,illustration     ,,the ,,negro         
,,problem     ,,contents     ,i         
,industrial ,education for the ,negro   
,booker ,t4 ,washington         #g      
,,ii      ,the ,talented ,tenth         
,w4,e4 ,burghardt ,du,bois       #ca    
,,iii      ,the ,disfranchisement of the
 ,negro           ,charles ,w4 ,chesnutt
        #gg   ,,iv      ,the ,negro and 
the ,law          ,wilford ,h4 ,smith   
#abe    ,v      ,the ,characteristics of
 the ,negro ,people          ,h4,t4     
,kealing               #afa   ,,vi      
,representative ,american ,negroes      
,paul ,laurence ,dunbar       #ahg      
,,vii      ,the ,negro's ,place in      
,american ,life at the ,present ,day    
,t4 ,thomas ,fortune          #baa      
,transcriber's ,note3 ,variant spellings
 have been left in the text4 ,obvious   
typos have been corrected and indicated 
with a footnote4      ,industrial       
,education for the ,negro  ,by ,,booker 
,t4 ,,washington1  ,principal of        
,tuskegee ,institute    ,the necessity  

for the race's learning the difference  
between being   worked and working4 ,he 
would not confine the ,negro to         
industrial life1   but believes that the
 very best service which any one can    
render to what   is called the higher   
education is to teach the present       
generation to   work and save4 ,this    
will create the wealth from which alone 
can come   leisure and the opportunity  
for higher education4   ,one of the most
 fundamental and far-reaching deeds that
 has been accomplished during the last  
quarter of a century has been that by   
which the ,negro has been helped to find
 himself and to learn the secrets of    
civilization--to learn that there are a 
few simple1 cardinal principles upon    
which a race must start its upward      
course1 unless it would fail1 and its   
last estate be worse than its first4    
,it has been necessary for the ,negro to
 learn the difference between being     
worked and working--to learn that being 
worked meant degradation1 while working 

means civilization2 that all forms of   
labor are honorable1 and all forms of   
idleness disgraceful4 ,it has been      
necessary for him to learn that all     
races that have got upon their feet have
 done so largely by laying an economic  
foundation1 and1 in general1 by         
beginning in a proper cultivation and   
ownership of the soil4  ,forty years ago
 my race emerged from slavery into      
freedom4 ,if1 in too many cases1 the    
,negro race began development at the    
wrong end1 it was largely because       
neither white nor black properly        
understood the case4 ,nor is it any     
wonder that this was so1 for never      
before in the history of the world had  
just such a problem been presented as   
that of the two races at the coming of  
freedom in this country4  ,for two      
hundred and fifty years1 ,i believe the 
way for the redemption of the ,negro was
 being prepared through industrial      
development4 ,through all those years   
the ,southern white man did business    

with the ,negro in a way that no one    
else has done business with him4 ,in    
most cases if a ,southern white man     
wanted a house built he consulted a     
,negro mechanic about the plan and about
 the actual building of the structure4  
,if he wanted a suit of clothes made he 
went to a ,negro tailor1 and for shoes  
he went to a shoemaker of the same race4
 ,in a certain way every slave          
plantation in the ,south was an         
industrial school4 ,on these plantations
 young colored men and women were       
constantly being trained not only as    
farmers but as carpenters1 blacksmiths1 
wheelwrights1 brick masons1 engineers1  
cooks1 laundresses1 sewing women and    
housekeepers4  ,i do not mean in any way
 to apologize for the curse of slavery1 
which was a curse to both races1 but in 
what ,i say about industrial training in
 slavery ,i am simply stating facts4    
,this training was crude1 and was given 
for selfish purposes4 ,it did not answer
 the highest ends1 because there was an 

absence of mental training in connection
 with the training of the hand4 ,to a   
large degree1 though1 this business     
contact with the ,southern white man1   
and the industrial training on the      
plantations1 left the ,negro at the     
close of the war in possession of nearly
 all the common and skilled labor in the
 ,south4 ,the industries that gave the  
,south its power1 prominence and wealth 
prior to the ,civil ,war were mainly the
 raising of cotton1 sugar cane1 rice and
 tobacco4 ,before the way could be      
prepared for the proper growing and     
marketing of these crops forests had to 
be cleared1 houses to be built1 public  
roads and railroads constructed4 ,in all
 these works the ,negro did most of the 
heavy work4 ,in the planting1           
cultivating and marketing of the crops  
not only was the ,negro the chief       
dependence1 but in the manufacture of   
tobacco he became a skilled and         
proficient workman1 and in this1 up to  
the present time1 in the ,south1 holds  

the lead in the large tobacco           
manufactories4  ,in most of the         
industries1 though1 what happened8 ,for 
nearly twenty years after the war1      
except in a few instances1 the value of 
the industrial training given by the    
plantations was overlooked4 ,negro men  
and women were educated in literature1  
in mathematics and in the sciences1 with
 little thought of what had been taking 
place during the preceding two hundred  
and fifty years1 except1 perhaps1 as    
something to be escaped1 to be got as   
far away from as possible4 ,as a        
generation began to pass1 those who had 
been trained as mechanics in slavery    
began to disappear by death1 and        
gradually it began to be realized that  
there were few to take their places4    
,there were young men educated in       
foreign tongues1 but few in carpentry or
 in mechanical or architectural drawing4
 ,many were trained in ,latin1 but few  
as engineers and blacksmiths4 ,too many 
were taken from the farm and educated1  

but educated in everything but farming4 
,for this reason they had no interest in
 farming and did not return to it4 ,and 
yet eighty-five per cent4 of the ,negro 
population of the ,southern states lives
 and for a considerable time will       
continue to live in the country         
districts4 ,the charge is often brought 
against the members of my race--and too 
often justly1 ,i confess--that they are 
found leaving the country districts and 
flocking into the great cities where    
temptations are more frequent and harder
 to resist1 and where the ,negro people 
too often become demoralized4 ,think1   
though1 how frequently it is the case   
that from the first day that a pupil    
begins to go to school his books teach  
him much about the cities of the world  
and city life1 and almost nothing about 
the country4 ,how natural it is1 then1  
that when he has the ordering of his    
life he wants to live it in the city4   
,only a short time before his death the 
late ,mr4 ,c4,p4 ,huntington1 to whose  

memory a magnificent library has just   
been given by his widow to the ,hampton 
,institute for ,negroes1 in ,virginia1  
said in a public address some words     
which seem to me so wise that ,i want to
 quote them here3  ,our schools teach   
everybody a little of almost everything1
 but1 in my opinion1 they teach very few
 children just what they ought to know  
in order to make their way successfully 
in life4 ,they do not put into their    
hands the tools they are best fitted to 
use1 and hence so many failures4 ,many a
 mother and sister have worked and      
slaved1 living upon scanty food1 in     
order to give a son and brother a       
liberal education1 and in doing this    
have built up a barrier between the boy 
and the work he was fitted to do4 ,let  
me say to you that all honest work is   
honorable work4 ,if the labor is manual1
 and seems common1 you will have all the
 more chance to be thinking of other    
things1 or of work that is higher and   
brings better pay1 and to work out in   

your minds better and higher duties and 
responsibilities for yourselves1 and for
 thinking of ways by which you can help 
others as well as yourselves1 and bring 
them up to your own higher level4  ,some
 years ago1 when we decided to make     
tailoring a part of our training at the 
,tuskegee ,institute1 ,i was amazed to  
find that it was almost impossible to   
find in the whole country an educated   
colored man who could teach the making  
of clothing4 ,we could find numbers of  
them who could teach astronomy1         
theology1 ,latin or grammar1 but almost 
none who could instruct in the making of
 clothing1 something that has to be used
 by every one of us every day in the    
year4 ,how often have ,i been           
discouraged as ,i have gone through the 
,south1 and into the homes of the people
 of my race1 and have found women who   
could converse intelligently upon       
abstruse subjects1 and yet could not    
tell how to improve the condition of the
 poorly cooked and still more poorly    

served bread and meat which they and    
their families were eating three times a
 day4 ,it is discouraging to find a girl
 who can tell you the geographical      
location of any country on the globe and
 who does not know where to place the   
dishes upon a common dinner table4 ,it  
is discouraging to find a woman who     
knows much about theoretical chemistry1 
and who cannot properly wash and iron a 
shirt4  ,in what ,i say here ,i would   
not by any means have it understood that
 ,i would limit or circumscribe the     
mental development of the               
,negro-student4 ,no race can be lifted  
until its mind is awakened and          
strengthened4 ,by the side of industrial
 training should always go mental and   
moral training1 but the pushing of mere 
abstract knowledge into the head means  
little4 ,we want more than the mere     
performance of mental gymnastics4 ,our  
knowledge must be harnessed to the      
things of real life4 ,i would encourage 
the ,negro to secure all the mental     

strength1 all the mental                
culture--whether gleaned from science1  
mathematics1 history1 language or       
literature that his circumstances will  
allow1 but ,i believe most earnestly    
that for years to come the education of 
the people of my race should be so      
directed that the greatest proportion of
 the mental strength of the masses will 
be brought to bear upon the every-day   
practical things of life1 upon something
 that is needed to be done1 and         
something which they will be permitted  
to do in the community in which they    
reside4 ,and just the same with the     
professional class which the race needs 
and must have1 ,i would say give the men
 and women of that class1 too1 the      
training which will best fit them to    
perform in the most successful manner   
the service which the race demands4  ,i 
would not confine the race to industrial
 life1 not even to agriculture1 for     
example1 although ,i believe that by far
 the greater part of the ,negro race is 

best off in the country districts and   
must and should continue to live there1 
but ,i would teach the race that in     
industry the foundation must be         
laid--that the very best service which  
any one can render to what is called the
 higher education is to teach the       
present generation to provide a material
 or industrial foundation4 ,on such a   
foundation as this will grow habits of  
thrift1 a love of work1 economy1        
ownership of property1 bank accounts4   
,out of it in the future will grow      
practical education1 professional       
education1 positions of public          
responsibility4 ,out of it will grow    
moral and religious strength4 ,out of it
 will grow wealth from which alone can  
come leisure and the opportunity for the
 enjoyment of literature and the fine   
arts4  ,in the words of the late beloved
 ,frederick ,douglass3 ,every blow of   
the sledge hammer wielded by a sable arm
 is a powerful blow in support of our   
cause4 ,every colored mechanic is by    

virtue of circumstances an elevator of  
his race4 ,every house built by a black 
man is a strong tower against the allied
 hosts of prejudice4 ,it is impossible  
for us to attach too much importance to 
this aspect of the subject4 ,without    
industrial development there can be no  
wealth2 without wealth there can be no  
leisure2 without leisure no opportunity 
for thoughtful reflection and the       
cultivation of the higher arts4  ,i     
would set no limits to the attainments  
of the ,negro in arts1 in letters or    
statesmanship1 but ,i believe the surest
 way to reach those ends is by laying   
the foundation in the little things of  
life that lie immediately about one's   
door4 ,i plead for industrial education 
and development for the ,negro not      
because ,i want to cramp him1 but       
because ,i want to free him4 ,i want to 
see him enter the all-powerful business 
and commercial world4  ,it was such     
combined mental1 moral and industrial   
education which the late ,general       

,armstrong set out to give at the       
,hampton ,institute when he established 
that school thirty years ago4 ,the      
,hampton ,institute has continued along 
the lines laid down by its great        
founder1 and now each year an increasing
 number of similar schools are being    
established in the ,south1 for the      
people of both races4  ,early in the    
history of the ,tuskegee ,institute we  
began to combine industrial training    
with mental and moral culture4 ,our     
first efforts were in the direction of  
agriculture1 and we began teaching this 
with no appliances except one hoe and a 
blind mule4 ,from this small beginning  
we have grown until now the ,institute  
owns two thousand acres of land1 eight  
hundred of which are cultivated each    
year by the young men of the school4 ,we
 began teaching wheelwrighting and      
blacksmithing in a small way to the men1
 and laundry work1 cooking and sewing   
and housekeeping to the young women4    
,the fourteen hundred and over young men

 and women who attended the school      
during the last school year received    
instruction--in addition to academic and
 religious training--in thirty-three    
trades and industries1 including        
carpentry1 blacksmithing1 printing1     
wheelwrighting harnessmaking1 painting1 
machinery1 founding1 shoemaking1        
brickmasonry and brickmaking1           
plastering1 sawmilling1 tinsmithing1    
tailoring1 mechanical and architectural 
drawing1 electrical and steam           
engineering1 canning1 sewing1           
dressmaking1 millinery1 cooking1        
laundering1 housekeeping1 mattress      
making1 basketry1 nursing1 agriculture1 
dairying and stock raising1             
horticulture4  ,not only do the students
 receive instruction in these trades1   
but they do actual work1 by means of    
which more than half of them pay some   
part or all of their expenses while     
remaining at the school4 ,of the sixty  
buildings belonging to the school all   
but four were almost wholly erected by  

the students as a part of their         
industrial education4 ,even the bricks  
which go into the walls are made by     
students in the school's brick yard1 in 
which1 last year1 they manufactured two 
million bricks4  ,when we first began   
this work at ,tuskegee1 and the idea got
 spread among the people of my race that
 the students who came to the ,tuskegee 
school were to be taught industries in  
connection with their academic studies1 
were1 in other words1 to be taught to   
work1 ,i received a great many verbal   
messages and letters from parents       
informing me that they wanted their     
children taught books1 but not how to   
work4 ,this protest went on for three or
 four years1 but ,i am glad to be able  
to say now that our people have very    
generally been educated to a point where
 they see their own needs and conditions
 so clearly that it has been several    
years since we have had a single protest
 from parents against the teaching of   
industries1 and there is now a positive 

enthusiasm for it4 ,in fact1 public     
sentiment among the students at         
,tuskegee is now so strong for          
industrial training that it would hardly
 permit a student to remain on the      
grounds who was unwilling to labor4  ,it
 seems to me that too often mere book   
education leaves the ,negro young man or
 woman in a weak position4 ,for example1
 ,i have seen a ,negro girl taught by   
her mother to help her in doing laundry 
work at home4 ,later1 when this same    
girl was graduated from the public      
schools or a high school and returned   
home she finds herself educated out of  
sympathy with laundry work1 and yet not 
able to find anything to do which seems 
in keeping with the cost and character  
of her education4 ,under these          
circumstances we cannot be surprised if 
she does not fulfill the expectations   
made for her4 ,what should have been    
done for her1 it seems to me1 was to    
give her along with her academic        
education thorough training in the      

latest and best methods of laundry work1
 so that she could have put so much     
skill and intelligence into it that the 
work would have been lifted out from the
 plane of drudgery,a4 ,the home which   
she would then have been able to found  
by the results of her work would have   
enabled her to help her children to take
 a still more responsible position in   
life4  ,almost from the first ,tuskegee 
has kept in mind--and this ,i think     
should be the policy of all industrial  
schools--fitting students for           
occupations which would be open to them 
in their home communities4 ,some years  
ago we noted the fact that there was    
beginning to be a demand in the ,south  
for men to operate dairies in a         
skillful1 modern manner4 ,we opened a   
dairy department in connection with the 
school1 where a number of young men     
could have instruction in the latest and
 most scientific methods of dairy work4 
,at present we have calls--mainly from  
,southern white men--for twice as many  

dairymen as we are able to supply4 ,what
 is equally satisfactory1 the reports   
which come to us indicate that our young
 men are giving the highest satisfaction
 and are fast changing and improving the
 dairy product in the communities into  
which they go4 ,i use the dairy here as 
an example4 ,what ,i have said of this  
is equally true of many of the other    
industries which we teach4 ,aside from  
the economic value of this work ,i      
cannot but believe1 and my observation  
confirms me in my belief1 that as we    
continue to place ,negro men and women  
of intelligence1 religion1 modesty1     
conscience and skill in every community 
in the ,south1 who will prove by actual 
results their value to the community1 ,i
 cannot but believe1 ,i say1 that this  
will constitute a solution to many of   
the present political and social        
difficulties4  ,many seem to think that 
industrial education is meant to make   
the ,negro work as he worked in the days
 of slavery4 ,this is far from my       

conception of industrial education4 ,if 
this training is worth anything to the  
,negro1 it consists in teaching him how 
not to work1 but how to make the forces 
of nature--air1 steam1 water1           
horse-power and electricity--work for   
him4 ,if it has any value it is in      
lifting labor up out of toil and        
drudgery into the plane of the dignified
 and the beautiful4 ,the ,negro in the  
,south works and works hard2 but too    
often his ignorance and lack of skill   
causes him to do his work in the most   
costly and shiftless manner1 and this   
keeps him near the bottom of the ladder 
in the economic world4  ,i have not     
emphasized particularly in these pages  
the great need of training the ,negro in
 agriculture1 but ,i believe that this  
branch of industrial education does need
 very great emphasis4 ,in this          
connection ,i want to quote some words  
which ,mr4 ,edgar ,gardner ,murphy1 of  
,montgomery1 ,alabama1 has recently     
written upon this subject3  ,we must    

incorporate into our public school      
system a larger recognition of the      
practical and industrial elements in    
educational training4 ,ours is an       
agricultural population4 ,the school    
must be brought more closely to the     
soil4 ,the teaching of history1 for     
example1 is all very well1 but nobody   
can really know anything of history     
unless he has been taught to see things 
grow--has so seen things not only with  
the outward eye1 but with the eyes of   
his intelligence and conscience4 ,the   
actual things of the present are more   
important1 however1 than the            
institutions of the past4 ,even to young
 children can be shown the simpler      
conditions and processes of growth--how 
corn is put into the ground--how cotton 
and potatoes should be planted--how to  
choose the soil best adapted to a       
particular plant1 how to improve that   
soil1 how to care for the plant while it
 grows1 how to get the most value out of
 it1 how to use the elements of waste   

for the fertilization of other crops2   
how1 through the alternation of crops1  
the land may be made to increase the    
annual value of its products--these     
things1 upon their elementary side are  
absolutely vital to the worth and       
success of hundreds of thousands of     
these people of the ,negro race1 and yet
 our whole educational system has       
practically ignored them4         99    
99       99       99       99  ,such    
work will mean not only an education in 
agriculture1 but an education through   
agriculture and education1 through      
natural symbols and practical forms1    
which will educate as deeply1 as broadly
 and as truly as any other system which 
the world has known4 ,such changes will 
bring far larger results than the mere  
improvement of our ,negroes4 ,they will 
give us an agricultural class1 a class  
of tenants or small land owners1 trained
 not away from the soil1 but in relation
 to the soil and in intelligent         
dependence upon its resources4  ,i      

close1 then1 as ,i began1 by saying that
 as a slave the ,negro was worked1 and  
that as a freeman he must learn to work4
 ,there is still doubt in many quarters 
as to the ability of the ,negro         
unguided1 unsupported1 to hew his own   
path and put into visible1 tangible1    
indisputable form1 products and signs of
 civilization4 ,this doubt cannot be    
much affected by abstract arguments1 no 
matter how delicately and convincingly  
woven together4 ,patiently1 quietly1    
doggedly1 persistently1 through summer  
and winter1 sunshine and shadow1 by     
self-sacrifice1 by foresight1 by honesty
 and industry1 we must re-enforce       
argument with results4 ,one farm bought1
 one house built1 one home sweetly and  
intelligently kept1 one man who is the  
largest tax payer or has the largest    
bank account1 one school or church      
maintained1 one factory running         
successfully1 one truck garden          
profitably cultivated1 one patient cured
 by a ,negro doctor1 one sermon well    

preached1 one office well filled1 one   
life cleanly lived--these will tell more
 in our favor than all the abstract     
eloquence that can be summoned to plead 
our cause4 ,our pathway must be up      
through the soil1 up through swamps1 up 
through forests1 up through the streams1
 the rocks1 up through commerce1        
education and religion6  ,footnote ,a3  
,in the original1 this was 'drudggery'4 
,the ,talented ,tenth  ,by ,,prof4      
,w4,e4 ,,burghardt ,du,b,o,i,s    ,a    
strong plea for the higher education of 
the ,negro1 which those who are         
interested in the future of the freedmen
 cannot afford to ignore4 ,prof4        
,du,bois produces ample evidence to     
prove conclusively the truth of his     
statement that to attempt to establish  
any sort of a system of common   and    
industrial school training1 without     
first providing for the higher          
training of the very best teachers1 is  
simply throwing your money to the       
winds4  ,illustration3 ,w4,e4           

,,burghardt ,du,b,o,i,s4   ,the ,negro  
race1 like all races1 is going to be    
saved by its exceptional men4 ,the      
problem of education1 then1 among       
,negroes must first of all deal with the
 ,talented ,tenth2 it is the problem of 
developing the ,best of this race that  
they may guide the ,mass away from the  
contamination and death of the ,worst1  
in their own and other races4 ,now the  
training of men is a difficult and      
intricate task4 ,its technique is a     
matter for educational experts1 but its 
object is for the vision of seers4 ,if  
we make money the object of             
man-training1 we shall develop          
money-makers but not necessarily men2 if
 we make technical skill the object of  
education1 we may possess artisans but  
not1 in nature1 men4 ,men we shall have 
only as we make manhood the object of   
the work of the schools--intelligence1  
broad sympathy1 knowledge of the world  
that was and is1 and of the relation of 
men to it--this is the curriculum of    

that ,higher ,education which must      
underlie true life4 ,on this foundation 
we may build bread winning1 skill of    
hand and quickness of brain1 with never 
a fear lest the child and man mistake   
the means of living for the object of   
life4         99       99       99      
99       99  ,if this be true--and who  
can deny it--three tasks lay before me2 
first to show from the past that the    
,talented ,tenth as they have risen     
among ,american ,negroes have been      
worthy of leadership2 secondly1 to show 
how these men may be educated and       
developed2 and thirdly1 to show their   
relation to the ,negro problem4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,you misjudge us because you do not know
 us4 ,from the very first it has been   
the educated and intelligent of the     
,negro people that have led and elevated
 the mass1 and the sole obstacles that  
nullified and retarded their efforts    
were slavery and race prejudice2 for    
what is slavery but the legalized       

survival of the unfit and the           
nullification of the work of natural    
internal leadership8 ,negro leadership1 
therefore1 sought from the first to rid 
the race of this awful incubus that it  
might make way for natural selection and
 the survival of the fittest4 ,in       
colonial days came ,phillis ,wheatley   
and ,paul ,cuffe striving against the   
bars of prejudice2 and ,benjamin        
,banneker1 the almanac maker1 voiced    
their longings when he said to ,thomas  
,jefferson1 ,i freely and cheerfully    
acknowledge that ,i am of the ,african  
race1 and in colour which is natural to 
them1 of the deepest dye2 and it is     
under a sense of the most profound      
gratitude to the ,supreme ,ruler of the 
,universe1 that ,i now confess to you   
that ,i am not under that state of      
tyrannical thraldom and inhuman         
captivity to which too many of my       
brethren are doomed1 but that ,i have   
abundantly tasted of the fruition of    
those blessings which proceed from that 

free and unequalled liberty with which  
you are favored1 and which ,i hope you  
will willingly allow1 you have          
mercifully received from the immediate  
hand of that ,being from whom proceedeth
 every good and perfect gift4  ,suffer  
me to recall to your mind that time1 in 
which the arms of the ,british crown    
were exerted with every powerful effort1
 in order to reduce you to a state of   
servitude2 look back1 ,i entreat you1 on
 the variety of dangers to which you    
were exposed2 reflect on that period in 
which every human aid appeared          
unavailable1 and in which even hope and 
fortitude wore the aspect of inability  
to the conflict1 and you cannot but be  
led to a serious and grateful sense of  
your miraculous and providential        
preservation1 you cannot but            
acknowledge1 that the present freedom   
and tranquility which you enjoy1 you    
have mercifully received1 and that a    
peculiar blessing of heaven4  ,this1    
sir1 was a time when you clearly saw    

into the injustice of a state of        
,slavery1 and in which you had just     
apprehensions of the horrors of its     
condition4 ,it was then that your       
abhorrence thereof was so excited1 that 
you publicly held forth this true and   
invaluable doctrine1 which is worthy to 
be recorded and remembered in all       
succeeding ages3 ',we hold these truths 
to be self evident1 that all men are    
created equal2 that they are endowed    
with certain inalienable rights1 and    
that among these are life1 liberty and  
the pursuit of happiness4'  ,then came  
,dr4 ,james ,derham1 who could tell even
 the learned ,dr4 ,rush something of    
medicine1 and ,lemuel ,haynes1 to whom  
,middlebury ,college gave an honorary   
,a4,m4 in #ahjd4 ,these and others we   
may call the ,revolutionary group of    
distinguished ,negroes--they were       
persons of marked ability1 leaders of a 
,talented ,tenth1 standing conspicuously
 among the best of their time4 ,they    
strove by word and deed to save the     

color line from becoming the line       
between the bond and free1 but all they 
could do was nullified by ,eli ,whitney 
and the ,curse of ,gold4 ,so they passed
 into forgetfulness4  ,but their spirit 
did not wholly die2 here and there in   
the early part of the century came other
 exceptional men4 ,some were natural    
sons of unnatural fathers and were given
 often a liberal training and thus a    
race of educated mulattoes sprang up to 
plead for black men's rights4 ,there was
 ,ira ,aldridge1 whom all ,europe loved 
to honor2 there was that ,voice crying  
in the ,wilderness1 ,david ,walker1 and 
saying3  ,i declare it does appear to me
 as though some nations think ,god is   
asleep1 or that he made the ,africans   
for nothing else but to dig their mines 
and work their farms1 or they cannot    
believe history1 sacred or profane4 ,i  
ask every man who has a heart1 and is   
blessed with the privilege of           
believing--,is not ,god a ,god of       
justice to all his creatures8 ,do you   

say he is8 ,then if he gives peace and  
tranquility to tyrants and permits them 
to keep our fathers1 our mothers1       
ourselves and our children in eternal   
ignorance and wretchedness to support   
them and their families1 would he be to 
us a ,god of ,justice8 ,i ask1 ,o1 ye   
,christians1 who hold us and our        
children in the most abject ignorance   
and degradation that ever a people were 
afflicted with since the world began--,i
 say if ,god gives you peace and        
tranquility1 and suffers you thus to go 
on afflicting us1 and our children1 who 
have never given you the least          
provocation--would ,he be to us a ,god  
of ,justice8 ,if you will allow that we 
are men1 who feel for each other1 does  
not the blood of our fathers and of us1 
their children1 cry aloud to the ,lord  
of ,sabaoth against you for the         
cruelties and murders with which you    
have and do continue to afflict us8     
,this was the wild voice that first     
aroused ,southern legislators in #ahbi  

to the terrors of abolitionism4  ,in    
#ahca there met that first ,negro       
convention in ,philadelphia1 at which   
the world gaped curiously but which     
bravely attacked the problems of race   
and slavery1 crying out against         
persecution and declaring that ,laws as 
cruel in themselves as they were        
unconstitutional and unjust1 have in    
many places been enacted against our    
poor1 unfriended and unoffending        
brethren 7without a shadow of           
provocation on our part71 at whose bare 
recital the very savage draws himself up
 for fear of contagion--looks noble and 
prides himself because he bears not the 
name of ,christian4 ,side by side this  
free ,negro movement1 and the movement  
for abolition1 strove until they merged 
into one strong stream4 ,too little     
notice has been taken of the work which 
the ,talented ,tenth among ,negroes took
 in the great abolition crusade4 ,from  
the very day that a ,philadelphia       
colored man became the first subscriber 

to ,garrison's ,liberator1 to the day   
when ,negro soldiers made the           
,emancipation ,proclamation possible1   
black leaders worked shoulder to        
shoulder with white men in a movement1  
the success of which would have been    
impossible without them4 ,there was     
,purvis and ,remond1 ,pennington and    
,highland ,garnett1 ,sojourner ,truth   
and ,alexander ,crummel1 and above all1 
,frederick ,douglass--what would the    
abolition movement have been without    
them8 ,they stood as living examples of 
the possibilities of the ,negro race1   
their own hard experiences and well     
wrought culture said silently more than 
all the drawn periods of orators--they  
were the men who made ,american slavery 
impossible4 ,as ,maria ,weston ,chapman 
once said1 from the school of           
anti-slavery agitation a throng of      
authors1 editors1 lawyers1 orators and  
accomplished gentlemen of color have    
taken their degree6 ,it has equally     
implanted hopes and aspirations1 noble  

thoughts1 and sublime purposes1 in the  
hearts of both races4 ,it has prepared  
the white man for the freedom of the    
black man1 and it has made the black man
 scorn the thought of enslavement1 as   
does a white man1 as far as its         
influence has extended4 ,strengthen that
 noble influence6 ,before its           
organization1 the country only saw here 
and there in slavery some faithful      
,cudjoe or ,dinah1 whose strong natures 
blossomed even in bondage1 like a fine  
plant beneath a heavy stone4 ,now1 under
 the elevating and cherishing influence 
of the ,american ,anti-slavery ,society1
 the colored race1 like the white1      
furnishes ,corinthian capitals for the  
noblest temples4  ,where were these     
black abolitionists trained8 ,some1 like
 ,frederick ,douglass1 were             
self-trained1 but yet trained liberally2
 others1 like ,alexander ,crummell and  
,mc,cune ,smith1 graduated from famous  
foreign universities4 ,most of them rose
 up through the colored schools of ,new 

,york and ,philadelphia and ,boston1    
taught by college-bred men like         
,russworm1 of ,dartmouth1 and           
college-bred white men like ,neau and   
,benezet4  ,after emancipation came a   
new group of educated and gifted        
leaders3 ,langston1 ,bruce and ,elliot1 
,greener1 ,williams and ,payne4 ,through
 political organization1 historical and 
polemic writing and moral regeneration1 
these men strove to uplift their people4
 ,it is the fashion of to-day to sneer  
at them and to say that with freedom    
,negro leadership should have begun at  
the plow and not in the ,senate--a      
foolish and mischievous lie2 two hundred
 and fifty years that black serf toiled 
at the plow and yet that toiling was in 
vain till the ,senate passed the war    
amendments2 and two hundred and fifty   
years more the half-free serf of to-day 
may toil at his plow1 but unless he have
 political rights and righteously       
guarded civic status1 he will still     
remain the poverty-stricken and ignorant

 plaything of rascals1 that he now is4  
,this all sane men know even if they    
dare not say it4  ,and so we come to the
 present--a day of cowardice and        
vacillation1 of strident wide-voiced    
wrong and faint hearted compromise2 of  
double-faced dallying with ,truth and   
,right4 ,who are to-day guiding the work
 of the ,negro people8 ,the exceptions  
of course4 ,and yet so sure as this     
,talented ,tenth is pointed out1 the    
blind worshippers of the ,average cry   
out in alarm3 ,these are exceptions1    
look here at death1 disease and         
crime--these are the happy rule4 ,of    
course they are the rule1 because a     
silly nation made them the rule3        
,because for three long centuries this  
people lynched ,negroes who dared to be 
brave1 raped black women who dared to be
 virtuous1 crushed dark-hued youth who  
dared to be ambitious1 and encouraged   
and made to flourish servility and      
lewdness and apathy4 ,but not even this 
was able to crush all manhood and       

chastity and aspiration from black folk4
 ,a saving remnant continually survives 
and persists1 continually aspires1      
continually shows itself in thrift and  
ability and character4 ,exceptional it  
is to be sure1 but this is its chiefest 
promise2 it shows the capability of     
,negro blood1 the promise of black men4 
,do ,americans ever stop to reflect that
 there are in this land a million men of
 ,negro blood1 well-educated1 owners of 
homes1 against the honor of whose       
womanhood no breath was ever raised1    
whose men occupy positions of trust and 
usefulness1 and who1 judged by any      
standard1 have reached the full measure 
of the best type of modern ,european    
culture8 ,is it fair1 is it decent1 is  
it ,christian to ignore these facts of  
the ,negro problem1 to belittle such    
aspiration1 to nullify such leadership  
and seek to crush these people back into
 the mass out of which by toil and      
travail1 they and their fathers have    
raised themselves8  ,can the masses of  

the ,negro people be in any possible way
 more quickly raised than by the effort 
and example of this aristocracy of      
talent and character8 ,was there ever a 
nation on ,god's fair earth civilized   
from the bottom upward8 ,never2 it is1  
ever was and ever will be from the top  
downward that culture filters4 ,the     
,talented ,tenth rises and pulls all    
that are worth the saving up to their   
vantage ground4 ,this is the history of 
human progress2 and the two historic    
mistakes which have hindered that       
progress were the thinking first that no
 more could ever rise save the few      
already risen2 or second1 that it would 
better the unrisen to pull the risen    
down4  ,how then shall the leaders of a 
struggling people be trained and the    
hands of the risen few strengthened8    
,there can be but one answer3 ,the best 
and most capable of their youth must be 
schooled in the colleges and            
universities of the land4 ,we will not  
quarrel as to just what the university  

of the ,negro should teach or how it    
should teach it--,i willingly admit that
 each soul and each race-soul needs its 
own peculiar curriculum4 ,but this is   
true3 ,a university is a human invention
 for the transmission of knowledge and  
culture from generation to generation1  
through the training of quick minds and 
pure hearts1 and for this work no other 
human invention will suffice1 not even  
trade and industrial schools4  ,all men 
cannot go to college but some men must2 
every isolated group or nation must have
 its yeast1 must have for the talented  
few centers of training where men are   
not so mystified and befuddled by the   
hard and necessary toil of earning a    
living1 as to have no aims higher than  
their bellies1 and no ,god greater than 
,gold4 ,this is true training1 and thus 
in the beginning were the favored sons  
of the freedmen trained4 ,out of the    
colleges of the ,north came1 after the  
blood of war1 ,ware1 ,cravath1 ,chase1  
,andrews1 ,bumstead and ,spence to build

 the foundations of knowledge and       
civilization in the black ,south4 ,where
 ought they to have begun to build8 ,at 
the bottom1 of course1 quibbles the mole
 with his eyes in the earth4 ,aye6 truly
 at the bottom1 at the very bottom2 at  
the bottom of knowledge1 down in the    
very depths of knowledge there where the
 roots of justice strike into the lowest
 soil of ,truth4 ,and so they did begin2
 they founded colleges1 and up from the 
colleges shot normal schools1 and out   
from the normal schools went teachers1  
and around the normal teachers clustered
 other teachers to teach the public     
schools2 the college trained in ,greek  
and ,latin and mathematics1 #b1jjj men2 
and these men trained full #ej1jjj      
others in morals and manners1 and they  
in turn taught thrift and the alphabet  
to nine millions of men1 who to-day hold
 #cjj1jjj1jjj of property4 ,it was a    
miracle--the most wonderful peace-battle
 of the #aith century1 and yet to-day   
men smile at it1 and in fine superiority

 tell us that it was all a strange      
mistake2 that a proper way to found a   
system of education is first to gather  
the children and buy them spelling books
 and hoes2 afterward men may look about 
for teachers1 if haply they may find    
them2 or again they would teach men     
,work1 but as for ,life--why1 what has  
,work to do with ,life1 they ask        
vacantly4  ,was the work of these       
college founders successful2 did it     
stand the test of time8 ,did the college
 graduates1 with all their fine theories
 of life1 really live8 ,are they useful 
men helping to civilize and elevate     
their less fortunate fellows8 ,let us   
see4 ,omitting all institutions which   
have not actually graduated students    
from a college course1 there are to-day 
in the ,united ,states thirty-four      
institutions giving something above high
 school training to ,negroes and        
designed especially for this race4      
,three of these were established in     
border ,states before the ,war2 thirteen

 were planted by the ,freedmen's ,bureau
 in the years #ahfd-ahfi2 nine were     
established between #ahgj and #ahhj by  
various church bodies2 five were        
established after #ahha by ,negro       
churches1 and four are state            
institutions supported by ,united       
,states' agricultural funds4 ,in most   
cases the college departments are small 
adjuncts to high and common school work4
 ,as a matter of fact six               
institutions--,atlanta1 ,fisk1 ,howard1 
,shaw1 ,wilberforce and ,leland1 are the
 important ,negro colleges so far as    
actual work and number of students are  
concerned4 ,in all these institutions1  
seven hundred and fifty ,negro college  
students are enrolled4 ,in grade the    
best of these colleges are about a year 
behind the smaller ,new ,england        
colleges and a typical curriculum is    
that of ,atlanta ,university4 ,here     
students from the grammar grades1 after 
a three years' high school course1 take 
a college course of #acf weeks4         

,one-fourth of this time is given to    
,latin and ,greek2 one-fifth1 to        
,english and modern languages2          
one-sixth1 to history and social        
science2 one-seventh1 to natural        
science2 one-eighth to mathematics1 and 
one-eighth to philosophy and pedagogy4  
,in addition to these students in the   
,south1 ,negroes have attended ,northern
 colleges for many years4 ,as early as  
#ahbf one was graduated from ,bowdoin   
,college1 and from that time till to-day
 nearly every year has seen elsewhere1  
other such graduates4 ,they have1 of    
course1 met much color prejudice4 ,fifty
 years ago very few colleges would admit
 them at all4 ,even to-day no ,negro has
 ever been admitted to ,princeton1 and  
at some other leading institutions they 
are rather endured than encouraged4     
,oberlin was the great pioneer in the   
work of blotting out the color line in  
colleges1 and has more ,negro graduates 
by far than any other ,northern college4
  ,the total number of ,negro college   

graduates up to #ahii1 7several of the  
graduates of that year not being        
reported71 was as follows3              
----------------------------------------
-------                ,negro ,colleges4
 ,white ,colleges4                      
----------------------------------------
------- ,before '#gf          #acg      
#ge        '#ge-hj       #adc           
#bb        '#hj-he       #bej           
#ca        '#he-ij       #dac           
#dc        '#ij-ie       #dfe           
#ff        '#if-ii       #dge           
#hh ,class ,unknown        #eg          
#fd                                     
----------------------------------------
------- ,total             #a1iad       
#cij                                    
----------------------------------------
-------  ,of these graduates #b1jgi were
 men and #beb were women2 #ej per cent4 
of ,northern-born college men come      
,south to work among the masses of their
 people1 at a sacrifice which few people
 realize2 nearly #ij per cent4 of the   

,southern-born graduates instead of     
seeking that personal freedom and       
broader intellectual atmosphere which   
their training has led them1 in some    
degree1 to conceive1 stay and labor and 
wait in the midst of their black        
neighbors and relatives4  ,the most     
interesting question1 and in many       
respects the crucial question1 to be    
asked concerning college-bred ,negroes1 
is3 ,do they earn a living8 ,it has been
 intimated more than once that the      
higher training of ,negroes has resulted
 in sending into the world of work1 men 
who could find nothing to do suitable to
 their talents4 ,now and then there     
comes a rumor of a colored college man  
working at menial service1 etc4         
,fortunately1 returns as to occupations 
of college-bred ,negroes1 gathered by   
the ,atlanta conference1 are quite      
full--nearly sixty per cent4 of the     
total number of graduates4  ,this       
enables us to reach fairly certain      
conclusions as to the occupations of all

 college-bred ,negroes4 ,of #a1cab      
persons reported1 there were3           
----------------------------------------
---------------                         
,per ,cent4                             
----------------------------------------
--------------- ,teachers1              
#ec4d    999999999999999999999999       
,clergymen1                             
#af4h    999999999999 ,physicians1 etc41
                   #f4c    99999999     
,students1                              
#e4f    999999 ,lawyers1                
#d4g    999999 ,in ,govt4 ,service1     
#d4j    9999 ,in ,business1             
#c4f    9999 ,farmers and ,artisans1    
#b4g    99 ,editors1 ,secretaries and   
,clerks1    #b4d    99 ,miscellaneous4  
4#e    99                               
----------------------------------------
---------------  ,over half are         
teachers1 a sixth are preachers1 another
 sixth are students and professional    
men2 over #f per cent4 are farmers1     
artisans and merchants1 and #d per cent4

 are in government service4 ,in detail  
the occupations are as follows3         
,occupations of ,college-,bred ,men4    
,teachers3   ,presidents and ,deans1    
#ai   ,teacher of ,music1               
#g   ,professors1 ,principals and       
,teachers1       #fge      ,total #gja  
,clergymen3   ,bishop1                  
#a   ,chaplains ,u4,s4 ,army1           
#b   ,missionaries1                     
#i   ,presiding ,elders1                
#ab   ,preachers1                       
#aig      ,total #bba  ,physicians1     
,doctors of ,medicine1                  
#gf   ,druggists1                       
#d   ,dentists1                         
#c      ,total  #hc  ,students1         
#gd  ,lawyers1                          
#fb  ,civil ,service3   ,u4,s4 ,minister
 ,plenipotentiary1               #a     
,u4,s4 ,consul1                         
#a   ,u4,s4 ,deputy ,collector1         
#a   ,u4,s4 ,gauger1                    
#a   ,u4,s4 ,postmasters1               
#b   ,u4,s4 ,clerks1                    

#dd   ,state ,civil ,service1           
#b   ,city ,civil ,service1             
#a       ,total #ec  ,business ,men3    
,merchants1 etc41                       
#cj   ,managers1                        
#ac   ,real ,estate ,dealers1           
#d       ,total #dg  ,farmers1          
#bf  ,clerks and ,secretaries3          
,secretary of ,national ,societies1     
#g   ,clerks1 etc41                     
#ae       ,total #bb  ,artisans1        
#i  ,editors1                           
#i  ,miscellaneous1                     
#e  ,these figures illustrate vividly   
the function of the college-bred ,negro4
 ,he is1 as he ought to be1 the group   
leader1 the man who sets the ideals of  
the community where he lives1 directs   
its thoughts and heads its social       
movements4 ,it need hardly be argued    
that the ,negro people need social      
leadership more than most groups2 that  
they have no traditions to fall back    
upon1 no long established customs1 no   
strong family ties1 no well defined     

social classes4 ,all these things must  
be slowly and painfully evolved4 ,the   
preacher was1 even before the war1 the  
group leader of the ,negroes1 and the   
church their greatest social            
institution4 ,naturally this preacher   
was ignorant and often immoral1 and the 
problem of replacing the older type by  
better educated men has been a difficult
 one4 ,both by direct work and by direct
 influence on other preachers1 and on   
congregations1 the college-bred preacher
 has an opportunity for reformatory work
 and moral inspiration1 the value of    
which cannot be overestimated4  ,it has1
 however1 been in the furnishing of     
teachers that the ,negro college has    
found its peculiar function4 ,few       
persons realize how vast a work1 how    
mighty a revolution has been thus       
accomplished4 ,to furnish five millions 
and more of ignorant people with        
teachers of their own race and blood1 in
 one generation1 was not only a very    
difficult undertaking1 but a very       

important one1 in that1 it placed before
 the eyes of almost every ,negro child  
an attainable ideal4 ,it brought the    
masses of the blacks in contact with    
modern civilization1 made black men the 
leaders of their communities and        
trainers of the new generation4 ,in this
 work college-bred ,negroes were first  
teachers1 and then teachers of teachers4
 ,and here it is that the broad culture 
of college work has been of peculiar    
value4 ,knowledge of life and its wider 
meaning1 has been the point of the      
,negro's deepest ignorance1 and the     
sending out of teachers whose training  
has not been simply for bread winning1  
but also for human culture1 has been of 
inestimable value in the training of    
these men4  ,in earlier years the two   
occupations of preacher and teacher were
 practically the only ones open to the  
black college graduate4 ,of later years 
a larger diversity of life among his    
people1 has opened new avenues of       
employment4 ,nor have these college men 

been paupers and spendthrifts2 #eeg     
college-bred ,negroes owned in #ahii1   
#a1cdb1hfb4ej worth of real estate1     
7assessed value7 or #b1daa per family4  
,the real value of the total            
accumulations of the whole group is     
perhaps about #aj1jjj1jjj1 or #e1jjj a  
piece4 ,pitiful1 is it not1 beside the  
fortunes of oil kings and steel trusts1 
but after all is the fortune of the     
millionaire the only stamp of true and  
successful living8 ,alas6 it is1 with   
many1 and there's the rub4  ,the problem
 of training the ,negro is to-day       
immensely complicated by the fact that  
the whole question of the efficiency and
 appropriateness of our present systems 
of education1 for any kind of child1 is 
a matter of active debate1 in which     
final settlement seems still afar off4  
,consequently it often happens that     
persons arguing for or against certain  
systems of education for ,negroes1 have 
these controversies in mind and miss the
 real question at issue4 ,the main      

question1 so far as the ,southern ,negro
 is concerned1 is3 ,what under the      
present circumstance1 must a system of  
education do in order to raise the      
,negro as quickly as possible in the    
scale of civilization8 ,the answer to   
this question seems to me clear3 ,it    
must strengthen the ,negro's character1 
increase his knowledge and teach him to 
earn a living4 ,now it goes without     
saying1 that it is hard to do all these 
things simultaneously or suddenly1 and  
that at the same time it will not do to 
give all the attention to one and       
neglect the others2 we could give black 
boys trades1 but that alone will not    
civilize a race of ex-slaves2 we might  
simply increase their knowledge of the  
world1 but this would not necessarily   
make them wish to use this knowledge    
honestly2 we might seek to strengthen   
character and purpose1 but to what end  
if this people have nothing to eat or to
 wear8 ,a system of education is not one
 thing1 nor does it have a single       

definite object1 nor is it a mere matter
 of schools4 ,education is that whole   
system of human training within and     
without the school house walls1 which   
molds and develops men4 ,if then we     
start out to train an ignorant and      
unskilled people with a heritage of bad 
habits1 our system of training must set 
before itself two great aims--the one   
dealing with knowledge and character1   
the other part seeking to give the child
 the technical knowledge necessary for  
him to earn a living under the present  
circumstances4 ,these objects are       
accomplished in part by the opening of  
the common schools on the one1 and of   
the industrial schools on the other4    
,but only in part1 for there must also  
be trained those who are to teach these 
schools--men and women of knowledge and 
culture and technical skill who         
understand modern civilization1 and have
 the training and aptitude to impart it 
to the children under them4 ,there must 
be teachers1 and teachers of teachers1  

and to attempt to establish any sort of 
a system of common and industrial school
 training1 without first 7and ,i say    
first advisedly7 without first providing
 for the higher training of the very    
best teachers1 is simply throwing your  
money to the winds4 ,school houses do   
not teach themselves--piles of brick and
 mortar and machinery do not send out   
men4 ,it is the trained1 living human   
soul1 cultivated and strengthened by    
long study and thought1 that breathes   
the real breath of life into boys and   
girls and makes them human1 whether they
 be black or white1 ,greek1 ,russian or 
,american4 ,nothing1 in these latter    
days1 has so dampened the faith of      
thinking ,negroes in recent educational 
movements1 as the fact that such        
movements have been accompanied by      
ridicule and denouncement and decrying  
of those very institutions of higher    
training which made the ,negro public   
school possible1 and make ,negro        
industrial schools thinkable4 ,it was   

,fisk1 ,atlanta1 ,howard and ,straight1 
those colleges born of the faith and    
sacrifice of the abolitionists1 that    
placed in the black schools of the      
,south the #cj1jjj teachers and more1   
which some1 who depreciate the work of  
these higher schools1 are using to teach
 their own new experiments4 ,if         
,hampton1 ,tuskegee and the hundred     
other industrial schools prove in the   
future to be as successful as they      
deserve to be1 then their success in    
training black artisans for the ,south1 
will be due primarily to the white      
colleges of the ,north and the black    
colleges of the ,south1 which trained   
the teachers who to-day conduct these   
institutions4 ,there was a time when the
 ,american people believed pretty       
devoutly that a log of wood with a boy  
at one end and ,mark ,hopkins at the    
other1 represented the highest ideal of 
human training4 ,but in these eager days
 it would seem that we have changed all 
that and think it necessary to add a    

couple of saw-mills and a hammer to this
 outfit1 and1 at a pinch1 to dispense   
with the services of ,mark ,hopkins4  ,i
 would not deny1 or for a moment seem to
 deny1 the paramount necessity of       
teaching the ,negro to work1 and to work
 steadily and skillfully2 or seem to    
depreciate in the slightest degree the  
important part industrial schools must  
play in the accomplishment of these     
ends1 but ,i do say1 and insist upon it1
 that it is industrialism drunk with its
 vision of success1 to imagine that its 
own work can be accomplished without    
providing for the training of broadly   
cultured men and women to teach its own 
teachers1 and to teach the teachers of  
the public schools4  ,but ,i have       
already said that human education is not
 simply a matter of schools2 it is much 
more a matter of family and group       
life--the training of one's home1 of    
one's daily companions1 of one's social 
class4 ,now the black boy of the ,south 
moves in a black world--a world with its

 own leaders1 its own thoughts1 its own 
ideals4 ,in this world he gets by far   
the larger part of his life training1   
and through the eyes of this dark world 
he peers into the veiled world beyond4  
,who guides and determines the education
 which he receives in his world8 ,his   
teachers here are the group-leaders of  
the ,negro people--the physicians and   
clergymen1 the trained fathers and      
mothers1 the influential and forceful   
men about him of all kinds2 here it is1 
if at all1 that the culture of the      
surrounding world trickles through and  
is handed on by the graduates of the    
higher schools4 ,can such culture       
training of group leaders be neglected8 
,can we afford to ignore it8 ,do you    
think that if the leaders of thought    
among ,negroes are not trained and      
educated thinkers1 that they will have  
no leaders8 ,on the contrary a hundred  
half-trained demagogues will still hold 
the places they so largely occupy now1  
and hundreds of vociferous busy-bodies  

will multiply4 ,you have no choice2     
either you must help furnish this race  
from within its own ranks with          
thoughtful men of trained leadership1 or
 you must suffer the evil consequences  
of a headless misguided rabble4  ,i am  
an earnest advocate of manual training  
and trade teaching for black boys1 and  
for white boys1 too4 ,i believe that    
next to the founding of ,negro colleges 
the most valuable addition to ,negro    
education since the war1 has been       
industrial training for black boys4     
,nevertheless1 ,i insist that the object
 of all true education is not to make   
men carpenters1 it is to make carpenters
 men2 there are two means of making the 
carpenter a man1 each equally important3
 the first is to give the group and     
community in which he works1 liberally  
trained teachers and leaders to teach   
him and his family what life means2 the 
second is to give him sufficient        
intelligence and technical skill to make
 him an efficient workman2 the first    

object demands the ,negro college and   
college-bred men--not a quantity of such
 colleges1 but a few of excellent       
quality2 not too many college-bred men1 
but enough to leaven the lump1 to       
inspire the masses1 to raise the        
,talented ,tenth to leadership2 the     
second object demands a good system of  
common schools1 well-taught1            
conveniently located and properly       
equipped4  ,the ,sixth ,atlanta         
,conference truly said in #aija3  ,we   
call the attention of the ,nation to the
 fact that less than one million of the 
three million ,negro children of school 
age1 are at present regularly attending 
school1 and these attend a session which
 lasts only a few months4  ,we are      
to-day deliberately rearing millions of 
our citizens in ignorance1 and at the   
same time limiting the rights of        
citizenship by educational              
qualifications4 ,this is unjust4 ,half  
the black youth of the land have no     
opportunities open to them for learning 

to read1 write and cipher4 ,in the      
discussion as to the proper training of 
,negro children after they leave the    
public schools1 we have forgotten that  
they are not yet decently provided with 
public schools4  ,propositions are      
beginning to be made in the ,south to   
reduce the already meagre school        
facilities of ,negroes4 ,we congratulate
 the ,south on resisting1 as much as it 
has1 this pressure1 and on the many     
millions it has spent on ,negro         
education4 ,but it is only fair to point
 out that ,negro taxes and the ,negroes'
 share of the income from indirect taxes
 and endowments have fully repaid this  
expenditure1 so that the ,negro public  
school system has not in all probability
 cost the white taxpayers a single cent 
since the war4  ,this is not fair4      
,negro schools should be a public       
burden1 since they are a public benefit4
 ,the ,negro has a right to demand good 
common school training at the hands of  
the ,states and the ,nation since by    

their fault he is not in position to pay
 for this himself4  ,what is the chief  
need for the building up of the ,negro  
public school in the ,south8 ,the ,negro
 race in the ,south needs teachers      
to-day above all else4 ,this is the     
concurrent testimony of all who know the
 situation4 ,for the supply of this     
great demand two things are             
needed--institutions of higher education
 and money for school houses and        
salaries4 ,it is usually assumed that a 
hundred or more institutions for ,negro 
training are to-day turning out so many 
teachers and college-bred men that the  
race is threatened with an over-supply4 
,this is sheer nonsense4 ,there are     
to-day less than #c1jjj living ,negro   
college graduates in the ,united        
,states1 and less than #a1jjj ,negroes  
in college4 ,moreover1 in the #afd      
schools for ,negroes1 #ie per cent4 of  
their students are doing elementary and 
secondary work1 work which should be    
done in the public schools4 ,over half  

the remaining #b1aeg students are taking
 high school studies4 ,the mass of      
so-called normal schools for the ,negro1
 are simply doing elementary common     
school work1 or1 at most1 high school   
work1 with a little instruction in      
methods4 ,the ,negro colleges and the   
post-graduate courses at other          
institutions are the only agencies for  
the broader and more careful training of
 teachers4 ,the work of these           
institutions is hampered for lack of    
funds4 ,it is getting increasingly      
difficult to get funds for training     
teachers in the best modern methods1 and
 yet all over the ,south1 from ,state   
,superintendents1 county officials1 city
 boards and school principals comes the 
wail1 ,we need ,,teachers6 and teachers 
must be trained4 ,as the fairest minded 
of all white ,southerners1 ,atticus ,g4 
,haygood1 once said3 ,the defects of    
colored teachers are so great as to     
create an urgent necessity for training 
better ones4 ,their excellencies and    

their successes are sufficient to       
justify the best hopes of success in the
 effort1 and to vindicate the judgment  
of those who make large investments of  
money and service1 to give to colored   
students opportunity for thoroughly     
preparing themselves for the work of    
teaching children of their people4  ,the
 truth of this has been strikingly shown
 in the marked improvement of white     
teachers in the ,south4 ,twenty years   
ago the rank and file of white public   
school teachers were not as good as the 
,negro teachers4 ,but they1 by          
scholarships and good salaries1 have    
been encouraged to thorough normal and  
collegiate preparation1 while the ,negro
 teachers have been discouraged by      
starvation wages and the idea that any  
training will do for a black teacher4   
,if carpenters are needed it is well and
 good to train men as carpenters4 ,but  
to train men as carpenters1 and then set
 them to teaching is wasteful and       
criminal2 and to train men as teachers  

and then refuse them living wages1      
unless they become carpenters1 is rank  
nonsense4  ,the ,united ,states         
,commissioner of ,education says in his 
report for #aijj3 ,for comparison       
between the white and colored enrollment
 in secondary and higher education1 ,i  
have added together the enrollment in   
high schools and secondary schools1 with
 the attendance on colleges and         
universities1 not being sure of the     
actual grade of work done in the        
colleges and universities4 ,the work    
done in the secondary schools is        
reported in such detail in this office1 
that there can be no doubt of its grade4
  ,he then makes the following          
comparisons of persons in every million 
enrolled in secondary and higher        
education3        ,whole ,country4      
,negroes4 #ahhj       #d1cfb            
#a1bhi #aijj      #aj1gdc               
#b1jfa  ,and he concludes3 ,while the   
number in colored high schools and      
colleges had increased somewhat faster  

than the population1 it had not kept    
pace with the average of the whole      
country1 for it had fallen from #cj per 
cent4 to #bd per cent4 of the average   
quota4 ,of all colored pupils1 one 7#a7 
in one hundred was engaged in secondary 
and higher work1 and that ratio has     
continued substantially for the past    
twenty years4 ,if the ratio of colored  
population in secondary and higher      
education is to be equal to the average 
for the whole country1 it must be       
increased to five times its present     
average4 ,and if this be true of the    
secondary and higher education1 it is   
safe to say that the ,negro has not     
one-tenth his quota in college studies4 
,how baseless1 therefore1 is the charge 
of too much training6 ,we need ,negro   
teachers for the ,negro common schools1 
and we need first-class normal schools  
and colleges to train them4 ,this is the
 work of higher ,negro education and it 
must be done4  ,further than this1 after
 being provided with group leaders of   

civilization1 and a foundation of       
intelligence in the public schools1 the 
carpenter1 in order to be a man1 needs  
technical skill4 ,this calls for trade  
schools4 ,now trade schools are not     
nearly such simple things as people once
 thought4 ,the original idea was that   
the ,industrial school was to furnish   
education1 practically free1 to those   
willing to work for it2 it was to do    
things--i4e43 become a center of        
productive industry1 it was to be       
partially1 if not wholly1               
self-supporting1 and it was to teach    
trades4 ,admirable as were some of the  
ideas underlying this scheme1 the whole 
thing simply would not work in practice2
 it was found that if you were to use   
time and material to teach trades       
thoroughly1 you could not at the same   
time keep the industries on a commercial
 basis and make them pay4 ,many schools 
started out to do this on a large scale 
and went into virtual bankruptcy4       
,moreover1 it was found also that it was

 possible to teach a boy a trade        
mechanically1 without giving him the    
full educative benefit of the process1  
and1 vice versa1 that there was a       
distinctive educative value in teaching 
a boy to use his hands and eyes in      
carrying out certain physical processes1
 even though he did not actually learn a
 trade4 ,it has happened1 therefore1 in 
the last decade1 that a noticeable      
change has come over the industrial     
schools4 ,in the first place the idea of
 commercially remunerative industry in a
 school is being pushed rapidly to the  
back-ground4 ,there are still schools   
with shops and farms that bring an      
income1 and schools that use student    
labor partially for the erection of     
their buildings and the furnishing of   
equipment4 ,it is coming to be seen1    
however1 in the education of the ,negro1
 as clearly as it has been seen in the  
education of the youths the world over1 
that it is the boy and not the material 
product1 that is the true object of     

education4 ,consequently the object of  
the industrial school came to be the    
thorough training of boys regardless of 
the cost of the training1 so long as it 
was thoroughly well done4  ,even at this
 point1 however1 the difficulties were  
not surmounted4 ,in the first place     
modern industry has taken great strides 
since the war1 and the teaching of      
trades is no longer a simple matter4    
,machinery and long processes of work   
have greatly changed the work of the    
carpenter1 the ironworker and the       
shoemaker4 ,a really efficient workman  
must be to-day an intelligent man who   
has had good technical training in      
addition to thorough common school1 and 
perhaps even higher training4 ,to meet  
this situation the industrial schools   
began a further development2 they       
established distinct ,trade ,schools for
 the thorough training of better class  
artisans1 and at the same time they     
sought to preserve for the purposes of  
general education1 such of the simpler  

processes of elementary trade learning  
as were best suited therefor4 ,in this  
differentiation of the ,trade ,school   
and manual training1 the best of the    
industrial schools simply followed the  
plain trend of the present educational  
epoch4 ,a prominent educator tells us   
that1 in ,sweden1 ,in the beginning the 
economic conception was generally       
adopted1 and everywhere manual training 
was looked upon as a means of preparing 
the children of the common people to    
earn their living4 ,but gradually it    
came to be recognized that manual       
training has a more elevated purpose1   
and one1 indeed1 more useful in the     
deeper meaning of the term4 ,it came to 
be considered as an educative process   
for the complete moral1 physical and    
intellectual development of the child4  
,thus1 again1 in the manning of trade   
schools and manual training schools we  
are thrown back upon the higher training
 as its source and chief support4 ,there
 was a time when any aged and wornout   

carpenter could teach in a trade school4
 ,but not so to-day4 ,indeed the demand 
for college-bred men by a school like   
,tuskegee1 ought to make ,mr4 ,booker   
,t4 ,washington the firmest friend of   
higher training4 ,here he has as helpers
 the son of a ,negro senator1 trained in
 ,greek and the humanities1 and         
graduated at ,harvard2 the son of a     
,negro congressman and lawyer1 trained  
in ,latin and mathematics1 and graduated
 at ,oberlin2 he has as his wife1 a     
woman who read ,virgil and ,homer in the
 same class room with me2 he has as     
college chaplain1 a classical graduate  
of ,atlanta ,university2 as teacher of  
science1 a graduate of ,fisk2 as teacher
 of history1 a graduate of              
,smith1--indeed some thirty of his chief
 teachers are college graduates1 and    
instead of studying ,french grammars in 
the midst of weeds1 or buying pianos for
 dirty cabins1 they are at ,mr4         
,washington's right hand helping him in 
a noble work4 ,and yet one of the       

effects of ,mr4 ,washington's propaganda
 has been to throw doubt upon the       
expediency of such training for         
,negroes1 as these persons have had4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,men of ,america1 the problem is plain  
before you4 ,here is a race transplanted
 through the criminal foolishness of    
your fathers4 ,whether you like it or   
not the millions are here1 and here they
 will remain4 ,if you do not lift them  
up1 they will pull you down4 ,education 
and work are the levers to uplift a     
people4 ,work alone will not do it      
unless inspired by the right ideals and 
guided by intelligence4 ,education must 
not simply teach work--it must teach    
,life4 ,the ,talented ,tenth of the     
,negro race must be made leaders of     
thought and missionaries of culture     
among their people4 ,no others can do   
this work and ,negro colleges must train
 men for it4 ,the ,negro race1 like all 
other races1 is going to be saved by its
 exceptional men4     ,the              

,disfranchisement of the ,negro  ,by    
,,charles ,w4 ,,chesnutt    ,in this    
paper the author presents a             
straightforward statement of facts      
concerning the disfranchisement of the  
,negro in the ,southern ,states4 ,mr4   
,chesnutt1 who is too well known as a   
writer to need any introduction to   an 
,american audience1 puts the case for   
the ,negro to the ,american people      
very plainly1 and spares neither the    
,north nor the ,south4  ,illustration3  
,,charles ,w4 ,,chesnutt4   ,the right  
of ,american citizens of ,african       
descent1 commonly called ,negroes1 to   
vote upon the same terms as other       
citizens of the ,united ,states1 is     
plainly declared and firmly fixed by the
 ,constitution4 ,no such person is      
called upon to present reasons why he   
should possess this right3 that question
 is foreclosed by the ,constitution4    
,the object of the elective franchise is
 to give representation4 ,so long as the
 ,constitution retains its present form1

 any ,state ,constitution1 or statute1  
which seeks1 by juggling the ballot1 to 
deny the colored race fair              
representation1 is a clear violation of 
the fundamental law of the land1 and a  
corresponding injustice to those thus   
deprived of this right4  ,for           
thirty-five years this has been the law4
 ,as long as it was measurably          
respected1 the colored people made rapid
 strides in education1 wealth1 character
 and self-respect4 ,this the census     
proves1 all statements to the contrary  
notwithstanding4 ,a generation has grown
 to manhood and womanhood under the     
great1 inspiring freedom conferred by   
the ,constitution and protected by the  
right of suffrage--protected in large   
degree by the mere naked right1 even    
when its exercise was hindered or denied
 by unlawful means4 ,they have          
developed1 in every ,southern community1
 good citizens1 who1 if sustained and   
encouraged by just laws and liberal     
institutions1 would greatly augment     

their number with the passing years1 and
 soon wipe out the reproach of          
ignorance1 unthrift1 low morals and     
social inefficiency1 thrown at them     
indiscriminately and therefore unjustly1
 and made the excuse for the equally    
undiscriminating contempt of their      
persons and their rights4 ,they have    
reduced their illiteracy nearly #ej per 
cent4 ,excluded from the institutions of
 higher learning in their own ,states1  
their young men hold their own1 and     
occasionally carry away honors1 in the  
universities of the ,north4 ,they have  
accumulated three hundred million       
dollars worth of real and personal      
property4 ,individuals among them have  
acquired substantial wealth1 and several
 have attained to something like        
national distinction in art1 letters and
 educational leadership4 ,they are      
numerously represented in the learned   
professions4 ,heavily handicapped1 they 
have made such rapid progress that the  
suspicion is justified that their       

advancement1 rather than any stagnation 
or retrogression1 is the true secret of 
the virulent ,southern hostility to     
their rights1 which has so influenced   
,northern opinion that it stands mute1  
and leaves the colored people1 upon whom
 the ,north conferred liberty1 to the   
tender mercies of those who have always 
denied their fitness for it4  ,it may be
 said1 in passing1 that the word ,negro1
 where used in this paper1 is used      
solely for convenience4 ,by the census  
of #ahij there were #a1jjj1jjj colored  
people in the country who were half1 or 
more than half1 white1 and logically    
there must be1 as in fact there are1 so 
many who share the white blood in some  
degree1 as to justify the assertion that
 the race problem in the ,united ,states
 concerns the welfare and the status of 
a mixed race4 ,their rights are not one 
whit the more sacred because of this    
fact2 but in an argument where injustice
 is sought to be excused because of     
fundamental differences of race1 it is  

well enough to bear in mind that the    
race whose rights and liberties are     
endangered all over this country by     
disfranchisement at the ,south1 are the 
colored people who live in the ,united  
,states to-day1 and not the low-browed1 
man-eating savage whom the ,southern    
white likes to set upon a block and     
contrast with ,shakespeare and ,newton  
and ,washington and ,lincoln4  ,despite 
and in defiance of the ,federal         
,constitution1 to-day in the six        
,southern ,states of ,mississippi1      
,louisiana1 ,alabama1 ,north ,carolina1 
,south ,carolina and ,virginia1         
containing an aggregate colored         
population of about #f1jjj1jjj1 these   
have been1 to all intents and purposes1 
denied1 so far as the ,states can effect
 it1 the right to vote4 ,this           
disfranchisement is accomplished by     
various methods1 devised with much      
transparent ingenuity1 the effort being 
in each instance to violate the spirit  
of the ,federal ,constitution by        

disfranchising the ,negro1 while seeming
 to respect its letter by avoiding the  
mention of race or color4  ,these       
restrictions fall into three groups4    
,the first comprises a property         
qualification--the ownership of #cjj    
worth or more of real or personal       
property 7,alabama1 ,louisiana1         
,virginia and ,south ,carolina72 the    
payment of a poll tax 7,mississippi1    
,north ,carolina1 ,virginia72 an        
educational qualification--the ability  
to read and write 7,alabama1 ,louisiana1
 ,north ,carolina74 ,thus far1 those who
 believe in a restricted suffrage       
everywhere1 could perhaps find no       
reasonable fault with any one of these  
qualifications1 applied either          
separately or together4  ,but the ,negro
 has made such progress that these      
restrictions alone would perhaps not    
deprive him of effective representation4
 ,hence the second group4 ,this         
comprises an understanding clause--the  
applicant must be able to read1 or      

understand when read to him1 any clause 
in the ,constitution 7,mississippi71 or 
to read and explain1 or to understand   
and explain when read to him1 any       
section of the ,constitution            
7,virginia72 an employment              
qualification--the voter must be        
regularly employed in some lawful       
occupation 7,alabama72 a character      
qualification--the voter must be a      
person of good character and who        
understands the duties and obligations  
of citizens under a republican 767 form 
of government 7,alabama74  ,the         
qualifications under the first group it 
will be seen1 are capable of exact      
demonstration2 those under the second   
group are left to the discretion and    
judgment of the registering officer--for
 in most instances these are all        
requirements for registration1 which    
must precede voting4  ,but the first    
group1 by its own force1 and the second 
group1 under imaginable conditions1     
might exclude not only the ,negro vote1 

but a large part of the white vote4     
,hence1 the third group1 which          
comprises3 a military service           
qualification--any man who went to war1 
willingly or unwillingly1 in a good     
cause or a bad1 is entitled to register 
7,ala41 ,va472 a prescriptive           
qualification1 under which are included 
all male persons who were entitled to   
vote on ,january #a1 #ahfg1 at which    
date the ,negro had not yet been given  
the right to vote2 a hereditary         
qualification1 7the so-called           
grandfather clause71 whereby any son    
7,va471 or descendant 7,ala471 of a     
soldier1 and 7,n4,c47 the descendant of 
any person who had the right to vote on 
,january #a1 #ahfg1 inherits that right4
 ,if the voter wish to take advantage of
 these last provisions1 which are in the
 nature of exceptions to a general rule1
 he must register within a stated time1 
whereupon he becomes a member of a      
privileged class of permanently enrolled
 voters not subject to any of the other 

restrictions4  ,it will be seen that    
these restrictions are variously        
combined in the different ,states1 and  
it is apparent that if combined to their
 declared end1 practically every ,negro 
may1 under color of law1 be denied the  
right to vote1 and practically every    
white man accorded that right4 ,the     
effectiveness of these provisions to    
exclude the ,negro vote is proved by the
 ,alabama registration under the new    
,state ,constitution4 ,out of a total1  
by the census of #aijj1 of #aha1dga     
,negro males of voting age1 less than   
#c1jjj are registered2 in ,montgomery   
county alone1 the seat of the ,state    
capital1 where there are #g1jjj ,negro  
males of voting age1 only #dg have been 
allowed to register1 while in several   
counties not one single ,negro is       
permitted to exercise the franchise4    
,these methods of disfranchisement have 
stood such tests as the ,united ,states 
,courts1 including the ,supreme ,court1 
have thus far seen fit to apply1 in such

 cases as have been before them for     
adjudication4 ,these include a case     
based upon the understanding clause of  
the ,mississippi ,constitution1 in which
 the ,supreme ,court held1 in effect1   
that since there was no ambiguity in the
 language employed and the ,negro was   
not directly named1 the ,court would not
 go behind the wording of the           
,constitution to find a meaning which   
discriminated against the colored voter2
 and the recent case of ,jackson vs4    
,giles1 brought by a colored citizen of 
,montgomery1 ,alabama1 in which the     
,supreme ,court confesses itself        
impotent to provide a remedy for what1  
by inference1 it acknowledges may be a  
great political wrong1 carefully        
avoiding1 however1 to state that it is a
 wrong1 although the vital prayer of the
 petition was for a decision upon this  
very point4  ,now1 what is the effect of
 this wholesale disfranchisement of     
colored men1 upon their citizenship4    
,the value of food to the human organism

 is not measured by the pains of an     
occasional surfeit1 but by the effect of
 its entire deprivation4 ,whether a     
class of citizens should vote1 even if  
not always wisely--what class does8--may
 best be determined by considering their
 condition when they are without the    
right to vote4  ,the colored people are 
left1 in the ,states where they have    
been disfranchised1 absolutely without  
representation1 direct or indirect1 in  
any law-making body1 in any court of    
justice1 in any branch of               
government--for the feeble remnant of   
voters left by law is so inconsiderable 
as to be without a shadow of power4     
,constituting one-eighth of the         
population of the whole country1        
two-fifths of the whole ,southern       
people1 and a majority in several       
,states1 they are not able1 because     
disfranchised where most numerous1 to   
send one representative to the          
,congress1 which1 by the decision in the
 ,alabama case1 is held by the ,supreme 

,court to be the only body1 outside of  
the ,state itself1 competent to give    
relief from a great political wrong4 ,by
 former decisions of the same tribunal1 
even ,congress is impotent to protect   
their civil rights1 the ,fourteenth     
,amendment having long since1 by the    
consent of the same ,court1 been in many
 respects as completely nullified as the
 ,fifteenth ,amendment is now sought to 
be4 ,they have no direct representation 
in any ,southern legislature1 and no    
voice in determining the choice of white
 men who might be friendly to their     
rights4 ,nor are they able to influence 
the election of judges or other public  
officials1 to whom are entrusted the    
protection of their lives1 their        
liberties and their property4 ,no judge 
is rendered careful1 no sheriff         
diligent1 for fear that he may offend a 
black constituency2 the contrary is most
 lamentably true2 day after day the     
catalogue of lynchings and anti-,negro  
riots upon every imaginable pretext1    

grows longer and more appalling4 ,the   
country stands face to face with the    
revival of slavery2 at the moment of    
this writing a federal grand jury in    
,alabama is uncovering a system of      
peonage established under cover of law4 
,under the ,southern program it is      
sought to exclude colored men from every
 grade of the public service2 not only  
from the higher administrative          
functions1 to which few of them would in
 any event1 for a long time aspire1 but 
from the lowest as well4 ,a ,negro may  
not be a constable or a policeman4 ,he  
is subjected by law to many degrading   
discriminations4 ,he is required to be  
separated from white people on railroads
 and street cars1 and1 by custom1       
debarred from inns and places of public 
entertainment4 ,his equal right to a    
free public education is constantly     
threatened and is nowhere equitably     
recognized4 ,in ,georgia1 as has been   
shown by ,dr4 ,du,bois1 where the law   
provides for a pro rata distribution of 

the public school fund between the      
races1 and where the colored school     
population is #dh per cent4 of the      
total1 the amount of the fund devoted to
 their schools is only #bj per cent4 ,in
 ,new ,orleans1 with an immense colored 
population1 many of whom are persons of 
means and culture1 all colored public   
schools above the fifth grade have been 
abolished4  ,the ,negro is subjected to 
taxation without representation1 which  
the forefathers of this ,republic made  
the basis of a bloody revolution4       
,flushed with their local success1 and  
encouraged by the timidity of the       
,courts and the indifference of public  
opinion1 the ,southern whites have      
carried their campaign into the national
 government1 with an ominous degree of  
success4 ,if they shall have their way1 
no ,negro can fill any federal office1  
or occupy1 in the public service1 any   
position that is not menial4 ,this is   
not an inference1 but the openly1       
passionately avowed sentiment of the    

white ,south4 ,the right to employment  
in the public service is an exceedingly 
valuable one1 for which white men have  
struggled and fought4 ,a vast army of   
men are employed in the administration  
of public affairs4 ,many avenues of     
employment are closed to colored men by 
popular prejudice4 ,if their right to   
public employment is recognized1 and the
 way to it open through the civil       
service1 or the appointing power1 or the
 suffrages of the people1 it will prove1
 as it has already1 a strong incentive  
to effort and a powerful lever for      
advancement4 ,its value to the ,negro1  
like that of the right to vote1 may be  
judged by the eagerness of the whites to
 deprive him of it4  ,not only is the   
,negro taxed without representation in  
the ,states referred to1 but he pays1   
through the tariff and internal revenue1
 a tax to a ,national government whose  
supreme judicial tribunal declares that 
it cannot1 through the executive arm1   
enforce its own decrees1 and1 therefore1

 refuses to pass upon a question1       
squarely before it1 involving a basic   
right of citizenship4 ,for the decision 
of the ,supreme ,court in the ,giles    
case1 if it foreshadows the attitude    
which the ,court will take upon other   
cases to the same general end which will
 soon come before it1 is scarcely less  
than a reaffirmation of the ,dred ,scott
 decision2 it certainly amounts to      
this--that in spite of the ,fifteenth   
,amendment1 colored men in the ,united  
,states have no political rights which  
the ,states are bound to respect4 ,to   
say this much is to say that all the    
privileges and immunities which ,negroes
 henceforth enjoy1 must be by favor of  
the whites2 they are not rights4 ,the   
whites have so declared2 they proclaim  
that the country is theirs1 that the    
,negro should be thankful that he has so
 much1 when so much more might be       
withheld from him4 ,he stands upon a    
lower footing than any alien2 he has no 
government to which he may look for     

protection4  ,moreover1 the white ,south
 sends to ,congress1 on a basis         
including the ,negro population1 a      
delegation nearly twice as large as it  
is justly entitled to1 and one which may
 always safely be relied upon to oppose 
in ,congress every measure which seeks  
to protect the equality1 or to enlarge  
the rights of colored citizens4 ,the    
grossness of this injustice is all the  
more apparent since the ,supreme ,court1
 in the ,alabama case referred to1 has  
declared the legislative and political  
department of the government to be the  
only power which can right a political  
wrong4 ,under this decision still       
further attacks upon the liberties of   
the citizen may be confidently expected4
 ,armed with the ,negro's sole weapon of
 defense1 the white ,south stands ready 
to smite down his rights4 ,the ballot   
was first given to the ,negro to defend 
him against this very thing4 ,he needs  
it now far more than then1 and for even 
stronger reasons4 ,the #i1jjj1jjj free  

colored people of to-day have vastly    
more to defend than the #c1jjj1jjj      
hapless blacks who had just emerged from
 slavery4 ,if there be those who        
maintain that it was a mistake to give  
the ,negro the ballot at the time and in
 the manner in which it was given1 let  
them take to heart this reflection3 that
 to deprive him of it to-day1 or to so  
restrict it as to leave him utterly     
defenseless against the present         
relentless attitude of the ,south toward
 his rights1 will prove to be a mistake 
so much greater than the first1 as to be
 no less than a crime1 from which not   
alone the ,southern ,negro must suffer1 
but for which the nation will as surely 
pay the penalty as it paid for the crime
 of slavery4 ,contempt for law is death 
to a republic1 and this one has         
developed alarming symptoms of the      
disease4  ,and now1 having thus robbed  
the ,negro of every political and civil 
right1 the white ,south1 in palliation  
of its course1 makes a great show of    

magnanimity in leaving him1 as the sole 
remnant of what he acquired through the 
,civil ,war1 a very inadequate public   
school education1 which1 by the present 
program1 is to be directed mainly       
towards making him a better agricultural
 laborer4 ,even this is put forward as a
 favor1 although the ,negro's property  
is taxed to pay for it1 and his labor as
 well4 ,for it is a well settled        
principle of political economy1 that    
land and machinery of themselves produce
 nothing1 and that labor indirectly pays
 its fair proportion of the tax upon the
 public's wealth4 ,the white ,south     
seems to stand to the ,negro at present 
as one1 who1 having been reluctantly    
compelled to release another from       
bondage1 sees him stumbling forward and 
upward1 neglected by his friends and    
scarcely yet conscious of his own       
strength2 seizes him1 binds him1 and    
having bereft him of speech1 of sight   
and of manhood1 yokes him with the mule 
and exclaims1 with a show of virtue     

which ought to deceive no one3 ,behold  
how good a friend ,i am of yours6 ,have 
,i not left you a stomach and a pair of 
arms1 and will ,i not generously permit 
you to work for me with the one1 that   
you may thereby gain enough to fill the 
other8 ,a brain you do not need4 ,we    
will relieve you of any responsibility  
that might seem to demand such an organ4
  ,the argument of peace-loving         
,northern white men and ,negro          
opportunists that the political power of
 the ,negro having long ago been        
suppressed by unlawful means1 his right 
to vote is a mere paper right1 of no    
real value1 and therefore to be lightly 
yielded for the sake of a hypothetical  
harmony1 is fatally short-sighted4 ,it  
is precisely the attitude and           
essentially the argument which would    
have surrendered to the ,south in the   
sixties1 and would have left this       
country to rot in slavery for another   
generation4 ,white men do not thus argue
 concerning their own rights4 ,they know

 too well the value of ideals4 ,southern
 white men see too clearly the latent   
power of these unexercised rights4 ,if  
the political power of the ,negro was a 
nullity because of his ignorance and    
lack of leadership1 why were they not   
content to leave it so1 with the        
pleasing assurance that if it ever      
became effective1 it would be because   
the ,negroes had grown fit for its      
exercise8 ,on the contrary1 they have   
not rested until the possibility of its 
revival was apparently headed off by new
 ,state ,constitutions4 ,nor are they   
satisfied with this4 ,there is no doubt 
that an effort will be made to secure   
the repeal of the ,fifteenth ,amendment1
 and thus forestall the development of  
the wealthy and educated ,negro1 whom   
the ,south seems to anticipate as a     
greater menace than the ignorant        
ex-slave4 ,however improbable this      
repeal may seem1 it is not a subject to 
be lightly dismissed2 for it is within  
the power of the white people of the    

nation to do whatever they wish in the  
premises--they did it once2 they can do 
it again4 ,the ,negro and his friends   
should see to it that the white majority
 shall never wish to do anything to his 
hurt4 ,there still stands1 before the   
,negro-hating whites of the ,south1 the 
specter of a ,supreme ,court which will 
interpret the ,constitution to mean what
 it says1 and what those who enacted it 
meant1 and what the nation1 which       
ratified it1 understood1 and which will 
find power1 in a nation which goes      
beyond seas to administer the affairs of
 distant peoples1 to enforce its own    
fundamental laws2 the specter1 too1 of  
an aroused public opinion which will    
compel ,congress and the ,courts to     
preserve the liberties of the ,republic1
 which are the liberties of the people4 
,to wilfully neglect the suffrage1 to   
hold it lightly1 is to tamper with a    
sacred right2 to yield it for anything  
else whatever is simply suicidal4       
,dropping the element of race1          

disfranchisement is no more than to say 
to the poor and poorly taught1 that they
 must relinquish the right to defend    
themselves against oppression until they
 shall have become rich and learned1 in 
competition with those already thus     
favored and possessing the ballot in    
addition4 ,this is not the philosophy of
 history4 ,the growth of liberty has    
been the constant struggle of the poor  
against the privileged classes2 and the 
goal of that struggle has ever been the 
equality of all men before the law4 ,the
 ,negro who would yield this right1     
deserves to be a slave2 he has the      
servile spirit4 ,the rich and the       
educated can1 by virtue of their        
influence1 command many votes2 can find 
other means of protection2 the poor man 
has but one1 he should guard it as a    
sacred treasure4 ,long ago1 by fair     
treatment1 the white leaders of the     
,south might have bound the ,negro to   
themselves with hoops of steel4 ,they   
have not chosen to take this course1 but

 by assuming from the beginning an      
attitude hostile to his rights1 have    
never gained his confidence1 and now    
seek by foul means to destroy where they
 have never sought by fair means to     
control4  ,i have spoken of the effect  
of disfranchisement upon the colored    
race2 it is to the race as a whole1 that
 the argument of the problem is         
generally directed4 ,but the unit of    
society in a republic is the individual1
 and not the race1 the failure to       
recognize this fact being the           
fundamental error which has beclouded   
the whole discussion4 ,the effect of    
disfranchisement upon the individual is 
scarcely less disastrous4 ,i do not     
speak of the moral effect of injustice  
upon those who suffer from it2 ,i refer 
rather to the practical consequences    
which may be appreciated by any mind4   
,no country is free in which the way    
upward is not open for every man to try1
 and for every properly qualified man to
 attain whatever of good the community  

life may offer4 ,such a condition does  
not exist1 at the ,south1 even in       
theory1 for any man of color4 ,in no    
career can such a man compete with white
 men upon equal terms4 ,he must not only
 meet the prejudice of the individual1  
not only the united prejudice of the    
white community2 but lest some one      
should wish to treat him fairly1 he is  
met at every turn with some legal       
prohibition which says1 ,thou shalt not1
 or ,thus far shalt thou go and no      
farther4 ,but the ,negro race is viable2
 it adapts itself readily to            
circumstances2 and being thus adaptable1
 there is always the temptation to      
,crook the pregnant hinges of the knee1 
,where thrift may follow fawning4  ,he  
who can most skilfully balance himself  
upon the advancing or receding wave of  
white opinion concerning his race1 is   
surest of such measure of prosperity as 
is permitted to men of dark skins4      
,there are ,negro teachers in the       
,south--the privilege of teaching in    

their own schools is the one respectable
 branch of the public service still left
 open to them--who1 for a grudging      
appropriation from a ,southern          
legislature1 will decry their own race1 
approve their own degradation1 and laud 
their oppressors4 ,deprived of the right
 to vote1 and1 therefore1 of any power  
to demand what is their due1 they feel  
impelled to buy the tolerance of the    
whites at any sacrifice4 ,if to live is 
the first duty of man1 as perhaps it is 
the first instinct1 then those who thus 
stoop to conquer may be right4 ,but is  
it needful to stoop so low1 and if so1  
where lies the ultimate responsibility  
for this abasement8  ,i shall say       
nothing about the moral effect of       
disfranchisement upon the white people1 
or upon the ,state itself4 ,what slavery
 made of the ,southern whites is a      
matter of history4 ,the abolition of    
slavery gave the ,south an opportunity  
to emerge from barbarism4 ,present      
conditions indicate that the spirit     

which dominated slavery still curses the
 fair section over which that           
institution spread its blight4  ,and    
now1 is the situation remediless8 ,if   
not so1 where lies the remedy8 ,first   
let us take up those remedies suggested 
by the men who approve of               
disfranchisement1 though they may       
sometimes deplore the method1 or regret 
the necessity4  ,time1 we are told1     
heals all diseases1 rights all wrongs1  
and is the only cure for this one4 ,it  
is a cowardly argument4 ,these people   
are entitled to their rights to-day1    
while they are yet alive to enjoy them2 
and it is poor statesmanship and worse  
morals to nurse a present evil and      
thrust it forward upon a future         
generation for correction4 ,the nation  
can no more honestly do this than it    
could thrust back upon a past generation
 the responsibility for slavery4 ,it had
 to meet that responsibility2 it ought  
to meet this one4  ,education has been  
put forward as the great                

corrective--preferably industrial       
education4 ,the intellect of the whites 
is to be educated to the point where    
they will so appreciate the blessings of
 liberty and equality1 as of their own  
motion to enlarge and defend the        
,negro's rights4 ,the ,negroes1 on the  
other hand1 are to be so trained as to  
make them1 not equal with the whites in 
any way--,god save the mark6 this would 
be unthinkable6--but so useful to the   
community that the whites will protect  
them rather than to lose their valuable 
services4 ,some few enthusiasts go so   
far as to maintain that by virtue of    
education the ,negro will1 in time1     
become strong enough to protect himself 
against any aggression of the whites2   
this1 it may be said1 is a strictly     
,northern view4  ,it is not quite       
clearly apparent how education alone1 in
 the ordinary meaning of the word1 is to
 solve1 in any appreciable time1 the    
problem of the relations of ,southern   
white and black people4 ,the need of    

education of all kinds for both races is
 wofully apparent4 ,but men and nations 
have been free without being learned1   
and there have been educated slaves4    
,liberty has been known to languish     
where culture had reached a very high   
development4 ,nations do not first      
become rich and learned and then free1  
but the lesson of history has been that 
they first become free and then rich and
 learned1 and oftentimes fall back into 
slavery again because of too great      
wealth1 and the resulting luxury and    
carelessness of civic virtues4 ,the     
process of education has been going on  
rapidly in the ,southern ,states since  
the ,civil ,war1 and yet1 if we take    
superficial indications1 the rights of  
the ,negroes are at a lower ebb than at 
any time during the thirty-five years of
 their freedom1 and the race prejudice  
more intense and uncompromising4 ,it is 
not apparent that educated ,southerners 
are less rancorous than others in their 
speech concerning the ,negro1 or less   

hostile in their attitude toward his    
rights4 ,it is their voice alone that we
 have heard in this discussion2 and if1 
as they state1 they are liberal in their
 views as compared with the more        
ignorant whites1 then ,god save the     
,negro6  ,i was told1 in so many words1 
two years ago1 by the ,superintendent of
 ,public ,schools of a ,southern city   
that there was no place in the modern   
world for the ,negro1 except under the  
ground4 ,if gentlemen holding such      
opinions are to instruct the white youth
 of the ,south1 would it be at all      
surprising if these1 later on1 should   
devote a portion of their leisure to the
 improvement of civilization by putting 
under the ground as many of this        
superfluous race as possible8  ,the sole
 excuse made in the ,south for the      
prevalent injustice to the ,negro is the
 difference in race1 and the            
inequalities and antipathies resulting  
therefrom4 ,it has nowhere been declared
 as a part of the ,southern program that

 the ,negro1 when educated1 is to be    
given a fair representation in          
government or an equal opportunity in   
life2 the contrary has been strenuously 
asserted2 education can never make of   
him anything but a ,negro1 and1         
therefore1 essentially inferior1 and not
 to be safely trusted with any degree of
 power4 ,a system of education which    
would tend to soften the asperities and 
lessen the inequalities between the     
races would be of inestimable value4 ,an
 education which by a rigid separation  
of the races from the kindergarten to   
the university1 fosters this racial     
antipathy1 and is directed toward       
emphasizing the superiority of one class
 and the inferiority of another1 might  
easily have disastrous1 rather than     
beneficial results4 ,it would render the
 oppressing class more powerful to      
injure1 the oppressed quicker to        
perceive and keener to resent the       
injury1 without proportionate power of  
defense4 ,the same assimilative         

education which is given at the ,north  
to all children alike1 whereby native   
and foreign1 black and white1 are taught
 side by side in every grade of         
instruction1 and are compelled by the   
exigencies of discipline to keep their  
prejudices in abeyance1 and are given   
the opportunity to learn and appreciate 
one another's good qualities1 and to    
establish friendly relations which may  
exist throughout life1 is absent from   
the ,southern system of education1 both 
of the past and as proposed for the     
future4 ,education is in a broad sense a
 remedy for all social ills2 but the    
disease we have to deal with now is not 
only constitutional but acute4 ,a wise  
physician does not simply give a tonic  
for a diseased limb1 or a high fever2   
the patient might be dead before the    
constitutional remedy could become      
effective4 ,the evils of slavery1 its   
injury to whites and blacks1 and to the 
body politic1 was clearly perceived and 
acknowledged by the educated leaders of 

the ,south as far back as the           
,revolutionary ,war and the             
,constitutional ,convention1 and yet    
they made no effort to abolish it4      
,their remedy was the same--time1       
education1 social and economic          
development2--and yet a bloody war was  
necessary to destroy slavery and put its
 spirit temporarily to sleep4 ,when the 
,south and its friends are ready to     
propose a system of education which will
 recognize and teach the equality of all
 men before the law1 the potency of     
education alone to settle the race      
problem will be more clearly apparent4  
,at present even good ,northern men1 who
 wish to educate the ,negroes1 feel     
impelled to buy this privilege from the 
none too eager white ,south1 by         
conceding away the civil and political  
rights of those whom they would benefit4
 ,they have1 indeed1 gone farther than  
the ,southerners themselves in approving
 the disfranchisement of the colored    
race4 ,most ,southern men1 now that they

 have carried their point and           
disfranchised the ,negro1 are willing to
 admit1 in the language of a recent     
number of the ,charleston ,evening      
,post1 that the attitude of the         
,southern white man toward the ,negro is
 incompatible with the fundamental ideas
 of the republic4 ,it remained for our  
,clevelands and ,abbotts and ,parkhursts
 to assure them that their unlawful     
course was right and justifiable1 and   
for the most distinguished ,negro leader
 to declare that every revised          
,constitution throughout the ,southern  
,states has put a premium upon          
intelligence1 ownership of property1    
thrift and character4 ,so does every    
penitentiary sentence put a premium upon
 good conduct2 but it is poor           
consolation to the one unjustly         
condemned1 to be told that he may       
shorten his sentence somewhat by good   
behavior4 ,dr4 ,booker ,t4 ,washington1 
whose language is quoted above1 has1 by 
his eminent services in the cause of    

education1 won deserved renown4 ,if he  
has seemed1 at times1 to those jealous  
of the best things for their race1 to   
decry the higher education1 it can      
easily be borne in mind that his career 
is bound up in the success of an        
industrial school2 hence any undue      
stress which he may put upon that branch
 of education may safely be ascribed to 
the natural zeal of the promoter1       
without detracting in any degree from   
the essential value of his teachings in 
favor of manual training1 thrift and    
character-building4 ,but ,mr4           
,washington's prominence as an          
educational leader1 among a race whose  
prominent leaders are so few1 has at    
times forced him1 perhaps reluctantly1  
to express himself in regard to the     
political condition of his people1 and  
here his utterances have not always been
 so wise nor so happy4 ,he has declared 
himself in favor of a restricted        
suffrage1 which at present means1 for   
his own people1 nothing less than       

complete loss of representation--indeed 
it is only in that connection that the  
question has been seriously mooted2 and 
he has advised them to go slow in       
seeking to enforce their civil and      
political rights1 which1 in effect1     
means silent submission to injustice4   
,southern white men may applaud this    
advice as wise1 because it fits in with 
their purposes2 but ,senator ,mc,enery  
of ,louisiana1 in a recent article in   
the ,independent1 voices the ,southern  
white opinion of such acquiescence when 
he says3 ,what other race would have    
submitted so many years to slavery      
without complaint8 ,what other race     
would have submitted so quietly to      
disfranchisement8 ,these facts stamp his
 7the ,negro's7 inferiority to the white
 race4 ,the time to philosophize about  
the good there is in evil1 is not while 
its correction is still possible1 but1  
if at all1 after all hope of correction 
is past4 ,until then it calls for       
nothing but rigorous condemnation4 ,to  

try to read any good thing into these   
fraudulent ,southern constitutions1 or  
to accept them as an accomplished fact1 
is to condone a crime against one's     
race4 ,those who commit crime should    
bear the odium4 ,it is not a pleasing   
spectacle to see the robbed applaud the 
robber4 ,silence were better4  ,it has  
become fashionable to question the      
wisdom of the ,fifteenth ,amendment4 ,i 
believe it to have been an act of the   
highest statesmanship1 based upon the   
fundamental idea of this ,republic1     
entirely justified by conditions2       
experimental in its nature1 perhaps1 as 
every new thing must be1 but just in    
principle2 a choice between methods1 of 
which it seemed to the great statesmen  
of that epoch the wisest and the best1  
and essentially the most just1 bearing  
in mind the interests of the freedmen   
and the ,nation1 as well as the feelings
 of the ,southern whites2 never fairly  
tried1 and therefore1 not yet to be     
justly condemned4 ,not one of those who 

condemn it1 has been able1 even in the  
light of subsequent events1 to suggest a
 better method by which the liberty and 
civil rights of the freedmen and their  
descendants could have been protected4  
,its abandonment1 as ,i have shown1     
leaves this liberty and these rights    
frankly without any guaranteed          
protection4 ,all the education which    
philanthropy or the ,state could offer  
as a substitute for equality of rights1 
would be a poor exchange2 there is no   
defensible reason why they should not go
 hand in hand1 each encouraging and     
strengthening the other4 ,the education 
which one can demand as a right is      
likely to do more good than the         
education for which one must sue as a   
favor4  ,the chief argument against     
,negro suffrage1 the insistently        
proclaimed argument1 worn threadbare in 
,congress1 on the platform1 in the      
pulpit1 in the press1 in poetry1 in     
fiction1 in impassioned rhetoric1 is the
 reconstruction period4 ,and yet the    

evils of that period were due far more  
to the venality and indifference of     
white men than to the incapacity of     
black voters4 ,the revised ,southern    
,constitutions adopted under            
reconstruction reveal a higher          
statesmanship than any which preceded or
 have followed them1 and prove that the 
freed voters could as easily have been  
led into the paths of civic             
righteousness as into those of          
misgovernment4 ,certain it is that under
 reconstruction the civil and political 
rights of all men were more secure in   
those ,states than they have ever been  
since4 ,we will hear less of the evils  
of reconstruction1 now that the bugaboo 
has served its purpose by disfranchising
 the ,negro1 it will be laid aside for a
 time while the nation discusses the    
political corruption of great cities2   
the scandalous conditions in ,rhode     
,island2 the evils attending            
reconstruction in the ,philippines1 and 
the scandals in the postoffice          

department--for none of which1 by the   
way1 is the ,negro charged with any     
responsibility1 and for none of which is
 the restriction of the suffrage a      
remedy seriously proposed4 ,rhode       
,island is indeed the only ,northern    
,state which has a property             
qualification for the franchise6  ,there
 are three tribunals to which the       
colored people may justly appeal for the
 protection of their rights3 the ,united
 ,states ,courts1 ,congress and public  
opinion4 ,at present all three seem     
mainly indifferent to any question of   
human rights under the ,constitution4   
,indeed1 ,congress and the ,courts      
merely follow public opinion1 seldom    
lead it4 ,congress never enacts a       
measure which is believed to oppose     
public opinion2--your ,congressman keeps
 his ear to the ground4 ,the high1      
serene atmosphere of the ,courts is not 
impervious to its voice2 they rarely    
enforce a law contrary to public        
opinion1 even the ,supreme ,court being 

able1 as ,charles ,sumner once put it1  
to find a reason for every decision it  
may wish to render2 or1 as experience   
has shown1 a method to evade any        
question which it cannot decently decide
 in accordance with public opinion4 ,the
 art of straddling is not confined to   
the political arena4 ,the ,southern     
situation has been well described by a  
colored editor in ,richmond3 ,when we   
seek relief at the hands of ,congress1  
we are informed that our plea involves a
 legal question1 and we are referred to 
the ,courts4 ,when we appeal to the     
,courts1 we are gravely told that the   
question is a political one1 and that we
 must go to ,congress4 ,when ,congress  
enacts remedial legislation1 our enemies
 take it to the ,supreme ,court1 which  
promptly declares it unconstitutional4  
,the ,negro might chase his rights round
 and round this circle until the end of 
time1 without finding any relief4  ,yet 
the ,constitution is clear and          
unequivocal in its terms1 and no        

,supreme ,court can indefinitely        
continue to construe it as meaning      
anything but what it says4 ,this ,court 
should be bombarded with suits until it 
makes some definite pronouncement1 one  
way or the other1 on the broad question 
of the constitutionality of the         
disfranchising ,constitutions of the    
,southern ,states4 ,the ,negro and his  
friends will then have a clean-cut issue
 to take to the forum of public opinion1
 and a distinct ground upon which to    
demand legislation for the enforcement  
of the ,federal ,constitution4 ,the case
 from ,alabama was carried to the       
,supreme ,court expressly to determine  
the constitutionality of the ,alabama   
,constitution4 ,the ,court declared     
itself without jurisdiction1 and in the 
same breath went into the merits of the 
case far enough to deny relief1 without 
passing upon the real issue4 ,had it    
said1 as it might with absolute justice 
and perfect propriety1 that the ,alabama
 ,constitution is a bold and impudent   

violation of the ,fifteenth ,amendment1 
the purpose of the lawsuit would have   
been accomplished and a righteous cause 
vastly strengthened4  ,but public       
opinion cannot remain permanently       
indifferent to so vital a question4 ,the
 agitation is already on4 ,it is at     
present largely academic1 but is slowly 
and resistlessly1 forcing itself into   
politics1 which is the medium through   
which republics settle such questions4  
,it cannot much longer be contemptuously
 or indifferently elbowed aside4 ,the   
,south itself seems bent upon forcing   
the question to an issue1 as1 by its    
arrogant assumptions1 it brought on the 
,civil ,war4 ,from that section1 too1   
there come now and then1 side by side   
with tales of ,southern outrage1        
excusing voices1 which at the same time 
are accusing voices2 which admit that   
the white ,south is dealing with the    
,negro unjustly and unwisely2 that the  
,golden ,rule has been forgotten2 that  
the interests of white men alone have   

been taken into account1 and that their 
true interests as well are being        
sacrificed4 ,there is a silent white    
,south1 uneasy in conscience1 darkened  
in counsel1 groping for the light1 and  
willing to do the right4 ,they are as   
yet a feeble folk1 their voices scarcely
 audible above the clamor of the mob4   
,may their convictions ripen into       
wisdom1 and may their numbers and their 
courage increase6 ,if the class of      
,southern white men of whom ,judge      
,jones of ,alabama1 is so noble a       
representative1 are supported and       
encouraged by a righteous public opinion
 at the ,north1 they may1 in time1      
become the dominant white ,south1 and we
 may then look for wisdom and justice in
 the place where1 so far as the ,negro  
is concerned1 they now seem well-nigh   
strangers4 ,but even these gentlemen    
will do well to bear in mind that so    
long as they discriminate in any way    
against the ,negro's equality of right1 
so long do they set class against class 

and open the door to every sort of      
discrimination4 ,there can be no middle 
ground between justice and injustice1   
between the citizen and the serf4  ,it  
is not likely that the ,north1 upon the 
sober second thought1 will permit the   
dearly-bought results of the ,civil ,war
 to be nullified by any change in the   
,constitution4 ,as long as the          
,fifteenth ,amendment stands1 the rights
 of colored citizens are ultimately     
secure4 ,there were would-be despots in 
,england after the granting of ,magna   
,charta2 but it outlived them all1 and  
the liberties of the ,english people are
 secure4 ,there was slavery in this land
 after the ,declaration of              
,independence1 yet the faces of those   
who love liberty have ever turned to    
that immortal document4 ,so will the    
,constitution and its principles outlive
 the prejudices which would seek to     
overthrow it4  ,what colored men of the 
,south can do to secure their           
citizenship to-day1 or in the immediate 

future1 is not very clear4 ,their       
utterances on political questions1      
unless they be to concede away the      
political rights of their race1 or to   
soothe the consciences of white men by  
suggesting that the problem is insoluble
 except by some slow remedial process   
which will become effectual only in the 
distant future1 are received with scant 
respect--could scarcely1 indeed1 be     
otherwise received1 without a voting    
constituency to back them up1--and must 
be cautiously made1 lest they meet an   
actively hostile reception4 ,but there  
are many colored men at the ,north1     
where their civil and political rights  
in the main are respected4 ,there every 
honest man has a vote1 which he may     
freely cast1 and which is reasonably    
sure to be fairly counted4 ,when this   
race develops a sufficient power of     
combination1 under adequate             
leadership1--and there are signs already
 that this time is near at hand1--the   
,northern vote can be wielded           

irresistibly for the defense of the     
rights of their ,southern brethren4  ,in
 the meantime the ,northern colored men 
have the right of free speech1 and they 
should never cease to demand their      
rights1 to clamor for them1 to guard    
them jealously1 and insistently to      
invoke law and public sentiment to      
maintain them4 ,he who would be free    
must learn to protect his freedom4      
,eternal vigilance is the price of      
liberty4 ,he who would be respected must
 respect himself4 ,the best friend of   
the ,negro is he who would rather see1  
within the borders of this republic one 
million free citizens of that race1     
equal before the law1 than ten million  
cringing serfs existing by a            
contemptuous sufferance4 ,a race that is
 willing to survive upon any other terms
 is scarcely worthy of consideration4   
,the direct remedy for the              
disfranchisement of the ,negro lies     
through political action4 ,one scarcely 
sees the philosophy of distinguishing   

between a civil and a political right4  
,but the ,supreme ,court has recognized 
this distinction and has designated     
,congress as the power to right a       
political wrong4 ,the ,fifteenth        
,amendment gives ,congress power to     
enforce its provisions4 ,the power would
 seem to be inherent in government      
itself2 but anticipating that the       
enforcement of the ,amendment might     
involve difficulty1 they made the       
superorogatory declaration4 ,moreover1  
they went further1 and passed laws by   
which they provided for such            
enforcement4 ,these the ,supreme ,court 
has so far declared insufficient4 ,it is
 for ,congress to make more laws4 ,it is
 for colored men and for white men who  
are not content to see the blood-bought 
results of the ,civil ,war nullified1 to
 urge and direct public opinion to the  
point where it will demand stringent    
legislation to enforce the ,fourteenth  
and ,fifteenth ,amendments4 ,this demand
 will rest in law1 in morals and in true

 statesmanship2 no difficulties         
attending it could be worse than the    
present ignoble attitude of the ,nation 
toward its own laws and its own         
ideals--without courage to enforce them1
 without conscience to change them1 the 
,united ,states presents the spectacle  
of a ,nation drifting aimlessly1 so far 
as this vital1 ,national problem is     
concerned1 upon the sea of irresolution1
 toward the maelstrom of anarchy4  ,the 
right of ,congress1 under the           
,fourteenth ,amendment1 to reduce       
,southern representation can hardly be  
disputed4 ,but ,congress has a simpler  
and more direct method to accomplish the
 same end4 ,it is the sole judge of the 
qualifications of its own members1 and  
the sole judge of whether any member    
presenting his credentials has met those
 qualifications4 ,it can refuse to seat 
any member who comes from a district    
where voters have been disfranchised3 it
 can judge for itself whether this has  
been done1 and there is no appeal from  

its decision4  ,if1 when it has passed a
 law1 any ,court shall refuse to obey   
its behests1 it can impeach the judges4 
,if any president refuse to lend the    
executive arm of the government to the  
enforcement of the law1 it can impeach  
the president4 ,no such extreme measures
 are likely to be necessary for the     
enforcement of the ,fourteenth and      
,fifteenth ,amendments--and the         
,thirteenth1 which is also              
threatened--but they are mentioned as   
showing that ,congress is supreme2 and  
,congress proceeds1 the ,house directly1
 the ,senate indirectly1 from the people
 and is governed by public opinion4 ,if 
the reduction of ,southern              
representation were to be regarded in   
the light of a bargain by which the     
,fifteenth ,amendment was surrendered1  
then it might prove fatal to liberty4   
,if it be inflicted as a punishment and 
a warning1 to be followed by more       
drastic measures if not sufficient1 it  
would serve a useful purpose4 ,the      

,fifteenth ,amendment declares that the 
right to vote shall not be denied or    
abridged on account of color2 and any   
measure adopted by ,congress should look
 to that end4 ,only as the power to     
injure the ,negro in ,congress is       
reduced thereby1 would a reduction of   
representation protect the ,negro2      
without other measures it would still   
leave him in the hands of the ,southern 
whites1 who could safely be trusted to  
make him pay for their humiliation4     
,finally1 there is1 somewhere in the    
,universe a ,power that works for       
righteousness1 and that leads men to do 
justice to one another4 ,to this power1 
working upon the hearts and consciences 
of men1 the ,negro can always appeal4   
,he has the right upon his side1 and in 
the end the right will prevail4 ,the    
,negro will1 in time1 attain to full    
manhood and citizenship throughout the  
,united ,states4 ,no better guaranty of 
this is needed than a comparison of his 
present with his past4 ,toward this he  

must do his part1 as lies within his    
power and his opportunity4 ,but it will 
be1 after all1 largely a white man's    
conflict1 fought out in the forum of the
 public conscience4 ,the ,negro1 though 
eager enough when opportunity offered1  
had comparatively little to do with the 
abolition of slavery1 which was a vastly
 more formidable task than will be the  
enforcement of the ,fifteenth           
,amendment4     ,the ,negro and the ,law
  ,by ,,wilford ,h4 ,,smith    ,the law 
and how it is dodged by enactments      
infringing upon the rights   guaranteed 
to the freedmen by constitutional       
amendment4 ,a powerful plea   for       
justice for the ,negro4  ,illustration3 
,,wilford ,h4 ,,smith4   ,the colored   
people in the ,united ,states are       
indebted to the beneficent provisions of
 the #acth1 #adth and #aeth amendments  
to the ,constitution of the ,united     
,states1 for the establishment of their 
freedom and citizenship1 and it is to   
these mainly they must look for the     

maintenance of their liberty and the    
protection of their civil rights4 ,these
 amendments followed close upon the     
,emancipation ,proclamation issued      
,january #ast1 #ahfc1 by ,president     
,lincoln1 and his call for volunteers1  
which was answered by more than three   
hundred thousand negro soldiers1 who1   
during three years of military service1 
helped the ,union arms to victory at    
,appomattox4 ,standing in the shadow of 
the awful calamity and deep distress of 
the civil war1 and grateful to ,god for 
peace and victory over the rebellion1   
the ,american people1 who upheld the    
,union1 rose to the sublime heights of  
doing justice to the former slaves1 who 
had grown and multiplied with the       
country from the early settlement at    
,jamestown4 ,it looked like an effort to
 pay them back for their years of       
faithfulness and unrequited toil1 by not
 only making them free but placing them 
on equal footing with themselves in the 
fundamental law4 ,certainly1 they       

intended at least1 that they should have
 as many rights under the ,constitution 
as are given to white naturalized       
citizens who come to this country from  
all the nations of ,europe4  ,the #acth 
amendment provides that neither slavery 
nor involuntary servitude1 except as a  
punishment for crime1 whereof the party 
shall have been duly convicted1 shall   
exist in the ,united ,states or any     
place subject to their jurisdiction4    
,the #adth amendment provides in section
 one1 that all persons born or          
naturalized in the ,united ,states and  
subject to the jurisdiction thereof1 are
 citizens of the ,united ,states1 and of
 the ,state wherein they reside4 ,no    
,state shall make or enforce any law    
which shall abridge the privileges or   
immunities of citizens of the ,united   
,states1 nor shall any ,state deprive   
any person of life1 liberty or property 
without due process of law1 nor deny to 
any person within its jurisdiction the  
equal protection of the law4  ,the #aeth

 amendment provides that the right of   
citizens of the ,united ,states to vote 
shall not be denied or abridged by the  
,united ,states1 or by any ,state on    
account of race1 color1 or previous     
condition of servitude4  ,chief ,justice
 ,waite1 in the case of the ,united     
,states vs4 ,cruikshank1 #ibnd ,u4,s4   
#edb1 said3--  ,the #adth amendment     
prohibits a ,state from denying to any  
person within its jurisdiction the equal
 protection of the law4 ,the equality of
 the rights of citizens is a principle  
of republicanism4 ,every ,republican    
government is in duty bound to protect  
all its citizens in the enjoyment of    
this principle if within its power4     
,the same ,chief ,justice1 in the case  
of the ,united ,states vs4 ,reese1 #ibnd
 ,u4,s4 #bad1 said3  ,the #aeth         
amendment does not confer the right of  
suffrage upon anyone4 ,it prevents the  
,states or the ,united ,states from     
giving preference in this particular to 
one citizen of the ,united ,states over 

another1 on account of race1 color or   
previous condition of servitude4 ,before
 its adoption this could be done4 ,it   
was as much within the power of a ,state
 to exclude citizens of the ,united     
,states from voting on account of race  
and color1 as it was on account of age1 
property or education4 ,now it is not4  
,notwithstanding the manifest meaning of
 equality of citizenship contained in   
the constitutional amendments1 it was   
found necessary to reinforce them by a  
civil rights law1 enacted by the        
,congress of the ,united ,states1 ,march
 #ast1 #ahge1 entitled1 ,an ,act ,to    
,protect ,all ,citizens ,in ,their      
,civil and ,legal ,rights4 ,its preamble
 and first section are as               
follows3--,preamble3 ,whereas1 it is    
essential to just government we         
recognize the equality of all men before
 the law1 and hold that it is the duty  
of government in its dealings with the  
people to mete out equal and exact      
justice to all1 of whatever nativity1   

race1 color or persuasion1 religious or 
political1 and it being the appropriate 
object of legislation to enact great    
fundamental principles into law1        
therefore1  ,be it enacted that all     
persons within the jurisdiction of the  
,united ,states shall be entitled to the
 full and equal enjoyment of the        
accommodations1 advantages1 facilities  
and privileges of inns1 public          
conveyances on land or water1 theatres  
and other places of public amusement1   
subject only to the conditions and      
limitations established by law1 and     
applicable alike to citizens of every   
race and color1 regardless to any       
previous condition of servitude4  ,the  
,supreme ,court of the ,united ,states  
has held this salutary law              
unconstitutional and void as applied to 
the ,states1 but binding in the         
,district of ,columbia1 and the         
,territories over which the government  
of the ,united ,states has              
control4--,civil ,rights cases #aji     

,u4,s4 #fc4 ,since the ,supreme ,court's
 ruling1 many ,northern and ,western    
,states have enacted similar civil      
rights laws4 ,equality of citizenship in
 the ,united ,states suffered a severe  
blow when the civil rights bill was     
struck down by the ,supreme ,court4 ,the
 colored people looked upon the decision
 as unsound1 and prompted by race       
prejudice4 ,it was clear that the       
amendments to the ,constitution were    
adopted to secure not only their        
freedom1 but their equal civil rights1  
and by ratifying the amendments the     
several ,states conceded to the ,federal
 government the power and authority of  
maintaining not alone their freedom1 but
 their equal civil rights in the ,united
 ,states as well4  ,the ,federal        
,supreme ,court put a narrow            
interpretation on the ,constitution1    
rather than a liberal one in favor of   
equal rights2 in marked contrast to a   
recent decision of the ,appellate       
,division of the ,supreme ,court of ,new

 ,york in a civil rights case arising   
under the statute of ,new ,york1 ,burks 
vs4 ,bosso1 #ha ,n4,y4 ,supp1 #chd4 ,the
 ,new ,york ,supreme ,court held this   
language3 ,the liberation of the slaves1
 and the suppression of the rebellion1  
was supplemented by the amendments to   
the national ,constitution according to 
the colored people their civil rights   
and investing them with citizenship4    
,the amendments indicated a clear       
purpose to secure equal rights to the   
black people with the white race4 ,the  
legislative intent must control1 and    
that may be gathered from circumstances 
inducing the act4 ,where that intent has
 been unvaryingly manifested in one     
direction1 and that in the prohibition  
of any discrimination against a large   
class of citizens1 the courts should not
 hesitate to keep apace with legislative
 purpose4 ,we must remember that the    
slightest trace of ,african blood places
 a man under the ban of belonging to    
that race4 ,however respectable and     

whatever he may be1 he is ostracized    
socially1 and when the policy of the law
 is against extending the prohibition of
 his civil rights1 a liberal1 rather    
than a narrow interpretation should be  
given to enactments evidencing the      
intent to eliminate race discrimination1
 as far as that can be accomplished by  
legislative intervention4  ,the         
statutory enactments and recent         
,constitutions of most of the former    
slave-holding ,states1 show that they   
have never looked with favor upon the   
amendments to the national              
,constitution4 ,they rather regard them 
as war measures designed by the ,north  
to humiliate and punish the people of   
those ,states lately in rebellion4      
,while in the main they accept the #acth
 amendment and concede that the negro   
should have personal freedom1 they have 
never been altogether in harmony with   
the spirit and purposes of the #adth and
 #aeth amendments4 ,there seems to be a 
distinct and positive fear on the part  

of the ,south that if the negro is given
 a man's chance1 and is accorded equal  
civil rights with white men on the      
juries1 on common carriers1 and in      
public places1 that it will in some way 
lead to his social equality4 ,this      
fallacious argument is persisted in1    
notwithstanding the well-known fact1    
that although the ,jews are the leaders 
in the wealth and commerce of the       
,south1 their civil equality has never1 
except in rare instances1 led to any    
social intermingling with the ,southern 
whites4  ,holding these views the       
,southern people in #ahge1 found means  
to overcome the ,republican majorities  
in all the re-constructed ,states1 and  
practically drove the negroes out of the
 law-making bodies of all those ,states4
 ,so that1 now in all the ,southern     
,states1 so far as can be ascertained1  
there is not one negro sitting as a     
representative in any of the law-making 
bodies4 ,the next step was to deny them 
representation on the grand and petit   

juries in the ,state courts1 through    
,jury ,commissioners1 who excluded them 
from the panels4  ,to be taxed without  
representation is a serious injustice in
 a republic whose foundations are laid  
upon the principle of no taxation       
without representation4 ,but serious as 
this phase of the case must appear1     
infinitely more serious is the case when
 we consider the fact that they are     
likewise excluded from the grand and    
petit juries in all the ,state courts1  
with the fewest and rarest exceptions4  
,the courts sit in judgment upon their  
lives and liberties1 and dispose of     
their dearest earthly possessions4 ,they
 are not entitled to life1 liberty or   
property if the courts should decide    
they are not1 and yet in this           
all-important tribunal they are denied  
all voice1 except as parties and        
witnesses1 and here and there a negro   
lawyer is permitted to appear4 ,one vote
 on the grand jury might prevent an     
indictment1 and save disgrace and the   

risk of public trial2 while one vote on 
the petit jury might save a life or a   
term of imprisonment1 for an innocent   
person pursued and persecuted by        
powerful enemies4  ,with no voice in the
 making of the laws1 which they are     
bound to obey1 nor in their             
administration by the courts1 thus tied 
and helpless1 the negroes were          
proscribed by a system of legal         
enactments intended to wholly nullify   
the letter and spirit of the war        
amendments to the national organic law4 
,this crusade was begun by enacting a   
system of ,jim-,crow car laws in all the
 ,southern ,states1 so that now the     
,jim-,crow cars run from the ,gulf of   
,mexico into the national capital4 ,they
 are called1 ,separate ,car ,laws1      
providing for separate but equal        
accommodations for whites and negroes4  
,though fair on their face1 they are    
everywhere known to discriminate against
 the colored people in their            
administration1 and were intended to    

humiliate and degrade them4  ,setting   
apart separate places for negroes on    
public carriers1 is just as repugnant to
 the spirit and intent of the national  
,constitution1 as would be a law        
compelling all ,jews or all ,roman      
,catholics to occupy compartments       
specially set apart for them on account 
of their religion4 ,if these statutes   
were not especially aimed at the negro1 
an arrangement of different fares1 such 
as first1 second and third classes1     
would have been far more just and       
preferable1 and would have enabled the  
refined and exclusive of both races to  
avoid the presence of the coarse and    
vicious1 by selecting the more expensive
 fare4 ,still these laws have been      
upheld by the ,federal ,supreme ,court1 
and pronounced not in conflict with the 
amendments to the ,constitution of the  
,united ,states4  ,city ordinances      
providing for separate street cars for  
white and colored passengers1 are in    
force in ,atlanta1 ,new ,orleans1 and in

 nearly all the cities of the ,south4   
,in all the principal cities of         
,alabama1 a certain portion of the      
street cars is set apart and marked for 
negroes4 ,the conductors are clothed    
with the authority of determining to    
what race the passenger belongs1 and may
 arrest persons refusing to obey his    
orders4 ,it is often a very difficult   
task to determine to what race some     
passengers belong1 there being so many  
dark-white persons that might be        
mistaken for negroes1 and persons known 
as negroes who are as fair as any white 
person4  ,in the ,state of ,georgia1 a  
negro cannot purchase a berth in a      
sleeping car1 under any circumstances1  
no matter where his destination1 owing  
to the following statute enacted        
,december #bjth1 #ahii3 ,sleeping car   
companies1 and all railroads operating  
sleeping cars in this ,state1 shall     
separate the white and colored races1   
and shall not permit them to occupy the 
same compartment2 provided1 that nothing

 in this act shall be construed to      
compel sleeping car companies or        
railroads operating sleeping cars1 to   
carry persons of color in sleeping or   
parlor cars2 provided also1 that this   
act shall not apply to colored nurses or
 servants travelling with their         
employers4 ,the violation of this       
statute is a misdemeanor4  ,article #de1
 section #fci of the statutes of        
,georgia1 #ahie1 makes it a misdemeanor 
to keep or confine white and colored    
convicts together1 or to chain them     
together going to and from work4 ,there 
is also a statute in ,georgia requiring 
that a separate tax list be kept in     
every county1 of the property of white  
and colored persons4 ,both races        
generally approve the laws prohibiting  
inter-marriages between white and       
colored persons1 which seem to be       
uniform throughout the ,southern        
,states4  ,florida seems to have gone a 
step further than the rest1 and by      
sections #bfab and #bfac1 ,revised      

,statutes1 #ahib1 it is made a          
misdemeanor for a white man and a       
colored woman1 and vice versa1 to sleep 
under the same roof at night1 occupying 
the same room4 ,florida is entitled to  
credit1 however1 for a statute making   
marriages between white and colored     
persons prior to #ahff1 where they      
continue to live together1 valid and    
binding to all intents and purposes4    
,in addition to this forced separation  
of the races by law1 from the cradle to 
the grave1 there is yet a sadder and    
more deplorable separation1 in the      
almost universal disposition to leave   
the negroes wholly and severely to      
themselves in their home life and       
religious life1 by the white ,christian 
people of the ,south1 distinctly        
manifesting no concern in their moral   
and religious development4  ,in ,georgia
 and the ,carolinas1 and all the ,gulf  
,states 7except ,texas1 where the farm  
labor is mostly white7 the negroes on   
the farms are held by a system of laws  

which prevents them from leaving the    
plantations1 and enables the landlord to
 punish them by fine and imprisonment   
for any alleged breach of contract4 ,in 
the administration of these laws they   
are virtually made slaves to the        
landlord1 as long as they are in debt1  
and it is wholly in the power of the    
landlord to forever keep them in debt4  
,by section #cee1 of the ,criminal ,code
 of ,south ,carolina1 #aijb1 it is made 
a misdemeanor to violate a contract to  
work and labor on a farm1 subject to a  
fine of not less than five dollars1 and 
more than one hundred dollars1 or       
imprisonment for not less than ten days1
 or more than thirty4 ,it is also made a
 misdemeanor to employ any farm laborer 
while under contract with another1 or to
 persuade or entice a farm laborer to   
leave his employer4  ,the ,georgia laws 
are a little stronger in this respect   
than the laws of the other ,states4 ,by 
section #aba1 of the ,code of ,georgia1 
#ahie1 it is provided1 that if any      

person shall1 by offering higher wages1 
or in any other way entice1 persuade or 
decoy1 or attempt to entice1 persuade or
 decoy any farm laborer from his        
employer1 he shall be guilty of a       
misdemeanor4 ,again1 by act of ,december
 #agth1 #aija1 the ,georgia ,legislature
 passed a law making it an offense to   
rent land1 or furnish land to a farm    
laborer1 after he has contracted with   
another landlord1 without first         
obtaining the consent of the first      
landlord4  ,the presence of large       
numbers of negroes in the towns and     
cities of the ,south and ,north can be  
accounted for by such laws as the above1
 administered by ignorant country       
magistrates1 in nearly all cases the    
pliant tools of the landlords4  ,the    
boldest and most open violation of the  
negro's rights under the ,federal       
,constitution1 was the enactment of the 
grand-father clauses1 and understanding 
clauses in the new ,constitutions of    
,louisiana1 ,alabama1 the ,carolinas1   

and ,virginia1 which have had the effect
 to deprive the great body of them of   
the right to vote in those ,states1 for 
no other reason than their race and     
color4 ,although thus depriving him of  
his vote1 and all voice in the ,state   
governments at the ,south1 in all of    
them his property is taxed to pay       
pensions to ,confederate soldiers1 who  
fought to continue him in slavery4 ,the 
fact is1 the franchise had been         
practically taken from the negroes in   
the ,south since #ahgf1 by admitted     
fraudulent methods and intimidation in  
elections1 but it was not until late    
years that this nullification of the    
amendments was enacted into ,state      
,constitutions4  ,this brings me to the 
proposition that it is mainly in the    
enforcement1 or the administration of   
the laws1 however fair and equal they   
may appear on their face1 that the      
constitutional rights of negroes to     
equal protection and treatment are      
denied1 not only in the ,south but in   

many ,northern ,states4 ,there are noble
 exceptions1 however1 of high-toned     
honorable gentlemen on the bench as     
trial judges1 and ,supreme ,court       
justices1 in the ,south1 who without    
regard to consequences have stood for   
fairness and justice to the negro in    
their courts4  ,with the population of  
the ,south distinctly divided into two  
classes1 not the rich and poor1 not the 
educated and ignorant1 not the moral and
 immoral1 but simply whites and blacks1 
all negroes being generally regarded as 
inferior and not entitled to the same   
rights as any white person1 it is bound 
to be a difficult matter to obtain fair 
and just results1 when there is any sort
 of conflict between the races4 ,the    
negro realizes this1 and knows that he  
is at an immense disadvantage when he is
 forced to litigate with a white man in 
civil matters1 and much more so when he 
is charged with a crime by a white      
person4  ,the juries in the ,south      
almost always reject the testimony of   

any number of negroes if given in       
opposition to that of a white witness1  
and this is true in many instances1 no  
matter how unreasonable or inconsistent 
the testimony of the white witness may  
be4 ,jurors in the ,south have been     
heard to admit that they would be       
socially ostracized if they brought in a
 verdict upon colored testimony alone1  
in opposition to white testimony4       
,perhaps it can be best explained how   
the negro fares in the courts of the    
,south by giving a few cases showing how
 justice is administered to him3  ,a    
negro boy was brought to the bar for    
trial before a police magistrate1 in a  
,southern capital city1 charged with    
assault and battery on a white boy about
 the same age1 but a little larger4 ,the
 testimony showed that the white boy had
 beat the negro on several previous     
occasions as he passed on his way to    
school1 and each time the negro showed  
no disposition to fight4 ,on the morning
 of the charge he attacked the negro and

 attempted to cut him with a knife1     
because the negro's mother had reported 
to the white boy's mother the previous  
assaults1 and asked her to chastise him4
 ,the colored boy in trying to keep from
 being cut was compelled to fight1 and  
got the advantage and threw the white   
boy down and blacked his eyes4 ,the     
magistrate on this evidence fined the   
negro twenty-five dollars4 ,the mother  
of the negro having once been a servant 
for the magistrate1 found courage to    
rise1 and said3 ,jedge1 yo ,honer1 can  
,i speak8 ,the magistrate replied1 ,yes1
 go on4 ,she said1 ,well1 ,jedge1 my boy
 is ben tellin' me about dis white boy  
meddlin' him on his way to school1 but  
,i would not let my boy fight1 'cause ,i
 'tole him he couldn't git no jestice in
 law4 ,but he had no other way to go to 
school 'ceptin' gwine dat way2 and den  
jedge1 dis white chile is bigger an my  
chile and jumped on him fust with a     
knife for nothin'1 befo' my boy tetched 
him4 ,jedge ,i am a po' woman1 and      

washes fur a livin'1 and ain't got      
nobody to help me1 and can't raise all  
dat money4 ,i think dat white boy's     
mammy ought to pay half of dis fine4 ,by
 this time her voice had become stifled 
by her tears4 ,the judge turned to the  
mother of the white boy and said1       
,madam1 are you willing to pay half of  
this fine8 ,she answered1 ,yes1 ,your   
,honor4 ,and the judge changed the order
 to a fine of #ab4ej each1 against both 
boys4  ,a celebrated case in point      
reported in the books is1 ,george ,maury
 vs4 ,the ,state of ,miss41 #fh ,miss4  
#fje4 ,i reproduce the court's statement
 of the case3--,this is an appeal from  
the ,circuit ,court of ,kemper ,county4 
,appellant was convicted of murder and  
sentenced to imprisonment for life4 ,he 
appears in this court without counsel4  
,the facts are briefly these3 ,one1     
,nicholson1 a white man1 accompanied by 
his little son seven years old1 was     
driving an ox team along a public road2 
he had occasion to stop and the oxen    

were driven by his son2 defendant1 a    
negro1 also in an ox wagon1 was going   
along the road in an opposite direction1
 and met ,nicholson's wagon in charge of
 the little boy4 ,it was after dark1 and
 when the wagons met1 according to the  
testimony of ,nicholson1 the defendant  
insultingly demanded of the boy to give 
the way1 and cursed and abused him4     
,nicholson1 hearing the colloquy1       
hurried to the scene and a fight ensued 
between him and ,maury1 in which the    
latter got the advantage1 inflicting    
severe blows upon ,nicholson4 ,this     
occurred on ,thursday1 and on the       
following ,sunday night1 ,nicholson1 in 
company with eleven or twelve of his    
friends1 rode to the farm of ,maury1 and
 after sending several of their number  
to ascertain if he was at home1 rode    
rapidly into his yard and called for    
him4 ,not finding him1 they proceeded to
 search the premises1 and found several 
colored men shut up in the smoke house1 
the door of which some of the searching 

party had broken open4 ,maury1 the      
accused1 was not found there1 and about 
that time some one called out1 ,here is 
,george4 ,some of the party then started
 in the direction of the cotton house   
from which the voice proceeded1 when a  
volley was fired from it1 and two of the
 searching party were killed1 one of    
whom was the son of the former owner of 
the defendant1 and the other a          
brother-in-law of ,nicholson4 ,the      
members of the raiding party testified  
that their purpose in going to the home 
of the defendant was merely to arrest   
him4 ,it was1 however1 shown that       
,nicholson1 immediately after the fight 
on ,thursday1 informed ,cobb1 and ,cobb 
between ,thursday and ,sunday night     
collected the men who joined in the     
raid4 ,no affidavit for the arrest of   
,maury had been made1 and none of the   
party had any warrant1 or made any      
announcement to the defendant or his    
family1 of the object of their visit4   
,the accused who testified in his own   

behalf1 denied that he was at home at   
the time of the shooting1 and says he   
fled before the raiding party arrived4  
,he also contradicted ,nicholson in his 
account of the difficulty with him1 and 
denies that he spoke harshly to the     
child4 ,chief ,justice ,campbell1 in    
delivering the opinion of the court     
said1 ,it is inconceivable that the     
crime of murder is predicable of the    
facts disclosed by the evidence in this 
case4 ,the time and place and           
circumstances of the killing forbid any 
such conclusion as a verdict of guilty  
of murder4 ,the judgment of the trial   
court was reversed4  ,this same ,chief  
,justice1 in the case of ,monroe vs4    
,mississippi1 #ga ,miss4 #bja1 where a  
negro was convicted of rape1 makes use  
of the following brave and noble        
language1 reversing the case on the     
ground of the insufficiency of the      
evidence3 ,we might greatly lighten our 
labors by deferring in all cases to the 
verdict approved by the presiding judge 

as to the facts1 but our duty is to     
administer justice without respect of   
persons1 and do equal right to the poor 
and the rich4 ,hence the disposition1   
which we are not ashamed to confess we  
have1 to guard jealously the rights of  
the poor and friendless and despised1   
and to be astute as far as we properly  
may1 against injustice1 whether         
proceeding from wilfulness or           
indifference4  ,the country has produced
 no abler jurist1 nor the ,south no     
greater man than ,ex-,chief ,justice    
,campbell of ,mississippi4 ,if the      
counsel of such men as he and ,chief    
,justice ,garret of the ,court of ,civil
 ,appeals of ,texas1 could obtain in the
 ,south1 there would be no problem      
between the races4 ,all would be        
contented because justice would be      
administered to the whites and blacks   
alike4  ,in the administration of the   
suffrage sections under the new         
,constitutions of the ,south by the     
partisan boards of registrars1 the same 

discrimination against negroes was      
practiced4 ,their methods are of more or
 less interest4 ,the plan was to exclude
 all negroes from the electorate without
 excluding a single white man4 ,under   
the ,alabama ,constitution1 a soldier in
 the ,civil ,war1 either on the ,federal
 or ,confederate side1 is entitled to   
qualification4 ,when a negro goes up to 
register as a soldier he is asked for   
his discharge4 ,when he presents it he  
is asked1 ,how do we know that you are  
the man whose name is written in this   
discharge8 ,bring us two white men whom 
we know and who will swear that you have
 not found this paper1 and that they    
know that you were a soldier in the     
company and regiment in which you claim 
to have been4 ,this1 of course1 could   
not be done1 and the ex-soldier who     
risked his life for the ,union is denied
 the right to vote4  ,the same          
,constitution provides that if not a    
soldier or the legal descendant of one1 
an elector must be of good character and

 understand the duties and obligations  
of citizenship under a ,republican form 
of government4 ,when a negro claims     
qualifications under the good character 
and understanding clauses he is put     
through an examination similar to the   
following3  ,what is a republican form  
of government8  ,what is a limited      
monarchy8  ,what islands did the ,united
 ,states come into possession of by the 
,spanish-,american ,war8  ,what is the  
difference between ,jeffersonian        
,democracy and ,calhoun principles1 as  
compared to the ,monroe ,doctrine8  ,if 
the ,nicaragua ,canal is cut1 what will 
be the effect if the ,pacific ,ocean is 
two feet higher than the ,atlantic8     
,should these questions be answered     
satisfactorily1 the negro must still    
produce two white men known to the      
registrars to testify to his good       
character4 ,a remarkable exception in   
the treatment of negroes by the         
registrars of ,dallas county1 ,alabama1 
is shown in the following account taken 

from the ,montgomery ,advertizer3--  ,an
 old negro barber by the name of ,edward
 ,e4 ,harris1 stepped in before the     
registrars1 hat in hand1 humble and     
polite1 with a kindly smile on his face4
 ,he respectfully asked to be           
registered4 ,he signed the application  
and waited a few minutes until the      
registrars had disposed of some other   
matters1 and being impressed with his   
respectful bearing1 some member of the  
board commenced to ask a few questions4 
,the old man told his story in a        
straight forward manner4 ,he said3      
,gentlemen1 ,i am getting to be a pretty
 old man4 ,i was born here in the       
,south1 and ,i followed my young master 
through all of the campaigns in         
,virginia1 when ,mas' ,bob ,lee made it 
so warm for the ,yankees4 ,but our luck 
left us at ,gettysburg4 ,the ,yankees   
got around in our rear there1 and ,i got
 a bullet in the back of my head1 and   
one in my leg before ,i got out of that 
scrape4 ,but ,i was not hurt much1 and  

my greatest anxiety was about my young  
master1 ,mr4 ,john ,holly1 who was a    
member of the ,bur ,rifles1 #ahth       
,mississippi4 ,he was a private and     
enlisted at ,jackson1 ,miss4  ,he could 
not be found the first day2 ,i looked   
all among the dead on the battle field  
for him and he was not there4 ,next day 
,i got a permit to go through the       
hospitals1 and ,i looked into the face  
of every soldier closely1 in the hope of
 finding my young master4 ,after many   
hours of searching ,i found him1 but he 
was dangerously wounded4 ,i stayed by   
his side1 wounded as ,i was1 for three  
long weeks1 but he gradually grew worse 
and then he died4 ,i went out with the  
body and saw it buried as decently as ,i
 could1 and then ,i went back to        
,jackson and told the young mistress how
 brave he was in battle1 how good he was
 to me1 and told her all the words he   
had sent her1 as he lay there on that   
rude cot in the hospital4 ,that is my   
record as a ,confederate soldier1 and if

 you gentlemen care to give me a        
certificate of registration1 ,i would be
 much obliged to you4 ,it is needless to
 say that old ,ed4 ,harris got his      
certificate4  ,it is insisted upon by   
the leaders of public opinion at the    
,south1 that negroes should not be given
 equal political and civil rights with  
white men1 defined by law and           
enforceable by the courts2 but that they
 should be content to strive to deserve 
the good wishes and friendly feeling of 
the whites1 and if the ,south is let    
alone1 they will see to it that negroes 
get becoming treatment4  ,while there is
 a large number of the high-toned1      
chivalrous element of the old master    
class yet living1 who would stand by the
 negro and not permit him to be wronged 
if they could prevent it1 yet they are  
powerless to control the great mass of  
the poor whites who are most bitter in  
their prejudices against the negro4     
,they should also bear in mind that the 
old master class is rapidly passing way1

 and that there is constantly an influx 
of foreigners to the ,south1 and in less
 than fifty years the ,italians1 or some
 other foreign nationality1 may be the  
ruling class in all the ,southern       
,states2 and the negro1 deprived of all 
political and civil rights by the       
,constitution and laws1 would be wholly 
at the mercy of a people without        
sympathy for him4  ,in order to show the
 fallacy and the wrong and injustice of 
this doctrine1 and how helplessly       
exposed it leaves the negro to the      
prejudices of the poor whites1 ,i relate
 a tragedy in the life of a friend of   
mine1 who was well known and respected  
in the town of ,rayville1 ,louisiana4   
,sewall ,smith1 for many years ran the  
leading barber shop for whites in the   
town of ,rayville1 and was well-liked   
and respected by the leading white men  
of the entire parish4 ,at the suggestion
 of his customers he bought ,louisiana  
state lands while they were cheap1      
before the railroad was put through     

between ,vicksburg and ,shreveport2 and 
as the road passed near his lands he was
 thereby made a rich man1 as wealth goes
 in those parts4 ,his good fortune1     
however1 did not swell his head and he  
remained the same to his friends4 ,he   
became so useful in his parish that     
there was never a public gathering of   
the leading white business men that he  
was not invited to it1 and he was always
 on the delegations to all the levee or 
river conventions sent from his parish4 
,he was chosen to such places by white  
men exclusively2 and in his own town he 
was as safe from wrong or injury1 on    
account of his race or color1 as any    
white man4  ,after the trains began to  
run through ,rayville1 on the           
,shreveport road1 he had occasion to    
visit the town of ,ruston1 in another   
parish some miles in the interior1 and  
as he got off at the depot1 a barefoot1 
poor white boy asked to carry his       
satchel4 ,smith was a fine looking      
mulatto1 dressed well1 and could have   

easily been taken for a white man1 and  
the boy might not have known at the time
 he was a negro4 ,when he arrived at his
 stopping place he gave the boy such a  
large coin that he asked permission to  
take his satchel back to the train on   
the following day when he was to return4
 ,the next day the boy came for the     
satchel1 and they had nearly reached the
 depot about train time1 when they      
passed a saloon where a crowd of poor   
whites sat on boxes whittling sticks4   
,the sight of a negro having a white boy
 carrying his satchel quite enraged     
them1 and after cursing and abusing     
,smith and the boy1 they undertook to   
kick and assault ,smith4 ,smith defended
 himself4 ,the result was a shooting    
affair1 in which ,smith shot two or     
three of them and was himself shot4 ,the
 train rolled up while the fight was in 
progress1 and without inquiring the     
cause or asking any questions whatever1 
fully a hundred white men jumped off the
 train and riddled ,smith with bullets4 

,that was the end of it4 ,nobody was    
indicted or even arrested for killing an
 insolent nigger that did not keep his  
place4 ,that is the way the affair was  
regarded in ,ruston4 ,of course1 the    
people of ,rayville very much regretted 
it1 but they could not do anything1 and 
could not afford to defend the rights of
 a negro against white men under such   
circumstances1 and the matter dropped4  
,i have preferred not to mention the    
numerous ways and many instances in     
which the rights of negroes are denied  
in public places1 and on the common     
carriers in the ,south1 under           
circumstances very humiliating and      
degrading4 ,nor have ,i cared to refer  
to the barbarous and inhuman prison     
systems of the ,south1 that are worse   
than anything the imagination can       
conceive in a civilized and ,christian  
land1 as shown by reports of legislative
 committees4  ,if the negro can secure a
 fair and impartial trial in the courts1
 and can be secure in his life and      

liberty and property1 so as not to be   
deprived of them except by due process  
of law1 and can have a voice in the     
making and administration of the laws1  
he shall have gone a great way in the   
,south4 ,it is to be hoped that public  
opinion can be awakened to this extent1 
and that it may assist him to attain    
that end4     ,the ,characteristics of  
the ,negro ,people  ,by ,h4,t4 ,,kealing
    ,a frank statement of the virtues   
and failings of the race1 indicating    
very clearly the evils which must be    
overcome1 and the good which must   be  
developed1 if success is really to      
attend the effort to uplift them4       
,illustration3 ,h4,t4 ,,kealing4   ,the 
characteristics of the ,negro are of two
 kinds--the inborn and the inbred4 ,as  
they reveal themselves to us1 this      
distinction may not be seen1 but it     
exists4 ,inborn qualities are           
ineradicable2 they belong to the blood2 
they constitute individuality2 they are 
independent1 or nearly so1 of time and  

habitat4 ,inbred qualities are acquired1
 and are the result of experience4 ,they
 may be overcome by a reversal of the   
process which created them4 ,the        
fundamental1 or inborn1 characteristics 
of the ,negro may be found in the       
,african1 as well as the ,american1     
,negro2 but the inbred characteristics  
of the latter belong to the ,american   
life alone4  ,there is but one human    
nature1 made up of constituent elements 
the same in all men1 and racial or      
national differences arise from the     
predominance of one or another element  
in this or that race4 ,it is a question 
of proportion4 ,the ,negro is not a     
,caucasian1 not a ,chinese1 not an      
,indian2 though no psychological quality
 in the one is absent from the other4   
,the same moral sense1 called           
conscience2 the same love of harmony in 
color or in sound2 the same pleasure in 
acquiring knowledge2 the same love of   
truth in word1 or of fitness in         
relation2 the same love of respect and  

approbation2 the same vengeful or       
benevolent feelings2 the same appetites1
 belong to all1 but in varying          
proportions4 ,they form the indicia to a
 people's mission1 and are our best     
guides to ,god's purpose in creating us4
 ,they constitute the material to be    
worked on in educating a race1 and      
suggest in every case where the stress  
of civilization or education should be  
applied in order to follow the lines of 
least resistance4  ,but there are also  
certain manifestations1 the result of   
training or neglect1 which are not      
inborn4 ,as they are inculcable1 so they
 are eradicable2 and it is only by a    
loose terminology that we apply the term
 characteristics to them without        
distinction between them and the        
inherent traits4 ,in considering the    
characteristics of the ,negro people1   
therefore1 we must not confuse the      
constitutional with the removable4      
,studied with sympathy and at first     
hand1 the black man of ,america will be 

seen to possess certain predominant     
idiosyncrasies of which the following   
form a fair catalogue3  ,he is intensely
 religious4 ,true religion is based upon
 a belief in the supernatural1 upon     
faith and feeling4 ,a people deeply     
superstitious are apt to be deeply      
religious1 for both rest upon a belief  
in a spiritual world4 ,superstition     
differs from religion in being the      
untrained and unenlightened gropings of 
the human soul after the mysteries of   
the higher life2 while the latter1 more 
or less enlightened1 feels after ,god1  
if haply1 it may find ,him4 ,the ,negro 
gives abundant evidence of both phases4 
,the absolute inability of the master1  
in the days of slavery1 while           
successfully vetoing all other kinds of 
convocation1 to stop the ,negro's church
 meetings1 as well as the almost        
phenomenal influence and growth of his  
churches since2 and his constant        
referring of every event1 adverse or    
favorable1 to the personal ministrations

 of the ,creator1 are things unique and 
persistent4 ,and the master class       
reposed more faith in their slaves'     
religion ofttimes than they did in their
 own4 ,doubtless much of the reverential
 feeling that pervades the ,american    
home to-day1 above that of all other    
nations1 is the result of the ,negro    
mammy's devotion and loyalty to ,god4   
,he is imaginative4 ,this is not evinced
 so much in creative directions as in   
poetical1 musical1 combinatory1         
inventional and what1 if coupled with   
learning1 we call literary imagination4 
,negro eloquence is proverbial4 ,the    
crudest sermon of the most unlettered   
slave abounded in tropes and glowing    
tongue pictures of apochalyptic visions 
all his own2 and1 indeed1 the poetic    
quality of his mind is seen in all his  
natural efforts when the                
self-consciousness of education does not
 stand guard4 ,the staid religious muse 
of ,phillis ,wheatley and the           
rollicking1 somewhat jibing1 verse of   

,dunbar show it equally1 unpremeditated 
and spontaneous4  ,i have heard by the  
hour some ordinary old uneducated ,negro
 tell those inimitable animal stories1  
brought to literary existence in ,uncle 
,remus1 with such quaint humor1         
delicious conceit and masterly          
delineation of plot1 character and      
incident that nothing but the           
conventional rating of ,aesop's ,fables 
could put them in the same class4 ,then1
 there are more ,negro inventors than   
the world supposes4 ,this faculty is    
impossible without a well-ordered       
imagination held in leash by a good     
memory and large perception4  ,he is    
affectionate and without vindictiveness4
 ,he does not nurse even great wrongs4  
,mercurial as he is1 often furiously    
angry and frequently in murderous mood1 
he comes nearer not letting the sun go  
down upon his anger than any other man  
,i know4 ,like ,brutus1 he may be       
compared to the flint which1      ,much 
enforced1 shows a hasty spark1     ,and 

straight is cold again4  ,his affection 
is not less towards the ,caucasian than 
to his own race4 ,it is not saying too  
much to remark that the soul of the     
,negro yearns for the white man's good  
will and respect2 and the old ties of   
love that subsisted in so many instances
 in the days of slavery still survive   
where the ex-slave still lives4 ,the    
touching case of a ,negro ,bishop who   
returned to the ,state in which he had  
been a slave1 and rode twenty miles to  
see and alleviate the financial distress
 of his former master is an exception to
 numerous other similar cases only in   
the prominence of the ,negro concerned4 
,i know of another case of a man whose  
tongue seems dipped in hyssop when he   
begins to tell of the wrongs of his     
race1 and who will not allow anyone to  
say in his presence that any good came  
out of slavery1 even incidentally2 yet  
he supports the widowed and aged wife of
 his former master4 ,and1 surely1 if    
these two instances are not sufficient  

to establish the general proposition1   
none will gainsay the patience1         
vigilance1 loyalty and helpfulness of   
the ,negro slave during the ,civil ,war1
 and of his good old wife who nursed    
white children at her breast at a time  
when all ties save those of affection   
were ruptured1 and when no protection   
but devoted hearts watched over the     
great house1 whose head and master was  
at the front1 fighting to perpetuate    
slavery4 ,was it stupidity on the       
,negro's part8 ,not at all4 ,he was well
 informed as to the occurrences of the  
times4 ,a freemasonry kept him posted as
 well as the whites were themselves on  
the course of the war and the issue of  
each battle4 ,was it fear that kept him 
at the old home8 ,not that1 either4     
,many thousands did cross the line to   
freedom2 many other thousands 7#bjj1jjj7
 fought in the ranks for freedom1 but   
none of them--those who went and those  
who stayed--those who fought and those  
who worked1--betrayed a trust1 outraged 

a female1 or rebelled against a duty4   
,it was love1 the natural wellings of   
affectionate natures4  ,he has great    
endurance1 both dispositional and       
physical4 ,so true is the first that his
 patience has been the marvel of the    
world2 and1 indeed1 many1 regarding this
 trait manifested in such an unusual    
degree1 doubted the ,negro's courage1   
till the splendid record of the '#fj's  
and the equal1 but more recent1 record  
of the '#ij's1 wrote forbearance as the 
real explanation of an endurance        
seemingly so at variance with manly     
spirit4  ,of his physical powers1 his   
whole record as a laborer at killing    
tasks in the most trying climate in     
,america speaks so eloquently that      
nothing but the statistics of cotton1   
corn1 rice1 sugar1 railroad ties and    
felled forests can add to the praise of 
this burden-bearer of the nation4 ,the  
census tables here are more romantic and
 thrilling than figures of rhetoric4    
,he is courageous4 ,his page in the war 

record of this country is without blot  
or blemish4 ,his commanders unite in    
pronouncing him admirable for courage in
 the field1 commendable for obedience in
 camp4 ,that he should exhibit such     
excellent fighting qualities as a       
soldier1 and yet exercise the           
forbearance that characterizes him as a 
citizen1 is remarkable4  ,he is         
cheerful4 ,his ivories are as famous as 
his songs4 ,that the ,south is sunny is 
largely due to the brightness his       
rollicking laugh and unfailing good     
nature bring to it4 ,though the mudsill 
of the labor world1 he whistles as he   
hoes1 and no dark broodings or whispered
 conspirings mar the cheerful acceptance
 of the load he bears4 ,against the     
rubber bumper of his good cheer things  
that have crushed and maddened others   
rebound without damage4 ,when one hears 
the quaint jubilee songs1 set to minor  
cadence1 he might suppose them the      
expressions of a melancholy people4     
,they are not to be so interpreted4     

,rather are they the expression of an   
experience1 not a nature4 ,like the     
subdued voice of a caged bird1 these    
songs are the coinage of an occasion1   
and not the free note of nature4 ,the   
slave sang of griefs he was not allowed 
to discuss1 hence his songs4 ,this      
cheerfulness has enabled the ,negro to  
live and increase under circumstances   
which1 in all other instances1 have     
decimated1 if not exterminated1 inferior
 peoples4 ,his plasticity to moulding   
forces and his resiliency against       
crushing ones come from a ,thalian      
philosophy1 unconscious and unstudied1  
that extracts ,epicurean delights from  
funeral meats4  ,the above traits are   
inborn and fundamental1 belonging to the
 race everywhere1 in ,africa as well as 
,america4 ,strict correctness requires1 
however1 that attention be called to the
 fact that there are tribal differences 
among ,african ,negroes that amount     
almost to the national variations of    
,europe2 and these are reflected in     

,american ,negroes1 who are the         
descendants of these different tribes4  
,there is as much difference between the
 ,mandingo and the ,hottentot1 both     
black1 as between the ,italian and the  
,german1 both white2 or between the     
,bushman and the ,zulu1 both black1 as  
between the ,russian and the            
,englishman1 both white4 ,scientific    
exactness1 therefore1 would require a   
closer analysis of racial               
characteristics than an article of this 
length could give2 but1 speaking in a   
large way1 it may be said that in       
whatever outward conformity may come to 
the race in ,america by reason of       
training or contact1 these traits will  
lie at the base1 the very warp and woof 
of his soul texture4  ,if1 now1 we turn 
to consider his inbred traits1 those the
 result of experience1 conditions and   
environments1 we find that they exist   
mainly as deficiencies and deformities4 
,these have been superimposed upon the  
native soul endowment4 ,slavery has been

 called the ,negro's great schoolmaster1
 because it took him a savage and       
released him civilized2 took him a      
heathen and released him a ,christian2  
took him an idler and released him a    
laborer4 ,undoubtedly it did these      
things superficially1 but one great     
defect is to be charged against this    
school--it did not teach him the meaning
 of home1 purity and providence4 ,to do 
this is the burden of freedom4  ,the    
emancipated ,negro struggles up to-day  
against many obstacles1 the entailment  
of a brutal slavery4 ,leaving out of    
consideration the many who have already 
emerged1 let us apply our thoughts to   
the great body of submerged people in   
the congested districts of city and     
country who present a real problem1 and 
who must be helped to higher things4 ,we
 note some of the heritages under which 
they stagger up into full development3  
,shiftlessness4 ,he had no need to      
devise and plan in bondage4 ,there was  
no need for an enterprising spirit2     

consequently1 he is lacking in          
leadership and self-reliance4 ,he is    
inclined to stay in ruts1 and applies   
himself listlessly to a task1 feeling   
that the directive agency should come   
from without4  ,incontinence4 ,it is not
 to the point to say that others are1   
too4 ,undoubtedly1 example has as much  
to do with this laxity as neglect4 ,we  
simply record the fact4 ,a slave's value
 was increased by his prolificacy4      
,begetting children for the auction     
block could hardly sanctify family ties4
 ,it was not nearly so necessary for a  
slave to know his father as his owner4  
,added to the promiscuity encouraged and
 often forced among this class1 was the 
dreadful license which cast lustful     
,caucasian eyes upon likely ,negro      
women4  ,indolence4 ,most men are1      
especially in a warm climate3 but the   
,negro acquired more than the natural   
share1 because to him as a bondman      
laziness was great gain1 for he had no  
pecuniary interest in his own labor4    

,hence1 holidays were more to be desired
 than whole labor days1 and he learned  
to do as little as he might1 be excused 
as often as he could1 and hail ,saturday
 as the oasis in a desert week4 ,he     
hails it yet4 ,the labor efficiency of  
the ,negro has greatly increased since  
the emancipation1 for self-interest is a
 factor now4 ,in #ahfe1 each ,negro     
produced two-thirds of a bale of cotton2
 now he produces an average of one whole
 bale to the man4 ,but there is still   
woful waste of productive energy4 ,a    
calculation showing the comparative     
productive capacity1 man for man1       
between the ,northern,b and ,southern   
laborer would be very interesting4      
,improvidence and ,extravagance4 ,he    
will drop the most important job to go  
on an excursion or parade with his      
lodge4 ,he spends large sums on         
expensive clothing and luxuries1 while  
going without things necessary to a real
 home4 ,he will cheerfully eat fat bacon
 and pone corn-bread all the week,c in  

order to indulge in unlimited           
soda-water1 melon and fish at the end4  
,in the cities he is oftener seen       
dealing with the pawn-broker than the   
banker4 ,his house1 when furnished at   
all1 is better furnished that that of a 
white man of equal earning power1 but it
 is on the installment plan4 ,he is     
loath to buy a house1 because he has no 
taste for responsibility nor faith in   
himself to manage large concerns2 but   
organs1 pianos1 clocks1 sewing-machines 
and parlor suits1 on time1 have no      
terrors for him4 ,this is because he has
 been accustomed to think in small      
numbers4 ,he does not regard the        
,scotchman's mickle1 because he does not
 stop to consider that the end is a     
muckle4 ,he has amassed1 at full        
valuation1 nearly a billion dollars'    
worth of property1 despite this1 but    
this is about one-half of what proper   
providence would have shown4            
,untidiness4 ,travel through the ,south 
and you will be struck with the general 

misfit and dilapidated appearance of    
things4 ,palings are missing from the   
fences1 gates sag on single hinges1     
houses are unpainted1 window panes are  
broken1 yards unkempt and the appearance
 of a squalor greater than the real is  
seen on every side4 ,the inside of the  
house meets the suggestions of the      
outside4 ,this is a projection of the   
slave's quarters into freedom4 ,the     
cabin of the slave was1 at best1 a place
 to eat and sleep in2 there was no      
thought of the esthetic in such places4 
,a quilt on a plank was a luxury to the 
tired farm-hand1 and paint was nothing  
to the poor1 sun-scorched fellow who    
sought the house for shade rather than  
beauty4 ,habits of personal cleanliness 
were not inculcated1 and even now it is 
the exception to find a modern bath-room
 in a ,southern home4  ,dishonesty4     
,this is the logic1 if not the training1
 of slavery4 ,it is easy for the        
unrequited toiler in another's field to 
justify reprisal2 hence there arose     

among the ,negroes an amended           
,commandment which added to ,thou shalt 
not steal the clause1 except thou be    
stolen from4 ,it was no great fault1    
then1 according to this code1 to purloin
 a pig1 a sheep1 a chicken1 or a few    
potatoes from a master who took all from
 the slave4  ,untruthfulness4 ,this is  
seen more in innocent and childish      
exaggeration than in vicious distortion4
 ,it is the vice of untutored minds to  
run to gossip and make miracles of the  
matter-of-fact4 ,the ,negro also tells  
falsehoods from excess of good nature4  
,he promises to do a piece of work on a 
certain day1 because it is so much      
easier and pleasanter to say ,yes1 and  
stay away1 than it is to say ,no4       
,business ,unreliability4 ,he does not  
meet a promise in the way and at the    
time promised4 ,not being accustomed to 
business1 he has small conception of the
 place the promise has in the business  
world4 ,it is only recently he has begun
 to deal with banks4 ,he1 who has no    

credit1 sees,d no loss of it in a       
protested note1 especially if he intends
 to pay it some time4 ,that chain which 
links one man's obligation to another   
man's solvency he has not considered4   
,he is really as good and safe a        
debt-payer when he owes a white man as  
the latter can have1 but the methods of 
the modern bank1 placing a time limit on
 debts1 is his detestation4 ,he much    
prefers the laissez-faire of the        
,southern plantation store4  ,lack of   
,initiative4 ,it was the policy of      
slavery to crush out the combining      
instinct1 and it was well done2 for1    
outside of churches and secret          
societies1 the ,negro has done little to
 increase the social efficiency which   
can combine many men into an organic    
whole1 subject to the corporate will and
 direction4 ,he has1 however1 made some 
hopeful beginnings4  ,suspicion of his  
own race4 ,he was taught to watch other 
,negroes and tell all that they did4    
,this was slavery's native detective    

force to discover incipient             
insurrection4 ,each slave learned to    
distrust his fellow4 ,and added to this 
is the knowledge one ,negro has that no 
other has had half sufficient experience
 in business to be a wise counsellor1 or
 a safe steward of another man's funds4 
,almost all ,negroes who have acquired  
wealth have entrusted its management to 
white men4  ,ignorance4 ,the causes of  
his ignorance all know4 ,that he has    
thrown off one-half of it in forty years
 is a wonderful showing2 but a great    
incubus remains in the other half1 and  
it demands the nation's attention4 ,what
 the census calls literacy is often very
 shallow4 ,the cause of this shallowness
 lies1 in part1 in the poor character   
and short duration of ,southern schools2
 in the poverty that snatches the child 
from school prematurely to work for     
bread2 in the multitude of mushroom     
colleges and get-smart-quick            
universities scattered over the ,south1 
and in the glamour of a professional    

education that entices poorly prepared  
students into special work4  ,add to    
this1 too1 the commercialism of the age 
which regards each day in school as a   
day out of the market4 ,boys and girls  
by scores learn the mechanical parts of 
type-writing and stenography without the
 basal culture which gives these        
callings their greatest efficiency4     
,they copy a manuscript1 ,chinese-like1 
mistakes and all2 they take you         
phonetically in sense as well as sound1 
having no reserve to draw upon to       
interpret a learned allusion or unusual 
phrase4 ,thus while prejudice makes it  
hard to secure a place1 auto-deficiency 
loses many a one that is secured4  ,we  
have discussed the leading              
characteristics of the ,negro1 his      
inborn excellencies and inbred defects1 
candidly and as they are to be seen in  
the great mass whose place determines   
the status of the race as a whole4 ,it  
would1 however1 be to small purpose if  
we did not ask what can be done to      

develop the innate good and correct the 
bad in a race so puissant and numerous8 
,this mass is not inert2 it has great   
reactionary force1 modifying and        
influencing all about it4 ,the ,negro's 
excellences have entered into ,american 
character and life already2 so have his 
weaknesses4 ,he has brought cheer1 love1
 emotion and religion in saving measure 
to the land4 ,he has given it wealth by 
his brawn and liberty by his blood4 ,his
 self-respect1 even in abasement1 has   
kept him struggling upward2 his         
confidence in his own future has        
infected his friends and kept him from  
nursing despondency or planning anarchy4
 ,but he has laid1 and does lay1 burdens
 upon the land1 too3 his ignorance1 his 
low average of morality1 his low        
standards of home1 his lack of          
enterprise1 his lack of                 
self-reliance--these must be cured4     
,evidently1 he is to be solved by       
educational processes4 ,everyone of his 
inborn traits must be respected and     

developed to proper proportion4         
,excesses and excrescences must not be  
carelessly dealt with1 for they mark the
 fertility of a soil that raises rank   
weeds because no gardener has tilled it4
 ,his religion must become ethics       
touched with feeling--not a paroxysm1   
but a principle4 ,his imagination must  
be given a rudder to guide its sails2   
and the first fruits of its proper      
exercise1 as seen in a ,dunbar1 a       
,chesnutt1 a ,coleridge-,taylor and a   
,tanner1 must be pedestaled along the   
,appian ,way over which others are to   
march4 ,his affection must be met with  
larger love2 his patience rewarded with 
privilege2 his courage called to defend 
the rights of others rather than redress
 his own wrongs4 ,thus shall he         
supplement from within the best efforts 
of good men without4  ,to cure the evils
 entailed upon him by an unhappy past1  
he must be educated to work with skill1 
with self-direction1 in combination and 
unremittingly4 ,industrial education    

with constant application1 is the slogan
 of his rise from racial pauperism to   
productive manliness4 ,not that         
exceptional minds should not have       
exceptional opportunities 7and they     
already exist72 but that the great      
majority of awkward and unskilled ones1 
who must work somehow1 somewhere1 all   
the time1 shall have their opportunities
 for training in industrial schools near
 them and with courses consonant with   
the lives they are to lead4 ,let the    
ninety and nine who must work1 either   
with trained or fumbling hands1 have a  
chance4 ,train the ,negro to accept and 
carry responsibility by putting it upon 
him4 ,train him1 more than any schools  
are now doing1 in morals--to speak the  
truth1 to keep a promise1 to touch only 
his own property1 to trust the          
trustworthy among his own race1 to risk 
something in business1 to strike out in 
new lines of endeavor1 to buy houses and
 make homes1 to regard beauty as well as
 utility1 to save rather than display4  

,in short1 let us subordinate mere      
knowledge to the work of invigorating   
the will1 energizing productive effort  
and clarifying moral vision4 ,let us    
make safe men rather than vociferous    
mountebanks2 let us put deftness in     
daily labor above sleight-of-hand       
tricks1 and common sense1 well trained1 
above classical smatterings1 which awe  
the multitude but butter no parsnips4   
,if we do this1 ,america will have      
enriched her blood1 ennobled her record 
and shown the world how to deal with its
 ,dark ,races without reproach4         
,footnote ,b3 ,in the original1 this was
 ',northen'4  ,footnote ,c3 ,in the     
original1 this was 'weeek'4  ,footnote  
,d3 ,in the original1 this was 'seees'4 
,representative ,american ,negroes  ,by 
,,paul ,,laurence ,,dunbar    ,an       
enumeration of some of the noteworthy   
,american ,negroes of to-day and        
yesterday1 with some account of their   
lives and their work4 ,in this   paper  
,mr4 ,dunbar has turned out his largest 

and most successful picture   of the    
colored people4 ,it is a noble canvas   
crowded with heroic figures4   ,in      
considering who and what are            
representative ,negroes there are       
circumstances which compel one to       
question what is a representative man of
 the colored race4 ,some men are born   
great1 some achieve greatness and others
 lived during the reconstruction period4
 ,to have achieved something for the    
betterment of his race rather than for  
the aggrandizement of himself1 seems to 
be a man's best title to be called      
representative4 ,the street corner      
politician1 who through questionable    
methods or even through skillful        
manipulation1 succeeds in securing the  
janitorship of the ,court ,house1 may be
 written up in the local papers as      
representative1 but is he8  ,i have in  
mind a young man in ,baltimore1 ,bernard
 ,taylor by name1 who to me is more     
truly representative of the race than   
half of the ,judges1 ,colonels1 ,doctors

 and ,honorables whose stock cuts burden
 the pages of our negro journals week   
after week4 ,i have said that he is     
young4 ,beyond that he is quiet and     
unobtrusive2 but quiet as he is1 the    
worth of his work can be somewhat       
estimated when it is known that he has  
set the standard for young men in a city
 that has the largest colored population
 in the world4  ,it is not that as an   
individual he has ridden to success one 
enterprise after another4 ,it is not    
that he has shown capabilities far      
beyond his years1 nor yet that his      
personal energy will not let him stop at
 one triumph4 ,the importance of him    
lies in the fact that his influence upon
 his fellows is all for good1 and in a  
large community of young ,negroes the   
worth of this cannot be over-estimated4 
,he has taught them that striving is    
worth while1 and by the very force of   
his example of industry and             
perseverance1 he stands out from the    
mass4 ,he does not tell how to do       

things1 he does them4 ,nothing has      
contributed more to his success than his
 alertness1 and nothing has been more   
closely followed by his observers1 and  
yet ,i sometimes wonder when looking at 
him1 how old he must be1 how world      
weary1 before the race turns from its   
worship of the political janitor and    
says of him1 this is one of our         
representative men4  ,this1 however1 is 
a matter of values and neither the negro
 himself1 his friends1 his enemies1 his 
lauders1 nor his critics has grown quite
 certain in appraising these4 ,the rabid
 agitator who goes about the land       
preaching the independence and glory of 
his race1 and by his very mouthings     
retarding both1 the saintly missionary1 
whose only mission is like that of ,pooh
 ,bah1 to be insulted2 the man of the   
cloth who thunders against the sins of  
the world and from whom honest women    
draw away their skirts1 the man who     
talks temperance and tipples            
high-balls--these are not               

representative1 and whatever their      
station in life1 they should be rated at
 their proper value1 for there is a     
difference between attainment and       
achievement4  ,under the pure light of  
reason1 the ignorant carpet bagger judge
 is a person and not a personality4 ,the
 illiterate and inefficient black man1  
whom circumstance put into ,congress1   
was a representative but was not        
representative4 ,so the peculiar        
conditions of the days immediately after
 the war have made it necessary to draw 
fine distinctions4  ,when ,robert       
,smalls1 a slave1 piloted the           
,confederate ship ,planter out of       
,charleston ,harbor under the very guns 
of the men who were employing him1 who  
owned him1 his body1 his soul1 and the  
husk of his allegiance1 and brought it  
over to the ,union1 it is a question    
which forty years has not settled as to 
whether he was a hero or a felon1 a     
patriot or a traitor4 ,so much has been 
said of the old ,negro's fidelity to his

 masters that something different might 
have been expected of him4 ,but take the
 singular conditions3 the first faint   
streaks of a long delayed dawn had just 
begun to illumine the sky and this black
 pilot with his face turned toward the  
,east had no eye for the darkness behind
 him4 ,he had no time to analyze his    
position1 the right or wrong of it4 ,he 
had no opportunity to question whether  
it was loyalty to a union in which he   
aspired to citizenship1 or disloyalty to
 his masters of the despised            
confederacy4 ,it was not a time to      
argue1 it was a time to do2 and with    
rare power of decision1 skill of action 
and with indomitable courage1 he steered
 the good ship ,planter past ,fort      
,johnson1 past ,fort ,sumter1 past      
,morris ,island1 out where the flag1 the
 flag of his hopes and fears floated    
over the federal fleet4 ,and ,robert    
,smalls had done something1 something   
that made him loved and hated1 praised  
and maligned1 revered and despised1 but 

something that made him representative  
of the best that there is in sturdy     
,negro manhood4  ,it may seem a far cry 
from ,robert ,smalls1 the pilot of the  
,planter1 to ,booker ,t4 ,washington1   
,principal of the ,institute at         
,tuskegee1 ,alabama4 ,but much the same 
traits of character have made the       
success of the two men2 the knowledge of
 what to do1 the courage to do it1 and  
the following out of a single purpose4  
,they are both pilots1 and the waters   
through which their helms have swung    
have been equally stormy4 ,the methods  
of both have been questioned2 but       
singularly neither one has stopped to   
question himself1 but has gone straight 
on to his goal over the barriers of     
criticism1 malice and distrust4 ,the    
secret of ,mr4 ,washington's power is   
organization1 and organization after all
 is only a concentration of force4 ,this
 concentration only expresses his own   
personality1 in which every trait and   
quality tend toward one definite end4   

,they say of this man that he is a man  
of one idea1 but that one is a great one
 and he has merely concentrated all his 
powers upon it2 in other words he has   
organized himself and gone forth to     
gather in whatever about him was        
essential4  ,pilot he is1 steadfast and 
unafraid1 strong in his own belief1--yes
 strong enough to make others believe in
 him4 ,without doubt or skepticism1     
himself he has confounded the skeptics4 
,less statesmanlike than ,douglass1 less
 scholarly than ,du,bois1 less eloquent 
than the late ,j4,c4 ,price1 he is yet  
the foremost figure in ,negro national  
life4 ,he is a great educator and a     
great man1 and though one may not always
 agree with him1 one must always respect
 him4 ,the race has produced no more    
adroit diplomatist than he4 ,the        
statement is broad but there is no      
better proof of it than the fact that   
while he is our most astute politician1 
he has succeeded in convincing both     
himself and the country that he is not  

in politics4 ,he has none of the        
qualities of the curb-stone politician4 
,he is bigger1 broader1 better1 and the 
highest compliment that could be paid   
him is that through all his ups and     
downs1 with all he has seen of humanity1
 he has kept his faith and his ideals4  
,while ,mr4 ,washington stands          
pre-eminent in his race there are other 
names that must be mentioned with him as
 co-workers in the education of the     
world1 names that for lack of time can  
be only mentioned and passed4  ,w4,h4   
,council1 of ,normal1 ,alabama1 has been
 doing at his school a good and great   
work along the same lines as ,tuskegee4 
,r4,r4 ,wright1 of the ,state ,college  
of ,georgia1 ,we'se a-risin' ,wright1 he
 is called1 and by his own life and work
 for his people he has made true the    
boyish prophecy which in the old days   
inspired ,whittier's poem4 ,three       
decades ago this was his message from   
the lowly ,south1 ,tell 'em we'se       
a-risin1 and by thought1 by word1 by    

deed1 he has been ,tellin' em so ever   
since4 ,the old ,southern school has    
melted into the misty shades of an      
unregretted past4 ,a new generation1 new
 issues1 new conditions1 have replaced  
the old1 but the boy who sent that      
message from the heart of the ,southland
 to the ,north's heart of hearts has    
risen1 and a martyred ,president did not
 blush to call him friend4  ,so much of 
the ,negro's time has been given to the 
making of teachers that it is difficult 
to stop when one has begun enumerating  
some of those who have stood out more   
than usually forceful4 ,for my part1    
there are two more whom ,i cannot pass  
over4 ,kelly ,miller1 of ,howard        
,university1 ,washington1 ,d4,c41 is    
another instructor far above the        
average4 ,he is a mathematician and a   
thinker4 ,the world has long been       
convinced of what the colored man could 
do in music and in oratory1 but it has  
always been skeptical1 when he is to be 
considered as a student of any exact    

science4 ,miller1 in his own person1 has
 settled all that4 ,he finished at      
,johns ,hopkins where they will remember
 him4 ,he is not only a teacher but an  
author who writes with authority upon   
his chosen themes1 whether he is always 
known as a ,negro writer or not4 ,he is 
endowed with an accurate1 analytical    
mind1 and the most engaging blackness1  
for which some of us thank ,god1 because
 there can be no argument as to the     
source of his mental powers4  ,now of   
the other1 ,william ,e4,b4 ,du,bois1    
what shall be said8 ,educator and       
author1 political economist and poet1 an
 ,eastern man against a ,southern       
back-ground1 he looms up strong1 vivid  
and in bold relief4 ,i say looms        
advisedly1 because1 intellectually1     
there is something so distinctively big 
about the man4 ,since the death of the  
aged ,dr4 ,crummell1 we have had no such
 ripe and finished scholar4 ,dr4        
,du,bois1 ,harvard gave him to us1 and  
there he received his ,ph4,d41 impresses

 one as having reduced all life and all 
literature to a perfect system4 ,there  
is about him a fascinating calm of      
certain power1 whether as a searcher    
after economic facts1 under the wing of 
the ,university of ,pennsylvania1 or    
defying the powers that be in a ,negro  
college or leading his pupils along the 
way of light1 one always feels in him   
this same sense of conscious1           
restrained1 but assured force4  ,some   
years ago in the course of his          
researches1 he took occasion to tell his
 own people some plain hard truths1 and 
oh1 what a howl of protest and          
denunciation went up from their         
assembled throats1 but it never once    
disturbed his magnificent calm4 ,he     
believed what he had said1 and not for a
 single moment did he think of          
abandoning his position4  ,he goes at   
truth as a hard-riding old ,english     
squire would take a difficult fence4    
,let the ditch be beyond if it will4    
,dr4 ,du,bois would be the first to     

disclaim the name of poet but everything
 outside of his statistical work        
convicts him4 ,the rhythm of his style1 
his fancy1 his imagery1 all bid him bide
 with those whose souls go singing by a 
golden way4 ,he has written a number of 
notable pamphlets and books1 the latest 
of which is ,the ,soul of the ,black    
,folk1 an invaluable contribution to the
 discussion of the race problem by a man
 who knows whereof he speaks4  ,dr4     
,du,bois is at ,atlanta ,university and 
has had every opportunity to observe all
 the phases of ,america's great         
question1 and ,i wish ,i might write at 
length of his books4  ,it may be urged  
that too much time has already been     
taken up with the educational side of   
the ,negro1 but the reasonableness of   
this must become apparent when one      
remembers that for the last forty years 
the most helpful men of the race have   
come from the ranks of its teachers1 and
 few of those who have finally done any 
big thing1 but have at some time or     

other held the scepter of authority in a
 school4 ,they may have changed later   
and grown1 indeed they must have done   
so1 but the fact remains that their     
poise1 their discipline1 the impulse for
 their growth came largely from their   
work in the school room4  ,there is     
perhaps no more notable example of this 
phase of ,negro life than the ,hon4     
,richard ,theodore ,greener1 our present
 ,consul at ,vladivostok4 ,he was1 ,i   
believe1 the first of our race to       
graduate from ,harvard and he has always
 been regarded as one of the most       
scholarly men who1 through the touch of 
,negro blood1 belongs to us4 ,he has    
been historian1 journalist and lecturer1
 but back of all this he was a teacher2 
and for years after his graduation he   
was a distinguished professor at the    
most famous of all the old ,negro       
colleges4 ,this institution is now a    
thing of the past1 but the men who knew 
it in its palmy days speak of it still  
with longing and regret4 ,it is claimed1

 and from the names and qualities of the
 men1 not without justice1 that no      
school for the higher education of the  
black man has furnished a finer         
curriculum or possessed a better        
equipped or more efficient faculty4     
,among these1 ,richard ,t4 ,greener was 
a bright1 particular star4  ,after the  
passing of the school1 ,mr4 ,greener    
turned to other activities4 ,his highest
 characteristics were a fearless        
patience and a hope that buoyed him up  
through days of doubt and               
disappointment4 ,author and editor he   
was1 but he was not satisfied with      
these4 ,beyond their scope were higher  
things that beckoned him4 ,politics1 or 
perhaps better1 political science1      
allured him1 and he applied himself to a
 course that brought him into intimate  
contact with the leaders of his country1
 white and black4 ,a man of wide        
information1 great knowledge and close  
grasp of events he made himself         
invaluable to his party and then with   

his usual patience awaited his reward4  
,the story of how he came to his own    
cannot be told without just a shade of  
bitterness darkening the smile that one 
must give to it all4 ,the cause for     
which he had worked triumphed4 ,the men 
for whom he had striven gained their    
goal and now1 ,greener must be          
recognized1 but--  ,vladivostok1 your   
dictionary will tell you1 is a sea-port 
in the maritime ,province of ,siberia1  
situated on the ,golden ,horn of ,peter 
the ,great4 ,it will tell you also that 
it is the chief ,russian naval station  
on the ,pacific4 ,it is an out of the   
way place and one who has not the       
world-circling desire would rather      
hesitate before setting out thither4 ,it
 was to this post that ,mr4 ,greener was
 appointed4  ,exile1 his friends did not
 hesitate to say4 ,why didn't the       
,government make it a sentence instead  
of veiling it in the guise of an        
appointment8 asked others sarcastically4
  ,will he go8 ,that was the general    

question that rose and fell1 whispered  
and thundered about the new appointee1  
and in the midst of it all1 silent and  
dignified1 he kept his council4 ,the    
next thing ,washington knew he was gone4
 ,there was a gasp of astonishment and  
then things settled back into their     
former state of monotony and ,greener   
was forgotten4  ,but in the eastern sky1
 darkness began to arise1 the warning   
flash of danger swept across the        
heavens1 the thunder drum of war began  
to roll4 ,for a moment the world        
listened in breathless suspense1 the    
suspense of horror4 ,louder and louder  
rose the thunder peal until it drowned  
every other sound in the ears of the    
nation1 every other sound save the cries
 and wails of dying women and the       
shrieks of tortured children4 ,then     
,france1 ,england1 ,germany1 ,japan and 
,america marshalled their forces and    
swept eastward to save and to avenge4   
,the story of the ,boxer uprising has   
been told1 but little has been said of  

how ,vladivostok1 ,a sea-port in the    
maritime ,province of ,siberia1 became  
one of the most important points of     
communication with the outside world1   
and its ,consul came frequently to be   
heard from by the ,state ,department4   
,and so ,greener after years of patience
 and toil had come to his own4 ,if the  
government had wished to get him out of 
the way1 it had reckoned without ,china4
  ,a new order of things has come into  
,negro-,american politics and this man  
has become a part of it4 ,it matters not
 that he began his work under the old   
regime4 ,so did ,judge ,gibbs1 a man    
eighty years of age1 but he1 too1 has   
kept abreast of the times1 and although 
the reminiscences in his delightful     
autobiography take one back to the hazy 
days when the land was young and        
politics a more strenuous thing than it 
is even now1 when there was anarchy in  
,louisiana and civil war in ,arkansas1  
when one shot first and questioned      
afterward2 yet because his mind is still

 active1 because he has changed his     
methods with the changing time1 because 
his influence over young men is greatly 
potent still2 he is1 in the race1       
perhaps1 the best representative of what
 the old has brought to the new4        
,beside him strong1 forceful1           
commanding1 stands the figure of ,george
 ,h4 ,white1 whose farewell speech      
before the ,fifty-sixth ,congress1 when 
through the disfranchisement of ,negroes
 he was defeated for re-election1       
stirred the country and fired the hearts
 of his brothers4 ,he has won his place 
through honesty1 bravery and            
aggressiveness4 ,he has given something 
to the nation that the nation needed1   
and with such men as ,pinchback1 ,lynch1
 ,terrell and others of like ilk1 acting
 in concert1 it is but a matter of time 
when his worth shall induce a repentant 
people1 with a justice builded upon the 
foundation of its old prejudice1 to ask 
the ,negro back to take a hand in the   
affairs of state4  ,add to all this the 

facts that the ,negro has his           
representatives in the commercial world3
 ,mc,coy and ,granville ,t4 ,woods1     
inventors2 in the agricultural world    
with ,j4,h4 ,groves1 the potato king of 
,kansas1 who last year shipped from his 
own railway siding seventy-two thousand 
five hundred bushels of potatoes alone2 
in the military1 with ,capt4 ,charles   
,a4 ,young1 a ,west ,pointer1 now       
stationed at the ,presidio2 that in     
medicine1 he possesses in ,daniel ,h4   
,williams1 of ,chicago1 one of the      
really great surgeons of the country2   
that ,edward ,h4 ,morris1 a black man1  
is one of the most brilliant lawyers at 
the brilliant ,cook ,county bar2 that in
 every walk of life he has men and women
 who stand for something definite and   
concrete1 and it seems to me that there 
can be little doubt that the race       
problem will gradually solve itself4  ,i
 have spoken of men and women1 and      
indeed the women must not be forgotten1 
for to them the men look for much of the

 inspiration and impulse that drives    
them forward to success4 ,mrs4 ,mary    
,church ,terrell upon the platform      
speaking for ,negro womanhood and ,miss 
,sarah ,brown1 her direct opposite1 a   
little woman sitting up in her aerie    
above a noisy ,new ,york street1 stand  
for the very best that there is in our  
mothers1 wives and sisters4 ,the one    
fully in the public eye1 with learning  
and eloquence1 telling the hopes and    
fears of her kind2 the other in         
suffering and retirement1 with her      
knowledge of the human heart and her    
gentleness inspiring all who meet her to
 better and nobler lives4 ,they are both
 doing their work bravely and grandly4  
,but when the unitiate ask who is la    
,petite ,reine1 we think of the quiet   
little woman in a ,new ,york fifth floor
 back and are silent4  ,she is a patron 
of all our literature and art and we    
have both4 ,whether it is a new song by 
,will ,marion ,cook or a new book by    
,du,bois or ,chestnut1 than whom no one 

has ever told the life of the ,negro    
more accurately and convincingly1 she   
knows it and has a kindly word of praise
 or encouragement4  ,in looking over the
 field for such an article as this1 one 
just begins to realize how many ,negroes
 are representative of something1 and   
now it seems that in closing no better  
names could be chosen than those of the 
two ,tanners4  ,from time immemorial1   
,religion and ,art have gone together1  
but it remained for us to place them in 
the persons of these two men1 in the    
relation of father and son4 ,bishop     
,benj4 ,tucker ,tanner1 of the ,a4,m4,e4
 ,church1 is not only a theologian and a
 priest1 he is a dignified1 polished man
 of the higher world and a poet4 ,he has
 succeeded because he was prepared for  
success4 ,as to his writings1 he will1  
perhaps1 think most highly of ,his      
,apology ,for ,african ,methodism2 but  
some of us1 while respecting this1 will 
turn from it to the poems and hymns that
 have sung themselves out of his gentle 

heart4  ,is it any wonder that his son1 
,henry ,o4 ,tanner1 is a poet with the  
brush or that the ,french ,government   
has found it out8 ,from the father must 
have come the man's artistic impulse1   
and he carried it on and on to a golden 
fruition4 ,in the ,luxembourg gallery   
hangs his picture1 ,the ,raising of     
,lazarus4 ,at the ,academy of ,fine     
,arts1 ,philadelphia1 ,i saw his        
,annunciation1 both a long way from his 
,banjo ,lesson1 and thinking of him ,i  
began to wonder whether1 in spite of all
 the industrial tumult1 it were not in  
the field of art1 music and literature  
that the ,negro was to make his highest 
contribution to ,american civilization4 
,but this is merely a question which    
time will answer4  ,all these of whom ,i
 have spoken are men who have striven   
and achieved and the reasons underlying 
their success are the same that account 
for the advancement of men of any other 
race3 preparation1 perseverance1        
bravery1 patience1 honesty and the power

 to seize the opportunity4  ,it is a    
little dark still1 but there are        
warnings of the day and somewhere out of
 the darkness a bird is singing to the  
,dawn4     ,the ,negro's ,place in      
,american ,life at the ,present ,day    
,,by ,t4 ,,thomas ,,fortune             
,considering the two hundred and        
forty-five years of his slavery and the 
comparatively short time he has enjoyed 
the opportunities of freedom1   his     
place in ,american life at the present  
day is creditable to him and   promising
 for the future4  ,illustration3 ,t4    
,,thomas ,,fortune4   ,there can be no  
healthy growth in the life of a race or 
a nation without a self-reliant spirit  
animating the whole body2 if it amounts 
to optimism1 devoid of egotism and      
vanity1 so much the better4 ,this spirit
 necessarily carries with it intense    
pride of race1 or of nation1 as the case
 may be1 and ramifies the whole mass1   
inspiring and shaping its thought and   
effort1 however humble or exalted these 

may be1--as it takes all sorts and      
conditions of men to make up a social   
order1 instinct with the ambition and   
the activity which work for high        
thinking and right living1 of which     
modern evolution in all directions is   
the most powerful illustration in       
history4 ,if pride of ancestry can1     
happily1 be added to pride of race and  
nation1 and these are re-enforced by    
self-reliance1 courage and correct moral
 living1 the possible success of such   
people may be accepted1 without         
equivocation1 as a foregone conclusion4 
,i have found all of these requirements 
so finely blended in the life and       
character of no people as that of the   
,japanese1 who are just now emerging    
from the double night of ages into the  
vivifying sunlight of modern progress4  
,what is the ,negro's place in ,american
 life at the present day8  ,the answer  
depends entirely upon the point of view4
 ,unfortunately for the ,afro-,american 
people1 they have no pride of ancestry2 

in the main1 few of them can trace their
 parentage back four generations2 and   
the daughter of an hundred earls of whom
 there are probably many1 is unconscious
 of her descent1 and would profit       
nothing by it if this were not true4    
,the blood of all the ethnic types that 
go to make up ,american citizenship     
flows in the veins of the               
,afro-,american people1 so that of the  
ten million of them in this country1    
accounted for by the ,federal census1   
not more than four million are of pure  
negroid descent1 while some four million
 of them1 not accounted for by the      
,federal census1 have escaped into the  
ranks of the white race1 and are        
re-enforced very largely by such        
escapements every year4 ,the vitiation  
of blood has operated irresistibly to   
weaken that pride of ancestry1 which is 
the foundation-stone of pride of race2  
so that the ,afro-,american people have 
been held together rather by the        
segregation decreed by law and public   

opinion than by ties of consanguinity   
since their manumission and             
enfranchisement4 ,it is not because they
 are poor and ignorant and oppressed1 as
 a mass1 that there is no such sympathy 
of thought and unity of effort among    
them as among ,irishmen and ,jews the   
world over1 but because the vitiation of
 blood1 beyond the honorable            
restrictions of law1 has destroyed1 in  
large measure1 that pride of ancestry   
upon which pride of race must be        
builded4 ,in no other logical way can we
 account for the failure of the         
,afro-,american people to stand         
together1 as other oppressed races do1  
and have done1 for the righting of      
wrongs against them authorized by the   
laws of the several states1 if not by   
the ,federal ,constitution1 and         
sanctioned or tolerated by public       
opinion4 ,in nothing has this radical   
defect been more noticeable since the   
,war of the ,rebellion than in the      
uniform failure of the people to sustain

 such civic organizations as exist and  
have existed1 to test in the courts of  
law and in the forum of public opinion  
the validity of organic laws of ,states 
intended to deprive them of the civil   
and political rights guaranteed to them 
by the ,federal ,constitution4 ,the two 
such organizations of this character    
which have appealed to them are the     
,national ,afro-,american ,league1      
organized in ,chicago1 in #ahij1 and the
 ,national ,afro-,american ,council1    
organized in ,rochester1 ,new ,york1 out
 of the ,league1 in #ahih4 ,the latter  
organization still exists1 the strongest
 of its kind1 but it has never commanded
 the sympathy and support of the masses 
of the people1 nor is there1 or has     
there been1 substantial agreement and   
concert of effort among the thoughtful  
men of the race along these lines4 ,they
 have been restrained by selfish1       
personal and petty motives1 while the   
constitutional rights which vitalize    
their citizenship have been denied or   

abridged by legislation of certain of   
the ,states and by public opinion1 even 
as ,nero fiddled while ,rome burned4 ,if
 they had been actuated by a strong     
pride of ancestry and of race1 if they  
had felt that injury to one was injury  
to all1 if they had hung together       
instead of hanging separately1 their    
place in the civil and political life of
 the ,republic to-day would not be that1
 largely1 of pariahs1 with none so poor 
as to do them honor1 but that of        
equality of right under the law enjoyed 
by all other alien ethnic forces in our 
citizenship4 ,they who will not help    
themselves are usually not helped by    
others4 ,they who make a loud noise and 
courageously contend for what is theirs1
 usually enjoy the respect and          
confidence of their fellows and get1 in 
the end1 what belongs to them1 or a     
reasonable modification of it4  ,as a   
consequence of inability to unite in    
thought and effort for the conservation 
of their civil and political rights1 the

 ,afro-,american ,negroes and colored   
people have lost1 by fundamental        
enactments of the old slave-holding     
,states1 all of the civil and political 
rights guaranteed them by the ,federal  
,constitution1 in the full enjoyment of 
which they were from the adoption of the
 ,war ,amendments up to #ahgf-g1 when   
they were sacrificed by their           
,republican allies of the ,north and    
,west1 in the alienation of their ,state
 governments1 in order to save the      
,presidency to ,mr4 ,rutherford ,b4     
,hayes of ,ohio4 ,their reverses in this
 matter in the old slave-holding        
,states1 coupled with a vast mass of    
class legislation1 modelled on the slave
 code1 have affected the ,afro-,american
 people in their civil and political    
rights in all of the ,states of the     
,republic1 especially as far as public  
opinion is concerned4 ,this was         
inevitable1 and follows in every        
instance in history where a race element
 of the citizenship is set aside by law 

or public opinion as separate and       
distinct from its fellows1 with a fixed 
status or caste4  ,it will take the     
,afro-,american people fully a century  
to recover what they lost of civil and  
political equality under the law in the 
,southern ,states1 as a result of the   
re-actionary and bloody movement begun  
in the ,reconstruction period by the    
,southern whites1 and culminating in    
#ahgg1--the excesses of the             
,reconstruction governments1 about which
 so much is said to the discredit of the
 ,negro1 being chargeable to the        
weakness and corruption of ,northern    
carpet-baggers1 who were the master and 
responsible spirits of the time and the 
situation1 rather than to the weakness1 
the ignorance and venality of their     
,negro dupes1 who1 very naturally1      
followed where they led1 as any other   
grateful people would have done4 ,for1  
were not these same ,northern           
carpet-baggers the direct               
representatives of the ,government and  

the ,army which crushed the slave power 
and broke the shackles of the slave8    
,even so4 ,the ,northern carpet-baggers 
planned and got the plunder1 and have   
it2 the ,negro got the credit and the   
odium1 and have them yet4 ,it often     
happens that way in history1 that the   
innocent dupes are made to suffer for   
the misdeeds and crimes of the guilty4  
,the recovery of civil and political    
rights under the ,constitution1 as      
denied or abridged by the constitutions 
of the ,states1 more especially those of
 the old slave holding ones1 will be a  
slow and tedious process1 and will come 
to the individual rather than to the    
race1 as the reward of character and    
thrift2 because1 for reasons already    
stated1 it will hardly be possible in   
the future1 as it has not been in the   
past1 to unify the mass of the          
,afro-,american people1 in thought and  
conduct1 for a proper contention in the 
courts and at the ballot-box and in the 
education of public opinion1 to         

accomplish this purpose4 ,perhaps there 
is no other instance in history where   
everything depended so largely upon the 
individual1 and so little upon the mass 
of his race1 for that development in the
 religious and civic virtues which makes
 more surely for an honorable status in 
any citizenship than constitutions or   
legislative enactments built upon them4 
,but even from this point of view1 ,i am
 disposed to believe that the ,negro's  
civil and political rights are more     
firmly fixed in law and public opinion  
than was true at the close of the       
,reconstruction period1 when everything 
relating to him was unsettled and       
confused1 based in legislative          
guarantees1 subject to approval or      
disapproval of the dominant public      
opinion of the several ,states1 and that
 he will gradually work out his own     
salvation under the ,constitution1--such
 as ,charles ,sumner1 ,thaddeus         
,stevens1 ,benjamin ,f4 ,butler1        
,frederick ,douglass1 and their         

co-workers1 hoped and labored that he   
might enjoy4 ,he has lost nothing under 
the fundamental law2 such of these      
restrictions1 as apply to him by the law
 of certain of the ,states1 necessarily 
apply to white men in like circumstances
 of ignorance and poverty1 and can be   
overcome1 in time1 by assiduous         
courtship of the schoolmaster and the   
bank cashier4 ,the extent to which the  
individual members of the race are      
overcoming the restrictions made a bar  
to their enjoyment of civil and         
political rights under the ,constitution
 is gratifying to those who wish the    
race well and who look beyond the       
present into the future3 while it is    
disturbing the dreams of those who spend
 most of their time and thought in      
abortive efforts to keep the 'nigger' in
 his place--as if any man or race could 
have a place in the world's thought and 
effort which he did not make for        
himself6 ,in our grand ,republic1 at    
least1 it has been so often demonstrated

 as to become proverbial1 that the door 
of opportunity shall be closed to no    
man1 and that he shall be allowed to    
have that place in our national life    
which he makes for himself4 ,so it is   
with the ,negro now1 as an individual4  
,will it be so with him in the future as
 a race8 ,to answer that we shall first 
have to determine that he has a race4   
,however he may be lacking in pride of  
ancestry and race1 no one can accuse the
 ,negro of lack of pride of ,nation and 
,state1 and even of county4 ,indeed1 his
 pride in the ,republic and his devotion
 to it are among the most pathetic      
phases of his pathetic history1 from    
,jamestown1 in #afbj1 to ,san ,juan     
,hill1 in #ahih4 ,he has given          
everything to the ,republic1--his labor 
and blood and prayers4 ,what has the    
,republic given him1 but blows and      
rebuffs and criminal ingratitude6 ,and  
he stands now1 ready and eager1 to give 
the ,republic all that he has4 ,what    
does the ,republic stand ready and eager

 to give him8 ,let the answer come out  
of the mouth of the future4  ,it is a   
fair conclusion that the ,negro has a   
firmer and more assured civil and       
political status in ,american life      
to-day than at the close of the         
,reconstruction period1 paradoxical as  
this may appear to many1 despite the    
adverse legislation of the old          
slave-holding ,states1 and the tolerant 
favor shown such legislation by the     
,federal ,supreme ,court1 in such       
opinions as it has delivered1 from time 
to time1 upon the subject1 since the    
adoption of the ,war amendments to the  
,federal ,constitution4 ,technically1   
the ,negro stands upon equality with all
 other citizens under this large body of
 special and class legislation2 but1 as 
a matter of fact1 it is so framed that  
the greatest inequality prevails1 and   
was intended to prevail1 in the         
administration of it by the several     
,states chiefly concerned4 ,as long as  
such legislation by the ,states         

specifies1 on the face of it1 that it   
shall operate upon all citizens equally1
 however unequally and unjustly the     
legislation may be interpreted and      
administered by the local courts1 the   
,federal ,supreme ,court has held1 time 
and again1 that no hardship was worked1 
and1 if so1 that the aggrieved had his  
recourse in appeal to the higher courts 
of the ,state of which he is a          
citizen1--a recourse at this time       
precisely like that of carrying coal to 
,new ,castle4  ,under the circumstances1
 there is no alternative for the ,negro 
citizen but to work out his salvation   
under the ,constitution1 as other       
citizens have done and are doing4 ,it   
will be a long and tedious process      
before the equitable adjustment has been
 attained1 but that does not much       
matter1 as full and fair enjoyment of   
civil and political rights requires much
 time and patience and hard labor in any
 given situation1 where two races come  
together in the same governmental       

environment2 such as is the case of the 
,negro in ,america1 the ,irishman in    
,ireland1 and the ,jew everywhere in    
,europe4 ,it is just as well1 perhaps1  
that the ,negro will have to work out   
his salvation under the ,constitution as
 an individual rather than as a race1 as
 the ,jew has done it in ,great ,britain
 and as the ,irishman will have to do it
 under the same ,empire1 as it is and   
has been the tendency of our law and    
precedent to subordinate race elements  
and to exalt the individual citizens as 
indivisible parts of one stupendous     
whole4 ,when this has been accomplished 
by the law in the case of the ,negro1 as
 in the case of other alien ethnic      
elements of the citizenship1 it will be 
more gradually1 but assuredly1          
accomplished by society at large1 the   
indestructible foundation of which was  
laid by the reckless and brutal         
prostitution of black women by white men
 in the days of slavery1 from which a   
vast army of mulattoes were produced1   

who have been and are1 gradually1 by    
honorable marriage among themselves1    
changing the alleged race               
characteristics and tendencies of the   
,negro people4 ,a race element1 it is   
safe and fair to conclude1 incapable1   
like that of the ,north ,american       
,indian1 of such a process of           
elimination and assimilation1 will      
always be a thorn in the flesh of the   
,republic1 in which there is1           
admittedly1 no place for the integrality
 and growth of a distinct race type4    
,the ,afro-,american people1 for reasons
 that ,i have stated1 are even now very 
far from being such a distinct race     
type1 and without further admixture of  
white and black blood1 will continue to 
be less so to the end of the chapter4   
,it seems to me that this view of the   
matter has not received the             
consideration that it deserves at the   
hands of those who set themselves up as 
past grand masters in the business of   
solving the race problem1 and in        

accurately defining ,the ,negro's ,place
 in ,american ,life at the ,present     
,day4 ,the negroid type and the         
,afro-,american type are two very       
distinct types1 and the sociologist who 
confounds them1 as is very generally    
done1 is bound to confuse his subject   
and his audience4  ,it is a debatable   
question as to whether the ,negro's     
present industrial position is better or
 worse than it was1 say1 at the close of
 the ,reconstruction period4 ,as a mass1
 ,i am inclined to the opinion that it  
is worse1 as the laws of the ,states    
where he is congregated most numerously 
are so framed as to favor the employer  
in every instance1 and he does not      
scruple to get all out of the industrial
 slave that he can2 which is1 in the    
main1 vastly more than the slave master 
got1 as the latter was at the expense of
 housing1 feeding1 clothing and         
providing medical service for his       
chattel1 while the former is relieved of
 this expense and trouble4 ,prof4       

,w4,e4,b4 ,du,bois1 of ,atlanta         
,university1 who has made a critical    
study of the rural ,negro of the        
,southern ,states1 sums up the          
industrial phase of the matter in the   
following 7,the ,souls of ,black ,folk1 
pp4 #ci-dj73  ,for this much all men    
know3 ,despite compromise1 war and      
struggle1 the ,negro is not free4 ,in   
the backwoods of the ,gulf ,states1 for 
miles and miles1 he may not leave the   
plantation of his birth2 in well-nigh   
the whole rural ,south the black farmers
 are peons1 bound by law and custom to  
an economic slavery1 from which the only
 escape is death or the penitentiary4   
,in the most cultured sections and      
cities of the ,south the ,negroes are a 
segregated servile caste1 with          
restricted rights and privileges4       
,before the courts1 both in law and     
custom1 they stand on a different and   
peculiar basis4 ,taxation without       
representation is the rule of their     
political life4 ,and the result of all  

this is1 and in nature must have been1  
lawlessness and crime4  ,it is a dark   
and gloomy picture1 the substitution of 
industrial for chattel slavery1 with    
none of the legal and selfish restraints
 upon the employer which surrounded and 
actuated the master4 ,and this is true  
of the entire mass of the               
,afro-,american laborers of the         
,southern ,states4 ,out of the mass have
 arisen a large number of individuals   
who own and till their own lands4 ,this 
element is very largely recruited every 
year1 and to this source must we look   
for the gradual undermining of the      
industrial slavery of the mass of the   
people4 ,here1 too1 we have a long and  
tedious process of evolution1 but it is 
nothing new in the history of races     
circumstanced as the ,afro-,american    
people are4 ,that the ,negro is         
destined1 however1 to be the landlord   
and master agriculturist of the         
,southern ,states is a probability      
sustained by all the facts in the       

situation2 not the least of which being 
the tendency of the poor white class and
 small farmers to abandon agricultural  
pursuits for those of the factory and   
the mine1 from which the ,negro laborer 
is excluded1 partially in the mine and  
wholly in the factory4 ,the development 
of mine and factory industries in the   
,southern ,states in the past two       
decades has been one of the most        
remarkable in industrial history4  ,in  
the skilled trades1 at the close of the 
,war of the ,rebellion1 most of the work
 was done by ,negroes educated as       
artisans in the hard school of slavery1 
but there has been a steady decline in  
the number of such laborers1 not because
 of lack of skill1 but because trade    
unionism has gradually taken possession 
of such employments in the ,south1 and  
will not allow the ,negro to work       
alongside of the white man4 ,and this is
 the rule of the trade unions in all    
parts of the country4 ,it is to be hoped
 that there may be a gradual broadening 

of the views of white laborers in this  
vital matter and a change of attitude by
 the trade unions that they dominate4   
,can we reasonably expect this8 ,as     
matters now stand1 it is the individual 
,negro artisan1 often a master          
contractor1 who can work at his trade   
and give employment to his fellows4     
,fortunately1 there are a great many of 
these in all parts of the ,southern     
,states1 and their number is increasing 
every year1 as the result of the rapid  
growth and high favor of industrial     
schools1 where the trades are taught4 ,a
 very great deal should be expected from
 this source1 as a ,negro contractor    
stands very nearly on as good footing as
 a white one in the bidding1 when he has
 established a reputation for           
reliability4 ,the facts obtained in     
every ,southern city bear out this view 
of the matter4 ,the individual black man
 has a fighting chance for success in   
the skilled trades2 and1 as he succeeds1
 will draw the skilled mass after him4  

,the proper solution of the skilled     
labor problem is strictly within the    
power of the individual ,negro4 ,i      
believe that he is solving it1 and that 
he will ultimately solve it4  ,it is1   
however1 in the marvellous building up  
of a legal1 comfortable and happy home  
life1 where none whatever existed at the
 close of the ,war of the ,rebellion2 in
 the no less stupendous development of  
the church life1 with large and puissant
 organizations that command the respect 
and admiration of mankind1 and owning   
splendid church property valued at      
millions of dollars2 in the quenchless  
thirst of the mass of the people for    
useful knowledge1 displayed at the close
 of the ,war of the ,rebellion1 and     
abating nothing of its intense keenness 
since1 with the remarkable reduction in 
the illiteracy of the mass of the       
people1 as is eloquently disclosed by   
the census reports--it is in these      
results that no cause for complaint or  
discouragement can be found4 ,the whole 

race here stands on improved ground over
 that it occupied at the close of the   
,war of the ,rebellion2 albeit1 even    
here1 the individual has outstripped the
 mass of the race1 as it was but natural
 that he should and always will4 ,but1  
while this is true and gratifying to all
 those that hope the ,afro-,american    
people well1 it is also true1 and       
equally gratifying that1 as far as the  
mass is concerned1 the home life1 the   
church and the school house have come   
into the life of the people1 in some    
sort1 everywhere1 giving the whole race 
a character and a standing in the       
estimation of mankind which it did not  
have at the close of the war1 and       
presaging1 logically1 unless all signs  
fail1 a development along high and      
honorable lines in the future2 the      
results from which1 ,i predict1 at the  
end of the ensuing half century1 builded
 upon the foundation already laid1 being
 such as to confound the prophets of    
evil1 who never cease to doubt and shake

 their heads1 asking3 ,can any good     
thing come out of ,nazareth8 ,we have   
the answer already in the social and    
home life of the people1 which is so    
vast an improvement over the conditions 
and the heritage of slavery as to       
stagger the understanding of those who  
are informed on the subject1 or will    
take the trouble to inform themselves4  
,if we have much loose moral living1 it 
is not sanctioned by the mass1 wedlock  
being the rule1 and not the exception2  
if we have a vast volume of illiteracy1 
we have reduced it by forty per cent4   
since the war1 and the school houses are
 all full of children eager to learn1   
and the schools of higher and industrial
 training cannot accommodate all those  
who knock at their doors for admission2 
if we have more than our share of       
criminality1 we have also churches in   
every hamlet and city1 to which a vast  
majority of the people belong1 and which
 are insistently pointing the way1 the  
light and the truth to higher and nobler

 living4  ,mindful1 therefore1 of the   
,negro's two hundred and forty-five     
years of slave education and unrequited 
toil1 and of his thirty years of partial
 freedom and less than partial          
opportunity1 who shall say that his     
place in ,american life at the present  
day is not all that should be reasonably
 expected of him1 that it is not        
creditable to him1 and that it is not a 
sufficient augury for better and nobler 
and higher thinking1 striving and       
building in the future8 ,social growth  
is the slowest of all growth4 ,if there 
be signs of growth1 then1 there is      
reasonable hope for a healthy maturity4 
,there are plenty of such signs1 and he 
who runs may read them1 if he will4