''Story of the Negro'' by

Arna Bontemps Arna Wendell Bontemps ( ) (October 13, 1902 – June 4, 1973) was an American poet, novelist and librarian, and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Bontemps was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, into a Louisiana Creole family. His a ...

is a children's history book published by

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

in 1948. It was the first African-American authored book to receive a

Newbery Honor Newbery is a surname. People *Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver *David Newbery (born 1943), British economist *Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot *Francis Newbery (disambiguation), seve ...

Synopsis

The non-fiction book starts with a history dating back to 1700 BC, beginning with African civilizations such as the

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and Mandingo Empires. The horrors of the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

are described, together with the causes and conditions of

slavery in America The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sla ...

, the Haitian Slave Revolt, and the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

. Influential black leaders are examined, including

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, us ...

, and

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

. Bontemps said that the book, "consists mainly of things I learned after I left school that I wish I had known much earlier." The book includes a "theme poem" "

The Negro Speaks of Rivers "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is a poem by American writer Langston Hughes. Hughes wrote the poem when he was 17 and crossing the Mississippi River on the way to visit his father in Mexico. It was first published the following year in ''The Crisi ...

" by

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

. The book is split into five different sections, The Ship Introduction, Men of the lakes How African civilizations worked, The Crossing The Columbian trade sent Africans to the New World under poor conditions. Slavery was outlawed in 1863, and people were allowed to move freely, often to New York, The bondage About the twentieth century and the struggle to win rights and Making a new world After the Civil rights act was approved, there was still plenty to do to make the world an equal place.

Publishing history

The first edition was illustrated by Raymond Lufkin and published in 1948 by Knopf. Of the first edition Bontemps related "I would have given my eye teeth to know when I was a high school boy in California—the story that my history books barely mentioned(...)I tried to make clear how American slavery came about and what causes lay behind the present attitudes toward Negroes on the part of some people." Bontemps received his second

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, which enabled him to revise and publish the second edition, an enlarged edition, in 1955. Knopf published three more editions, in 1958, 1964, and 1969. Revised editions of the book extend the history through the late 1960s, with the fifth edition including a new chapter on Black Power.

Newbery Honor

Bontemps was the first African American author to be recognized with the

Newbery Award The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

, receiving a Newbery honor for ''Story of the Negro.'' Bontemps had corresponded with his friend Langston Hughes about his desire to win a Newbery Medal saying, "near misses don't make me happy. I'd like a jackpot, a bull's-eye, or something—sometime". This book fit in the trend at the time of the Newbery going to books which were about America. If not for this topic, a book about African Americans by African Americans might have struggled to receive recognition from the Newbery committee.

Awards

(1949) *

Jane Addams Children's Book Award The Jane Addams Children's Book Award is given annually to a children's book published the preceding year that advances the causes of peace and social equality. The awards have been presented annually since 1953. They were previously given joint ...

(1956)

Reception

Arthur Spingarn Arthur Barnette Spingarn (March 28, 1878–December 1, 1971) was an American leader in the fight for civil rights for African Americans. Early life He was born into a well-to-do Jewish family. His older brother was the educator Joel Elias Spingarn ...

, the president of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

gave a positive response to the book: ""In the past thirty years I think I have owned and read every published history of the Negro. This is by all odds the best written, the most interesting, accurate, and concise work for the general reader.“Story of the Negro" by Arna Bontemps
goodreads.com.

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1948 children's books Children's history books American children's books Newbery Honor-winning works History books about Africa History books about ethnic groups Children's books about African-American history Children's history books about the United States