C. F. Heartman, New York, has published the poems of Jupiter Hammon, a slave born in Long Island, New York, about 1720.  Nothing is known of Hammon’s early life.  It is probable that he was a preacher.  His first poem was published December 25, 1760.  They do not show any striking literary merit but give evidence of the mental development of the slave of the eighteenth century.

Dr. B. F. Riley, the noted Birmingham preacher and social worker, is planning to bring out a biography of Booker T. Washington.  Dr. Riley is a white man and is the author of “The White Man’s Burden,” an historical and sociological work written in behalf of the rights of all humanity irrespective of class or condition.

Dr. C. G. Woodson has been asked to write for the revised edition of the “Encyclopaedia Americana” the article on “Negro Education.”

The Cambridge University Press has published “The Northern Bantu,” by J. Roscoe.  This is a short history of some central African tribes of the Uganda Protectorate.

J. A. Winter contributed to the July number of “The South African Journal of Science” a paper entitled “The Mental and Moral Capabilities of the Natives, Especially of Sekukuniland.”

In “Folk Lore,” September 30, 1915, appeared “Some Algerian Superstitions noted among the Shawai Berbers of the Aures Mountains and their Nomad Neighbors.”

Murray has published in London “A History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti” in two volumes, by W. W. Claridge.  The introduction is written by the Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Hugh Clifford.  It covers the period from the earliest times to the commencement of the present century.  The volume commences with an account of the Akan tribes and their existence in two main branches—­Fanti and Ashanti.  Beginning with the early voyages, the author gives an extensive sketch of European discovery and settlement.

“A History of South Africa from the Earliest Days to the Union,” by W. C. Scully, has appeared under the imprint of Longmans, Green and Company.

Fisher Unwin has published “South West Africa,” by W. Eveleigh.  The volume gives a brief account of the history, resources and possibilities of that country.

HOW THE PUBLIC RECEIVED THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY

My dear Dr. Woodson:

I thank you cordially for sending me a copy of the first issue of THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY.  It is a real pleasure to see a journal of this kind, dignified in form and content, and conforming in every way to the highest standards of modern historical research.  You and your colleagues are to be congratulated on beginning your enterprise with such promise, and you certainly have my very best wishes for the future success of an undertaking so significant for the history of Negro culture in America and the world.