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FREEDOMWAYS

THIRD QUARTER 1966

victory-they comprised twenty per cent of the Northern forces- as well as the part played by slaves in the South who constantly offered themselves as guides and aides to the Union armies, and were crucial to Grant's decisive victories at Vicksburg and Chattanooga. He attributes also to Grant the basic ideas which were incorporated into the Freedman's Bureau, derived from his organization of former slaves as he advanced through the South.
Both of these books belong with the growing shelf of recent literature that properly assesses the period of slavery and Reconstruction and adds to our knowledge and understanding of that period. Moreover, they are another testimonial to the continuing revolutionary tradition of this country which, in past generations, as in ours, has attracted the flower of our youth into the struggle for freedom and justice, no matter what the odds.

[[italics]] Augusta Strong [[italics]]

FOLKS WIT AT ITS BEST

THE BOOK OF NEGRO HUMOR. By Langston Hughes. Dodd, Mead Company, 1966. 265 pp. $5.00.

JUST A FEW YEARS AGO a book dealing with Negro humor would have been taboo for the commercial publisher. The fear of Negro pressure groups protesting the perpetuation of stereotyped Negros would have been a real factor to reckon with before publishing a collection of Negro humor. Of course, protest of this sort was not uncommon. The Irish and Jewish humor of the early part of this century as a case in point was heavily criticized by these groups, and rightly so, especially when dialect was used flagrantly. In fact, it has only been recently that Irish and Jewish humorists have released "in-group" humor for the enjoyment of general audience. Yet, it has been said by students of folk humor and wit, and even psychologists, that a people's ability to laugh at its own frailties and misfortunes is a sign of growing up. That is, provided that the group whom the joke is on has overcome its self-consciousness and sees the joke in the light of the larger predicament of [[italics[[ everyman.[[italics]] There is one thing for sure: today, the humorist, whether he be professional or ordinary member of a folk culture, is able to help shatter racist attitudes and destroy many stereotypes by pointing out the incongruities 

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