Black History and Its Contemporary Relevance: Internet Radio Conversion with Stephen G. Hall and Mikhal Nash hosted by Sonya Jenkins of Raven's Closet, February 22, 2012

http://archive.org/details/BlackHistoryConversationRavensClosetInternetTalkRadio022312

New Books in African American Studies: Stephen G. Hall's A Faithful Acount of the Race (Interview: February 8, 2013)
http://newbooksinafroamstudies.com/2013/02/08/stephen-g-hall-a-faithful-account-of-the-race-african-american-historical-writing-in-nineteenth-century-america-unc-press-2009/

Setting the Record Straight: Black History Month (February 27, 2011) by Stephen G. Hall, Ph.d.
http://uncpressblog.com/2011/02/22/stephen-g-hall-black-history-month/

Black Intellectual Thought can be traced back to the 1800’s

Conversations with Tiffany A. Flowers, 4-27-11

Stephen G. Hall is a Visiting Professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. A Faithful Account of the Race: African American Historical Writing in Nineteenth-Century America is his first book release. In this text, Hall documents the development of historical writing  among African Americans throughout the nineteenth century up to the 1920’s.  Initially, I thought that this work would mirror Elizabeth McHenry’s work on documenting the literacy practices of free blacks in the North. However, Hall’s work does no such thing. He clearly delineates the tradition of Black Intellectual thought of African Americans in the 1800’s prior to the time period discussed in McHenry’s work. Through this pivotal work Hall does a great job of showing the trends, writing practices, and quality of work of these black public intellectuals. This text is a great read for book clubs that read historical texts, canonical works, and historical African American fiction. Stephen stopped by onixlink.com to discuss his first book release and his plans for future releases.

Stephen Hall Q & A

TAF: Tell us about your current book project.

Stephen: Currently, I am working on a book project, which extends the findings in my first book. The new project is titled “Framing Global Visions, African American Historicans Write About the World, 1885-1960.” This project will explore the role of lay and professional African American historians in promoting interest in the presence in and engagement of persons of African descent with the wider world. Often we believe this interest has more contemporary roots, but in fact it can be traced to the late 19^th century. My goal is to discuss the varied ways black writers discussed the broader world in their writing ranging from the formal colonization of Africa in 1885 to the struggles for decolonization from the 1940’s up through the 1960’s. By doing so, we are better able to understand that African American history is not simply a domestic issue, framed by the concerns of the United States, but it  is transnational, which means it  extends to an active engagement with almost every part of the world. This book will highlight the complexity and nuance of black historical writing in this period.

TAF: What inspired you to pen this book?

Stephen: In terms of my first book, I was surprised by how little we know about the development of historical writing among African Americans. We often believe that it is a byproduct of the twentieth century. According to its founding narratives, black history began in one of two ways. First, it was simply a function of the pioneering work of W.E.B. DuBois and Carter G. Woodson. Dubois was the first African American to graduate from Harvard with a Ph.D. in 1896. A prolific writer and racial activist, DuBois popularized many aspects of the African past through his voluminous writing over the course of more than half a century. Woodson, the second black to receive the Ph.D. from Harvard (1912), founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) in 1915, the first professional organization for the study of black history, established the Journal of Negro History (JNH) in 1916, the first scholarly journal for black history and inaugurated the Associated Publishers, which was a book publication concern founded shortly thereafter. Woodson also helped to train the first generation of professionally trained black historians (historians with Ph.D’s between 1915 and 1950). The second founding myth is essentially the idea that black history emerges from the civil rights and black power eras. It is a byproduct of black rage and feeds on white guilt. Both of these narratives  obscure the fact that 100 years before Carter G. Woodson founded ASNLH, black people, men and women were writing their history. These histories not only engaged and utilized the standard sources of the nineteenth century ranging from the Bible to classical sources, but offered a sophisticated presentation of black achievements and involvement in the development of humankind from the “first ages of the world.” Rather than byproducts of slavery, these writers understood that black history encompassed more than their contemporary 19^th century condition, it included their complex interactions with the world long before the rise of the slave trade. This book, then, was born out of a desire to set the record straight and to present a more accurate portrait of how and why African Americans wrote about their past. Moreover, it helps us understand the varied forms that African American history currently assumes.

TAF: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Stephen: Find your inner voice. Understand that writing is a collaborative project, so find individuals who can provide you with critical feedback. Always test your own boundaries and limitations. Sometimes we can become very comfortable with our past successes or stymied by failures. Try to be evenhanded and determined to do your best and even better work each time you produce a manuscript.

TAF: What is your biggest challenge as a writer? How do you overcome those challenges?

Stephen: Organization. Because my work requires a great deal of primary research (archival research in paper collections), I am often working with huge amounts of material. Recently, I have devised a way to organize my material and process it efficiently. This helps a great deal in producing accurate and verifiable work.

TAF: What do you hope to accomplish as a writer? Where do you expect your writing to take your career?

Stephen: I hope my writing can reach a larger audience. Often academic books only impact a limited audience. I want my writing to be accessible to larger audiences and to help African Americans understand the importance and centrality of history in shaping the African American experience.

TAF: Who would we find on your personal bookshelf? (Please share some of your favorite authors and titles.)

Stephen: I read widely, so  I am interested in DuBois’ Souls of Black Folk; Octavia Butler’s Kindred; David L. Lewis, two volume biography of W.E.B. DuBois—I really recommend the first volume, W.E.B. DuBois: Biography of a Race; Ralph ellison’s Invisible Man; anything by Tyler Stoval who has done a lot of work on blacks in Paris—see Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light; Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breakers; Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God; and Manning Marable’s new biography on Malcolm X, Malclolm X: A Life of Reinvention

TAF: Can you give us a hotspot that you think is worth checking out? (We post hotspots in major urban areas as a service on the site. You can name a church, restaurant, bookstore, etc.)

Stephen: I am a real fan of Black Classic Press in Baltimore, Maryland. They do a commendable job in reprinting out of print classics in black history.

 

Black History Month: Putting Myths to Rest

There are many misconceptions regarding the origins of Black History Month. While there are many laments about the timing of the event and its length, introducing a few simple facts into the conversation will go a long way in clarifying misperceptions. Contrary to popular belief, Black History Month was not initiated by majoritarian communities as a means of marginalizing African Americans or placed in February because it was the shortest month of the year. Black History Month began as Black History Week in 1926. Carter G. Woodson, the second African American to receive a Ph.D. in History from Harvard University and the founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, established the observance as a means of informing Americans of the many achievements of African Americans. February was a logical choice for the celebration because it featured the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, widely viewed as the Great Emancipator, and Frederick Douglass, the most prominent African American in the nineteenth century. Black History Week become Black History Month in 1980.