[Civil Rights Activism:] Creating and Maintaining an Historical Tradition

[Np. nd., 1963]. Large 8vo, 21 pages. Printed wrappers. Mild foxing and light creases; mild offsetting to covers; internally clean, Very Good.

"On the foundation of our history, we can continue to build a lasting temple of self-respect and self-esteem, as other population groups have done" (p21) 

Seminal and important essay written by Charles H. Wesley (1891-1987) the esteemed historian of Black American history. Wesley persuasively argues for the utilization of the entirety of Black history to encourage self worth. Wesley presented his paper as part of his 1963 ASNLH (The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History) presidential address. 

The essay was a call to arms to strengthen the ties between African-American history and education and civil rights activism. "Blacks, Wesley argued, should employ their past in the same way: to use Black history as a tool for building Black pride..."¹

The present item was separately-issued, likely at the behest of Wesley for distribution at the 1963 ASNLH conference. The influential essay would later appear The Journal of African American History in 1964.

OCLC 50084877, four locations.

Note 1. Grob and Billias, Interpretations of American History, 6th Ed, Vol.: Since 1877 p128. Refs. Jones, Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America (2018). Conyers, Charles H. Wesley. The Intellectual Tradition of a Black Historian (1997).