Traditional African art for the most part was more closely integrated with other aspects of life than those which might be described as purely esthetic. Art for art's sake — as agoverning esthetic concept—seems not to have existed in Africa. Indeed, the more closely an art form is related to a major non-esthetic aspect of culture such as religion, the more distant it is from such separatist philosophical concepts.

In fact traditional Africati sculpture might best be described as based on a concept of art-for-life's sake. It was, in most cases, closely allied to those cultural mechanisms dedicated to the maintenance of order and well being. In short, sculpture was oriented to those social values upon which depended the sense of individual and tribal security.

These values were often formalized in exceedingly practical and commonsense terms, as is demonstrated in this Bambara prayer addressed to the ancestors:

I sacrifice this hen to you in the name of my children and myself. Protect us from all evil. Give us rain at the time the rains begin; give us a good harvest, a happy old age, women, children and the health to cultivate our fields. Do not be angry with us. We love you, we honor you. Be happy during your sojourn in Lehara, the realm of the invisible. (Kjersmeier 1935: 15).

Members of the African Studies Association may be interested to know something about the Department of African Studies at the University of Delhi, which I visited last fall. This is the only African studies program in India; it was established in 1955 at the instance of the Government of India following a rapid increase in interest among Indians in political ana racial affairs in Africa. The prospectus for the Department states that it was established “in order that India might have a centre for the study of Africa—her history and culture and arts, her social institutions and her languages, her politics, her race relations and her other problems, her economics and her geography. It is intended that at this centre facilities shall be provided for research as well as for the stuay of particular courses leading to tne conferment of certificates, diplomas and aegrees.

The Eighth National Conference of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO was held in Boston, October 22-26, 1961 , in cooperation with Boston University. The theme of the conference was “Africa and the United States: Images and Realities.” The conference was attended by over two thousand persons. More than sixty Africans took part, many of whom are prominent in political, educational, or cultural affairs in their home countries. This was probably the largest conference on Africa ever held in the United States, and its participants represented an unusually broad range of interests. Included were educators, journalists, social scientists, technical experts, industrialists, foundation representatives, librarians, artists, writers, government officials, and well-informed layment. The range and scholarliness of the papers presented indicated that there is a growing body of persons in the United States who have had personal contact with African affairs, and also that the United States is beginning to come of age in its understanding of the African continent, not only in the social sciences but in the arts, in the communications field, and in science and technology as well as in other areas.

Howard University was incorporated as a University on March 2, 1867. Soon thereafter, among the first books acquired by the Library were titles on Africa. In the early years of the Library's growth, founders of the University interested in foreign missions donated their files of the Missionary Herald, along with biographies of missionaries, and books of travel such as the 21-volume Collection des Relations de Voyages, by Walckenaer; Norden's Travels in Egypt and Nubia (1757) and the 1704 edition of Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels. From time to time, books an Africa were added to the Library; but it was not until Jesse Edward Moorland, a trustee of the University gave, in 1914, his private library of more than 3,000 books and pamphlets that the library acquired an appreiable number of titles on Africa. Included in the Moorland gift were some pieces of art and some manuscript letters written to Dr. Moorland by Africans and by American Negroes living in Africa. Upon the acceptance of Dr. Moorland's gift, the Board of Trustees created The Moorland Foundation, a Library of Negro Life and History. Although the Foundation lacked endowment, its general purpose was to collect and preserve printed and non-print materials written by and about persons of African descent throughout the world. Dr. Moorland desired not only to donate historical writings about American Negroes, but studies highlighting the African background.

Prior to 1953 the University had very little on Africa, but with the establishment of the African Research and Studies Program systematic buying was begun for books and periodicals later for government documents. As of June 1958, there were about 4,187 books (monographs) and 1,803 serial titles. Of these latter, 108 are periodicals; the remainder are society publications and government documents. In addition, there are twenty-seven newspaper subscriptions covering all parts of the continent save for North Africa. We have 142 linear feet of documents.

I had originally planned to focus on some of the more important aspects of race and ethnicity in Africa south of the Sahara, with particular reference to tensions and conflicts operative within the emergent social and political systems. I soon the realized, however, that the subject was far too complex for brief presentation, at least the kind of brevity ritualistically mandatory on this ceremonial occasion. I decided, consequently, to concentrate on one aspect of the complex cited, namely, the problems and prospects of the white man, particularly as settler, in the revolutionary Africa of today. Obviously, this grand theme, given all the imponderables involved, can only be touched upon lightly and is not easily susceptible to “scientific” treatment. I shall do my best, however, in handling this value-laden problem to observe the procedures and the folkways of objective analysis.