In the early to mid-20th century, when most history books erased or distorted the presence of people of African descent, a Jamaican-born journalist named Joel Augustus Rogers made it his life’s work to restore what had been stolen. Armed with little more than a sharp pen, endless curiosity, and an unshakable belief in equality, Rogers became one of the most influential popularisers of Black history, reaching audiences that formal academia had long ignored.
From Negril to the New World
Rogers was born in Negril, Westmoreland, Jamaica, on either September 6, 1880 or 1883, the son of Samuel and Emily Johnstone Rogers. His mother died young, leaving his schoolteacher father to raise him. Although he received a solid elementary education, higher studies in the Caribbean were beyond his economic reach. Determined to advance himself, he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery, a posting curtailed after only four years by a heart murmur. In 1906, following the path of many West Indians of his generation, he migrated to the United States, on a quest to find new opportunities and a wider stage on which to pursue his ambitions.
Chicago was his first stop. There, he worked as a Pullman porter while trying to pursue further studies. The University of Chicago refused him admission because he lacked a high school diploma, a rejection that set him on an alternative course. “From then on Rogers knew that whatever he accomplished in life as a man of letters would have to be done without degrees,” writes Henry Louis Gates Jr. who in 2016 published an updated edition of J.A. Rogers’s popular book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro.
A Historian Without Borders
By 1921, Rogers had moved to Harlem, where he embedded himself in the intellectual flowering of the Harlem Renaissance. Though he never held an academic position, he cultivated a reputation as a serious researcher, joining organisations such as the American Geographical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
As a journalist, Rogers wrote for the Pittsburgh Courier, New York Amsterdam News and The Messenger. He covered the coronation of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia in 1930 and later reported on the Italo-Ethiopian War, experiences that deepened his commitment to connecting Black Americans with global African struggles.
Writing History for the People
Rogers’s mission was clear: to dismantle the myths of racial purity and white superiority that underpinned segregation and colonialism. His strategy was both provocative and accessible. He claimed for the African diaspora any figure in history who displayed African ancestry or influence, whether that be Alexander Pushkin, Alessandro de’ Medici, or General Thomas Alexandre Dumas.
His syndicated illustrated feature, first called “Your History” and later “Facts About the Negro”, was a revelation for everyday readers. In barbershops, churches, and kitchens across Black America, his concise tidbits became ammunition against the prevailing idea that people of African descent had contributed nothing to civilisation.
The approach culminated in his most famous work, 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro. First published in 1934 and later expanded in 1957, it was marketed as a “Negro Believe It or Not.” As Gates observes, “Rogers was delivering enlightenment and pride steeped in historical research to a people too long starved on the lie that they were worth nothing because their ancestors had contributed nothing to world civilisation.”
Key Publications
Rogers’s bibliography was extensive. His early novel From “Superman” to Man (1917) challenged the pseudo-science of racial hierarchy. His three-volume Sex and Race (1941–44) explored the long history of interracial mixing, while World’s Great Men of Color (1946–47) offered a sweeping biographical survey of influential figures. Later works such as Nature Knows No Color-Line (1952) and Africa’s Gifts to America : The Afro-American in the Making and Saving of the United States (1959) reinforced his argument that Black people had been central to world history all along.
He also courted controversy with The Five Negro Presidents (1965), a pamphlet suggesting that several U.S. presidents had Black ancestry — a claim largely rejected by historians but emblematic of Rogers’s willingness to provoke debate.
Reception and Legacy
Rogers’s style was not without criticism. Some scholars dismissed him as a “vindicationist,” more concerned with racial pride than scholarly rigour. He did embellish at times, and his eagerness to claim figures of partial or ambiguous ancestry left him open to scepticism. Yet his broader influence is undeniable. For ordinary readers shut out of academia, he offered the first exposure to the breadth of Black achievement.
His personal notebooks, now housed at Fisk University, reveal the depth of his research and the seriousness of his endeavour. As historian W. Burghardt Turner observed in 1975, Rogers anticipated insights about racial mixing long before the arrival of DNA science.
The FBI also took an interest in Rogers because of his association with African-American journalist, writer, and outspoken social commentator George Samuel Schuyler. An agency often suspicious of Black political and religious figures, the FBI kept tabs on Rogers from 1942 until his death in 1966.
His impact, however, was recognised even during his lifetime. In 1937, a school in Cincinnati, Ohio, was renamed J.A. Rogers Elementary School in his honour — a rare tribute for a Jamaican immigrant and self-taught historian at that time.
When Rogers died in New York City on 26 March 1966, he left behind a body of work that continues to resonate. His writings inspired generations to look beyond Eurocentric narratives and sparked debates that scholars still grapple with today.
A Jamaican’s Contribution to Global History
Joel Augustus Rogers stands as proof that scholarship is not the sole preserve of universities. From his beginnings in Jamaica to his role as a globe-trotting journalist and historian, he exemplified the power of persistence and the importance of reclaiming erased narratives.
As Gates reflected, “He wasn’t just an aficionado of amazing facts — he was one of those facts.” For a people long denied their place in history, Rogers gave back something priceless: evidence that they had always been there, shaping the world.
