Benjamin Brawley to Charles W. Chesnutt, 26 August 1921
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[1]
390 Quincy St.,
Brockton, Mass.,
Aug. 26, 1921.
Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt,
Cleveland, Ohio.
My dear Mr. Chesnutt:—
For some time I have said that I must write you as soon as I got settled; but I could not get settled! I have come to Brockton to live for a while, and the housing situation here is just as bad it is anywhere else in the country. At
[2]
last, however, I found a new house going up and immediately, I grappled it to my soul with hoops of steel. It is too small, I fear, to do for a permanent home, but at least it will have to do for the winter. My work in Brockton is that of pastor of the Messiah Baptist Church.1
You will probably be interested in my two books that are coming out almost together. One is in the field of literature,
[3]
and the other in that of history. "A Short History of the English Drama," already out through Harcourt, Brace & Co., of New York, promises very well indeed.2 The book over which I have really agonized, however, and which must supersede much previous work is "A Social History of the American Negro", a large book which the Macmillan Company will have ready in just about two weeks.3 Into this I have tried to put the
[4]
result of the study and thought and travel of years, and now at last it is almost ready to appear.
Let me trust that the summer has passed pleasantly for you and that you are entirely recovered from your illness of some months ago.4 I trust that before many more years pass I may have the pleasure of meeting you personally.5
Sincerely yours, Benjamin BrawleyCorrespondent: 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, including serving as dean at Morehouse College (1912–1920) and eventually as chair of the English department at Howard University (1937–1939), where he taught from 1910–1912 and again after 1931 until his death. 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. Shortly after a five-month stay in the Republic of Liberia in 1920, Brawley was ordained in June 1921 as a Baptist minister, and served as pastor of the Messiah Baptist Church in Brockton, Massachusetts for less than two years, before returning to teach at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina (1923–1931). [back]
2. 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 its medieval origins to the late Victorians, with a brief coda on plays of the 1910s. [back]
3. The full title of Benjamin Brawley's study was 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 to the summer of 1919; one chapter is devoted to Liberia, where Brawley had just spent several months. [back]
4. In 1920, Chesnutt had been seriously ill with appendicitis followed by peritonitis, which affected his health for many months (see Helen Chesnutt, Charles Waddell Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1952], 289). [back]
5. Although they corresponded occasionally, Benjamin Brawley and Chesnutt do not seem to have met in person, even as their work and interest in Black history, literature, and education largely overlapped. [back]
