Because of space limitations, only a few abstracts can be posted, but here’s a sample of what you’ll miss if you don’t attend the AAAHRP 2nd Annual Conference on Saturday, February 5, 2005, at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle, Washington.

African American History in the Pacific Northwest

Antoinette Broussard, Author, San Francisco, California:
Dr. Nettie J. Craig Asberry: The Militant Matron

Dr. Nettie J. Craig Asberry (born July 15, 1865 - died November 17, 1968) achieved a doctorate of music from the Kansas Conservatory of Music and Elocution in Leavenworth, Kansas, on June 12, 1883. Believed possibly to be the first Black woman in the United States to achieve a doctorate in any field, Nettie was the youngest and only child of six siblings born free.  Her mother, Violet, was a slave and father, William Wallingford, was Violet’s owner. Nettie was born In Leavenworth, Kansas across the river from the Platte County, Missouri plantation where she was conceived.  She appreciated her freedom and passionately refined and elevated her life through education, activism, and social work.

Harmony between the races was Dr. Asberry’s goal.  She hoped the principals of music, i.e., the beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion, could be used in a broader sense to heal the world’s ills. She was a political activist, writer, musician, teacher, and social worker.  Among her many accomplishments, she began studying the piano at eight years old, and later composed her own music.  At thirteen years old she was the secretary for an adult Susan B. Anthony Political Activist Club. As an adult, she taught music in Kansas City and Denver.  She and her family were some of the earlier settlers in the Black town of Nicodemus, Kansas. Today, there is an unpublished manuscript she wrote about its history.  Many races have studied at her piano. She taught Black history to many of the African American youth in her Tacoma neighborhood. Dr. Asberry was the Northwest founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, establishing branches in the state of Washington and Oregon.  She organized the Cloverleaf Club, an art club for the exhibition of needlecraft and art work of Black women in Pierce County. She started a number of improvement clubs, all of which became charter members of the State Federation of Colored Women of Washington and Jurisdiction, where she served as president. She was an organist and musical director for the First A.M.E. Church in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. She devoted much of her senior life to social causes and volunteered countless hours of social work to those who needed assistance. She felt honored to be the wife of Henry Asberry, owner of a barbershop in the Tacoma Washington Hotel where he served U.S. presidents. Dr. Nettie J. Asberry died, long after Henry’s departure, at 103 years old. Her biography will be included in the African American National Biography, a book project, headed by Professors Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University.

Janet Hauck, Archivist, Whitworth College
“To Consider the Propriety of Organizing a Church”: the Beginnings of Calvary Baptist Church of Spokane, Washington”

On February 9th, 1890, in what was then the relatively young town of Spokane Falls, Washington, a small group gathered for a common purpose. At some point during that gathering, a member of the group penned these words:  “We, a number of Baptist brethren and sisters met at the First Baptist Church at 3:30 p.m. to listen to a sermon from Elder J. P. Brown. Text [and] subject:  The gifts and calling of God. At the close of which, the meeting was called to order by said J. P. Brown, to consider the propriety of organizing a church.  It was agreed by the people that we meet the next Sabbath to organize.”

With these words and this resolve, the first historically black church in the city of Spokane was begun. The group did indeed reconvene the next Sabbath, as the minutes show:  “Accordingly, the people met at 3:30 p.m., Feb. 16th. A sermon was preached by Elder J. P. Brown.  Text: ‘Awake the one sleeping and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon thee.’  After which, the meeting was called to order.  J. P. Brown was elected moderator. A brother of the First [Baptist] Church was elected Clerk pro [tem]. After an address by the Pastor of the First Church, setting forth the necessity of an organization, a roll was called […]  It was then moved and supported that we do now go into an organization to be known as the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church of Spokane Falls.”

The names that responded to the roll call were as follows: “Bro. Samuel Harris, 1st Supt., J. P. Brown, A.W. Green, J. P. Ball, P. Barrow, Mrs. Julia Barrow, Mrs. Lucy Ball, Mrs. Jennie Knight, Mrs. Gerty Montgomery, and B. Lilly.”  This group of pioneering African Americans and their descendants would come to have a great impact upon the city of Spokane in the century that followed. But for now they had an immediate task at hand, which was recorded in the minutes: “It was then moved and supported that we hold our meeting in the First Church at 3 p.m. each Sabbath while the weather opened, or moderated, after which we move to the Chapel on 4th and Pine St.  Adjourned by singing Bless Be the Tide (sic) that Binds.”

This paper will examine the first 15 years of what came to be called Calvary Baptist Church, through a close look at the church’s historical records housed in the Whitworth College Archives.  Who were the people involved in the church’s formation?  Why did they feel the imperative to organize? What was the dynamic of the times? One name will emerge, as this paper follows the members of the Barrow family during their time at Calvary, and then down through a century of Spokane history.  Mr. P. Barrow was an influential founding member of Calvary Baptist Church, and became its second pastor. Years later his granddaughter Eleanor entered Whitworth College in Spokane as one of its first African American students, and graduated as a music major bound for the New York Opera. Later in life Eleanor become “First Lady” of Spokane, as the wife of its mayor, James Chase. In her own right she was a long-time trustee of her alma mater, lending her influence up until her death several years ago.

The importance of Calvary Baptist Church and its members to the city of Spokane cannot be overestimated. It is the intention of this paper to bring to light the previously unknown, but very rich, contributions of this church to its community.

Kimberley Mangun, University of Oregon:
Ambassador of Good Will, Advocate for Justice: Journalist Beatrice Morrow Cannady’s Campaign for Race Relations in Oregon

As the first Black woman lawyer in Oregon and editor of The Advocate, an African American newspaper published in Portland between 1903 and 1936, Beatrice Morrow Cannady (1890-1974) was in a unique position to promote reform. During those decades, she challenged school segregation, worked to prevent the showing of The Birth of a Nation, helped form new branches of the NAACP, and much more. In the process, she earned the respect of many whites and Blacks alike and became the unofficial spokeswoman for the city’s small African American population. She was in demand as a lecturer, and gave as many as one hundred talks a year on race relations to civic and religious groups as well as high school and college students. Also, she used the new medium of radio to reach hundreds, if not thousands, of listeners with her message of interracial goodwill. The Advocate was important to Cannady’s campaign, too, and for twenty years she used the weekly paper to inform, educate, and agitate.

Despite her long career as a journalist, editor, lecturer, and lawyer, historians have overlooked both Cannady and The Advocate. This omission demonstrates that there still is much work to be done to recover lost voices and publications. Using copies of The Advocate as well as Beatrice Morrow Cannady’s personal papers, this qualitative study examines how Cannady used alternative media — her newspaper, lectures, and radio addresses — to promote equality and work toward “good will between the racial groups” from 1923 to 1933. This case study contributes original research to the general literature on the Black press and adds specifically to the few studies of Black newspapers in the Pacific Northwest. Further, it brings to light the accomplishments of a remarkable woman during a turbulent time in Oregon, and thus adds to our knowledge of Pacific Northwest history.

African American History at Home and Abroad

Dr. David Boers, Marian College:
Leader or Pawn? B. T. Washington And the Hampton-Tuskegee Idea

Formal education for African Americans developed as a slow, dangerous exercise in the struggle against oppression. This paper overviews the early beginnings of African American education which lead to the crusades for education from 1860-1935. Special attention is given to the work of Booker T. Washington in that he was the first recognized national leader of African American education. The paper describes the beginning of the Hampton-Tuskegee Idea and how it was used to establish industrial schools for African Americans during the time of both cotton farming and industrial development in the American economy. Washington’s philosophy of education though popular at first, fell out of favor with African Americans, especially as led by W. E. B. Du Bois. Yet Washington would not/did not change his diligence toward his philosophy. Indeed, Washington intensified his efforts at pushing a philosophy that most members of his race were opposed. This paper asks why Washington would continue his adamant support of the Hampton-Tuskegee Idea in the face of substantial, almost universal, criticism. Two possible answers are provided. The paper ends with a third possibility for further reflection.

Dr. Kenneth Jolly, Saginaw Valley State University:
Black Nationalism at the Grassroots: A Case of Black Capitalism and Community Initiatives in a Midwest City

In early 1969 the local African American newspaper, the St. Louis Argus, reported on the growing trend of federal and local promotion of African American business enterprises in the city of St. Louis.  Specifically, the Argus reported, “the beginning of the new year [1969] has brought new grants to the community to help Black businessmen expand, improve and initiate new businesses.  More training programs have been funded, geared to teach hard core unemployables means and ways of becoming integrated into the vast labor market.  Big business and industry have lent their successful methods to projects directed to the economic life of the community. These resources have included executive level advice and direction, expert cooperation in building solid business foundations, and other necessary aids in building Black capitalism.”
 
Black Capitalism was, and continues to be, a hotly contested concept.  The St. Louis Post Dispatch suggested that the concept of Black Capitalism was ambiguous and confusing, stating “one reason for the divergent views on the potential of Black Capitalism is that different individuals ascribe to it different goals. Some see it as a means of building economic power in the ghetto with Black owned businesses providing jobs for Black employees. Others see it was a way for the Negro to gain identity and personal dignity in a society that has placed much emphasis on materialism and economic independence.  Still others see Black Capitalism as a branch movement of the Black Power Philosophy that turns thumbs down on integration in favor of Black controlled enclaves within the white community.”  For Robert Allen and Eldridge Cleaver Black Capitalism was not a confusing or ambiguous concept at all but a coordinated, sophisticated and consciously created program of neo-colonialism.  For others such as national and local members of the Congress of Racial Equality, James Farmer, Floyd McKissick, Roy Innis, and Clarence Hodges, Black Capitalism offered the means by which African Americans could achieve the “American Dream.”

This paper examines the national and local debates over Black Capitalism while providing specific evidence of African American economic development initiatives in St. Louis, Missouri as associated with Black Capitalism in the late 1960s.  In this context Black Capitalism is not limited solely to the federal programs associated with the Nixon administration. For example, programs associated with the War on Poverty, foundation grants such as the Danforth Foundation and Ford Foundation, employment initiatives, job training and education programs, and policing and law enforcement programs will similarly be discussed.  This work raises important larger questions about periodizing and locating Black liberation, definitions of Nationalism, the processes of urban renewal and de-industrialization, employment and education, larger discussions about local and regional studies that illustrate broader trends or unique location specific trends, and the relationship between local, national and global liberation movements.

Dr. Larry Lorenz, Loyola University:
Ralph W. Tyler: The Unknown Correspondent of World War I

When the white doughboys of the Allied Expeditionary Force marched onto French soil in the summer of 1917, a corps of white correspondents was alongside them to tell the story of their exploits to readers of the mainstream American press. There was no one to report on nearly 200,000 African American officers and men who made up the segregated 92d and 93d Divisions, however. African American newspapers had to rely mostly on letters sent home by the soldiers themselves or by their commanders for news from "over there." It was not until the fall of 1918-less than two months before the Armistice-that an African American correspondent appeared on the battlefield: Ralph Waldo Tyler, an Ohio newspaperman and political operative, who was appointed and accredited by the government as the only African American war correspondent in World War I. He would also serve as an observer of prejudice in the AEF for Emmett J. Scott, special assistant to the secretary of war for race relations.

This paper describes Tyler's background and qualifications for the post; discusses the conditions that led to his appointment; examines the scope of his war correspondence; sketches the difficulties he faced in gathering the news: battlefield conditions, prejudice of white officers, and censorship of stories that detailed racial discrimination; and assesses his contribution as a war correspondent. The paper concludes that he managed to maintain an admirable balance between his responsibilities to the government and those to press and public. He satisfied the government's requirement that he inform African Americans and build their morale, and he served the African American newspapers by providing them with journalistically competent stories from the front. He bolstered the morale of the soldiers, too; he was of their own race, alongside them, listening to their stories and relating them to a broader audience. How his readers, the black population, regarded his work is impossible to say without their direct testimony, but the editors' demand for his articles suggests widespread acceptance by their readership, and still more evidence is offered by the overflow audiences that filled auditoriums to hear him speak on his return-and to speak more frankly that he was able to in his stories. In all, Ralph W. Tyler played an important role for members of his race at a crucial time in American history, and he deserves more attention from history than has received up to now.

Jennifer Moses, University of Delaware
"To Compel the Equalization”: The Black Press and the Haymarket Riot

During the late-1800s, race and labor were among the most contentious issues facing the post-Civil War United States.  While African-Americans met repeated challenges in their efforts to reap the full benefits of free citizenship, the labor movement grew increasingly adamant in its demands for fair wages and decent working conditions.  The dual struggles of the labor movement and African-Americans often intersected, with both positive and negative results.  On May 6, 1886, anarchist and socialist agitation for the 8-hour workday culminated in the Haymarket Riot, convulsing the city of Chicago and driving the issues of labor conditions, immigration, and radical politics to the forefront of the local and national consciousness. Historical studies of the event and its aftermath have focused predominantly on white, mainstream opinion, with a heavy emphasis on press coverage in major national newspapers. The contemporary black press also gave extensive coverage to labor issues and the Haymarket incident, particularly as they affected African-American workers and the progress of black Americans in general, yet historians have so far neglected black newspapers as a source for understanding this tumultuous period in American history.  This paper, through a close examination of late 19th-century black newspapers, analyzes the practical and ideological concerns of black editors as they sought to lead African-American efforts to assume an equal position in American society.  The paper argues that although these editors endorsed many of the complaints and demands of labor and often advised black workers to align themselves with white-led unions such as the Knights of Labor, they disapproved of the radical approach embodied by the socialist and anarchist elements of the labor movement.  Indeed, black newspaper coverage of the Haymarket Riot of 1886 illustrates the consternation with which most African-American editors viewed the techniques and agenda of the radical left.  The paper concludes that black editors in the late 19th-century expressed a deep commitment to African-American advancement within the parameters of the established American legal and economic system.

Black newspapers informed and represented African-American people in every region of the United States in the late 19th-century. "'To Compel the Equalization': The Black Press and Haymarket Riot" is based primarily on a careful reading of several of these publications, many of which are available now only on microfilm. The author examined issues of black newspapers dating from the Spring of 1886, when the Haymarket Riot occurred, through the Summer of 1893, when the alleged perpetrators were posthumously pardoned by the new governor of Illinois.  In addition, the author consulted numerous secondary historical sources on the vital yet troubled relationship between African-American workers and the white-dominated labor movement, such as the works of Herbert Aptheker and Philip Foner.  Secondary works on the history and significance of black newspapers to the communities they served were also employed, such as Armistead Pride and Clint Wilson's History of the Black Press, and others. Sources dealing with the evolution and diversity of African-American political thought helped to place black press coverage of the Haymarket Riot in the larger historical context of African-American experiences and attitudes.

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