Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience At Harvard and Radcliffe

EVA B. DYKES

EVA B. DYKES Eva Beatrice Dykes was born on 13 August 1893 in Washington, D.C., where she attended the famous M Street (later Dunbar) High School and went on to get an AB. from Howar d University in 1914. Wit h financial assistance from he r uncle and from scholarship funds, she entered Radcliffe, majore d in English, and in 1917 received a second AB. magna cum laude, followed by an AM. th e next year. Wit h a dissertation on Alexander Pope and his influence, she took a Radcliffe Ph.D . in 1921—on e of the first thre e black women to earn this degree (with Sadie T.M. Alexander in economics at the University of Pennsylvania , and Georgiana R . Simpso n i n German a t th e University of Chicago, both in 1921). After teaching stints at Walden College in Nashville, Tennessee, and at her ow n Dunbar Hig h School , she returned t o Howar d i n 192 9 to teac h English fo r fiftee n years , and wa s voted "bes t all-aroun d teacher " b y her faculty colleagues . I n 194 4 she moved t o Oakwoo d Colleg e in Alabama , where she continued working with students after he r formal retiremen t i n 1968 at the age of 75. Th e College named a library for her in 1973. Activ e as a musician and writer on literature (we here reprint the conclusion of her 1942 book The Negro in English Romantic Thought), she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa by Radcliffe as an alumna in 1940. I n 1977, as part of the Black Women Oral History Project at Radcliffe, Dykes was interviewed by Merze Tate, herself a holder of a Radcliffe Ph.D. (1941) and a long-time professor of history at Howard University. Dyke s died in Huntsville, Alabama, on 29 October 1986. Eva Dykes in 1917 Eva B. Dykes 161 Conclusion to The Negro in English Romantic Thought or A Study of Sympathy for the Oppressed There is no doubt that English romantic thought included the Negro and the amelioration of his condition as vital factors in the program of romanticism. Literar y men and women of all types were more or less active in voicing their protest against the evils of slavery. Fro m the heterogeneous array of literature we have seen various arguments advanced against this institution: first , from a moral and sentimental aspect, slaver y i s a transgressio n o f th e la w o f Go d an d o f th e principles of right and justice; secondly, from an economic standpoint slave labo r is in the lon g run more costly tha n free labo r an d the maintenance o f slav e colonie s i s a grea t expens e t o th e mothe r country; an d thirdly , fro m th e physica l aspect , slaver y involve s separation fro m families , th e horror s o f th e Middl e Passage , th e scourge of pestilence an d disease, the brutality of the lash, and the loss of human life. Man y of thos e who advanced thes e arguments could not be contented while the Negro was reduced to a status a little above that of an animal. The y were farsighted enough to see that an y institution which deprived thei r fellowme n o f intellectual , economic, and spiritual development was a hindrance to the progress of the human race as a whole. From this study three interesting facts are worthy of notice. On e is that many of these writers were not prompted by any consideration of socia l equalit y fo r th e Negr o a s th e followin g accoun t fro m Benjamin Haydon reveals: "Whe n I was painting the 'Anti-Slavery Convention' in 1840, I said to Scobell, one of the leading emancipation men , ' I shall plac e you, Thompson, an d the Negro , together / This wa s th e touchstone . H e sophisticate d immediatel y o n th e propriety o f placin g th e Negr o in th e distance . Now , a man who wishes to place the Negro on our level mus t no longer regard him 162 Eva B. Dykes having been a slave and...