ROBERT E. PARK

NOTES

Mr. Monroe N. Work has brought out the Negro Year Book for 1916-1917.  In keeping with the progress hitherto shown this edition surpasses that of last year.  Here one finds an unusually large collection of statistical material as to the economic, social and religious progress of the black race; and a brief account of what exceptional Negroes have done to distinguish themselves in various fields.  It contains also a brief history of the Negro given in such succinct statements as will please the hurried reader and meet the requirements of those who have not access to reference libraries.

The striking new feature of the work, however, is a brief account of what leading thinkers and the press have said about such perplexing problems as the “Birth of a Nation,” “Miscegenation,” and “Segregation.”  The editor has endeavored to present in popular style a brief account of everything of importance with which the Negro has been concerned during the year.  He has done his task well.  Sold at such a reasonable price as thirty-five cents a copy, this valuable book should find its way to the home of every one who desires to keep himself informed on what the Negro is actually achieving.

The United Brethren Publishing Co., Huntington, Ind., has published M. B. Butler’s My Story of the Civil War and the Underground Railroad.  A native of Vermont, where he had an opportunity to see many a fugitive on his way to freedom, the author naturally makes his narrative interesting and straightforward.  He recounts his unusual experiences as a soldier in detail but does not grow tiresome.

In the Mississippi Valley, Historical Review, II, March, 1916, appeared Doctor H. N. Sherwood’s Early Negro Deportation Projects.  This is a selected part of the author’s doctorate thesis.  It treats of the endeavors to ameliorate the condition of emancipated slaves and the colonization plans which finally led to the establishment of the republic of Liberia.

The Tennessee Historical Magazine for June contains a dissertation by Asa Earl Martin, entitled Anti-Slavery Activities of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Tennessee.  The article covers the period from 1784 to the time of the great schism of 1844.

Professor Tenny Frank has contributed to the July number of the American Historical Review a valuable article entitled Race Mixture in the Roman Empire.

In the same number of this publication appear also twenty-three pages of documents on the Cane Sugar Industry collected by Irene A. Wright.  As the Negroes proved to be a great factor in the development of this industry, these documents will be helpful to those who desire to study the bearing of the Negro on its origin and early growth.

Miss Helen Nicolay has turned over to the Library of Congress some important Lincoln Manuscripts, among which are the first and second autograph copies of the Gettysburg Address, the autograph of the Second Inaugural Address, and the President’s memorandum of August 23, 1864, pledging support to the next administration.