The New Negro's Attitude Toward His Government [wrapper title].

£2,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

This rare, early Oklahoma imprint is an appeal by George F. Nave (1884-1939) to fellow Black Americans to support the United States’ entry into World War One and simultaneously argues for their equal treatment . Nave spends the first part of the work discussing fair education, the prospect of “one, strong, united country of all its people” (instead of a country partly belonging to the “white,” “black,” or “red” man), and asserting that “the Negro is not asking special acts of government nor state for his special benefit.” He argues that the “New Negro” has developed into a “full grown man” after “fifty years of freedom, fifty years of actual contact with the business world, and fifty years of commercial activity and education.” As such, he asks for “a chance to play a man’s part in the material construction of things,” “a chance to earn an honest living among all avenues and channels that are open to other men and women of his skill and ability,” “to bear the burdens as well as enjoy the blessings of his country,” “fairness in every particular, and justice everywhere,” and not least “to shed his blood along with the blood of other citizens, when the shedding of blood is required to preserve and protect his country.” Indeed, the first page states: “He will not prove a traitor to the cause of his country, no a coward in the face of it’s enemies.” And concludes “[h]e asks that his country appreciate his general worth, that it depend upon his ability and endurance, that it trust

• Binding: Hardcover

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