of all American groups into American historical narratives would require sustained reform in the shape of “moral suasion as well as the coercive force of law and the enforcement of law.” The editorial did, nonetheless, conclude on a positive note, praising Woodson and the ASNLH for their efforts to create a “larger, broader balanced history for all Americans.”32
Garlington’s outlook did not entirely shape this leading newspaper’s outlook on Negro History Week. The February 18, 1950, edition that showcased his comments also featured several different takes on the usefulness and impact of the annual celebration. In an essay entitled “Record of the Negro Past Now Being Kept,” Constance Curtis exalted Negro History Week, Woodson’s vision and commitment, and the undertakings of the ASNLH and its local New York City branch.33 However, Chollie Herndon reported that judging by the lack of participation from colleges in New York City, Negro History Week “is a flop.” At the twentieth century’s midpoint, the New York Amsterdam News conducted a survey to measure the city’s educational institutions’ Negro History Week activities and reported that “69 percent of the colleges said they had never heard of the week.” Though the newspaper insinuated that the local ASNLH branch could have improved its publicity efforts, in the end, Herndon concluded that “the failure of Negro student organizations to function successfully accounted for the dearth of Negro History Week activity.”34
As iconoclastic and controversial as Garlington’s comments were (more than four decades later, even the renegade Harold Cruse said that he was “shocked” by the anti-Black History Month remarks in the New York Amsterdam News), it does not seem as if they were widely considered beyond the newspaper’s readership. The fact that the weekly student newspaper of Columbia University, the Columbia Daily Spectator, reported on Garlington’s observations is thought-provoking. Apparently, the white staff deduced that his argument was valid, but underscored that Negro History Week was still relevant.35 This issue also included a “letter to the editor” from Clarence B. Jones, who graduated from Columbia in 1956 and would later become a speechwriter and adviser for Martin Luther King Jr. The chairman of the CU Young Progressives stressed the importance of the observance. “Negro History Week is necessary because the role of the Negro in American history is either ignored or distorted in our schools,” Jones wrote.36
On the 25th anniversary of Negro History Week, the ASNLH did not overlook dismissals by Garlington and a “strange assortment” of other “detractors” of their prized festivities. Prolific journalist, instructor and teacher trainer at Hunter College of The City of New York, and specialist in African and Middle East affairs, Marguerite Cartwright, authored a lengthy essay in the Negro History Bulletin in which she systematically quashed those who called for the end of Woodson’s beloved creation. According to Cartwright, during February 1950 the “pros and cons of Negro History Week were heard everywhere, from the breakfast table to the barbershop, from the press, over the airways.” This staunch defender of Negro History Week pointed out, “Everyone was qualified to take a stand and everyone did.”37 Cartwright’s assessment was in many regards ahead of its times, foreshadowing future defenses.
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