Encyclopedia Of African American Culture And History: The Black Experience In The Americas

454 Pages·2005·10.62 MB·English

by  Colin A. Palmer

second edition
he lack xperience
T B E
in the mericas
A
ncyclopedia
E
of
frican merican
A A
v
ulture istory
C H
and
published in association with
the schomburg center for research in black culture
Colin A. Palmer
Editor in Chief
1
A-B
volume
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Second Edition
Colin A. Palmer, Editor in Chief
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history : the Black experience in the
Americas / Colin A. Palmer, editor in chief.— 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-02-865816-7 (set hardcover : alk. paper) —
ISBN 0-02-865817-5 (v. 1) — ISBN 0-02-865818-3 (v. 2) —
ISBN 0-02-865819-1 (v. 3) — ISBN 0-02-865820-5 (v. 4) —
ISBN 0-02-865821-3 (v. 5) — ISBN 0-02-865822-1 (v. 6)
1. African Americans—Encyclopedias. 2. African Americans—History—
Encyclopedias. 3. Blacks—America—Encyclopedias. 4. Blacks—America—
History—Encyclopedias. I. Palmer, Colin A., 1942-
E185.E54 2005
973’.0496073’003—dc22 2005013029
This title is also available as an e-book.
ISBN 0-02-866071-4
Contact your Thomson Gale representative for ordering information.
Printed in the United States of America
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Contents
volume 1
preface to the first edition
ix
preface to the second edition
xi
foreword
xiii
introduction
xvii
africa: an introduction
xxi
list of articles
xxxvii
directory of contributors
lxi
Encyclopedia of
African American
v
Culture and History
A–B
volume 2 C–F
volume 3 G–L
volume 4 M–P
volume 5 Q–Z
volume 6
thematic outline of contents
appendix: primary source
documents
appendix: statistics and lists
acknowledgments
index
(cid:1)
vii
Preface to the First Edition
T
he history of African Americans, beginning in 1619 Stowe, or even Abraham Lincoln, even though each of
with the arrival ofthe first slaves from Africa,is to a great these played an imporant role in the lives of black Ameri-
extent the history ofthe United States.Yet,until the second cans.It was the Board’s opinion that it was far more impor-
half of the twentieth century too few historians made tant to reserve space for information about a wide range of
African-American culture and history their area ofexpert- African Americans and to preserve a record ofachievement
ise. Because of this long neglect of a vital part of the not covered elsewhere.
nation’s history, important knowledge about almost 15 Also not to be found here are entries on Africans,for
percent ofAmerica’s current population has gone unexam- example,Nelson Mandela and Wole Soyinka,even though
ined or remained accessible only to a small group of they have exerted a great influence in North America.We
scholars. did include several articles on Africa,specifically an entry
In 1989 the Center for American Culture Studies at on the regions from which most slaves were taken and a
Columbia University approached Macmillan Publishing general anthropological overview ofthe continent [“Africa:
Company with the proposal to remedy this lack of accu- An Introduction” in the front matter of this second edi-
rate,easily available information by preparing an encyclo- tion].Also included are articles on influential West Indians
pedia that would present the lives and significance of and overview entries on Canada and Mexico.Among the
African Americans in the broadest way possible.The result many editorial issues requiring attention was that which
is this 1.8-million-word set covering all aspects of the led to the decision to use the terms “African American”and
African-American experience. “black” interchangeably; “Negro” and “colored” are used
The Editorial Board began its work by establishing only when the historical context demands their use.
several criteria for inclusion of biographical entries in the About two-thirds of the 2,200 entries are biographies
Encyclopedia and the amount of space given to each.Per- that range from the beginning of the seventeenth to the
haps the most significant was the decision that only African end ofthe twentieth century,from jazz greats such as Louis
Americans should warrant biographies.Therefore,one will Armstrong to William Grant Still,composer of the opera
not find entries on such figures as Franklin Delano Roo- Troubled Island; from the Nobel Prize–winning author
sevelt, Carl Van Vechten, Joel Spingarn, Harriet Beecher Toni Morrison to Jupiter Hammon,an eighteenth-century
(cid:1)
ix
Preface to the First Edition
slave and poet;from Michael Jordan to the baseball player The extensive Appendix in Volume 5 [now in Volume
Monte Irvin; from W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther 6] provides statistical information for many subjects.
King Jr.to Congressman Ron Dellums; and from George Among others are tables ofAfrican-American population
Washington Carver to Norbert Rillieux, inventor of the by state and over time, lists of awards, economic data,
vacuum-chamber evaporation process used to produce degrees earned in education, and sports championships.
sugar. This information provides rich supplemental background
The remaining entries deal not with people but with for many entries in the body ofthe Encyclopedia.
events,historical eras,legal cases,areas ofcultural achieve- The entries have been arranged alphabetically. In
ment (music, architecture, the visual arts), professions,
addition,a system ofcross-references makes it easy to find
sports,and places.The Encyclopedia also includes entries
one’s way through the Encyclopedia.For example,in the
for all fifty states as well as separate articles for cities with
entry titled “Elaine, Arkansas, Race Riot of 1919,” refer-
a special significance for black Americans,past or present.
ences to the “Red Summer,” “World War I,” and the
One of the features that will make this Encyclopedia “National Association for the Advancement of Colored
stand out from other reference works is the inclusion ofa People”are set in small capital letters,indicating that there
number oflarge essays by well-known scholars that exam- are separate entries for these terms.By reading these addi-
ine the importance and legacy of such events as the Civil tional articles,one becomes aware of the political climate
War and the various civil rights movements or discuss the during which the riot took place.
role of religion in the lives ofAfrican Americans.Beyond
The Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and
information,these entries provide an intellectual interpre-
Historydoes not claim to be a complete record ofthe his-
tation and synthesis that will help readers to see historical
tory ofAfrican Americans.It will take many more years of
events and creative accomplishments in a larger perspec-
intensive scholarship to unearth all the riches in forgotten
tive. Examples are the entry on “Literature” by Arnold
or neglected archives.We will consider ourselves successful
Rampersad and John S. Wright’s article on “Intellectual
in our work if the material presented here inspires future
Life.”
students ofhistory to complete the task.
We have taken the word “culture”to mean all expres-
A work ofthis magnitude calls for appropriate words
sions by which people define themselves and not just Art
of thanks to those who supported its development over
with a capital a.Thus the reader will find entries on “Black
several years.We offer collective thanks to the many who
English Vernacular,”on “Comic Strips,”and on “Hair and
Beauty Culture.” Indeed, the reader is encouraged to made this work possible.At the same time,we would like
review the entire list ofarticle titles that begins on page xi to single out one person and dedicate this work to the his-
[now on page xxxvii] to form an idea ofthe vast scope of torian John Hope Franklin, who turned eighty as we
this Encyclopedia. neared completion of the Encyclopedia. His has been a
remarkable life,as he has been and remains a remarkable
Another important feature and exciting part of the
human being. It is impossible to count the number of
Encyclopedia is the large number of illustrations—more
people who have been touched and inspired by him,and
than one thousand—that enrich these volumes. Much
we consider ourselves fortunate to be among them. This
time and effort was spent in obtaining historical photo-
work is dedicated to John Hope Franklin because his
graphs from state historical societies,pictures ofrepresen-
scholarship provided so much of what we know about
tative art works,and images from private photograph col-
African-American history and because his teaching—at
lections. The Photographs and Prints Division of the
North Carolina Central University, Howard University,
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture was the
Brooklyn College,the University ofChicago,Duke Univer-
single largest source for historical images.The Moorland-
Spingarn Research Center at Howard University provided sity, or as an expert witness before the U.S. Supreme
many others.From the collections of the Library of Con- Court—made us understand the importance of doing
gress and the National Archives we obtained illustrations what we do with our lives.
for the Civil War and civil rights eras, while commercial
repositories provided up-to-date photos ofathletes,politi- jack salzman ⁽1996⁾
cians, and entertainers. These illustrations have never david lionel smith ⁽1996⁾
before been brought together in one publication. cornel west ⁽1996⁾
x Encyclopedia ofAfricanvAmerican Culture andHistory
second edition
Preface to the Second Edition
T
his second edition of the Encyclopedia of African- Colin Powell—and is complemented by pieces on impor-
American Culture and History(EAACH-2) is a revision of tant Caribbean and Latin American figures such as
the 1996 Encyclopedia and its 2001 supplement.The nearly Machado de Assis, Pelé, Portia Simpson-Miller, and Eric
1,300 alphabetically-arranged articles in this edition, Williams.
whether new,revised,updated,or reprinted from the ear-
lier publications,are signed by experts in the field and are articles reprinted from the first edition and
accompanied by a selected bibliography. In addition to
supplement. Approximately one-third ofthe 1.6 million
essays, EAACH-2 includes an appendix of statistical data
words in the new edition were reprinted with no changes
and primary source documents,a thematic outline ofcon-
or with minor changes only.Articles on individuals such as
tents, and a comprehensive index. Cross-references are
Richard Allen,W.E.B.Du Bois,Booker T.Washington,and
provided at the ends ofarticles to inform readers ofrelated
Ida B. Wells-Barnett and topics such as the Black Arts
topics.Blind entries direct readers from alternate names of
Movement, Emancipation in the United States, and the
topics to the name used in this set.The text is embellished
Harlem Renaissance appear essentially unchanged. The
with nearly 450 photographs and illustrations as well as
editorial staffattempted to contact each author ofthe 800
occasional sidebars that highlight notable tangents.
carry-over articles, whether they were selected to be
The second edition’s editorial board evaluated the
updated or reprinted “as is.”Authors were invited to update
2,500 articles from the first edition and supplement and
or revise their material as they saw fit,including refreshing
decided which to keep,which to update,and which not to
their bibliographies with new citations.As a result ofthese
include in the new edition. Some first edition essays and
many biographies were excluded from EAACH-2 to make efforts, approximately 400 reprinted articles include such
room for more thematic essays and to enable coverage of updates. Articles reprinted from the first edition or the
the African-American experience beyond the United States supplement with few or no changes have 1996or2001fol-
and throughout the western hemisphere.The encyclopedia lowing the original author’s byline.Ifthe bibliography was
still offers a strong list of commonly-studied U.S.person- updated for this edition, Updated bibliography appears
ages—including Muhammad Ali, Toni Morrison, and below the byline.
(cid:1)
xi
Preface
articles updated for the second edition. ence.New articles for the second edition have 2005as part
Approximately one-third of EAACH-2’s word count is oftheir bylines.This information is included in the List of
revised or otherwise updated. Articles on such topics as Articles and the Directory ofContributors,both included
art,education,literature,music,politics,and religion were in the front matter ofthis first volume.Wherever possible,
expanded to provide coverage of the western hemisphere the publishers have provided current affiliation informa-
and update U.S. coverage. Articles such as Reparations, tion for authors of first edition articles reprinted in this
Affirmative Action, and Muslims in the Americas now edition.
reflect current affairs and more recent scholarship.Articles
revised by the original author are noted with Updated by Acknowledgments
author 2005in the byline.When the original authors could
We would like to thank Colin Palmer and the editorial
not be located or were unable to update their material,the
board for their tireless dedication to recruiting talented
publishers updated as necessary and Updated by publisher
and knowledgeable scholars to write and update articles.
2005appears in the byline.Ifa different writer provided an
Not including the hundreds of contributors who worked
update to an article from the first edition,the article will
only on the first edition and its supplement, almost 500
have two bylines,the original author’s name followed by
authors worked to implement the editorial board’s re-
“(1996)”and the second edition author’s name followed
vision ofan already stellar reference source,and we thank
by “(2005).”
them for their scholarship and cooperation.
As it did for the first edition,the Schomburg Center
new articles in the second edition. The editorial for Research in Black Culture again provided assistance
board identified and selected almost 400 new topics for and enriched the product by providing access to its exten-
this edition.These new articles represent one-third of the sive collection oftexts and images.Many thanks are due to
1.6 million words in EAACH-2,which now includes longer Howard Dodson,director ofthe Schomburg Center,Mary
thematic articles,such as African Diaspora,Anti-colonial Yearwood,curator ofthe Photographs and Prints division,
Movements, Economic Condition, and Military Experi- and to the staffwho generously assisted in many ways.
xii Encyclopedia ofAfricanvAmerican Culture andHistory
second edition
Foreword
T
his second edition of the Encyclopedia of African- tury. Systems of colonization and segregation based on
American Culture and History(EAACH) is being published race survived in Africa and the southern United States,
in association with the Schomburg Center for Research in respectively,well into the twentieth century.This predom-
Black Culture ofthe New York Public Library.A product of inant view transcended geographical, class, regional and
the most recent scholarship on the African American and even racial boundaries. Newspapers, journals, and maga-
African Diasporan Experience,EAACH is a comprehensive zines promoted it, churches and religious bodies sub-
compendium of knowledge on the historical and cultural scribed to it,legal systems were invented to enforce it,and
development ofpeople ofAfrican descent in the Americas colleges and universities taught it and produced the “schol-
at the beginning ofthe twenty-first century.It differs from arship”to affirm its truth.It was not a regional,southern
the first edition in that it includes a broad array ofsubjects belief. It was national (and indeed international). Euro-
on the black experience in Latin America and the pean colonial powers who were flexing their triumphal col-
Caribbean as well as the United States and Canada.Broader onizing muscles like their Euro-American counterparts in
treatment of institutions, organizations, and events have the United States were convinced of the truth of their
been added to counterbalance the heavily biographical mythology. Their dominance of African people (and
focus ofthe first edition. people of color in general) proved,for them at least,that
A century ago an encyclopedia such as this was their white supremacist mythology was true.
unthinkable, much less imaginable. The reigning unwis- Fledgling efforts to rescue and reconstruct the history
dom in the United States at the time was that people of and cultural heritage ofpeople ofAfrican descent had been
African descent had no history or culture.A foundation on made throughout the nineteenth century. Black newspa-
which the myths of black racial inferiority and white pers founded to defend “the race” from these racist
supremacy were based,this notion that black people were assaults,challenged the reigning unwisdom throughout the
history- and culture-less beings provided the ideological century.Black churches and black ministers challenged the
justification for the European colonization of Africa and Christian myth that attributed the presumed inferiority of
the establishment and enforcement of systems of racial black folk to the Biblical curse on Ham. Nineteenth cen-
segregation in the United States during the nineteenth cen- tury black historians including William Wells Brown and
(cid:1)
xiii
Foreword
George Washington Williams,wrote histories ofblack folk In the meantime,African American scholars took the
that disproved the myth of black racial inferiority; all to lead in creating the new twentieth century scholarship on
little or no avail.The overwhelming preponderance ofthe the African American and African experience.W.E.B.Du
testimony if not evidenced through the end of the nine- Bois and Carter G.Woodson,both Ph.D.graduates ofHar-
teenth century came down on the side of the reigning vard University’s History Department were among the
unwisdom.And so it reigned. foremost creators and exponents of this new scholarship
during the first half of the twentieth century. Du Bois,
By the first decades ofthe twentieth century,vindica-
working from his base at Atlanta University, produced
tionist collectors and scholars had started gathering evi-
both historical and sociological studies of Africans and
dence and creating new works of scholarship whose pur-
African Americans.His Souls ofBlack Folkremains a clas-
pose was to destroy the myth ofblack racial inferiority and
sic work in African American Studies. Woodson, fre-
document the place of people of African descent in the
quently called the father of black history (in the United
making ofhuman history,civilization and culture.
States), founded the Association for the Study of Negro
A number of bibliophiles and collectors of the late
Life and History,the Journal ofNegro History,the Bulletin
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries assumed leader-
of Negro History,and Associated Publishers.Beginning in
ship roles in amassing collections of documents, images,
1916, and continuing until his death in 1950, Woodson
artworks, books, and memorabilia to support the new
used these tools to organize and conduct research on the
research and scholarship.Daniel Alexander Payne Murray
black experience, publish research findings, disseminate
started his career at the Library of Congress in 1871 and
the new knowledge to public audiences and promote the
over a period offifty-two years devoted most ofhis time to
study ofthe black experience.
collecting Afro-Americana.His planned,“Murray’s Histor-
It should not be surprising that these same two twen-
ical and Biographical Encyclopedia of the Colored Race
tieth century scholars ofthe African American experience,
throughout the World,” a six-volume compendium never
W. E. B. Du Bois and Carter G. Woodson, would follow
came to fruition,but the Africana collections he assembled
Daniel Murray’s lead and attempt to publish encyclopedias
at the Library ofCongress were among the strongest in the
ofthe black experience.Each was possessed ofencyclope-
United States at the turn of the twentieth century.Other
dic knowledge of the subject and each was committed to
distinguished collectors of this period included Jesse
making the available knowledge accessible to the public.
Moorland whose collection became one of the founda-
Each was committed to,on the basis ofauthoritative infor-
tions on which Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn
mation and scholarship, setting the record straight and
Collection was built,and Henry Proctor Slaughter whose
challenging the “reigning wisdom” with unimpeachable
collection was eventually purchased by Atlanta University,
facts and truths.Du Bois first proposed to publish an ency-
Wendell Dabney,William Carl Bolivar, and Robert Mara
clopedia in 1909.Woodson proposed such a work in 1921.
Adger (Sinnette,76–87).
Du Bois’s efforts eventually produced a preparatory
Foremost among these vindicationist collectors,how- volume.An enlarged 216-page volume appeared under the
ever, was Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a Puerto Rican of auspices of the Phelps Stokes Fund in 1945.Principally a
African descent who began his collecting adventures list of subjects to be included in such a work with the
toward the end of the nineteenth century and continued sources to support each entry, Du Bois’s preparatory
until his death in 1938.By 1926 he had amassed a collec- volume demonstrated the scope of such a project and the
tion of over 10,000 items—all containing evidence of the potential such a compendium had for enhancing public
place and role of people of African descent worldwide in knowledge and appreciation ofthe African American his-
the making of human history, culture, and civilization. torical and cultural experience.Funding for such an effort
The foundation on which today’s Schomburg Center is was not forthcoming,however.
based,the 10,000-item collection has grown to more than The Woodson proposal never materialized in any
10 million sources of evidence on the historical and cul- form during his lifetime. Like Du Bois, Woodson was
tural legacies of African peoples around the globe. It is unable to raise the funding from traditional foundations
arguably the most comprehensive research library in the and other philanthropic sources to give material form to
world devoted exclusively to documenting the global black his ideas.The Association for the Study ofNegro Life and
experience. It was the emergence of collections such as History,which Woodson had founded in 1915 published a
these that inspired and supported the work ofresearchers multi-volume International Library ofNegro Life and His-
and scholars who sought to rescue and reconstruct the toryin 1967,which had largely been inspired by Woodson’s
true history ofblack people. encyclopedia idea. Organized thematically, the volumes
xiv Encyclopedia ofAfricanvAmerican Culture andHistory
second edition