A small conference was held in New York on March 19 to 20, 1964, concerning the general position of the teaching of African Languages in the United States at the present moment.

The conference, called at the joint request of the National Defense Education Act Language and Area Centers and Columbia University's Institute of African Studies, was attended by the directors and teachers of African language of the major centers of African studies in the United States.

In the course of the two-day meeting the directors reported in some detail on the position of African language teaching in their respective universities and a number of clarifications of NDEA policy were presented by Mr. Donald Bigelow.

The question of a summer session on African languages was discussed at length and a variety of suggestions were offered for possible changes in the format of the existing summer session sponsored by NDEA. In this connection, a resolution was passed urging the establishment of a summer Institute of African Languages, to be located at a permanent site, and under the sponsorship of the African Studies Association.

The following highly selective list was compiled for presentation at the October 1964 meeting of the African Studies Association's Libraries-Archives Committee in Chicago. It was designed to illustrate preliminary findings of the ASA's National African Guide Project in the area of private (i.e., nongovernmental) papers, and particularly to emphasize their wide variety and distribution. The entries, by individuals and organizations, are grouped under the following broad “activity” categories: Politicians; Diplomats; Naval Officers; Humanitarians; Missionaries; Businessmen and Businesses; Authors, Journalists, and Travelers; and Scholars and Scientists. In several cases there is a further breakdown into subcategories. Within their respective categories or subcategories the entries are arranged alphabetically. An effort has been made throughout this list to complement--rather than duplicate--the coverage of the Collins and Duignan guide,Americans in Africa (Stanford, Calif., Hoover Institution, 1963).

On the evening of March 20, 1828, a group of free men of color organized a society that had as its purpose “the mental improvement of the people of color in the neighborhood of Philadelphia.” This organization was to be known as the “Reading Room Society.” Immediately a library was established and the librarian instructed to lend books to members for no longer than a week. Books were to be withdrawn or returned at the society's weekly meeting. Freedoms Journal, the earliest Negro newspaper, the first issue of which appeared in March, 1827, and Lundy's Genius of Universal Emancipation, an antislavery publication, were among the first works circulated. In May, 1833, the Philadelphia Library Company of Colored Persons appealed for “such books and other donations as will facilitate the object of this institution.” By 1838, this library had 600 volumes. Since Negroes could not enjoy the same privileges as whites in libraries, they established for themselves some 45 literary societies between 1828 and 1846 in several large cities, mainly in the East, most of which maintained reading rooms and circulating libraries.

As a consequence of these activities many Negroes were stimulated to assemble private libraries. In 1838, in Philadelphia and nearby cities, there were 8333 volumes in private libraries. In New York City, David Ruggles, a Negro abolitionist, pamphleteer, and printer, was probably the first Negro book collector. He maintained a circulating library and made antislavery and colonization publications available to many readers. He charged a fee of less than twenty-five cents a month for renting books relating to the Negro and slavery.

At universities with Programs of African Studies, the question arises how best to train graduate students in economics who intend to specialize in African economic development: which particular fields within the corpus of pure and applied economics should be stressed, and which other subjects should be added which are not included in traditional economics curricula?

The answer depends upon one's judgment of what African development consists of and which problems of development are most common and most pressing in Africa.

As Professor Carter has already told you, it was only a few weeks ago, actually a few days ago, really, that I finally agreed to come to talk to you, so that I'm sure you will not expect an academic discourse from me. I have already tried to tell Professor McKay that I'm not an academician like he is. He asked me if I was going to read a paper before you, and I said, “No, far from it, I will not read a paper; I will read from a paper, but those will be only very cursory notes.” I recognize that I'm speaking to a group of experts on African affairs, and I myself am far from being an expert on African affairs. I'm only an African. I also recognize that as experts you come from various strongholds of learning in this country, and you may be quite prepared to weigh me in the balance. If you do so, I only want to remind you that we're meeting in Washington and that I have some very powerful supporters here because Washington is Harvard territory, and I come from Harvard!

Africa for the last few years has gradually come closer and closer to the center of attraction for people who are interested in the world as a whole. It is because of this process of looking in on Africa that we have increasingly the kind of academic interest in the continent which has led to the rapid development of departments of African affairs and special projects of African studies in your universities and colleges, which has led to the excellent programs such as Dr. Jim Robinson's Operations Crossroads (most useful to us in Africa), which has led to President Kennedy's Peace Corps taking such deep roots so quickly on the African continent, which has led to an increasing amount of space in the journals and news media, of not only this country but of other western countries which deal with Africa. And this looking in on Africa is something which we as Africans of course are delighted about, because for a long time we have felt that we have been the forgotten continent.

This list of fellowship opportunities was originally compiled by Professor Rhodes to accompany the May issue of thisBulletin, which was devoted to African arts and humanities. It was not published at that time due to pressures of space. It may be noted that many of the fellowships listed are available to Africanists in other disciplines. Also, not all of these are tenable in Africa; many awards are for work in African studies in the United States or Europe.