W. E. B. Du Bois, A. M., Ph.D., Professor of Economics and History, Atlanta University. January 30, 1904.

I have a thousand years of work laid out before me. And each year as it flies leaves the vision of another thousand. I should like to live to finish all this; it seems reasonable that I should; I hope I may. [p.46]

Atlanta, Ga.

The committee think that such an exposition will be of value by encouraging the negroes [sic] in the country toward thrift, industry, and effort to become more useful citizens; that it will be instructive to all the people of the country by pointing out the ways in which they can most practically and usefully help the negroes [sic] of the country to improve their condition.  [pp.1-2]

STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM EDWIN [SIC] B. DU BOIS, PH. D., OF ATLANTA, GA., EDITOR OF THE CRISIS MAGAZINE.

Dr. Du Bois. I wanted to say a word to the committee about the kind of exposition we would like to have. I think a committee like this must be a little chary of expositions, because they have grown so enormous in size and they cost so much money. It has been in our minds that we could organize an exposition in this case upon a lot of new lines, distinctly educational, for the people of the United States, both for the colored people and for the white people. As a center of those exhibits it has been thought we should have a section devoted to a scheme which should be the same exhibits, something on the order of the child welfare that the committee of women have been doing — or tuberculosis, and so on — that this main scheme should try to show the condition of the colored people throughout the United States. For instance, it should have something of the African background, and in this department, and in all departments, we could make use of all the different things that can be shown to illustrate the concrete things and spiritual things which affect the colored people. For instance, maps and charts and models and mechanical figures of various sizes, and marble pictures, and, perhaps, phonographs could be shown.

I presume most of you know that in nearly all of the great countries of the world there is an African exhibit. The African museums in London, Paris, and Berlin are sources in each of those cities of great educational value, and there is very little information of that sort in the United States. Something might be done to get together the things which show the wonderful mechanical genius of certain African tribes, especially their work in iron and in cloth. Then, in the second place, the question of the development of the negro race throughout the world, and the distribution of the negroes in the United States could be shown by relief maps with groups of figures showing this distribution, and movable figures, perhaps, showing the migration. Then the question of the physique of the negro could be shown. Very little has been done in this country to show what is the typical negro physique. A great deal could be done by photographs and by plaster casts. Then the question of health and disease could be covered. My idea is that this exhibit should be a truthful exhibit. It should not be simply a thing that would be exaggerated in any way. It should be a real picture so far as possible of the condition of the negro people so that not only would it show the progress but also the dangers and the diseases to which they are liable.

Then the question of occupation could be covered. Of course, that would be one of the most interesting parts of the exhibit. This could be shown perhaps by mechanical figures of correct relative size showing the occupations of the negroes and the value of their sevices [sic] in a relative manner in all the different departments in which the negro takes a considerable part.

Then the matter of education has been spoken of. We could have models and charts showing illiteracy, and conditions in cities, and photographs of institutions and especially photographs and models showing the work of the graduates of institutions as the work of the institution filters down to the actual mass of the people. In no department has the negro shown more genius for modern organization than in his churches, and the models of churches and of the work in churches be shown. The younger Mr. Wright here is a representative of one of the great churches and there is a great publish-house as he says in Nashville, Tenn., and there are several other organizations. That work could be shown and a person could grasp it and it would show the tremendous development that has taken place in that line.

Then in the matter of civics — I suppose most of you would be surprised to know the number of negro towns and quarters throughout the United States more or less organized as independent entities. Exhibits could be had showing those towns and the workings of those towns which would be of great interest. Then there would be of course charts and diagrams and models showing the orgainzed [sic] life, the business life, the social life, the work of social uplift among the negro people. There are orphan asylums and there are a good number of hospitals and homes. The family life, the interior of the homes could be shown. And then the question of art which has been mentioned. Negro music could be shown and photographs of art and other work, and a collection of negro books. There are something like 200 weekly newspapers. And finally statistics of crimes and of delinquencies could be shown. In this way it seems to me we might build up a comparatively small central exhibit and then around that could come the various voluntary exhibits which are always sent to expositions of this sort. Then there could be congresses held in connection with it — congresses on agriculture and on industry, on education, on health, on music.

There should be, of course, awards and medals. Then there might be a historical pageant. I have been looking up the history of the negro, and it is interesting indeed to know what a continuous history would show in connection with the development of the negro from the time of the Egyptian civilization down through the negro kingdoms in the Sudan and the migration of the Buntu [sic] tribes from North Africa to South Africa; and, as you know, the negro has been connected with almost every event in American history. Then, finally, our idea is that this central exhibit could be kept or established as a permanent exhibit and placed in a permanent museum. Perhaps from time to time it might be moved from place to place where people who wanted to could obtain exact information concerning the negro in a definite form.

With these ideas it seems to me that we could have an exposition which would not be costly — and we are not asking for very much money — that would be educational, and something that we could pay for with the amount of money that we got from the Government and which we could raise among ourselves.  [pp.5-6]
[Du Bois's testimony ends]

Beginning in August, 1914, this Journal sent a circular letter with the above title ["What is Americanism?"] to a carefully selected list of 250 American men and women. The attempt was made to reach representatives of every type of group in the United States which may be reckoned as consciously contributing to our public opinion or as having ideas about our common interests which, if formulated and published, would become factors in our public opinion.  [p.433]

In the judgment of the editors, an important contribution to this object may be made by assembling the answers of typical Americans to this question: With a view to the interests not primarily of individuals or of classes; considering not merely the next decade nor the next generation nor the next century, but having in mind our relationships both to one another and to our successors for many centuries; upon what ideals, policies, programs, or specific purposes should Americans place most stress in the immediate future?

With the exception of the present paragraph, this letter was drafted and approved by the editors before the European war was regarded as probable. In the present situation the reasons for the inquiry here made are immeasurably more urgent than when the plan was adopted.

Will you indicate, within the limits of from 500 to 1,000 words, your answer to the foregoing question?  [p.435]

W. E. Burghardt du Bois (New York City)

Americans in the immediate future should place most stress upon the abolition of the color line. Just so long as the majority of men are treated as inhuman, and legitimate objects of commercial exploitation, religious damnation, and social ostracism, just so long will democracy be impossible in the world. Without democracy we must have continual attempts at despotism and oligarchy, with the resultant failure through the ignorance of those who attempt to rule their fellow-men without knowing their fellow-men. America, instead of being the land of the free, has made herself a hot-bed of racial prejudice and of despicable propaganda against the majority of men.  [p.463]

IMMORTALITY

 *W. E. B. Du Bois,

 Editor of The Crisis.