Dear Brothers: Hope you had a good weekend. Congratulations to Beta Alpha Lambda
in New Jersey on their rechartering. I have yet to receive my copy of the
Sphinx. Hmmm. I am sure my postman is reading it. You can now
retrieve back issues 1-26 of SHM on my temporary website(see address at
the end of newsletter). They are up and running again. Brother Robeson
is making the final changes on
Well, I have received word from publisher that they should begin shipping
some of the glossy paperback copies to me this weekend. Most of the
book will go to Dallas. I am still waiting on a firm date for the
hard covers. For those who are just dying to know the process, the hard
cover books go through what is called Smyth sewing, which is the method
used to bind the books in a hard cover. It takes longer than the regular
process. After which they are bond and the dust jacket is folded and placed
on the book. I am very pleased with cover. There will be a limited number
of posters of the book available for those brothers who are interested.
I am scheduled to have some books with me at the National Black Librarian's
Conference in Las Vegas next week. I will be in the author's pavilion on
Wednesday, July 21st at the Las Vegas Convention Center for any of you
I share these details about the book because I know that there are hundreds of you who have the desire to publish a book but do not know where to begin, what to do, how to contact a prospective publisher. You are perhaps wondering should you self publish or seek a publisher. I would like to assist you in anyway that I can with your efforts. During the convention in Dallas, I will have a few packets from my publisher 4-G. The sky is the limit in the publishing field. Let me give you a few pointers.
2. Purchase a copy of the book "Writer's Market." You can get it or order it from Barnes and Noble or Border's, B. Dalton's. It is the bible of publishing and contains a massive directory of book publishers. It is a "must have" for potential authors. 3. Regardless of the subject of your book, write a one page proposal and send one of your chapter's with it. You can simply copyright your material by writing Copyright by and your name. That automatically protects it. You do not have to write the Library of Congress to get a copyright. 4. Select about 20 publishers, pray over each envelope and mail it. It will take from six to eight weeks to receive: A. Rejection letter or B. Letter of Interest. In the meantime finish, fine tune or complete your work while you are
waiting. To those brothers who desire to publish a book on the African-American
History of your town, city, community or college, please contact me. I
would like to refer you to my publisher who specializes in those subject.
Brother Rodney Cohen now in Kentucky is reviewing a contract for a book
he will do on
The first five books that I wrote were all published by a press. On the first book, I went and negotiated my fee and received an advance. My first publisher Longstreet is also the publisher of the highly successful book "The Millionaire Next Door." On the other four books, I received no advance, just royalties 10-16%, because it is a small press and they specialize in documenting African-American communities. Unless you are a Terry McMillan, E. Lynn Harris or BeBe Moore Campbell, don't expect to retire off of your royalty checks. You are paid according to the quantities that you sell. That's why self publishing may be the route for you. SELF PUBLISHING Let me say that if you desire to make money, self publishing is really
the way to go. However, much more work is involved. You are involved in
every aspect from editing to layout and then from marketing and distribution.
If you have the time, the energy and are committed to your works then this
is the way to go. It will take that. You will never know fully how exhaustive
this process has been. Big publishers have divisions that take care every
detail of the book. Small publishers and self publishers are limited. They
usually have a small staff. My publisher hired a copy editor (and a good
one) to edit my work. I had to find proofreaders after she edited. Even
so, you may still miss something in the final process. Knowing that Wesley
acknowledged some errors and typos in the first edition, I will not feel
defeated if a few spring up, though we have gone to great lengths to spot
In self publishing you must pay for the book, sell it and then reap
your returns (if you are serious about selling and believe in your work).
If you have a cash flow problem, then get advanced orders as I did to get
the ball rolling. If it a topic of great interest or general interest,
you should not have difficulty meeting you first deposit. Brothers have
asked how much is this booking costing me. While I will not be specific,
let me say that it is the ballpark of college tuition at a historic black
college or university. My first goal is to pay the publisher. When
you do self publishing you come up with projections, develop a marketing
plan and pray a great deal throughout the process as I have done. I have
had to do my own press kits. Thanks brothers for sending me the addresses
of your local black papers. I still need some more addresses, particularly
for the Detroit Area, Cleveland, Miami, Birmingham, Montgomery, Nashville,
Richmond, Baltimore. If you would email me those addresses, I would be
most appreciative. As a result from the press kit I sent out last week,
I received a phone call from the Emerge Magazine Book Editor and American
Legacy expressing an interest in the book. You will need to set a few books
aside to send out as review copies. My books will not be in any of the
major book stores (at least yet). The major chains serves as the middle
man. Books can
When you self publish a limited edition, it gets your work out in the
public's eye. Perhaps your story should receive a larger audience. A Doubleday
executive saw E.Lynn Harris's self published first novel and expressed
an interest and signed him up to a multi million dollar contract.
I just thought I would share these thoughts to you soon to be authors. Let me leave you with a line from the Fall '98 CBS Mini Series "Mama Flora's Family" which I served as the historian and technical advisor: "No need to tarry, now, just gon and do it!"
For forty-six years, he was one of the Seven Jewels. Then in a stroke of the pin, he was removed and replaced by Eugene Kinckle Jones in Cleveland in 1952. Whatever happened to James morton? Very little is known about him. What is known is that:
By 1926, Morton was deceased according to a letter that Jewel Callis
wrote to the other founders. Another oral history source remarked that
Morton was involved in some stabbing incident. It is not known whether
he was stabbed or did the stabbing. Once again, this statement has not
been documented or substantiated and is only oral hearsay. I am only presenting
as a part of the attempt to document this man. I conducted census research
which revealed a James Morton residing in West Virginina, which was to
have been his home. No dates of death have been located. If there is any
brother who has any knowledge of James Morton, or substantive information,
please email me. Now please don't flood with me emails that he helped to
found Omega Psi Phi or Kappa Alpha Psi for that is not true!
The General Presidents, cont'd Simeon S. Booker
Initiated into the fraternity as a charter member of Gamma Chapter on December 30, 1907, at Virginia Union University, Brother Booker served as a delegate to the first convention at Howard University in Washington, DC He was one of six delegates present. He served on the Ritual and Constitution Committee, was elected the first General Secretary of the fraternity and served in 1909, 1910, and 1918 and National Treasurer in 1919. At the Thirteenth General Convention in Kansas City, Missouri in 1920, Brother Booker was elected General President. Very concerned about lost brothers, he adopted the theme "Find Them" in 1923. The following plea was printed in The Sphinx: "Find Them" is the slogan I wish every chairman will adopt during the closing of the strenuous year in the history of our beloved fraternity. One thousand or more brothers are scattered over America in some hamlet or town, out of touch with us at present. These brothers are true blue, digging, making history for Alpha Phi Alpha. They may be near you. Find Them!" Raymond W. Cannon
"His tenure as General President was outstanding. He served four terms and was twice elected by unanimous vote. Cannon during his administration proposed the creation of a new office, Director of Education in which "Jewel" Biddle Kelley became the first to serve in this capacity. The program had the written endorsement of Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and then Governor Franklin Delanor Roosevelt. In 1924, Cannon wrote: "...We must impress ourselves with the fact that Alpha Phi Alpha is
still very young. As a body, the fraternity is plastic. We
must be extremely careful, therefore, in shaping this great body.
We must strengthen ourselves from within and make Alpha Phi Alpha that
compact, cohesive organization
B. ANDREW ROSE
In 1926, Brother Rose was elected as Second Vice President and assigned to the Midwest Jurisdiction. The following year he rose to the office of General President and began his term in 1928 where he served until 1931. President Rose was a prolific writer. In his "Message from the President" in the June 1929 issue of the Sphinx, he wrote a column on "Initiation." He said: "My plea is for a high standard in the initiation of all fraternities
regardless of what Greek letters they bear as a name. Outside the ranks
of every fraternity there are thousands of fine young men who hope to qualify
for membership. To them the name of every fraternity should stand for what
is
FROM THE LIPS OF A PAST GENERAL PRESIDENT "In other words let us stay within our boundaries and not encroach upon the work of other organizations... Greek Letter College Fraternities should confine themselves primarily to scholastic endeavors." Raymond W. Cannon, December 1945 FROM THE LIPS OF A JEWEL: "Let those on the higher rounds reach down and pull while those on the lower rounds reach up and push as they climb. Let us ever touch hands and grow." Jewel George Biddle Kelley, December 1954
From: pmbuckle@SUMMON.syr.edu
(Paul Buckley)
Brother Mason, I would like to respond and have a discussion with Brother Fred Harris-- whose comments and criticisms of DuBois's "Talented Tenth" were included in previous issue of Historical Moments. I appreciate his criticism about the "talented tenth" and even Alpha's embrace of that concept. The point is well taken that we should not exhibit an attitude of erroneous thinking that we're better than our brothers and sisters in mass. However, I do not agree with taking any thing away from the leadership and historical legacy of those Brothers and Sisters who inspired progress before us. Opportunities can be considered "accidents" in history; but the purposeful seizure of the time by men and women such as Dr. King and Rosa Parks is what makes them honorable. {And neither of them are honorary members} Many activists were and are affiliated to a Black Greek-letter organization. And very often we (Alphas) are involved in community activism and grassroots activities without sporting our banners, T-shirts, and (for the more endowed tenth) rings. If we begin to appreciate the fraternity as a way of life, we'll understand the mystery of our ritual that holds each brother INDIVIDUALLY accountable to uplift and love all mankind. The fact is, philosophically, the "talented tenth" is a myth. No one really knows who they are... They don't pledge or intake and acquire some notable badge. The "talented tenth" really are those people who GIVE their talents to all of humanity because they understand their responsibility to do so. And those great ones could be *classified in any economic class.... in any fraternity/sorority/society/ organization/ club. We all have something to give. Could the Fraternity do more as a whole? DEFINITELY. But
it certainly is the sum of its parts. The Brotherhood is doing
... and could do better. That may be difficult to see. It's
the corporation that is easier to attack (and much of it may be justified),
but it can only be as strong as we make
... until hell freezes over, I Am
*******************************************
Bro. Clark
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Skip's Historical Moments is a twice weekly newsletter used to dialogue and discuss issues of historical importance to men of Alpha. This newsletter is sent to over 4,000 brothers. If every brother would send this to ten brothers this communication would reach a network of 45,000 or more. If you don't want to forward, please forward to me email addresses and I will add them to the list. The list is growing by leaps and bounds. Send your questions, queries, comments to hmason1906@aol.com Advanced apologies to you if you are receiving each issue more than once. Some names appear twice on the email distribution list. DISCLAIMER: THIS PAGE IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION. ALL COMMENTS ARE THOSE OF THE EDITOR. SOURCES ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR ANY SPELLING ERRORS.
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