Black History Month Challenge: Day #18

Carry the Founders of ASALH As Us

In 1987, Amiri Baraka in his eulogy for Jimmy Baldwin, described Baldwin as “wise from asking whys giving us his wise and his whys to go with our own, to make them into a larger why and a deeper Wise.” Because of this, Baraka said Baldwin’s spirit, which “will be with us as long as we remember ourselves, is the only truth which keeps us sane and changes our whys to wiseness.” He also called Baldwin “God’s black revolutionary mouth.”

In reading through this, I remember the day when my professor, Dr. Jane Bond Howard (cousin of Julian Bond, niece of Dr. Horace Mann Bond), had us read his eulogy aloud in class. She asked, in her sonorous voice that demanded that you sit up and pay attention, how we wanted to be used by God? I do not remember what I said, but knowing me, it was probably something bold and arrogant, something about wanting to be a leader and about being willing to die for the cause and for my people. Now that I am much older, my hair is starting to turn a bit grey, and I have more yesterdays behind me than tomorrows before me, I am thinking (as Dr. King once said) that longevity has its place and that I would like to sit with my grandchildren one day, under my own vine and fig tree, and tell them all that I have learned and all that I know.

Reflecting on Baldwin’s legacy and my presidency of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), I am struck by how the contributions of our other four founders are often overshadowed. While Dr. Carter G. Woodson is rightly celebrated as the “Father of Black History,” the other men who helped establish the original Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) deserve equal recognition for their foundational roles.

ASNLH was founded on September 9, 1915, at the Wabash YMCA in Chicago by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, along with Dr. George Cleveland Hall, MD; Attorney William B. Hartgrove, Jr.; historian, journalist, and star athlete Alexander L. Jackson, II; and economist James Stamps. The men were in town for the National Half-Century Exposition and Lincoln Jubilee, held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of slavery. Jackson, who served as the Executive Director of the Wabash Y, organized the meeting and pulled them all together (they knew each other and were either friends, former classmates, or colleagues). There is so much history to study about these men and their families, so to jumpstart your curiosity, I have added a brief biography for each below.

George Cleveland Hall (1864-1930) was born in Michigan to John Ward Hall, a Baptist minister, and Romelia Buck Hall. He attended Chicago public schools and later attended and graduated from Lincoln University, PA, the oldest degree-granting HBCU in America. Hall received his medical degree in 1888 from Bennett Medical College and then worked at the Provident Hospital of Cook County, the first Black-owned and managed hospital in America. There, he organized postgraduate courses, then became chief of staff. As a civic leader and respected physician, Dr. Hall shaped ASNLH’s early direction and served as its first president, ensuring the organization’s stability and reach.
William B. Hartgrove, Jr. (1877-1918), the son of William B. Hartgrove, Sr. and Rebecca Perry Hartgrove, was born in Washington, DC, to parents who were formerly enslaved. He studied at Howard University and later became a lawyer. By 1909, he was teaching at Armstrong Manual Training School, one of the only two high schools in the District that accepted African American students. The other school was M Street High School, where Dr. Woodson taught. One year after they launched ASNLH, they founded the Journal of Negro History (JNH), now known as the Journal of African American History (JAAH). Hartgrove published several articles and annotated bibliographies of Black people in the JNH, including The Negro Soldier in the American Revolution; The Story of Maria Louise Moore and Fannie M. Richards, which highlighted the accomplishments of free Black women of Virginia; and The Story of Josiah Henson, his last article that was completed by Dr. Woodson due to his illness.
Alexander Louis Jackson, II (1891-1973) was born in Englewood, New Jersey, to Alexander Louis Jackson and Evelyn Martha Lewis Jackson. He graduated from public school at 14, then attended Phillips Academy (Andover) and Harvard College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and English. Chosen as commencement speaker at both schools, Jackson later moved to Chicago and became Executive Secretary of the Wabash Avenue YMCA, where he convened the founding ASNLH meeting. Two years after co-founding ASNLH, Jackson established the Chicago branch of the National Urban League, served as Educational Secretary at the national office, and later worked as the publisher and general manager of the Chicago Defender, the largest Black-owned newspaper in the country. He was also president of the board of trustees of the Provident Hospital and Training School and served on the ASNLH’s first executive council.
James Stamps (1890-1972) was born in Marlin, Texas, to Perry A. Stamps and Mabel Myers. Like the parents of Woodson and Hartgrove, both of his parents were formerly enslaved. He attended Fisk University, graduating in 1911 with an AB degree in economics, and Yale University, graduating in 1913, with an AM degree in economics. He worked as an accountant in Chicago and later served as president of the Chicago Metropolitan Assurance Company. He later served as the secretary for the Black YMCA in Chicago, the Director of Agencies for Victory Life Insurance Company, and the vice president of the Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan Bank. At ASNLH, Stamps worked on the first publication of JNH and later served as editor of The Half-Century, which at the time was the companion to The Journal of Negro History. The former focused on contemporary issues while the latter focused on history.