Augustus Granville Dill
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Augustus Granville Dill (November 30, 1882 — March 8, 1956) was born in Portsmouth, Ohio. His parents were John Dill and Elizabeth Jackson. He received his B.A. from
Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Founde ...
in 1906, received a second B.A. from
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1908, and received his M.A. in 1909 from Harvard. While studying for his master's degree at Harvard, he came under the mentorship of
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 ...
. He was a member 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 ...
, and his résumé is decorated with many different jobs, from business manager of ''
The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...
'' and '' The Brownies' Book'', to curator, and to musician (pianist). ''The Brownies' Book'' was a children's book that helped African-American children gain a better self-image. During his career in academia he made early and major contributions to race relations in labor. He never married, and in 1928 was arrested for homosexual activities. He died at age 73 in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, where he had moved in 1951 to live with his widowed sister.


Early works

As a student of W. E. B. Du Bois, Granville was the joint editor of various scholarly pieces, including "The College-Bred American Negro" (1911), "The Common School and the Negro American" (1912), "The Negro American Artisan" (1912) and "Morals and Manners Among Negro Americans" (1914). "Morals and Manners Among Negro Americans" was a social study based on responses to surveys that were sent out to African-Americans across the country in 1913. It was a means to assess social progress. These works illustrate the racial inequalities present during the early 20th century, when
Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
were enforced in the United States.


Role in the Harlem Renaissance

The Crisis was a magazine written by African Americans during the time of the
Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
.It had a big impact on the Harlem Renaissance. Dill was an acquaintance of Langston Hughes, a well known poet who submitted several poems to The Crisis. As a result of his arrest by vice-squad detectives in 1928, Dill was fired from The Crisis by W.E.B. Du Bois and largely withdrew from literary activities. He earned his living thereafter by playing piano and giving music lessons. In his autobiography Dubois later stated that he regretted his decision to cut his ties with Dill:


Race labor contribution

A significant contribution made by Granville to labor was "The Negro American Artisan", written in part with
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 ...
and Florence Kelley. "The Negro American Artisan" was an
Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Founde ...
-sponsored sociological study covered in different Journal issues conducted from 1902 to 1912. The issues are divided into sections. The study is cast as one of "the trained Negro laborer, his education, opportunity, wages and work". The 31st section of the 1912 edition is entitled "The Negro and Organized Labor", wherein the two points of "(1) The attitude of Negro workmen toward labor organizations. (2) The attitude of labor organizations toward Negro Laborers" are assessed. The authors gathered information on various unions that had by then accepted African Americans, such as the
United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...
; they also examined exclusively black unions such as " The American Brotherhood of Cement Workers" and unions from which blacks were entirely excluded, such as "
Order of Railway Conductors of America The Order of Railway Conductors of America (ORC) was a labor union that represented train conductors in the United States. It has its origins in the Conductors Union founded in 1868. Later it extended membership to brakemen. In 1969 the ORC merg ...
". The rest of the section notes the attitudes of different states on African Americans in unions. In the next section the attitude of the African American is assessed. Some African Americans believed in unions; others did not. The study brings to light the racial inequalities faced by the African American labor force from 1902 to 1912.


Talented tenth

After
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
, the two prevailing schools of thought regarding education and labor of the black American were those espoused by W. E. B. Du Bois and
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
. These two scholars had opposing ideas on how the African American should fight for equality. Washington believed in an industrial education and in putting aside concerns about civil rights until after economic advancement had been achieved, while Du Bois believed in a
classical education Classical education may refer to: *''Modern'', educational practices and educational movements: **An education in the Classics, especially in Ancient Greek and Latin **Classical education movement, based on the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) an ...
, and envisioned a future wherein educated African Americans he called the " talented tenth" would lead the African American out of inequality. Granville is an example of the "talented tenth" Du Bois believed in. His contributions were mostly made by organizing rather than being a part of labor unions themselves. Dill's efforts also signify the African American contribution to labor. With his education, he advanced in the ranks of the NAACP as editor of The Crisis. He helped gain recognition for the racial inequalities present in employment and labor.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dill, Augustus Granville 1882 births 1956 deaths Clark Atlanta University alumni People from Portsmouth, Ohio Harvard University alumni Activists for African-American civil rights 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American human rights activists American political philosophers American social sciences writers American social workers American sociologists American anti-racism activists Activists from Ohio LGBT academics People prosecuted under anti-homosexuality laws LGBT people from Ohio Historians from Ohio 20th-century American male writers