Why Hic, Haec, Hoc for the Negro? -or- Did Our Northern Friends Make a Mistake?, 1900

In this section, Lovinggood contrasts the exclusion of African Americans from prestigious professions with the potential inclusiveness of texts and ideas. The passage culminates in a vision of Classics that is far ahead of its time: he counts Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass together with Homer and Vergil as part of a tradition that is both Black and classical, and that includes both Herodotus and George Washington Williams as part of the same genealogy.

Credits: Dr. Reuben S. Lovinggood papers. Huston-Tillotson University, Downs-Jones Library Archives and Special Collections