Diggs, Margaret A. “Catholic Negro Education in the United States” [1936] 1st Edition

DIGGS, Margaret A. Catholic Negro Education in the United States.

Washington, D.C.: Published by the Author, January 1936. x + 187pp. First edition. Publisher's original royal blue cloth with silver lettering, decorative border, and cross to front board, repeated on spine. Illustrated with photographs of Catholic educational institutions, including Xavier University in New Orleans. Light rubbing to extremities and scattered small marks to boards. Silver lettering remains well preserved. Pages lightly toned but generally clean. Very Good+.

An uncommon study of Catholic education for African Americans in the United States, published during the era of racial segregation. Margaret A. Diggs examines the development of Catholic educational institutions serving Black communities, documenting the Church's efforts to establish schools and expand educational opportunities at a time when access to quality education remained severely restricted by discriminatory laws and practices. The work provides a contemporary perspective on the relationship between Catholic institutions, African American communities, and the broader struggle for educational equality.

Of particular interest is its documentation of Xavier University of Louisiana, founded by Saint Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and established as the nation's first Catholic university specifically dedicated to educating African Americans. Published in Washington, D.C., by Diggs herself, the book offers a valuable primary source for the study of African American educational history, Catholic history, and the development of Black educational institutions in the early twentieth century.