The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917

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Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917, by Various

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Title: The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917
Author: Various
Release Date: March 6, 2007 [EBook #20752]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE JOURNAL
OF
NEGRO HISTORY
Volume II
1917

Table of Contents
Vol II--January, 1917--No. 1
Slavery and the Slave Trade in Africa JEROME DOWD The Negro in the Field of Invention HENRY E. BAKER Anthony Benezet C. G. WOODSON People of Color in Louisiana ALICE DUNBAR-NELSON Notes on Connecticut as a Slave State Documents Letters of Anthony Benezet Reviews of Books Notes
Vol II--April, 1917--No. 2
Slave Status in American Democracy JOHN M. MECKLIN John Woolman's Efforts in Behalf of Freedom G. DAVID HOUSTON The Tarik é Soudan A.O. STAFFORD From a Jamaica Portfolio T.H. MACDERMOT Notes on the Nomolis of Sherbroland WALTER L. EDWIN Documents Observations on the Negroes of Louisiana The Conditions against which Woolman and Anthony Benezet Inveighted Book Reviews Notes
Vol II--July, 1917--No. 3
Formation of American Colonization Society HENRY NOBLE SHERWOOD, PH.D Slave Status in American Democracy JOHN M. MECKLIN History of High School for Negroes in Washington MARY CHURCH TERRELL The Danish West Indies LEILA AMOS PENDLETON Documents Relating to the Danish West Indies Reviews of Books Notes African Origin of Grecian Civilization
Vol II--October, 1917--No. 4
Historical Errors of James Ford Rhodes JOHN R. LYNCH The Struggle of Haiti and Liberia for Recognition CHARLES H. WESLEY Three Negro Poets BENJAMIN BRAWLEY Catholics and the Negro JOSEPH BUTSCH Documents Letters of George Washington Bearing on the Negro Petition for Compensation for the Loss of Slaves An Extract from the Will of Robert Pleasants Proceedings of a Reconstruction Meeting Reviews of Books Notes The First Biennial Meeting of the Association

THE JOURNAL
OF
NEGRO HISTORY
VOL. II--JANUARY, 1917--NO. 1

SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE IN AFRICA
I. THE ORIGIN AND EXTENT OF SLAVERY IN THE SEVERAL ECONOMIC ZONES OF AFRICA
Slavery in Africa has existed from time immemorial, having arisen, not from any outside influence, but from the very nature of the local conditions. The three circumstances necessary to develop slavery are:
First, a country favored by the bounty of nature. Unless nature yields generously it is impossible for a subject class to produce surplus enough to maintain their masters. Where nature is niggardly, as in many hunting districts, the labor of all the population is required to meet the demands of subsistence.
Second, a country where the labor necessary to subsistence is, in some way, very disagreeable. In such cases every man and woman will seek to impose the task of production upon another. Among most primitive agricultural peoples, the labor necessary to maintenance is very monotonous and uninteresting, and no freeman will voluntarily perform it. On the contrary, among hunting and fishing peoples, the labor of maintenance is decidedly interesting. It partakes of the nature of sport.
Third, a country where there is an abundance of free land. In such a country it is impossible for one man to secure another to work for him except by coercion; for when a man has a chance to use free land and its products he will work only for himself, and take all the product for himself rather than work for another and accept a bare subsistence for himself. On the contrary, where all the land is appropriated a man who does not own land has no chance to live except at the mercy of the landlord. He is obliged to offer himself as a wage-earner or a tenant. The landlord can obtain, therefore, all the help he may need without coercion. Free labor is then economically advantageous to both the landlord and the wage-earner, since the freedom of the latter inspires greatly increased production. From these facts and considerations, verified by history, it may be laid down as a sociological law that where land is monopolized slavery necessarily yields to a regime of freedom.[1]
In applying these principles to Africa it is necessary to take account of the natural division of the continent into distinct economic zones. Immediately under the equator is a wide area of heavy rainfall and dense forest. The rapidity and rankness of vegetable growth renders the region unsuited to agriculture. But