- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- The life and work of John Wesley Dobbs: african american humanist, orator and activist, 1996
- Creator:
- Blackburn-Beamon, Juliet D.
- Date of Original:
- 1996-05-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- During the decades following the turn of this century considerable efforts were made by many to win true citizenship and a better future for Blacks in the United States. John Wesley Dobbs was an African American orator, civil rights activist, Masonic leader, scholar and humanist of this period who is counted among those forgers of that future. This research takes as its challenge the task of describing the source, motive, direction and accomplishment of the work of John Wesley Dobbs of Atlanta, Georgia. In examining his exposures and the socio-economic and political context of his life, the aim is to discover the influences to Dobbs's life's work. As they reflect themselves in his writings which were background and base for his highly regarded oratorical and leadership talents, a useful pattern may be preserved. To that end the approach is historical in Part I, restructuring his life in summary showing the development of his sensitivities into the self - assured New Negro. The attendant progression of his oratory and organizational skills is traced from beginnings in family, schooling and earliest work experiences into the Georgia Masonic Order he served twenty-nine years as Grand Master. The dissertation focuses mainly on this time frame of Dobbs's adult life from 1932 to 1961. The background discussion includes brief consideration of the African American Masonic Tradition. Dobbs's rebuilding of the fraternity in Georgia joins naturally with his major voters training and re�registration efforts then broadens into community activism and later voting bloc alliances with other groups. These coalitions then move through Dobbs's effective use of oratory and organized power, to open the economic doors of first class citizenship and to the support of nation-wide NAACP programs that changed the course of race relations in these United States. Part II consists of an annotated collection of Dobbs's actual writings. The 30 orations, articles and educational pieces reveal his articulation and delivery of the concepts that created his moves to action. Selected letters have been included to reveal interesting aspects of Dobbs's personality. His work is greatly elucidated by a comprehensive documentation of international travels, voter activity and current events in local black newspaper articles. National publications and other material contained in the Amistad Archives, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana where the Dobbs Papers are housed; the Schomburg Collection, New York and others provided excellent inspiration for the personal interviews with numerous associates of Dobbs's and members of his family. Dobbs's message has lasting relevance to American society's constant quest for brotherhood in the context of cultural diversity. His thought and action have had a quiet but lasting influence on generations of Americans.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1996_blackburnbeamon_juliet_d
- Rights Holder:
- Clark Atlanta University
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
