The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919

Constitution of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History

I. The name of this body shall be the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.

II. Its object shall be the collection of sociological and historical documents and the promotion of studies bearing on the Negro.

III. Any person approved by the Executive Council may become a member by paying $1.00 and after the first year may continue a member by paying an annual fee of one dollar. Persons paying $2.00 annually become both members of the Association and subscribers to the Journal of Negro History. On the payment of $30.00 any person may become a life member, exempt from assessments. Persons not resident in the United States may be elected honorary members and shall be exempt from any payment of assessments. Members organized as clubs for the study of the Negro shall gratuitously receive from the Director such instruction in this field as may be given by mail.

IV. The Officers of this Association shall be a President, a Secretary-Treasurer, a Director of Research and Editor, and an Executive Council, consisting of the free foregoing officers and twelve other members elected by the Association. The Association shall elect three members of the Executive Council as trustees. It shall also appoint a business committee to certify bills and to advise the Director in matters of administrative nature. These officers shall be elected by ballot through the mail or at each annual meeting of the Association.

V. The President and Secretary-Treasurer shall perform the duties usually devolving on such officers. The Director of Research and Editor shall devise plans for the collection of documents, direct the studies of members and determine what matter shall be published in the Journal of Negro History. The Executive Council shall have charge of the general interests of the Association; including the election of members, the calling of meetings, the collection, and disposition of funds.

VI. This Constitution may be amended at any biennial meeting, notice of such amendment having been given at the previous biennial meeting or the proposed amendment having received the approval of the Executive Council.

The last session of the Association was held Wednesday evening at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church. In the absence of Dr. J. E. Moorland, Professor John R. Hawkins presided. The first address was delivered by Mr. Charles H. Wesley on "The Negro Soldier in the Confederate Army." Mr. Wesley's address was scholarly and illuminating. He showed that he had made extensive research in this field in that he was well acquainted with his subject and he had it well outlined. It was presented in topical form and made so clear that it was almost impossible not to understand the extent to which the Negro figured as a soldier in the Confederate Army. He took occasion to show the difference between the Negro's loyalty to his country and that to the master class and explained how an attachment to the soil on which one lives is inevitable. The whole address tended to bring forth the thought that the Negro is so closely connected with all the great movements of this country that it is impossible to treat him as an alien.

Dr. George E. Haynes, the next speaker, discussed "Some Economic Problems of the Negro." As the Director of the Bureau of Negro Economics in the Department of Labor, Dr. Haynes has done considerable investigation which enables him to speak with authority in this field. His discussion was largely statistical, treating the Negro laborer as compared with the white laborer with respect to absenteeism, turn-over and general efficiency. On some points his investigation had not gone sufficiently far to reach definite conclusions. In most cases, however, he had facts to warrant conclusions as to the main deficiency from which the Negro laborer suffers and the respects in which he excels the white laborer.

Mr. John W. Davis, Executive Secretary of the local Young Men's Christian Association, undertook to explain "How to Promote the Study of Negro Life and History." In the first place, he answered the questions whether or not the Negro had any history, whether this history is worth saving, and how the movement should be promoted. Basing his remarks on the achievements of Africa to show that the Negro has a history worth while, Mr. Davis supported the contention that the race has a tradition which should be passed on to generations unborn. He then endeavored to show briefly exactly how there can be constructed the machinery adequate to interesting every individual having pride in the achievements of this large fraction of the population of the country.