Mission Strategies, Anthropologists,

and the Harmon Foundation's

African Film Projects:
Presenting Africa to the Public
the Inter-War Years, 1920-1940

CHARLES W. WEBER

After World War I there was an international cooperative effort among mission
leaders, such asJ.H. Oldham and Emory Ross, and African anthropologists, such
as Bronisław Malinowski and Diedrich Westermann to cooperate in the study and
understanding of Africa. This was accomplished through books; the activities of
the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures and its journal,
Africa; and articles in The International Review of Missions, all of which pro­
moted a functionalist approach. Efforts at translating this theory and conveying its
ideas to the popular level in order to inform the public and to modify the "Tarzan "
stereotypes were the two Africanfilmprojects sponsored by the American-based
Harmon Foundation. These projects produced a series offilmsintended to portray
a more accurate view of Africa to schools, churches, and civic organizations. This
article shows the linkages between anthropological and mission theories and the
efforts at educating the public.

etween the two World Wars, dramatic changes occurred in American popular

B culture and missions and in the interaction between them. This paper examines
the emergence of new anthropological views of African culture that challenge
long-held popular stereotypes, the reassessment of the role of missions, and how
these newer viewpoints were reflected in films specifically produced for the general
public by the Harmon Foundation. A real estate magnate William Elmer Harmon
established it in 1922 as a family foundation involved in self-help, humanitarian, and
public service projects. The Foundation's Africa films aimed at modifying the popu­
lar conceptions of the purpose of Christian mission in Africa and of prevailing stereo­
types of Africa. This paper analyzes these changes and then demonstrates that the
Foundation's two film series produced in the 1930s for a general audience intention-

Charles W. Weber is Professor of History at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, and

researches Western perceptions and interpretations of African and Asian societies. He also has
written on the interface of Christianity with Western colonialism.

Missiology: An International Review, Vol. XXIX, No. 2, April 2001

202 Charles W. Weber

ally presented a new view of Africa and of missions in Africa.

Not generally understood is the close collaboration emerging after World War I
between certain anthropological views and new strategies of mission work. Using
anthropological and mission writings of the inter-war period, this paper investigates
the emerging interconnection of these new perspectives on culture and the role of
Christian missions. While this connection has not been extensively explored previ­
ously, it is crucial to an understanding of the emerging missionary approach. It
demonstrates how the nascent discipline of anthropology and mission work support­
ed one another and how applying these anthropological principles to Africa aided in
reinforcing, by anthropologists and mission leaders alike, the validity of these new
cultural theories to American and European society. Thus, the missionary communi­
ty assisted in validating these new cultural views.
Understanding this larger cultural dynamic is an essential context for the specif­
ic case study of this paper. Films about Africa sponsored by the Harmon Foundation
attempted to portray these new perspectives on Africa visually and thereby educate
the American public. The films were intended, through pictures and captions, to pre­
sent a refined impression of Africa based on new anthropological views in contrast to
general views in popular culture.
Therefore, this paper will describe in some detail the prevailing cultural and mis­
sion consensus developing in the inter-war period. This will provide the larger con­
text for the production of the Harmon-sponsored Africa films in the 1930s and
explain the purposes the Foundation and its representatives intended for the films.
Finally, the content and the intentions of the films will be analyzed, especially as they
relate to the newly formulated missionary and anthropological views that informed
the production of the films. These films lucidly exemplify the larger theoretical issues
typifying the inter-war mission community.

The Cultural and Mission Context of the Inter-War Period

Popular stereotypes of Africa had already been set by the 1850s and thereafter
continued to dominate until the mid-twentieth century (Curtin 1964:vi-vii). This per­
spective was aptly summarized in a recent study:

Everywhere, it seems, we are bombarded with that mysterious Africa of yore,

that realm made famous by Henry Stanley, Teddy Roosevelt, and Edgar Rice
Burroughs, and solidified in our receptive minds by Hollywood: a place of jungle,
mountain, and plain, peopled by naked primitives scattered across shadowed (or
luminous) scapes; humans framed like museum-pieces within picturesque dioramas
(grass huts, "kralls," cattle, drums, spears, and huge iron pots); an Africa preserved
in amber despite centuries of intimate contact with the outside world; Africans who
are never truly African unless they remain pristine, "unspoiled" by western educa­
tion, western ideas, western creeds, and western corruptions. (Hickey and Wylie
1993:1-2)

These persistent views were challenged at least in part by mission leaders in the inter-
war period.
During the 1920s and 1930s, such stereotypes were reinforced by descriptions in
movies and magazines of hunting, museum, and scientific expeditions. In fact, to "a
great many Americans before the Second World War . . . Africa was more a land of
 Presenting Africa to the Public in the Inter-War Years, 1920-1940 203

animals and scenery than a land of people" (McKinley 1974:6). Likewise, the
increasingly popular circuses, zoos, and recently created Africa halls of major muse­
ums contributed to people's concepts of Africa by emphasizing wildlife and the exot­
ic (see McKinley 1974:36-44). Unfortunately, all of these aspects of popular culture
tended to overlook the African people, thus perpetuating the "idea that Africa was a
nonpolitical land of scenery and wild animals" (McKinley 1974:119). As a recent
article on Hollywood-type movies about Africa argues:
Building on centuries of odiously constructed images of Africa and Africans,
the growing film industries of the 1930s contributed further to their viewing audi­
ences' misperception of Africa and Africans and helped to perpetuate and reinforce
racist and colonialist modes of thinking. (Dunn 1996:169)
Certainly the immense popularity of the Tarzan phenomenon contributed to these
images. For 25 years (1914-1939) probably "no fictional character . . . had greater
impact on so many people" (Fenton 1967:1). During this period, the Tarzan image
was propagated by the 23 novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the 16 Tarzan movies
grossing more than $100 million, and a syndicated newspaper cartoon beginning in
1929. At its peak around 1940, the cartoon was read by about 21 million American
families (Fenton 1967:153).' Through such means, by 1940 Tarzan's images of
Africa's people and land were fixed in the mind of the general public. In a more per­
nicious way, these films and museum exhibits by showing Africans as primitive,
strange, and savage may have made it domestically "less complicated to deny people
of African descent a meaningful place in American society" (McCarthy 1983:148).
While such inaccurate images were being diffused through the popular media,
American missionaries were providing more reliable accounts of African life and
people. It is true that they sometimes reinforced the popular image of Africa as wild
animals and unusual customs. But they had from the 1880s onward also provided
authoritative materials about Africa and were particularly well positioned to do so by
the inter-war period, when they represented about 95 percent of the approximately
1,000 long-term American residents in Africa (McKinley 1974:51, 173-174). In the
early twentieth century, they produced many reports, articles, church presentations,
and books that explained Africa to their constituencies. Such presses as Fleming
Revel, Houghton Mifflin, Zondervan, Missionary Education Movement, Methodist
Book Concern, Friendship Press, Edinburgh House, and many others published
books that for decades provided authoritative information on the African continent.
Of course, these sources were also concerned for the spiritual needs of Africa and the
immediate need for its evangelization. Many of these books, as will be explained
later, promoted newer and more positive views of African culture, although much of
the writing by American missionaries still "portrayed Africans in distinctly unpleas­
ant ways, touching upon indigenous folkways only to unload a heap of abuse on
them" (McKinley 1974:174). One recent analysis refers to this tendency as a
"Manichaean double face" in which "the demonized image of the heathen" compet­
ed with "the romanticized self-image of the missionary in the role of saviour." These
two interdependent viewpoints were used to justify missions, their fund-raising and
recruitment. Although this "Manichaean schema of savagery versus civilization" pre­
dominated, it was seriously challenged by other less simplistic and dichotomous
204 Charles W.Weber

approaches to African culture that emerged after World War I (Pieterse 1992:71,99).
Coming out of the reanalysis generated by World War I, the mission situation
experienced many cataclysmic changes and reassessments that in 1936 were cogent­
ly described in a prominent missionary journal:

To-day the missionary's task is rendered far more delicate and intricate by a for­
midable array of new factors that have come upon the field—anthropology, the com­
parative study of religions, the renaissance of indigenous cultures, nationalism, dis­
illusionment with western civilization, secular idealistic cults and the whole network
of influences let loose by the investment of western capital in mission lands with the
disorganization of society and traditional ways of life that have resulted from them.
The Church in mission lands finds its position undermined and its claim upon the
allegiance of society challenged by "citadels of darkness" that exist behind the mis­
sionary lines in the home lands. These, through the moving picture, literature and in
a hundred ways have a rapidly increasing outreach and power throughout the world.
(J. Davis 1936:378)

The impact of this transformation dramatically changed the mission perspective

on Africa. Increasingly earlier views that dismissed the value of African culture were
suspect, although not abandoned altogether. Those who accepted the newer views
criticized missionaries who still considered Africans "as having no religion, no lan­
guage, no traditions, no institutions, no racial character of their own, as empty ves­
sels to be filled with European or American goods" (Westermann 1926:427).
Criticism was also leveled at those who "considered the intentional destruction of
Native forms of life and of thought a condition of success" and who, furthermore,
taught Africans "to look upon their social ideals, their traditions and folklore as being
of infinitely small value, as ridiculous or sinful" (Westermann 1926:426). That these
older views were being superceded by the newer ones was reinforced a few years later
by the same author who observed: "To-day one is hardly likely to find a survival of
the attitude of mind which considers that everything pagan is devil's work which
should be exterminated root and branch, or at least that it is worthless and better
replaced by 'western civilization'" (Westermann 1932:4).2
This new perspective that transformed mission strategy in the inter-war period
reflected the significant influencing on each other of the emerging anthropological
theory of functionalism and developing mission theory regarding Africa.
Functionalism viewed societies like organisms operating as social systems of
interdependent and interrelated cultural institutions adapted to meet people's needs.
It "dominated cultural anthropology in the English-speaking world during the second
quarter of [the] twentieth century, which was precisely the period when missionaries
and missiologists [first] became fully aware of mis discipline as one that could be
useful to their endeavors." As a result, "'missionary anthropology'. . . became, for
good or ill, an adaptation of functionalism" (Taber 1991:94). Bronisław Malinowski,
the self-described "Arch-Functionalist"(1938:xxxvi) and a founder of the functional­
ist school, was receptive to missions and was particularly "influential in missiology,
especially in the United States" (Taber 1991:98). Indeed, in the 1920s J. H. Oldham,
Secretary of die International Missionary Council (IMC), seemed committed to
"Malinowskian functionalism" (Stocking 1992:195). He collaborated with
Malinowski to obtain foundation, especially Rockefeller Foundation, support for the
 Presenting Africa to the Public in the Inter-War Years, 1920-1940 205

International Institute of African Languages and Cultures that propagated functional-

ism in its journal, Africa, as well as in the IMC's journal, edited by Oldham, The
International Review of Missions (IRM). The aims of the Institute, directed by
Diedrich Westermann, were to promote research on African cultures, to disseminate
this information, and to "strengthen the links between scientific knowledge and
research on the one hand and the practical activities and needs of the administrator,
educator, missionary, and colonist on the other" (Westermann 1932:frontispiece).3 Its
journal, Africa, was edited from 1940 to 1948 by the noted missionary anthropologist
and linguist Edwin Williams Smith. He also wrote frequently for The International
Review of Missions and even taught for a while after 1939 at the Kennedy School of
Missions of Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. Through mese means, Smith, along
with Westermann and Oldham, popularized the functional approach to missions.
In an essay in 1938, Malinowski, prominent functionalist ethnographer and
advocate of participant observation, claimed that the anthropological views he
described therein were held by "most American anthropologists" (1938:xxxii). He
appealed for a careful study "of the changing native" (1938:xii), "of the dynamic
interaction of the European and African cultures" (1938:xix), and of the nature of cul­
tural contact to be translated "into practical rules of conduct for the administrator, the
missionary, the entrepreneur, or teacher" (1938:xiii). He premised this upon the the­
ory that the traditions of Africans had a "vitality" that has allowed Africans to survive
into the present and that these traditions must be allowed to take on modern-day man­
ifestations (1938:xxix). He dien asserted that the missionary and anthropologist
through their fieldwork must "search for the Common Measure . . . between old
beliefs and new . . . [which] consists always in the discovery of the nature and func­
tion of surviving institutions and of how they are adapted to meet the new strains put
upon them by European influences" (Malinowski 1938:xxxvii).
This functionalist approach helped the missionary community in general "to
respect and appreciate the cultures they dealt with" and to avoid the "arrogant ethno-
centrism" of the nineteenth century that had recognized little inherent value in
African traditions. These new perspectives emphasized "that a culture displayed some
degree of integration among its many component parts" and did not consist merely
of an "inventory of customs and traits" (Taber 1991:136-137).
This new approach was most evident in the inter-war mission literature related to
Africa, which now emphasized that a "New Africa" was emerging. In Oldham's
words, Africa has recently "been brought into the main stream of human life and his­
tory . . . . swept into the fierce currents of our western industrialized civilization,"
especially in its economic development and in the world's quest for natural resources
(Oldham 1928:2). Only slowly were most Americans and Europeans becoming cog­
nizant of this dynamic. Accompanying mese changes was the view that not all the
changes and westernization in Africa were for the best. Just as African traditions are
changing and "losing faith" in themselves, so "the very same unquiet is infecting our
Western civilization." Both societies are therefore threatened with disruption
(Mathews 1936:15). In 1935, Margaret Wrong, Secretary of the International
Committee on Christian Literature for Africa, described these similar changes in
explaining the ambiguity of the situation:
206 Charles W. Weber

The African has not discovered among Europeans the unity of life he found in the
tribe. Europeans are not united by one faith; there is dissension among those who call
themselves Christian, and worship of black and white Christians together is not com­
mon. It is difficult for the African, in all the variety of belief and practice die white
man has brought, to distinguish between the civilization and the barbarism of the
West. (1935:133-134)

Oldham likewise strongly supported such views when he empathized with

Africa's struggle to "find support amid the fierce and unfamiliar currents of the life
of the twentieth century" while at the same time Africans are pressured to adjust in a
generation to the forces that shaped the West over centuries. This was the predicament
of the New Africa and the basis for the more developmental approach of mission
leaders. In such a circumstance, "the Divine intention" is for African peoples to "be
helped through the richer experience of the more favored races to enter into a fuller
and more satisfying life" (Oldham 1928:4).
But functionalist anthropology also provided for both missionaries and colonial­
ists an innovative way to deal with this predicament. This was evident in the views
promoted by the International Missionary Council and the International Institute of
African Languages and Cultures. For example, the functionalist recognition of the
common humanity shared by Africans with the rest of the world, even the West,4 was
strongly expressed in July 1926 by the editors of the IRM's special issue on Africa:

If the gulf between the white and black races is allowed to widen, the task of
propagating Christianity across the chasm will become increasingly difficult, if not
impossible. We are thus brought back to the relations between the races as an issue
likely to determine the future of Christianity in the African continent. The Church
exists to assert die fundamental unity of mankind in virtue of their common relation
to God. It does not ignore or minimize the differences between men, but refuses to
allow these differences to obscure the common humanity which underlies them, and
sees in the differences the means by which humanity may through mutual service and
enrichment progress to its complete and full-orbed development. Nowhere in the
world is the call to fulfil this distinctive mission so insistent and urgent as in Africa.
(Oldham and Gollock 1926:324-325)

The dissolution of African social traditions and the erosion of "all the moral sup­
ports" (Oldham 1928:121) may ultimately result in the demise of the "communal way
of life" and thereby "can civilization kill [the African] by uprooting him" (Mathews
1936:14,65).
Donald Fräser, one of the most influential interpreters of Africa's condition in the
United States and Britain and a founder of the Student Christian Movement, wrote
many books on Africa long considered authoritative among the Christian communi­
ty. In The New Africa (1928), he refers to Africa as "by far the youngest child in all
the world's family" (1928:4) and as the "childhood of the human race." By that he
meant Africans are at "the genesis" (1928:9) of the human development and, there­
fore, at a stage centuries earlier than the West. Western contact means that this child­
hood of Africans is passing away, and they are losing the "essential unity of their
community" (1928:23) and increasing their anxieties. In this situation Christians
must help in providing a safe transition to a more abundant life. The "New Africa"
was being forced out of its childhood into the West's "intricate civilization" (1928:9)
 Presenting Africa to the Public in the Inter-War Yean, 1920-1940 207

by outside forces, thus providing Christians with an opportunity to assist in this

development by being "the engineers of a safe and prosperous future for Africa"
(1928:24).
In addressing this imminent crisis, the missionary community again turned to
views informed by the anthropologist. It attempted to retain what was good in the
African tradition and to recognize the elements in it that supported Christianity. One
missionary even went so far as to state that "African tribal life is nearer to essential
Christianity than is Western civilization in that the spiritual and moral sanctions are
woven into every part of a man's life. Community life is a function of religion in
Africa" (Mathews 1936:143). Westermann in the IRM agrees with this viewpoint and
strongly advocates recognizing both that the "African has evolved a genius of his
own" (1926:419) and that the "African's racial individuality, his mental attitude, his
heritage from the past, will forever be the true basis on which his future should be
built, if he is to meet the requirements of a new era" (1926:419). He argues that def­
erence should be given both to the African's adaptation to the natural environment
and to the development of the "African intellect, wisdom and imagination"
(1926:421), especially as expressed in their rich folklore. Moreover, he concludes:

The conviction is growing that the African mind and culture are too weighty a factor
to be treated as negligible. The African's conditions of life are deeply changed by the
advent of the white man; he has to adapt himself to completely new circumstances.
We must prepare him for this life and help him tofindhis way. This can be done only
by people who know the African, who possess an insight into his inner life.... He
will have to acquire an understanding and sympathy for views and ideals of life
unlike his own. It requires not only continued, patient study, but a new orientation
and a changed standpoint. He will have to consider the African's world as a unit by
itself, to be judged not from the western but from the African standpoint. . . . We
should not be hasty to condemn it, at any rate before we have really understood it—
and he who understands will be far from speaking lightly of it. Can a system of life
by which a race has lived through many centuries be entirely worthless?
(Westermann 1926:427)

At this point anthropology and missions converge because now the purpose
becomes "to transform the inner life of the tribe and of the individual" (Westermann
1932:3) while not ignoring the old traditions because there may be "embedded in
them someuiing that can be incorporated in the new order, or something that has to
be transformed" (1932:3). Under this functionalist approach of Westermann, tradition
is now to be studied in order "to find out what each idea or custom means in the life
of die people, how far it is living and effective, and what influence it has on the exter­
nal and inner life of the individual and the community" (1932:13).
These viewpoints suggested new methods of evangelization in which the best
traits from Africa and the West could be combined. To Oldham, Africa was an "organ­
ic society" wherein one should seek "vital forces . . . which can further the African's
growth as a man and a Christian," as well as African "values and living forces which
can contribute to the healthy growth of Africans and help to vitalize the educational
and pastoral work of the Church" (Oldham and Gibson 1931:52,55-56). The obvious
danger to be avoided was the removal and me disorientation of Africans from their
traditional social bonds. Edwin W. Smith thus warns of "denationalizing":
208 Charles W. Weber

There is a definite attempt at influencing the moral and social evolution of the
African peoples. A vast educative policy is, in fact, being worked out for the purpose
of preserving and developing the character and initiative of the Africans and of
enabling them to absorb elements of higher culture without becoming denational­
ized. What is savage and inhumane is being abolished, and what is good in indige­
nous custom is being retained and upheld. (1926:17)

Westermann raises the immediacy of this process even more specifically when
he states:

We are convinced that he [African] represents an individual type of man with his
proper gifts and capabilities, and that it is his divine destiny for the benefit of
mankind fully to develop the genius of his own race, not to become a hybrid offshoot
of foreign civilizations. He will fulfil his ideal only when living in such forms of life
as his own genius has created and may create, and as are congenial to his soul. His
own culture should be enriched by the best ofthat of the West, but should not be dis­
placed by it. Therefore, and therefore only, we teach him to respect his own race and
people, to appreciate his and his ancestors' culture; we show him that the African and
his mind are not inferior creations of God, but are a needed note in the harmony of
the human family....
But our duty is to take care that during the present time of transition nothing be
lost of the African's heritage which has been found helpful in bringing him the
Christ-like spirit and preparing him for a new life. (Westermann 1926:429-430)

These methods signal a new relationship between missions and African culture.
That these perspectives altered missionary views is again exemplified in the
arguments of Smith and Oldham. Smith, while recognizing that most but not all mis­
sionaries agree, declares that "Christianity comes to Africans with greater power
when it is shown to be not destructive but a fulfillment of the highest aspirations
which they have tried to express in their beliefs and rites" (1926:40). Oldham cham­
pions an education program that concentrated on African customs and social obliga­
tion. He advocates as a "wise education" one which assists the African "to under­
stand, appreciate and respect both what is good and capable of development in his
own past—his tribal customs and traditions, his folk-lore [sic], art and music, and at
the same time the new forces and influences that are invading his life" (1928:123-
124). In other words, as Lord Frederick Lugard, mission supporter and foremost
British colonial theorist in the inter-war period, so succinctly stated in reflecting his
own "dual mandate" concept, these cultural changes are part of a process of evolu­
tion that preserves some of African tradition and that does not "attempt to substitute
a European mind for an African mind" (Lugard 1926:151).'
This section has demonstrated that inter-war cultural, anthropological, and mis­
sion circumstances related to Africa are crucial in understanding the role that mission
agencies played in conveying ideas about Africa to the American public. Mission
agencies and leaders who attempted to shape American ideas about Africa based
upon their own unique perspectives emerging in the period were clearly influenced by
functionalist theory. It is in this larger cultural context that the Harmon Foundation
film efforts in Africa are best understood.
 Presenting Africa to the Public in the Inter-War Years, 1920-1940 209

Film and the Efforts of the Harmon Foundation

The Harmon Foundation of New York City promoted projects that encouraged
self-improvement and character development, the recognition and promotion of
"overlooked achievements of African Americans," and a constructive response to "the
increase of racial tensions in America" (Fleming 1997:8). It is through its efforts of
self-help and of counteracting racial intolerance and ignorance that the Harmon
Foundation supported its film projects on Africa. These were intended to educate
African-Americans about their heritage and everyone about the realities of African
life.
William Elmer Harmon himself lived an interesting life that culminated in finan­
cial success and personal charity. He was born in Lebanon, Ohio, in 1862 to a father
who had a commission under General U. S. Grant during the Civil War and who later
served in the Indian territory as a white officer in the Tenth Cavalry (a Negro unit).
Mary Beattie Brady, secretary and director of the Foundation from its inception in
1922 to its closure in 1967, describes the impact of this on Harmon:

The late William E. Harmon, founder of the organization which bears his name, had
come closely in touch with the Negro when as a boy he roamed the Western plains
with the soldiers of the Tenth Cavalry, colored, of which his father was one of the
white officers. Interested in people and their problems from childhood, having
reached financial success step by step up the ladder through his own efforts, and hav­
ing by nature a strong sense of individual responsibility for the welfare of the social
order, it was quite natural that when he was able to give expression to his ideas of
constructive public service in an organized way, that Mr. Harmon should include in
his program of work at least one activity which would be specially concerned with
the advancement of opportunities for members of the black race, (cited in Reynolds
1989:28)

Harmon's wealth came through his innovative concept of subdivision real estate
and the founding in 1887 of the Harmon National Real Estate Company in
Cincinnati, Ohio. At his death in 1928, he was one of the largest real estate develop­
ers in the country. By 1935 his firm had 244 projects in 32 cities in the Midwest,
Boston, and New York, including large areas of Brooklyn and Staten Island, thus
making his company one of the largest real estate firms in the world (Reynolds
1989:27). With the wealth from real estate, Harmon established his Foundation which
supported a wide variety of philanthropic interests: (1) playgrounds and recreation
fields throughout the country; (2) tuition payments and vocational guidance for stu­
dents; (3) educational programs and a pension fund for nurses and other health work­
ers; (4) awards for constructive and distinguished achievements among Negroes in
fine arts, education, music, business, farming, literature, race relations, religious ser­
vice, and science; (5) the Religious Motion Picture Foundation (1925) to provide
motion pictures of high quality in order to enhance church services; (6) scholarships
for Boy and Girl Scouts; (7) rural clinics and district nursing among Negroes in South
Carolina; (8) awards for the blind; (9) awards to honor those in industry who con­
tributed most to human relations and working conditions; (10) awards for outstand­
ing welfare work; (11) model farm awards; and (12) Negro Art Projects (both in
America and in Africa). In addition to the Foundation, Harmon gave an indeterminate
amount of money during his life as the unknown and prankish philanthropist and as
210 Charles W. Weber

his alter ego known by the pseudonym Jedediah Tingle. That was the name of his
great-grandfather whose identity was revealed only after his death, who gave "gener­
ous financial gifts to statesmen, great writers, obscure poets and unknown heroes,"
among others. He did this, in his own words, "to bring smiles and tender thoughts to
the great in heart, in high and low places, to comfort and cheer those who do excep­
tional things or [who] suffer."6 In addition to his magnanimous philanthropy and suc­
cessful land development, he also served as an Episcopalian lay leader (vestryman)
and an active promoter of various religious causes.
Among all of his philanthropic projects, the best known today are those for
African-American artists, for whom his Foundation "stood alone" as their principal
supporter and major collector of their art (Driskell 1989:59). The Foundation served
as a major supporter of the New Negro Era and Harlem Renaissance and, therefore,
"one of the nation's leading and more interesting benefactors of Negro genius" (Price
1989:80). Harmon initiated support for black visual artists as "a reflection of his
interest in promoting justice and social commitment" (Price 1989:81). This crucial
patronage at an important cultural nexus "was the most valuable support black artists
received prior to the advent of the Works Progress Administration" in 1935 (Driskell
1997:7).
Samuel McCune Lindsay, Professor of Social Legislation at Columbia
University, New York, and friend of the Foundation, compared Harmon favorably
with Andrew Carnegie, whom he characterized as "a pioneer in the art of giving" who
instructed others in philanthropy and "the trusteeship of wealth" so that one's gifts
would generate "additional gifts from others." Lindsay lauds Harmon as "a success­
ful pioneer in social work" and in the creation of the "family" foundation who pos­
sessed "vision, courage, faith in the moral worth and essential soundness of the aver­
age man." In addition, also recognized is Harmon's willingness to experiment and to
seek "the discovery of new devices in social engineering" while seeking "the coeffi­
cient of expansion for the social work of others, individuals and organizations alike"
(Lindsay 1926:77). This pioneering effort in "social work" was Harmon's contribu­
tion to the development of American philanthropy that, in the words of Brady, result­
ed in "a busy laboratory—an experimental workshop where new ideas for human
welfare are analyzed, tested, regrouped and gradually molded into a form for practi­
cal use" (Brady 1926:79). It is this "experimental" quality that distinguishes his myr­
iad of projects.
When Harmon set up his Foundation in 1922, he hired Mary Beattie Brady as
secretary to administer it. Born and raised in Sitka, Alaska, she attended Vassar
College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and after graduating in 1910 she taught Native
Americans in Sitka. Later she received a journalism degree from Columbia
University in New York. While working at his Foundation, she and Harmon enjoyed
mutual admiration, trust, and respect. After he died in 1928, she continued to direct
its activities until 1967. She tirelessly fostered the Foundation's efforts with her care­
ful, meticulous, and thrifty direction, and it is through her dedication that many proj­
ects identified with Harmon were undertaken. Indeed, she was committed to social
change and believed strongly that art and film could be used to foster these changes
(Fleming 1997:10-11). The Foundation's accomplishments are in large part due to her
dedicated efforts.
The two African film projects of the Harmon Foundation must be understood in
 Presenting Africa to the Public in the Inter-War Years, 1920-1940 211

this larger context of its founding purposes, its efforts regarding African-Americans,
and the developments in missions and anthropology. Without this context, the film
efforts and their intended impact are illusive, and the significance of their production
is lost.
Although film had long been employed for educational and religious purposes,
interest in such uses increased in the 1930s. Brady wrote fervently about the growing
importance of film in churches and schools as well as the recognition of its "axiomat­
ic" power in the society of the 1930s. For churches she saw film not as a substitute
but "as an aid and essential part of the functioning church" especially as films were
more and more accepted by the general public. Brady was concerned about the pre­
vious slowness of the church to accept this technology and the "makeshift nature" of
film's use. In 1935, she observed that "today churches and their denominational orga­
nizations are rapidly learning that it is not only desirable to have motion pictures as
a part of their service but that soon it will be a prime requirement" that needs to "be
fully integrated into the life of the church" and may even serve as an impetus to
greater church unity (Brady 1935:289-290).
An additional encouragement to the use of film in churches (and schools too)
was improved technology in the "progress in 16 millimeter film and equipment" that
improved projection quality and facilitated easier film production (Brady 1935:290).
The "modern 16 mm. projector" was "entirely safe from all fire hazard, simple
enough for a child to operate, [and] powerful enough to give pictures of theatrical
brilliance even in larger auditoriums," thus making a projector "essential equipment"
(in either silent or sound versions) for churches (Johnson 1933:84).
The Harmon Foundation aided in the production and promotion of many educa­
tional and religious films and was active in distributing informational and self-help
films to churches and schools. As Brady expressed the Foundation's intention,
Our films are designed for a wide range of use among schools, churches, and social­
ly minded organizations. They are not shows or entertainment in themselves, or
replacement of leadership but are aids in the field of visual experiment to be
employed by 7teachers and thoughtful leaders in the development of an approach to a
given subject.

In 1935 she noted that me "time has come when coordinated leadership for visual
expression should develop within the church" (1935:290). And this the Harmon
Foundation encouraged.
Among the films that the Foundation itself produced, there were two main coop­
erative projects about Africa. The first was a series of three films released in 1936
under the title "Africa Joins the World." Each was a one-reel, 15-minute, silent film
entitled, respectively, "What Africa Is," "How Africa Lives," and "From Fetishes to
Faith." They could be rented as a set or individually. They were produced in cooper­
ation with the Missionary Education Movement, the agency responsible for promot­
ing missions under the Federal Council of Churches, from film submitted by ten mis­
sion boards. Their intended usage was in conjunction with the interdenominational
mission study program on Africa for that year in American churches. Reportedly
these films were "enthusiastically welcomed by local church missionary committees"
(McKinley 1974:174). William L. Rogers, who was in charge of the Harmon
212 Charles W. Weber

Foundation's film productions and head of its Religious Motion Picture Division,
considered this African project noteworthy in a number of respects. First, he stated
that it marked an advance "in interdenominational cooperation." The Foundation
served as a catalyst to bring the missions together; it produced a longer film than the
missions could independently; and then it provided copies of the film to the mission
boards. Rogers himself provided the scenarios for the series and edited over a hun­
dred reels of film for the final production. He saw "great value in itself" for this
cooperation in joint financing and production and was positive about "future helpful
cooperation." Second, as Rogers said, the films, designed for mission education, were
being "recommended by educators for use in public schools" as educational films for
all grade levels. Especially recommended were the first two reels that describe
Africa's history and culture as well as Africa's home life, lifestyles, natural resources,
and the impact of industrialization on Africans. As a result of these endeavors, Rogers
was assured that "denominational mission boards are . . . in a strategic position for
the production of films which will pay their own way, while meeting the educational
needs of the boards" at the same time providing authoritative material that "will be
increasingly used by the school systems of the country" (Rogers 1937:251).
"If You Could Take Your Congregation to Africa..." was the cover title of a four-
sided pamphlet promoting the three-part "Africa Joins the World" series. The point
was that the films will "bring Africa to your church" with all of its "beauty and mys­
tery," and "strange customs of her primitive peoples." The promotion emphasized
how people "would be fascinated, as other travelers have been" with Africa, how the
films present the "tremendous needs" that have "impelled missionaries to devote
their lives to the service of Africa," and how parishioners would be encouraged "to
do all they could to farther" the mission endeavors in Africa.8 These films clearly
were intended to give visual augmentation to the mission study books on Africa for
1936-1937 published by the Missionary Education Movement.
The second, more ambitious series of films for the Foundation, known as the
Africa Motion Picture Project, was produced between 1938 and 1941. The filming
was done in Africa based on previously written scripts and then was edited in New
York. The series was a much more complex and costly project than "Africa Joins the
World," consisting of nine silent, black and white films of which two were dramatic
productions and the others were of a more descriptive, documentary nature. The fol­
lowing is a list of each film and its length in reels (each reel is about 15 minutes):

Ngono and Her People (1938 - 3 reels)

Children of Africa (1939 - 2 reels)
The Story of Bamba (1939-3 reels)
What a Missionary Does in Africa (1939 - 3 reels)
A Day in an African Village (1939 - 2 reels)
Song After Sorrow (1939 - 2 reels)
Missionary Achievements in Africa (1940 - 3 reels)
How an African Tribe Is Ruled Under Colonial Government (1940 - 2 reels)
The Light Shines in Bakubaland (1941-3 reels)

Together the "Africa Joins the World" series and the Africa Motion Picture
Project shared similar objectives and content and attempted to convey more accurate,
less popular, insights about Africa.
 Presenting Africa to the Public in the Inter-War Years, 1920-1940 213

Intentions and Impacts of the African Film Projects

Probably the most important person involved in compiling the background mate­
rial and text for the films of both series was Emory Ross who served as the Executive
Secretary of the Africa Committee of the Federal Council of Churches of North
America and of the Foreign Missions Conference. He also had served as a mission­
ary with tiie Disciples of Christ in Liberia and in the Belgian Congo. In his writing
and lecturing, and through his close collaboration on the Harmon Foundation's Africa
films, Ross, probably more than anyone else, served to popularize in America the new
anthropological perspectives of functionalism on Christianity's relationship to
African culture. He helped to portray visually these concepts to large audiences in
churches and schools and often showed the films in conjunction with his speaking.
He supervised the production of "Africa Joins the World" series and directed the later
Africa Motion Picture Project. As a noted missionary statesman, his views, consonant
with functionalist concepts and the trends in the international missionary movement,
were instrumental in disseminating these ideas to the American public through his
articles, books, and lectures.
Ross repeatedly attacked the common American perception of Africa as the Dark
Continent with all of its accompanying images. In a 1935 address to young people in
Chicago, Illinois, at the Younger Men's Missionary Congress, he began his lecture by
challenging perceptions already fixed in people's minds:

When you think of Africa, of what do you think?

Swamps, deserts, rivers?
Rift valley, and Mountains of the Moon?
Elephants, rhinos and hippos?
Dugout-log canoes, pigmies [sic] and poisoned arrows?
Baboon, gorillas—and Congorilla?
Trader Horn, Tarzan, Schweitzer and Livingstone?
Darkness, adventure, disease, mystery?
Superstition, cannibals and sudden death?
All of these and many other things may be thought of quite correctly in connection
with Africa, but let me ask you this:
Did you ever think of Africa, distant Africa, remote and "darkest" Africa, to reutter
the old phrase, as being so closely tied in with American life, that our life would be
quite something very different were it not for Africa? (Ross 1935:593)

He reinforced this point by beginning his influential book Out of Africa (1936a),
which was prepared as one of the study books on Africa, with the brief sentence,
"Africa was the Dark Continent" (193 6a: 5, emphasis in the original). In developing
this, Ross emphasized the changes in Africa within just one generation and its links
to America, "a new dawn."

In the case of Africa, for example, where the United States has not a mile of territo­
ry and but relatively small financial investment, American education, American phil­
anthropy, American medicine and methods of public sanitation, American agricul­
tural experience, American transportation material, American accounting devices,
American mineralogical engineering, American—the list could be continued in a
well-nigh exhaustive enumeration of human experience—have already affected fun­
damentally nearly every part of Africa. The precedent is abundantly fixed for
American participation in African matters. (1936b:451)'
214 Charles W. Weber

Ross also was quick to point out that the ancestry of millions of Americans was root-
ed in Africa, which increased the cultural links between the two continents. He fur-
ther emphasized the contribution of Christianity in helping to transform the African
way of life, which added urgency to the need for Americans to study Africa. He
pressed the challenge that Christianity had a unique opportunity given the rapid
changes in Africa, creating the hope that the "animistic Africa of today can be trans-
formed into the Christian Africa of tomorrow" (1936b:452).
Ross' work was clearly informed by the prevailing functionalist approach. He
stressed the village as the essence of African life and stated that in Africa "almost
every aspect of existence is communally controlled" (1936a:24). Consequently, he
deemed Western Christianity's over-emphasis on the individual a serious threat to
African culture as were other strains brought to Africa by colonialism. He perceived
this not as Africa's exoticism but as part of its cultural development. He concludes:

So often in thinking of Africa we have classed it with the utterly romantic, exotic,
unreal, and remote, and have regarded it as unrelated to our past, foreign to our pres-
ent, and lacking in any significance for our future. Nothing could be more incorrect.
Our forefathers, both those of the nearer East and the still nearer West, passed
through in the earlier stages of their civilizations many of the same life experiences
that the Africans are undergoing now. Our heritage carries much that the African is
more recently accumulating. The difference is not so much of content as of time. In
the germinative sub-layer of primitive life our racial roots mingle with theirs.
(1936a:39-40)

In this situation the church is presented with a significant opportunity to "naturalize"

Christianity within the context of fulfilling the best in African culture. Ross
expressed it in the following way while quoting a mission document:

When the message of life in Christ Jesus has become thoroughly naturalized, that is,
has been so related to the African's own spiritual experience that he recognizes it as
a fulfillment of the best that he knows and feels, an impregnating of the beliefs and
longings of his traditional religion with the creative power of Christ. (1936a:198)

Here Ross is popularizing for the public the anthropological and mission views of
people like Oldham, Westermann, and Malinowski. They present Africa as a place
with its own cultural integrity and a continent that both can contribute to the rest of
the world and can find in Christianity the fulfillment of its own best ideals. To this
latter point, Ross echoed the sentiments of mission anthropology when he observed
that Christ "can bring new values and beliefs into African society, which, instead of
being shattered and discarded, shall rise to unimagined heights of vital service to
Africa and the world" (1936a:29-30).
But Ross did more than write about these issues. He was deeply concerned that
Africans could not effectively present their own case to the outside world and there-
fore needed spokesmen to bring their predicament and potential contributions to the
rest of the world. He wanted "to argue for the brotherhood of man, the unity of races
and the underlying likeness of the continents." He recognized that "Africans are pre-
sented to the world abroad by means of the radio, pulpit, forum, books, magazines
and daily newspapers and . . . the moving picture screen," but he claimed that these
 Presenting Africa to the Public in the Inter-War Years, 1920-1940 215

presentations were often "sketchy, crude and unreal" (1936a: 177). Even as late as
1959 when he wrote with his wife, Myrta, another study book, Africa Disturbed, he
bemoaned the fact that projection equipment and films on Africa were still woefully
lacking in churches and schools (Ross and Ross 1959:132). In the 1930s, his concern
for proper visuals on Africa and for motivating Christian action in Africa resulted in
his active involvement in the production of both film series on Africa for the Harmon
Foundation.
Both film series on Africa were specifically designed as non-denominational
educational and documentary material for use in churches, public schools, clubs, and
service groups (Bentley 1939:34). Therefore, they became one of the most authorita­
tive (as opposed to popular commercial entertainment) and widely disseminated
sources of information about Africa, for all age groups, during the time period. The
information in these films likely served, beyond popular entertainment, as one of the
major formulators of American views on Africa in American popular culture.
The Africa Motion Picture Project combined Harmon's and Brady's interests in
Negro art and culture and their recognition of these as an important aspect of
American society. The project was "unique in the history of missions." It served as
"the first cooperative attempt by American church organizations to send a movie pho­
tographer into a mission field to make dramatic and reportorial films. The scenarios
were planned in advance by the home base to meet requirements of the local church­
es." (The usual practice depended on whatever film material was supplied by mis­
sionaries).10 The Harmon Foundation handled the practical details of mobilizing an
unusual and unprecedented group of sponsoring organizations. The group included
the Phelps-Stokes Fund (active in African and African-American education), the
American Mission to Lepers, and the eight denominations comprising the Africa
Committee of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, namely,
Presbyterian Church in the USA, Presbyterian Church in the US, Methodist
Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church (South), Northern Baptist
Convention, Disciples of Christ, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and
Church of the Brethren. With such sponsorship, the project was assured of religious
input and distribution to a broad range of the American public, since the films were
promoted as informational and educational about contemporary African culture and
therefore also suitable for use in public schools as introductory, first-hand, accurate
visual material on life in Africa. The Harmon Foundation was responsible for pro­
viding the equipment, preparing the scenarios, editing the films, and handling the dis­
tribution under its Division of Visual Experiment. Rogers, of the Harmon Foundation,
who was responsible for production, and Ross, whose book Out ofAfrica served as
background for the Africa Motion Picture Project, organized and supervised the
effort. The Foundation appropriated $7,500 for the project, plus funding from the
cooperating agencies.
The filming expedition, originally scheduled for four months, but extended for
15 months from 1938 to 1940 consisted of "three months traveling around the
Belgian Congo and French Cameroun, five actually shooting and the remaining seven
waiting for the sun to shine" (Garner and Garner 1940:64). The expedition once spent
two and a half months in an African village to accomplish ten days' shooting (Garner
and Garner 1940:64-65)." The main photographer, appointed in February 1938, was
Ray Garner, a young Brooklyn photographer who had established his reputation film-
216 Charles W. Weber

ing in the Wyoming mountains. His wife, Virginia, whom he married two weeks
before the expedition, aided in the filming.
Both in their mid-20s, they went to Africa with scenarios written in New York by
professional writers, aided by mission leaders familiar with Africa. Virginia served
"as script girl, editor, [and] accountant and photographer of 500 still photos on
African life" (Williams 1940:14). Traveling 10,000 miles through Africa, they shot
25,000 feet of 16 mm. film using four cameras and shot at a speed that allowed for
either silent or sound production (in the end all films were silent). No film was
spoiled due to the weather. However, the actual filming conditions presented many
obstacles: inclement weather hindered proper lighting; every day they had to prepare
Africans as the actors they then filmed; and they could not immediately see how their
filming was progressing because they were unable to develop their film in Africa
(Freas 1940:5). Moreover, they had difficulty finding "places that offered a perfect
setting for movie shots" because they could not find "an African village untouched
by civilization" (Garner and Garner 1940:65). Their use of mainly African actors to
perform in scripts written for them prior to the expedition was unusual, as was the
fact that their films focused on the Africans themselves.12 In an interview, Virginia
Garner later noted that, while the Africa Project was their first for the Harmon
Foundation, they worked for a total of 18 years on various film projects for it. She
observed that these African films were the last they did in black and white; never­
theless, the Foundation was pleased with the distribution of their Africa films.13
Having viewed and analyzed all the films in both series, Africa Joins the World
(1936) and the Africa Motion Picture Project (1938-1941) located at the National
Archives (Maryland), I have concluded that in some ways the films reflect prevailing
stereotypical impressions about African society. However, in other ways they were
specifically intended by the sponsoring agencies to challenge American preconcep­
tions about Africa as conveyed by popular media and movies and to convey new
views of African society and of the African-American heritage.
In many ways mese films demonstrated continuity with general cultural impres­
sions of Africa that dominated the early twentieth century. For example, the brochure
that advertised "Africa Joins the World" referred to "the beauty and mystery of
Africa," "the strange customs of her primitive peoples," and "the tremendous needs
which have impelled missionaries to devote their lives to the service of Africa."14 In
a few of the films only a positive role for colonial governments are shown, especial­
ly in providing law and order and in ending "tribal wars." Of course, the civilizing and
paternalistic role of the missionary in medical, public health, and educational work is
stressed, as is their aid in ending superstitious and pagan practices, and in introduc­
ing Christian ideals and standards. Both series show Africans as simple, technologi­
cally unsophisticated, naturally happy, primitive, naive, industrious, unspoiled by
some detrimental Western cultural influences, and threatened by the encroachments
of Western technology and culture. In these cases, the series clearly legitimize the
Western presence in Africa, whether political or religious.
Unlike commercial productions, both series used as advisors for the filming and
scriptwriting missionaries in Africa who knew the languages and customs, as well as
the African people, both the common people and the African and European ruling
classes. This sort of firsthand knowledge of film material adds a realistic and docu­
mentary dimension to both series and enhances their usefulness in churches, schools,
 Presenting Africa to the Public in the Inter-War Yean, 1920-1940 217

and civic groups. In fact, the stated aims of the Project were to "satisfy church
demand for an intimate glimpse of the results of missions" and to give a "historical­
ly accurate" account of Africa.15
Usually Hollywood movies and mass media are held responsible for the origin
and perpetuation of society's views about Africa. However, the influence of churches
and schools in molding popular opinion is often neglected because it is difficult to
access this material ani as with other media, its impact on people's minds and
impressions is very difficult to measure or to judge. While the Harmon Foundation's
African film projects fit this pattern, it did make a conscious attempt to correct some
of the misperceptions. It tried to serve as an antidote to such popular films as the
Tarzan films and the 12-part Warner Production series entitled "Adventures in
Africa" produced in the early 1930s with such titles as Flaming Jungles, Maneaters,
Into the Unknown, and The Witch Doctor's Magic. Of course, these immensely pop­
ular movies were designed solely as entertainment and were not intended to portray
Africa realistically.
Consonant with Ross' critique of the Dark Continent imagery, both film series
place their emphasis on "the changing Africa of our day" and on showing the many
dynamics presently at work in Africa instead of Africa as a static culture of the past.16
These were issues and problems about which Africans themselves were "largely inar­
ticulate," especially outside of Africa. The films were designed to publicize these
issues, albeit through the eyes of Europeans. The series was designed to counteract
the "sketchy, crude and unreal" portrayals of the commercial moving picture (Ross
1936a:5,12). With this in mind, the Africa film projects, unlike the dramatically acted
and reconstructed Hollywood-type films about Africa, presented material more like a
documentary filmed on location with Africans as their focal point. This was even true
of the two dramatic films in the series, "Ngono and Her People" and "The Story of
Bamba." Rarely were Europeans of any kind in the films except for those specifical­
ly on mission work itself or in colonial government, thus minimizing the heroic
model of the "white man" that was so prevalent in commercial productions.
The Harmon Foundation's interest and concern for the recognition of American
Negro accomplishments and education also stimulated its interest in its Africa films
mainly through the heritage of African-Americans in American society and through
the contribution and impact of African-American culture on Western culture (Ross
1936a: 176-177). Even the Garners' article on the filming of the series had the cap­
tion, "Filming adventures in the homeland of the Negroes" (Garner and Garner
1940:64). In fact, one of the stated aims of the films was their use "in connection with
a study of Negro life and culture in this country" (no specifics given) (Garner and
Garner 1940:64) as well as their "contribution to interracial understanding."17 Before
the films were released, they were previewed by such notable leaders of the African-
American community as Thomas Jesse Jones of the Phelps-Stokes Fund who was told
that based on his review changes could be made in the films before they were gener­
ally released.18
In many ways the films tried to show Africans as sharing a common humanity
with Americans. For example, thefictionaldrama "Ngono and Her People" centered
on the woman, Ngono, who was educated in a mission school and trained as a teacher.
She married Eman who was trained in mission schools and was employed in govern­
ment service. Ngono continued to serve her people as a model wife, teacher, and fel-
218 Charles W. Weber

low worker. At the same time, their marriage illustrated the intellectual companion­
ship they shared as educated Africans. Their marriage was thus meant to illustrate the
"emancipation of women" in a way similar to that described by the Romantic poets
such as Chateaubriand, Byron, Bronte, Shelley, and Rousseau. They also represented
"the Christian ideal." Ngono was "a symbol of a new womanhood the world over" as
portrayed in study notes for the film which explained how it could be used in the
English literature classroom in America or in YMCA/YWCA study groups. For such
reasons me film was touted as being of "real educational value suitable for use in the
schools.""
In a similar way the film "Children of Africa" describes child life in a Congo vil­
lage. It makes every effort to portray accurately the life of African children and "to
establish a community of interest between American and African boys and girls"
while at the same time showing how the African customs are "adapted to [its] envi­
ronment." A study guide accompanying the film suggests that it could be used in
"Normal and Teacher Training Schools and Colleges; as a study in child psychology,
showing the fundamental sameness of all children." The same study material, pro­
duced by the Foundation's Department of Visual Experiment, indicates how the film
can be used in elementary schools to study human and regional geography; in high
schools on the "social and economic organization and functionings of a primitive
society"; in mission study groups to show the "value of native teachers" and the
"important part education plays in the missionary program"; and in adult clubs as a
travelogue of a remote area "replete with human interest and having bizarre and
unusual features."20 Clearly the films were deemed appropriate for a wide range of
audiences. The Foundation produced similar guides for each film in both series pro­
viding aims, background material, film summary, study questions, sample programs,
suggested musical accompaniment, and bibliography.
Unquestionably, the African productions made a concerted effort to be anthro­
pologically correct given the cultural understandings of the 1930s. The objective was
in the words of the three-part "Africa Joins the World" series "to depict a land and its
people which less than a hundred years ago were practically unknown; to present the
problems and achievements which have accompanied its development as an indis­
pensable part of the modern world."21 Even the ethnographic, cultural, and geo­
graphic diversity of Africa is shown as is the diversity of tribal groups in size and cul­
ture; thus counteracting the concept of Africa being all the same. The stated intent
was to give "honest and careful portrayals of native life and customs" to provide
"educational merit, for schools and organizations as well as churches."22 Ross him­
self desired "motion pictures [that] would give civilized audiences intimate knowl­
edge of African life and needs, and what missionaries are doing for them with the
financial cooperation of home churches." In the making of its films, he appealed to
the Harmon Foundation as "a pioneer in educational and church films," to make
"authoritative films on African life" of both a "dramatic and documentary" nature.23
Many examples of these efforts for accuracy can be found in the films. In "The Story
of Bamba," a drama based on actual events that centers on the competition between
traditional and Western medicine, the film specifically avoids the commonly used
and pejorative term "witch doctor" and instead insists on using the African term
nganga. In the same film, the photographer had difficulty "in getting the Africans to
allow them to photograph scenes which were historically accurate, but which have
 Presenting Africa to the PubUc in the Inter-War Years, 1920-1940 219

been banished by Christian influence."24 Promotional material for another film enti­
tled "How an African Tribe Is Ruled Under Colonial Government" claimed both to
be based on "original source material in the historical and sociological sense" and to
contrast the "old and new methods of justice."25
All of this obviously reflects mixed motives, changing anthropological interpre­
tations, and conflicting images of the "Other" emerging after World War I. It raises
the additional issues of what the missionary or church agency conveys both con­
sciously and unconsciously as an interpreter of other cultures to the American public.
Another issue is how the missionaries/church leaders themselves are either shaped
and/or try to supercede their own cultural conditioning via the impact of the prevail­
ing popular culture's perceptions of Africa. Having made this significant caveat, it is
nonetheless true that, in contrast to the commercial presentations of Africa, the
Harmon Foundation's African film projects, dependent on and rooted in American
missionary material, at least made an intentional effort to give a more accurate and
empathetic portrayal of the dynamics of African society and to convey these to a gen­
eral audience in churches, schools on all levels, and civic groups throughout America.
A publication of the Harmon Foundation in 1937 observed, "The moving picture the­
ater and the church have for many years been in competition" (Harmon Foundation
1937:7), implying that the film medium had not been taken seriously enough by the
churches. Harmon's Africa films showed that religious organizations through mutual
cooperation could produce more accurate and realistic films about Africa that would
serve, beyond inspiration and mission encouragement, an educational purpose as
dependable source material on Africa for churches as well as for the general public.
Even if the films' impact and success as an antidote to prevalent stereotypes are
impossible to determine accurately, at least it was a deliberate effort with a popular
and national scope.

Notes
1. See Fenton ( 1967:1 -7,172-174) for more details.
2. This book was reprinted in 1948 and emphasized missionaries' doing fieldwork within
the context of the tribe with whom they lived, avoiding the strange or unusual, and learning the
vernacular language.
3. As an expert on African linguistics and first director of the Institute, Westermann pop­
ularized the functionalist approach to African society and to mission strategy. For more infor­
mation on the links between the Institute, missionaries, anthropologists, and colonial officials,
see Charles W. Weber (1993:90,95-96).
4. For illustrations of this commonality of all people, see William G. Bell (1936), espe­
cially his first chapter which takes a functionalist approach, and Mabel Shaw (1932), which
emphasizes the similarities of African and European women.
5. Lugard was a colonial official and leading formulator of colonial policy in the inter-
war period. He had close connections with the mission community.
6. Obituary, New York Evening Post, 18 July 1928.
7. Mary B. Brady to Lynette M. Wiggins, 10 June 1942, Harmon Foundation Papers,
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
8. The pamphlet is in Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture
Production Files, Box 1, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
9. See also the first chapter of Ross' Out ofAfrica (1936a).
10. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 3, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
220 Charles W. Weber

11. The article gives further details on the photographic equipment and the techniques
employed in the filming expedition.
12. For the first use of Africans as actors in a major production, see Dean Rapp and Charles
Weber (1989:11,17).
13. Virginia Garner, telephone interview by author, 18 February 1998. It is impossible to
judge accurately the extent of these films' distribution and the overall audience response. No
statistics exist. Circumstantial evidence indicates a potentially wide distribution since all the
films could be rented from the four YMCA film rental centers, the Africa Committee of the
Federal Council of Churches, the Harmon Foundation, and all sponsoring denominations and
mission boards. These films appear in rental catalogs into the 1950s. Virginia Garner indicates
that the Harmon Foundation was pleased with the films' circulation in both churches and
schools (interview of 18 February 1998). One film, "The Story of Bamba," "won honorable
mention in Movie Makers annual contest for non-theatrical 16 mm. movies" (Freas 1940:6).
Upon release, the films were listed and briefly described, but not reviewed, in popular film
magazines like Movie Makers and Educational Screen. It was written up in Newsweek (17
October 1938). The first two reels of the "Africa Joins the World" series were recommended
for school use by a group of educators (Harmon Foundation, Box 3, National Archives at
College Park, Maryland). The films also were rented in Britain.
14. "If You Could Take Your Congregation to Africa . . ." Records of the Harmon
Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files, Box 1, National Archives at
College Park, Maryland.
15. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 2, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
16. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 2, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
17. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 2, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
18. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 2, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
19. William L. Rogers to Thomas Jesse Jones, 7 July 1939, Records of the Harmon
Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files, Box 2, National Archives at
College Park, Maryland.
20. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 2, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
21. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 1, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
22. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 3, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
23. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 2, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
24. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 2, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
25. Records of the Harmon Foundation Gift Collection, Motion Picture Production Files,
Box 1, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

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