The Negro Handbook by Florence Murray, First Edition, 1942

[African American] Murraqy, Florence. The Negro Handbook. New York: Wendell Malliet and Company, 1942. First Edition Hardcover with no Dust Jacket. Florence Murray, a Black woman editor set out to compile a war-time handbook for black America including resources, information and other helpful information, which she sets out "to give a picture of the status of the Negro in American life," according to the introduction. The first chapter is devoted to business, the second and third are devoted to civil rights and crime (lynchings, prisoners, executions, crimes against blacks). The role of African-Americans in national defense during the Second World War (e.g., a proposed protest march on Washington, D.C. for equal opportunity in the armed forces and civil defense industries) is followed by chapters upon religious denominations, employments, blacks in American government and politics. Final chapters address black Americans in music and art (swing musicians), the radio, stage and screen, and sports (Joe Louis). The very final pages discuss the Proclamation of Emancipation and the Mason Dixon line. Editor Florence Murray was a Virginia-native, graduated by Howard University, schooled at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, and employed as a reporter for the bureau of the Afro-American newspapers. An ex-library copy in maroon cloth lettered in gold, with the usual ex-libris markings from Appalachian State University, including Decimal on Spine and torn-away sticker on front cover below title. The binding is sound, and the text is clean/unmarked. Overall, in good to very good condition.