Item #7113 Talks For The Times. Crogman, illiam, enry.

Talks For The Times.

Cincinnati, O: Jennings & Pye, [1896]. Second edition stated. 7½” x 5½”. Green cloth, title gilt. Pp. [author frontis], [i-ix], x-xiii, 9-330 + + 8 plates interspersed. Good: corners frayed with small losses to spine tips; vertical patch of staining at the outer edge of both boards; hinges cracked but holding; some soil spots and stains to endpapers and first and last few leaves. Inscribed by the author on front free endpaper to Addie Hunton.

This is a collection of speeches by W.H. Crogman, a noted African American educator and orator, many of which were addressed to white audiences. The book was inscribed to Black civil rights leader, suffragist, political organizer and author, Addie Waites Hunton.

William H. Crogman was born on the Caribbean island of St. Martin in 1841. Orphaned at the age of 12, Crogman was brought to the United States by a shipbuilder and worked as a seaman until his 20s. He graduated from Atlanta University in 1876, and gained immediate employment at Atlanta's Clark University – the two institutions later merged. In 1880 he was promoted to Professor of Classical Languages, a position he held for 40 years; he also served as university president from 1903 to 1910. Crogman fought for civil rights and equality in education, and was said to walk several miles to work rather than ride segregated streetcars.

This book contains fifteen speeches concerning African American education and uplift that Crogman delivered at important events, several of which were in honor of, or attended by, white people. In the book's preface, Crogman related that “All the subjects treated are such as relate to the race with which I am identified . . . I have endeavored . . . to use candor and moderation, to condemn the wrong where I have seen the wrong, and commend the right where I have seen the right.”

The book begins with a biographical sketch of Crogman and also contains his address to the National Teachers Association meeting in 1884 which was the first time that an African American was ever invited to do so. Also included are his remarks at Frederick Douglass' memorial service in Atlanta. Crogman spoke on the “Ne*ro's Needs” at Henry Ward Beecher's church and on “The Importance of Correct Ideals” to students at Talladega College. The book also includes speeches he delivered at the memorial of Atlanta University president Edmund Asa Ware and at an anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation at the Georgia State Capitol.

This copy was inscribed “with compliments of the author” to Addie Waites Hunton, a leading suffragist and an organizer for the National Association of Col*red Women. Hunton worked for the NAACP, testifying to Congress on discrimination against Black female voters in 1920, and was an organizer of the 1927 Fourth Pan-African Congress in New York City. She wrote a book in 1938 to celebrate her husband William's life and work, along with the fiftieth anniversary of his founding the YMCA's department for African Americans. Addie also worked as a secretary for the YWCA and toured the United States recruiting other Black women. During World War I, she was one of three women assigned to work with the 200,000 segregated Black troops stationed in France. She and Kathryn M. Johnson wrote about their experiences in Two Col*red Women with the American Expeditionary Forces.

An impressive collection of speeches by a noted Black educator. Fairly well-represented in institutions, this a unique copy with an important association. Good. Item #7113

Price: $850.00

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