In the previous post we met the first African American awarded a Columbia University Ph.D. (Dissertation: “The Negro at Work in New York City”, 1912), George Edmund Haynes (1880-1960). His first academic appointment was at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee where he was Professor of Social Science, a department of one. This post provides an excerpt from the catalogue to this private historically black university that gives us courses with descriptions and text-books (linked here!) for economics, sociology and social work à la Haynes.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE AND SOCIAL WORK
[Fisk University, 1911-13]
In the study of Sociology and Economics and the scientific approach to social problems Fisk is making every effort to keep abreast of the leading developments. Especially is there need for thorough training in scientific methods for study of social problems and the development of the spirit of social service among Negro college youth.
The growing urban concentration of Negroes demands special study and the development of methods of social betterment to meet the problems attendant upon the increasing complexity of their life and conditions in cities, North and South. This urban situation can best be met by college Negroes who have had training in the social sciences and in practical methods of social work. The greatest need of the urban situation is a number of well-trained social and religious workers. It is the chief aim of this department to develop courses, theoretical and practical, in Economics, Sociology and Social Problems that will give a thorough foundation as a preparatory training for social and religious workers.
Also, the increasing concentration of Negroes in urban centers demands that teachers, ministers, doctors, and those entering other professions, should have a thorough equipment to enable them to understand and to meet successfully the problems with which they will have to deal.
The students who desire to make their life calling that of social workers and who show promise of efficiency and success in such work will be given, through fellowships after graduation, opportunities for practical experience and further study in social betterment efforts in New York and other cities under the auspices of the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, which has been organized by a number of public-spirited citizens with the purpose of studying conditions among Negroes in cities, of developing agencies to meet social needs and for the purpose of securing and training Negro social workers. The University is affiliated with the League in developing this work.
Besides, the time has come for the Negro college to become closely articulated with the community in which it is located. The further aim is to bring the University into closer relation with the conditions among colored people in Nashville and to seek the cooperation of the other Negro colleges in developing this much needed phase of education. The following courses are now given:
- ELEMENTARY ECONOMICS: INDUSTRIAL HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION. Junior Year. First and second semesters, 3 hours per week. The aim of this course is to acquaint the student, through a study of concrete facts, with the underlying principles of the economic organization and activity of society, with special reference to American conditions, and with the fundamental economic doctrines as an introductory knowledge of the principles of production, consumption and distribution. The course is conducted by means of readings, class discussions and lectures. Text-books: Coman, “Industrial History of the United States;” collateral reading, and Ely, “Outlines of Economics”.
- ADVANCED ECONOMICS; ECONOMICS AND LABOR PROBLEMS. Senior Year. First and second semesters. 2 hours per week. The work of this course is based upon Course 1. It is conducted partly in the form of a seminar.
In the second half of the course such questions as taxation, labor legislation, child labor, strikes and lockouts, etc., are studied by means of discussions, lectures, readings and assigned investigations. The aim is to develop the student in independent thinking about current economic and labor problems. Text-books: Seager, “Introduction to Economics”[replaced by Nearing and Watson, “Economics” in 1912-13]; Adams and Sumner, “Labor Problems”; collateral reading.
- SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS. Senior Year. First and second semesters, 3 hours per week in class-room work. During 12 weeks of the second semester ten hours per week additional field work is required. The first half of this course gives the student an acquaintance with some of the fundamental sociological principles and laws, with some of the chief authorities in sociology, and leads him to a point of view for his thinking about modern social problems. The class-room work is conducted by means of lectures, assigned readings and discussions.
The second half of the course begins with a study of elementary statistics and methods of social investigation. Each student is required to take part in an investigation of some problem like the housing problem, occupations, etc., as they are found among Negroes in Nashville. In addition, he is required to acquaint himself with the literature bearing on the topics of the investigation. In the last part of the course a series of lectures on problems and methods of bettering conditions among Negroes in cities is given by social experts from various cities. The past year the following lectures were given:
Two lectures on “Conservation of Childhood”;
Six lectures on the “Religious Problem among Negroes in Cities”;
Ten lectures on “Principles of Relief and Charity Organization”;
Three lectures on “Special Problems among Negro Women in Cities”;
Five lectures on “Delinquency and Probation”.
[Topics added 1912-13: “Health Problems Among Negroes”; “Educational Problems Among Negroes”; “The State and City in Relation to Social Conditions”; “Rural Conditions Among Negroes”.]
Text-books: Blackmar, “Elements of Sociology” [replaced by Metcalf, “Organic Evolution” in 1912-13]; Carver, “Sociology and Social Progress”; Ward, “Applied Sociology”; collateral reading.
- HISTORY OF THE NEGRO IN AMERICA. Junior Year. First and second semesters. 1 hour per week. A rapid survey is made of the early period of the importation of slaves and of the social and economic conditions which gave rise to slavery, as well as the suppression of the slave trade. A more intensive study is made of the two periods, 1820-1860, and 1860 to the present day. The study thus gives historical perspective for the understanding of present conditions, an appreciation of the honored names of the Negroes of the past, and an estimate of the genuine contributions the Negro people has made in the way of labor force, military strength, musical culture, etc., to American civilization.
There is no suitable text-book to be used for such a historical course, so that in addition to lectures assigned readings are selected from standard histories [added in 1912-13: Brawley, “Short History of the American Negro”], from Du Bois’ “Suppression of the Slave Trade”, Williams’ “History of the Negro in America”[Williams not listed as text-book in 1912-13], Washington’s “Story of the Negro” [Volume I; Volume II], and Hart’s “Slavery and Abolition”. In addition, each student is required to use original sources and report upon some assigned topic, such as biographies of slaves, sale of slaves, underground railroad, etc.
- THE NEGRO PROBLEM. Senior Year. First and second semesters, 1 hour per week. It is the aim of this course to use all available data to acquaint the student with the part the Negro has in the developing life of America and with the economic, political, intellectual, religious and social forces that enter into the condition and relations of the Negro in America. Particular attention is given to urban conditions. Reviews of current books and articles on the Negro Problem are made. The student is thus developed in the power of independent thinking upon the subject. Text-books: Weatherford, “Negro Life in the South”; Du Bois, “Philadelphia Negro”; Haynes, “The Negro at Work in New York City”; collateral reading.
Source: Catalogue Number 1911-1912 (2nd ed.), Fisk University News, Vol. III, No. 3 (May, 1912), pp. 47-50.
Image Source: Tennessee Vacation Website. Road trip to Nashville.