He challenged the biased viewpoint of Eurocentric historians and anthropologists. While traveling in Europe he frequented libraries, museums, castles and many places of interest that would help to prove Africans had an ancestry and history that the world could and should be proud of. He traveled tirelessly on his quest for knowledge which often took him directly to the source for information for his books. Rogers was a meticulous researcher, astute scholar and very concise writer. Thus, the diversity of his positions proved advantageous for him as he sought to highlight African participation in a global context. He was a newspaper correspondent covering such notable events as the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia (for the " New York Amsterdam News") he wrote for various black newspapers (" Crisis", " American Mercury", " The Messenger", the " Negro World" and " Survey Graphic") and served as the only black war correspondent during World War II. In the 1920's he worked as a journalist on the " Pittsburgh Courier", the " Chicago Enterprise" and was a sub-editor of Marcus Garvey's short-lived " Daily Negro Times". All of these ideas became focal points for his later writing. Rogers addresses issues such as: the lack of scientific support for the idea of race, black historical vindicationism, and the proliferation of miscegenation throughout history. Many of the ideas that permeated Rogers’ later work can be seen germinating in From Superman to Man.
JOEL ROGERS NATURE KNOWS NO COLOR LINE PROFESSIONAL
Like the novel’s protagonist, Rogers would devote his professional life to such interdisciplinary research. The porter’s arguments and theories are pulled from a plethora of sources, classical and contemporary, and run the gamut from history, anthropology to biology.
Rogers used this debate to air many of his personal philosophies and to debunk the heinous stereotypes about black people and white racial superiority. In essence, the porter is the author's alter ego. Its very title is an ironic twist on both George Bernard Shaw’s "Man and Superman" and Nietzsche’s idea of the “Superman.” The central plot revolves around a debate between a Pullman porter and a white racist, Southern politician. "From Superman to Man" is a polemic against the ignorance that fuels racism. Rogers' first book, "From "Superman" to Man", self-published in (1917), attacked notions of African inferiority. This appetite for knowledge would eventually be expressed in Rogers' numerous self-published writings. Through this travel Rogers was able to increase his appetite for knowledge, utilizing various libraries in the cities that he visited. The job of Pullman Porter allowed Rogers to travel and observe people. While Rogers was in Chicago he worked as a Pullman porter.
Rogers lived most of his life in Harlem, but also lived in Chicago for some time. Rogers immigrated to the United States in 1906. Joel Augustus Rogers ( Septem(some sources say 1883 ) - March 26, 1966) author, journalist, historian was born in Negril, Jamaica.Īlthough Rogers was the son of a minister and a schoolteacher, his parents were not able to afford to give Rogers, or his ten siblings, more than a rudimentary education.