The Myth of The Negro Past

Almost fifty years ago Melville Herskovits set out to debunk the myth that black Americans have no cultural past. Originally published in 1941, his unprecedented study of black history and culture recovered a rich African heritage in religious and secular life, the language and arts of the Americas.Melville Herskovits (1895-1963) was an anthropologist most well-known for his study The Myth of the Negro Past. He studied at the University of Chicago and Columbia University, and later taught at Northwestern University. His additional works include Economic Transition in Africa, The Human Factor of Changing Africa, and Life in a Haitian Valley.