THE IMAGE OF AFRICA
A5 PRESENTED IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 1800 TO 1965

Thesis for fine Degree of M. A.
MICHlGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Angene Wilwn
396.6

THESIS

LIBRARY

Michigan State
University

 

ABSTRACT

THE IMAGE OF AFRICA

AS PRESENTED IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 1800 TO 1965

by Angene Wilson

This study attempts to delineate the image of Africa as it has
been presented in the American schools. The classroom picture of Africa
is reconstructed with analyses of a sample of geography and history
textbooks and encyclopedias published between 1800 and 1965 as a basis.

Chapter I explains what schoolbooks wrote about African
character and culture. The image of the violent yet indolent black
savage is traced from the lively description of the cannibal Giages
in the first American geography through the environmental determinists'
explanations for the lazy Negro to the twentieth century textbook
Journeys up the Congo River to see the ngmies. Special attention is
given to the contribution of pictures in the formation of an American
image of the African.

Chapter II describes the image of physical geography by con-
centrating on the myths propagated about unhealthy climate, Jungle,
fertile soil, and animals. Recent texts, however, are shown to have
more accurate geographical information.

In Chapter III the image of the history of Africa is considered.
Analyses of history texts show a bias of omission with information

limited to North Africa and, in subsaharan Africa. to European

Angene Wilson
exploration and colonization and perhaps new nations.

Finally, Chapter IV looks at the current image of Africa by
discussing attitudes toward Africa of present-day secondary school
pupils and by studying new trade books and new curricula concerning
Africa. The treatment of Africa in a century and a half of American
schoolbooks is summarized and suggestions are offered for the road

to a new and more objective image of Africa.

THE IMAGE OF AFRICA

AS PRESENTED IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 1800 TO 1965

By

Angene Wilson

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

1966

PREFACE

The image of Africa as presented in American schools first
became a concern to me when I was teaching world history in Liberia
with a text published in the United States, the same text I had
studied in the tenth grade. Only the story of Livingstone and
Stanley exploring the Dark Continent was available to show Liberian
students how Africa fit into the history of the world. They had
learned about the Pygmies, as strange to them as to Americans, in the
elementary geography. Their secondary geography book, also published
in the United States, devoted several pages to Africa under the British
Commonwealth.

When I returned to the states and began talking to elementary
and secondary pupils and teachers, I realized anew that Livingstone
and Stanley, the Pygmies, and the British Commonwealth plus Tarzan
and Dr. Schweitzer were the major components of the American image
of Africa. I also became aware of the effect which this traditional
image of Africa and Africans has had on Negro Americans and on white
Americans' attitudes about Negro Americans. Thus the idea for this
thesis was born: to expose the image by searching for its origins.

Obviously, the classroom is only one place where attitudes
are molded. The home is another: one student of mine had learned.
about South Africa from her father who was stationed there during
the war while another student had relatives in Africa. For children

who attend Sunday School, the missionary talks have helped shape the

11

111

image of Africa. The communications media, particularly movies and
television, have also helped to form attitudes. The experiences with
and impact of the home, church, and communications media differ among
individuals, however. For this reason, I chose to stick rather closely
to material about Africa which was and is presented in the classroom.
For locating textbooks, encyclopedias, and trade books, I wish
to acknowledge the help of librarians at Cleveland Public Library. The
specific titles for the sample came from books on old texts for those
before 1900 and from catalogues published by the National Council for
Social Studies for those after 1900. The discovery of present-day
attitudes of some students toward Africa was possible because of
c00peration from fellow ex-Peace Corps volunteers Rich and Julie
Bringleson in Lincoln, Nebraska and Bill Mygdahl in Houston, Texas.
I am grateful to Lakewood High School, Lakewood, Ohio for allowing me
to give a test on attitudes toward Africa to all the tenth grade
world history classes.‘ A summer school class which I taught at
Lakewood and classes to whom I spoke in Cleveland and Willowick, Ohio
provided more student comments. The Greater Cleveland Educational
Research Council was kind enough to give me names of social studies
teachers at their member schools so I might send out a questionnaire
on curricula. The Council also gave me samples of their new materials.
Finally, I want to recognize my husband who encouraged me to
finish my master's degree and my small daughter who slept enough so

I could.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
PREFACE ........................................................ ii
Chapter
I. ARE THE PEOPLE STILL SO VIOLENT?
The American Image of African Character and Culture ..... 1
II. ARE THERE LIONS IN THE JUNGLE?
The American Image of African Geography ................. 30
III. ARE THE NATIVES READY FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT?
The American Image of African History and Future
Prospects ...... - ......................................... 48
IV. IS THERE ANY HOPE? ...................................... 77
APPENDIX. . . ......... I ........................................... 99
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................. . ..................... 106

iv

CHAPTER I

ARE THE PEOPLE STILL SO VIOLENT?

The American Image of

African Character and Culture

The most curious animals are the human animals -
the black peOple.
A Child’s Geography of the World, 1929

 

"Are the peeple still so violent?" Mr. Goldberg asked. The
retired plumber next door had last read about Africa in the newspapers
in 1964 during the dramatic airlift of whites from the eastern Congo.
His question came not only from the headline "Congo Massacre" but also
from a more deeply rooted image of Africans.

Harold Isaacs suggests in The New World of Negro Americans

 

"that the systematic debasement and self—debasement of the Negro in
this white world has begun with or been underpinned by the image the
Negro child has gotten of the naked, savage, uncivilized African."1
Equally tragic is the fact that white child's feeling of superiority
to the Negro child has also begun with the image of the savage black.

The idea of the violent African is one part of the image of
Africa taught in American schools from 1800 to very recent years. The
word "savage" alone conjures up clubs and spears and thus primitive
battle. It does not seem to have occurred to textbook writers that an
African could perform little violence with his spear, even when organized
into regiments by Chaka, compared to the violence of an atomic bomb
drOpped by Americans on Hiroshima or even to the violence of earlier

EurOpean, white wars.

Goodrich, author of the Pictorial GeOgraphy of the World,

 

published in 1842, emphasized the petty wars which constantly engulfed

 

1larold Isaacs, The New Worfd of Negro Americans, (New York:
Viking Press, 1963), p. 161.

 

the tribes.2 A century later, textbook writers still wrote about
Africans fighting among themselves and about hostile tribes who blocked
the way of explorers and colonists.3 The 1929 edition of Compton's

Pictured Encyclopedia has a picture of a "fierce Zulu who is now a

 

policeman keeping law and order instead of stirring up trouble." The
Zulus were the greatest obstacle to settlement, says Compton's, because
the characteristic of intelligence, rather than the "usual child—like
simplicity of the Negro, was allied with the characteristic of ferocity."4
The Mau Mau provide the current example of African violence and
savagery, although Kenya is often covered in recent texts without refer-
ence to the Mau Mau. A 1957 geography discusses the "armed uprising of
the Mau Mau whose object is the expulsion of the white man". The authors
admit the whites behaved badly but declare that expulsion is not the
answer.5 Another textbook team (1969) writes: "The natives, faced
again with starvation and accustomed to getting what they wanted by
fOrce, have attempted to push out the European settlers." They say that
the only solution is increased use of modern farming methods, for even

if the Europeans left, there would not be enough land for the Africans.6

A 1961 text states that the Mau Mau burned many homes and killed many

 

‘zSamuel Goodrich, A Pictorial GeOgraphy of the World, (Boston:
Otis, Broaders and Co., 1840). p. 826T' I‘D

Frederick K. Branom and Helen M. Ganey, Geography of our World,
(New York: William H. Sadler, 1939), p. 165. I

4"Africa", Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia, (Chicago: 1929),
Vol. I, p. 37. I

5Norman Pounds and Edward C00per, World Geography, (Cincinnati:
Southwestern, 1957), p. 578. '

6Preston E. James and Nelda Davis, The Wide World, (New York:
Macmillan, 1959), p. 458. ‘

 

 

 

 

 

Europeans.7 One hesitates to predict how the Congo war, particularly
the 1964 "massacre" will be interpreted in future texts. Is it too
much to hOpe that the deaths of Congolese as well as of Europeans will
be mentioned?

Paradoxically, some authors offered the fact that Africans
fought among themselves as a reason for the backwardness of Africa8
and for the scramble for Africa9 while other authors lauded boldness
and bravery in fighting as qualities in some African peOples. One
encyclopedia (1929) mentioned the Sudanic Negroes' warlike character
as an obstacle to the white man; these Negroes were also described as
being more civilized than other Africans.10 The most powerful and
warlike Africans were the Ashanti, wrote Goodrich (1840).11 Mitchell,
whose geographies were pOpular in the second half of the nineteenth
century, also singled out the Ashanti. He admired the Dahomeans and
the successors to the Monomotapa empire, describing them as "warlike
and ferocious". Kanem rated the bravest soldiers.12

Wars, however, are not the only proof textbooks offer of the
African‘s violent nature. Certain customs enhance the image, of
which cannibalism is the most reviled. Jedidiah Morse's geography,

first published in 1784, described the Giages, said to inhabit the

 

 

7Harold D. Drummond, The Eastern HemiSphere, (Boston: Allyn and
Bacon, 1961), p. 299. " ‘
Branom, p. 165.
9Walter Wallbank, Man's Story, (Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1956),

 

p. 512.

10Compton's, p. 37.

11Goodrich, p. 826.

128. Augustus Mitchell, A System of Modern Geography, (Phila-
delphia: Thomas, COWperthwait and Co., 1853). p. 319.

 

Congo coast. They were cannibals who killed and ate their first—born
children. Persons who died were eaten by their relatives.13 The
International Cyclopedia of 1892 stated that cannibalism was prevalent

14

from the west coast to the great lakes. By 1911 the area was confined

to the Congo.15 The cannibal image appears again in a child's geography
published in 1929, 1935 and 1951 editions. The author says that the
black peOple are cannibals who would kill and eat any white man they
caught.16
The inhabitants of Guinea showed their violent nature in a
custom of getting rid of their king. Morse wrote:
In Eyo (Oyo) where the people are governed by a
king who is not absolute, when they are tired of him
a deputation waits on him and informs him that it is
fatiguing for him to bear the burdens of government
any longer, advising him to take a little rest. He
thanks them and retires to his apartment as if to
sleep and directs his women to strangle him; and after
he expires, they destroy all things which belonged to
him or to themselves and then kill one another. His
son succeeds to the government on the same terms.
In the 1812 edition of his geography, Morse described the
capital punishments of the Abyssinians: crucifixion, flaying alive,
stoning, and plucking out eyes.18 Olney, in his 1831 geography, stated

that the Abyssinians are "extremely barbarous and brutal and fond of

 

T3Clifton Johnson, Old Time Schools and School Books, (New York:
Macmillan, 1904), p. 340.

14"Africa", International Cyclopedia, (New York: Dodd, Mead,
1892), Vol. I, p. 13976 .

15"Africa", Everybody‘s Cyclopedia, Charles Leonard-Stuart and
George J. Hager, edQT~(New York: Syndicate Publishing, 1911), Vol. I,
no page numbers.

16V. M. Hillyer, A Child's Geggraphy of the World, (New York:
Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1929), p. 418.

17Johnson, p. 340.

18Jedidiah Morse, Geoggaphy Made Easy, (Boston: Thomas and
Andrews, 1812), p. 345. "*

 

 

 

 

 

eating raw flesh cut from the living animal". But in his text, the
characteristic of violence was not limited to black Africans. The
Arabs are "treacherous and ferocious" and the peOple of the Barbary
states are "rapacious and cruel".19

The words "savage", "cannibal", and "barbarian" have denoted a
violent African, but another, completely Opposite image of the African
has also been taught to American school children. On the one hand, a
black savage with ring in his nose and loincloth hanging from his waist
danced around the missionary boiling in the pot. On the other, the
black African has been depicted as so lazy, indolent, and unintelligent
that his very backwardness allowed the EurOpeans to do as they liked
on the continent. The African "native" has been labeled the Caliban,
the European colonist the PrOSpero.

In the section of geographical definitions and questions at the
beginning of Mitchell's geography (1853), number 203 asks: " What are
the complexion and habits of the people of the torrid zone?" The

1

answer is: "Dark or black, indolent and effeminate.' Number 204 asks:
"What is their character?" The answer: "Seldom distinguished for
industry, enterprise or learning."20 Although Goodrich used the word
"warlike" to describe several Specific peOples, he generalized about
the African in his introduction. "They are indolent, harmless, easy

"21

and friendly in their disposition. In his Common School Histogy

 

(1838), Goodrich labeled the Negro a cheerful race which spends much

 

‘IgJ. A. Olney, A Practical System of Modern Geogrgphy, (Hartford:
D. F. Robinson, 1831), pp. 239,240,228.
20Mitche11, p. 39.
216oodrich, p. 826.

 

time in amusements.22

American textbooks, from the period just before the Civil War
until World War I, tried to explain why the African was so unintelligent
and lazy. Frye (1895) simply said that African peOples differed in
intelligence as well as in language and custom. He believed the Sudanese
man was more intelligent than other Africans.23 Guyot (1873) thought
that the Sudanese, although he had black skin and coarse features, still
had a face which indicated a lively intelligence.24

Various authors believed that the torrid zone was not favorable
to mental development. Maury (1890) stated that "the moral and intel—
lectual status of the Negro in his native land is low. When brought
into contact, however, with the Caucasian race, he shows himself capable
of no inconsiderable elevation."25 Tarr (1904) explained that in the
trapical zone needs were met with only a slight effort so there was
little cause for work. Further, the climate was unfavorable to work.
Under such conditions, he said, man resembled animals in being content
with bare necessities. Being so easily satisfied, he could not advance
far in civilization. That is why the most uncivilized peOple were
found in the tropics. Although these peOple lived in the most primitive
way as lazy, unintelligent, superstitious animals practicing such customs

as cannibalism, they could advance under the influence of civilization.

 

 

22Samuel Goodrich, Peter Parley's Common School History,
(Philadelphia: William MarsEall and Co., 1838), p. 80. ’

23Alexis Everett Frye, Grammar School Geography, (Boston: Ginn,
1895), p. 182 V ‘

24Arnold Guyot, Physical Giggraphy, (New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1873), p. 116.

25M. F. Maury, Physical Geography, (New York: University Pub-
lishing Co., 1890), p. 117. I -

 

 

 

Thus, Tarr sought to show that only the trOpical conditions kept the

African so primitive.26

In another geography book, Tarr (1901) summed
up his case briefly: HAmid the trOpics, the savage is master, but his
mastery cost so little effort and his livelihood was so secure, that he
did not advance as rapidly as those who were placed amid the greater
difficulties of the temperate zone."27

This view continued after World War I, partly as an argument
for colonialism. A world history text published in 1927 explained that
Africa lacked strong government and intelligent labor because the native
Negroes were indolent and lazy as a result of the hot climate. Thus
because the Africans were backward, the Europeans set out to develop
the abundant natural resources.28 Another author (1943) wrote: "The
Negroes were for the most part backward and lazy, as well as being
frequently quarrelsome and so nearly the whole of Africa has come under

O

the rule of European nations.' Goodrich (1840) had stated much

earlier that the Africans' "timidity and gentleness were part of the
"30

reason for slavery.

Frye's New Geography, published in 1917, described the Negro in

 

central Africa. He makes a garden but it doesn't need much care. To

get food, he simply has to gather fruit, or hunt, or fish. He doesn't

 

26Ralph S. Tarr, New Physical Geography, (New York: Macmillan,
1904), p. 385. -

27Ralph S. Tarr, First Book of Physical Geography, (New York:
Macmillan 1901), p. 180.

28J. Lynn Barnard and Agnew O. Roorbach, Epochs of World Progress,
(New York: Henry Holt, 1927), p. 611.
L. Dudley Stamp, The World, (New York: Longmans, Green and Co.,
552.
Goodrich, Geography, p. 826.

 

 

 

1943), p30

need much clothing. His hut is made of poles and grass. He cooks
outdoors and eats and sleeps on a mat. He makes some pottery and iron
tools. He wears rings on his arms and ankles. (The African thinks they

are pretty, said Frye.) The peOple get all they need without much work.

But," wrote Frye, "it is by working that we learn to think. The black

savage leads a lazy life because the sun is hot and the air is very

damp. The earth furnishes him too much."31

Chamberlain's explanation (1921) for the lazy Negro was similar:

In humid parts of the tropical zone, Nature is so
lavish that man does not need to struggle to secure a
living. Wild and cultivated products of the soil furnish
an abundance of food. Requirements for clothing and
shelter are limited. Vegetation grows at all seasons.
Therefore there is no period for which provision must
be made in advance. Conditions do not develop thrift
but foster indolence.

This description of the lazy African was applied more frequently
to the men than to the women. A 1944 geography stated that Henough
cotton could be grown for Britain's needs if the natives could be in-
duced to apply themselves to regular work. Like so many primitive
peOples the men are content to leave the routine drudgery of providing

a living to their womenfolk."33 The 1929 Compton's Encyclopedia had a

 

picture of two women with head loads. The caption read: "Most heavy

work is done by the women.H The suggestion is made that the more

muscular wife can then rule her house by might over her idle husband.34

 

31Alexis Everett Frye, New Geography. (Boston: Ginn, 1917), p. 13.
32James F. Chamberlain, Geogfaphy, (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott,
1921), p. 4.
Leonard 0. Packard and Bruce Overton and Ben Wood, Our Air Age
World, (New York: Macmillan, 1944), p. 720.
34Compton's, p. 38.

 

 

Becker (1931) suggested that the "natives found it easier to serve in the

army than to work."35 The women are less important than the men and so

do more work in the half-civilized African tribes, wrote the author of

Children of Our World (1949).36

 

That the characteristics of violence and indolence have been so
important in the American image of the African can be partially explained
by the kind of questions pe0ple asked and still ask about Africa. Philip

Curtin, in the conclusion of his book, The Image of Africa, says that

 

EurOpeans and Americans did not ask "What is Africa like and what manner
of men live there?" but rather "How does Africa and how do Africans fit
into what we already know about the world?" The image of Africa was
created in EurOpe and America to suit European and American needs.37
Thus when traders and explorers and missionaries wrote about Africa and
when textbook writers wrote about Africa, they usually picked out the
unusual, the strange, the queer. When they described the different
customs of African pe0ples they often adopted a patronizing or amused
tone.

African religion was perhaps least understood. Goodrich (1840)
stated that "many negro tribes live in the most degraded state, without
government, without any religion but the most absurd superstitions,

without the decencies and proprieties of life, naked and without habita-

tions." The Ashanti seem to be an exception since he explained that some

 

35Carl L. Becker, Modern History, (New York: Silver Burdett,
1931), p. 597.
6Frances Carpenter, Children of Our World, (New York: American
Book, 1949), p. 167.
Philip Curtin, The Image of Africa, (Madison: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1964), pp. 479-80.

 

 

 

10

know the Koran and some have a notion of a Supreme Being. The Ashanti
also throw drink on the ground as an offering to the dead.38
Ordinarily, not that much Space was devoted to explaining
African religion. Goodrich simply wrote that the Africans worshipped
idols in his history book.39 Morse (1812) reported that the Congolese
worshipped the sun, moon, stars and animals, but that the Portuguese
had made many converts.4O Another nineteenth century writer (1853)
called Africans "pagans" and described fetishism as "the worship of

H 41

snakes, lizards and other disgusting things The EncyCIOpedia

 

Americana in its 1836 edition Spoke of the "most disgusting fetichism

and human sacrifices".42

The 1875 Encyclopedia Britannica called
Africans "heathens" but explained that missionaries were "turning the

n 43
pe0ple from their idols to the living God.. A paragraph in the 1892

International Cyclgpedia on religion commended Islam‘s beneficial

 

influence in suppressing cannibalism and shaking the faith of the
natives in the medicine man. Elsewhere, however, stated the Cyclo-
pedia, "progress is barred by all-prevailing fetishism and the baneful

practice of witchcraft".44 Everybody's Cyclopedia, published in 1911,

 

reported that the great prOportion of Africans are "heathens of the

lowest type".45 The Americana of 1914 used the same words, but added

 

38Goodrich, Geography, p. 826.

Goodrich, History, p. 15.
4OMorse, p. 347.
41Mitchell, p. 316.
42"Africa", EncyclOpedia Americana, 1836, Vol. I, p. 90.
3"Africa", Engyclopedia Britannica, 1875, Vol. I, p. 265.
4illnternational CyclOpedia, p. 139.
45Everybody's CyclOpedia, no page number.

 

 

 

 

11

that Islam was Spreading rapidly and that the labor of missionaries was

promising.46

Missionaries, especially David Livingstone, usually found a

place in the history books. A 1953 geography called Albert Schweitzer

the "greatest man in the world".47 Biographies of Schweitzer appeared

on the reading lists in many textbooks. But understanding of the
traditional African religion was still lacking. A history published

in 1940 spoke of the backward African belief in nature and ancestor

48

worship. A 1961 text describes the old African religion as having

49

many gods and spirits. In 1962, however, the description of African

religion came full circle with Stavrianos' Global History of man. The

 

extensive unit on Africa explains that Africans were highly developed
in politics, human relations, and religion and describes the African
concept of the wholeness of life.

Working life was not separated from leisure in
hard-and—fast hours. Art was not a separate activity
but a way of making more lovely the things one would
do anyway. Religion did not happen in church but
rather was in the land and all the mysterious forces
that made things happen in the world about. Land was
not a thing which could be mapped or sold. Like the
air a man breathed, land was part of the universe to
be used by the group for the good of all its peOple.50

Abyssinian religion was mentioned separately by the American
schoolbooks. The first geography book by Morse described the religion

as "a mixture of Christianity, Judaism and paganism, the two latter

 

46"Africa", EncyclOpedia Americana, 1914, Vol. I, no page numbers.
47Packard, p. 464.
Louise 1. Capen, Across the Ages, (New York: American Book,
1940), p4964. 9“—
50 C00per, The Changing Old World, p. 395.
Leften S. StavriafiEST—EHTEA‘GIBbal History of Man, (Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1962), p. 49.

 

 

 

 

12

of which are by far the most predominant". He continued:

There are here more churches than in any other country
and though it is very mountainous and consequently the
view much obstructed, it is very seldom you see less
than five or six churches. Every great man when he
dies, thinks he has atoned for all his wickedness if
he leaves a fund to build a church or has one built

in his lifetime. The churches are full of pictures
slovenly painted on parchment and nailed upon the
walls. There is no choice in their saints, they are
of the 01d and New Testament, and those that might

be diapensed with from both. There is St. Pontius
Pilate and his wife; there_is St. Balaam and his ass;
Samson and his jaw bone and so of the rest.51

Goodrich's geography (1840) classified the Abyssinians as

members of the Greek Christian church.52 Olney (1831) stated that

the Abyssinians professed Christianity but more in name than reality.5

According to A System of Modern Geggraphy (1853), the Abyssinians

 

practiced a corrupt kind of Christianity intermixed with Jewish rites
and ceremonies.54 Half a century later, however, one textbook writer
(1911) gave the Abyssinians credit for being not only Christian but

Caucasian as well.55 The Encyc10pedia Britannica of 1875 called

 

Abyssinian Christianity debased and degraded.56 A 1934 edition of

the National EncyclOpedia decided the Abyssinian form of Christianity

 

was semi-civilized but corrupt.57

Religion was not the only thing that puzzled those who looked

 

51Johnson, p. 335.
Goodrich, Geography, p. 859.
3Olney, p. 239.
54Mitchell, p. 315.
Charles Redway Dryer, High School Geography, (New York:
American Book Co., 1911), p. 499.
56Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 260.
5""Africafl,"National EncyCIOpedia, Henry Suzzallo, ed., (New
York: P. F. Collier, 1934), p. 22.

 

 

3

13

at Africa through their own spectacles. The nineteenth century writers
had a great interest in manners and customs and were not afraid to
attach descriptive adjectives in their evaluation of the various
African peOples.

Olney (1831) described the Hottentots as ignorant, stupid and
filthy people who build their houses in a Circular form to make a
court for their cattle. The same author said that Benin is inhabited
by industrious and humane pe0p1e. (His text was obviously published
long before the so—called Benin Massacre.) His descriptions do not
seem racially biased. 1e called the Barbary state inhabitants ignorant,
rapacious, and cruel and long noted for piracy and political debasement.
The Arabs are treacherous, intemperate, and ferocious, but the Hausa
are intelligent and the Ashanti are the most powerful, civilized and
commercial kingdom in West Africa.58

Goodrich (1840) did not limit his critical remarks to black
Africans either. He wrote about peculiar dances and fat women as
strange Arab customs which would seem ridiculous in polished nations.
His description of the Dutch in South Africa was a little kinder: they
are more ignorant than depraved. The Hottentots are filthy, indolent
and make good slaves, and the Bushmen are the lowest grade of human
nature.59 Morse (1812) had earlier described the Hottentots in
greater detail.

They are the most abject of the human race. They
besmear their bodies with soot and grease, live upon

 

58

59Olney, pp. 236, 234, 228, 240, 233.

Goodrich, Geography, pp. 856, 830.

14

carrion, old leather, shoes and everything of the most
loathsome kind; dress themselves in sheep's skins,
untanned, turning the wool to their flesh in the
winter and the other Side in the summer. Their dress
serves them for a bed at night, a covering by day and
for a winding sheet when they die.

West Africans received a higher rating from Goodrich than South
Africans. The palace of the Ashanti was described with emphasis on the
chairs and stools embossed with gold. The king was reported to have
3,333 wives. The art of smelting iron was known although there was no
metal manufacture. Goodrich tried to explain the meaning of palavers
and noted that the peOple bathed daily. The Bornu cavalrymen were
described, using Denham as a source of information: they wore loose
robes covered with mail and iron plate; the belly protruded and the
head was mishapen by the wadding wound around it. Goodrich thought
the people ugly, simple, and good-natured with no intellectual culture.
He noted interesting facts about other Sudanese areas. There were
seven markets in Eyeo (probably Oyo). Soccatoo (Sokoto) had regular,
well-built streets and many mosques. In Loggun, an iron coin was used
61
and an indigo cloth was woven.

Customs interested another geography textbook writer of the
nineteenth century, too. Mitchell (1853) agreed with Goodrich that
the Ashanti were the most important native state in west Africa and

that they possessed some of the comforts of civilization, including a

well-built capital, but the "horrid" custom of sacrificing human beings

 

60Johnson, p. 341.
61Goodrich, Geography, pp. 847-48, 838-41.

15

at the king's death concerned him. In Dahomey, he reported, there were
women in the army. In Benin, the king was considered a god. Mitchell
allowed that the capital, "for a Negro town, was remarkably clean".
Also in West Africa, the Yoruba were called the most improved and
industrious of all Negroes. Although the Hottentots were described
as dirty and ugly and ignorant and the Bushmen as naked and residents
of holes in the ground, other South Africans received more favorable
descriptions. The Zulu had fine herds of cattle, the Kaffirs were
athletic and vigorous, and the Bechuanas dwelled in towns and had
made some progress in the arts and in agriculture. Monomotapa was
reported to have once been an important empire though it was now
occupied by the Maravis who were warlike plunderers.62

History, particularly world history, was a rarely taught
subject in American schools until the twentieth century, but the few
existing nineteenth century histories had little to say about Africa,
except for ancient Egypt. Goodrich stated the reason in his Common

School History, a reason which is still accepted by most peOple today.

 

"Most of the other regions of Africa can hardly be said to have any

63

history." But Goodrich did wish to say something about the black

Africans and so he picked a fable, "the prettiest of all fables", he
said, about the ngmies.
These little peOple were said to be about a foot
high and were believed to dwell near the source of the

river Nile. Their houses were built something like
birdS' nests and their building materials were clay,

 

I)
6“Mitchell, pp. 319, 21-23.

63Goodrich, History, p. 94.

16

feathers and egg shells. These Pygmies used to wage
terrible wars with the cranes. An immense army of them
would set out on an expedition, some mounted on rams
and goats and others on foot. When an army of the
Pygmies encountered an army of the cranes, great
valor was diSplayed on both sides. The cranes would
rush forward to the charge flapping their wings and
sometimes one of them would snatch up a Pygmy in his
beak and carry him away captive. But the Pygmies
brandished their little swords and Spears and gen-
erally succeeded in putting the army to flight.
Whenever they had a chance, they would break the
eggs of the cranes gzd kill the unfledged young

ones without mercy.

From 1860 until after the first world war, most geographies
turned to considerations of physical features of the continent and
rarely discussed the customs of Africans unless they were proving the
influence of environment on man. Thus, Dryer (1911) explained that
"clothing was at an irreducible minimum, a scanty skin or cotton cloth".
He said that the general prevalence of cannibalism was the result of
the craving for meat and its scarcity.65

Encyc10pedias did continue the practice of desoribing the
various peoples. As in the early geographies, the Mandingo, Foulah

and Ashanti were singled out as having some civilization. The Encyclo-

pgdia Britannica (1875) was kinder to the Hottentots. They were lively

 

and cheerful and not wanting in intellect but they had received harsh

66

treatment from the Europeans.
After the conquest of Africa by EurOpe, the image of Africans

held by Americans degenerated into one vague blob. The reason is

obvious. The "civilized" world began to think in terms of what the

 

64Ibid.

65Dryer, p. 498.
66Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 260.

 

 

17

white man could do in Africa rather than how the black man lived in

Africa. Henry Stanley published his volumes £3 Darkest Africa and

 

Leopold of Belgium said that the aim of EurOpean nations must be to
"open to civilization the only part of the globe where it has not
penetrated, to pierce the darkness which envelope whole populations.

a crusade worthy of this century of progress".67 Explorer and mission-
ary David Livingstone had already proclaimed that Christianity and
commerce were the methods by which Africa could be opened to civiliza-
tion. The missions invaded the "dark continent" first, and American
children began to give money in Sunday School so that light might be
brought to the heathen. An American missionary cried:

Your blessings of Salvation,
0f knowledge, peace and love;
The gracious proclamation

Of pardon from above;

We ask them for our peOple,
Who, in their darkness now
Before their foolish Gregree
And numerous idols bow.

How many generations

Must sink to endless night,
Before the Christian nations
Will send the Heavenly light?
One thing, pray, well remember -
That, while you yet delay,

And in your efforts linger,

The heathen pass away.6

Commercial interests also invaded Africa, yet the excitement
generated by the scramble for Africa quickly died down. The ideal

colony became one which was economically self-supporting. "Early

 

67Becker, p. 595.
68George Thompson, Africa in a Nutshell, (Oberlin: 1883),
pp. 61-62.

 

18

twentieth century Europe was in no need of an increase in African
products, and African markets accounted for a negligible pr0portion
of European exports. One day the position might be different. Till
then, the less heard of the African colonies the better."69

"The less heard the better" seemed to apply to the textbooks
which, as already mentioned, concentrated on physical features of the
continent or bypassed it altogether except in an explanation of races.
After World War 1, interest in Africa picked up, but it remained the
interest of a civilizing mentality. The names Ashanti, Mandingo and
Yoruba no longer appeared in the textbooks. They were replaced by
Pygmy and Bantu. For the most part, the question answered was "How
uncivilized are these pe0ple?" The Ashanti, with their well-built
capital and king who sat on a golden stool, were not an appropriate
example.

A description of the Pygmies in Mgdern Geggraphy, published in

 

1919, was scarcely more accurate than the fable which Goodrich included
in his 1838 history. The authors stated that there was little need for
clothing and Shelter. The Pygmies, "perhaps the lowest type of human
beings, hunt and fish. They have no arts and no family ties."70

Branom and Ganey's Geography of Europgi Asia, Africa, Australia,

 

and the Polar Regiong (1928) concentrated on North Africa. In the

 

generalizations about trOpical Africa, the authors wrote about the

 

69Roland Oliver and J. D. Fage, A Short History of Africa,
(Baltimore: Penguin, 1962), p. 196. I

7ORollin D. Salisbury , Harlan H. Barrows, and Walter S. Tower,
Modern Geggraphy for High7School, (New York: Henry Holt, 1919), p. 339.

 

 

19

black natives, some very tall and some small, who were not very far
advanced in civilization. They lived in dried mud and thatch houses

71
and fought among themselves. A geography entitled How Countries

 

Differ (1932) took children on an imaginary trip through Africa. South
Africa, said the author, reminds one of the U.S. South with its red—
roofed bungalows and Negroes tending the lawns and caring for the
children. The section on the Congo was entitled "How civilized has
central Africa become?" This question was not directly answered but

the American child, looking at the pictures of the naked children and
mud huts, would certainly have replied, "not very civilized".72 Another

elementary geography in the same series, Why Countries Differ, (1932),

 

tried to explain how people's characters are influenced by geographic
conditions. The text used the active Zulus, the backward and poor
Bushmen, the strong nomads, and the uncivilized Pygmies as examples.
Uganda received praise because the cattlemen there had fine huts with
furnishings inside. "They were so civilized that the men felt obliged
to be well-dressed when they went to discuss public affairs."73

In an elementary geography published in 1945, the ways of life
led by the Bedouin and by the Congolese were considered. The native
village of the latter is inhabited by gay, dark-skinned pe0p1e who sing

as they work, rest, and eat and almost as they sleep. The mothers

carry naked, happy babies. The natives have no use for money so white

 

v—v

71Frederick K. Branom and Helen M. Ganey, Ggggraphy of EurOpe,
AsiaL Africay Australia and the Polar Regions, (New York: William
Sadler, 1928), p. 165.
Ellsworth Huntington, C Beverley Benson, and Frank McMurry,
How Countries Differ, (New York: Macmillan, 1932), p. 315.
<73Ellsworth Huntington, C. Beverley Benson, and Frank McMurry,
Why Countries Differ, (New York: Macmillan, 1932), p. 419.

 

 

 

 

20

men are the traders. The "queer" songs which the natives Sing, the
"strangely decorated" canoes, Sako's "not very comfortable" home, and
a day spent hunting in the jungle were described.74

Carpenter's Children of Our World (1949) included a chapter

 

"Yoso and Lomba in Wildest Africa". The chapter began with the boom-
boom of drums and an explanation of the African tom-tom which sends
messages. In primitive central Africa peOple wear few clothes though
they are fond of ornaments and raised scars. They travel by dugout
and hammock. An elephant hunt is an important event. The witchdoctor
pretends to drive sickness away but now there are hOSpitals where
pe0p1e can be better cured. The savage Pygmies are mentioned; they

75

were cannibals before the missionaries came to civilize them.

In Our BigTWorld (19511 the visitor to Wemba's village in the

 

Congo learns how Wemba's house is made, how gardens are made in the
forest and what hard work it is to make a garden. (The last is a
significant departure from the usual picture of easy living in the
tropics.) This text shows a river steamer, a bicycle on a forest
path, and modern Le0poldville as well as village scenes.76

Two other geographies published in the 1950's also have trips
up the Congo, both to visit the Pygmies. One team of authors says that

the small people are at first afraid of the white man,but after he

gives them beads and knives they do strange dances for him and share

 

74W. R. McConnell, Geggraphy Around the World, (New York: Rand
McNally, 1945), pp. 129~140.
Carpenter, p. 167.

Harlan H. Barrows, Edith Putnam Parker, and Clarence Woodrow

Sorenson, Our Big World, (New York: Silver Burdett, 1951), pp. 113-125.

 

 

21

7 The other text includes a lion-killing adventure

their strange food.7
with the Masai, a trip to Zululand, and a visit to the Gold Coast
Parliament, as well as a trip to see the Pygmies.78

In a 1961 text, the story of a Congo village emphasizes the
new things such as the school. The other African peOples described
are the Masai, a EurOpean farmer, and a desert nomad.79

The Congo is also described by encyc10pedias. The 1929
Compton's writes of a tangle of trees only crossed by narrow footpaths
beaten by the naked feet of savages and a vast woods of numberless
tribes, usually at war. The Bantus, it states, have cattle, live in
round huts, wear skin and leather clothing, worship their ancestors,
and hold rain-making superstitions. The Sudanese Negroes are more
civilized, states the encyclopedia. They are mostly farmers who live
in rectangular huts, wear bark or palm fiber clothing, and use bows
and arrows and wooden shields. Often cannibals, they believe in scar
tattooing and teeth filing. Their heathen religion of witchcraft and
fetishism is practiced through secret societies.80

The 1947 edition of the World Book is more general. Africans

 

wear few clothes made of grass or animal skins but they have a strong

love of color and ornament. They make simple huts and are mostly

81

farmers. Two years later, however, Colliers has an extensive

77De Forest Stull and Roy W. Hatch, Journeys Through Many Lands,
(Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1952), p. 78.
0. Stuart Hamer, Exploring the Old World, (Chicago: Follett,
1955), p99 396-402.
Kenneth S. C00per, Clarence W. Sorenson, and Lewis Paul Todd,
Learning to Look at our World, (Morristown, N. J.: Silver, Bardett,1961).
'fifi ‘8UCompton's, p. 37. I

81"Africa", World Book, 1947, Vol. I. p. 77.

 

 

 

 

22

article on African peoples using an anthrOpologiCal approach and
describing the family, politics, and economics in various tribes.82
Although the post-World War II trend in geographies was to
include something on the way of life of the people, some texts made
only brief mention of the "natives". "Most of the peOple are in
primitive stages of cultural deve10pment," states one text (1945).83
In a discussion of Southern Rhodesia in a schoolbook published in
1960, the authors write that the greatest need is to Open up more
land for European settlement.84 Another textbook writer (1950) says
that Africa is not thickly populated so there is plenty of room for
the white man.85
The choice of pictures correlated with the written texts; Congo
village scenes, South African farms and mines and cities, and the Nile
River and Sahara scenes predominated. Pictures in one text (1945), for
example, included a diamond mine, Africans picking cotton in South Africa,
an oasis in North Africa, and a photograph of the port of Algiers.86
Another geography (1953) showed the same picture of Algiers, a picture
of an oil well in the shadow of the pyramids and pictures of South
Africa - a wool market, a diamond mine, and a gold mine.87 The

Drakensburg Mountains, the Cape of Good Hope, a gold mine, and the

88
Sennar Dam illustrated a third geography (1950).

 

82"African Pe0ples", Colliers Encyclopedia, 1949, Vol. I.
3John Hodgdon Bradley, World Geggraphy, (Boston: Ginn, 1945),

 

 

p. 332.
84Wallace W. Atwood and Helen Goss Thomas, Nations Overseas,
(Boston:8ginn, 1960), p. 73.
Stamp, p. 539.

 

87Packard, Geggraphy of the World.

88Stamp.

 

23

The thrust of "emerging Africa" induced some changes in the
textbooks of the sixties. A country—by—country treatment covering
some history, geography, and culture became one form of organization.
The customs of pe0ple receive the least consideration. Often brief,
interesting facts are vaguely stated. One text says that by 1960
many Negroes held important industrial jobs in the Congo. African
natives have very few rights in South Africa, states the same author,
but they are gradually being provided better jobs, health and education.89
Texts point out that Negro people differ among themselves, but they do
not elaborate beyond using the "primitive" Bushmen or ngmies and
"relatively advanced" Sudanese as examples. A recent text (1959)
presents the problem of the gulf between Liberians of American descent
and the indigenous Liberians but offers no explanation. The same
book presents the problem of different groups in Nigeria, but the
reasons why are never explored.90

Schoolbooks centinue to avoid the perplexing questions, to
Americans, of bridewealth, polygamy, and traditional religion. Perhaps
the omission is better than the out of hand condemnation of the nine-
teenth century writers, but it does nothing to clear up the confusion.
The transition to modern, technological society has been recognized,
however. An excellent section in one book (1961) tells the story of

91

Tom Ngasa, a South African who moved to the city. But best is the

beginning of the chapter on culture change in Global History of Man

 

 

89Drummond, p. 284.
James and Davis, p. 459.
Cooper, The Changing Old World, pp. 410-412.

 

24

(1962) which consists of quotations from Africans. One reaction to
the West comes from an old woman in Central Africa:

You EurOpeans think you have everything to teach us.
You tell us we eat the wrong food, treat our babies the
wrong way, give our Sick peOple the wrong medicine; you
are always telling us we are wrong. Yet, if we had
always done the wrogg things, we should be dead. And
you see we are not.

Another reSponse comes from an educated Congolese:

Economic development, improvement of the material
conditions of existence, the real possibility for an
individual to get along without the help of the clan
ought to make the house evolve toward a real home.

Transition problems are also dealt with in encyclopedia articles in

Colliers (1965) and EncyclOpedia Britannicg (1962).

 

But the image of the African living a very strange kind of life
seems destined to die slowly. A new curriculum in the social studies
includes the story of the Pygmies in a kindergarten book, The Child

Begins to Know His Worlg (1965). Though the bibliography is impressive

 

and the presentation is sympathetic, the strange African remains. Ahia
is a happy little black boy in loincloth. He lives in a hut of leaves
and sticks. He sees crocodiles and monkeys and sends messages on big
jungle drums.94

As a kindergarten book, the pictures are the story and pictures

have been so important in the formation of the image of the African by

 

92Quoted in Stavrianos, p. 43 from a quotation in Margaret
Read, Education and Social Change in TrOpical Areas, (London and New
York: Tfiomas Nelson and Sons, 1955), p. 7.
93Quoted in Stavrianos, p. 43 from L. Ilonga, "La Femme et la
menage indigene," Voix du Congolaise, IV, 30 (Septembre, 1948), p. 373.
The Child Begins to Know His World, Greater Cleveland Social

;—_

Science Program, 1965, pp. 48-58.

 

 

25

American schoolchildren. One hundred and fifty years ago, photographs
were not part of a textbook, though engravings were used occasionally.
Therefore, writers resorted to word descriptions. "The inhabitants

of the Torrid Zone are distinguished for the blackness of their skins,"
said Olney in his 1831 geography.95 "The negroes are physically
characterized by wooly hair, black Skin, projecting lips, flattened
nose, low and retreating forehead and the form of legs," stated

Goodrich. (1840).96 The 1836 Encyclopedia Americana described the

 

African race as distinguished by a black complexion and curly hair,
as well as peculiarities in bone and nerve construction.97 An 1873
geography said of the African: "He has black skin, an ungainly figure,
awkward gait, a narrow head elongated backward, a low and retreating
forehead, a broad flat nose and prominent cheek bones, a projecting
jaw, thick lips and wooly hair."98

Pictures upheld the word descriptions. In the frontiSpiece of
Mitchell's geography (1853), an African, clad only in loincloth, leaned
on a stick (was it a hoe or a Spear?) under a palm tree and beneath was
the caption "savage". A man wearing leg bands and shorts and sitting
on a stool represented the African or EthiOpian race in another geography
(1911).99 Drawings could easily exaggerate the nose and mouth and curly
hair of the African, and did. Photographs could not lie as much, but
the fact that the Pygmies and Masai were most p0pular as subjects gave

95Olney, p. 17.

96Goodrich, Geography, p. 826.
7EncyclOpedia Americana, p. 90.
Guyot, p. 115.

9Dryer, p. 257.

 

26

precedence to the almost naked African. Frye’s New Geography (1917)

 

had a picture captioned "savage Negro with Spear" and another of
"savages dancing". All are naked. But not only textbooks and ency—
c10pedias tended to show the African at his most primitive. The

frontispiece of Carter Woodson's African Mythg has two pictures of

 

naked Africans gathering at a market. The engravings in the book

emphasize the animals, the jungle, and naked men. The Child's Story

 

of the Negro, used to teach Negro history in elementary school, has
one drawing of a boy wearing a loincloth and carrying a Spear. The

other drawings show a village of huts and African animals. However,

 

Woodson's book African Heroes and Herginenghich has drawings of
people such as Samory Toure and Chaka shows no naked Africans.
Comparative pictures of the race types were most damning to
Africans. The ideal Apollo of the Greeks represented the white race
while a vacant-faced tribesman represented the Negro, or an Emersonian
white man in his library appeared in contrast to a naked black man with
club and Shield. The texts beneath the pictures were variations on a
theme. Wrote Mitchell in 1840: "The EurOpean or Caucasian is the most
noble of the five races of men. It excels all others in learning and
the arts and includes the most powerful nations of ancient and modern
times. The most valuable institutions of society and the most important
and useful inventions have originated with the pe0ple of this race." In

contrast, the Negro was "ignorant and degraded".100 An 1873 geography

 

fifi if v—v—v

100John A. Nietz, Old Textboogg, (University of Pittsburgh Press:
1961), p. 216.

 

27

stated that deviations from the typical white man's harmonies of pro-
portion indicate degradation of the type.101 Under the pictures of
the races in a 1904 geography, the author wrote that the aggressive,
civilized Caucasians were not taking possession of the earth. Looking
at the picture of the Negro with a gold ring in his nose and no
clothes, one would expect the description underneath of the unintel-
lectual, unprogressive African who worshipped nature and engaged in
human sacrifice.102

Did the pictures have an impact? A Negro American remembered:
"In the fourth grade, those pictures of the races of man. . . with a
handsome guy to represent the whites, an Indian with a feathered hat,
a Chinese and an East Indian, and then a black, kinky—haired Specimen —
that was me, a savage, a cannibal, he was just the tail end of the

human race, he was at the bottom.' A white American recalled the
line-up of races in an encyc10pedia. Here the African Negro was a
"vacant-faced villager and the white man was represented by a picture
of Benjamin Franklin."103
Pictures in the textbooks and encyc10pedias published in the
last ten years have improved. A striking picture in color of the
Sultan of Bornu's court appears in one encyc10pedia. An elementary
geography Opens its section on Africa with a photograph, also in

color, of a boy in a bright, striped robe, standing in front of his

decorated home. Though portraits of tribal Africans continue to be

 

101Guyot, p. 115.
Tarr, p. 383.

103Isaacs, pp. 162, 165.

28

popular, there also appear pictures of African women in supermarkets
and at voting booths. The black people in the photographs look
handsome, but the word "black" still connotes more than a skin color.

The quality of blackness is the most important characteristic
of the African's physical appearance. Philip Curtin explains that by
the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was an almost universal
assumption that African skin color, hair texture and facial features
were in some way connected with the African way of life and the status
of slavery. Thus culture and color prejudice blended.104 The
blending of these two prejudices is still a large problem today. When
the white school board candidates of a large city are asked by Negro
citizens what steps they will take to see that Negro history is taught
in the school, the white men and women can only say that Of course
they are in favor of human relations courses. They know nothing about
Negro history. IS there one? The PTA president asks a returned Peace
Corps volunteer at the coffee hour after the program. "Were they all
colored? Were they very backward?" At another meeting, of a church
women's group, one person asks, "Weren‘t you uncomfortable with all
those black peOple?" The color is emphasized. "That African student
is so black. Why he is almost blue," exclaims an aunt.

These are white peOple talking about the color black suspiciously.
Harold Isaacs has explored what the word "black" and the phrase "black
African" mean to Negro Americans. To the Negro, he says, the word

"black became the key word of rejection, an insult, a fighting word."

 

104Curtin, p. 30.

29

He continues:

I suggest that every time black was used or per—
ceived this way the word African came after it, whether
it was actually Spoken or not, whether it was there or
remained an echo in the mind. For the Africans were
blacks, the source of all the blackness, the depths
from which all had come and from which all wanted to
rise. Africa was the "darkness" they wanted to leave
behind in order to rise to the light of the white man's
world.

There was the difficulty. A world history, published in 1950,
stated the image concisely. "The Dark Continent is an unexplored
wilderness, with an unbearable climate, a Negro pOpulation largely
barbarous, and deserts and jungle quite impenetrable. . . The people

"106 The

are dark Of Skin; many of them are even darker Of mind.
blackness of skin seeped into the mind and thus the whole continent
became black.

The image Of the black African savage, whether noble or degraded,
violent or timid, wearing no clothes and having a ring through his nose
or sitting on a golden stool and owning three thousand wives - the
image included the premise of savagery or barbarism or primitivism. It
shaped the views of Mr. Goldberg, his parents and grandparents and his
children, toward Africa and toward the descendants of that continent
in America. Why this image of the African character was plausible
becomes even clearer after one has looked at the geography and history

of Africa which has been presented in American Schoolbooks for the

past one hundred and fifty years.

 

105Isaacs, p. 171.
106Carlton Hayes, Parker Thomas Moon, and John W. Wayland,
World History, (New York: Macmillan, 1950), pp. 435 and 722.

 

CHAPTER II

DID YOU SEE LIONS IN THE JUNGLE?

The American Image of

African Geography

Geographers in Afric maps
With savage pictures fill their gaps
And o'er uninhabited downs
Place elephants for want of towns.
Swift

Of the many myths that Americans hold about Africa, the title
of this chapter is one of the most universal. Only about five per cent
of Africa can be called jungle and the few lions there are live in the
grasslands. But, as Swift's verse from the eighteenth century indicates,
accurate geographical knowledge about Africa is of fairly recent origin
and the myths have died hard.

Portuguese sailors, in the fifteenth century, diSpelled the
myth of trOpical boiling seas, but tales about the interior Of Africa
had to await confirmation or diSproof by explorers of the nineteenth
century. Other myths, more cultural than geographic, grew up from the
travels of these explorers. One problem, which the third chapter will
attack, was that the history of interior Africa seemed to begin with
the so-called "years of African discovery" by men such as Mungo Park,
David Livingstone, and Henry Stanley. These men and others, however,
did settle geographical puzzles of centuries. Which way did the Niger
flow? What was the source of the Nile?

The earliest geographies published in the United States drew
on the information which Mungo Park brought back about the Niger River.
Centuries of acceptance of Leo Africanus' mistaken notion that the

Niger flowed west ended when Mungo Park wrote, as he stood at Segu,

that the Niger flowed east. Yet the mouth had not been discovered.

31

32

In A Practical System of Modern Geography (1831), Olney listed the

 

various theories concerning the mouth of the Niger: the river might
be a branch of the Nile, it might lose itself in the marshes of the
interior, it might empty into Lake Chad, it might be the same as the
Congo River, or it might empty into the Gulf of Guinea.1
The locations Of mountains on African maps in early nineteenth
century atlases were not listed as Speculative, but they were. The
maps showed an immense line of mountains, called Jibbel Kumra or
Mountains Of the Moon in an east-west chain straight across the broadest

part Of the continent.2

Jedidiah Morse's geography (1812) stated that
the Mountains Of the Moon ran from Abyssinia to Monomatapa while the

Mountains of Lions stretched from Sierra Leone across the continent to

Abyssinia.3 According to the 1836 edition of the Encyclopedia Ameri-

 

2223' Africa possessed immense chains of mountains, called the Atlas,
the Moon, the Kong, the Lupata and the Cape, but on the whole the
continent was quite level. The courses of the rivers have not been
explored, said the encyc10pedia, although it noted that the Niger
flowed east. Large lakes, including the Dembea, the Wangara, the

4 Goodrich (1840) enumerated

Tschad and the Aquilunda, were listed.
only the Kong, Abyssinian and Moon mountains.5 Mitchell (1853) left

out the Kong and added the Atlas and the Snow.6 Both mentioned the

 

101ney, p. 241.

2Johnson, p. 338.

3Morse, p. 346.

4EncyclOpedia Americana, p. 80.
5Goodrich, Geography, p. 812.
6Mitchell, p. 303.

 

33

Nile and the Niger, but noted that the source of the Nile was not
known.

By 1873 statements were more tentative. The American Cyclo—

 

pedia said it was believed there were extensive high ranges back of
the west coast, though most of the continent was tableland.7 Maury's
Physical Geography, published in 1890, had a map showing Mt. Kenia and

Mt. Kilimanjaro as well as the Atlas Mountains and the Kong Mountains

 

of West Africa. The Nile, Niger, Congo, Zambezi, and Orange Rivers

were shown.8 Frye's Complete Geography (1901) referred to Mt. Kiliman-

 

jaro and Mt. Kenia and stated that one branch of the Kongo River had

Lake Tanganyika as an outlet.9

Most geographies published between

1850 and 1914 mentioned Africa under relief forms and drainage or made

no reference to Africa but used American examples entirely.
EncyclOpedias and texts after World War I dealt with the major

topographical features of the continent, but rarely was their origin

mentioned. Chambers EncyclOpedia (1923) stated that the great lakes

 

are rift valleys but did not explain what a rift valley was.10 Students
learned that Africa had a straight, regular coast and that the contin-
ent was almost totally a great plateau with very little lowland. The
names of the chief rivers and lakes and mountains were always part of
the textbook treatment, unless the elementary geography was following

the approach of a visit to a Congolese village. Then usually only the

 

fifi

7"Africa", American CyclOpedia, George Ripley and Charles A.
Dana, ed., (New York: D. Appleton, 1873), p. 164.

Maury, p. 115.

9Frye, p. 85.

10"Africa", Chambers EncyclOpedia, David Patrick and William
Geddie, ed. (Philadelphia: J. B. LippinEott, 1923), p. 81.

 

 

34

Congo River with its waterfalls and rapids was described. In one
text (1950), the escarpment was explained.11 In a Speciality book
on Africa in the Fideler series, rift valleys were described.12

The pOpular approach to geography in history texts enumerated
the continental barriers to penetration by the white man. According
to a 1956 history text, for example, barren desert, dense jungle, few
good harbors or navigable rivers, climate and disease were Africa's
barriers to exploration.13

Geographies of the sixties generally give the student a better

H

understanding Of the "why behind the topographical features. The
basins within the plateau, the rift valleys, and the phenomenon of
river capture may be explained. A discussion of the large rivers may
be linked to information concerning potential hydroelectric power. Two
new editions of encyc10pedias describe the theory Of Gondwanaland.
While school pupils have generally learned the basic facts
about Africa's physiography, myths have been perpetuated in the area
of climate. The "unhealthy" climate of the continent, which gave West
Africa the name "white man's grave", has been written about in the
very earliest texts and in some Of the most recent. More than a century
ago, the Guinea coast climate was considered notoriously fatal to

Europeans. In 1960, a geography stated that the coastal lowland's hot

moist climate was unhealthful for white people.14

 

11Stamp, p. 532.
12William D. Allen, Africa, (Grand Rapids, Mich: Fideler, 1956),

13Wallhank, p. 512.
14Atwood, p. 73.

35

The early schoolbooks and encyclopedias contained more exotic
descriptions. The climate was so hot that eggs would roast in the Guinea
sand, said one.(1836).15 Olney (1831) explained why the Guinea coast
was unhealthy for foreigners: the Simoon or poisonous blast from the
desert (did he mean the harmattan?) blew on the coast; if received
into the lungs it caused instant death.16 Goodrich (1840) blamed
exhalations of the swampy soil for generating fatal diseases.17

Some texts were content merely to state that Africa had the
hottest climate on the globe without being Specific, but most said a
word about the relationship between climate and EurOpeanS. "The

climate is extremely fatal (sic) to white men,"

stated Dryer in
1911.18 In 1914 the Americana reported that the west coast had a
deadly climate for foreigners.19 History books also mentioned the

unhealthy climate, usually in the discussion of barriers to the

white man. Chambers EncyclOpedia (1923) called the coastal climate

 

malaria1.20 Hillyer's Child's Geography of the World (1929) Spoke of

 

the unhealthful Congo whose marshes and jungles gave white men the

fever.21

After noting that the Congo was the white man's grave,
another elementary geography (1928) gave a list Of precautions for
the white man in Africa: he should wear a helmet, boil his water, take

22
mosquito boots and net, and exercise. More SOphisticated texts said

 

15EncyclOpedia Americana, p. 88.

1bOlney, p. 239.

17Goodrich, Geography, p. 813.

1gnryer, p. 497.
EncyclOpedia Americana, 1914, no page numbers.
Chambers EncyclOpedia, p. 83.

21Hillyer, p. 395.

22Branom, p. 179.

 

 

 

36

that the climate was not adapted to or suited for white people or was
more or less hostile to EurOpeans.23 The Ehgyclogedia Britannigg
(1955) stated that the continual moist heat was very enervating to
Europeans.24
For a century and a half, textbooks perpetuated the myth of
an unhealthy climate. The mortality rates were high. "Between 1819
and 1836 the annual average death rate per thousand mean strength of
European troops on the West African coast was 483 for enlisted men
and 209 for officers."25 But disease, mostly insect-carried, not
climate, was the real reason Sierra Leone received the name "white man's
grave". Actually Sierra Leone was everyman's grave. From 1787 to 1826,
approximately 22,000 non—European settlers, with no environmental
immunity as indigenous Africans come to possess, entered the colony,
but in 1826 the population was only 13,000.26 Medical reforms, in-
cluding quinine prophylaxis and the abolition of dangerous treatments,
reduced EurOpean mortality by at least half by 1850.27
Today, these tropical diseases, malaria being the best known,
are suppressible. The healthy EurOpean or American who takes his two
tiny chloroquin pills every Sunday can stay healthy. Yet the climate
continues to have an unfavorable image. A common question put to

returnees from West Africa is: "But wasn't the weather terribly hot

and humid all the time?" One must then explain the cool nights in the

23Packard, Becker, Bradley.
4EncyclOpedia Britannica, p. 295.
25Curtin, p. 362.

26Ibid., p. 180.

27Ibid., p. 362.

 

37

bush, the effect of the harmattan, and the relative chill of the rainy
season. Further, it is an important point that the west coast and

the Congo region are only a small part Of Africa. A more comfortable
climate prevails not only in East and South Africa but also in West
Africa behind the coast.

Studies to classify the climates of the world as to suitability
for human settlement were pOpular during the period when environmental
determinism was being studied. A map based upon temperature and
humidity would Show as suitable areas in the highlands where white

H

settlements do occur. "But, asks Harm de Blij, "have these EurOpeans
come to those suitable areas because the climate there is attractive
or because there is economic Opportunity? Would Johannesburg not have
attracted a great influx of whites whether its climate was dry-winter
subtropical or rainforest, as long as it proved to lie on the world's
greatest gold field?"28

The most important facts about Africa's climate, now showing
up on maps and in the texts of schoolbooks and encyc10pedias, are that
there are different climatic regions and that rainfall variability is
the greatest climatic problem. But to say that scarcity of rain rather
than too much rain is the problem of most of Africa contradicts another
myth. Just as schoolbooks have tended to generalize about the un-

healthful climate, SO they have generalized about the lush vegetation.

Although most Americans are familiar with the Sahara in North Africa,

 

28Harm J. de Blij, A Geography of Subsaharan Africa, (Chicago:
Rand McNally, 1964), p. 41.

 

38

subsaharan Africa is one huge jungle to many. A high school student
wrote in 1965: "Thick dense jungles cover most of Africa." Perhaps
Tarzan helped to create the image, but one perceptive seventeen—year-
old wrote on the same assignment: "Swinging across a deep ravine filled
with lions, Tarzan managed to capture the interest of the world for a
brief moment. The world Tarzan knew - or was supposed to know — is

fast changing. To begin with, there were few places in Africa which
answered Burrough's description. Now there are even fewer."

The student found another authority for his picture Of the

vegetation of Africa. Conrad wrote in Heart of Darkness:

 

Going up that river was like traveling back to
the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation
rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An
empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest
.The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and
entangled mass Of trunks, leaves, boughs, festoons,
motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting in-
vasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants,
piled up, crested, ready to tOpple over the creek, to
sweep every little man of us out of his little existence.29

Tarzan and Conrad only confirmed what the child saw and read
in his schoolbooks. The encyc10pedias of the sixties point out that
Africa is not to be equated with lush trOpical jungle and some recent
textbooks Show the student the life of a boy in Nigeria or South Africa
instead of in the Congo. But a history text published in 1947 stated
that the African continent consisted of trOpical jungles and sandy

deserts.30 This impression of two zones of vegetation was also given

29Joseph Conrad, Youth: A Narrative and Two Other Stories,
(New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1959), pp. 106, 101.

3OArthur Boak, Preston Slosson, and Howard R. Anderson, World
History, (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1942, 47), p. 429.

by the elementary geographies which told stories of Ali the Bedouin
and Wemba the Congolese or Pygmy. Some geographies did note that
savanna or grassland was more typical than forest. The questions at
the end of a story describing a trip to East Africa to see the Masai
and the lions might ask the student to consider the advantages of the

plateau country. The 1947 World Book recognized three natural regions -

 

jungle, desert, and savanna, figuring about one-fourth of the continent

was forest.31

The number of natural regions later increased to at
least five to differentiate vegetation more particularly. Usually
the vegetational zones were allied with climatic divisions, though

separate maps might appear.

In his unit on subsaharan Africa in Global History Of Man

 

(1962), Stavrianos describes five vegetation and Climate types. His
first concern is to point out the vast differences in climate in Africa,
that some areas have less annual rainfall than Arizona while one area
gets at least 400 inches of annual rainfall. He also explains that
the heat is balanced by the effects of the elevation of the plateau.
Equatorial rainforests, he says, are often incorrectly called jungles.
"Within the rain forest, the trees rise to well over 100 feet and form
a canopy that shuts out the sunlight. When the layers of vegetation
are dense, they prevent the growth Of bushes and weeds and one can
walk at ease in Open ground between the great pillars of the leafy
canopy. Jungles, on the other hand, occur only at the edges, along

river banks, or in locations that have been cleared, that is, in

 

31World Book, p. 74.

 

40

areas which may be reached by the sun."32 Savanna, semiarid, arid, and
mediterranean are the other types of climate and vegetation named. Two
pictures, one of the rain forest and one Of the savanna, called "most
typical Of Africa", are included to "diSpel the popular, but erroneous,
idea that Africa is virtually covered with steaming jungles and steaming
vines."33

The jungle has ordinarily been allied with animals in the

image of Africa. The story of Lion Boy, on the World Book 1947 reading

 

list, uses phrases like "jungle gloom" though the setting is undoubtedly
East Africa. In this book, the boy himself is often compared to an
animal: "ate noisily and greedily like an animal", "nostrils flaring
wide like those of an animal", and "as wild and untamed as a young
lion."34 Klgtg tells a tale of adventure with animals in the jungle.35
Though the map in Agpssou, Boy of Africa clearly shows the boy's home
to be in the savanna of northern Dahomey, the text talks about and the
pictures Show forest. The impression is given that the walls around
the village keep out all the animals mentioned, including lions, tigers
(not found in Africa), elephants, buffaloes, zebras, and giraffes.36
Safari books are some of the most popular and numerous story

books about Africa, but others also combine the jungle and animals to

create exciting tales. Two books by Norman Davis are Picken's Great

 

 

32

33Stavrianos, p. 12.

Ibid., pp. 10-13.
34Alden G. Stevens, Lion Boy, (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1938).
35Elizabeth Enright, Kintu: A Congo Adventure, (Eau Claire,
Wisconsin: E. M. Hale, 1935)TI' "
6Dominique Dabeis, Agossou, Boy of Africa, (Chicago: Follett,

 

 

 

1962).

41

Adventure and Picken's Treasure Hunt; the first tells about a little

 

Gambian boy who kills a bushcat in the jungle and finds the gold

bracelet of the great Safu, while in the second Picken narrowly escapes

'7

a crocodile and brings home a golden throne." Rene Guillot's Sirga,

Queen of the African Bush has as its purpose to Show the dignity and

 

magnificence of the beasts and primitive peOple who inhabit the jungle,
according to the introduction.38

The wild animals of Africa fascinated textbook writers from
the beginning. Morse's geography (1812) described elephants, tigers,
1e0pards, monkeys, and monstrous serpents. In Goodrich's Pictorial
Geography (1840), out of forty—seven pictures dealing with subsaharan
Africa, thirty—four are animal pictures. Besides including individual
engravings of twenty-seven different animals, the book used a picture
of a lion attacking a Boer wagon, Mungo Park meeting a lion, and
several other meetings between man and beast. Twelve pages are
devoted solely to animal life. Three of the six pictures in Mitchell‘s
geography (1853) which pertain to subsaharan Africa are of animals:
a lion, an alligator, and a rhinoceros. In the text, he discussed the
chimp, elephant, hippo, giraffe, rhinoceros, lion, 1e0pard, zebra,
antelope, camel, ostrich, crocodile and white ants.

Animal maps came before peOple maps. Frye's geography (1917)

had one and World Book still features an animal map. Elementary

 

 

i v

37Norman Davis, Picken's Great Adventure and Picken's Treasure
Hunt, (New York: Oxford, 1950 and 1955i.
Rene Guillot, Sirga, Queen Of the African Bush, (New York:
Criterion Books, 1959).

 

 

 

42

geographies Of the twentieth century particularly emphasized animals.
One suggested a project on circus animals. Another told stories of
the "zoo land". Others included elephant hunts in their stories about

Congolese life or told about a visit to the wild animals in East Africa.

 

The Child's Story of the Noggo, written for elementary Negro history
classes, described the darkest part of the jungle where many strange
animals live, including the lion, 1e0pard, panther, hyena, elephant,
ostrich, rhinoceros, and giraffe. One chapter told about insect life,
including the driver ants. Another told about the lungfish and a third
about the elephant.39

Pictures were included in the elementary geographies, too,
sometimes in color. A 1945 geography had eight pictures of subsaharan
Africa - four were animals.40 In contrast, out of forty pictures in
a 1961 text, only four show animals. One Of those shows cattle on the
grasslands, another a dairy farm in South Africa, and a third a pack
animal. This text points out that the best chance to see wild animals
is to go to a game park. The importance Of cattle to African herdsmen
is stressed, again in contrast to older texts which emphasized the
wild animals.41

"What animals did you see?" the schoolchildren always ask.
"Only snakes and a few pet monkeys" is the reply of an American who

spent two years in the "jungle". American children are even more

 

39Jane D. Shackelford, The Child's Story of the Negzo, (Wash—
ington: Associated Press, 1955).
0McConnel, Geography Around the World.
1COOper,'The Changing Old World.

 

 

 

43

disappointed to learn that out of three hundred African students at
one school only two had ever seen an elephant in the bush. The rest
had to go to the zoo to see their first wild animals. Of course,
Africa has changed and when the books of fifty or even twenty-five
years were written, monkeys did swing from tree to tree in this west
African bush.

A new television series, Daktari, has updated the animal scene
in Africa. Safaris and safari hats are absent. A benevolent American
doctor and his assistants, one apparently an educated African, save
animal lives at a research center on a reserve. They also redeem
people, white and black, who are poachers by acquainting them with a
lovable lion and a mischievous monkey. Unfortunately, the programs
do live up to their advertising and Show a continent "where man is the
constant stranger, where animals have the sense of humor". Unfortun-
ately, Africa is again associated with animals rather than with Africans.

Not only lions got tangled in the jungle. The luxuriant growth
of the rainforest prOpagated another myth. Three periods can be dis—
tinguished in the handling of this myth. The period from 1800 to 1850
was so impressed by the exuberant vegetation of central Africa that
there was a general belief in the extreme fertility of the jungle soil.
The age of environmental determinism, lasting until 1930 in the text—
books, did not reject this belief but tied it to the way of life of
the "native". Finally, in the last twenty years there has been a
recognition that Africa's soils are more frequently poor than excellent
and there has been a greater understanding of the African's methods

of land use.

44

Morse (1812) stated that the coastal land was exceedingly

42

fertile. Said the EncyclOpedia Americagg in 1836: "The earth

"4
renders back seed to the cultivator increased hundredfold. 3 Mitchell

 

(1853) claimed that the soil in West Africa was highly productive.44

These statements reflected the ecstatic reports of early travelers to
West Africa. Henry Smeathman, for example, reported concerning Sierra
Leone:
The woods and plains produce Spontaneously great

quantities of the most pleasant fruits and Spices, from

which may be made oils, marmalades, wines, perfumes and

other valuable articles, to supply the markets of Great

Britain and Ireland. Such are the mildness and fertility

Of the climate and country that a man possessed of a

change of cloathing, a wood axe, a hoe, and a pocket

knife, may soon place himself in an easy and comfortable

situation. All the cloathing wanted is what decency

requires; and it is not necessary to turn up the earth

more than two or three inches, with a light hoe, in

order to cultivate any kind Of grain.
This legend of tropical exuberance was first allied with the noble
savage concept, but by the nineteenth century the Protestant work
ethic gave rise to a new interpretation. TrOpical exuberance became
a curse.

A geography published in 1919 stated that the natives rarely

practiced agriculture but just planted crops and left them to grow.

Although the author admitted that clearing the land was difficult, he

concluded that the abundance of plant life was an Obstacle to progress

 

42Morse, p. 347.

Encyclopedia Americana, p. 88.
44Mitchell, p. 316.
45Quoted in Curtin, p. 61.

 

45

4
since life was too easy. 6 Frye (1917) explained in his text that
gardens in central Africa needed little care. To get food, the African

47 Another text,

simply had to gather some fruit or hunt or fish.
published in 1921, said that in the trOpics nature was SO lavish that
man did not need to struggle for a living. Wild and cultivated products
of the soil furnished plenty of food. Because vegetation grew at all
seasons, there was no time for which provision had to be made in ad-
vance. This author also concluded that such conditions fostered in—

dolence.48 A world history published in 1927 Spoke Of the fertile

soil and abundance natural resources but the lazy and indolent Negroes.49
By the nineteen forties, the picture of the lazy African in a
trOpical paradise was shattered. The story of the village in the Congo

began to emphasize the hard work of making a garden instead of the

happy singing. Colliers EncyclOpedia (1949) explained the problems

 

50 A 1957

of erosion and leaching and described shifting cultivation.
world geography states that the luxuriance of central Africa's vegeta-
tion is deceptive; the soil is poor and its best future is probably
tree plantations.51 Another geography (1959) discusses agricultural
problems at some length. The reasons that the South African reserves
cannot provide subsistence for the Africans are listed: poor operation,

soil erosion, men off working in the mines. There is no mention, how-

ever, of the percentage of land in reserves for Africans in comparison

 

46Salisbury, p. 337.
ngrye, New Geography, p. 13.
Chamberlain, p. 4.
Barnard and Roorbach, p. 611.
50Colliers Encyclopedia, p. 150-
51Pounds, p. 583.

 

 

46

‘to the percentage of land held by EurOpeans. In discussions under the
individual countries, the peanut fiasco in Tanganyika, the cocoa success
in Ghana, and the food producing possibilities of EthiOpia are explored.52

A 1961 geography suggests how burning to make a farm may help to save

53

the land. Under the heading "land use" the Encyclopedia Americana

 

(1962) explains that shifting cultivation is adequate if there is
plentiful land but few people.54 The 1965 Colliers talks about the
chemical weathering and leaching of the soil and its general un-
fertility.55
In presenting a picture of agriculture in Africa, a consis-
tently better job has been done in describing farming in the Nile
valley. The various methods of irrigation have been and are now well
covered by text and illustrations. The contributions of ancient
Egypt to agriculture as well as the role of the modern Aswan Dam are
clear. However, in only one book, published in 1961, was there men-
tion of the crOps whiCh subsaharan Africa gave to the world as well
as those she borrowed.56
Information on the natural resources of Africa is another area
in which northern and southern Africa, too, are given fuller treatment
than trOpical Africa. In almost every geography a page or two and

several pictures are devoted to the gold and diamond mines of South

Africa. Facts on minerals in Africa were not known in the nineteenth

 

52

53James, pp. 442, 457, 460, 326.

COOper,The Changing Old World, p. 391.

_EncyclOpedia Americana, p. 222.
5ECSlliers Encyclopedia, p. 201.
5(’COOper, p. 417.

 

 

47

century and, for other than South Africa, minerals are discoveries of
the twentieth century. Nevertheless, a Liberian iron miner or a
Zambian copper miner would be an addition to the usual picture of a
South African mining gold. The organization Of many recent texts in

a country-by-country treatment does allow the enumeration of resources
and products of each country. The possibilities Of hydroelectric
power are also mentioned and occasionally pictures of the Kariba Dam
appear.

To most Americans, natural resources in Africa are connected
with the develOpment of Africa by the white man. Because the school—
books ignored the history Of Africa preceding the "discoveries" of
the explorers, Americans never learned about the medieval trade in gold

and salt or the iron-smelting culture of African peoples.

CHAPTER III

ARE THE NATIVES READY FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT?

The American Image of

African History and Future PrOSpects

Africa with the exception of the lower Nile
Valley and what is known as Roman Africa, so
far as its native inhabitants are concerned,
is a continent practically without a history
and possessing no records from which such a
history might be constructed.

EncyclOpedia Britannica, 1911

 

Charles H. Wesley, in an article in the Journal of Negro History

 

in 1935, quoted this statement from the eleventh edition of the Ency-

clopedio Britannica and then proposed that "history should be recon—

 

structed so that Africa, home of the darker races, shall have its

V

prOper place.’ We know about African kingdoms such as Benin, Yoruba,
Nupe, Melle, Songhai and Mossi, he continued. We know about men such
as Askia the Great. Africa must take its place in history as Japan,
China, and India have done.1

Almost thirty years later, Wesley wrote another article in
which he singled out the writing and teaching of history as the challenge
of the future.2 Sadly, little progress has been made in the interven-
ing years since his first article. The names of those African kingdoms
are still not familiar to schoolchildren. World history texts, pub-
lished in the sixties, still speak of the "Dark Continent". It was
Henry Stanley's phrase and his well-publicized books imprinted the

two words on the minds of generations Of Americans. Almost every

high school student learns the story of the meeting between Stanley

 

1Charles H. Wesley, "The Reconstruction of History", Journal
of NegroAHistory, (October, 1935), pp. 422-23.

CzCharles H. Wesley, "Creating and Maintaining an Historical
Tradition", Journal of Negro History, (January, 1964), p. 32.

 

 

49

50

H

and Livingstone and the famous greeting: Dr. Livingstone, I presume."

So did his parents and grandparents.

In truth, as Paul Bohannan points out, the phrase "Dark
Continent" is a subject-object confusion. The continent was dark to
EurOpeans and Americans because they knew very little or nothing about
Africa. One Of the reasons for EurOpe's ignorance about civilized
Africa was that during the middle ages the northern continent was
isolated. In contrast, Islam was invading and influencing not only
North Africa but also West Africa. As EurOpe awakened in the fifteenth
century, the Moors were conquering Songhay, the greatest Sudanic state.
T,e Europeans, then, when they did "discover" Africa, discovered a
declining civilization.3

Although the scientific humanitarianism of the early nine—
teenth century balanced in some ways the contempt for Africans bred
by the brutal slave trade, the latter attitude proved stronger and
contributed to the image of a dark Africa without a past. The public
did not read Dr. Winterbottom who concluded in the late eighteenth
century that cannibalism was non-existent in Sierra Leone and "for
many hundred leagues to the northward and southward".4 Obviously,
neither did the textbook writers, as references to cannibalism
appeared frequently even in the twentieth century. But the public

did fit the contempt for Africans into the colonial doctrine which

saw Africans as inferiors. The missionaries enlarged the idea of a

 

3Paul Bohannan, Africa and Africans, (Garden City, New York:
Natural History Press, 1964), p. 4.
Basil Davidson, The African Past, (Boston: Little, Brown and

., 1964), p. 31.

 

 

Co

51

Dark Continent by preaching about a moral darkness and heathen evil
in Africa.

These attitudes, which matured during the imperialistic age
and linger today, may be called the "colonial stereotype".5 Thus

the Encyclopedia Britannica Spoke in 1911 of a continent without a

 

history. Thus Sir Reginald Coupland, writing about thirty years ago
of the British penetration up the Zambezi valley, could say that "the
main body of Africans" had no history, but had "stayed, for untold
centuries, sunk in barbarism. . . the heart of Africa was scarcely

beating."6 Thus Margery Perham, writing in Foreign Affairs in 1951,

 

could observe: "Until the very recent penetration by Europe the greater
part of the continent was without the wheel, the plough or the trans-
port-animal; almost without stone houses or clothes, except skins;
without writing and so without history."7 Finally, as recently as
1963, Regius Professor Hugh Trevor-ROper could say on BBC-Television

N

that there was pp African history before the EurOpeans came, only the

unrewarding gyrations of barbarous tribes in picturesque but irrelevant

corners of the globe."8

The "colonial stereotype" influenced American textbooks. So-
called world histories, published in the twentieth century, Spend
several pages or a chapter on ancient Egypt, then tell the story of

Livingstone and Stanley followed by a brief account of the scramble

5Ihid., p. 4.
6Lid.
7Af;fca: A Foreign Affairs Reader, Philip W. Ouigg, ed., (New
York: Praeger, 1964), pjtisz.
Basil Davidson, "Wanted - A Library of African Classics",

Africa Report, (November, 1965), 25, 26.

 

 

 

52

for and the partition of Africa. Only in a few very recently published
texts and encyclopedias is there any recognition of an African kingdom
or an African culture. African history is not yet recognized as an
entity worth studying in the way Far Eastern History is recognized.

Exploring what Americans learned about African history in the
past century and a half is fairly easy for two reasons. First, even
12552 history has been a rarely taught subject. Second, the percentage
of Space devoted to Africa in those world history texts has never been
over 4.5 per cent.

Before 1890, school curriculums might include occasional
courses in United States history, civics and political economy but
they seldom included world history. Recommendations by the American
Historical Assocation Committee of Seven in 1899 suggested the following
high school curriculum: ancient and medieval history to 800 for the
first year, later medieval and modern European history for the second
year, English history for the third year and American history and civil
government for the fourth year. A committee appointed by the National
Education Association in 1916 made a new set of suggestions which are
still the basis Of current offerings in the United States. Their
recommendations included: Grade 7 - geography, EurOpean history,
civics; Grade 8 - geography, American history, civics; Grade 9 —
political, economic, vocational studies, economic history and civics;
Grade 10 - European history since 1700; Grade 11 - United States
history; Grade 12 - Problems Of American Democracy. World history,

never accorded national sanction by the historians, has tended to

53

replace European history at the tenth grade level.9

The average percentage of pages allotted to Africa in twenty-
eight world histories, most published in the twentieth century, is
two per cent. Of those pages dealing with Africa, more than half are
concerned with North Africa, primarily ancient Egypt. In most books,
Sixty to eighty per cent of the space attributed to Africa deals with
North Africa. Tropical Africa, therefore, has remained to the students
the mysterious dark continent about which the text writes.

Students have learned and still learn a great deal about the
early civilization on the Nile. Ancient Egypt's government, classes
of society, religion, pyramid construction, hieroglyphics, and irri-
gation techniques as well as history are explained in.detail. The
tenth grader in world history class has already studied life on the
Nile at least once in geography classes so he is informed about this
part Of Africa. In all cases, however, the contributions of Egypt to
western civilization are stressed. That Egypt influenced the lands
to the south was not and is not now recognized in the texts. In fact,
according to the schoolbooks, ancient Egypt seems to have had no
connection with Africa at all.

North Africa is generally mentioned in connection with two
other periods of history. A discussion of Carthage, usually limited
to Hannibal, comes under the Punic Wars. Herman Dreer, in an article
entitled "What does the Innocent Teacher Impart as History?", used

one world history text to Show bias against the Negro in the discussion

 

——J

9James High, Teaching Secopdary School Social Studies, (New
York: John Wiley, 1962), pp. 31-35.

 

 

54

of Carthage. The world history describes Carthage as having a variety
of races while Rome was ruled by Italians alone. That the ancient
peoples were a free mixture and that the war captives made slaves

were of all races are two omissions which Dreer also feels show bias.10
In most world history texts, the chapter which covers Islam usually
notes the invasion of North Africa by the Muslims. Islam‘s influence
on subsaharan Africa is not considered.

The pattern of coverage has been rather similar for one hun-
dred and fifty years. Olney summed up the reasons in his 1831 geography:
"Ancient north Africa was enlightened; now Africa is the least known,
least civilized and least important."11 Only in the last ten years
has that image changed.

The geographies and histories published between 1800 and 1850
discussed the culture and manners of various African peoples but actual
history was not a concern. Morse's 1812 geography did acknowledge
Ethiopia as well as Egypt and Carthage as kingdoms known for their
arts, wealth and power. Negro educators, however, were the first to

write about African history for schoolchildren.

Carter G. Woodson wrote The Negro in Our History and Story_o£

 

the Negro Retold, both history books essentially about the Negro in

 

America. Eleven per cent of the first is devoted to Africa and seven
per cent of the second. After discussing the basis of superiority

myths, Woodson asks what is African civilization? He answers his

 

10Herman Dreer, "What does the Innocent Teacher Impart as

History?" Journal of Negro History, (October, 1940), 475.
11Olney, p. 227.

 

question negatively; it is not nothing. Then he explains African
institutions, including the kingship, human sacrifice, marriage, and
religion.12 The second book is written at an easier reading level.
The rulers Sonni Ali and Askia Mohammed are mentioned, but some of
Woodson's generalizations are disturbing. Concerning making a living,
he writes, "Nature supplies much food in abundance and there is not
much struggle for life."13 After describing the social order as a
"kind of communism", he states: "His background in well—organized
African social order has tended to make the American Negro the most
golden-hearted, most generous, most sanguine and most law-abiding
element in the United States."14

Woodson also wrote two supplementary readers on Africa for

elementary children: African Myths and African Heroes and Heroines.

 

 

The list of prominent Africans in the second is impressive. The past
is represented by Gongo Musa, Sonni Ali, Askia, Chaka, and Samory.
The heroes during the colonization period include Jabavu, Hayford,
Plaatje, H. Macauley, Azikiwe, Chilembwe, Kimbangu, and Kadalie. The
Maji-Maji and Herero uprisings are described. Moffat and Livingstone
have a place as missionaries who served the empire.15

Woodson wrote one other book totally concerned with Africa

which teachers were encouraged to use as an aid in teaching Negro

 

12C. G. Woodson, The Negro in Our History, (Washington:
Associated Publishers, 1922, 41).

13C. G. Woodson, The Stopy of the Negro Retold, (Washington:
Associated Publishers, 1935, 42)? p.—8.

14lbid., p. 13.

15C. G. Woodson, African Heroes and Heroines, (Washington:
Associated Publishers, 1939).

 

 

 

56

history. In The African Background Outlined, he lists African contri-

 

butions to civilization including smelting iron, bronze work, and
cultivation of land as well as social institutions such as represen-
tative democracy, trial by jury, and monotheism. He describes the
kingdoms of Kumbi and of the Mandingo, Songhay, and Mossi. Although
Woodson uses the research of Delafosse and Monod, he criticizes their
tendency to think that all advances were importations from Caucasian
centers. A chapter on culture uses Edward Blyden as an authority.
African collectivism, herb medicine, polygamy, age grades, and proverbs
16

are explained.

Besides Woodson's books, The Child's Story of the Negro by

 

Jane D. Shackelford is used in Negro education. In a chapter on
famous kings, Miss Shackelford describes Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to
Mecca and discusses the just laws, trade, and schools of the empire
under Askia the Great. She includes pictures Of Benin and Bakuba
masks. Although she writes about the queer sight of an African village,
"like a group of haystacks", and about the little yellow dwarfs in
South Africa who, like camels, can go for many days without food, her
treatment of the people is generally sympathetic. "African Negroes
are very interesting people," she says. "They are brave, strong,
proud and industrious. Their skin is smooth and brown and their
teeth are white as pearls." Later she adds, "The primitive African

is very intelligent and his ideas about right and wrong are just like

ours." She also credits the African as the "most skillful blacksmith

 

16C. G. Woodson, The African Background Outlined, (Washington:
Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1936).

 

57

among primitive pe0ple."17

Two studies, done in the nineteen thirties, have Shown that
despite the availability of such books as those by Woodson and Miss
Shackelford, even Negro Americans have learned very little about
Africa. Dreer gave 516 Negro high school seniors an identification
test in 1934. The results showed that 432 students knew Edison and
George Washington, but only half recognized Booker T. Washington. NO
African names appeared on the list.18 Certainly Negro American
leaders would be more readily recognized by both Negro and white
students today, but identification of African leaders, past and
present, has improved only a little.19 Another survey, run by
Williams in 1935, showed that only five schools in Texas taught
Negro history. Williams figured that eighty-one per cent of the
Negro students in Texas graduated from high school without studying
anything about their racial background.20 The percentage of white
students throught the country who graduated without any knowledge of
the Negro past in the United States and the African past probably
was and still is close to one hundred per cent.

Several recent texts do take note rather briefly of Africa's
history preceding the European arrival. Two mention the Sudanic

kingdom of Ghana, though one confuses the facts by referring to the

king "of what is now Ghana". This text (1960) credits old Ghana with

 

17Shackeliord, pp. 22, 47, 30.
8Herman Dreer, "The Education of the Negro with Respect to his
Background," Journal of Negro History, (January, 1934), 49.
9See Chapter IV.FIL THE
L. V. Williams, "Teaching Negro Life and History in Texas
High Schools," Journal of Negro History, (January, 1935), p, 13,

 

 

58

effective government, a code of laws, learning, and luxurious living.21
The other (1961) quotes from an unnamed Muslim traveler's visit to

Timbuctu.22

A third text, published in 1962, describes the Nok

culture and the Zimbabwe ruins. Quotations from Ibn Battuta and Leo

Africanus report on the economy of the Sudanic cities. The variety

of traditional policial systems is emphasized with quotations describ-

ing the Bailundu democratic government, the Zanj method of choosing

kings, and the Lozi and Shona judicial processes.23
Children's trade books have both perpetuated the "no African

history" myth and helped to destroy it. In Buchan's Prester John,

 

the legend Of Prester John is treated as fact.24

In Stevens' Lion
Boy, the god of the Assyrians is found in the jungle. Waldeck's Op
Safari has several chapters on Makala (another Zimbabwe?) whose

founders were supposed to have been a light-skinned race.25 Busoni

describes kingdoms with barbaric tyrants in Stanley's Africa. The

 

Ashanti savage king used a skull for a drinking cup. Mutesa of
Uganda was half-civilized, writes Busoni, but his ruling class was
descended from the Egyptians.26 The last three books reflect the

Hamitic myth.

 

Bomba Lives in Africa represents another attitude. The author
states that white peOple who believe Africans didn't ever weave cloth

don't know much about African history. She then tells about Kano and

 

21Lester B. Rogers, Fay Adams and Walker Brown, Story of Nations,

(New York: Henry Holt, 1960):, p. 660.
22Cooper, p. 397.
23Stavrianos, pp. 28-30, 61—62.
John Buchan, Prester John, (New York: George Doran, 1910).
25Theodore Waldeck, On Safari, (New York: Viking, 1940).
25Rapaello Busoni, Stanley's Africa, (New York: Viking, 1944).

 

 

 

59

other African towns which existed before the white man came to Africa.27

One of the best children's books on Africa is Colin Turnbull's Peoples
of Africa. He maintains that the definition Of civilization includes
Africans. African societies have kept law and order with justice and
equality, have resolved human conflicts with a minimum of violence,
and have a moral code; thus they are civilized. His explanations of
the land conflict between the Kikuyu and the EurOpeans and of the
misunderstanding between the British and the Ashanti concerning the
golden stool bring a new degree of Objectivity to African history.28
A third period of African history, not so fully ignored as
the African past before the European arrival nor so well described
as ancient North Africa, is the slave trade. When the earliest
American textbooks came out, the slave trade still existed legally.
In the 1800 edition of his geography, Jedidiah Morse described the
trade on the Guinea coast: "The English exchange their woolen and
linen manufactures, their hard and Spirituous liquors for the persons
of the natives. Among the Negroes, a man's wealth consists in the
number of his family, which he sells like so many cattle and at an
inferior price."29
By 1838, Goodrich could say that the Slave trade had nearly
ceased. He credited the Portuguese with beginning the "horrid"

traffic and the English with continuing it. He explained that vessels

went to West Africa and purchased from African princes prisoners which

 

27Caroline Singer and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge, Bomba Lives in
Africa, éHOliday House, 1935).
8Colin Turnbull, Peoples of Africa, (Cleveland: World, 1962).

29Johnson, p. 336.

 

 

60

they had for sale. Sometimes the captains would go ashore and raid
towns for slaves. During the middle passage, the slaves were half-
starved and suffered from disease and unkind treatment. "Such was
their distress," says Goodrich, "that they would beat their brains
out or jump overboard." Perhaps half perished.30
Out of twenty-eight history books published in the twentieth
century, seventeen do not even mention the slave trade. Nine texts
mention the slave trade; typically, the trade is called "horrible"
and a paragraph is devoted to its abolition. Two other histories
devote a page or more to the slave trade. One textbook team (1950)
points out the positive and negative results of the trade it as it sees
them: the descendants were freed, civilized and Christianized in the
course of time, but race problems caused trouble.31 After describing
how the demand for slaves by the Europeans increased raiding and wars
among the Africans, another text (1961) singles out an unexpected

result of the slave trade: the introduction Of new crOpS.32 Only

Stavrianos in the Global History of Man (1962) explains the effects

 

of the slave trade on Africa. He also explores the meaning of domestic
slavery in Africa.33
The slave trade is one area of African history which became a
part of American history. An analysis of American histOry textbook
treatment Of the Negro by M. E. Carpenter in 1941 showed a diSpropor—

tionate amount of Space devoted to slavery. While the Slave trade

 

30Goodrich, History, p. 96.
31Hayes, Moon and Wayland, p. 436.
32Cooper, The Changing Old World, p. 417.

33Stavrianos, pp. 31-32.

61

seems to have been an unpleasant subject to be avoided, slavery ltSclf
had to be justified. Here the image of the African and the image of
the Negro American slave merged. An 1852 American history stated
that the slaves Of the United States were better off than the peasants
of Europe or the wild tribes of Africa. Other schoolbooks published
between 1831 and the Civil War used the phrases "ignorant", "far
inferior" and "well-suited to a hot climate" to describe the slaves.
The accounts of the slaves in books published between 1866 and 1900
described them as "docile", "better able to work in the fields than
white men", "brave on the battlefield", "faithful", "black", "humble",
and "heathen practicing wild African customs." Histories by Evans
(1909) and Guitteau (1919) stated that Negroes originated in Africa
where they were savages. Texts published between 1920 and 1930
cOntinued to use unfavorable characteristics while admitting that the
Negro had made great progress from the primitive stage in half a
century.34

Miss Carpenter's analysis stOpped at the year 1939, but
complaints about the treatment of the Negro in American history texts

did not end. A 1961 article by L. D. Reddick in the Journal of Negro

 

History calls for the rewriting of the reconstruction period. Earlier,
in 1934, he had related the picture of Negro American history as pre-
sented in Southern textbooks: the Negroes, who had been lifted from

barbarism in Africa, were contented and docile.35

 

34Marie Elizabeth Carpenter, The Treatment of the Negro in
American History School Textbooks, (MeHasha, Wisconsin: George Banta,
I941), pg. 67,69,74,84,91.
5L. D. Reddick, "Racial Attitudes in American History Books of
the South", Journal of Negro Histopy, (July, 1934), 225-265.

 

 

 

62

Thus the textbook treatment of slavery in the United States
as well as of the slave trade helped to mold the image of the savage
and inferior black. Most of the explorers, whose adventures still
make exciting reading for students, also advanced the theme of the
savage African. In this period of African history, the exploration
of the continent by Europeans, the textbooks outdid themselves. The
story of Livingstone and Stanley was told in nineteen out of twenty-
eight world histories printed after the.event; nine out of twenty-six
geographies also told the story. Sometimes there was a picture of
Stanley meeting Livingstone and uttering the famous phrase. Sometimes
other explorers and their achievements were mentioned, including Mungo
Park, Speke, Baker, de Caille, Landers, Denham, Clapperton, and Laing.
In one schoolbook (1924), Livingstone is credited with making people
Christians and stOpping them from eating one another.36 In another
account of his adventures (1932), a story is told about a lion crushing
Livingstone's foot. Often the worst enemies of these explorers were
the natives, says the author.37 A 1961 text uses quotations from the
diaries of Livingstone and Stanley to make the story more realistic.38
A world history writer (1952) says that the explorers' adventures are
as exciting as any Tarzan thriller.39

Although encyclopedias concentrated on nineteenth century

exploration, they also recognized earlier explorers. Herodotus'

 

36Hillyer, History, p. 412.

37Huntington, How Countries Differ, p. 308.

38COOper, Learning to Look at OuPFWorld, pp. 134—139.

39R. 0. Hughes, THSAMakingof Today'sFWorld, (Boston: Allyn
and Bacon, 1952, 56), p. 600.

 

 

 

63

comments on Africa, hanno's voyage, Arab travelers, and Portuguese
explorers were mentioned in nine of the nineteen encyclopedias
analyzed. Only occasionally were the Arabs distinguished by name
or places visited. Several encyclopedias described Portuguese

relations with the Congo and Monomatapa. The EncyclOpedia Britannica

 

(1955) states that Christianity was adOpted in the Kingdom Of the
Congo through Portuguese efforts.4O After reading letters from
Affonso, king of Congo, to Manuel, king of Portugal, one wonders if
the former wasn't more concerned with Christianity and the latter
with slaves.41
The story of the explorers usually follows an explanation of
the Dark Continent and its barriers to exploration. The list of
barriers may include the straight coast with few harbors, the rapids
in the rivers, the climate, disease, desert, and hostile tribes.
Sometimes the language was more picturesque. According to Wallbank
(1956), the "barren desert" and "dense jungle" made Africa a "land of
mystery".42 An earlier text (1927) described the dark forests and
jungle lands inhabited by fierce and wonderful animal life and hostile
native tribes.43 A 1917 geography worried about the Arab tribes who
killed travelers and the black savages who held the fertile lands to

th.44

the son A 1929 encyc10pedia described the "silent wilderness

 

40"Airica", Encyclopedia Britannica, 1955, Vol. 1., p. 320.
41Basil DavidSOn, Black Mother, (LOndon: Gollancz, 1961),
pp. 118-125. 7‘ ‘1
42Wallbank, p. 537.
43Barnard and Roorbach, p. 633.
4Frye, New Geography, p. 13.

 

 

 

64

of jungle or desert which watched day and night ready to swallow up
the work of the Mediterranean fringe".45 At any rate, there was no
question that Livingstone and Stanley were Opening up the continent
to civilization and a method of bringing civilization to the Dark
Continent - imperialism or colonialism - soon develOped.

This fifth period of African history was discussed to the
exclusion of all other periods in six histories and four geographies
published in the twentieth century. Generally, this was true because
the texts dealt with Africa under the EurOpean powers. If this
arrangement was not followed, then part of the chapter on nineteenth
century imperialism would be devoted to Africa. More Space was
allotted to the history of South Africa than to the history of any
other area. Fourteen history texts included information on Cecil
Rhodes and on the Boer War. In explaining the sudden scramble for
colonies in the eighteen-eighties, nine world histories described the
founding of the Congo Association, its high-sounding motives, and
its atrocities. The words "scandals", "outrages", and "atrocities"
were used to describe LeOpOId's rule. One text (1946) rationalized
that although LeOpOld forgot his humanitarian motives of stopping
the slave trade, cannibalism, and other native barbarities, it would
still take years of work and patience to bring the natives civilized
ways.46

Backwardness was usually the reason given for the comparatively

 

45Compton's, p. 32.
5""""‘ . .
4 Arthur C. Blning, Richard H. Shryock, and Morris Wolf, This
Our World, (New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1946), p. 468.

65

bloodless takeover of Africa by the EurOpeans. Explained one text—
book team (1950): "Carving out empires in Africa was easy. For a
few bottles of gin, some guns and a lot of gaudy trinkets a native
Chieftain could be bribed to Sign a treaty (which he could not read)
placing his lands under a European power."47 Another textbook (1954)
wrote that there was no serious resistance. The chiefs simply signed
their X, but it was hard to get the natives to work.48 Perhaps it
mattered little that heroes of African resistance such as Samory
Toure were not mentioned as they would have been villains in the
texts. But the generalization that the backward natives were not
well enough organized to put up any strong resistance49 is far from
fact.

The motives for imperialism in Africa were variously explained.
Trade was an important one. As business interests increased, the
EurOpeans found it necessary to take over the task of governing,
explained one book (1960).50 A desire to secure and develop the
natural resources of Africa was the reason for the scramble, stated
another text (1927).51 Humanitarianism and a belief that western
culture was best were other motives. Sometimes this was expressed

as the "white man's burden". The contribution of missionaries "who

 

47Hayes, Moon and Wayland, p. 723.

48Frederic C. Lane, Eric F. Goldman, and Erling M. Hunt, 223
World's History, (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954), p. 546.

49Atwood, p. 57.

0Ibid.

51Barnard and Roorbach, p. 611.

 

66

tried to humanize and civilize native custom" as well as to convert52

falls into this category.

Textbook analyses of imperialism as a system leaned toward
the benefits. Bradley wrote (1945): "Such a system of governing the
weaker and more backward peOples of the earth contains both good and
bad elements." He maintained that social rights and wrongs of the
system were outside the study of geography, but noted that regions
which would otherwise be beyond the margins of world civilization
were brought into that civilization by such exploitation.53 Since
the "primitive life of thatched huts was not relieved by civilization
of any sort", Wallbank (1956) saw important benefits from imperialism
including the abolition of slavery, the stOpping of lawlessness, the
ending of tribal wars and the introduction of modern hygiene. 0n the
negative side, he pointed out that the Africans lost land and did not
enjoy the riches.54

Individual EurOpean countries differed in colonial policy, but
these differences were rarely noted. A 1926 geography gave credit to
the French for introducing new systems of agriculture. "7?”; +exf
commented:

The French are also helping to give their colonies
in Africa a more stable form of government. This makes
it safe for EurOpeans to settle in the more desirable
parts of the country. With the coming Of settlers from

France and other countries Of EurOpe progress in indus-
tries and government is sure to be rapid... . As the

 

5?Colliers Encyclopedia, 1949, p, 165,
55Bradley, p.-332..
54Wallbank, p. 512.

 

67

African possessions are develOped they will supply
France with still larger quantities Of food and
raw materials. As the pe0p1e advance in civiliza—
tion they will need more of the manufactured goods
of the mother country. At the same time through
French influence the peOple are becoming accus-
tomed to higher standards of living and the rggion
is being made more useful to the whole world.

The author of a 1921 history commended the French for a wise
and humane colonial policy which allowed the uncivilized inhabitants
as much self-government as they were capable of handling.56 A 1945
text also praised France for doing so much for the pe0ple of her

colonial possessions.

Roads and railroads have been built, arid lands
have been reclaimed, improved methods of agriculture
have been introduced and forest and mineral resources
develOped. Even more important are the advances made
in sanitation and education. French language, tradi-
tions and customs have been taught and respect for
law established.57

The same text commended the British for adapting the wise
policy of permitting the natives to own land.and for creating indivi-
dual rSSponsibility through the levying of taxes.58 A 1949 elementary
geography did not pass judgment on the Belgians in the Congo, but
concluded that the Belgians are proud Of the improvement they have
made because they are sure that the savage tribes, working by them-

59

selves, would never have attained such benefits. In only one text

 

55Leonard O. Packard and Charles P. Sinnott, Nations as
Neighbors, (New York: Macmillan, 1926), pp. 387-88. .
Henry W. Elson, Modern Times and the Living Past, (New York:
American Book Co., 1921, 25), p. 570.
57Chamber1ain, p. 385.
581bid., pp. 418, 420.
59Carpenter, p. 175.

 

68

was the Italian defeat by the EthiOpians at Adowa mentioned. The
German colonial effort was labeled "frightful" in another text.
Some schoolbooks found it difficult to see a cheerful side to

colonialism. Becker, who wrote Modern History (1931), was condescending.

 

"The African took on European civilization to the extent of learning

'60 More recent

a few French words and acquiring a taste for gin.’
texts are more objectively critical. A 1961 geography admits natives
were treated unfairly in the past.61 Some schoolbooks explain a Shift
from exploitation to develOpment. To Pounds and COOper (1957), devel-
opment means the develOpment of resources for African good as well as
European and encouragement of native institutions.62 Another team of
writers (1953) points out that it will take years to bring about this
progress which is expected to benefit both the native and the governing
pe0p1es.63

Only two texts, both published in the Sixties, seem interested
in what the African thought about all this. "Did the Africans wish
their lands to be colonies?" asks one geography. "The answer seems

I

to be no.' This book states that the Europeans did not build enough

schools and hOSpitals and did not give the Africans a share in the

government.64 The Global History of Man looks carefully at the effects

 

of colonialism on Africa. Colonial rule is evaluated from an economic

 

60Becker, p. 597.
61Atwood, p. 57.
62Pounds and COOper, p. 588.
Leonard Packard, Bruce Overton, and Ben Wood, Geography of the
World, (New York: Macmillan, 1953), p. 464.
Cooper, p. 407.

 

69

standpoint and then the influence of traders, missionaries, European
government and the white settlers is considered."5

Earlier, the only challenge to European imperialism had come
from Woodson in his book for teachers on Africa. He interpreted the
partition of Africa as in keeping with the European policy of satis-
fying its greed for material things. Even education was arranged to
produce wealth for the EurOpeans, said Woodson. He questioned how
Europeans could say they stOpped wars - what about their own wars?66

The last period of African history - independence - is obviously
covered by only the most recent texts. The future of Africa had been
considered, however, for fifty years. In 1911 a geography text Specu-
lated: "The civilization of races sunk for centuries in savagery can—
not be accomplished in a few generations, but prospects for improvement
in central Africa are better than anywhere else in the tropics."67
Improvement at this time did not suggest self—government. Certainly
the author of an elementary text published in 1928 was not thinking
of self-rule for Africans when he wrote, "It may be that white peOple
will live in the highlands of Africa and direct the work of the natives

"68

in the lowlands .

The picture of Africa's future which Comppon's Pictured Ency-

 

clOpedia painted in 1929 was positively rosy. The natives were being

trained to civilized life. The land was growing more fertile under

 

65Stavrianos, pp. 51-54.
66Woodson, African Background, p. 146.
Dryer, p. 499. J:—
Branom, Geography of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and
Polar Rogions, p. 166.

 

 

 

70

the plow, mineral products were being exploited, tranSportation
facilities were developing, schools and factories were springing up
side by side. Tribal wars were a thing of the past. In fact, natives
were even winning the right to vote in some sections. Summed up the
encyclopedia article: "The day of the savage is indeed ended in
Africa."69 Yet, of what "man" were the authors of a 1944 geography
thinking when they concluded that "in the age of flight no part of
Africa will be beyond the reach of man to explore, to develop and
to possess."70

But are the natives ready for self-government? The question
was debated Often in the years following World War II. The Europeans
were not very Optimistic. Such an informed British Africanist as
Margery Perham estimated in 1951 that British colonies in Africa
might be self-governing by the end of the century.71 When a Belgian
drew up a plan in the early nineteen fifties for an independent Congo
within thirty years, the government was horrified. As usual, the
European looked at Africa from his European eye. He did not listen
to Kwame Nkrumah who wrote in 1944: "Britain may claim that she holds
the colonies under trusteeship until they are capable of self—govern—
ment, but it is not in her interest to relinquish the stranglehold.
The African, however, was perfectly capable of governing himself before

the advent of the white man and should be allowed to do SO again."72

 

69Compton's, p. 40.

70Packard, Overton, and Wood, p. 731.

71Foreign Affairs, p. 131.

72Kwame'Nkrumah, Ghana, An Autobiography, (Edinburgh: Thomas
Nelson, 1959), p. 38.

 

 

71

The second sentence of Nkrumah's statement is the key. What
the European and the American do not know or remember is that Africa
did govern herself except for perhaps seventy-five years. Thus they
use the terms "emerging" and "awakening" to describe Africa. Like the
phrase "Dark Continent" these words reflect the way Americans look at
Africa. The thrust of the continent into the neWSpapers and magazines
has awakened Americans to Africa. Between March 1953 and February
1959, they could have read only thirty-nine magazine articles on the
Belgian Congo. Between March 1959 and February 1965, 363 articles
were printed concerning the Congo (Le0poldville). The violent civil
war captured the headlines. During the same two periods, twenty—six
73

and then sixty-two articles appeared on Nigeria.

Americans are surprised by what they read. Story of Nations

 

(1960) says it this way: "The ferment is all the more remarkable

because Africans are largely illiterate and until a few years ago had

had practically no experience in self-government."74 Again, in reporting
on Ghana, the same text states that where a century ago there were
primitive tribes untouched by modern civilization, now there is a

state advancing toward democracy and proving native Africans can

govern themselves.75 "The future is no longer dark," says another

text (1961). "The people are learning to take their places as citizens

of the modern world."76

 

73Numbers of articles figured from Readers Guide.
74Rogers, Adams, Brown, p. 635.
75Ibid., p. 650.

76Drummond, p. 273.

 

72

Perhaps worry and dismay.have been more prevalent reactions.
Magazine headlines Showed concern: "Can Africa Come of Age?; Ready or
Not; Ahead for Africa: Dictators, Tribal Wars, Red Influence; Africa:
World‘s Biggest Trouble Spot; At the Edge of Anarchy; Out of the
Jungles: New Nations and New Problems; Is Democracy Possible?; Africa,

a Continent Afire; Don't Decry Colonialism; End of Era with the Threat
of Jungle Taking Over; Turmoil All Through Africa."77 A textbook (1956)
worries about an emerging Africa where most have no schooling and

little knowledge of democratic ways.78 An encyclopedia article (1961)
states: "Complicating the difficulties is the impatience of the African
Negro pe0p1es in their struggle to improve their place in life."79
Another encyc10pedia (1964) says: "It remains to be seen how the rest
of the world will react to help Africa shape genuine political and
social stability out Of chaos and conflict."80

The rest Of the world, Specifically the Communist part of the

world, is the newest worry to appear in textbooks and even more so in

student and adult thinking. Making of Today's World (1962) includes

 

two paragraphs on the Soviet Union in Africa. This challenge to
America, says the author, is made difficult by the political immaturity

of African nations.81 Past to Presepr (1963) is the only text analyzed

 

which deals somewhat extensively with the Congo problem through 1961.

 

7ZReaders Guide, March 1959 to February 1961.
75Wa11bank, p. 725.
"Africa", World Book, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 104.
80"Africa", EncyclOpedia International, 1964, Vol. I, p. 112.
81James H. MOCrocklin, The Makipg of Today's World, (Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1962), pp. 713-14.

 

 

 

 

The authors state that Lumumba blamed the West for Congo difficulties
and so called on the Soviet Union for help. The Communist threat
faded, the text continues, when Lumumba was deposed and killed.82
Recent events in Burindi, Congo Brazzaville and Zanzibar,
as well as Congo Le0poldville, have prompted "studies" of Communism
in Africa in newsmagazines and newspapers. These have inSpired questions
such as: "Did you ever meet any Communists? Are the Communists going
to take over in Africa? Isn't Nkrumah (or Touré'or Nyerere) a Commun—
83

ist?" High school students write:

In Ghana the president is Nkrumah who tends to
like the Communist line.

Red China has been successful in appealing to the
peOple. They claim that the colored people should unite
against white oppressors, including Russia.

Africa has become a vast field for communist pro-
paganda. The prime interloper seems to be the Chinese.
They try, by playing up U.S. race prejudice, to win
over the countries.

Africa is a rising continent of new nations having
difficulties establishing themselves and keeping clear
of the cold war.

Textbooks also Show concern over events in South Africa, and
here, too, the menace of communism raises its head. "Communism,
nationalism and colonialism meet head on in South Africa," states a

8
1959 geography. 4 Says a recent world history (1960): The Afrikaners
are determined to maintain apartheid and risk possible future penetra-

85

tion by Communists besides violent racial explosions. Two texts

 

82Sydney H. Zebel and Sidney Schwartz, Past to Present, (New
York: Macmillan, 1963), p. 687. I"
3From themes written by students at Lakewood High School, Ohio.
84James and Davis, p. 439.
85Zebel and Schwartz, p. 688.

 

74

explain the system of apartheid.86 After describing the situation in
South Africa, Wallbank (1956) says that "naturally, the Africans are

rebellious."87 The Wide World (1959) describes the problems in South

 

Africa by taking each group separately. The British, says this text,
want equal rights for all the educated, the Afrikaners are extreme
nationalists and want strict separation, the coloured used to be an
appendage to the white race, and the Indians are disliked by all. The
native has not been rebellious because he is used to accepting authority
of the Chief, states the text. The authors conclude:

The course of history cannot be reversed. Primitive
or simple cultures the world over have proved unable to
survive in the face of the dynamic changing European
culture, with its revolutionary new ideas and its enor-
mous productivity given by the new technology. So it
is impossible now either to return Negroes from different
parts of the world to Africa, or to withdraw the Euro-
pean settler from Africa.

Ways must be found so that newcomer and native can
live together. Yet in few other places is it so difficult
to apply the Christian ideal that all men are brothers,
SSpecially where there is such a wide gulf between the
well-educated and prosperous EurOpean colonist and poor,
illiterate native, inexperienced in the complexities of
modern life.

As the native African finds Opportunities to get
an education and to gain experience, he finds his
position intolerable. Where he used to work patiently
for the strange foreigners, he now begins to under-
stand the ideas of democratic revolution and to
insist that they should be applied to peOple of all
races. The stage is set for disaster - a disaster
which would engulf European colonists and native
Africans alike.88

 

86Rogers, Adams and Brown, p. 650 and Zebel and Schwartz, p. 688.
87Wa11bank, p. 226.
88James and Davis, pp. 438,39.

75

Here is the poor, illiterate native who used to work patiently
for the well-educated and prOSperous white man but now has learned
something about democracy and wants his rights. The student never
learns that Roy Welensky, prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia
and Nyasaland until its demise, was a railroad engineer, while J.
Tengo Jabavu, a "native", was a college professor half a century ago.
The Nobel Peace Prize did go to a black South African. Still, Albert
Luthuli pointed out in his acceptance Speech in Norway the tradition
of African resistance in men such as Shaka, Moshoeshoe, and Hintsa.89

Africa has joined the world history being made in the nineteen
sixties. Her ministers Speak in the United Nations. A "native" has
been president of the General Assembly. Her problems, if not her
achievements, reach the neWSpaperS. The Congo is a familiar name in

the headlines. An article about tiny Burindi can be found on an

inside page Of the local city paper, not only in the New York Times.

 

African current events have made high school students somewhat
more knowledgeable about Africa than students of even five years ago.
Their parents are at least concerned about communism in Africa. The
fact that Africa had a history before it was submerged in and then
emerged from colonialism is not known, however. The African past is
still a closed book in American schools and in American minds. A
Benin bronze evokes the same reSponse from teachers and students:

"Is that what they worshipped?" An identification quiz of African

 

89Albert Luthuli, "Africa and Freedom" in Arrica's Freedom,
(London: Unwin Books, 1964), p. 17.

 

76

names includes Mansa Musa but not one student to whom the test is
given recognizes the name.

Is there any hOpe? That is the subject of the final chapter.

CHAPTER IV

IS THERE ANY HOPE?

"Out of Africa comes something always new."
Ancient Greek saying quoted by Pliny

The question "IS there any hOpe?" is often posed by Americans
about the Congo or Rhodesia. If they add "for democracy", they may be
wondering about Ghana or Guinea. As a chapter title here, however,
this question refers not to Africa's problems but to America's problem
Of understanding Africa.

"I don't want to write anybody with a bone in his nose," replied
a ninth grade girl to a suggestion that she might enjoy writing an
African pen pal. Another girl in the group saved African men from

1'

"savagery". "I know you're all gonna laugh," she said bashfully, but
I have cousins who live in Africa and the boys are cute." These two
statements reflect the dichotomy of the present American image of
Africa. Probably the typical American attitude falls in between. The
image of the "primitive" Africans remains, but on the other hand, more
and more Americans are learning about "modern" Africans through personal
contact with African students in the United States and by talking with
fellow citizens who have worked with Peace Corps or the Agency for
International DevelOpment or an American company in Africa.

To discover whether there is a possibility of a new, more
objective image of Africa, one might look first at the attitudes of
present day secondary school pupils. Second, one might look at the
new curricula in social studies and the new library or trade books.

Third, one might suggest how the educational establishment could help

Americans conceive of Africa in a new way.

78

79

First, then, how does an American high school student perceive
Africa? When asked to describe an African what does he say? What does
he think an African looks like?1 Few of the comments are flattering.
Some students do recognize that Africans may differ.

Short, kinky hair, dark skin, small height, loincloth,
feathers, no Shoes, dirty hands, unwashed face.

Dark—skinned, thick lips, broad nose, no overhang of
skull, dark eyes, backward, primitive. (This comment
was accompanied by a drawing Of a savage—looking man
with a bone through his nose.)

Dark black skin coloring, longer jaw than we have which
is characteristic of primitive man, mostly long-legged

and uneducated.

Dark skin to protect him from the sun; not very intelligent
because hasn't had a chance to learn.

Dark skin, curly hair, not much clothing, large feet.

Large, dark, black curly hair, brown eyes, flat nose,
big lips.

Dark—skinned, tall, rather uneducated, athletic, close-
crOpped hair, slender, muscular.

A person who is black, usually small and often has mal-
nutrition.

Colored man who lives in Africa.

An African depends on who you mean. There are the natives
with dark skins and men from EurOpe and America with white
Skins.

There are four different Africans, the Arabic, the colonist
white, the educated British Negro, the members of African
tribes.

Although the words "uncivilized" and "primitive" are often used,

 

1The following comments come from the Houston-Lincoln test (see
Appendix E) and from themes by students at Lakewood High Summer School
and Willowick Junior High in Ohio.

80

a few students recognize that some Africans live in modern houses in
cities or shacks in the city Slums and work as professional peOple or
in factories or mines.

Ignorant, primitive but progressive in many areas.

Basically Simple character but desire for European progress.

In some cases still relatively primitive in customs but
others are modern, well-educated men.

Usually illiterate or barely literate, dresses in shirts,
pants, wants modernization.

Africans work as servants, field hands, and gun carriers
on safari; they also serve as ministers, doctors, etc.

Used to be hunters and craftsmen, now more work on
plantations and in industries.

Africans living in tribes work for survival. Others
work on plantations in fields, others manual labor.
Others go to college and get higher wage jobs. They
live in grass huts in the jungle, shacks in "shanty-
towns" and nicer homes.
Perhaps the most encouraging Sign is the questioning attitude.
From one student comes the question: "Are Africans just like ordinary
peOple?" and another says, "I think that most of the peOple were un-
civilized. I guess maybe this is still correct, but I'm not sure."
Yet the stereotypes and the implied racial inferiority are very
much alive. SOphomores at Lakewood High School took a true-false test
which used some of the statements other high school students had made
2
about Africa. Of the 390 students who took the test, 53% agreed that

"an African has a larger jaw than we do; this is a characteristic of

primitive man". "Africans have a basically simple character, but desire

 

2See Appendix F.

81

EurOpean progress," said 52%. More than a third, 37%, marked true

the statement "an African has black skin to protect him from the sun".
Statements which allowed for diversity among Africans elicited more
positive responses. "In some cases," agreed 88%, "Africans are primitive

in customs, but others are modern, well-educated men.' "Africans live
in grass huts in the jungle, shacks in shantytowns and nicer homes"
received a "yes" response from 74%.

The conception of geography of Africa also suffers from stereo-
types. When Lakewood students were asked to agree or disagree with the
statement "Africa's climate is generally hot and humid," 87% agreed.
The statement "Africa is a jungle—ridden continent where wild animals
roam" was marked true by 56%. The answers to the Open-ended question
on climate on the Houston-Lincoln test Show that some students realize
there are at least two kinds of climate on the continent: hot and wet
and hot and dry. A few students also recognize a Mediterranean—type
climate at the extreme ends of the continent. Vegetation is identified

as jungle and desert by most students. Some Specific comments include:

The climate is hot and humid. . . Thick dense jungles line
most of Africa where mountains and deserts flourish, too.

Africa is a primitive jungle-ridden continent and contains
more rich natural resources than most any other.

Africa is rich in natural resources, coal, iron, diamonds
and beautiful jungle areas. Many types of wild animals

are to be found roaming the jungle. In the jungle the age-
old law of kill or be killed still survives.

I see the northern deserts, the central forest and the
southern and western plains. I see the Nile, the Congo,
the beautiful new buildings in Capetown and the miserable
hovels in the jungle. . . and of course, I see lions and
elephants.

When asked about animals of Africa, students name elephants,
lions, monkeys and tigers most frequently. One student did write that
"African game, long believed to be inexhaustible, now must be protected
on large game reserves."

Knowledge of specific places and peOple is limited. The
identification section of the test given to two eleventh grade history
classes in Houston, Texas and Lincoln, Nebraska included seven place
names. Of the 47 students taking the quiz, 3O knew Kilimanjaro was
a mountain; two connected it with Hemingway's famous short story. The
Niger was recognized as a river and/or a country in West Africa by 35,
but only 10 had ever heard of the Zambezi River. Cairo was identified
by 41 students, while 31 knew Johannesburg and 19 Timbuctu. No one
rocognized Ibadan.

, Also on the quiz were ten people related to Africa. Tarzan
tOpped all; only five students did not know who he was. Seven knew
that Edgar Rice Bourroughs was responsible for the character and stories.
Albert Schweitzer was recognized by 36 students. He was claimed as an
American doctor by 73% Of the students who took the Lakewood test. On
the Houston-Lincoln test, 31 knew David Livingstone and 28 Henry Stanley.
NO one knew Mansa Musa whose pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 put him on a
EurOpean map of the time. Of modern African leaders, Nasser was recog-
nized by 29 students. Haile Selassie was identified by 12 students,
Jomo Kenyatta by 11, Lumumba by 10, and Kwame Nkrumah by 3. The Lake—
wood test showed that 70% of the students did not know Kenyatta and 60%
did not know Lumumba.

When students were asked about African governments and religions

83

before the EurOpeans came, they used the words "tribal" and "primitive"
to describe them. Several saw the African governments and religions

as different, but all right, perhaps better for them. "Africans, like
EurOpeans, were held together by a code of morals and governments,"
wrote one student. When that statement was included on the Lakewood
test, 84% of the students agreed with it. One student noted in her
theme on Africa that the pagan religions had some belief in a supreme
being. Other comments on African religions included: "voodoo; Africans

V

worship many gods; pagan and unconverted; and superstitious.' On the

Lakewood test, 55% marked true the statement "Africans are pagans who
worship many gods."
Trying to evaluate colonialism, most of the Houston and Lincoln
students talked about "civilizing" - meaning the help EurOpeans gave in
advancing medicine and education, agriculture and industry. The Lake-
wood test showed 65% believed the "Europeans civilized the Africans
by building hospitals and schools", while 58% agreed that "the whites
also exploited the land and tried to keep down the blacks." The
Houston and Lincoln students described the bad side of colonialism.
Eight students wrote about exploitation, Specifically of natural
resources. Fifteen mentioned the psychological problems of whites
ruling as masters and the resulting racial discrimination. One put
the problem this way: "The whites tended to overcivilize yet under-
privilege the African," Another concluded that the "whites have
exploited the land and tried to keep down the blacks but on the other

hand have introduced new machinery, increased education and medical

concern." A third student listed as the beneficial aSpects of

84

colonialism: "medicine, religion, schooling, help in organization."

The harmful effect was "trying to force Africans into an American
mold they aren't designed for and destroying the individuality of the
African race." From a fourth student came this list: "Beneficial -
commerce, develOpment of natural resources, and EurOpean culture.
Harmful - idea of success with work and loss Of tribe idea and loss
of identity."

In thinking about the future of Africa, American high school
students look from western eyes and see the continent becoming "more
civilized", "more progressive", and "more like us". For example:

It will probably develOp to be more like us in education,
industry, etc.

I think it will be more civilized but not to the extent
that it becomes a leading nation of the world.

Africa will improve slowly over the years.

Africa will become more industrialized somewhat in
the next fifty years but will take perhaps 200 years
to become as industrialized as America is today.

Fairly modernized but not like the U.S.

Africa will eventually become relatively unified and
will develOp its industries.

It will develOp greatly, will become industrialized
and will almost become a modern country.

It will in due time become a more civilized and
prOSperous country.

Africa will become more advanced in industry and the
peOple will be more educated, but I think on the whole
the primitive natives will never be completely won
over to civilized society.

Africa will become partially agrarian and industrial.
The governments will become centralized and stabilized

85

eventually and as they do so Africans will become
educated and prosperous.

The continent might eventually become awakened but
it will take centuries for all to be fully civilized
and cast away old ways of life. Asking negroes to
evolve from primitive to highly civilized in a few
short years - took us thousands of years.

Lakewood students reacted to two of the above statements on
their test. "In the future, Africa will probably develOp to be more
like us in education and industry and other ways," agreed 76%. But
48% said that "Africa's primitive natives will never be completely won
over to civilized society."

The cold war and revolution are themes in some students'
comments about Africa. Yet some recognize that there is more to be
considered in an understanding of current African problems, that there
is another side.

Africa today is largely underdevelOped and will play
and is playing a large part in the East and West Cold
War as it has not declared itself to be either pro west

or pro east but has been playing both sides of the fence.

There are revolutions all over Africa caused by the U.S.
and the Communists.

The peOple are grOping steadily for world position and
independence; they will get themselves into trouble
this way.

I feel Communist or other outside forces have influenced
some of these countries, but on the whole I don't think
they have had a serious effect upon the majority of these
countries. (69% of the Lakewood students agreed with
that statement.)

These colonies' fight for independence is the result of
colonization and the cause of many riots and coups, for
example the rebellion in the Congo and the Patrice
Lumumba incident.

Africa has become a major trouble spot in the world

TPr---

86

today because basically of its backwardness. Other
nations or political ideas have tried and are still
trying to influence the illiterates to change their
way of life for a utOpia which is bound to come.
This has caused revolution after revolution, bloody
battle after bloody battle until the movement for

a Free Africa has become blood—stained. In twenty
short years it has risen from a colony continent
into a circle with the leaders of the world.

In Africa as in most countries peOple are Split over
issues and ideas. Most of the news that reaches the
U.S. though is about the revolutions or other traces

of the violent side of Africa. I feel there is clearly
another side to this great continent.

Just as the violent side of American city life appears so
frequently in the neWSpapers and newsmagazines, so the violent side of
Africa most often draws headlines. How can high school students or
adults be expected to gain a new image of Africa when the lead
sentence in a front page newspaper story on a zookeeper's trip to

."3 How can another

Africa begins "In today's 'darkest Africa'.
side of Africa be understood when 1223 and.£l£é concentrate on violence,
when coverage of an historic event such as the founding of the Organ-
ization of African Unity consists of "a few supercilious paragraphs
devoted mostly to the dancing girls in EthiOpian night clubs".4

Scanning Readers Guide for the period March 1961 through May

 

1965, one finds the following colorful headlines listed for Time:
"Farewell to Arms: Scandal in Uganda; Three's a-Crowd; East Africa;
Power of Juju; Revolutionaries Adrift; Anti-American Week; Who'is Safe?;

Duster and Death; Forward and Backward; Strain of Being Moderate."

 

3C1eveland Plain Dealer, October 26, 1965, p. 1.
4William A. Payne, 1'American Press Coverage of Africa", Africa
Report, (January, 1966), p. 45.

 

TF '

 

87

Descriptive titles also head the many articles on Congo Le0poldville:
"Heart of Darkness; One More Try; Rebellion and Reunion; Sound of
Chaos; Time Runs Out in the Congo; Across the River and Into the Mess;
Again, the Savages; Hoodlum Rebels; Is Anyone in Control?; Massacre
Season; Needed: a Divine Force; With Magic Juice and Lucky Grass."
While forty-five articles described the Congo troubles in that four-
year period, four articles in.gimg_dealt with Nigeria, often called
the "brightest hope of Africa". The January 1966 coup elicited weekly
articles for a month.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then perhaps the picture
newsmagazine influenced students and adults more. Looking at Life for
one year, 1961, one could have read a long article about black magic
in Africa, a story about the "mad Baluba stampeding for food", two
articles about the Congo - one a fair piece of historical background,
and a story about young African students in the United States. Most
spectacular, however, was a picture essay billed on the cover as
"Africa's savage beauty" with a wild Warega warrior as the cover man.
Inside an introduction explained that the photographs were accompanied
by quotations from "literature on the Dark Continent". The photographs
were superb and, except for Johannesburg miners trudging to work, they
fitted the title admirably. Elephants, zebra, a lion, a gnarled almost
naked tribesman, Liberian dancing girls, and Masai herders were included.
The quotations, picked from Joseph Conrad, Theodore Roosevelt, Ernest
Hemingway, and Joyce Cary among others, also fitted with the backward

look.5 Savagery did worry the Life editors. In an editorial in

 

5H v
Storied World of Africa'. Life, October 13, 1961, pp. 66-87.

88

February 1964 entitled "Africa - more than teething troubles", Life

H

commented that newly independent Africans might have reverted

instantly to savage anarchy. They still may. The darkness beckons

ceaselessly."6
Although the newsmagazines keep alive the image of a violent

Africa, new curricular materials for the schools offer some hOpe.

Various publishers are putting together background books on Africa,

but most of the new information is put up in paperbacks which would

have to be purchased by the school system or the student.7 For the

teacher, the American Historical Association has published a pamphlet

on African history. written by Philip Curtin, it summarizes publications

reflecting recent research and new interpretations.8
The availability of such books has encouraged individual school

systems and teachers to initiate Special units on Africa. A question-

naire asking about the place of Africa in the secondary social studies

curriculum was sent out to nineteen members of the Greater Cleveland

Educational Research Council. Twelve replies came back from schools

in Ohio, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. Half of-

 

6"Africa - more than teeth troubles", Life, February 14, 1964,
p. 4.

7For example. Africa South of the Sahara, Macmillan; West Africa:
the French- -Speaking Nations Yesterday and Today, Holt- Rinehart, Winston
Contemporary Civilizations Series; Africa and the World Today, Laidlaw' 5
Foreign Relations Series; Africa, Ginn' 3 Studies in Depth, Subsaharan
Africa (also a unit in Stavrianos' Global History of Man), Allyn and

Bacon; Emerging Africa, Scholastic.
Philip Curtin, African History, (New York: Macmillan, 1964),

a publication of the American Historical Association's Service Center
for Teachers of History.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

89

these schools have develOped units on Africa, most lasting about a
month and being a part of a course that emphasizes both western and
non-western civilizations. One twelfth grade course uses parallel
readings in paperbacks, lectures, and small discussion groups led by
graduate students from a nearby university. Another tenth grade course
uses the "postholing" method and Spends six weeks on Nigeria with the
theme of "emerging nation politics". The SOphomores read primary
source excerpts from the Kano Chronicle, the History of Benin and
Azikiwe's speeches among others. Films and plays are presented at

the large group meetings, while visits from African college students
highlight the small discussion groups.

As members of this research group, these schools should benefit
from the Social Science program now being develOped by the council.
Under the present plan, Africa will appear three times. Only one part
has been completed, the kindergarten book, The Child Begins tofiHnow
His World. Unit VI is entitled "Children in Central Africa"; "ngmies"
is the subtitle. The kindergartners meet a happy little black boy
wearing a loincloth and carrying a bow and arrow, Other drawings show
Akia's hut of leaves and sticks and the talking drum by which he can
send a message. A giraffe, a snake, and a bird appear under the
heading "Jungle Animals" and the picture surprise - draw lines to
connect the dots - is an elephant. There are also drawings of a
crocodile and a monkey.9 The tentative outline of the remaining new

curricula shows an area study of Africa with the theme "contemporary

 

9The Child Begins to Know His World, pp. 48—55.

 

90

Africa" following the intermediate geography section in the seventh
grade. Three nations, possibly Nigeria, South Africa and EthiOpia,
will be studied in some detail. The ninth grade will spend the year
on comparative political and economic systems and a correlative study
of comparative geography and anthropology. One of the eleven countries
proposed for study is Nigeria.10

Social studies curricula are in the planning stage in many
other parts of the country. Since one concern is to give more emphasis
to the non-western cultures, Africa, particularly contemporary Africa,
will undoubtedly receive more attention.

Will visual aids be of help in the new courses? A perusual
of current film catalogues and a comparison with a 1947 list of visual
aids shows some progress in this area, too. In 1947 the movies listed,
most put out by EncyclOpedia Britannica, dealt with tribal life of the
Pygmies, Watussi, Masai and Zulu, One movie "How an African tribe is
ruled" showed trial by ordeal and the changes brought by colonization.
Another, "Ngongo and her Pe0ple", showed the mission influence while a.
third, "Father and Son in Gold Coast", showed culture conflict.11 Films
available in 1965, the best often charging a rental fee, usually have
an individual country as the subject or view Africa generally. Murrow's
"See It Now Report" from Africa (1957) and Congressman Bolton's " Report"
(1959) are listed in the three catalogues used by one school system,

though certainly movies made before 1960 must generally be considered

 

10Discussion with director of Greater Cleveland Social Science
Program at Educational Research Council.
11Wi1£red D. Hambly, "Visual Aids to Teaching African Ethnology",

Journal of Negro History, (July, 1947), pp. 354-63.

91

out-of—date. Since 1960, some excellent films have been produced on
the new nations, including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Tanganyika. For
example, an EncyclOpedia Britannica movie about Nigeria shows Ife art,
Kano pageantry, independence celebrations, and using a map, focuses on
the then three regions.

The swift pace of events in Africa makes it almost impossible for
films to be up-to-date. The Parma School System near Cleveland, Ohio
has found a visual way to keep up-to-date. Via the system's television
station, about 1700 sixth graders saw sixteen programs on Africa in
the Spring semester of 1966. Citizens of Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Liberia,
Rhodesia and Tanzania were interviewed by a teacher. Two programs were
devoted to the animals of Africa.12

If the outlook is somewhat hOpeful in regard to social studies
curricula, it seems less hOpeful in the field of trade books. Nancy

Larrick looked at "The All-White World of Children's Books" in a

Saturday Review article in September 1965. Her survey of 5,206 trade

 

books published in 1962, 1963, and 1964 found that only 349 books
included one or more Negroes. This figure included faces in a crowd,
some so delicately shaded that a reader might wonder if the faces were
sunburned. Almost 60% of these 349 books described Negroes outside the
United States or before World War II in books of African folk tales and
reports on emerging nations or biographies of Lincoln and stories about
the underground railroad. Among the few Miss Larrick recommends as

having outstanding literary merit are The PeOples of Africa by Colin

 

 

12Ann Skinner, "Parma Updates African Studies", Cleveland Plain
Dealer, March 3, 1966, p. 41.

 

 

92

Turnbull and Nemo Meets the Emperor by Laura Bannon. Negro librarians

 

who rated books for Miss Larrick labeled thirteen books as objectionable,

among them Little Black Sambo and The Lazy Little Zulu. Miss Larrick

 

concludes that "white supremacy in children's literature will be
abolished when authors, editors, publishers and booksellers decide
that they need not submit to bigots."13

As Miss Larrick notes, Africa tales and reports on individual
nations have been the most common subjects of trade books on Africa.
‘African folks tales can be read in Shirley Goulden's Stories from Africa,
Harold Courlander's The King g Drum and other African Storieg, Kathleen

Arnott's African Myths and Legends, and the Peter Pauper Press' African

Folk Tales, among many others. For information on individual countries,

 

elementary students can read the Coward-McCann series which usually
has "Getting to Know" as the first part of the title or the Laidlaw
"Understanding" series. The first series uses drawings, the second
photographs, but both are fairly well done.

Secondary students, particularly those who are paperback buyers,
may have a more difficult time. A catalog of 300 basic school paper-
backs, for example, lists only one book on Africa, Conrad’s Heart of
Darkness. Dell Laurel high school series lists only Haggard's Kigg

Solomon's Mines, but their regular series includes Moorehead's The Blue

 

Nile and The White Nile, Susan Feldman's African Myths and Taleg and

 

Peter Judd's African Independenge. The fourteenth annual exhibit of

 

 

13Nancy Larrick, "The All-White World of Children's Books",
Saturday Review, September 11, 1965, pp. 63-65, 84-85.

 

TF'T'”

 

 

 

 

93

new library books for the year 1965 is not too promising.14 New
biographies of Albert Schweitzer, Cecil Rhodes, and David Livingstone

are included. However, AgCrown for Thomas Peters is a novel about "an

 

African boy who was sold into slavery in America, escaped and ultimately
returned to Sierra Leone as a leader of his peOple". The other two
books set in Africa are Red Ivogy which tells about a "young service
volunteer who encounters danger and adventure in the wastelands of

Uganda" and EXploits in Africa which has stories ranging from gorilla

 

hunts to a Cairo-to-Cape air race.
The books on exhibit in the elementary school category included

two books of tales, one called Agventures of Spider and the other

 

King's Contest and other North African Tales. Boy of the Masai, Children

 

of Africa and Taiwo and her Twin are three other books on the list.

 

The last, which tells "how the twin sister of a West African boy
achieves her desire to attend school with her brother" suggests that
American children may now have an Opportunity to find out about Nigerian
youngsters who go to school as well as Masai tribesmen who live on blood
and meat. The history, customs and daily life of the Tuareg are
described in another book, while the Congo River is the setting for an
"exciting tale of adventure and discovery". A last book on the elemen-

tary list is The Takula Tree in which a "missionary family is caught

 

between rebellious natives and embittered white settlers in present-
day Africa".

But what of the future - beyond 1965? IS there any hope? How

 

14Fourteenth Annual Exhibit of the New Library Books of the Year,\
Books on Exhibit, Mount Kisco, New York. Pamphlet.

 

94

can the negative or, just as bad, the omitted image of the black man

which has prevailed in American schools for more than a century and a
half be changed into an objective image? How can textbook writers,

children's book authors, film makers, teachers, and educators contri-
bute to a new image of Africans and Africa?

First, one may sum up briefly the treatment of Africa in
American schoolbooks from 1800 to 1965.

1. There has been far too little taught about Africa. World
histories have been the worst offenders, devoting an average of 2.8%
to Africa. Elementary geographies have had the largest percentage
with 9.7%. These figures include North Africa.

2. The little that has been taught has been unbalanced. In
world histories, more than 50% of the Space allotted to Africa has
been Spent on North Africa, particularly Egypt. The Stanley and
Livingstone story has been overused, but facts about African kingdoms
have almost never been included. Until recently, geographies have
emphasized the Congo with side trips to East and South Africa.

3. The little that has been taught has been treated in an
episodic manner. Except for several recent histories, world history
texts generally have scattered information about Africa under explora-
tion, imperialism and perhaps new nations. Geographies at the secondary
level have divided Africa under the EurOpean powers who ruled them.

4. There has generally been an imperialistic bias, a looking at
Africa through western eyes, a use of the "colonial stereotype" in the
words "barbarians" and "natives".

5. African civilization has almost never been presented

95

independently for its own worth, although a few books have recognized
African music or art.

6. Sins of omission have contributed to the one—sided image of
Africa. African history before the Europeans came to the continent,
effects of the slave trade on Africa, and resistance to colonialism
by Africans are tOpics which are almost never mentioned. In this
regard, texts have not kept up with modern scholarship on Africa.
Although the physical geography of Africa is probably the most accurately
presented information on the continent in schoolbooks today, the failure
in the past to denote carefully climate and vegetation regions caused
still existing confusion.

7. Until very recently, illustrations in books and encyc10pedias
emphasized the backwardness of Africa rather than its achievements.
Pictures of naked Africans before grass huts or paddling in dugout
canoes appeared, but not pictures of Shaka and his warriors or of
Kwame Nkrumah. Pictures of Stanley greeting Livingstone or a statue
honoring Cecil Rhodes appeared, but not pictures of a Benin mask or
the stone ruins at Zimbabwe.

Now what can be done? The image of African character and
culture is probably the most difficult area. One improvement would be
the abolition of the ngmy as the representative of Africa about which
elementary children learn. Why not a textbook visit to a Nigerian
schoolboy? Why not a pen pal exchange between an American class and
an African class? Why not an invitation to an African student studying
in the United States so American children can see that Africans are

"ordinary people"? Culture suggests literature and art. Here there

TL! r-o—Ir-

CD
CD

is a host of possibilities. The high school student studying about

the impact of colonialism on the West African could read Chinua Achebe's
novels. In studying about South Africa's racial tensions, the student
could read more than the popular Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country.
Perhaps Richard Rive's short stories, Dennis Brutus' poems or Lewis
Nkosi's play would add another dimension. The politics of Ghana and
Zambia might be better understood after reading the biographies of

Kwame Nkrumah and Kenneth Kuanda. Because much African art has been
functional, a study of masks might lead to a study of secret societies
and a study of Benin sculpture might lead to a study of Benin kings.

As stated earlier, African geography is now the most accurately
presented area. Here students need the Opportunity to learn about the
"whys" behind the rift valley, the wet and dry seasons, and the
enlarging desert. A research problem for a high school student might
involve the Gondwanaland theory or the problems in creating change in
agricultural methods.

The image of African history needs the most refurbishing. Because
most teachers do not have the time nor the interest to create their own
Special units on Africa and because, realistically Speaking, most
teachers will continue to use textbooks rather than specially published
I paperback materials, it is imperative that textbooks include African
history in world histories. The medieval Sudanic empires could be
fitted into a chapter on the expansion of Islam. Some of the excellent
.material in AfiGlorious Age in Africa: The Storygof Three Great African
Empires by Daniel Chu and Elliott Skinner might be incorporated,

Another point at which Africa's past might be introduced in the standard

If—F'Ir‘
TL

 

 

97

world history is following Egypt, for that ancient civilization made
contributions to African history as well as to western civilization.
An objective history text would emphasize the effects of the Slave
trade on both the Americas and Africa and not be satisfied with a
paragraph on the abolition of the slave trade. A complaint that there
is not enough room in the text for the additions will be forthcoming,
but the Space devoted to the exploration and colonial periods could
be cut down.

Including African history in world history texts is only a
stOpgap measure, however. Obviously, new social studies curricula
are going to have to consider new methods of organization and probably
more time for what has come to be the traditional world history class.
Treating African geography, economics, culture, and politics as an
entity and using the flashback method to present history as Stavrianos'
text does is one possibility. Methods of organization which do not.
rely on the omnipotent text would allow the use of primary source
readings. (Stavrianos' text is meant to be accompanied by his Readings

in World HistoEX) For Africa, this means a student can read not only

 

excerpts from explorers' diaries (why not Barth instead of Stanley?)
but also King Affonso of the Congo's letters and Usman don Fodio's
writings. Large lecture sections might draw an African ambassador or
might perform an African drama. Small discussion groups could become
acquainted with African students.

The image of Africans held by Americans is bound to change. The
simple fact that Africa has "made the papers" forces Americans to notice

the huge continent and to ask questions. But it is essential, especially

98

for white Americans, that they throw away the myths and learn the facts
now. Then, and only then, will they be free to accept the black man in
Africa and in America as an equal. Then, and only then, will they be
able to participate in a resolution of the crisis in black and white

at home and abroad.

All men hold images of other men. Daring slave trade years,
Africans believed the white man was a cannibal. Two years ago at a
Mali customs station, a gendarme asked eagerly, "Please tell me, you
have seen the cowboys and Indians fighting in America?" Modern African
authors have drawn some devastating portraits of white men in Africa.
But an African pastor writing half a century ago put his finger on the
white man's "heart of darkness".

Poor resident, he thinks too much of his Skin and not
of his heart. What is the difference between a white
man and a black man? Are we not of the same blood and
all from Adam? This startles me much - is EurOpe still
Christian or Heathen?. . . If we had power enough to
communicate ourselves to EurOpe we would advise them
not to call themselves "Christiandom" but EurOpeandom.
Therefore the life of the three combined bodies
(missionaries, government, companies) is altogether
too cheaty, too thefty, too mocke . Instead of
"Give" they say "Take away from".1

A white man cannot swallow that analysis easily. A black man
cannot accept the epitaph "savage" easily. Is it possible each can
recognize the other as an individual unmarred by the darkness of

colonialism or the darkness of the Congo massacres? Can the images

give way and two men meet as equals?

 

15Basil Davidson, Which Way Africa? (Baltimore: Penguin African
Library, 1964), p, 50.

99

Appendix A

Percentage of Pages Devoted to Africa in 40 Geography Texts of Sample

Books by author and Percentage of pages
publication date devoted to Africa

 

 

Morse (1812)

Olney (1831)

Goodrich (1842)
Mitchell (1853)

Guyot (1875)

Maury (1890)

Frye (1895)

Frye (1901)

Tarr (1901)

Tarr (1904)

Dryer (1911)

Frye (1917)

Salisbury (1919)
Chamberlain (1921)
Packard (1926)

Branom (1928)

Hillyer (1929)
Huntington (1932) How
Huntington (1932) Why
Chamberlain (1938)
Branom (1939)

Barrows (1941).

Stamp (1943)

Packard (1944)
Bradley (1945)
McConnell (1945)
Carpenter (1949)
Stull (1952)

Packard (1953)

hamer (1955)

Thralls (1956)

Pounds (1957)
Cutright (1959)

James (1959)

Atwood (1960)

COOper (1961) Learning
COOper (1961) The Changing
Cutright (1961)
Drummond (1961)

ERC (1965)

U!
GHOO

H

 

H
H wnm m 0 N m u Q m H m H H O * * m i * * m m m

H H H
NNUIKIO
003000OOOHAOQOOOmooomOCfiCfiOCfiOOoom

(D

 

H H H
inner—awwcooooocn

H

*Percentage unmeasurable because Africa only mentioned
briefly under explanation of races.

 

100

Appendix B

Percentage of Pages Devoted to Africa in 30 History Texts of Sample

Books by author and Percentage of pages
publication date devoted to Africa

 

 

Goodrich (1838)
Goodrich (1850)
Worchester (1852)
Botsford (1921)
Elson (1921)
Van Loon (1921)
Webster (1921)
West (1922)
Beard (1924)
Hillyer (1924)
Barnard (1927)
Becker (1931)
Wrench (1931)
Rugg (1932)
Perkins (1934)
Webster (1934)
Capen (1940)
Boak (1942)
Kelty (1942)
Close (1945)
Bining (1946)
Hayes (1950)
Hughes (1952)
Lane (1954)
Wallbank (1956)
Estrin (1957)
Rogers (1960)
Zebel (1960)
McCrocklin (1962)

4
4
9
0
0
0
O
3
2
O
O
5
2
4
.5
6
8
2
5
8
0
3
O
5
3
O
6
O
O
Stavrianos (1962) O

oowwxlwtonowoooaowmommawHecomwwoec

+ North Africa in
Middle East
Culture Area

”C‘—

 

 

 

101

Appendix C

Percentage of Pages Devoted to Areas of Africa in 40 Geography Texts

 

 

Books by author and General North TrOpical South
publication date Comments Africa A££133__ Aigggg
Morse (1812) 18 53 25 4
01ney‘(1831) 10 40 4O 10
Goodrich (1842) 24 34 33 9
Mitchell (1853) 14 49 29 8
Guyot (1875) * * * *
Maury (1890) * * * *
Frye (1895) * * * *
Frye (1901) 28 50 14 8
Tarr (1901) * * * *
Tarr (1904) * * * *
Dryer (1911) ** ** ** **
Frye (1917) 46 31 23 0
Salisbury (1919) 0 25 5O 25
Chamberlain (1921) ** ** ** **
Packard (1926) O 40 4O 20
Branom (1928) 23 35 23 19
Hillyer (1929) O 33 5O 17
Huntington (1932) Egg 0 35 47 18
Huntington (1932) [£1 0 29 54 17
Chamberlain (1938) 6 12 24 58
Branom (1939) 0 96 4 0
Barrows (1941) O 50 50 0
Stamp (1943) 29 25 21 25
Packard (1944) 4 33 3 30
Bradley (1945) 0 38 38- 24
McConnell (1945) 0 46 54 0
Carpenter (1949) 0 O 100 O
Stull (1952) 0 50 50 O
Packard (1953) 25 25 25 25
Hamer (1955) 23 58 11 8
Thralls (1956) O 33 55 12
Pounds (1957) 22 18 30 3O
Cutright (1959) 40 27 18 15
James (1959) 11 27 37 25
Atwood (1960) O 28 47 25
COOper (1961) Learning 0 52 48 0'
COOper (1961) The Changing 74 26 O O
Cutright (1961) O 94 3 3
Drummond (1961) 18 37 35 10
BBC (1965) O O 100 0

*Percentage unmeasurable because Africa only mentioned briefly
under explanation or races.
**Percentage unmeasurable because Africa only mentioned under climate.

Tl‘l—a'h

 

Appendix D

Percentage of Pages Devoted to Areas of Africa in 30 History Texts

 

 

 

 

Books by author and North Africa TrOpical Africa South Africa,
publication date including including EurOpean Republic of
ancient Egypt colonization
Goodrich (1838) 72 28 O
Goodrich (1850) 72 28 0
Worchester (1852) 100 O 0
Botsford (1921) 75 25 0
Elson (1921) 82 9 9
Van Loon (1921) 93 7 O
Webster (1921) 61 34 5
West (1922) 98 2 0
Beard (1924) 16 68 16
Hillyer (1924) 95 5 O
Barnard (1927) 63 27 10
Becker (1931) 80 10 10
Wrench (1931) 24 43 33
Rugg (1932) 0 100 0
Perkins (1934) 62 19 19
Webster (1934) 66 29 5
Capen (1940) 71 25 4
Boak (1942) 76 12 12
Kelty (1942) 97 3 0
Close (1945) 80 15 5
Bining (1946) , 66 l7 l7
Hayes (1950) 60 31 9
Hughes (1952) 66 20 14
Lane (1954) 62 34 4
Wallbank (1956) 41 53 6
Estrin (1957). 80 20 0
Rogers (1960) 55 41 4
Zebel (1960) 52 34 14
McCrocklin (1962) 30 35 35
Stavrianos (1962) * * *

*This text has general discussion of whole culture area so cannot
be divided.

to.

~

 

103

Appendix E

Test Taken by 47 High School Juniors in Houston, Texas and Lincoln, Nebraska

The number of students who could identify correctly the names
and places in part I of the following test is given. The answers to the
ten questions in part II are incorporated in Chapter IV. Some of the
answers provided the statements used in the test given in Lakewood which
appears in Appendix F.

25 22
1. Identify the following: Houston Lincoln

1. David Livingstone l7 l4
2. Patrice Lumumba 7 3
3. Kilimanjaro 19 11
4. Haile Selassie lO 2
5. Niger 16 19
6. Albert Schweitzer 20 16
7. Johannesburg 20 ll
8. Kwame Nkrumah 2 1
9. Timbuctu 13 6
10..Henry Stanley 16 12
ll. Mansa Musa 0 O
12. Ibadan 0 0
13. Zambezi 3 7
l4. Cairo 24 17
15. Jomo Kenyatta 9 2
16. Watussi , 18 12
17. Gamel Nasser 18 ll
18. Zambia 3 6
19. Zulu 18 19
20. Tarzan 22 20

II. Answer briefly.

. What kinds of climate does Africa have?

What kinds of vegetation does Africa have?

. What kinds of animals does Africa have?

Describe an African.

What kinds of occupations do Africans follow?

. What kinds of homes do Africans live in?

Explain some good things and some bad things which white men have
done in Africa. '

Did Africans have governments and religions before the white man
came? What were they like?

9. What do you think Africa will be like in the future?

10. What have been your sources of learning about Africa?

«10501.5me

00

104

Appendix F

Test Taken by 390 High School Sophomores in Lakewood, Ohio

These world history students were given the following test on
March 10 and 11, 1966. In May and June 1966 these students had a Six-
weeks unit on Africa written by the author of this thesis. The results
of the following test are given in percentages.

Directions:

The following statements about Africa and Africans were
made by high school students. If you agree with the
statement, write "yes". If you disagree, write "no". On
numbers 17 and 18, write "do not know" if you are not
familiar with the names.

Percent Percent
1. An African has black skin to protect him from
the sun. 37 63
2. An African has a larger jaw than we do; this is
a characteristic of primitive man. 53 47
3. Africans have a basically simple character but
desire European progress. 52 48
4. In some cases, Africans are primitive in custom,
but in others are modern, well-educated men. 88 12
5. Africans live in grass huts in the jungle, shacks
in shantytowns and nicer homes. 74 26
6. Africa is a jungle-ridden continent where wild
animals roam. 56 44
7. Africans are pagans who worship many gods. 55 45
8. Africans had their own code of morals and systems
of government before the white man arrived. 84 16
9. EurOpeanS civilized the Africans by building
hospitals and schools. 65 35
10. The whites also exploited the land and tried to
keep down the blacks, 58 42
11. In the future, Africa will probably develOp to
be more like us in education and industry and
other ways. 76 24
12. Africa's primitive natives will never be completely
won over to civilized society. 48 52
13. Africa is groping for independence and world
position and will get into trouble this way. 44 56
14. Communism has influenced some of these countries
but has not had a serious effect on most. 69 31

15. Africans who live in cities have jobs, while
those in the interior are primitive. 56 44

 

16.
*17.

*18.
19.
20.

105

Y? s
Africa's climate is generally hot and humid. 87
Jomo Kenyatta started a revolution and went
to prison. 21
Lumumba was a pro—Communist leader. 26
The Watussi was an African dance. 66
Albert Schweitzer was a famous American doctor 73

in Africa.

*70% wrote "do not know" for 17. and 60% for 18.

No

13

14

34
27

BIBLIOGRAPHY

This study is based upon an examination of seventy elementary
and secondary geography and history texts and nineteen encyc10pedias
whose dates of publication range from 1812 to 1965. These are listed
in chronological order, according to earliest publication date, in
the bibliography. Several histories of American schoolbooks were also
consulted. Special consideratibn was given to books about Africa
written by Negro Americans. A perusal of children‘s library books
about Africa, most published in the last thirty years, provided
another source for American attitudes toward that continent. References
which do not fall into any of the above categories are classified under
"General".

The sources for present-day attitudes of students toward
Africa were a test given to 47 students in two high school history
classes in Houston, Texas and Lincoln, Nebraska (Appendix E), a test
given to 390 students at Lakewood High School in Ohio (Appendix F),
and themes written by 18 students at Lakewood High Summer School and

by 58 students at Willowick Junior High in Ohio.

106

TI.

—‘

 

 

107

Textbooks

Morse, Jedidiah. Geography Made Easy. Boston: Thomas and Andrews, 1812.

 

Olney, J. A Practical Sysgem of Modern Geography. Hartford: D. F.
Robinson, 1831.

 

Goodrich, S. G. Peter Parley's Common School History. Philadelphia:
William Marshall and Co., 1838.

 

A Pictorial Geography of the World. Boston: Otis, Broaders,
and Co., 1840.

 

Peter Parley's Universal History. New York: Mark H. Newman
and Co., 1850.

 

Worchester, Joseph E. Elements of History. Boston: William J. Reynolds
and Co., 1852.

 

Mitchell, S. Augustus. A System of Modern Geography. Philadelphia:
Thomas, Cowperthwait and Co., 1853.

 

Guyot, Arnold. Physical Geography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,
1873.

 

Maury, M. F. Physical Geography. New York: University Publishing Co.,
1890.

 

Frye, Alexis Everett. Grammar School Geography. Boston: Ginn, 1895.

 

Complete Geography. Boston: Ginn, 1901.

 

Tarr, Ralph S. First Book of Physical Geography. New York: Macmillan,
1901.

 

New Physical Geography. New York: Macmillan, 1904.

 

 

Dryer, Charles Redway. High School Geography. New York: American Book
Co., 1911.

 

Frye, Alexis Everett. _New Geography. Boston: Ginn, 1917.

 

Salisbury, Rollin D., Harlan H. Barrows, and Walter S. Tower. Modern
Geography for High School. New York: Henry Holt, 1919.

 

Botsford, George Willis. A Brief History of the World. New York:
Macmillan Co., 1921.

 

Chamberlain, James Franklin. Geography - Physical, Economic, Regional.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1921.

 

"-—_..

 

 

108

Elson, Henry W. Modern Times and the Living Past. New York: American
Book Co, 1921, 1925.

 

Van Loon, Hendrik Willem,, The Story of Mankind. Liverwright: 1921, 1951.

 

Webster, Hutton. World Histogy. Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1921, 1925.

 

West, Willis Mason. The Story of Worlngrogress. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon, 1922, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1931.

 

Beard, Charles A. and William C. Bagley. Our Old World Background.
New York: Macmillan, 1924. v

 

Hillyer, V. M. A Child's History of the World. New York: Century Co.,
1924. T ' '

 

 

Packard, Leonard O. and Charles P. Sinnott. Nations as Neighbors. New
York: Macmillan, 1926.

Barnard, J. Lynn and Agnew O. Roorbach. Epechs of World Progress.
New York: Henry Holt, 1927.

 

Branom, Frederick K. and Helen M. Ganey. Geography of EurOpe, Asia,
Africay Australia and the Polar Regions. New York: William
Sadler, 1928.

 

 

Hillyer, V. M. A Child's Geography of the World. New York: Appleton-

%

CenturyJCrofta, 1929, 1935, 1951.

 

Becker, Carl L. .Modern History. New York: Silver Burdett, 1931, 33, 35, 39.

 

Wrench, Jesse E. The March of Civilization. New York: Scribner's Sons,
1931, 35. ' '

 

Huntington, Ellsworth, C. Beverley Benson, and Frank M. McMurry. How
Countries Diffgr. New York: Macmillan Co., 1932.

 

. Why Countries Differ. New York: Macmillan Co., 1932.

 

Rugg, Harold. Changing Governments and ChanginggCultures. Boston:
Ginn, 1932.

 

Perkins, Clarence. Mgn's AdvancinggCivilization. New York: Rand
McNally Co., 1934.

 

Webster, Hutton and Edgar Bruce Wesley. World Civilization. Boston:
D. C. Heath, 1934.

 

Chamberlain, James Franklin. Geography and Society. Chicago: Lippin-
cott Co., 1938.

 

I"‘-— .

 

...__A "J“

109

Branom, Frederick H. and Helen M. Ganey. Geography of Our World. New
York: William Sadler, 1939.

 

Capen, Louise I. Across the Ages. New York: American Book Co., 1940.

 

Boak, Arthur E. R., Preston Slosson, and Howard R. Anderson. World
History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1942.

Kelty, Mary G. Other Lands and Other Times. Boston: Ginn, 1942.

 

Stamp, L. D dley. The World. London, New York, Toronto: Longmans,
Green and Co., 1943, 1950.

Packard, Leonard, Bruce Overton and Ben Wood. Our Air—Age World. New
York: Macmillan Co., 1944.

 

Bradley, John Hodgdon. World Geography. Boston: Ginn, 1945.

 

Close, Upton and Merle Burke. The Ladder of history. New York:
Macmillan Co., 1945.

 

McConnell, W. R. Geography Around the World. New York: Rand McNally,
1945. "

 

Barrows, Harlan H., Edith Putnam Parker, and Clarence Woodrow Sorenson.
Our Big World. New York: Silver, Burdett Co., 1946, 1951.

 

Bining, Arthur C , Richard H. Shryock, and Morris Wolf. This Our World.
New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1946, 1949, 1953.

 

Carpenter, Frances. Children of our World. New York: American Book Co.,
1949. '7

 

Hayes, Carlton J. H., Parker Thomas Moon, and John W. Wayland. World
History. New York: Macmillan, 1950.

Hughes, R. 0.! Tho Making of Today's World. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
1952, 1956.

 

 

Stull, DeForest, and Roy W. Hatch. Journeys Through Many Lands. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1952.

Packard, Leonard 0., Bruce Overton, and Ben Wood. Geography of tho
World. New York: Macmillan, 1953. ‘

 

Lane, Frederic C., Eric F. Goldman, and Erling M. Hunt. The World's
History. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954.

 

Hamer, 0. Stuart. Exploriththe Old World. Chicago: Follett Publishing
Co., 1955.

 

f..-
——.

 

 

110

Thralls, Zoe A. The World Around Us. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1956.

 

Wallbank, T. Walter. Man's Story. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1956.

 

Estrin, Jack C. World History Made Simple. New York: Made Simple Books,
1957.

 

Pounds, Norman J. G. and Edward L. COOper. World Geography. Cincinnati:
Southwestern, 1957.

 

Cutright, Prudence, Loyal Durand, Jr., J. Hubert Anderson, and John J
Brooks. Livihngogether as World Nerghbors. New York: Macmillan,
1959. '

 

James, Preston E. and Nelda Davis. The Wide World. New York: Macmillan
Co., 1959.

 

Atwood, Wallace W. and Helen Goss Thomas. Netions Overseas. Boston:
Ginn, 1960.

 

Rogers, Lester B., Fay Adams, and Walker Brown. Story of Nations.
New York: Henry Holt, 1960.

 

Zebel, Sydney H. and Sidney Schwartz. Past to Present. New York:
Macmillan Co., 1960, 1963.

 

Cooper, Kenneth S., Clarence W. Sorenson, and Lewis Paul Todd. Learnihg
to Look at Our World. Morristown, N. J.: Silver, Burdett, 1961.

 

Tie Changing Old Worlg. Morristown, N. J.: Silver Burdett, 1961.

 

Cutright, Prudence, John Jarolimek, and Mae Knight Clark. {h OorrCountry
and Other Lands. New York: Macmillan Co., 1961.

 

 

Drummond, Harold D. .The Eastern Hemisphere. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1961.

 

 

McCrocklin, James H. The Makihg of Today's World. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon, 1962.

Stavrianos, Leften S., ed. A Global History of Man. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon, 1962.

 

Greater Cleveland Social Science Program. The Child Begins to Know His
World. Cleveland: Greater Cleveland Educational Research Council,
1965.

 

111

Encyclopedioe

 

Lieber, Francis, ed. EncyclOpedia Americana. Philadelphia: Desilver,
Thomas, and Co., 1836.

 

Ripley, George and Charles A. Dana. American CyclOpedia. New York:
D. Appleton, 1873.

 

Encyclopedia Britannioa. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1875.

 

Carleton's Treasury. Detroit: C. G. Paine, 1881.

 

Peck, H. T. International Cyclopedih. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.,
1892.

 

Leonard-Stuart, Charles and George J. Hagar, ed. Everybogy's Cyclopedih.
New York: Syndicate Publishing Co., 1911.

 

Beach, Frederick Converse, ed. The Amerithh. New York: Americana Co.,
1914.

 

Collier's New EncyclOpedia. New York: P. F. Collier and Son, 1921.

 

Patrick, Davis and William Geddie, ed. Chamber's EncyclOpedia.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1923.

 

Eompton‘s Pictured Encyclopedia. Chicago: F. E. Compton, 1929.

 

Suzzallo, Henry, ed.~ National Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier
and Son, 1934.

 

 

The World Book Enhyclgpedia. Chicago: The Quarrie Corporation, 1947.

Barry, Charles P., ed. Collier's EncyclOpedia. New York: P. F. Collier
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EncyclOpedia Britennica. Chicago, London, Toronto: William Benton, 1955.

 

 

World Booh. Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1961.

Encyclopedia Americaoh. New York: Americana Corporation, 1962.

 

Encyclopedia International. New York: Grolier, 1964.

 

_§pllier's EncyclOpedia. New York: Crowell—Collier Co., 1965.

 

_§ompton's Pictured Encyclopedia. Chicago: Benton, 1965.

 

112

Children's Trade hooke

 

Allen, William D. Africa. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fideler, 1956.

Buchan, John. Prester John. New York: George H. Doran, 1910.

 

Busoni, Rapaello. Shanley's Africa. New York: Viking, 1944.

 

 

Dabeis, Dominque. Agossou, Boy of Africa. Chicago: Follett, 1962.

Davis, Norman. Picken's Great Adventure. New York: Oxford, 1950.

i—vfi

 

Picken's Treasure Bohr. New York: Oxford, 1955.

 

Enright, Elizabeth. Krntu: A Congo Adventure. Eau Claire, Wisconsin:
E. M. Hale, 1935.

 

Gartler, Marion. ghderstandinggEthiopig. River Forest, Ill.: Laidlaw,
1962.

 

Understanding Liberia. River Forest, Ill.: Laidlaw, 1964.

 

Griffin, Ella. Continent in a Hurry. New York: Coward, McCann, 1962.

 

Guillot, Rene. Srrgey Queen of the African Bush. New York: Criterion
Books, 1959.

 

Singer, Caroline and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge. ghomba Lives in Afrioh.
Holiday House, 1935.

 

Stevens, Alden G. Lion Boy. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1938.

Turnbull, Colin. Peoples of Africa. Cleveland: World, 1962.

 

Waldeck, Theodore. On Safari. New York: Viking, 1940.

The Negro American on African History

 

Bell, J. W. "The Teaching of Negro History," Journal of Negro History,
VIII (April, 1923), 123-127.

 

'

Brewer, William M. "Teaching of Negro History in Secondary Schools,'
Journal of Negro History, XXVI (January, 1951), 71-79.

 

Dabney, Thomas L. "The Study of the Negro," Joornal of Negro History,
XIX (July, 1934), 266-307.

 

113

Dreer, Herman. "The Education of the Negro with Respect to his Back—
ground," gournal of Negro History, XIX (January, 1934), 45—51.

 

"What does the Innocent Teacher Impart as History?" Journal
of NegrorHistory, XXV (October, 1940), 474-83.

 

Hambly, Wilfred D. "Visual Aids to Teaching African Ethnology," Journal
of Negro History, (July, 1947), 354-63.

 

Johnson, Grace Hayes. "Phases of Cultural History of Significance for
Negro Students," Journal of Negro History, XXII (January, 1937),
29-37.

 

Reddick, L. D. "A New Interpretation for Negro History," Journal of
Negro History, XXII (January, 1937), 17—28.

 

 

"Racial Attitudes in American History Books of the South,"
Journal of Negro History, XIX (July, 1934), 225—265.

 

Shackelford, Jane D. The Child's Story of the Negro. Washington:
Associated Press, 1955.

 

Wesley, Charles H. "Creating and Maintaining an Historical Tradition,'
.gournal of Negro History, XLIX (January, 1964), 13-33.

 

"The Reconstruction of History," Journal of Negro History,
XX (October, 1934), 411-27.

 

Whiting, Helen A. "Teaching Pupils History in the Elementary School,"
goornal of Negro Hisrory, XXXVI (January, 1951), 63-70.

 

1

Williams, L. V. "Teaching Negro Life and History in Texas High Schools,'
Journal of Negro History, XX (January, 1935), p, 13,

 

Woodson, Carter G. hrrican Heroes and herornee. Washington: Associated
Publishers, 1939.

 

 

.hfrioan Mythe. Washington: Associated Publishers, 1928.

"Negro Life and History in the Schools," Journal of Negro
History, IV (July, 1919), 273-80.

 

"The Celebration of Negro History Week 1927," Journal of
Negro history, XII (April, 1927), 103-109.

 

 

The Negrogin Our History. Washington: Associated Publishers,
1922.

 

. The African Background Outlined. Washington: Association for
Study of Negro Life and History, 1936.

 

 

 

 

114

Woodson, Carter G. The Story of the Negro Retold. Washington:
Associated Publishers, 1935, 1942.

 

Wright, Arthur D. "What We Should Teach the Negro Child about Himself
and about Others in Relation to Himself," Journal of Negro
History, XIX (January, 1934), 32-39.

 

General

Africa's Freedom. London: Unwin Books, 1964.

 

"Africa - more than teething troubles," Life, Feb. 14, 1964, p. 4.

Bohannan, Paul. Africa and Africanr. Garden City, New York: Natural
History Press, 1964.

 

Carpenter, Charles. Hretory of American Schoolbooks. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963.

 

Carpenter, Marie Elizabeth. The Treatment of the Negro in Amerroan
history School Textbookr. Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta,
1941.

 

 

 

Conrad, Joseph. .XQVtQF A Narrative and Two Other Stories. New York:
Doubleday Anchor, 1959.

Curtin, Philip. Tie Image of Africa. British Ideas and Action 1780-1850.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1964.

 

Davidson, Basil. Black Mother. London: Gollancz, 1961.

 

The African Past. Boston: Little, Brown, 1964.

 

"Wanted - A Library of African Classics," Africa Report
(November, 1965), 24—28.

 

. Which Way Africa? Baltimore: Penguin African Library, 1964.

 

v v—vfi

de Blij, Harm J. A Geography of Subsaharan Africa. Chicago: Rand McNally
Co., 1964.

 

Fourteenth Annual Exhibit of New Library Books of the Year. Mt. Kisco,
New York: Books on Exhibit.

High, James. Teaching Secondary School Social Studies. New York: John
Wiley, 1962.

 

Isaacs, Harold R. The New World of Negro Americans. New York: Viking

Viv

Press, 1963.

 

115

Johnson, Clifton. Old Time Schools and School Books. New York:
Macmillan, 1904.

 

Larrick, Nancy. "The All—White World of Children's Books," Saturday
Review, Sept. 11, 1965, pp. 63-65, 84—85.

Murra, Wilbur F. Bibliography of Textbooks in the Social Studies for
Elementary and Secondary Schools. Cambridge, Mass.: National
Council for Social Studies, 1939.

 

 

Nkrumah, Kwame. Ghana, An Autobiography. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson,
1959. ‘

 

Nietz, John A. Old Textbooks from Colonial Days to 1900. Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1961.

 

Oliver, Roland and J. D. Fage. A Short History of Africa. Baltimore:
Penguin, 1962.

 

Payne, William A. "American Press Coverage of Africa," Africa Report,
January, 1966, pp. 44-48.

 

Quillen, I. James. Textbook Improvement and International Understanding.
American Council on Education, 1948.

 

Quigg, Philip W., ed. Africa: A Foreigh Affairs Reader. New York:
Praeger, 1964.

 

Redman, Anabel. Classified Catalogoe of Textbooks in the Social Studies
for Elementary and Secondary Schools. Philadelphia: McKinley,
1927.

 

 

Skinner, Ann. "Parma Updates African Studies", Cleveland Plain Dealer,
March 3, 1966. p. 41.

 

"Storied World of Africa", Life, October 13. 1961, pp. 66-87.

Spieseke, Alice W. Bibliography of Textbooks in the Social Studies for
rgementary and Secondary Schoolr. Washington: National Council
for the Social Studies, 1949.

 

 

World History Book List for High Schools. Washington: National
Council for the Social Studies, 1962.

 

Thompson, George. Africa in a Nutshell. Oberlin: 1883.