Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

especially one at a predominantly
Negro institution-is suspect. His
intellectual inferiority is assumed .
If he is writing about Negroes, his
bias is presumed . It is a painful
job-but a fact-that when a white
man studies the culture of Negroes,
his work is sent to another
white man for appraisal . When a
Negro writes about Negroes, his
work is sent to three white men .
What is published . and publicized,
consequently, generally repeats
whatever white men already believe
about the Negro .
What is needed is a Negro press,
a black publisher that will publish
and publicize the book-length research
of Negro scholars . I first
heard such a request in 1957 . After
a decade, Negro educators and
businessmen have not taken the
first step towards such a company .
Negro publishers of magazines evidence
their fears that Negroes will
not buy scholarly publications, for
they have concentrated their effort
and money on periodicals with
popular appeal .
Unfortunately, they may be correct.
Langston Hughes was among
those who, 30 years ago, deplored
the unwillingness of Negroes to buy
books . Hughes, of course, referred
to popular books-fiction and
poetry . Interest in scholarship is
even less .
64
(Continued /rom page 20)
FACULTY
Negro teachers are needed . But
the task of securing them is not as
simple as might be presumed from
listening to the bright young educators
who demand a black university
.
Let us assume that we are considering
establishing a university
of 10,000 students-small by
standards of the prestige universities,
colossal for a Negro institution
. Let us also propose one
teacher for every 20 students .
certainly not a far-fetched standard
for an ideal institution . That
amounts to only 500 teachers, plus
administrators and secretaries .
Only 500 . But that number will
not be found among Negroes who
earn graduate degrees in 1968 . I
do not propose to exclude arbitrarily
any candidate who lacks a doctorate
degree . Nor do I wish to
denigrate the intellectual ability
and the enthusiam of people who
may apply . But desire is not sufficient
. Knowledge and teaching
ability are required . Furthermore,
because instruction must be provided
in all areas of the curriculum,
even the capable and well-trained
instructors must be screened to
make certain that their qualifications
are supplementary rather
than duplicating . For instance, it
is useless to have four teachers
well-trained in zoology if there is
no one sufFiciently trained in
botany .
March 1968 NEGkO DIGEST