Whiting, Albert. Guardians of the Flame: Historically
Black Colleges Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.Wash-
ington, D.C.: American Association of State Col-
leges and Universities, 1991.
Willie, Charles, and Ronald Edmonds, eds. Black Col-
leges in America: Challenge, Development, Survival.
New York: Teachers College Press, 1978.
Northwestern University
Located in Evanston, Illinois, and the institution at
which pioneering anthropologist MELVILLEHER-
SKOVITSfounded the first African-American stud-
ies program in the nation.
The school was established in 1850 as a Chris-
tian university that would prepare individuals to
minister and educate the populations in the North-
western Territories. It was based in Ridgeville, a vil-
lage some 12 miles away from CHICAGO. The town
of Evanston was named after John Evans, one of
the school’s founders. The school had 10 students
when it opened for classes in 1855 and a faculty of
two, mathematics professor Henry Noyes and
Greek language and literature professor William
Godman. Its first president was the Reverend Ran-
dolph Sinks Foster, a minister from New York State.
Melville Herskovits, who was a member of the
sociology department at Northwestern, established
the African-American studies program in 1948.
Bibliography
Simpson, George. Melville Herskovits. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1973.
Ward, Estelle. The Story of Northwestern University.New
York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1924.
Williamson, Harold, and Payson Wild. Northwestern
University: A History, 1850–1975.Evanston, Ill.:
Northwestern University, 1976.
“Nothing New”Marita Bonner(1926)
A savage short story by MARITABONNERabout
the evils of race prejudice and the tragedies that
can befall its visionary and talented victims of
color, “Nothing New” appeared in the November
1926 issue of THECRISIS.In a narrative that fore-
shadowed the turf wars rendered so painstakingly
in RICHARD WRIGHT’s “Ethics of Living Jim
Crow,” the story described the life of Denny Jack-
son. Jackson is a young boy living in Frye Street,
Bonner’s fictional ethnic and racist CHICAGOcom-
munity. There are two epic battles in the story. The
first occurs when Denny wants to pick a beautiful
flower but is prevented from doing so by an obnox-
ious white child who insists that Denny stay out of
the “white kids’ side.” A thrashing from his mother
prompts him to wonder about the justice in the
world, but he preserves his love of beauty nonethe-
less. Denny’s penchant for noticing beautiful
things prompts his teachers to recommend that he
be admitted to a selective art school. After some
time, however, he and a white female student are
seen in each other’s company at an art exhibit.
Denny is falsely accused of preying on the girl, and
a vicious fight breaks out when an incensed white
male student attacks him in the classroom. Denny
inadvertently kills the boy and is sentenced to
death. The violence prompts the school to renege
on its policy of integrated classrooms, and the
community is divided in its opinions about what
“ruined Denny” and made it impossible for him to
live in modern society. Bonner’s story is a stark cri-
tique of northern racism, racial hysteria, and the
earnest but fragile nature of African-American life.Bibliography
Flynn, Joyce, and Joyce Occomy Striklin. Frye Street &
Environs: The Collected Works of Marita Bonner.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1987.Not Without LaughterLangston Hughes
(1930)
A prizewinning book and the first novel by
LANGSTON HUGHES. Not Without Laughter was
awarded first prize, a gold medal and $400, in the
HARMONFOUNDATIONLiterary Contest of 1930.
Published by the New York–based ALFRED A.
KNOPFINC., the autobiographical novel that Hughes
dedicated to philanthropists JOELand AMYSPIN-
GARNwas hailed by critics for its sincerity of presen-
tation and its insightful portraits of African-American
lives.
Hughes began work on the manuscript while
he was a student at LINCOLNUNIVERSITY. While
his own family was the primary inspiration for the
book, he realized that his was “not a typical Negro
family.” As a result, he “created around [himself]394 Northwestern University