Introduction

Writing in 1891, Reverend Albery Allson Whitman, known during his lifetime as “Poet Laureate of the Negro Race,” delivered a blunt assessment: emancipation had failed.1 Delineating the contributing factors, he describes a newly vibrant white nationalism organized through “the common heritage of the Blue and the Gray,” scenes of “[m]utual admiration” between former white enemies, “bonds of Anglo-Saxon brotherhood,” and an invigorated racial capitalism in which industrialists “of the Atlantic seaboard will do nothing to unsettle the labor on the plantations.” First observing that “[s]trife between the white people is at an end,” Whitman then wryly concludes: “Profitable industry is a great peace-maker.”...

Introduction

The introduction provides an overview of the research and places James Edward Shepard in historical context by analyzing the discourse of race relations in North Carolina. I examine the dialogue of black Durham’s participation in the “race issue” of the early twentieth century and evaluate black higher education throughout the United States during this time period. I discuss the famous Washington versus Du Bois debate. This chapter also presents the main argument of the manuscript--that black college presidents of the early twentieth century were more than academic leaders. They were race leaders, as can be seen in the case of Dr. James Edward Shepard. For these presidents the real debate was not the struggle between liberal arts and vocational education but “what was the most practical way to uplift the Negro Race.”

The New Pekin

This chapter focuses on Robert T. Motts's conversion of the Pekin Theater to New Pekin after it was damaged by fire in January 1910. At the time of the fire the Pekin Temple of Music had already established itself as “a credit to the Negro race.” Motts saw rebuilding not only as necessary to “get under way again” but also as an opportunity to aim for something even higher. There were no more comparisons of the Pekin with beer gardens, cabarets, or cafés chantants, but rather with the best legitimate theaters that Chicago had to offer. At the New Pekin, Motts himself took over Will H. Smith's duties as general manager. Opening night on March 31 was a success. This chapter examines how the Pekin became a favored venue for black minstrelsy and considers the Pekin Stock Company's musical comedies, including Captain Rufus, a musical military play by J. Ed. Green and Alfred Anderson; it was also performed in New York City in August 1907.