The Legacy Henry Louis Mencken left behind

Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) was one of the most influential journalists of his time. Walter Lippmann coined Mencken as "the most powerful personal influence on this whole generation of educated people." 

Mencken grew up in Baltimore, Maryland where he attended a private school. His father was a successful businessman who ran a tobacco business. Mencken was expected to continue the business his father ran, however he ultimately choose a completely different path.  

Henry Louis Mencken 

Mencken attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute where he graduated as valedictorian. His father wanted him to work in a factory or for his business. Mencken followed his father's wishes and worked in a factory until his father died. 

In 1899, he became a reporter for the Baltimore Morning and in 1906 he got hired by Baltimore Sun. He coedited The Smart Set from 1914 to 1923. It was a witty urban magazine that Mencken helped bring great success to. 

When he and George Jean Nathan edited it together, their circulation was around 40,000 to 50,000. That made the magazine one of the most far-reaching ventures of it's time. Mencken's work on The Smart Set paved the way for great writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce. 

In 1924, Mencken and Nathan founded the American Mercury. It was aimed for the "civilized minority" and talked it blended politics, art, and science. It was the first magazine edited by white people to publish the works of African Americans. 

Mencken's Paper 

Mencken wrote elegant irreverent observations of America and it was very popular. The magazine's circulation took a hit after the stock market crash. Mencken left in 1933 after he sold the magazine. 

Mencken is still considered to this day as one of the best literary critics of the 20s. From 1919-1927 he wrote a series of six volumes of essays and reviews titles Prejudices. These essays were filled with satire that critiqued the critics. 

Mencken argued that instead of criticizing artists on their "righteousness" they should be criticized on their actual artistic merits. In his first volume, Mencken jeers at literary and cultural critics for demanding that the artist become a good role model instead of just being good reporters in human nature. 

Mencken kept making fun of organized religion, American business models and the middle class. He worked on trying to get recognition for newcomers in literature rather than the recognition going to "fraudulently successful writers." 

In the 40s, Mencken became slightly less popular because subjects such as the Great Depression were not fair game for his satire yet. People had been going through this terrible thing and he still kept his satirical nature and a lot of people were not welcome to it. 

Another large contribution Mencken made was his publication in 1919 of The American Language. The volume was about language that was specifically American and not English. To this say it is ranked was one of the top 100 influential books in the United States. 

The book included American expressions and idioms and it instantly became a hit. Every year there was a new edition that came out and by the time Mencken was dead he was considered the leading authority of his own country's language.

Mencken's big belief was that he was a lover of liberty and he hated fraud of any kind. All of his writing and actions reflect that. 

Mencken believed that the Constitution and Bill of Rights were sacred documents that should absolutely be taken seriously. Mencken said that "I know of no other man who believes in liberty more than I do."

Mencken fought for equal liberties for all people, regardless of their skin color. He got death threats and people boycotted Baltimore goods for writing articles against lynching.  

He worked with the NAACP to promote the Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill. He continued to fight for equality and wrote several articles against segregation. 

It was not just equality of races that Mencken promoted. When Franklin Roosevelt did not let Jewish refugees into the United States who were fleeing persecution from Nazis, he was the first journalist to denounce Roosevelt's action. 

Mencken's articles on the Scopes Monkey Trial was revolutionary. He was a fierce protector of the first amendment, so when a teacher was arrested for teaching students about the theory of evolution, Mencken wrote defending his actions. 

In addition to defending freedom of speech, Mencken also fiercely defended freedom of the press. He said that he believed that "a newspaper should tell the truth, however unpleasant." Gerald Johnson said that Mencken stood out because he had wit and honesty and courage. 

Public opinion of Mencken during the time he was alive is varied. Carl Van Vechten knew Mencken and wrote about him stating "his ebullience is boundless and even casual observation of any object or person stirs him to expression." 

People who knew Mencken personally and knew what he was trying to accomplish seemed to really like him and believe in him. 

Alfred A. Knopf wrote about how pleasant it was to work with Mencken in his piece written in the Yale University Library Gazette. Knopf said that Mencken was an absolute pleasure to work with and he never asked for a raise in royalties or demanded things before his work was done. 

However, he got criticized for his radical ideas. Whenever someone has unpopular ideas, they are bound to be criticized and Mencken got his fair share of death threats for standing up for people's rights.

An interesting journal article I came across was written by Charles Angoff titled Mencken Twilight. Angoff was "the best managing editor in America" according to Mencken. In his article, Angoff wrote that Mencken's "failure to attend an institution of higher learning gnawed at him his whole life." 

Angoff's jarring criticism of Mencken in this piece is raw and as real as it comes. Angoff said that "the trouble with Mencken as a literary critic was that he was so obviously not at home in criticism." The whole 17 page piece criticizes Mencken ruthlessly.

There is a plethora of things written about Mencken during the time he was alive and it is all contradictory. He was controversial and that led to a mass about of criticism but the people that knew him loved him. He is still to this day considered one of the best and most influential journalists. 

What the World thought of Mary Ann Shadd

When I was doing my original EOTO research on Mary Ann Shadd, I was immediately impressed and inspired. This woman did so much for the time period she was in. She was a black woman who had everything stacked against her, yet she persevered and became the first African American woman to publish and edit a weekly newspaper. 

So why is there almost nothing written about her in that time period? When I was first searching the databases that were given to us in class, I could find no primary resources from the time Shadd was alive. The only primary sources I could find were ones from the last fifty years. 

This indicated to me the true importance of Shadd's life work. She knew the true values and morals that should have been instilled in everyone. She lived her life according to what she knew was right and never stopped her work according to what anyone else thought. 

The general public did not like that Shadd was outspoken. That is probably why her voice was silenced from the other papers. They did not like that she was trying to free black people and get them to move to a less oppressed place. Shadd also wrote under a pen name that would have made her unrecognizable by the general public. 

Through all of my searching, I was able to find one primary source from the time Mary Ann Shadd was alive. I found this source on Gale Primary Sources.  It was from the Liberator magazine that was based out of Boston, Massachusetts. The Liberator was William Loyd Garrison's daily newspaper and much like Shadd's paper, it wanted to end slavery. The article I found was published on Friday April 28th, 1854. 

The Liberator Magazine from April 28th, 1854

The article published about Shadd was about her newspaper, The Provincial Freeman. The short three paragraphs act as an informational blurb about the paper. It wishes the paper good luck because of its work to help Canada's colored people. 

It mentions a lot of names, before it briefly mentions Shadd at the end stating that "in the absence of Mr. Ward, who has not yet returned from his European mission, Miss Mary Ann Shadd acts as his pro tem." 

Basically, the article gives every major credit it can to everyone but Shadd, which is very disappointing. Now, we look back on The Provincial Freeman and the only name that pops up is Shadd. Nobody liked that she was an African American woman doing something that was not standard back in the day. 

Even though there are no primary sources that document it, I am sure that Shadd's involvement in the paper was controversial. Her paper was even shut down shortly after it opened, because it was so unpopular. The best way to punish someone for being controversial, is to just leave them out of history altogether. 

Shadd statue in Chatham, Canada

Another reason why I assume it is hard to find Mary Ann Shadd in primary sources, is because her paper only laster a little under ten years. She wrote in a time where it was easy to get hated, but hard to get true exposure for good work. She would have had to rely on other Black newspapers, who unfortunately were probably also sexist. 

I am surprised that I can't find any primary sources from the days that she spoke at the national black convention or from any other good work that she did. I have to assume that the world just wasn't ready for her. I also hope that I am just searching the wrong databases. I don't like that fact that Shadd did so much good in her life and yet there is almost nothing written about her during the time she lived. 

There are, however, a lot of primary sources from Shadd herself. From those, we can see just how special she was and her true vision for African American's across the globe. She was a helper, abolitionist, and a truly good person wanting to enact change. 

I am glad that history finally caught up and now a lot of people talk about how influential Shadd was and the good work she did helping people from all sectors of life.