THE ABOVE MENTIONED SERVANT TOOK WITH HIM A MOLATTOE SLAVE named James, a well set fellow, 23 years old ************ I have been informed by their confederates since they went off, that they intend to go to Pennsylvania and from thence to New England, unless they can on their way get passage in some vessel to Great Britain where the Molattoe slave pretends to have an UNCLE WHO ESCAPED FROM HIS MASTER IN THIS COLONY NEAR 23 YEARS AGO, AND IS SAID TO KEEP A COFFEE HOUSE IN LONDON.

  The Pennsylvania Gazette, Sept. 14, 1749.

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

The Negro. By W. E. B. DuBois.  New York:  Henry Holt and Co. 1915.  Pp. 254. 50 cents.

In this small volume Dr. DuBois presents facts to show that, contrary to general belief, the Negro has developed and contributed to civilization the same as all other groups of the human race.  The usual arguments that the backward state of Negro culture is due to the biological inferiority of the race he shows to be without foundation, since these arguments have been largely abandoned by creditable scholars.  Much of the material in the book has been known for several years to readers of works of scholars on race questions.  As is commonly the case, truths which tend to destroy deep-rooted prejudices reach general readers with considerable slowness.  While it is not possible to treat but briefly a large subject in such small compass, the facts set forth by the author will put many persons on their guard against individuals who continue to spread misinformation about the Negro race.

The book is divided into twelve chapters, contains a helpful index, has a topically arranged list of books suggested for further reading, and an index.  All of the chapters make interesting reading; but those treating of the achievements in state building and general culture of the ancient African Negro are especially stimulating.  The author points out that in Egypt, both as mixed Semitic-Negroids and pure blacks from Ethiopia, Negro blood shared in producing the civilization of Egypt.  Another center of Negro civilization was the Soudan.  There strong Negro empires like Songhay and Melle developed under Mohammedan influence and existed for many centuries.  In West Africa there was a flourishing group of Negro city states, the most famous of these being the Yoruban group.  Recent discoveries of Frobenius in these parts of the continent show that the people reached a high stage of development in the terra cotta, bronze, glass, weaving, and iron industry.  In the regions about the Great Lakes, inhabited largely by the Bantu, are found many worked over gold and silver mines, old irrigation systems, remains of hundreds of groups of stone buildings and fortifications.  The author explains that the decline of this ancient culture was due to internal wars, Mohammedan conquest, and especially the ravages of the slave trade.  The fact of the existence of such culture in the past stands as evidence of the capacity of the race to achieve.