Race Harmony and Black Progress

Mark Ellis is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, and author of Race, War, and Surveillance: African Americans and the United States Government during World War I (IUP, 2001).

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction1. Jack Woofter–The Education of a Southern Liberal2. Thomas Jesse Jones and Negro Education3. Migration and War4. Will Alexander and the Commission on Interracial Cooperation5. Dorsey, Dyer, and Lynching6. The Limits of Interracial Cooperation7. Northern Money and Race Studies8. Howard Odum and the Institute for Research in Social ScienceConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

[E]llis uses Woofter to examine the southern movement for interracial cooperation between the two world wars. . . Ellis also provides insights into the development of the social scientific study of race relations, particularly in the South. . . Anyone interested in the anti-lynching movement, southern rural life, and the social sciences should find the study useful. In addition to rescuing Woofter from historical neglect, Ellis may make his most important and controversial contribution with his critical defense of that elusive phenomenon called southern liberalism.2015 120.3(American Historical Review) This book makes a persuasive case that the interracial cooperation movement played a bridge role between the Social Gospelers and later reformers and made important contributions to improving relations between middle class whites and blacks, creating a flow of Northern financial support to the South, decreasing the practice of lynching, and improving African American education(History: Reviews of New Books) Ellis's work represents an important contribution to our understanding of the 'long' civil rights movement. In this carfully nuanced study, Ellis praises the efforts of southern liberals in helping reduce lynching, providing support to black educational institutions, and fostering interracial dialogue.(The Journal of American History) Overall, Ellis has produced a solid and useful study. While sympathetic to white southern liberals, he does not give them free pass. Instead he situates them within the context of their time and what remained possible then, not an easy task by any means. . . . In short, Race Harmony and Black Progress is a valuable addition to our understanding of southern liberalism.(Journal of Southern History)