September 29, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
Uplifting a People: African American Philanthropy and Education
edited by Marybeth Gasman and Katherine V. Sedgwick
Studies of philanthropy too often ignore blacks, who are more frequently written about as the recipients of largess than as donors. But this collection of essays, edited by Marybeth Gasman and Katherine V. Sedgwick, of the University of Pennsylvania, reveals the robust role that black philanthropy has played in improving communities and education and advancing causes.
The essays explore three main questions: How has black giving, volunteering, and activism shaped society? In what ways has black philanthropy influenced the future of African-Americans? And how have black donors supported education, both for other African-Americans and for the entire population?
Contributors write that the origins of black philanthropy are to be found in the struggle against slavery and discrimination, and they discuss its expansion to include support for religion, education, and civil rights. Essays discuss prominent 19th- and 20th-century philanthropists, such as Booker T. Washington and Thurgood Marshall, as well as more recent examples, like Oseola McCarty, a Mississippi laundress who gave her lifetime’s earnings to support scholarships for black students. Other topics include the cold war-era fund-raising efforts of the United Negro College Fund, and the philanthropic contributions of the Links, Incorporated, a social group of elite black women founded in 1946.
Taken together, the essays explore what motivates blacks in their generosity and its impact on others.
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing, 275 Seventh Avenue, 28th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10001; http://www.peterlangusa.com; 204 pages; $29.95; ISBN 0-8204-7474-6.
