Charles W. Chesnutt to Benjamin G. Brawley, 24 March 1922
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March 24, 1922.
Rev. Benjamin G. Brawley,
390 Quincy Street,
Brockton, Mass.
My dear Dr. Brawley:
In writing to me last fall you called attention to your two forthcoming books that have since appeared, "A Short History of the English Drama,"1 and "A Social History of the American Negro."2 I have them both in my library and have read, so far, most of them. They give evidence of a tremendous amount of erudition and research, and impress me still further with the very high quality of your intellect. There are some conclusions in the "Social History of the American Negro" which I perhaps would not have arrived at, but it is a real historical document, absolutely without rancor (where so much could be excused), and with no more bias than should naturally be expected from a friendly advocate.
I am especially pleased to see that you were able to get away entirely from the race question in your subject and treatment of the English Drama. As some one else has remarked, it is extremely difficult for colored American writers to write about anything else, nor is this in the main to be deplored, since it is a vast field and has never been any too well written up from the Negro's viewpoint. However, the world is so wide, and life is such a vast complex, that it is well for the colored writer not to segregate himself intellectually.
I presume you have read Re'ne' Maran's "Batouala."3 I think it was first on sale in America in Boston. I have read it and enjoyed it. It is a rather gruesome and gloomy picture or "etching" as he calls it, of conditions which the French domination has as yet removed but slightly from their original -- I was going to say barbarism, but I think savagery is the better word. It is written in beautiful French, and has a wonderful charm of style, especially in its treatment of natural objects, like smoke, fog, sounds, the birds, the animals, wild and domestic, the streams, the winds and the woods. While he is not a United States Negro, I think his triumph is one of which all those who share the blood of his race, -- for from his portrait he seems to be of the full-blood, -- may well be proud.
I congratulate you on your literary progress, and shall look forward to your continuing advance. It is comparatively easy to write one book and get it published, but it is quite a different proposition to get the appreciation and support essen-
[2]
2
tial to encourage one to keep on writing. This you have had and I trust you will continue to have.
Correspondent: Benjamin Griffith Brawley (1882–1939) was a Black writer, teacher, and clergyman from South Carolina, whose first college degree from Atlanta Baptist College (now Morehouse College) in 1901 was followed by degrees from the University of Chicago and Harvard. He taught at several historically Black colleges and universities, serving as dean at Morehouse College (1912–1920) and as chair of the English department at Howard University (1937–1939). He wrote poetry as well as many scholarly articles and books on Black history and literature, starting with A Short History of the American Negro (New York: Macmillan, 1913).
1. A Short History of the English Drama (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921) was intended as a textbook for English literature classes and covered drama from the medieval period through the late Victorian, with a brief coda on plays of the 1910s. [back]
2. The full title of Brawley's study is A Social History of the American Negro. Being a History of the Negro Problem in the United States, Including a History and Study of the History of Liberia (New York: Macmillan, 1921). Its coverage begins in the 15th century and extends through the summer of 1919; one chapter is devoted to Liberia, where Brawley had recently spent several months. [back]
3. René Maran (1887–1960) was a Black poet and novelist from Martinique (then a French colony), whose 1921 novel Batouala was translated by Adele Szold Seltzer for publication in the US (New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1922). [back]
