particular the physical artifacts of the exhibit. The Exhibit of American Negroes was a collaborative creation of Black colleges and universities and the Library of Congress. The driving force behind the exhibit was the Black sociologist and historian William Edgar Burghardt Du Bois. He described the materials sent to Paris as:
...an honest straightforward exhibit of a small nation of people, picturing their life and development without apology or gloss, and above all made by themselves. In a way this marks an era in the history of the Negroes of America.
The Exhibit of American Negroes, part of Group XVI (Economie Sociale Congres), was displayed in a large, plain white building along the banks of the Seine, opposite the Rue des Nations. According to Du Bois, the building and its exhibits were intended to:
...have housed the world's ideas of sociology. As a matter of fact, any one who takes his sociology from theoretical treatises would be rather disappointed at the exhibit: for there is little here of the `science of society.'
Instead, according to DuBois, most of the exhibits were a miscellany of different aspects of philanthropy and programs intended for social improvement. Exhibits were included on the building and mutual aid societies of France; the working-man's circles from Belgium; the city governments of Sweden; the Red Cross; and Germany's state insurance program.5 In the United States section of the building there were models of tentement houses, a small exhibit of the American Library Association, as well as various exhibits related to industrial regulation.6 In the right hand corner of the American exhibit, just as one entered, was the Exhibit of American Negroes, which perhaps more than any other display in Group XVI, reflected an attempt to develop an exhibit of scientific sociology. The intention of the exhibit, as described by Du Bois, was:
...to give, in as systematic and compact a form as possible, the history and present condition of a large group of human beings.
The exhibit was "planned and executed by Negroes, and collected and installed under the direction of a Negro special agent, Mr. Thomas J. Calloway."
The purpose of the exhibit was fourfold: first, it was concerned with showing the history of the American Negro; second, it attempted to decribe "his present condition;" third, "his education;" and fourth "his literature."
Source has a ton more information and images!
Thanks for the heads up,
bluetooth16!Previously this month: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five, Day Six, Day Seven, Day Eight, Day Nine
oic is that what we're calling it these days