Monroe Work
Encyclopedia
Monroe Nathan Work was a sociologist who founded the Department of Records and Research at the Tuskegee Institute in 1908 and expanded its national reputation. With much of his career he strove to advance credibility to the anti-lynching campaigns and the Negro Health Week movement. His chief works include the Negro Year Book and A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America -- a bibliography of 17,000 references on African Americans. These resources were the largest of their kind in an era when scholarship by and about black Americans was highly inaccessible, and overlooked or ignored by most academics in the US.
Work was born to former slaves in Iredell County, North Carolina
and moved in 1867 to Cairo, Illinois
where his father pursued farming. As a person whom was able to hear about the many injustices his people suffered, he strove towards finding ways to make himself useful in the continued struggle for equality; the turn of the century was a period when the number of Jim Crow laws were increasing and race relations were deteriorating in periodic violence. At the age of 23 Work decided to pursue a higher education and entered a biracial high school in Arkansas City, Kansas. He managed to graduate third in his class, and after a stint as a preacher and training at the Chicago Theological Seminary
he decided to become a sociologist. Transferring to the University of Chicago
, Work found himself in the midst of the same social problems for African Americans that he had decided to fight. He spent time in Chicago researching the correlation of the highest crime rates among blacks to the large proportion living in slums. His paper on this would become the first article published within the American Journal of Sociology
by an African American. By the time he was done with school in Chicago he had a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and a Master of Arts degree in Sociology.
After graduating in 1903 he moved to Savannah, Georgia to become a professor at Georgia State Industrial College. He also attended the July 1905 conference of the Niagara Movement
at the invitation of W. E. B. Du Bois.
In 1908 he accepted a position from Booker T. Washington
to found the Department of Records and Research at the Tuskegee Institute
. While here he would begin the Negro Year Book, a yearly publication which compiled facts, sociological data, and directories of distinguished people surrounding the current state of black progress in the US since emancipation. The Negro Year Book also for a time incorporated his periodic summation of lynching reports, which were so thoroughly compiled that the Tuskegee Institute
became one of the most quoted and undisputed sources on this form of racial violence.
Monroe Work received the Harmon Award
in Education in 1928 for his research and involvement in the Negro Year Book and his work on A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America.
Work was born to former slaves in Iredell County, North Carolina
Iredell County, North Carolina
Iredell County, along with Moore County in the eastern Piedmont, are among a very few counties in the United States sharing borders with nine adjacent counties.-Demographics:...
and moved in 1867 to Cairo, Illinois
Cairo, Illinois
Cairo is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the county seat of Alexander County. Cairo is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The rivers converge at Fort Defiance State Park, an American Civil War fort that was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant...
where his father pursued farming. As a person whom was able to hear about the many injustices his people suffered, he strove towards finding ways to make himself useful in the continued struggle for equality; the turn of the century was a period when the number of Jim Crow laws were increasing and race relations were deteriorating in periodic violence. At the age of 23 Work decided to pursue a higher education and entered a biracial high school in Arkansas City, Kansas. He managed to graduate third in his class, and after a stint as a preacher and training at the Chicago Theological Seminary
Chicago Theological Seminary
The Chicago Theological Seminary is a seminary of the United Church of Christ. It prepares women and men for leadership in the church and society through Master of Divinity , Master of Arts in Religious Studies , Master of Sacred Theology , Doctor of Ministry , and Doctor of Philosophy programs...
he decided to become a sociologist. Transferring to the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, Work found himself in the midst of the same social problems for African Americans that he had decided to fight. He spent time in Chicago researching the correlation of the highest crime rates among blacks to the large proportion living in slums. His paper on this would become the first article published within the American Journal of Sociology
American Journal of Sociology
The American Journal of Sociology was established in 1895 by Albion Small and is the oldest academic journal of sociology in the United States. The journal is attached to the University of Chicago's sociology department and it is published bimonthly by The University of Chicago Press. Its...
by an African American. By the time he was done with school in Chicago he had a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and a Master of Arts degree in Sociology.
After graduating in 1903 he moved to Savannah, Georgia to become a professor at Georgia State Industrial College. He also attended the July 1905 conference of the Niagara Movement
Niagara Movement
The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and Niagara Falls, the Canadian side of which was where the first meeting took...
at the invitation of W. E. B. Du Bois.
In 1908 he accepted a position from Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
to found the Department of Records and Research at the Tuskegee Institute
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
. While here he would begin the Negro Year Book, a yearly publication which compiled facts, sociological data, and directories of distinguished people surrounding the current state of black progress in the US since emancipation. The Negro Year Book also for a time incorporated his periodic summation of lynching reports, which were so thoroughly compiled that the Tuskegee Institute
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
became one of the most quoted and undisputed sources on this form of racial violence.
Monroe Work received the Harmon Award
William E. Harmon Foundation award for distinguished achievement among Negroes
The William E. Harmon Foundation award for Distinguished Achievement among Negroes commonly referred to as the "Harmon award" or "Harmon foundation award", was a philanthropic and cultural award created in 1926 by William E. Harmon and administered by the Harmon Foundation...
in Education in 1928 for his research and involvement in the Negro Year Book and his work on A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America.
Major works
- Work, Monroe N., "Crime Among the Negroes in Chicago", American Journal of Sociology, VI, September 1900, 204-223
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1912, Sunday School Union Print, Nashville, TN, 1912
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1913, Negro Year Book Co., Tuskegee Institute, AL, 1913
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1914-1915, Negro Year Book Publishing Company, Tuskegee lnstitute, AL, 1914
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1916-1917, Negro Year Book Publishing Company, Tuskegee lnstitute, AL, 1916
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1918-1919, The Negro Year Book Publishing Co., Tuskegee Institute, AL, 1919
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1921-1922. The Negro Year Book Publishing Company: Tuskegee Institute, 1922.
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1925-1926, Negro Year Book Publishing Co., Tuskegee Institute, AL, 1925
- Work, Monroe N., editor, A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America, New York, NY, 1928
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1931-1932 Negro Year Book Publishing Co., Tuskegee Institute, AL, 1931
- Work, Monroe N., editor, Negro Year Book; An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1937-1938 Negro Year Book Publishing Co., Tuskegee Institute, AL, 1937