The Negro in America.
Atlanta: Commission on Interracial Cooperation, [1939]. [4]pp., on a single folded sheet. Minimal wear. Near fine. Item #6040
A small leaflet printing an address by John Wesley Dobbs on the "Wings Over Jordan" radio program on the Columbia Broadcasting System on New Year's Day, 1939. John Wesley Dobbs, an African American activist based in Atlanta, worked for thirty-two years as a railway mail clerk and served for almost as long Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons of Georgia. He was a founder in the 1930s and 1940s of organizations promoting Black voter registration in Atlanta. Maynard Jackson, the first African-American mayor of Atlanta, was his grandson. According to his entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at his funeral and Thurgood Marshall was a pallbearer.
In the present address, Dobbs celebrates January 1 as Emancipation Day, mentioning the same day in 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation was officially issued by President Lincoln. He details the long history of African Americans in the New World, beginning with Alonzo Pietro of the Columbus expedition. He thereafter expounds upon the importance of African Americans in the history of the country, with paragraphs focused on assertions such as "We have helped to build America," "We have bled and died for American Democracy," "We have made progress in education," and more. He also speaks about African-American service in the Civil War, mentions educators such as Booker T. Washington, J.B. Watson, and Fletcher Henderson. Ultimately he answers the question, "What does the Negro want, and deserve?" by referencing the four words carved over the Supreme Court: "Equal Justice Under Law."
OCLC reports just two copies of this rare radio speech, at the Bancroft and the University of Georgia.
Price: $450