[Five Items of Ephemera Related to Negro Youth Magazine].

New York, New York: 1940-1941. Items include four pieces of correspondence as well as a sample issue of the magazine made of a 12” x 8 ½” single sheet, folded and printed all four sides. Generally good: sample issue with some old tape at edges and 2¾” x 8½” perforated ordering section excised; letters lightly chipped, toned and soiled.

This is a group of promotional materials concerning Negro Youth, a rare African American magazine. Included is a sample issue as well as correspondence mailed to African American HBCU president, M.W. Dogan.

Negro Youth is described in detail in item #6. The magazine itself, per OCLC records, is quite rare, with only a few known copies spread among four institutions and it is also found at Danky Hady 4205.

The sample issue on offer advertised subscriptions to Negro Youth, which it deemed “a magazine for the Negro family devoted to the training and rearing of its children.” Its content is far more mature, however, with question after question posed such as “Why do your women disrespect you?”, “Can race mixture solve the Negroes' problem?” and “Are 20 million Negroes losing billions of dollars yearly and keeping themselves in slavery by working wholly for White people and buying everything they use from them?” The text in the sample also argued that “These and many other bold and vital questions must be answered by the Black man before he can claim status to full manhood” and promised that Negro Youth magazine would provide answers.

The materials here also include a letter stating the magazine's goals, such as informing African Americans on “how to protect themselves,” “the many secrets held from Negroes in their history in America, and the many subtle obstructions to your freedom.” There is acknowledgment of a subscription purchased by M.W. Dogan, president of Texas HBCU Wiley College, in 1940. Two letters to Dogan from 1941 apologized for the lateness of issues; one of these informed that “printers are reluctant to print the material for our magazine.” For more background on Dogan please see item #52.

Rare materials related to a little-known African American magazine, informing on its message as well as its production. OCLC shows no holdings of the circulars or sample issue. Good. Item #7163

Price: $1,500.00