Black Boy Scouts of America Scoutmaster Training Course

This photograph shows the men attending a training course for Black boy scout leaders that was held at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in June of 1928. Harvey Nathaniel Johnson appears in the second row, the third man on the left. The Boy Scouts of America had created an organization called the Inter-Racial Service in 1926, with the intention of recruiting non-white troops. The initiative was controversial, with all-white troops opposing Black troops for racist reasons, and Black families harboring a strong skepticism towards an imperialist organization which had never before tried to include them. The promise of supporting and raising strong and independent men, however, was tempting to people adhering to a “lift as we climb,” racial politics, and by 1933 there were over 900 Black boy scout troops in the U.S.