That Capital ‘N’ (1930)

The Raleigh, North Carolina Times tells Antonio M. Roper, a student at St. Augustine’s College, that it will not capitalize “Negro” because it does not capitalize “white.” This logic is beneath contempt. The word corresponding to “white” is “black” or “colored,” while the words corresponding to Negro are Caucasian, Mongolian, Nordic, Indian, Jewish, European, African, American, and similar words referring to great groups of people. This, of course, will not influence the Editor of the Raleigh Times. He spells it “negro,” because that is the way he thinks.

---

Citation: Du Bois, W.E.B. 1930. “That Capital ‘N.’” The Crisis. 37(2):63.