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Title: Sparkling Gems of Race Knowledge Worth Reading - A compendium of valuable information and wise suggestions that will inspire noble effort at the hands of every race-loving man, woman, and child.
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Sparkling Gems of Race Knowledge Worth Reading - A compendium of valuable information and wise suggestions that will inspire noble effort at the hands of every race-loving man, woman, and child." ***
[Illustration: AS IT ONCE WAS--THE LIFE OF A SLAVE.]
SPARKLING GEMS
OF
RACE KNOWLEDGE WORTH READING.
A COMPENDIUM OF VALUABLE INFORMATION AND WISE
SUGGESTIONS THAT WILL INSPIRE NOBLE EFFORT AT
THE HANDS OF EVERY RACE-LOVING
MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD.
ILLUSTRATED WITH SUPERB HALF-TONE ENGRAVINGS.
COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY
JAMES T. HALEY.
SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION,
PRICE, $1.25.
"_Give attendance to reading._" (_1 Tim. iv. 13._)
"_No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding
them with good books. A book is better than sleep for weariness._"
(_Henry Ward Beecher._)
NASHVILLE, TENN.:
J. T. HALEY & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
1897.
DEDICATION.
_To every Son and Daughter of the Race,
whose noble aspirations are to do good and be good,
This Little Volume Is Dedicated
By the Compiler._
COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY J. T. HALEY & COMPANY.
PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENT.
If, as Lord Bacon says, "reading makes a full man," then it behooves
every one who has any aspirations to read.
The negro is just passing, as it were, through the gateway that enters
upon life's great work, and the publishers of this little volume are
anxious to see our "brother in black" develop, both from an
intellectual and a moral standpoint, and are ready to do what they can
to stimulate the race on to still greater achievements than they have
ever before accomplished. In launching "Sparkling Gems" we are simply
putting forth to the world what we hope may, in some measure, instruct
and encourage the colored people. We have compressed a vast amount of
valuable race information into a small compass. The style of the work
is good, and its moral tone is excellent. It can scarcely fail to
profit every member of the race who will read it, hence it should be
in every family, in every office, and in every library.
It has been the earnest aim of the compiler to embody in these pages
the latest conclusions of some of the most prominent Afro-American
scholars on several of the mooted subjects pertaining to the race.
We owe a debt of lasting gratitude to many of our friends who have so
generously furnished us valuable assistance in the collection of
_data_ for this volume, among whom we may mention W. B. Rust and T. B.
Mears as among the most enthusiastic.
Believing that there is a genuine need for such a work as we have
produced, we offer it to our colored friends and their white friends,
praying God's blessing upon it. THE PUBLISHERS.
[Illustration: AS IT NOW IS--HOME OF A FREEMAN.
Residence of R. R. Church, Memphis, Tenn., the wealthiest colored man
in the state; estimated at $250,000.]
CONTENTS.
THE NEED OF NEW IDEAS AND NEW AIMS FOR A NEW ERA 11
The Status of the Family--The Conditions of
Labor--Higher Plane of Morality.
LAYING THE CORNER STONE 23
THE TENNESSEE CENTENNIAL 31
Negro Building--History and Old Relics--Department
of Arts--Mines and Minerals--Department of
Dentistry--The Woman's Board.
COTTON STATES INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION 45
THE NEED OF THE HOUR 47
UNITY 49
NEGRO BUSINESS ASSOCIATION 51
NEGRO BANKS 53
NEGRO WEALTH BY STATES 54
NEGRO SCHOOL-TEACHERS 55
HOW TO TEACH OBEDIENCE 57
HINTS FOR OUR GIRLS 59
WHAT NEGRO WOMEN ARE DOING 61
WHAT RACE NEWSPAPERS HAVE DONE 62
RACE EVILS 62
TWO CULTURED RACES 67
THE NEW COLORED WOMAN 69
HAVE COURAGE 72
THE SOUTH GIVEN THE PREFERENCE 74
MRS. GEORGIA GORDON TAYLOR 75
THREE GREAT NEGROES 76
POINTED PARAGRAPHS FROM RACE NEWSPAPERS 79
MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES 89
MISS HALLIE Q. BROWN 91
MISS HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS 95
Indorsement--To Henrietta Vinton Davis.
RICH THOUGHTS FROM GREAT RACE THINKERS 98
THE COLORED PHYSICIAN IN THE SOUTH 113
THE FIRST COLORED SPECIALIST 118
ESPECIAL COMPANY 119
THE SPHERE OF WOMAN 121
THE MOURNING PREACHER 124
OUR GREATEST DRAWBACK 127
THE RACE PROBLEM 128
MOTHER'S TREASURES 146
GEN. ANTONIO MACEO 149
MARRIED LIFE--ITS JOYS AND SORROWS 157
INTEMPERANCE 160
RACE NAME--WHAT SHALL IT BE? 167
THE NATION'S DUTY TO THE NEGRO 176
The Negro as a Slave--The Negro as a Common
Laborer--The Negro as a Soldier--The
Negro as a Citizen--The Negro as a Southerner--The
Negro in Politics.
FACTS FOR COLORED PEOPLE 185
DR. WILLIAM KEY 195
JIM KEY 196
A SOUL AT AUCTION 199
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
HUT OF A SLAVE 2
HOME OF A FREEMAN 6
DR. ALEX CRUMMELL, WASHINGTON, D. C. 10
PROF. W. H. COUNCIL, NORMAL, ALA. 24
NEGRO BUILDING, TENNESSEE CENTENNIAL 28
RICHARD HILL, CHIEF, NASHVILLE, TENN. 32
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 36
CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES 38
CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES 40
OFFICERS OF THE WOMAN'S BOARD 42
CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES, WOMAN'S BOARD 44
NEGRO BUILDING, ATLANTA, GA. 46
A. MEANS, MEMPHIS, TENN. 48
E. W. JACKSON, ORLANDO, FLA. 52
EMMA O. KENNEDY, MEMPHIS, TENN. 56
IDA B. WELLS BARNETT 60
L. J. BROWN, WASHINGTON, D. C. 68
DR. GEORGIA E. L. PATTON, MEMPHIS, TENN. 71
MRS. GEORGIA GORDON TAYLOR 75
FREDERICK DOUGLASS 77
REV. C. A. A. TAYLOR, OCALA, FLA. 80
MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES 88
HALLIE Q. BROWN 92
HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS 96
MRS. V. W. BROUGHTON, MEMPHIS, TENN. 99
CANE FIELD IN LOUISIANA 102
REV. M. VANN, D.D., CHATTANOOGA, TENN. 106
F. A. STEWART, M.D., NASHVILLE, TENN. 112
CHARLIE JOHNSON, LOUISIANA 120
REV. J. M. CONNER, LITTLE ROCK, ARK. 125
J. P. NEWTON, MEMPHIS, TENN. 129
PROF. B. T. WASHINGTON, TUSKEGEE, ALA. 132
PROF. DENNIS S. THOMPSON, KANSAS CITY, MO. 140
GEN. ANTONIO MACEO 148
MRS. M. A. MCCURDY, ROME, GA. 162
EDWARD SEABROOK, SAVANNAH, GA. 166
JOHN Q. ADAMS, CHICAGO, ILL. 189
JOHN G. JONES, CHICAGO, ILL. 191
REV. R. H. BOYD, D.D., SAN ANTONIO, TEX. 193
DR. WILLIAM KEY, SHELBYVILLE, TENN. 195
JIM KEY, SHELBYVILLE, TENN. 197
REV. JOHN HENRY DICKERSON, OCALA, FLA. 200
[Illustration: DR. ALEX CRUMMELL, WASHINGTON, D. C.]
SPARKLING GEMS.
THE NEED OF NEW IDEAS AND NEW AIMS FOR A NEW ERA.
BY ALEX CRUMMELL, WASHINGTON, D. C.
This subject divides itself into two heads: (1) The "Need" suggested;
and (2) The "Aims for a New Era," which shall meet the need.
It seems to me that there is an irresistible tendency in the Negro
mind in this land to dwell morbidly and absorbingly upon the servile
past. The urgent needs of the present, the fast-crowding and momentous
interests of the future appear to be forgotten. Duty for to-day, hope
for to-morrow, are ideas which seem oblivious to even leading minds
among us. Enter our schools, and the theme which too generally
occupies the youthful mind is some painful memory of servitude. Listen
to the voices of the pulpit, and how large a portion of its utterances
are pitched in the same doleful strain! Send a Negro to Congress, and
observe how seldom possible it is for him to speak upon any other
topic than slavery. We are fashioning our life too much after the
conduct of the children of Israel. Long after the exodus from bondage,
long after the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, they kept turning
back, in memory and longings, after Egypt, when they should have kept
both eye and aspiration bent toward the land of promise and of
freedom.
Now I know, my brethren, that all this is natural to man. God gave us
judgment, fancy, and memory, and we cannot free ourselves from the
inheritance of these or of any other faculty of our being; but we were
made to live in the future as well as in the past.
Nothing can be more hurtful for any people than to dwell upon
repulsive things. To hang upon that which is dark, direful, and
saddening tends to degeneracy. There are few things which tend so much
to dwarf a people as the constant dwelling upon personal sorrows and
interests, whether they be real or imaginary.
The Southern people of this nation have given as evident signs of
genius and talent as the people of the North; but for nigh three
generations they gave themselves up to morbid and fanatical anxieties
upon the subject of slavery. To that one single subject they gave the
whole bent and sharpness of their intellect, and history records the
result.
For more than two hundred years the misfortune of the black race was
the confinement of its mind in the pent-up prison of human bondage.
The morbid, absorbing, and abiding recollection of that condition is
but the continuance of that same condition in memory and dark
imagination. But some intelligent reader of our race will ask, Would
you have us as a people forget that we have been an oppressed race?
No. God gave us memory, and it is impossible to forget the slavery of
our race. The memory of this fact may ofttimes serve as a stimulant to
high endeavor. What I would have you guard against is not the memory
of slavery, but the constant recollection of it, as the commanding
thought of a new people, who should be marching on to the broadest
freedom of thought in a new and glorious present, and a still more
magnificent future. You will notice here that there is a broad
distinction between memory and recollection. Memory is a passive act
of the mind, while recollection is the actual seeking of the facts,
the endeavor of the mind to bring them back again to consciousness.
The fact of slavery is that which cannot be faulted. What I object to
is the unnecessary recollection of it. The pernicious habit I protest
against as most injurious and degrading. As slavery was a degrading
thing, the constant recalling of it to the mind serves by the law of
association to degradation. My desire is that we shall, as far as
possible, avoid the thought of slavery. As a people, we have had an
exodus from it. We have been permitted by a gracious Providence to
enter the new and exalted pathways of freedom. We have new conditions
of life and new relations in society. These changed circumstances
bring to us thoughts, new ideas, new projects, new purposes, and new
ambitions, of which our fathers never thought. We have need,
therefore, of new adjustments in life. The law of fitness comes up
before us at this point, and we are called upon, as a people, to
change the currents of life and to shift them into new and broader
channels. I do not ignore the intellectual evils which have fallen
upon us. Neither am I indifferent to the political disasters we are
still suffering. But when I take a general survey of our race in the
United States I can see that there are evils which lie deeper than
intellectual neglect or political injury.
We have three special points of weakness in our race: 1. The Status of
the Family. 2. The Conditions of Labor. 3. The Element of Morals.
It is my firm conviction that it is our duty to address ourselves more
earnestly to the duties involved in these considerations than to any
and all other considerations. Let us notice first
THE STATUS OF THE FAMILY.
I shall not pause to detail the calamities which slavery has entailed
upon our race in the domain of the family. Every one knows how it has
pulled down every pillar and shattered every priceless fabric. But now
that we have begun the life of freedom we should attempt the repair of
this, the noblest of all the structures of human life. The basis of
all human progress and of all civilization is the family. Despoil the
idea of family, assail rudely its elements, its framework, and its
essential principles, and nothing but degradation and barbarism can
come to any people. If you will think but for a moment of all that is
included in this word "family," you will see at once that it is the
root idea of all civility, of all the humanities, of all organized
society. In the family are included all the loves, the cares, the
sympathies, the solicitudes of parents and wives and husbands; all the
active industries, the prudent economies, and the painful
self-sacrifices of households; all the sweet memories, the gentle
refinements, the pure speech, and the godly anxieties of womanhood;
all the endurance, the courage, and the hardy toil of men; all these
have their roots in the family.
Alas! how widely have these traits and qualities been lost to our race
in this land! How numerous are the households where they have never
been known or recognized! The beginning of all organized society is in
the family. The school, the college, the professions, suffrage, civil
office, are all valuable things; but what are they compared to the
family? Here, then, where we have suffered the greatest, is a
world-wide field for our intellectual anxieties and our most
intelligent effort.
Secondly we will consider
THE CONDITIONS OF LABOR.
I refer to the industrial conditions of our race. No topic is exciting
more interest and anxiety than the labor question. Almost an angry
contest is going on upon the relations of capital to labor. Into this
topic all the other kindred questions of wages, hours of labor,
co-operation, distribution of wealth--all are canvassed in behalf of
the labor element of the country, but all, I may say exclusively, for
the white labor of this great nation. The white labor is organized
labor; it is intelligent labor; it is skilled labor; it is protected
labor. It is labor nourished, guarded, shielded, rooted in national
institutions, propped up by the suffrage of the laboring population,
and needs no extraordinary succors. But, my friends, just look at the
black labor of this country, and consider its sad conditions, its
disorganized and rude characteristics, its almost servile status.
What gives labor, in any land, dignity and healthiness? It is the
qualities of skill and enlightenment. It is only by these qualities
that men can work in the best manner, with the least waste, and for
the largest remuneration. Where the laborer is uninformed and merely
mechanical in his work, there he knows labor somewhat as an animal
does; and he is led almost blindly to the same dull, animal-like
endurance of toil, which is the characteristic of the beast of the
field. His work, moreover, is not self-directed, for it has no inward
spring. It is not the outcome of the knowing mind and the trained and
cunning hand. It is labor directed by overseeing and commanding skill
and knowledge. Multitudes in every land under the sun know labor
precisely in the same way that domestic animals do. They know the mere
physical toil. They know the severest tasks. They know the iron
routine of service. They know the soulless submission of drudgery. But
alas! they have never come to know the dignity of labor; they have
never been permitted to share its golden values and its lofty
requitals.
Now, if I do not make the very greatest of mistakes, this is the
marked peculiarity of the black labor of this country. I am not
unmindful of the fact that the Negro is a laborer. I repel the
imputation that our race, as a class, is lazy and slothful. I know,
too, that, to a partial extent, the black man, in the Southern States,
is a craftsman, especially in the cities. I am speaking now of
aggregates. I am looking at the race in the mass, and I affirm that
the sad peculiarity of our labor in this country is that it is rude,
untutored, and debased.
Here, then, is a great problem which is to be settled before the Negro
race can make the advance of a single step. Without the solution of
this enormous question, neither individual nor family life can secure
its proper conditions in this country. Who are the men who shall
undertake to settle this momentous question? How are they to bring
about the settlement of it? I answer, first of all, that the rising
intelligence of this race, the educated, thinking, scholarly men, who
come out of our schools trained and equipped by reading culture; they
are the men who are to handle this great subject. Who else can be
expected to attempt it? Do you think that men of other races will
encourage our cultivated men to parade themselves as mere carpet
knights of politics, and they themselves assume the added duty of the
moral and material restoration of our race? Never! They expect every
people to bear somewhat the burdens of their own restoration and
upbuilding; and rightly so. And next, as to the other question, How is
this problem of labor to be settled? I reply, in all candor, that I am
unable to answer so intricate a question. But this I do say: (1) That
you have got to bring to the settlement of it all the brain power, all
the penetration, all the historical reading, and all the generous
devotedness of heart that you can command; and (2) that in the
endeavor to settle this question that you are not to make the mistake
that it is external forces which are chiefly to be brought to bear
upon this enormity. No race of people can be lifted up by others to
grand civility. The elevation of a people, their thorough
civilization, comes chiefly from internal qualities. If there is no
receptive and living quality in them which can be evoked for their
elevation, then they must die! The emancipation of the black race in
this land from the injustice and grinding tyranny of their labor
servitude is to be effected mainly by the development of such personal
qualities, such thrift, energy, and manliness as shall, in the first
place, raise them above the dependence and the penury of their present
vassalage, and next shall bring forth such manliness and dignity in
the race as may command the respect of their oppressors.
To bring about these results we need intelligent men and women, so
filled with philanthropy that they will go down to the humblest
conditions of their race, and carry to their lowly huts and cabins all
the resources of science, all the suggestions of domestic, social, and
political economies, all the appliances of school and industries in
order to raise and elevate the most abject and needy race on American
soil. If the scholarly and enlightened colored men and women care not
to devote themselves to these lowly but noble duties, to these humble
but sacred conditions, what is the use of their schooling and
enlightenment? Why, in the course of Providence, have they had their
large advantages and their superior opportunities?
I bring to your notice one other requirement of the black race in this
country, and that is the need of a
HIGHER PLANE OF MORALITY.
I make no excuse for introducing so delicate and, perchance, so
offensive, a topic; a topic which necessarily implies a state of
serious moral defectiveness. If the system of slavery did not do us
harm in every segment and section of our being, why have we for
generations complained of it? And if it did do us moral as well as
intellectual harm, why, when attempting by education to rectify the
injury to the mental nature, should we neglect the reparation of the
moral condition of the race? We have suffered, my brethren, in the
whole domain of morals. We are still suffering as a race in this
regard. Take the sanctity of marriage, the facility of divorce, the
chastity of woman, the shame, modesty, and bashfulness of girlhood,
the abhorrence of illegitimacy, and there is no people in this land
who, in these regards, have received such deadly thrusts as this race
of ours. And these qualities are the grandest qualities of all
superior people.
This moral elevation should be the highest ambition of our people.
They make the greatest mistakes who tell you that money is the master
need of our race. They equally err who would fain fasten your
attention upon the acknowledged political difficulties which confront
us in the lawless sections of the land. I acknowledge both of these
grievances. But the one grand result of all my historic readings has
brought me to this single and distinct conviction that "by the soul
only the nations shall be free."
If I am not greatly at error, a mighty revolution is demanded of our
race in this country. The whole status of our condition is to be
transformed and elevated. The change which is demanded is a deeper one
than that of emancipation. That was a change of state or condition,
valuable and important indeed, but affecting mainly the outer
conditions of our people; and that is all that a civil status can do.
But outward condition does not necessarily touch the springs of life.
That requires other, nobler, more spiritual agencies. What we need is
a grand moral revolution, which shall touch and vivify the inner life
of a people, which shall give them dissatisfaction with ignoble
motives and sensual desires, which shall bring to them a resurrection
from inferior ideas and lowly ambitions; which shall shed illumination
through all the chambers of their souls, which shall lift them up to
lofty aspirations, which shall put them in the race for manly moral
superiority. A revolution of this kind is not a gift which can be
handed over by one people, and placed as a new deposit in the
constitution of another. Nor is it an acquisition to be gained by
storm, by excitement, or frantic and convulsive agitation, political
or religious. The revolution of which I speak must find its primal
elements in qualities, latent though they be, which reside in the
people who need this revolution, and which can be drawn out of them,
and thus secure form and reality.
The basis of this revolution must be character. That is the rock on
which our whole race in America is to be built up. Our leaders are to
address themselves to this main and master endeavor--viz., to free
them from false ideas and injurious habits, to persuade them to the
adoption of correct principles, to lift them up to superior modes of
living, and so bring forth, as permanent factors in their life, the
qualities of thrift, order, virtue, and manliness.
But who are the agents to bring about this grand change in the Negro
race? Remember, just here, that all effectual revolutions in a people
must be racial in their characteristics. You can't take the essential
qualities of one people and transfuse them into the blood of another
people, and make them indigenous to them. The primal qualities of a
family, a race, a nation are heritable qualities. They abide in their
constitution. They remain, notwithstanding the conditions and the
changes of rudeness, slavery, civilizations, and enlightenment. It is
a law of moral elevation that you must allow the constant abidance of
the essential elements of a people's character; therefore when I put
the query, Who shall be the agent to raise and elevate our race to a
higher plane of being? the answer will at once flash upon your
intelligence. It is to be effected by the scholars and philanthropists
which come forth in these days from the schools. They are the people
to transform, stimulate, and uplift, because it is a work of
intelligence; it is a work which demands historic facts and their
application to new circumstances.
But these reformers must not be mere scholars. The intellect is to be
used, but mainly as the vehicle of mind and spiritual aims, and hence
these men must needs be both scholars and philanthropists.
Allow me, in the conclusion of this article, to express the hope that
He who holds the hearts of all men will give you the spirit to forget
yourselves, and live for the good of man and the glory of God. Such a
field and opportunity are graciously opened to you in the conditions
and needs of our race in this country. May you and I be equal to them!
LAYING THE CORNER STONE.[A]
(FROM THE DAILY AMERICAN.)
Prof. W. H. Council, Principal of the Normal Industrial School, was
the principal speaker of the day. Perhaps few men possess such power
over an audience. The manuscript part of his address is herewith
given. But the most enthusiastic parts of his speech and the most
effective with the audience were his extemporaneous effusions that
accompanied the delivery.
[Footnote A: Extract from the speech of W. H. Council delivered at the
laying of the corner stone of the Negro Building of the Tennessee
Centennial, Nashville, Tenn., March 13, 1897.]
[Illustration: PROF. W. H. COUNCIL, NORMAL, ALA.]
_ADDRESS._
These occasions mark the evolution of Southern thought and industry,
and the result of the self-directed energy of the negro. Here on this
spot the world may see the other side of Negro life than "Sam Johnson,
the chicken thief." Here it may see the healthful buds of Negro
handicraft, Negro art, science, literature, invention. Here the world
may see the hitherto giant energies of a mighty people waking into
conscious activity. Here on this spot the nations may place their ears
to the ground and hear the industrious tread of millions of black
feet--hear the beats of millions of noble hearts beneath black skins
and catch the thrill of these on coming millions to be felt in the
industrial and literary world.
Here on this spot the old master who followed Lee's tattered banners
over the snow-covered hills of Virginia down to Appomattox sacrifices
his pro-slavery ideas, and builds a monument to Negro fidelity and
industry; and here the Negro brings the product of his brain and hand
in grateful testimony to the friendly feelings between us. I challenge
the annals of man to present so beautiful a spectacle!
This opportunity given to us to display what we have accomplished in
our three hundred years' struggle from barbarism to industrious
Christian liberty, right here in the Egypt of our bondage, is one of
the bravest acts of the brave and chivalrous people. And I am not slow
to recognize the fact that we received much more from slavery than did
the slaveholder. Only as we recede from Appomattox, and only as the
echoes of Fort Sumter's bloody guns die away in gentle murmurs of the
music of love around the altars of faith and hope, only as memories of
former hates shall have been drowned in the Red Sea of brotherly love,
and the good things which we have done for each other come like angels
into conscious view, will the old master and the old slave know what
helps they have been to each other. We must love. We cannot afford to
hate.
Negro history has solved the Negro problem from the Negro side. There
still remains the Caucasian problem. In view of what the Negro has
done for this country, in view of what the white man has done for the
Negro, will the white man continue and enlarge the work of
encouragement to this struggling race? Or will he use the shotgun
instead of the Holy Bible; the bloody knife instead of the spelling
book? These are problems for Caucasian brains.
I know of no element in noble human character which is not found in
the Negro race. Indeed, he has been placed under greater strains of
conscience and taxed more severely in honor and integrity than any
other race known to history. Did it ever occur to you that the South
is even wild in its praises of negro fidelity in the days when it was
prostrate in civil strife and its defenseless women and children
committed to the care of the black men of the South? Is there a single
case of treachery or infidelity recorded against us? Did it ever occur
to you that the Northern soldier could always trust his life in the
hands of a black man, wherever found? Is there a single case of
treachery or infidelity recorded against us by the North? He would
defend and feed "old mistress" committed to his charge. He would hide
the cattle and food and valuables in the hollows and in the thickets,
and then pilot the Northern army by these hidden goods safely through
the mountains out of danger. Has ever human nature been so taxed
before? No other citizens in this great country have better right to
rejoice at her prosperity than the Negro.
The South owes her industrial significance largely to the Negro. King
Cotton sits on a throne of gold held aloft by the strong black arms of
the Negro and shakes his snowy locks over the commercial world. And
our beloved South may yet call upon ebony sinews to beat back the
enemies of her peace, prosperity, and happiness, and again stand
between starvation, danger, and death, and her defenseless wives and
little ones; and the Negro will again manfully, cheerfully, faithfully
answer the call.
From this spot must radiate higher hopes, broader ideas, nobler aims
to teach, inspire, and exalt Negro muscle, Negro brain, Negro
heart--to soften asperities, to generate greater tolerance, and to
make the South a "new earth" until the "Fatherhood of God" and the
"brotherhood of man" shall bring the "new heaven."
[Illustration: NEGRO BUILDING, TENNESSEE CENTENNIAL.]
No people can rise in the world and maintain creditable standing alone
with the saw, the hammer, and the plane; as cooks, washerwomen, and
nurses; as farmers, bootblacks, hotel boys, and barbers. These are
necessary, but there must be strong intellectual giants in the pulpit,
at the bar, in the schoolroom, in medicine--as scientists, linguists,
artists, inventors--in order that any people may be accorded a
creditable standing in the society of races.
Whatever any other people need the Negro needs. We want the Negro to
have higher industrial education. He must be taught to smelt iron ore,
build locomotives, ships, telescopes, microscopes, steam engines of
every class, all kinds of mechanical engineering, farming machinery
and appliances, and do all work in glass, brass, gold, and silver.
This kind of higher industrial education is the only kind that he
needs now and is essential to his salvation. This kind of industrial
education is the only kind that can give a people permanent strength.
Teach the Negro boy the sacredness of human life. Teach him that man
must be as precious in the sight of man as he is in the sight of God.
Teach obedience to law, obedience to legally constituted authority,
which alone can give protection to life and property and security to
society. Teach him that the human mind can form no loftier ideal than
that of the triumph of right through the supremacy of law--that no one
who violates the humblest law of the land can be an ideal man. Teach
him that the transmission of a disregard for law is the transmission
of the spirit of the mob, the spirit of riot, the spirit of hate, the
spirit of internecine murder, the overthrow of the state, the birth of
chaos and pandemonium. Teach him that men and races grew from within;
that man grows by expansion from within; that congressional enactments
cannot make us a race. The race must make itself. Teach him that he
belongs to a glorious race, which stands before its God with its hands
unstained in human blood. Teach him to honor and revere this record,
and hand it untarnished down to the remotest posterity. Teach him that
it is better to be persecuted than to persecute. Teach that neither
race nor color will rule future man, who will be the evolution of the
wisdom of all the past ages; but that man, that race, which will
furnish the most brains, the most virtue, the most honor, the most
truth, the most industry, will stand highest and longest before God
and the judgment bar of the future righteous intelligence of the
world.
Teach him to love, not to hate. Teach him that the man who hates him
on account of his color is far beneath him, but the man who hates his
condition and strives to lift him up may be his superior. Teach him
that any coward may insult him, may wrong him, may send a bullet
crashing through a man's brain, may warm his dagger in a brother's
lifeblood, but it takes a strong man to take the weak and unfortunate
by the hand and say: "Stand on your feet, my brother, and be a man."
Teach him that that man, that race, is superior which does superior
things to lift mankind to superior conditions. Teach him that that is
the superior man, the superior race, which does most for its country,
fights noblest for man, and lives closest to God.
THE TENNESSEE CENTENNIAL.
Its Benefits to the Negro.
The people of Tennessee will celebrate the one hundredth anniversary
of the admission of their State into the Union by holding, at
Nashville, the capital, in 1897, for a period of six months from the
1st day of May, a great Centennial and International Exposition.
A structure to be known as the
NEGRO BUILDING
will be one of the most attractive in the exposition, and will occupy
a delightful and commanding position on the east bank of Lake Watauga.
The cut on page 28 will give the reader some idea of its magnitude. It
is amply sufficient to accommodate the vast variety of exhibits which
the Afro-American will have to display to the world. The purpose of
this department is to show the progress of our race in the United
States from the old plantation days to the present.
[Illustration: RICHARD HILL, CHIEF.]
This building was erected at a cost of over $12,000, and is the work
of the management, without any solicitation or money from the Negro
himself, which demonstrates an earnest anxiety for our participation
in the event. It is expedient that we respond to the invitation by
bringing forward the very best specimens of our merit and
progress--not for the sake of the temporary praise which our displays
may elicit, but for the more substantial benefits which we hope will
follow.
The same capabilities which are in other people exist in us, and only
want ampler avenues afforded for their exercise. We have abiding faith
in the ultimate amelioration of the present conditions by the best
sentiments of the American people. But the influencing of that
sentiment to a more favorable attitude is in ourselves, and is
accomplished more and more as we cause our usefulness to be seen and
appreciated.
We hope that our participation in the great event will contribute
largely toward establishing a feeling of more tolerance and
consideration. This is the key of the aim. If, as we believe, the best
impulses of the people are on the side of struggling humanity, and,
when awakened, are easily moved to its succor, then a creditable
display from us is bound to lead toward this result, both at home and
abroad. If the Southern States afford conditions friendly to its
ex-slave element, then there could be no stronger proof of it than an
exhibition of the progress of the Negro himself. Such an exhibition
would not only verify the claims of our home people, and help displace
the stigma which perhaps attaches to them abroad on the race question,
but its effect is bound to extend further. It elevates us at the same
time it elevates them, and creates a current of good will in the
direction of a better understanding.
HISTORY AND OLD RELICS.
It is intended to make this department one of the most attractive
features in the building. All relics of interest that are owned by
colored people are wanted on exhibition. All contributions that will
tend toward completing the history of the race are solicited for
exhibition.
We desire to have:
1. Sketches of the faithfulness and devotion of the Negro.
2. Biographical sketches of every Tennessee nonagenarian and
centenarian Negro.
3. A copy of every book, magazine, and paper published and edited by
Negroes.
4. Coins of Negro governments.
5. Stamps of Negro governments.
6. Sketches of Negroes by missionaries.
7. Pottery and utensils used by Negroes everywhere.
8. Sketches and photographs of Negroes prominent in Tennessee history,
or any other State.
9. Records of houses and localities connected with Negroes.
10. Bills of sales, passes, manumittance papers of Negroes, and laws
of cities and states before and since the war, for or against the
Negro.
11. Old papers with advertisements of runaway Negroes.
12. Articles on the Negro problem.
13. Relics.
14. The loan of medals awarded by Congress to Negroes for heroism,
also votes of thanks.
15. Histories of slave insurrections.
16. The number of acres of land owned by Negroes, and whether
incumbered or unincumbered.
17. Catalogues of schools owned and officered by Negroes, or schools
where Negroes are being instructed.
DEPARTMENT OF ARTS.
The managers have designated for this department a space sufficient to
show hundreds of pictures and pieces of sculpture. The Art Committee
is now receiving paintings, sculpture, and other works of the highest
quality from owners and artists of the colored race. The high-class
works of art in this department will mark the progress of our
education.
MINES AND MINERALS.
We propose to display on a magnificent scale the best specimens of our
workmanship. It is the intention of this department to obtain an
exhibit from the mine or ore bed in which our people are at work,
whether it be coal, slate, marble, fine sand and gravel, ore of iron,
copper, tin, zinc, silver or gold, or any peculiar geological deposit.
[Illustration: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE--1. Rev. T. E. Crawley; 2. Dr. F.
A. Stewart; 3. Rev. Preston Taylor; 4. S. A. Walker; 5. W. T.
Hightower; 6. Rev. R. B. Vandervill; 7. Thomas Tyree.]
DEPARTMENT OF DENTISTRY.
The Afro-American will also make an exhibit of dentistry. In this
department will be seen gold plates, porcelain plates, rubber and
brass plates, gold and brass crowns, gold and amalgam filled teeth,
and bridges of various kinds. We expect that this department will help
us to show to the civilized world that the Negro is not a failure, nor
is he lagging in any of the skillful and most highly honored
professions.
THE WOMAN'S BOARD.
Those of our race who have given their time and energy toward
brightening the prospects and bettering the conditions of the Negro
have all along advocated equal opportunities and advantages for male
and female.
No other course would be consistent. No other line would be logical.
If the Negro advocates the idea of equal opportunities and advantages
for white and black, he must, to be consistent, urge equal
opportunities for male and female. He says by this that every human
being should be allowed the same privileges and prerogatives, which
carries with it the same possibilities and promise in life for every
human, all things else being equal.
Those planning the Negro Department acted wisely in establishing a
Woman's Department.
[Illustration: CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES.--1. J. B. Battle, Agriculture;
2. Dr. E. B. Jefferson, Dentistry; 3. Prof. D. W. Byrd, Educational;
4. Dr. William Sevier, Medicine; 5. Robert A. Walker, Poultry.]
Besides the departments already mentioned, there will be a number of
others equally interesting, such as Department of Clubs, Department of
Agriculture, Department of Live Stock, Department of Marble and Stone,
etc.
The members of the Negro Department of the Tennessee Centennial
earnestly request the encouragement, co-operation, and assistance of
the Negroes of the United States and of America. It is very essential
that we show to the world what we can do. We have always been willing
and ready to help to push the lever of progress, but every one does
not see it in that light. This is a way by which we can make the world
see, understand, and realize our importance. In the Negro Department
we have the privilege of showing our work to such an advantage that it
cannot fail to represent us. Therefore we appeal to every Negro man
and woman, who has any real pride, to do all in his or her power to
make this department a success. Before another centennial celebration
others will have our place in the arena of life, and they will love
and honor us for this and other examples of patriotism that we may
leave on record for their inspiration.
Though the examples we leave them may have been given under adverse
circumstances, they will understand it. They will know as well as we
that there is no reward without labor, no prize without a struggle, no
victory without a battle.
[Illustration: CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES.--1. W. L. Causler,
Horticulture; 2. H. G. Scales, Marble and Building Stone; 3. J. Ira
Watson, Minerals and Mines; 4. Dr. R. S. White, Art; 5. T. L. Jones,
Floriculture; 6. H. C. Ganaway, Clubs and Publicity.]
We as a race cannot afford to let this great undertaking fail. We will
not let it fail. Do not hesitate to send your exhibits because you
feel that they are not perfect. Do the best you can in getting them
up, send them, and leave the result of their defects to the Great
Judge, who knows the depths from which we have come, the heights to
which we are aspiring, and the condition of our environment. We have
the ability, the means, and the opportunity is at hand to erect a
monument to the race. During the century we are about to celebrate, we
acted as heroes for others. Why not play the man for ourselves now?
Why not as citizens of Tennessee join in the celebration of the birth
of our State? She was born into the Union June 1, 1796. She has been
in one hundred years (minus the year of secession), and we, as a race,
have been right along with her. Not only have we been connected with
Tennessee, but we have been identified with the whole country since
1620, and have assisted in producing peace, prosperity. We have helped
to clear the forests, till the soil, level the mountains, fill the
valleys, bridge rivers, build railroads, factories, schoolhouses,
churches, towns, and cities. We have labored assiduously to make this
country bloom as a rose. This fact is admitted by multiplied thousands
of the best white people in the whole South. We are not ashamed of our
record in the history of our State, neither do we wish it to be
ashamed of us.
[Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE WOMAN'S BOARD.--1. Mrs J. C. Thompson,
President; 2. Mrs. J. S. Lovell, Fifth Vice President; 3. Mrs. W. H.
Key, Treasurer; 4. Mrs. Lizzie E. Robinson, Seventh Vice President;
5. Miss Nannie E. Perkins, Recording Secretary; 6. Mrs J. Ira Watson,
Sixth Vice President; 7. Mrs. J. C. Tate, First Vice President; 8.
Miss Laura B. Hobson, Corresponding Secretary.]
We have done well, but we can do better. A thousand years shall not
erase from the pages of history the part that we have played upon the
American stage of action. Do not falter now, my brethren, but rush to
the help of the Negro Department with your banners floating in the
breeze. We are pronounced an unsolved problem. We are quoted as a
vexatious question, and the eyes of the world are upon us. We can
solve this problem, we can answer this question, and we can charm the
gaze of the world. When? May 1, 1897. Where? In the Negro Building.
How? By filling it with suitable exhibits.
We are making history. The historian may neglect us, but there is a
hand that is writing upon the wall--not our destruction, neither does
it require a Daniel to read it. With the golden pen of time it dips
into the crystal fluid of sympathy, and writes us as a nation, making
rapid strides
Out of darkness into light,
Out of weakness into might.
It writes us as a nation upon the ocean of time, landing without
anchor, oar, or sail. Thirty-three years ago, when we started out from
the bonds of slavery with a legacy of poverty and ignorance, the
canopy of heaven for our shelter, we were in a miserable, helpless
condition. To-day we are a great nation, nearly 10,000,000 strong,
with nearly $1,000,000,000 wealth. When the products of our hands are
seen in the Tennessee Centennial, our government may be constrained to
pay not only the debt of gratitude, but the debt of money that she
owes us for the two hundred and forty-four years that we served her.
Peradventure, she may be persuaded to protect us better as American
citizens, and love us more as her hard-working, earnest, loyal sons
and daughters, not of Africa, but of beautiful America, the queen of
the world.
[Illustration: CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES.--Mrs. Carter, Music; Mrs.
Mills, Domestic Science; Mrs. Davis, Assignment; Mrs. Evans,
Horticulture; Mrs. Henderson, Ways and Means; Mrs. Adams, Patents and
Inventions.]
COTTON STATES INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION.
Atlanta, Ga., September 19 to December 31, 1895.
This was the first opportunity that the colored people ever had to
show the world what they have learned and accomplished since their
emancipation, and they made the most of it. Their exhibition attracted
as much attention as any other feature of the great exposition. This
building was erected by Negro hands, supervised by Negro skill and
brain, filled with products, evincing beyond a shadow of doubt the
Negro's advancement, and all a decided proof that he is a factor in
the American nation--a part of it, and an indispensable part. This
building covered a floor space of more than 25,000 square feet, and
was erected at a cost of $9,923. There was no charge made for entrance
or rent fees. In every State in the South the Negroes were thoroughly
organized for the collection of their exhibit, which consisted of all
farm products, needlework of all kinds, paintings, inventions,
carpentering, blacksmithing, silversmithing, dentistry, surgical
skill, pictures of colored men's places of business and residences,
industrial products from their schools, and hundreds of other things
that show the genius and thrift of the race. Registered stock, such as
horses, cows, sheep, and hogs, were on exhibition. All told, there
were 110 commissioners appointed, representing the various States.
Prof. I. Garland Penn, of Lynchburg, Va., was chief of the department.
[Illustration: NEGRO BUILDING.]
Every colored lady and gentleman who visited the exposition received
an inspiration which has made them enterprising and progressive.
THE NEED OF THE HOUR
It is high time that the colored people were looking more seriously to
their material interest. We have need to build more wisely in the
future in this regard than we have in the past, if we would receive
the attention and recognition of the dominant race, which our relation
to the body politic deserves. We dress well, we look well, and talk
well; but in far too many cases that is all of it--there is nothing
behind it. The Negro must learn the importance of doing business for
himself, accumulating property, supporting race enterprises, of
providing employment for our sons and daughters after they shall come
forth from the schools. We all cannot be school-teachers, lawyers, and
doctors. We need good stores and business houses of every description;
we must get money. It carries with it that power and influence which
we, as a race, so much need. The demands for positions among our young
girls and boys are becoming so great that the parents will soon be
taught the necessity of preparing a place before they complete their
schooling. It is to be regretted that we do not think of this until
our sons and daughters have completed their education. Places owned
and run by Negroes are the need of the hour. (Christian Banner,
Philadelphia, Pa.)
[Illustration: A. MEANS, MEMPHIS, TENN.
The only Afro-American Hatter known in the South.]
UNITY.
As a rule, the colored people all over this country are getting very
small wages; therefore they cannot save sufficient money to enter
large financial enterprises; but we must organize co-operate
associations, and from this will come assistance to build grocery,
shoe, dry goods, and commission houses.
We must come together. The colored people must unite, and the quicker
the better. Every other race on earth is uniting. Why not the Negro?
If you should be quite a long way behind your leader, keep in line.
Don't throw stumbling-blocks in the way of those behind you, or try to
impede the progress of those who have gone before you. We are all one
family, notwithstanding some of us can almost pass for other folks.
Again, lay down some of this fighting religion and take up piety.
Think how far you have traveled, and yet how far you are to go.
Thousands of immensely wealthy negroes, some of whom came from peanut
stands, others from the corn and cotton fields, slave men one day,
another free men; ignorant to-day, to-morrow educated; from one
position to another the Negro has traveled until they have produced
some of the best men in the country, and some of them have traveled
all the way from the ditch to the State House in less than a quarter
of a century. With men such as R. T. Greener, J. E. Bruce, T. Thomas
Fortune, J. M. Henderson, of New York; Booker T. Washington, W. H.
Council, Henry C. Smith, of Alabama; George L. Knox. G. L. Jones, Will
M. Lewis, W. A. Sweeney, S. A. Elbert, of Indiana; W. H. Crogman, R.
R. Wright, W. A. Pledger, of Georgia; H. C. Smith, B. W. Armett, J. P.
Green, of Ohio; J. C. Napier, R. F. Boyd, J. T. Settle, of Tennessee;
D. Augustus Straker, of Michigan; John C. Dancy, Isaac H. Smith, of
North Carolina; O. M. Rickets, of Nebraska; John M. Langston, J. H.
Smythe, John Mitchell, Jr., of Virginia; B. K. Bruce, E. E. Cooper,
Robert H. Terrell, R. W. Thompson, Alex Crummell, of the District of
Columbia; John R. Lynch, C. J. Jones, James Hill, of Mississippi; J.
Q. Adams, of Minnesota; N. W. Cuney, of Texas; John S. Durham, J. B.
Raymond, of Pennsylvania; George W. Murray, of South Carolina; P. B.
S. Pinchback, of Louisiana; E. H. Morris, of Illinois; Albert S.
White, of Kentucky; J. Milton Turner, of Missouri; and scores of
others equally worthy, we expect to be on our way very soon to the
White House. Let us start now, to-day. (Boston Advance.)
NEGRO BUSINESS ASSOCIATION.
An Afro-American Financial Accumulating Merchandise and Business
Association was organized in Pittsburg, Pa., June 22, 1896, for the
purpose of accumulating money to establish business among the race.
This association promises to build three large buildings, not to cost
less than $40,000 each. In these are to be carried on all kinds of
merchandise, and our young men and women will be thus employed.
Its object is to accumulate $560,000, which is to be divided into
shares of $52 each, and any person can purchase one or more shares for
10 cents each, for which the association gives the purchaser a
membership certificate. This certificate entitles the person to any
employment which the association may need; also when the holder of the
certificate has paid in $52, his or her certificate will be indorsed
as a paid-up certificate; and the holder will cease to pay any further
dues; and on this certificate he or she draws annual dividends of all
money, over the current expenses, and when the husband dies the wife
receives the same; when the wife dies the children take up the same
certificate and receive the same dividends as long as one of them is
living. Single persons holding certificates receive the same
privilege, and when they die, whoever they designate will take up
their certificate and receive the same dividend.
[Illustration: E. W. JACKSON, ORLANDO, FLA.
First-class Photographer.]
Already $35,000 worth of stock has been taken. The association now has
two coal yards running, four teams and 14 persons employed. It will
open a brickyard and stone quarry in East Liberty this spring and
employ 125 men and 40 teams. It will open coal yards next fall in
Allegheny, Braddock, and McKeesport, Pa. Men, women, boys, and girls
are asked to take shares. You pay 10 cents for a share, then 10 cents
a week. After two years you can, if you wish, draw your money out of
the association. You can also borrow money out of the association.
Rev. J. H. Thompson, 38 Arthur Street, Pittsburg, Pa., is the
President and General Manager. The Afro-Americans will watch the
workings of this association, and if it proves a success similar
associations will likely be established in other sections of the
country. (Star of Zion.)
NEGRO BANKS.
The Nickel Savings Bank, of Richmond, Va., is a prosperous financial
institution of which Dr. R. F. Tancis is President. It affords an
excellent opportunity for the saving of small earnings and is being
liberally patronized.
The Alabama Penny Savings and Loan Company, of Birmingham, Ala., has a
capital stock of $25,000, in shares of $5 each. Interest is paid on
time deposits. The company was incorporated February 16, 1895.
Officers: W. R. Pettiford, President; P. F. Clark, Vice President; B.
H. Hudson, Cashier.
The Capital Savings Bank, of Washington, D. C., has $50,000 capital.
Officers: Hon. John R. Lynch, President; James T. Bradford, Vice
President; L. C. Bailey, Treasurer; Prof. James Storum, Secretary;
Douglas B. McCary, Cashier. Directors: John R. Lynch, W. McKinley,
Robert H. Terrell, Wyat Archer, J. A. Lewis, H. E. Baker, H. P.
Montgomery, L. C. Bailey, W. S. Lofton, James Storum, John A. Pierr,
A. W. Tancil, J. H. Meriwethe, J. A. Johnson, W. S. Montgomery.
Deposits are received from 10 cents upward. Interest allowed on $5 and
above.
NEGRO WEALTH BY STATES.
The following statistics as to the diversified wealth of the New Negro
in the Union have been given out as official: In Alabama, $10,120,137;
Arkansas, $9,810,346; California, $4,416,939; Colorado, $3,400,527;
Connecticut, $550,170; Delaware, $1,320,196; Florida, $8,690,044;
Georgia, $15,196,885; Idaho, $16,411; Illinois, $11,889,562; Indiana,
$4,404,524; Iowa, $2,750,409; Kansas, $4,296,644; Kentucky,
$10,976,411; Louisiana, $19,918,631; Maine, $196,732; Maryland,
$10,392,130; Massachusetts, $9,904,524; Michigan, $5,200,122;
Minnesota, $1,210,259; Mississippi, $16,742,349; Missouri, $8,366,474;
Montana, $132,419; Nebraska, $2,750,000; Nevada, $276,209; New
Hampshire, $331,731; New Jersey, $3,637,832; New York, $19,243,893;
New Mexico, $395,244; North Carolina, $13,481,717; North Dakota,
$84,101; Ohio, $8,580,000; Oregon, $93,500; Pennsylvania, $16,730,639;
Rhode Island, $3,740,000; South Carolina, $16,750,121; Utah, $82,500;
South Dakota, $136,787; Tennessee, $11,446,292; Texas, $32,852,995;
Vermont, $1,112,731; Virginia, $10,932,009; Washington, $623,515; West
Virginia, $6,164,796; Wisconsin, $156,312; Wyoming, $243,237; District
of Columbia, $5,831,707; Indian Territory, $761,111; Oklahoma,
$4,213,408; thus giving a total of over $400,000,000, free from all
incumbrances.
NEGRO SCHOOL-TEACHERS.
The Negro school-teacher is the bright star of hope and promise for
the Negro race in America. There are now 25,000 school-teachers in the
United States, and 1,512,800 pupils in the public schools. Besides
this number, add 20,000 who are attending private schools, and 80,000
who are attending mechanical or art institutions, and as many more who
are all attending normal schools and academies. There are sixty-three
Presidents of Negro colleges, and yet thirty years ago not one in a
thousand of us could read. In 1897 we find that there are six hundred
negroes who are members of the Bar Association. There are also deans
in law colleges, court commissioners, and many common attorneys. There
are one thousand graduates of medical colleges. We are gradually
climbing up. (George Knox, Indianapolis, Ind.).
[Illustration: EMMA O. KENNEDY, MEMPHIS, TENN. Teacher at Le Moyne
Institute.]
HOW TO TEACH OBEDIENCE.
Be careful about the commands given; study, think, and pray. Be sure
that it is a right command, and one that the child can obey. A mother
said to her boy: "Bring in that stick of wood on the porch and put it
on the fire." The stick was too large, and he came and said: "Mamma,
it is too heavy." His mamma hit him a blow and told him that he was
lazy; but when she came to look at the stick, it was too large. This
mother should have apologized to her child, but she did not. Be sure
that the child understands your command. Be patient and repeat the
command, and then ask the child to tell you in his own words what you
want done.
A child is not obedient if you find it necessary to tell him twice,
provided he understands that you want it done immediately. Prompt
obedience should be required. "John, bring me the broom," said a
mother. "Yes," said the boy, and went on with his own work. "John, how
often must I tell you before you obey?" asked the mother impatiently.
Then John went for the broom. But he had disobeyed, and his mother
should have laid down her work and taken John alone and explained what
obedience meant; indeed, he deserved to be punished, if this was his
usual way of obeying. But the mother never explained that needing to
be told twice was disobedience. Most parents are thoughtless about
commands, and after they have given a wrong or unwise command they are
too proud to confess it. I heard a mother say these wicked words: "If
I promise my child a whipping and find afterwards that he was not to
blame, I will whip him anyway to keep my word good." No sensible child
can have any respect for such a parent. A bad promise is always better
broken than kept. "Thomas," said a mother in my hearing the other day,
"I promised to let you and Mary visit Cousin John to-morrow, but I
forgot that these clothes must be taken home to-morrow evening, and I
will need you both to help. It was careless in me to make the promise
without thinking. I am sorry to disappoint you." "Well, mamma," said
Thomas, "sometimes I promise without thinking, and then I can't keep
my promise; so all right. I will stay and help." "God bless you, my
dear boy; I know we both see now how important it is to think before
we promise," was the mother's kind reply. You can see how this plan
brought the child in sympathy with the mother. When the child is old
enough, you should take time to reason with him about the justice of
your commands; but when very young, "Mamma says so" is reason enough.
(Hope. Nashville, Tenn.)
HINTS FOR OUR GIRLS.
It's not such a difficult matter to keep your room in order. After
your own particular domain is in order, learn to keep it so. Learn to
dispose of things as you handle them, and while dressing yourself you
will at the same time unconsciously be setting your room in order.
Have a dainty little catch-all upon the bureau, or hanging near it,
and whenever you see a stray thread or bit of dirt, which you can pick
up, don't neglect it, but let it's place be in the catch-all. This
precaution will make sweeping an easy task and save your room from
ever having a littered look. There will be no days of "putting things
to right," for they will be right all the time, and your room will be
a continual pleasure to you, as you will not count the time it
requires to keep it so any more than you do that which you give to
insure personal cleanliness.
It will be easier to keep your room nice than to let it go after you
once know the pleasure of an orderly, dainty room, kept so by your own
hands. (The Guide, Baltimore, Md.)
[Illustration: IDA B. WELLS BARNETT, CHICAGO, ILL.
Editor _Conservator._]
WHAT NEGRO WOMEN ARE DOING.
BY H. R. BUTLER, ATLANTA, GA.
There are, according to the latest statistics, 1,280 Afro-American
women secretaries and clerks.
No less than one dozen newspapers are edited by intelligent colored
women.
Seventy-five Afro-American lady dentists, some of whom have a large
practice among the best white people, are an honor to the profession.
Sixty Negro women proclaim the gospel to dying sinners with telling
effect.
There are 4,314 colored lady musicians in the land of the "Father of
his country."
There are 111 colored women who are regular practicing physicians in
the United States.
In 1870 there was not a colored lady bookkeeper in this country.
To-day there are 347.
There are 18 Afro-American women who are competent land surveyors.
Statistics show that there are no less than seventy stenographers
among the colored women, most of whom are employed on good salaries.
The census of 1890 shows that there are 3,949 actresses in this
country, more than a score of whom are women of the race.
Besides the above-named avocations, we have sculptors, painters,
lawyers, architects, merchants, and, in fact, our women are filling
with success and ability almost every avocation and profession of
to-day, and the day is in the near future when the service of
thousands of others will be in still greater demand.
WHAT RACE NEWSPAPERS HAVE DONE.
(FROM BALTIMORE CHURCH ADVOCATE.)
The history of the colored newspaper is one of pathetic but vigorous
struggle. Upon the whole, with all of its drawbacks and want of proper
support, it has ever been one of the most potential arms of race
progress. It has been the means of throwing open to the race the
columns of the great Anglo-Saxon newspapers hitherto closed against
them. It has educated both races. It has been a mirror to reflect the
advance made by the race from time to time. Like the Negro pulpit, it
is far from being perfect. But its slow but steady progress
constitutes the very best commentary on racial life, its hopes and
fears.
RACE EVILS.
BY REV. G. W. JOHNSON, AUGUSTA, GA.
One trouble with us as a race is that we are not enough interested in
our progress, not enough interested in our standing among other races.
We are too easily satisfied, and not very anxious to get far away from
the fleshpots of Egypt. Every race must have its leaders, defenders,
and champions. If they have them not, they must produce them.
We should begin with childhood. Every criminal was once an innocent
child, and when he first commenced to do wrong, he found it hard and
difficult. Conscience called, alarmed, and remonstrated; and even
after wrongs were committed, conscience, the interior judge, held
court on the inside. He arraigned the prisoner at the bar of reason
for trial; but he continues to do wrong, and in early manhood he
stands a criminal. Step by step he was led away.
Take the murderer. He occupies his cell hardened by crime. Sentence
has been passed; the day of execution comes. The sheriff enters the
prison, reads the death warrant, pinions his hands, and the slow and
steady death march begins. The scaffold is reached, steps ascended,
and the prisoner takes his place on the center of the death trap; the
black cap is securely tied over his face, and the rope around his
neck, and as the trapdoor is sprung, the unfortunate man leaps into
darkness. This criminal was once the idol of a mother's heart, who
bowed over his cradle, taught him to walk and to say his prayers. She
looked forward to the time when he would grow up to manhood and make
himself felt among the world's great men; but alas! those hopes are
blighted. The boy begins the downward way keeping bad company, and
staying out late at night. He associates with gamblers and drunkards,
and soon becomes both. He goes to jail, to the chain gang, to the
penitentiary, and finally to the gallows. Much of the dishonesty is
due to the negligence of parents in early training.
I want to call your attention to that craze for fine dressing. If
parents would teach their daughters that a beautiful character is the
best and greatest ornament, and that a pure heart beneath the most
common costume is to be prized above silk and satin at the price of
virtue, we would have a better and purer race.
We have many enemies of the race who are members of the race. I will
call your attention to them by classes.
We have a class of women who boast of their association with white
men, and yet demand honor and respect from men of the race. Some of
our churches have been so loose as to give them membership, and every
now and then some fool Negro man will marry one. This class of women
hinders the progress of the race, and is indeed a curse to it, and
many of the white men who seek to lead astray every good-looking woman
in our race frequently refer to the immorality of colored women. The
race must frown upon this class of women, and make them feel their
isolation at all hazards. They should be treated as the lepers were
and are treated in the East to-day--put off to themselves; and all who
associate with them should be pronounced unclean.
The next class is the professional pimps. This class is represented by
a number of men and women who make a business of leading astray every
girl they can, disregarding their destruction and the sorrow brought
to the hearts of parents and friends, the disgrace to the race, just
since they receive some money for their hellish work. Some of these
professional pimps are members of some of our churches, I am told. I
would suggest that every father and mother, and every man who has a
sister, resolve to make it extremely hot for this class of the devil's
agents. Hand them around; blackball them; sound the alarm of mad dog.
Get them out of the church; have no association with them. Keep your
daughters from about them. Greet them as you would the devil, for they
are devils wrapped up in human flesh. I warn you against these men and
women who carry notes to girls for white men, and who lay snares for
the destruction of our girls. Have nothing to do with them.
The next class among our race that is a hindrance and a barrier is
represented by a number of men. These men seem to regard themselves
called to win the affections of light-headed and light-hearted girls,
get engaged to them, and after destroying their characters betake
themselves to others for marriage. The man who destroys the character
of a woman has as much right to be put aside and excluded from society
as the woman, and that society which recognizes such a man, and yet
ignores the woman, is rotten and demoralizing. We can never purify
society until we have good men as well as good women. We have too many
men in our race who delight to speak disreputably of nearly every
woman when they themselves have a very unsavory reputation, and should
be regarded with great diffidence. There are many women in our race
who are just as pure, and whose characters are just as irreproachable
as the women of any race, and our men owe it to these women and to the
race the duty of defending and protecting them, even to the risk of
our own lives. We should always speak of them in complimentary terms,
and allow no one to speak otherwise in our presence without positive
resentment.
The next class I want to discuss is the idle, lazy, shiftless, vagrant
class. The class I refer to are those who will not work, and yet hate
every man and woman who will labor and strive to accumulate something.
As a race, we are too jealous and grudgeful of each other's success
and prosperity. The prophet in his vision saw the image of jealousy
set up. In lifting the veil of futurity he must have seen the
condition of the Negro in the closing years of the nineteenth century.
Our children must be taught to work, and to love work. They must be
taught that work is honorable. The working people of any community are
the mainstay and backbone of that community. Paul said: "If any would
not work, neither should he eat." Christ, our glorious example, was a
working man, the carpenter of Nazareth, a busy man, a man
distinctively of the common people. Christ did not have among his
disciples a single gentleman of leisure. They were all working men. In
the early history of the church the great majority of believers were
from among the working people. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were
fishermen; Paul was a tent-maker; Moses, the greatest human legislator
the world ever produced, was once a shepherd; Elisha was a farmer, and
was called from the plow to succeed Elijah. Joseph and Daniel were
servants before they were made prime ministers. Martin Luther was a
miner's son. Cardinal Wolsey was the son of a butcher. John Bunyan was
a tinker. William Carey was a shoemaker. Jeremy Taylor was a barber.
Dr. Livingstone was a weaver. Every man ought to engage in some kind
of work, either braincraft or handicraft.
TWO CULTURED RACES.
The cultured class of white society in the South, as a rule, comes in
contact only with the hewers of wood and drawers of water of the Negro
race, and are prone to judge the rest by what it sees. A great
mistake. There is a large and growing cultured class of Negroes in the
South, which can mingle only with itself. When the strength of these
cultured classes--living in the same section, but separate and
distinct, and ignorant of each other--become more equal, as it surely
will in the future under the present specially fine educational
advantages now being engaged by the Negro, what is going to be the
effect? I believe that, in time, we will have in the South two almost
universally cultured races. That is the trend. (Smith Clayton [white],
Atlanta, Ga.)
[Illustration: L. J. BROWN, WASHINGTON, D. C. Manager Henrietta Vinton
Davis Concert and Dramatic Company]
THE NEW COLORED WOMAN.
BY FANNIE BARRIER WILLIAMS, CHICAGO, ILL.
In nothing else is our progress more happily signalized than in the
growing interest in the new usefulness of our women.
Ten years ago colored women were little heard of as useful members of
society, except in the work of teaching, religious interests, and the
domestic arts. Ten years ago the conscience of womankind among us was
scarcely aroused to the opportunities presented for multiplying our
activities in all the questions that concern social improvements. Ten
years ago the interest of colored women in each other was personal or
individual, and not racial or social. The great forces that are now
shaping all things toward newer and better conditions, that teach new
duties and suggest new opportunities for the exercise of all the
virtues of heart and mind have begun to affect our women in a
wonderful way. This year has witnessed a remarkable exhibition of the
spirit of unity in colored women. They have effected a truly national
organization of representative women. The organization is genuine in
its representative capacity, sincere in purpose, and positive and
practical in its proclamation of principles.
The National Colored Women's Association possibly means more to the
social order and improvement of the colored race in this country than
anything yet attempted outside of the churches. It has already
succeeded in making important many things that have been too long
neglected. It has succeeded in calling attention to the fact that the
Negro race has a good deal more intelligence and virtue than it uses
for its own advancement. The controlling spirit of this new
association of colored women is first of all for self-improvement. It
is the most distinct voice of self-admonition and self-examination yet
uttered by a national body of Afro-Americans. In other words these
women coming from all parts of our country and from various conditions
of the people, seem burdened with an earnestness to make pure and
strong and beautiful the home life and all the social relationships of
the race. Perhaps it is not necessary thus to call attention to this
association and its work after all that has been said and written
about it. But it seems to me that it cannot be too strongly urged that
the association needs for its success the enthusiasm and hearty
support of all of our women. The special organ of the association and
all of its other functions need the co-operation of colored women
everywhere. The questions outlined in its resolutions and address to
the public should be themes of wide and helpful discussion wherever
our women meet together. The way to make a great national movement
truly national, important, and effective is to talk about it and try
to realize in each community the high and important purposes of that
movement. That is the secret of the enormous success of such bodies as
the W. C. T. U., the Federation of Women's Clubs, the National Council
of Women, and others like them. Every community where earnest women
dwell is made to feel the living and active presence of these
organizations. Let our women everywhere give the National Association
of Colored Women power and permanency by every available means of
encouragement and support.
[Illustration: DR. GEORGIA E. L. PATTON, MEMPHIS, TENN.]
HAVE COURAGE.
If any race of people on this earth need to have courage, it is the
Negro.
Have the courage to say "No" when you are tempted to drink.
Have the courage to wear the old suit of clothes, rather than go in
debt for a new suit.
Have the courage to acknowledge your ignorance when asked about
something of which you do not know.
Have the courage to pay a debt when you need the money for something
else.
Have the courage to be polite, though your character may be assailed.
Have the courage to speak the truth, remembering the command: "Thou
shalt not lie."
Have the courage to own that you are poor, and thus disarm poverty of
its sharpest sting.
Have the courage to own that you are wrong, when convinced that such
is the case.
Have the courage to be good and true, and you will always find work to
do.
Have the courage to say your prayers, though you may be ridiculed by
man.
Have the courage to tell a man why you will not lend him money instead
of whipping the devil around the stump by telling him that you haven't
a cent "in the world," calling one of your pockets "the world."
Have the courage of your convictions. "According to a man's faith, so
be it unto him." This is true on every plane of life, from the lowest
to the highest. A man's power in everything is measured by his
convictions. The statesman who has the profoundest convictions is
surest of bringing others to see as he sees on any question which he
discusses before the public. The minister who can most completely
identify himself with his people, if he has the courage of his
convictions, is the one who is most likely to be successful.
(Afro-American Encyclopedia.)
THE SOUTH GIVEN THE PREFERENCE
"It is a poor charity that closes its doors to honest labor on the one
hand and opens its almshouses on the other." Such is the comment of a
writer who recently compared the relations in the North and South, as
regards their efforts to care for the poor, and especially the
distresses of the needy among the colored people. While the North has
an apparent balance in her favor in the matter of formal expenditures
for charity among the colored people, yet the South has the advantage
in true charity. It gives the helpless an opportunity to help
themselves. Charity is wisest in her ministrations when the object of
her beneficence is not deprived of the means of self-support and
independence. In the North nearly all departments of labor are
governed by trades unions, and the unfortunate Negroes, proscribed as
they nearly always are, are forced to become paupers. The South does
not bend the manacles of pauperism on his wrists, but instead opens to
him many lines of industrial activity, such as other sections of our
country do not afford. (American Baptist, Louisville, Ky.)
[Illustration: MRS. GEORGIA GORDON TAYLOR.
Nashville, Tenn.]
For seven successive years of almost continuous labor she was the
leader of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, of Nashville, Tenn., who
traveled extensively, both in America and Europe, giving popular
entertainment of a species of singing which originated among the
slaves of the South. She possesses a soprano voice of rare quality
that is always pleasing and in demand.
THREE GREAT NEGROES.
BY JOHN E. BRUCE, WASHINGTON, D. C.
The three greatest Negroes that the race has produced are dead. No
three living Negroes fill so much space in books or in men's thoughts
as Toussaint L'Overture, Richard Allen, and Frederick Douglass, and it
will be a long while before three Negroes of equal intelligence and
ability for leadership and organization will be able to take their
places. There are others, but these represent the real greatness of
the Negro on two continents, and each man's work stands out
conspicuously for itself. Hayti, the great African Methodist Church,
and Negro citizenship in the United States are the magnificent results
in part or in whole of the agitations begun by each of these men in
his appointed time. The monument to L'Overture's greatness,
generalship, courage, and organizing ability is the black republic
which he founded and consecrated with his blood.
Richard Allen's monument is the great African Methodist Church, with
its hundreds of thousands of worshipers, its schools of learning, and
its progressive and educated ministers, some of whom can hold a good
deal more book learning.
[Illustration: THE LATE HON. FREDERICK DOUGLASS.]
The monument to Frederick Douglass is the new citizen--the Negro
citizen, if you please--whose cause he eloquently pleaded in the
presence of the great and the powerful, in whose interests he made
thousands of sympathetic friends because the Almighty had given him an
eloquent tongue and a powerful voice. There are others, but these
three stand at the head of the list, and are better known to the world
at large than any other three Negroes on earth. What a triumvirate!
L'Overture, Allen, and Douglass--what a mighty combination! Courage,
piety, and eloquence. A bronze medallion with the heads of these great
Negroes worn near the heart of the young Negroes of this generation
might tend to fill their souls with loftier and nobler thoughts and
drive them nearer to the race which these men dignified. The
immortality of infamy is ours if we fail to produce a Negro in the
next generation who will not at least measure up to the standard to
which any one of these three immortals not only attained, but kept
unsullied and unspotted until the angel of death gathered them unto
their fathers, that they might sleep the sleep of the just.
POINTED PARAGRAPHS FROM RACE NEWSPAPERS.
Many of our young people might profit immensely by the careful and
proper employment of their time in the reading and consulting of good
books. (Woman's Messenger, Memphis, Tenn.)
* * * * *
Our girls and women can always render a great service to the race by
their ladylike deportment upon the public highways. (The Light,
Vicksburg, Miss.)
* * * * *
No race can rise above the morals of its women, and for that reason
the women of our race should be careful, and strive to do nothing that
will retard our progress. (The Informer, Louisville, Ky.)
* * * * *
We should endeavor to multiply the number of our white friends, in the
South especially, because it is to them and to ourselves that we must
look for our material advantage and practical welfare. (The Planet,
Richmond, Va.)
* * * * *
Our children should know the history of the race. It will instill a
spirit of race pride. They should know that the foundations of this
republic were made secure by the blood of our fathers as well as that
of the Anglo-Saxon race. (Clipper, Athens, Ga.)
[Illustration: CÆSAR A. A. TAYLOR, OCALA, FLA.
Editor _Forum._]
* * * * *
The Negro is sadly in need of money. There can be no substitute for
it. When a Negro man spends money and becomes important from a
commercial point of view, the color of his skin and the fiber of his
hair are all lost in the mad rush of the Caucasian to his pocket and
its contents. (Texas Baptist Star.)
* * * * *
While man can boast of great physical strength, skill, and bulldog
courage, woman carries in her weak frame a moral courage very seldom
found among men. If our race is to be a great race in this great
nation of races, our women must be largely instrumental in making it
so. (American Baptist.)
* * * * *
There is a mistaken idea that "culture" means to paint a little, sing
a little, dance a little, put on haughty airs, and to quote passages
from popular books. It means nothing of the kind. Culture means
politeness, charity, fairness, good temper, and good conduct. Culture
is not a thing to make a display of; it is something to use so
moderately that people do not discover all at once that you have it.
(Colored American, Washington, D. C.)
* * * * *
One of the surest ways to make the average Anglo-Saxon respect you is
to have him know that your check will be cashed at the bank or that
your name is written in the tax book of the county wherein you have
your habitation. He has learned that money talks, so to speak, and he
is always ready to give it an audience. The records of the Southern
States show up wonderfully well in favor of the Afro-American, and yet
not as well as they might. There are arguments and arguments in favor
of recognition, and the money argument is one of them. (Southern Age,
Atlanta, Ga.)
* * * * *
The Columbian Exposition did not give the Negro a chance to
demonstrate to the nations what he could do, but at the Cotton States
Exposition he was given a trial, and so well did he succeed that he
comes in for another showing at the Tennessee Exposition. Let the
Negroes feel that it is important and necessary to make a fine
display, and, imbued with this hope, let them press forward to eclipse
all former efforts. (The Enterprise, Omaha, Neb.)
* * * * *
We cannot go to Africa and succeed with all our ignorance and poverty.
Let our big men set out to break down immorality among Negroes. Get
Negroes to have more refinement and race pride, use Negro books and
papers, hang Negro pictures on their walls, get up Negro industries,
and give deserving colored men and women employment; break down
superstition and mistrust. Get Negroes to act decently, both publicly
and privately. (Clipper, Athens, Ga.)
* * * * *
Every colored family should point with pride to the deeds of our great
men. The walls of our homes should be adorned with the pictures of
those of our own race who have proven that we are not deficient in men
of noble and towering deeds. The tables should bear books of history
and biography which would make our boys and girls acquainted with what
has been wrought for and by the race. If we do not look out for these
points, the next generation will not be what it should be. (Christian
Clipper.)
* * * * *
The colored people of the United States pay taxes on $330,000,000 real
property, $50,000,000 personal property, and have about $60,000,000 on
deposit in savings banks. These figures are from carefully prepared
statistics, and are a wonderful showing for a people the majority of
whom have been out of bondage less than half a century. In Alameda
County, of this state, colored people are on the assessment roll for
upward of $1,000,000. Who says that the race is retrograding? If only
one-tenth of this money could be put into manufacturing and commercial
enterprises, what a commotion the colored man would make in the
country! Talk about the Jew and the Chinaman; why, they would be at a
discount! Let us all undertake to infuse a little of our business
enterprise into the veins of the race. What do you say? (Elevator, San
Francisco, Cal.)
* * * * *
The world is full of young men who want to succeed, but who are too
lazy to put forth an effort in the right direction. He is truly an
unlucky mortal to whom an opportunity never comes; and remember, the
humblest employment is better than none. The man at work is infinitely
more likely to get something better than the idler is to fall into an
easy "snap." Do not growl at fate, but bear in mind that every one is
the architect of his own fortune. (The Bulletin, Balfour, N. C.)
* * * * *
Mrs. Annie E. Walker, a graduate of the New York Art School, who went
to Paris to further perfect herself in the art of painting, has
returned to her home in this city after a most successful course in
one of the highest art schools in all Europe. After Mrs. Walker had
studied in Paris only four months she painted a picture from life
which was accepted by the French Salon, where it was put on
exhibition. When it is remembered that an art student is considered
fortunate and proficient if she can get a pastel into the Salon after
she has studied for years, it is most remarkable that an American
lady, and that, too, identified with the depraved race, should have
gone to France and broken all previous records. The painting which was
readily accepted by the Salon is now at the residence of Mrs. Walker,
in this city, and fortunate is the lady or gentleman who shall have an
opportunity to see it, for it indeed has life in it, and evinces the
fact that the artist is a genius of the highest order. (Colored
American, Washington, D. C.)
* * * * *
If we are to have a literature peculiar to our necessities, then our
men and women are to produce it. If they are to produce it, then our
leaders are to encourage it. Kind words may go a long way, a little
assistance in the amassing of data will prove invaluable, and helping
to make a market for the literature will act as a stimulus. Let us
encourage our men and women to write, and in a few years we shall have
a literature of which we need not be ashamed. (Christian Index,
Jackson, Tenn.)
* * * * *
When contemplating the race as a mass it is usual to judge its members
by its worst representatives, a method both unjust and untrue. The
colored people of the South, as a class, should not be judged by the
criminals among them who become conspicuous in the newspapers from
evil deeds that are often visited with swift and terrible justice.
They should rather be judged from the honest, hard-working men and
women who, beginning with nothing, have in the course of one
generation accumulated an amount of property that forms no
inconspicuous portion even of our magnificent national wealth. (St.
Louis Christian Advocate.)
* * * * *
When we have a task to perform we should go about it with a cheerful
heart, with an eye single to doing our best. Then duty becomes a
pleasure. Let us aim to be first in the pursuit of our life's work. We
cannot reach the topmost round at once, and if we get there at all
there must be something in us worthy of the upper rounds. Can we ask
Him to be our guide who noticed the falling of a sparrow to the
ground? Do so; then we will not choose the wrong path, we will not
stumble in our darkest hours. We will not think solely of our slavery,
of our closing hour, or how we will spend the evening, but will put
our mind on our duties and resolve that they shall have the best that
is in us; and by and by we shall enjoy the reward which is laid up for
the finally faithful. (Woman's World, Rome, Ga.)
* * * * *
Every law-abiding, self-respecting, hard-working colored citizen of
the United States should denounce in unmeasured terms those young men
of the race who do not work, but loaf; who do nothing to elevate, but
everything to degrade, the race; who choose the sunny side of the
street corners in winter and the shady side in summer; who use all
kinds of vulgar and indecent language, insulting ladies as they pass.
It is this loafing, nomadic young class that drifts to crime, caused
by idleness, evil associations, and the fact that this class does not
know the value of a dollar or the enormity of a crime. These young men
are millstones welded by chains around the necks of those of us who
are trying to be something and do something in the world. There are no
palliating circumstances, no mitigating conditions--nothing on God's
green earth--that will even to the slightest degree excuse this
worthless class. (The Herald, Leavenworth, Kans.)
* * * * *
It is the "Item's" opinion that industrial schools for colored youths
are, in a great measure, useless institutions. They can never become
serviceable until there is a spirit among colored men to establish,
own, and operate great industrial enterprises, and in that case youths
can be given a practical training in the work, which is better than he
could ever get in a school. Put forward the same amount of energy to
build a factory of some kind that is put in endeavors to get
industrial schools in working order, and more young men can learn
trades and draw mechanics' salaries immediately after serving an
apprenticeship; the owners will be making a profit and the commercial
importance of the city, county, and state will be enhanced. We never
hear of an industrial school for whites, and yet their youths are
becoming artisans all the while. In the slavery days Negroes carried
on all the skilled labor of the South, and no industrial schools
existed; they applied themselves to the work, and were first-class
workmen in every branch. (The Item, Fort Worth, Tex.)
* * * * *
The Bible upon which Maj. McKinley took his oath of office as
President of the United States on March 4, 1897, was donated to him
for this purpose by the A. M. E. Church. It was printed in Cincinnati,
O., by the Methodist Book Concern. It was bound and lined, front and
back, with silk, with a suitable dedicatory inscription upon the
inside. On the outside was a gold plate in the form of a shield, on
which the name of the President, the date, the name of the donor,
etc., were engraved. The Bible was inclosed in a box made of native
Ohio wood and gold mounted. It cost eighty-six dollars. The honor of
presentation was conferred upon Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett, of
Wilberforce, O. (Christian Recorder, Philadelphia, Pa.)
* * * * *
[Illustration: MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES.
The Black Patti of the race.]
MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES.
The Black Patti of the Race.
The subject of this sketch was born in Providence, R. I. When quite a
wee child she proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, her fitness for
the stage as a race representative, and has, among other things,
maintained her ground, never weakening and giving down, but nourishing
a faith fit only for the righteous, which has led her gently into the
pleasant and peaceful paths of success.
Some say that greatness is sometimes thrust upon us; others, more
liberal, say it is inborn; others argue that it is acquired. We say
that this is an instance where classical musical ability reigned
uppermost, controlling and directing the possessor as the mainspring
of all her infantile life; but on becoming cognizant of this state of
affairs, she was advised by good Northern friends to turn her whole
attention to the pursuit for which her heart and mind thirsted. Hence,
after a few weeks with the classic masters, the whole Negro race was
applauded for the advent of one among us, and sufficiently black to
claim our identity, that was destined to move the world to tears. Year
after year our subject has won new conquests, and now she is termed
the "Black Patti." Is this an instance of acquired greatness, thrust
greatness, or inborn greatness? We are loath to say inborn or thrust.
For every achievement made by our race that seems to attract the
attention of the world we are caused to feel grateful to God. When
Negroes are smart, as a rule, a characteristic spirit seems to
predominate in them when very small. Her career, while brief, is
nevertheless full of bright successes. (Dr. M. A. Majors.)
Mme. Sissiretta Jones sang at the residence of Judge Andrews, on Fifth
Avenue, New York, before a party of thirty ladies, among whom were
Mrs. Lord, Mrs. Fields, Mrs. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Stephens, and Mrs.
Astor. The Chief Justice of India, who was present, presented the
singer with a valentine, which, when opened, contained a check for one
thousand dollars. She also received a solid silver basket filled with
choice flowers.
MISS HALLIE Q. BROWN.
BY F. S. DELANY.
Hallie Quinn Brown is a native of Pittsburg, Pa. When quite small her
parents moved to a farm near Chatham, West Ontario, Canada. At an
early age, in the year 1868, she was sent to Wilberforce College,
Ohio, to obtain an education the country schools of Canada could not
give, and where her parents subsequently moved, and now reside at
Homewood Cottage. She completed the classical scientific course in
1873, with the degree of B.S. in a class of six. One of her classmates
is the wife of Rev. B. F. Lee, D.D., ex-President of Wilberforce.
Realizing that a great field of labor lay in the South, Miss Brown,
with true missionary spirit, left her pleasant home and friends to
devote herself to the noble work she had chosen.
Her first school was on a plantation in South Carolina, where she
endured the rough life as best she could, and taught a large number of
children from neighboring plantations. She also taught a class of aged
people, and by this means gave to many the blessed privilege of
reading the Bible. She next took charge of a school on Sonora
Plantation, in Mississippi, where she found the effort to elevate the
minds of the people much hindered by the use of tobacco and
whisky--twin vices.
But as she is an indefatigable worker she accomplished much, and at
this place, as at all others where she is known, her influence for the
better is felt. Her plantation school had no windows, but it was well
ventilated; too much so, in fact, for daylight could be seen from all
sides, with no particular regularity, and the rain beat in fiercely.
Not being successful in getting the authorities to fix the
building--shed, we should have said--she secured the willing service
of two of her larger boys. She mounted one mule and the two boys
another, and thus they rode to the ginhouse. They got cotton seed,
returned, mixed it with earth, which formed a plastic mortar, and with
her own hands she pasted up the chinks, and ever after smiled at the
unavailing attacks of wind and weather.
[Illustration: MISS HALLIE Q. BROWN, WILBERFORCE, OHIO.]
Her fame as instructor spread, and her services were secured as
teacher at Yazoo City. On account of the unsettled state of affairs in
1874-75, she was compelled to return North. Thus the South lost one of
its most valuable missionaries. Miss Brown then taught in Dayton, O.,
for four years. Owing to ill health she gave up teaching. She was
persuaded to travel for her alma mater, Wilberforce, and started on a
lecturing tour, concluding at Hampton School, Virginia, where she was
received with a great welcome. After taking a course in elocution at
this place, she traveled again, having much greater success, and
received favorable criticism from the press.
For several years she has traveled with the Wilberforce Grand Concert
Company, an organization for the benefit of Wilberforce College. She
has read before hundreds of audiences and tens of thousands of people,
and has received nothing but the highest of praise from all. She
possesses a voice of wonderful magnetism and great compass, and seems
to have perfect control of the muscles of the throat, and can vary her
voice as successfully as a mocking bird. As a public reader, Miss
Brown delights and enthuses her audiences. In her humorous selections
she often causes "wave after wave" of laughter. In her pathetic pieces
she often moves her audience to tears. The following are a few of
thousands of compliments paid to her by the public press:
Miss Brown, the elocutionist, ranks as one of the finest in
the country. (Daily News, Urbana, O.)
Her style is pure and correct; her selections excellent.
(News, Long Branch, N. J.)
Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the elocutionist with the company, was
loudly applauded. Many credit Miss Brown with being one of
the best elocutionists before the public. (Indianapolis
Times.)
Miss Brown, the elocutionist, is a phenomenon, and deserves
the highest praise. She is a talented lady and deserves all
the encomiums that she receives. (Daily Sun, Vincennes,
Ind.)
The select reading of Miss Hallie Q. Brown was very fine.
From grave to gay, from tragic to comic, with a great
variation of themes and humors, she seemed to succeed in
all, and her renderings were the spice of the night's
performance. (Monitor, Marion, Ill.)
"The select readings of Miss Brown are done to perfection.
She has an excellent voice and good control of it. She makes
every piece sound as if it were the author speaking, and in
many of them doubtless she excels the one she imitates."
MISS HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS.
The Famous Elocutionist.
Miss Davis is native of Maryland, the state that has produced more
noted colored people than all the other states combined. Her
reputation is world-wide, and she stands to-day without a peer among
her people as an elocutionist. Her charming manner and modest demeanor
have endeared her to the hearts of thousands. She is not only
interested in the artistic development of her race, but in their
industrial advancement as well, and since her debut she has inspired
many of the young people to make something of their lives that shall
redound to the benefit of humanity.
INDORSEMENT.
I have many times been called upon to bear testimony to the
remarkable talents of Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis, and I
always do so with pleasure. In my judgment she is one of the
best dramatic readers in the country, and the best colored
reader that ever came before the American people. Her
personal appearance is strongly in her favor. She instantly
commands attention and sympathy, and when her deep, fine
voice is heard, her audience at once give themselves up to
the pleasure of hearing her. I am quite sure you will make
no mistake in having her read for you. (Frederick Douglass.)
This is to certify that Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis has been
known to me since childhood. She is in all respects a lady
of the first grade, spotless in character, polished in
manners, educated and finished in her profession. As a
dramatic reader she has no superiors, and should be
encouraged by all who favor the elevation of our race. I
commend her services to all ministers of the gospel, and to
the public in general. (Bishop H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.)
[Illustration: MISS HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS, WASHINGTON, D. C.]
Miss Davis is by far the most cultured and finished
elocutionist of the race. Her combination of catchy
recitations, replete with humor of an excellent quality,
continues from beginning to end to bring forth shouts of
laughter and rounds of applause. Her character-acting stamps
her at once as an artist. She is pretty, unassuming, and
full of common sense. (Star of Zion, Salisbury, N. C.)
I have heard Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis perform on various
occasions, and it is my candid judgment, reached after
mature deliberation, and a fair knowledge of the merits of
nearly all her set who essay to excel in the histrionic art,
that she has no superior in the race as a master of the
profession of her choice. (John C. Dancy, Wilmington, N. C.)
Miss Davis is a living example of what all may do by
improving their time and their talents. (Bishop Benjamin W.
Arnett.)
Among the elocutionists that I have known Miss H. V. Davis
holds the highest place in my estimation. Her
personification and rendition of character is complete in
whatever rôle she appears. (J. W. Hood, Bishop A.M.E. Zion
Church.)
TO HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS.
As you stood in your womanly beauty,
In garments of glittering sheen,
Our hearts bowed down in gracious homage,
And we crowned you as our queen.
Although many have been before thee,
Thou beautiful dark-eyed queen,
None more worthy of allegiance
On the throne was ever seen.
For whether in joy or in sorrow
Thy magic art has been seen
We sat enslaved by thy sweet caprice,
Our fair, yes, charming queen.
We pledge thee our loyal allegiance,
We pledge thee our sympathy keen,
We pledge thee the love of a nation
And crown thee fore'er our queen!
(Katherine Davis Tillman, in New York Age.)
RICH THOUGHTS FROM GREAT RACE THINKERS.
Colored men should be encouraged by the outlook. Our friends are
multiplying. It is only ourselves that we must learn to control. (John
Mitchell, Richmond, Va.)
* * * * *
We are in favor of the saloons being closed twenty-four hours each day
and seven days in each week. (Rev. R. W. E. Ferguson.)
* * * * *
Let parents do their whole duty in bringing up their children, for
upon this depends the future welfare of our race. (Mrs. Virginia
Broughton.)
* * * * *
Our lives are measured by what we accomplish, and not by paltry years
of existence. (Prof. W. S. Scarborough.)
* * * * *
There is no such thing as black virtue, black intelligence or white
intelligence, black goodness or white goodness. Virtue has no color.
It is either virtue or no virtue, honesty or no honesty, and it
behooves our readers always to remember this when they regulate the
conduct of their lives. A bad act in a white man is not the less bad
because he is white, and a good act in a colored man is not the less
good because he is black. (Bishop W. B. Derrick.)
[Illustration: MRS. V. W. BROUGHTON, MEMPHIS, TENN.
Editor of _Woman's Messenger_ and Chairman of Educational Committee
Negro Department, Tennessee Centennial.]
Reading is to the mind what eating is to the body. So to eat without
giving nature time to assimilate is to rob her, first of health, then
of life; so to read without reflecting is to cram the intellect and
paralyze the mind. In all cases, dear friends, reflect more than you
read, in order to present what you read to your hearers. (S. A.
Wesson, Lincolnville, S. C.)
* * * * *
If you have never thought of race pride, think now. Not only think,
but act well your part. Without the ennobling power of our women we
can never be a great and noble race. If young men aspire to reach the
highest pinnacles of fame, they rise but to fall lower, unless the
women are pure and will demand respect. Learn to resent insults, young
women. Learn to respect and defend the women of our race, young men.
(Mary R. Phelps.)
* * * * *
Let us as Negroes educate, let us survive, let us live up to our
opportunities of doing good to ourselves and to others. So shall we
work out a glorious destiny upon earth and contribute our share of the
good and great immortals out of every nation that shall take their
places among "the spirits of just men made perfect who are without
fault before the throne." (Rev. William D. Johnson, D.D., Athens, Ga.)
* * * * *
We have learned in the hard school of adversity that we are not the
wards of any political body; that the improvement of our condition in
life is not the solicitude of any particular section of our country,
and that the days of our political bosses are over forever; that we
are the architects of our own fortunes and the arbiters of our own
destinies; that with the various walks of life thrown open to us we
are to enter and win victories or defeats upon equal conditions with
every other race or condition of people. (Hon. J. T. Settle.)
* * * * *
Young men, creation would be incomplete without you. From the
beginning God made you ruler over every living thing. Do you properly
appreciate the kingdom over which you reign? We know that these
thoughts do not take hold of you in boyhood, but there is a time when
they are fully realized and yet neglected. God has called you because
you are strong. Then exercise that strength, both spiritually and
temporally. (A. C. Davis, Rome, Ga.)
* * * * *
We have no great reason to be discouraged, cast down, or hopeless
about our future, because of the many unfavorable happenings; we must
not expect to be entirely free from the struggles necessary to be
encountered to reach true greatness. It is our duty to use every
possible and legitimate effort to avert dangers and troubles. We are
earnestly persuaded to believe that the brightness of the future glory
of the Negro of America is heightened by the darkness of the present
clouds. All our sad experiences exhort us to proceed and inspire us
with animating hopes of success, should we seek to "lay the foundation
well." (Mrs. Julia A. Hooks, Memphis, Tenn.)
[Illustration: SUGAR PLANTATION OF EDWARD BUTLER, POTASH, LA.
One of the largest sugar cane growers in the state.]
* * * * *
There is a future before the race--a great and useful future, a future
fraught with results which shall touch every phase of the world's life
and bring men into sweeter harmony with each other and with God. (Rev.
George C. Rowe, Charleston, S. C.)
* * * * *
As soon as slavery ceased to be beneficial to the Negro, as soon as
slavery lifted the Negro as high as it could lift him, God came and
abolished it. When he was prepared for his deliverance the yoke of
bondage passed away. The race then passed into the glorious sunshine
of freedom, which has been getting more glorious every day since his
emancipation. (W. H. Council, Normal, Ala.)
* * * * *
I am exceedingly anxious that every young colored man and woman should
keep a hopeful and cheerful spirit as to the future. Despite all of
our disadvantages and hardships, ever since our forefathers set foot
upon American soil as slaves our pathway has been marked by progress.
Think of it. We went into slavery pagans; we came out Christians. We
went into slavery a piece of property; we came out American citizens.
We went into slavery without a language; we came out speaking the
proud Anglo-Saxon tongue. We went into slavery with slave chains
clanking about our wrists; we came out with the American ballot in our
hands. (Prof. B. T. Washington.)
* * * * *
We are scarcely willing to admit the fact that our own prejudices and
lack of self-assertion are largely responsible for our separation from
the women who move the world by their intelligent progressiveness. If
we would join these women in good works, we should at least meet them
halfway by ridding ourselves of preconceived notions of their
hostility and prejudice against us. It would add much to our strength
and dignity of character and to our sense of importance among women if
we could understand that white women can be strengthened in their
generous impulses and made more exalted in their outlook to help weak
and struggling women if they knew more of our condition, capabilities,
and aspirations. The cause of women in all things needs the
co-operation of all women of all races and colors in order to work out
the conditions that all need and devoutly wish for. (Fannie Barrier
Williams.)
* * * * *
I most confidently affirm that no man can fail of hopefulness as to
the future of our race in this land who has broadly studied the
problems and the progress of human liberty and civil justice in the
world during the last three or four centuries. There has been a
constant warfare and many reverses, together with long seasons of
gloomy doubt: but the dominant fact in the whole record is that
throughout the long contest, on the forum, in the sacred pulpit, in
the hall of legislation, and on countless fields of bloody carnage,
the struggle has been substantially the same: a struggle for larger
liberty for the oppressed multitude, a better chance for the average
man. And this further, that in every century--aye, in almost every
generation--of this mighty conflict something has been gained for the
right. This gain, once made, has never been lost. These things being
so, it is foolish to say that these victories and this strifeful gain
are matters of merely racial application. It is not so. (Bishop
Embry.)
* * * * *
[Illustration: REV. M. VANN, D.D., CHATTANOOGA, TENN.]
I predict that the time will come and that it is not far off when we
will have a negro poet from the South. He will set the magnificent
splendor of the "Sunny South" to music. His muse will touch the lyre,
and you will hear the sweet murmur of the stream, the rippling waters,
and we shall see the beauty of that country as it was never seen
before. It will come; and after him other still greater men. But it
takes labor to become a great man just as it takes centuries to make a
great nation. Great men are not fashioned in heaven and thrown from
the hand of the Almighty to become potentates here on earth, nor are
they born rich. I admit that there is, in some parts of this country,
a prejudice against you on account of your color and former condition.
In my opinion, the best way to overcome this is to show your
capability of doing everything that a white man does, and do it just
as well or better than he does. If a white man scorns you, show him
that you are too high-bred, too noble-hearted, to take notice of it;
and the first opportunity you have do him a favor, and I warrant you
that he will feel ashamed of himself, and never again will he make an
exhibition of his prejudice. The future is yours, and you have it in
which to rise to the heights or descend to the depths. (Senator John
A. Logan.)
* * * * *
At one time a ship was lost at sea for many days, when it hove in
sight of a friendly vessel. The signal of the distressed vessel was at
once hoisted, which read: "We want water; we die of thirst." The
answering signal read, "Cast down your bucket where you are;" but a
second time the distressed vessel signaled, "We want water, water,"
and a second time the other vessel answered: "Cast down your bucket
where you are." A third and fourth time the distressed vessel
signaled, "We want water, water; we die of thirst," and as many times
was answered: "Cast down your bucket where you are." At last the
command was obeyed, the bucket was cast down where the vessel stood,
and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the Amazon River.
My friends, we are failing to cast down our buckets for the help that
is right about us, and spend too much time in signaling for help that
is far off. Let us cast down our buckets here in our own Sunny South,
cast them down in agriculture, in truck gardening, dairying, poultry
raising, hog raising, laundrying, cooking, sewing, mechanical and
professional life, and the help that we think is far off will come,
and we will soon grow independent and useful. (Booker T. Washington.)
* * * * *
Song is the music of the soul, the harmonious vibrations of the deep
chords of the heart, and the melodies of the spirit life. It involves
the elevation of the affections and the utterances of the lips, by
which some theme, doctrine, or topic is proclaimed aloud and
exultingly before and in the presence of others. It is the divinity in
man rising to God. It is the better and higher nature of man springing
forward and leaping heavenward. It is the soul plodding the deep blue
sea upon its fiery pinions in search after God, its Maker, "who giveth
songs in the night." (Bishop Holsey.)
* * * * *
If the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, the home is a great
field for woman. The Negro race needs homes, not hovels and pens.
Christian character is built most largely there. Beautify the home,
make it cheerful and cultured. Be economical in expenditures.
Cultivate economy in all lines. Be thrifty and industrious housewives.
We do not confine woman's work to the home. Her sphere is anywhere
that she can do good. As women are doing most of the teaching now,
here is a vast field for her activity that should be well cultivated.
Next to the home the schoolroom is probably the greatest factor in
character building. As Daniel Webster once said: "If we work upon
marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if
we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon
immortal minds, if we imbue them with principles, with a just fear of
God, and love of our fellow-man, we engrave on those tablets something
that will brighten to all eternity." Teachers, be faithful. Dress
neatly and well, if your income will allow. One can always be neat and
clean, however. It is certainly a miserable mistake that makes the
majority of our people think that they must dress so as to be
conspicuous for blocks away, wearing hats that are veritable flower
gardens. Tight lacing should be abandoned by all sensible women. The
thinking, solid women of our race ought to take some steps to save the
young girls of our race, especially that vast throng in the larger
cities who have no gentle home influences; thousands are being dragged
down to destruction every year. Raise the fallen, and so fulfill the
law of Christ. (Lillie E. Lovinggood, in Afro-American Encyclopedia.)
* * * * *
The time has come when physicians must be employed to prevent as well
as to cure. If this is done, there will be less sickness, and
epidemics will be a thing of the past. Then sanitary science, under
strict hygienic observance, will reach perfection. The rude, careless,
and gross habits of living will be corrected, and a system of perfect
drainage and pure ventilation will be inaugurated. Pure air and a good
water supply will be furnished to every public and private house. Then
only pure and unadulterated foods will be allowed in our markets and
grocery houses. Every hotel and private and public boarding house will
furnish properly prepared foods, and universal cleanliness will be the
law, and the death rate among our people will reach its minimum. (Dr.
R. F. Boyd.)
* * * * *
The one thing that should appeal most strongly to our hearts is the
need of a better and purer home life among our people in many parts of
the South. I scarcely need tell you that our most embarrassing
heritage from slavery was a homelessness and a lack of home ties. All
the sanctities of marriage, the precious instincts of motherhood, the
spirit of family alliance, and the upbuilding of home as an
institution of the human heart were all ruthlessly ignored and
fiercely prohibited by the requirements of slavery. Colored people in
bondage were only as men, women, and children, and not as fathers and
mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. Family
relationships and home sentiments were thus no part of the preparation
of colored people for freedom and citizenship. It is not agreeable to
refer to these things, but they are mentioned merely to suggest to you
how urgent and immensely important it is that we should be actively
and helpfully interested in those poor women of the rural South, who
in darkness and without guides are struggling to build homes and rear
families. When we properly appreciate the fact that there can be no
real advancement of the colored race without homes that are purified
by all the influences of Christian virtues, it will seem strange that
no large, earnest, direct, and organized effort has been made to teach
men and women the blessed meaning of home. Preachers have been too
busy with their churches and collections, and teachers too much
harassed by lack of facilities, and politicians too much burdened with
the affairs of state and the want of offices to think about the
feminine consideration of good homes. Money, thought, prayer, and men
and women are all freely and nobly given in the upbuilding of schools
and churches, but no expenditures to teach the lesson of home making.
Colored women can scarcely escape the conclusion that this work has
been left for them, and its importance and their responsibilities
should arouse and stir them as nothing else can do. Let us not be
confused and embarrassed by the thought that what needs to be done is
too difficult or far away. There should be no limitations of time and
space when man needs the helping sympathy of man. If our hearts are
strong for good works, ways and means will readily appear for the
exercise of our talents, our love, and our heroism. (Mrs. Fannie B.
Williams.)
[Illustration: F. A. STEWART, M.D., NASHVILLE, TENN.]
THE COLORED PHYSICIAN IN THE SOUTH.
BY H. R. BUTLER.
When the civil war was over and the smoke of battle had cleared away,
the field in the South was occupied by the red-eyed voodoo, who styled
himself a "doctor." There were at that time possibly two or three
exceptions to this rule, but only two or three.
Should you ask one of these voodoo doctors, better known among the
illiterate as "root workers," what might be his business, the answer
would quickly be given something like this: "My trade? Dat am a
doctor."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, sar; I is a root doctor from way back; and when I gits done
standin' at de forks ob de road at midnight pullin' up roots, twixt de
hollowin' ob de owls, and gittin' a little fresh dirt frum de
graveyard--honey, dar am su'thin' agwinter drop."
The above is part of a conversation held with me by one of these "herb
kings" in South Carolina in 1890. Hence you can see that, like all
other evils, these voodoo doctors do not die fast; and even to-day not
a few still live.
This being with his weird stories went forth among a people who were
rocked, as it were, in the cradle of superstition, and early became
monarch of all he surveyed. He or she was known and feared throughout
the country. They claimed to be able to cure anything from consumption
to an unruly wife or husband, and furnishing charms to make love
matches and to keep the wife or husband at home was one of their
specialties.
Every patient they called on they diagnosed the trouble thus: he or
she was tricked; if pneumonia, they were tricked; if a fever, they
were tricked; or if a case of consumption, they were tricked.
Their stock of medicines, if such we must call them, generally
consisted of such things as small bags of graveyard soil, rusty nails,
needles, pins, goose grease, rabbits' feet, snake skins, and many
other such things.
I say that a little more than a generation ago this was the class of
so-called colored doctors that predominated in the South, and which
for many years was a great stumbling-block to the educated physicians
of our race, because it seemed to be understood that all colored
doctors were and must be root doctors. But, thanks to Him who holds
the destiny of races in his hands, in the flight of years and in this
electric age of progress this voodoo doctor has almost--not entirely,
but almost--passed away; while his territory is being occupied by
colored physicians whose qualifications in education, character, and
honor are equal to similar qualifications in the physicians of any
other race.
The colored physicians in the South to-day are men and women fully
equipped in education, morals, and integrity for the high calling they
have elected, as their noble work will show. In the United States
to-day there are about one thousand colored physicians, men and women,
and more than seven hundred of them are located in the Southern
States. While they represent the homeopathic and eclectic schools, yet
the regulars are largely in the majority.
The majority of the colored physicians now operating in the South took
a college course of education before taking up the study of medicine.
Hence, as a general rule, they are exceedingly fine scholars. It is a
sad fact, yet it is a hard fact, that less than one-third of the white
physicians now practicing in the South, together with those preparing
to come out, are college graduates. This cannot be said of the colored
physicians. We have them from the leading medical institutions in
America. They are here from the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard
Medical College, Yale School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College,
Howard Medical College, Ann Arbor Medical College, Lenard Medical
College, and many of the medical schools of Chicago, Cleveland, and
New Orleans. The examinations they pass, often before a prejudiced
board, and their excellent record as physicians go to show that these
schools are sending us no mean material.
These good men and women are, by their skill and God's help, reducing
the death rate of the colored people to a wonderful degree. They are
teaching the people the common laws of hygiene, and many other things
pertaining to the health of their people that they were never taught
before. They are lecturing in the schools in their cities on important
topics relative to the care of school buildings and school children.
They are in many places school commissioners and city and county
physicians. As skilled physicians the fame of some is known far and
wide. The whites frequently call a colored physician now. The question
now is not, What is his color? but, Can he do me any good? Right here
in Atlanta, Ga., I am frequently called to see white patients. Think
of it! a colored physician attending white patients here in a city
where not forty years ago members of his race were sold like cattle.
If thirty-five years have brought this change, what will thirty-five
years more bring? Yes, it has not been three hours since two white
patients left my office.
The white profession in the South, especially the better class of
them, give the colored members of the profession a hearty welcome to
the field. They always have a kind word for them. They will consult
with them, lend them books or instruments, and do anything they can to
push the colored brother forward. This, I say, is the best element.
The poor, half-starved fellow will not do this; but, on the contrary,
will do all that he can to pull the colored physician down. Hence we
have this class to watch, and for this reason I always consult with
the best in my city, and would advise all other colored physicians to
do the same.
The colored physicians have fine horses, carriages, and beautiful
homes. Some own plantations, and others run large bank accounts.
As professors, the colored physicians of the South are holding some
high positions with honor to themselves and their race. At New Orleans
University Dr. Mellin is dean of the medical department of that
institution. At Meharry Medical College we have Dr. R. F. Boyd,
professor of the diseases of women and clinical medicine; Dr. H. T.
Noel, demonstrator of anatomy; Dr. W. P. Stewart, professor of
pathology, and there are other professors in the pharmaceutical and
dental departments. Dr. Scruggs is a professor at Lenard Medical
School. Besides these, there are several of the colored physicians
delivering courses of lectures on various topics in different schools.
The colored physician in the South, for fear of being refused, has
never made an application to become a member of any of the medical
associations; but, knowing the great good that comes from contact, in
several of the states they have organized themselves into
associations, and are doing a noble work in their yearly meetings.
Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia have excellent state medical
associations, composed entirely of colored physicians. One of the
beautiful points about the colored physicians of the South is that the
majority of them are Christian men and women. This has much to do with
their success.
The South is the field for well-equipped colored physicians. If they
want to do good work, let them come South; if they want to be felt as
a leader of the people, let them come South; if they want to make
money, let them come South; if they are looking for work, let them
come South; and if they wish to do charity work, the South is the
field.
THE FIRST COLORED SPECIALIST.
Dr. Samuel J. Harris is a young man of eminent ability and skill, and
has the mental capabilities to become one of the leading physicians of
this country. He is the first colored specialist of the eye, ear, and
throat in the United States. He is not only a young man who
demonstrated marked ability as a student, but he is a doctor who
possesses ample means to supply himself with all of the instruments
and literature which are required to advance him in his professional
work.
Dr. Harris is the son of Mr. Sam Harris, the well-known merchant of
Williamsburg, Va., who does probably the largest business of its kind
of any colored man in the United States.
ESPECIAL COMPANY.
(FROM CHICAGO APPEAL.)
Should a young lady accept the attentions of one young man to the
exclusion of all others before betrothal takes place? It is not wise
to do so. A girl may be interested in a man and think that she cares
for him enough to marry him, and yet there may be others whom she
would love more dearly could she know them. She should not deprive
herself of the opportunity to make comparisons. A young man is very
foolish when he insists upon a girl receiving attentions from no one
but himself, even after betrothal. A girl is equally foolish when she
objects to her lover paying attentions to other girls. If either can
become more interested in another, it certainly ought to be known
before marriage. There would be fewer unhappy marriages and fewer
divorces if young people of both sexes could be impressed with the
idea that they must decide what characteristics their happiness
requires in a life partner and that they must not marry until they
have found some one possessing such characteristics. This can only be
learned by companionship, and is seldom considered by those whose
first thought is that no one else can be studied but the object of
their present fancy.
Again, it places a young girl at a great disadvantage to be looked
upon as the "exclusive property" of any young man. An honorable man
hesitates to offer attentions to a young lady under such conditions,
even though he may be sure that the man is not in earnest or that such
a union could not be happy or that the young lady possesses exactly
the qualities which he himself would find harmonious. Under present
social conditions a girl may not make known her preferences unless the
man first declares himself, and if she happens to make a mistake and
is known as the sweetheart of the wrong young man, there is little
chance that she may find the right one. Not only before, but after
betrothal, both parties should feel free to associate with whomsoever
they please, and no objection should be raised by the other simply on
the ground that "we belong to each other now." That such freedom may
be assured, I believe that the betrothal should be kept an absolute
secret between the parties concerned.
[Illustration: CHARLIE JOHNSON.
The Missionary Baptist "Boy Preacher," of Louisiana, who is creating
such a sensation in the South. Age, 13 years.]
THE SPHERE OF WOMAN.
BY MRS. R. E. LAWSON, WASHINGTON, D. C.
The time has come when woman no longer accepts the hearthstone as the
circumscribed arena of her activities. Amid the busy whirl of this
nineteenth century we behold her stepping with well-shod feet boldly
across the threshold where hitherto her ambitions have been smothered
or held in check by social customs and prejudice, taking her place in
the various avocations which bring to mankind peace and happiness,
through an honest dollar for its equivalent in honest toil.
If we will notice the index finger in the plane of human advancement
and limit its progress to the strides made in civilization within the
last forty years, it will be readily acknowledged that the woman
movement during these years has made no insignificant ripple in the
tide of human achievements. There is scarcely a profession which has
not felt the impress of her presence; scarcely a moral reform, from
the antislavery cause of the past to the great temperance movement of
to-day, which has not received her sanction and hearty support.
Wherever she has gone forth she has acquitted herself creditably, and
successfully lived down all attempts to ridicule and cast opprobrium
upon her adventure. This forward march, which has been likened to a
great tidal wave, has carried in its course higher education for
woman, including her entrance to the medical, legal, and clerical
professions, the position as trustee on school boards in various
sections, the restoration to married women of a right to their own
property, and various other reforms tending to broaden her sphere,
increase her activities, and heighten her self-respect.
Side by side with this uniform impulse on the part of woman to know
and to be known in life's arena have come to its twin sister the
progress and unprecedented achievements of the Negro in America. The
school may instruct and the Church may teach, but the home is an
institution older than the Church and antedates the school, the place
where the children should be trained for useful citizenship on earth
and hope of holy communion in heaven.
Our hands have ever been firm upon the rudder, guiding and governing
the education of our youth for years of future usefulness.
I take it that we, as colored women, must regard ourselves as a
peculiar people in these advanced movements. We cannot afford to be
swept along in the current of daily happenings without thoughtfully
comparing our status and conditions with all that surround us,
questioning for a moment whether the experiment will prove an
expensive luxury or wholesome and digestible food. Economy of time,
economy of means, economy of action, must be our constant watchwords.
The Negro woman, being the most potent factor in the intellectual
development of the race, must be aroused to a consideration of the
fact that to improve the intellect and neglect the moral and physical
growth of our youth will be to impose upon society dangerous citizens.
THE MOURNING PREACHER.
BY J. C. M'ADAMS, SHELBYVILLE, TENN.
Why do our educated ministers "mourn" when preaching? There are
honorable exceptions, but the rule is as stated. We have heard
ministers whose educational qualifications were all that could be
desired, whose exegeses were faultless, who in their perorations would
depart from all standards. They exhume the dead, they picture the
beatific splendors of the New Jerusalem, they paint the horrors of
hell, they describe deathbed scenes, etc. They do this whether or not
it has any connection with the subject in hand. Then it is that the
"spirit" comes. I do not think that I have overdrawn. I have heard
some of our best ministers, and the general statement is true. Our
educated ministers are making a serious mistake. This pulpit mannerism
is a relic of the days of slavery, and the minister who indulges in it
is simply perpetuating a barbarism and is retarding the religious
progress of the race. It is true, perhaps, that in most of our
congregations large numbers of people love to hear the "tone," but
when and how are the people ever to become acquainted with higher
religious ideas? How can a minister elevate his congregation when he
persistently clings to the practices of thirty years ago?
These ministers seem not to know that nine-tenths of the young,
educated, and progressive classes are disgusted with them. This
explains the lethargy manifested by the above-minded classes toward
the Church. The Church, like all other institutions, must be
progressive. The fact that these men are keeping the Church back in
the dingy past puts them out of sympathy with it. I recently heard a
well-known minister, after howling and ranting and mourning to his
heart's content, speak of himself as the "wild presiding elder." He
certainly made that impression on several of his audience.
[Illustration: REV. J. M. CONNER, LITTLE ROCK, ARK.]
One of the great mistakes of our religious life is our mistaking noise
for religion. With many of our unthinking classes it is the "mourn"
which they enjoy in the sermons. Instead of carrying home some
practical thought and trying to weave it into their lives, they become
infatuated with certain tones and give vent to their "feelings" by
making the welkin ring. If this is religion, I have been mistaken. If
this kind of preaching is an inspiration, it is peculiar to us as a
people. If noise and demonstrations are necessary parts of religious
worship, then other races are largely wanting in this essential.
The mourning preachers will admit in private that there is no virtue
in the mourn, and that they do it simply to "touch up" the old folks.
They ought to be ashamed. Such conduct is sinful. They should hate the
sins that make them mourn, and drive them from their breast. The
religious status of a people is a pretty good index of their
civilization. If there are idiosyncrasies in our religious life--in
short, if we are not up to the standard--we will be judged
accordingly. Though my voice be as one crying in the wilderness, I
wish to suggest this religious slogan: "Down with the mourning
preacher!"
OUR GREATEST DRAWBACK.
BY E. E. BROCK, NEW YORK, N. Y.
I doubt if there has ever been an enterprise started by
Afro-Americans, no matter how lofty the aim or however honest the
intentions, that there were not a few envious souls that stood ready
to cry it down. This is to-day the greatest barrier to Afro-American
success and the chief reason why we are no further advanced in
commercial spheres than we are. In this advanced age of civilization
and enlightenment such a state of affairs is sadly to be deplored, for
we find that not only among the illiterate class does this exist, but
in a greater and more marked degree by those who claim superior
intelligence and are looked upon as leaders and shining lights of the
race. If one attempts to gain a certain goal, there always stands
another ready to pull him back. "You must and shall not get above me"
seems to be their fixed motto. Ah! brothers and sisters, you have much
yet to learn. If you cannot help another up the hill, you certainly
will gain nothing by trying to pull him back. Enviousness is a demon
and a monster, and until you learn to live in union and love thy
neighbor as thyself, you may never hope to win the respect and esteem
of other races.
THE RACE PROBLEM.
Views of Several Prominent Negroes.
In a speech recently delivered before the graduating class of Meharry
Medical College, at Nashville, Gov. Taylor said: "There is no Negro
problem of the South. That has been settled long ago. I belong to a
generation that has grown up since the war, a generation of young
white men who thank God that the shackles of slavery have been
stricken from the limbs of the black man." I have observed that in any
community where our people respect themselves and encourage the
enterprise of each other the white people not only patronize and
encourage us, but they treat our women respectfully, and the lives of
our men are as safe as if we were white; but where we act the brute
and traitor to each other the race, both good and bad, fare hard, and
nothing more is to be expected by any sensible person. It is human
nature for the strong to prey upon the weak. Hence the Negro must be
his own first strength by his moral life and faithfulness to each
other. Unless this, we are as a race doomed either in Africa or
America. (Caesar A. A. Taylor, Ocala, Fla.)
* * * * *
The race problem is a moral one. It is a question entirely of ideas.
Its solution will come especially from the domain of principles. Like
all the other great battles of humanity, it is to be fought out with
the weapons of truth; it cannot be settled by extinction of race; no
amalgamation process can eliminate it. The social idea is to be
entirely excluded from consideration. It is absolutely a personal
matter, regulated by taste, condition, racial or family affinities,
and there it must remain undisturbed forever. (W. H. Council)
[Illustration: J. P. NEWTON, MEMPHIS, TENN.
One of the finest photographers in the South.]
The colored race of this country should aim at the highest success and
make themselves the best citizens and the most useful members of
society. We should be guided by right principles and prove ourselves
worthy of the liberty granted us by the emancipation. There should be
no better schools than ours, no grander statesmen, no more shining
lights in professional life, no happier homes, no more cultured women,
no people more moral and upright. It is safe to say that we can do it,
because many noble and worthy men and women of our race have already
achieved great success. They have climbed high in their endeavors,
have grasped the prize held out before them, and by their brilliant
achievements have conferred honor upon their people and have written
their names indelibly upon the hearts of their countrymen. Where are
our rising young men and women? We call them to come forward. We bid
them lift their eyes to the highest of knowledge and power. We point
them to those whose names have become household words, and bid them
press on to the front rank in the struggle for life. Here lies our
hope for the future; and the Negro problem, which is one of the
greatest problems of the present age, will have solved itself. (Harvey
Johnson.)
* * * * *
All that we want is the unmolested enjoyment of the rights and
privileges guaranteed us in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to
the national constitution. If we are allowed the exercising of these
in every state in the Union, we will be satisfied, and will in an
almost incredibly short period of time solve for our white brethren
that ever perplexing race problem which, like Banquo's ghost, will not
down. Our Southern white brethren need entertain no fears of "Negro
domination" or "black supremacy" in the government of the Southern
States, for the Southern Negro is rapidly leaving the low and
uncertain plane of political honor or gain for a higher one of morals,
education, and the amassing of wealth. During the past, with the
rights guaranteed us by the constitution nullified in the states
containing the larger portion of the colored population--the black
belt of the South--we have made marvelous progress along the lines of
securing classical and industrial education and the accumulation of
wealth. With these restrictions or nullifications of our
constitutional rights removed, is it either fair or reasonable to
believe that a race with so grand and wonderful a record of progress
along this line of prosperity as ours is at this late day going to
drop into the quagmire of retrogradation? No. We have but begun, and
though the wheels of Negro prosperity may continue to be checked by
the brakes of race prejudice, we will nevertheless continue to climb
upward to the very top of the hill of wealth, honor, and fame.
(National Reflector, Wichita, Kans.)
* * * * *
[Illustration: PROF. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, TUSKEGEE, ALA.]
The key to the solution of the race problem in the South is in the
commercial and industrial development of the Negro, a development
along this line that shall rest upon the broadest and highest culture.
Under God, as bad as slavery was, it prepared the way for the solving
of the problem by this method. Friction will disappear and the two
races in the South will be as one in all their civil and commercial
relations just in proportion as the Negro, by reason of skill and
educated brains, produces something that the white man wants or
respects; and when you pursue that question to its last analysis one
white man cares little for another white man, except as the other has
something that he wants. In all history we cannot find a race that
possessed property, industry, intelligence, and character in a high
degree that has long been denied its rights. If the possession of
these elements does not bring to the Negro every right enjoyed by any
other class of citizens, then the Bible and the teachings of the Great
Jehovah are wrong. I propose that the Negro take his position on the
high and undisputed ground of generosity, usefulness, forgiveness, and
honesty in all things, and that he invite the white man to step up and
occupy this ground with him. If the white man in every part of our
country cannot accept this invitation, we will thus prove that the
problem is a white man's problem rather than a Negro problem. (Booker
T. Washington.)
* * * * *
The Negro problem, if there is any in the country, from an industrial
standpoint may be resolved into two phases. In the South the race is
allowed unfettered opportunity in almost all trades and occupations.
Whatever other crimes she may be guilty of, she allows the colored
people to work. There we find colored men who take large contracts for
the erection of public buildings. Most of the finest hotels, private
residences, and business blocks represent the work of colored labor
from foundation to roof. In a recent visit to the black belt of
Alabama I was told that in a certain town colored mechanics had
constructed the courthouse and every other important building within
the corporate limits. A Southern white man, pointing out this fact,
remarked that such a thing would be impossible in the North. So strong
is the prejudice against the employment of Negro labor that the
presence of the Negro workmen on a brick wall would cause every white
man to throw down his trowel and quit work. This thing is true in all
the remunerative avenues of life in the North. In respect to the
South, it is there that the Negro will work out his industrial
destiny. He has been and will be the laborer. Such schools as Tuskegee
and Hampton will prepare him to compete with other people in all
trades. We speak so often of the "New South." It is time that we had a
"New North." The Northern people, as generous as they have been in
founding schools for the freedmen, seem to love them best at a
distance. The North will educate us, but will not allow us to work. We
need education, but we also need opportunity for industrial progress.
We want a fair chance in the race of life. How can we ever make any
headway if we are all shut up to one or two lines of service? A
citizen of the town some time ago said to me that years ago the Negro
and the Irishman came to Princeton with nothing. The Irishman has
accumulated real estate, but the Negro still has nothing. One of the
reasons is simply this: the Irishman has ten chances to the colored
man's one. What is true of this community is practically true of the
whole North. (Rev. J. Q. Johnson, in the Christian Recorder,
Philadelphia, Pa.)
* * * * *
The Negro question is but another name for the labor problem in the
South; and it is not so serious as the labor problem of the North. The
Negro is the Southern laborer. His color preserves his class
distinction. As a workman, he is fitted for the warm climate and
agricultural pursuits of that region. He is shiftless and improvident
because so long trained to live dependent upon a master. He is doing
better work as an employee than he did as a slave. He is happy,
peaceable, and content. There are no socialistic or anarchistic traits
in his blood. His wants are few, and he is able to cover a life of
hardship and penury with the flowers of melody and the foam of
unceasing mirth. The troubles of the South do not arise in the Negro,
but in the white men. There is a class of "white trash" who have all
the fierce and unruly instincts of that robber race, the Saxons, at
whose door the lynchings and political uproars may be faithfully laid.
The better element of Southern people have no part in these. Thus it
is the same class that raises disturbance in Alabama that does the
same in Chicago. The Negro and the better whites have no part in
either case. What the final outcome of the race question will be is
impossible, of course, to surmise. The probabilities are that the
African will remain a hewer of wood and a drawer of water until his
face shall pale--and it is paling rapidly--and he shall cease to be a
social factor. No two races ever lived antagonistic, yet in contact,
without the stronger either annihilating or absorbing the other.
(Chicago Conservator.)
* * * * *
The United States and not the Negro is responsible for the Negro's
identity with this country and also for his past and present condition
in America; and, having of her own accord made us citizens and
participants of this government (because we have merited both as
slaves in the forest and as armed soldiers and patriots on the field
of battle, protecting a flag which up to that time had never offered
us protection--by these means we have merited a citizenship) God and
the civilized world will hold the United States and the several states
responsible as our guardians to the heights of true civilization. As
for adaptation to and responsibility of civilization, the Negro is
receiving the highest mental and social culture. I call your attention
to the thousands of colored professional men and women who are rare
models of social culture and intellectual worth--men of learning and
distinguished for intelligence, men known and honored by the civilized
world for their mental merits. Blind Tom is the greatest musical
prodigy the world has ever seen. Regardless of his race and identity,
I believe that Rev. J. C. Price, D.D., was as fine an orator as
America ever produced, and Douglass the peer of any statesman. There
has been something very peculiar about the history of American issues
for the last one hundred years. Though the Negro himself has kept
silent, yet there has scarcely been in that length of time a decisive
issue before the American Congress that would have affected the entire
nation that was not either the outcome of our presence in this country
or a corollary thereto in some phase. The nation, not the Negro, is
responsible for the so-called Negro problem. Therefore it is the
nation's problem, and the nation must solve it. America bought the
whistle, and she must pay for it. The Negro has been and will ever be
the Pharaoh's plague to America, until the nation recognizes the
declaration of the fathers and the design of God in bequeathing to all
men justice in equity and the fullest recognition of citizenship to
all who are made a part of this government by constituency and
responsibility. This done, we will have but one problem, and that will
be how to better advance the glory of one common union. To-day we
stand beneath the American eagle, which bears in his talons the stars
and stripes, for which more than two hundred thousand of our fathers
and brothers have fallen on yonder battlefields. We stand here begging
for peace, protection, and a just recognition of manhood. We stand
here under the flag for which our fathers fought in common with the
white man, and plead for civil rights. Yea, in the name of God and the
blood of our dead we ask a shelter beneath thy wing. Shall the stars
of the American flag, our only hope as guides to higher manhood, the
reflective rays of American civilization and liberty, hide their
shameful faces behind the clouds of American prejudice and bring to us
night at noon? Shall your red stripes, O flag! a worthy token of our
fathers' blood, which has mingled with the white in all American
conflicts, now be used as a signal of welcome and protection to
non-Americans, anarchists, and socialists, while the sons of American
slaves, soldiers, and citizens are left standing without protection
and rightful recognition, reaching forth the brawny hands for labor in
vain? O may the goddess of liberty hear us to-day, and may the true
American pulse be found forcing life, liberty, and protection through
every artery of American sentiment! (Bishop Petty, A. M. E. Zion
Church.)
* * * * *
The most important topic that should engage the attention of every
Negro throughout the land is, What method can we employ to bring the
race problem more practically before the country, and how should we go
at it? There must evidently, in all instances, be some way or means of
placing all questions before the public in such a manner that all
parties may plainly see both sides. As to the race problem, it has
never been brought before the public so as to command any serious
thought. We shall, of course, have to lay our foundation before we can
proceed, as everything must have something to support it. We will say
right here that the press is the foundation or starting place in all
such cases. A general view of the Negro press will convince one that
the race problem has not been handled as it should have been, but it
is not too late to make the much needed amends, and now is the time to
brace up and come to the front. The newspaper at this time and age of
modern predisposition is looked upon as a mighty weapon, but the weak
point in Negro journalism is the predominance of petty matters over
the more momentous questions that obtain at this time. The race
problem has never been appealed to the proper source, and we have
never employed the proper methods to touch the pulse of the right
class of people. The pulpit has never declared itself on this
question, or else the Negro would have been much farther advanced than
he is. My idea, or rather the thought that comes to me now, is that
the Christian Church should be sounded on the subject of race
equality, and there should be some movement instituted among the
Negroes of the most populous cities and towns asking the ministers of
the white Churches to set aside a special Sabbath to give their views
thereon. We are of the opinion that the best step to take would be to
organize a club in each city, which shall be invested with the power
to appoint a committee to wait on the various ministers. We shall find
out then from their pulpits whether the white man considers the
colored brother as good as he is. To get the views of the ministers
throughout the country on the same day would have a tendency to bring
the question squarely and fairly before the nation. These questions
may seem a canard to many, but this is the proper step to take and the
proper appeal. If we cannot reach the people in this way, why, there
are other courses to pursue. We should not despair. If we fail in
accomplishing our ends in one manner, we must try other plans, and
finally we may be able to touch the right chord. (Dennis S. Thompson,
Kansas City, Mo.)
[Illustration: PROF. DENNIS S. THOMPSON, KANSAS CITY, MO.
General newspaper correspondent for many of the leading race
journals.]
* * * * *
The Negro problem, like Banquo's ghost, will not down. Like the poor,
it is always with us. True, some there are who declare that there is
no problem at all, only such as exists in the imagination; but he who
will take the trouble to investigate will find that there is plenty of
the problem lying around loose, and it will not require a Diogenes to
find it. The most live phases of the problem are those which relate to
the Negro's moral standard, educational progress, and his physical
condition. Some of the views in this connection are grossly
exaggerated, but in the main they represent observations which cannot
be dismissed too lightly. It is now a matter too plain for conjecture
that the Negro must look to his physical interests, that he must make
certain alterations along moral and intellectual lines if he would
preserve himself. Scientists have gone so far as to hazard the
prediction that ultimate extinction is the forecast for the race. The
race itself is apt to receive this declaration with derision, but it
must not count its position too sure. We have yet to see an
intelligent refutation of the statements which the scientists are
making in this regard. The Negro press promptly sat down upon Prof.
Hoffman when he touched upon its moral standard, but it was rather by
ridicule than argument. Only the properly qualified should speak on a
question of this character. By that we mean those reasonably informed
and who have given the proper time to an impartial investigation of
the subject. Howls of protest and indignation cannot take the place of
scientific reasoning, and before the press of the country takes Mr.
Hoffman and his kind to task it should be prepared to know whereof it
speaks. But, aside from this, popular interest is very much aroused as
to the present educational needs of the Negro. Prof. Washington, the
great apostle of industrial education, thinks it the Negro's greatest
want just now. President Mitchell, of Leland University, thinks the
higher education of the race the proper thing. The "Advance" is
inclined to the former view. The Negro may not be top-heavy; his
higher education has hardly gone far enough for that in a general
sense, but he has given altogether too much time to the intellectual
side of his development. He should become skilled in manual arts; he
should learn something that he has left unlearned: how to labor
correctly and profitably. His intellectual offspring each succeeding
year realize more and more difficulty in finding places, so that the
so-called higher avenues are becoming crowded to an uncomfortable
extent. The colored man will find it not a whit to his disgrace to be
a tiller of the soil; when he is an educated tiller he will find that
he can produce better crops, make more money, and rear his children
usefully. If he keeps up his present lick, he will find that he has
all teachers and no scholars, all preachers and no congregations, all
doctors and no patients, all lawyers and no clients. Several vital
questions should now receive the race's closest attention--viz., (1)
the investigation of its moral condition; (2) a system of education
adapted to its needs; (3) the improvement of its physical status.
(Alamo City Advance, San Antonio, Tex.)
* * * * *
A few years since we thought the Negro problem incapable of solution.
We looked at it from various standpoints. Many suggestions as to an
estimation in solving this intricate problem have been offered by many
of our leaders. Booker T. Washington emphasizes the importance of
industrial education as a means to an end of race antagonism,
bitterness, and friction. It is a mistaken idea that Prof.
Washington's critics have when they affirm that Mr. Washington
believes in industrial education to the exclusion of a college or
university education. He believes in both; but he especially
emphasizes industrial education as a means to an end, and not as
ultimatum in solving the race problem. It would pay Mr. Washington's
opposers to come here and visit his school. We guarantee that he will
receive and treat them kindly. We have no doubt that they will go away
from here convinced that Mr. Washington is right. We just wish that
you could see what our eyes now behold as we sit in the principal's
magnificent residence. There is here an activity not suspected by the
outside world. Draw upon your imaginations a moment and see if you can
bring to your perceptions the scene: Eight hundred and fifty students
at work, like busy bees in a hive, training in twenty-six different
industries, and everybody at work; not an idle moment allowed. Here
the shrill whistle of the sawmill and brickyard, bringing them in from
the farm of six hundred and fifty acres, nearly all of which is under
cultivation. How can any sane person say that this kind of education
does not benefit the race? We will warrant that very few, if any, of
Mr. Washington's students will ever be found in jail, the workhouse,
the penitentiary, or on the chain gang. All this industry and activity
is controlled by Mr. Washington and his eighty-one assistants, which
makes him and his school an aggressive and conquering force in this
the black belt of the Southland. It is impossible to estimate the good
that this school is doing, and it is equally as difficult to attempt a
description thereof. We do not envy the man who deems himself
sufficiently enlightened to be able to frown down Booker T. Washington
and his great work. We simply turn our heads and smile a great big
smile and say in muffled tones: "The fool hath said in his heart that
there is no hope for the Negro race in this country." There is hope.
Get up and be doing; get religion, education, a trade, and a
profession; buy property; "put money in thy purse," and you will be
recognized as a full-fledged citizen of this country. Let us say what
we believe to be a fact: The disciplined thought that the Negro is
receiving at this school will give a freshness, a manliness, a
hopefulness, and a faith which will deliver him from the tyranny of
his surroundings, widen his views of his own capabilities, make him
conscious of belonging to a race that has rich things in store for the
world, and glorify his heart with a thousand strange and fruitful
sympathies and with endless heroic aspirations. It is something so
unique in the history of Christian civilization that wherever the
existence of such an institution as that of Tuskegee is heard of there
will be curiosity as to its character, its work, and its prospects. An
institution suited to the exigencies of this race cannot come into
existence all at once. It must be the result of years of experience,
of trial, and of experiment. In order that you may form a correct idea
as to the magnitude of this school, let us cull the following
statement from a speech of Mr. Washington, who, among other things,
said: "We have eight hundred and fifty students at Tuskegee from
twenty-two states, eighty-one instructors, and a colony of one
thousand people, together with literary training. We train in
twenty-six different industries. Of the thirty-seven buildings, all
except three were erected by the students. They have sawed the lumber,
made the brick, done the masonry, carpentering, plastering, painting,
and tin spouting. The property is now valued at $280,000, and is the
work of students in the past fifteen years." All sound-thinking and
unprejudiced-minded persons will agree that this institution is a very
able instrument to assist in carrying forward the work so necessary to
be done for the race. (J. Francis Robinson, Cambridge, Mass.)
MOTHER'S TREASURES.
BY MRS. F. E. W. HARPER.
Two little children sit by my side,
I call them Lily and Daffodil;
I gaze on them with a mother's pride,
One is Edna and the other is Will.
Both have eyes of starry light
And laughing lips over teeth of pearl.
I would not change for a diadem
My noble boy and darling girl.
To-night my heart o'erflows with joy;
I hold them as a sacred trust.
I fain would hide them in my heart,
Safe from tarnish of moth and rust.
What should I ask for my dear boy?
The richest gift of wealth or fame?
What for my girl? A loving heart
And a fair and spotless name?
What for my boy? That he should stand
A pillar of strength to the state.
What for my girl? That she should be
The friend of the poor and desolate.
I do not ask that they shall never tread
With weary feet the paths of pain;
I ask that in the darkest hour
They may faithful and true remain.
I only ask their lives may be
Pure as gems in the gates of pearl,
Lives to brighten and bless the world--
This I ask for my boy and girl.
I ask to clasp their hands again
'Mid the holy hosts of heaven;
Enraptured, say: "I am here, O God!
And the children thou hast given."
[Illustration: GEN. ANTONIO MACEO.
The great Cuban Negro warrior.]
GEN. ANTONIO MACEO.
The Great Cuban Negro Warrior.
Gen. Maceo was a born warrior. He came of a race of warriors. Of ten
brothers, he was the last survivor who had escaped the bullets of the
Spaniards in the ten-years' war, begun in 1868, and the present war.
They were all soldiers and patriots, following in the footsteps of
their father, and they all died fighting for Cuba.
The distinguishing characteristics of Antonio Maceo were intense love
of Cuba, courage that knew no fear, and a natural genius for war. He
was of Spanish and African blood, and his enemies often accused him of
waging a race war, but this he always denied, and his friends believed
him. He fought only for Cuban independence.
Gen. Maceo was the terror of the Spaniards. They feared him as they
feared no other Cuban. They put a price of twenty-five thousand
dollars on his head, dead or alive. The Spaniards could not capture or
defeat him in open warfare, and the work of destroying him fell to the
part of an infamous traitor in his camp: his physician, who betrayed
him into the hands of the enemy.
Maceo was great in his life, and in the manner of his death he has
raised up friends for his beloved Cuba all over the world.
His parents were both "pardos"--that is, light-colored mulattoes--and
they were quite well off. Marcos owned and operated a cattle ranch and
a pony express between the town and near-by estates. He was worth
about forty thousand dollars. Antonio was well trained in
contra-Spanish ideas. His father had been quietly interested in the
small revolutionary disturbances that took place up to 1868, and
Ascenio, his godfather, a prominent lawyer of Santiago City, was one
of the most active promoters of the ten-years' struggle that began in
1868.
After a boyhood spent in the best schools of Santiago de Cuba,
Antonio's seventeenth year found him engaged in business for his
father. The preparations for the war were then secretly going on, and
young Maceo, being thought to possess a discretion beyond his years,
was initiated into the movement. He labored hard for the cause then,
and when the time came for action he promptly took the field, at
eighteen years of age, with a few men whom he had organized and armed.
Maceo was really idolized by his men. For one thing, his magnificent
personal appearance and the halo of many glorious exploits had great
effect; but the real reason for his popularity was the care he took of
his men. No soldier was too poorly or too thinly clad to come right in
and talk to the General at any time. Maceo talked familiarly with his
stalwart men, listened patiently to all complaints, great and small,
and settled them in a quick, decisive manner. Particularly was he an
object of affection to his men because he was always the first rider
in a _machete_ charge. He was always the closest to the enemy in a
mountain fight, and was never to be found in a pitched battle anywhere
else but in the first trench when there was any firing going on.
Dispatches were received in this country on Saturday, January 16,
1897, confirming the report of the death of Gen. Antonio Maceo, the
valiant Cuban leader, who, with the rest of his staff, was reported to
have been brutally murdered through Spanish treachery. Having been
invited by the Spaniards to a conference, with a view of bringing the
terrific struggle for Cuban liberty to an end, he started for the
place of meeting. When nearly there he found himself surrounded by
Spanish forces, and received the command to surrender. Instantly
realizing that he had been drawn into a trap, he and his followers
made a terrible struggle for their freedom, but were outnumbered. As
they were fighting, Maceo received his death wound, and shed his
life's blood in the defense of his country, which he loved too well to
desert by surrender. Thus died brave Antonio Maceo, one of the
greatest generals of African extraction that ever lived.
Jose Antonio Maceo was born in the eastern province of Santiago, near
the city of Santiago de Cuba, in 1850, being the oldest of eleven
brothers. When yet a young man he fought for "Cuba Libre" in the late
ten years' war, seeking to throw off the yoke of Spanish tyranny. His
service in that war, as well as in the present struggle, showed him to
be a born fighter, and earned for him the titles of Second General in
Chief of the Forces of Liberty and General in Chief of the Army of
Invasion. He had full charge of the civil and military jurisdictions
of the western and most important portion of the island of Cuba, the
place where the present struggle will either be won or lost to the
brave Cubans.
As long as Maceo lived there was no prospect of the blacks and whites
of Cuba participating in a race war. He loved his country too well to
allow it, and could have easily prevented such a clash, as he had the
implicit confidence and respect of the Negroes. He was very reticent
in speaking of his wounds, of which he bore twenty-three. With one
exception, these wounds were received in the ten years' war.
In the death of Gen. Maceo Cuba loses a man who was without fear, a
man of rare intellect, an honest man, and a genuine patriot, whose
death will doubtless be avenged by his faithful followers. By Maceo's
death Cuba loses one of the most valiant defenders she ever had. After
his participation in the ten years' war and his exile to Jamaica, at
its unsuccessful termination, his subsequent career has been told in
the following interesting sketch:
"Early in 1879 a brown-skinned, weather-beaten man arrived in New York
on one of the Jamaica steamers. For a month or more he lived alone,
without other companionship than that of books. It was Maceo, and the
fire of liberty, still smoldering in his breast, was only seeking a
favorable opportunity to burst into flame. In a few months he made his
way to West Point, where he obtained employment as a hostler. Nobody
in the academy dreamed for a moment that the broad-shouldered,
dark-browed man who handled the horses so easily had ever smelled the
smoke of battle or heard the song of rifle bullets. Day after day on
the parade grounds the taciturn man watched the evolutions of the
cadets, listened to the commands of the officers, studied the
discipline of the place, pored over volumes of military tactics that
he had managed to borrow, and added to his natural genius the
knowledge of other great generals. Then the dark-skinned hostler, who
was regarded as book mad, gave up his position and returned to New
York. From New York he went to Costa Rica, taking a hundred or more
weighty volumes with him. Some wealthy Cubans had settled in Costa
Rica during the war, and they now offered Maceo a tract of land on
which to colonize his brave followers. Here for ten years the exiled
Cuban worked and studied and dreamed and instructed his
fellow-veterans in the modern theories of war. At times he would
lecture them; at other times he would give them practical lessons in
drilling and in cavalry evolutions. With each day, each week, month,
and year his dream of the freedom of Cuba was brighter than before.
Never for a moment did he seem to forget the points of his purpose.
"In 1888, ten years after the close of the war, he began to scheme for
another uprising in Cuba. He took the former officers into his
confidence, and the little band of revolutionists spent almost a year
in making plans for the overthrow of Spain. Finally Maceo sailed for
Jamaica, and from Jamaica to Santiago de Cuba, disguised as a laborer.
Not for a moment, however, during the entire ten years that had
elapsed since the war had the Spanish Government lost sight of Maceo.
The Spaniards knew him too well. Consequently when he disappeared from
Costa Rica there was a hue and cry. 'Maceo has gone,' was telegraphed
to Madrid; 'Look out for Maceo,' was the word sent to Havana. Search
was made throughout the island. Finally the government got word of him
around Santiago. Under torture, a Cuban confessed that he had seen
Maceo in El Christo, disguised as a muleteer. In the meantime Maceo
had become aware that his whereabouts had been discovered. His schemes
were consequently frustrated. A fisherman who had fought under him
during the long war sailed with Maceo for Kingston one dark night in
his fishing boat. For many weeks thereafter the Spaniards searched in
vain for the Cuban leader.
"Maceo returned to Costa Rica disappointed, but not discouraged. He
saw plainly that the revolutionary ball must be set rolling by other
hands than his. He entered into correspondence with prominent Cuban
sympathizers in American cities, and with Gen. Gomez in San Domingo.
This was kept up until local juntas were formed in almost every
prominent city in the United States. Then Maceo and his little band of
patriots in Costa Rica had nothing to do but possess their souls in
patience and wait for events. The years between 1890 and 1895 were
passed in hard work and in studying the possibilities of Cuba from a
military standpoint. One day in February, 1895, word came that the
Cubans had risen. Blood had been shed, and Julio Sanguilly had been
arrested and imprisoned. At last, after many years, here was an
opportunity to strike once more for Cuba. Freedom, the dream of a
lifetime, would come later on. On the following day an emissary of the
Spanish Government asked Maceo if he intended to join the movement.
'Join it?' he replied, 'I shall join nothing.' He did not think it
necessary to say that he had joined it years ago. This is why the
papers of the next morning all over the world published a statement
that Maceo was not identified with the revolutionary movement in Cuba.
"A week later Maceo, his brother Jose, Flor Crombet, Cabreco, and
sixteen other veterans sailed from Costa Rica for San Domingo. From
this point, a week or so later, they slipped away for Cuba. They
landed on the morning of March 30 at a point near Baracoa, where many
times in years gone by Maceo had seen the flash of _machete_ and
bayonet. True to the traditions of the place, hardly had he touched
his foot on Cuban soil before Spanish rifles were cracking and bullets
were singing all about him. The force of Spaniards numbered about
fifty. Maceo had with him only nineteen men in addition to his brother
Jose, Crombet, and Cabreco. There was a running fight along the road
in the direction of an old log house, where the Cubans finally took
refuge. In this skirmish Crombet was killed. In the log house,
surrounded by Spaniards, the Cubans fought for days. In the meantime
word had been sent out that Antonio Maceo had been captured
immediately upon landing on the island, and that Flor Crombet had been
killed. This was Maceo's first death during the present war. On the
night of the third day Maceo called the men together and told them
that their only hope was in making a rush for the woods. The door had
hardly been opened before the Spaniards discovered the movement. Then
ensued a fierce running fight, in which several of the Cubans were
killed, and Maceo received a bullet through his hat. Separating from
the rest of his companions, Maceo wandered through the pathless forest
for two weeks alone, living on plantains, guavas, and other fruits.
One day he stumbled upon the band of insurgents led by Rabi. He was
taken to the hut occupied by the leader.
"'Who are you?' he was asked.
"'One who will fight to the death for Cuba Libre,' was the reply.
"'Your name?'
"'Antonio Maceo.'
"At first Rabi was incredulous. When he finally recognized in the
haggard and hungry man the dashing leader of the ten years' war the
joy of the insurgent was boundless. In a few days all his old-time
vigor returned. He was more of a leader than ever. His ten years of
exile had only served to make him more cautious and calculating. He
knew that he was a better soldier than when he was banished. In a
fortnight he made his way to Guantanamo, to the spot where he had
disbanded his men years before. The big tree was still standing,
taller and grayer with age, rotted in spots, but quite as sturdy as
ever. Under this tree he had sheathed his sword. Under its branches he
once more drew it from its scabbard against the Spanish oppressor. In
a few weeks he had recruited almost a thousand men. Starting out with
this nucleus of a future army, he swept everything before him."
MARRIED LIFE--ITS JOYS AND SORROWS.
BY BISHOP ARNETT.
A good wife is the greatest earthly blessing. A wife never makes a
greater mistake than when she endeavors to coerce her husband with
other weapons than those of love and affection. Those weapons are a
sure "pull," if he has anything human left in him. Forbear mutual
upbraidings. In writing letters during temporary separation let
nothing contrary to love and sincere affection be expressed; such
letters from a wife have a most powerful emotional effect, sometimes
little understood by those who write them. It is the mother who molds
the character and destiny of the child as to the exteriors; therefore
let calmness, peace, affection, and firmness rule her conduct toward
her children. Children are great imitators; whether they have scolding
or peaceful mothers, they are generally sure to learn from the example
set before them, and thus the consequent joy or sorrow is transferred
to other families. Therefore let mothers take heed to their conduct.
It is not possible to exercise judgment and prudence too much before
entering on the married life. Be sure that the affections on both
sides are so perfectly intertwined around each other that the two, as
it were, form one mind. This requires time and a thorough mutual
knowledge on both sides. Marry into your religion and into a blood and
temperament different from your own. Bend your whole form, and
especially avoid everlastingly dishing up any unsuccessful past action
that was done from a good motive and with the best intentions at the
time. Let nothing foreign to the spirit of love and mutual affections
intervene to cause distance between husband and wife. To this end let
self-denial and reciprocal unselfishness rule over each. Avoid
habitual fault-finding, scolding, etc., as you would perdition itself.
Many men tremble as they cross their threshold into the presence of
scolding wives. Let husband and wife cultivate habits of sobriety, and
specially avoid drunkenness in every form. What a dreadful spectacle
it is to see a husband transformed into a demon, tottering homeward to
a broken-hearted wife, whose noble, self-sacrificing devotion to him
seems to partake more of the nature of heaven than of earth! Never
part, even for a journey, without kind and endearing words; and as a
kiss symbolizes union from interior affection, do not dispense with it
on such occasions, repeating it when you return. In one word, let love
rule supreme.
In all your dealings with women take a lesson from the cooing dove.
Speak softly, deal gently, kindly, and considerately with her in every
way. Let every husband and every wife cherish for each other the
heavenly flame of affection, and let no rude, harsh, or embittered
expression on either side chill the sacred fire. If every adoration of
the creature may hope for pardon, surely the worship rendered by man
to a kind, pure, affectionate, and loving wife--Heaven's best
gift--may invoke forgiveness. What countless millions of women have
sacrificed health, strength, and life in attendance on sick and dying
husbands, children, and strangers! How many have perished by rushing
through fire and water to save their children, and starve themselves
that they might live! In how many hospitals has she proven herself an
angel of mercy, and her sweet voice uttered words of comfort and
cheer! Therefore let woman have her full rights, even that of voting,
if she desires it, for a good woman's influence will ever be used for
a good purpose; but let woman act toward man as indicated in the above
advice for man to act toward woman, and she would be all but
omnipotent; for man, in a manner, would move heaven and earth to serve
her, and would do unspeakably more for her than can ever be done by
all the fussy croakers, old maids, and woman's rights associations and
lectures in creation. Love in the family is the one thing needful to
regenerate the earth and cause the wilderness to become as Eden and
the desert to blossom as the rose. Reversed, love and discord have
broken more hearts, caused more sorrow, estrangement, and downright
death than war, pestilence, and all other causes combined. It palsies
energy and ambition, engenders gloom and despair, and transforms
manhood into an icicle. Statistics prove that the married live longer,
on the average, by several years than the unmarried, a most
satisfactory proof that the married state is pre-eminently the life
designed for man. Therefore let all interested do their utmost to make
it the happiest. (The Budget.)
INTEMPERANCE.
BY MRS. M. A. M'CURDY, ROME, GA.
Intemperance has so rapidly grown to be the crowning curse of all
nations and has taken so deep root in the heart of many influential
countrymen as to cause the impediments that are thrown in the pathway
of those who try to promote the cause of "God, home, and native land"
to appear to be legions.
The horrors of intemperance have never been fully portrayed. No pencil
is black enough to paint the picture and do it full justice. No tongue
is eloquent enough to tell the sad, sad story in all its details. It
has so spread itself as to compel us to style it a wide and verily a
withering curse. It is the parent of many physical disorders, that
begin with bleared eyes, a blistered tongue, general derangement of
the stomach, paralysis of the nerves, and hardening of the liver; and
to so great an extent it poisons the blood as to cause coagulation of
the brain. All of which, as a natural consequence, induce and
aggravate many diseases, ending with causing to be dug a myriad of
premature graves.
Intemperance is a mental curse, and it clouds the judgment, dethrones
reason, promotes ignorance to the extent that to approach the
unenlightened upon the subject of temperance is the means of incurring
the displeasure of many, and in numerous instances causes vile
epithets to be applied to those who are advocates of the cause of
temperance.
[Illustration: MRS. M. A. M'CURDY, ROME, GA.]
Another great and startling reason why all persons should abstain from
the use of intoxicating liquors is that it is a mental curse, because
it produces imbecility and transforms its unhappy victims into maniacs
and fools. Intemperance or the use of alcoholic liquors brings a curse
upon the morals of all nations, and thereby proves to be a moral
curse. It weakens the will and so influences the passions as to hush
the voice of conscience and prepare the way for every vice and crime.
Then, with all that, let us briefly review a few of the attendant
miseries of intemperance that are about us like a swarm of locusts
coming as a plague: In the slimy trail of this alcoholic serpent can
be found everything that is dark and dreadful--yea, everything that is
ruinous. In it can be found men without manhood, women without
womanhood, infancy without hope, want and woe, rage and wretchedness,
disease and death; and, furthermore, in the trail of this venomous
serpent can be found broken vows and broken hearts, bad manners and
bad morals, bad words and bad actions, bad parents and bad children, a
bad beginning and a bad end. Then surely intemperance is the crowning
curse of American society; and as such the traffic is, as has been
often said, a gigantic crime. It came and continues to be an unwelcome
intruder. It erects in our midst distilleries or dramshops. Everywhere
we need the church and schoolhouse, these being uplifting and
elevating forces, while the distilleries and dramshops are mediums
through which distress and want, sorrow and death, are brought into
our midst in an inconceivably short time, carrying to untimely graves
and everlasting woe hundreds--yea, thousands--who otherwise might be
saved.
The traffic is a temptation and a snare, a man trap and a woman trap,
luring ever its victims to death and damnation. No wonder that Lord
Chesterfield, in words as eloquent as they were burning, should say of
rumsellers: "Let us crush out these artists in human slaughter who
have reconciled their countrymen to sickness and ruin and spread over
the pitfalls of debauchery such baits as men cannot resist." And his
suggestions continue to be repeated, serving as a nucleus to which
many cling and receive strength for present and future action. Yet
there is room for more, as the battle is fierce and will possibly be
long.
The traffic is a monster of cruelty. It has ever been one of tears and
groans and blood, in vice, crime, and misery; ever conscienceless,
unprincipled, and as cruel as the grave, while the trafficker is
rarely ever moved by widows' woes, though they swell into rivers of
tears. His heart seems to be incased in stone, while he applies his
infamous trade and hoards his unhallowed wealth, regardless alike of
the claims of God and the cries of his murdered victims.
For heartless cruelty and desolating results, the highway robber is
not to be compared with the vender of alcoholic beverages, because the
robber simply demands your money or your life, while the liquor seller
demands your money and your life; and there being more than half a
million of them, they seem to be determined to rule the remaining
faction of sixty millions with worse than a rod of iron, even proving
insolent and defiant to the last degree. Sitting supreme in our
national Congress and walking with a swing of conscious triumph up and
down our legislative halls, monarchs of all they survey, succeeding in
every effort made to muzzle ministers, bribe lawmakers, control
officers and business men of our country, and place the nation in
great peril. The traffic is an intolerable burden to the state, a
burden on every back, a blight on every industry, sapping the
heartblood out of all concerned. Think of $900,000,000 as a direct
annual drink bill, and an equal sum to cover the sad consequence.
Two-thirds of this amount is expended by laboring men at the sacrifice
of personal comforts and family necessities. Then why, O why, will not
a greater number of our male relatives assist in striking every saloon
until they are all crushed into hopeless flinders? and why will not a
greater number of our women unite with those who are making efforts to
raise up many who have fallen through and by the use of intoxicating
liquors, and in many ways assist our husbands, brothers, and fathers
in laying plans that will in the near future annihilate the demon rum?
Last, but not least, the liquor traffic is a deadly foe to the Church.
Well and truly did Charles Buxton say that "the struggle of the
Church, school, and the library all united against the beer shop and
the gin place is but one development of the war between Heaven and
Hades." The traffic paralyzes the pulpit, hardens human hearts,
alienates men and women from the Church of God, and in so doing rises
like a mountain in the path of Christian civilization, and we agree
with Rev. A. A. Phelps in saying: "It is a terrible fact, sad enough
to make angels weep, that the two hundred thousand grogshops of this
nation are doing more to damn the people than all the Churches are
doing to save them." Then, in conclusion, let us rally to the cause of
temperance and apply the prohibition as to the deadly upas tree of
intemperance, taking God and his word for our guide, adopting our
Creator's philosophy, imitating his example, and thereby build on
those basic principles that underline the eternal throne, ever
remembering that there is work for all to do, and that in God's
universal system
None fall back or slip aside;
Each of all the mighty forces
Serves with dignity and pride.
There are evils we must strangle,
There are enemies we must fight,
Cruel foes most fierce and active
Keeping back the good and right.
We must all be up and at them
Meet them here and meet them there;
Brothers, fathers ever active,
Women diligent in prayer.
[Illustration: EDWARD SEABROOK, SAVANNAH, GA.
Steamship pilot, Atlantic Coast]
RACE NAME--WHAT SHALL IT BE?
OPINION OF H. C. C. ASTWOOD, CAMBRIDGEPORT, MASS.
The controversy going on regarding the particular term by which to
designate the race is important and of general interest. After reading
all that has been said upon the subject up to date, I must conclude
that the logic and the facts are with the "Colored American."
The word "Afro-American" is simply an individual fad of recent
construction, which has been generally used by some to designate the
race without stopping to think that it is really out of place and can
have no significance at all as far as the race is concerned in this
country. The word "African" or "Negro" may be applied in a general way
to the native-born African and his descendants or to the Negro of
Africa, because of the intense blackness of color, but the
"Afro-American" race does not now nor ever did exist. It is argued
that the German-American, the Irish-American, and the Anglo-American
are distinctly racial lines, and for that reason the "Afro-American"
must be applied to the race of African descent in America.
The conditions are not the same and the facts are against the
argument. Let us analyze the different thousands of German, Irish,
French, Dutch, and Italian nationalities who come to our shores
annually. They form a distinct nationality within themselves, and
as long as they retain their nationality they are German, French,
and so on; but as soon as they become naturalized they become
German-American, French-American, and so on; but their descendants
born here are not German-Americans or French-Americans or
Dutch-Americans; they are simply Americans, and nothing more. This is
not the condition of the colored race in this country. I am of the
opinion that it would be difficult to find a hundred native-born
Africans in the United States; hence nationality is extinct. The ten
millions of colored people in this country are native-born Americans,
who never have had any other nationality, and cannot, therefore, be
classed as anything else but Americans. If you wish to designate them
because of their color, you cannot use a false term. They are not
Africans nor Negroes, and there is no such a race as the Afro-American
race known in the world. The particular race cannot be known otherwise
than the "colored race," or, if you apply the nationality, the
"Colored American." I don't think that the matter admits of argument,
and the intelligent gathering of colored women who assembled in
Washington knew exactly what they were doing and applied the correct
term to themselves.
The editor of the "Colored American" is correct in the stand taken,
and is supported by the well-thinking colored people of the entire
country. The word "Afro-American" grew out of a freak at Chicago, and
is only generally used by the "Age" and a few others; and as far as
its application is concerned, it can never be acceptable, and will die
a natural death, without even a struggle to smother. I am sure that
this will elicit a storm of ridicule; but be this as it may, the word
"Afro" and the word "Negro" can never be forced upon an American,
regardless of his color, without his consent, and I stand ready to
maintain my position in the premises based upon sound reason and
common sense.
* * * * *
OPINION OF T. M'CANTS STEWART, NEW YORK CITY.
I invariably use the term "Afro-American" to designate our race
residing in the United States. No stronger article has come under my
eyes than the one which recently appeared from the pen of Prof.
DuBois, showing that our term "Afro-American" can only be adhered to
as an ark of refuge from the term "Negro," which is too apt to be
written with a small "n" and too frequently with two "g's."
We are seeking by our term to designate a race, not a locality, and
therein lies the difficulty. If a person should refer to Lobengula's
son as an African, he would be correct, so far as fixing his habitat;
but if an inquirer should be as great an interrogation point as Li
Hung Chang, and should desire to know more about Lobengula, he would
properly ask: "But to which one of the African races does he belong?"
And the answer would be: "He is a Negro." Now if Lobengula should come
to reside in the United States, he could be properly called an
"Afro-American" (but this is a very indefinite designation), meaning a
native of Africa residing in America. To be strictly accurate, we
would call him a Negro Afro-American. We have Italo-American,
Franco-American, German-American, Russo-American, Spanish-American,
but each of the terms covers an individual who is of foreign birth.
These terms are not applied to the children of immigrants; at any
rate, these children do not so describe themselves. Even where there
is amalgamation between any two of these race varieties, no name is
sought to cover the mixture of blood. These children call themselves
Americans, and if you press for a blood analysis, you will be told
that they are Americans of English and French descent, or some other
descent, and if you ask for the name of their race, they will say: "We
are Caucasians."
There goes an Italo-American. He is an Italian (born in Italy) who now
resides in America. That is the limit of this term. If two or more
distinct races were inhabiting Italy, that would be a very indefinite
term; but as only one race covers that land, the term is definite.
There goes an Afro-American. When such a man is pointed out he should
be a native of Africa residing in America; but the term as applied to
him does not convey conclusive information to the scientist. He
desires to know something more definite; and if the person is of black
complexion and woolly hair, we say that he is a Negro Afro-American.
No escape from this logic. But if one should say, "I am not a Negro; I
have the blood of both races in my veins. What will you call me?" I
answer: "Why, you are an American." If you push me for a scientific
term to fix your blood relationship to other American race varieties,
and if you spring from the blood of a black and the blood of a white
person, I would call you a "Negro-American," since your blood is a
mixture of that of those Africans called Negroes and that of the white
Americans; but if, like the great Bishop Payne, the blood of three
races (including the Indian) courses through your veins, then you are
a Negro Indo-American.
It is difficult for us to get a scientific name. We are a
mixed-blooded animal; we have no distinct race, no race name. The only
people who have any right to establish race names and define them are
the ethnologists. They have the human race divided into several
distinct classes. If there is no houseroom in any class for the man of
several different bloods, then we must get a new name. But certain
principles must guide us. We cannot escape them without incurring the
censure of such scientific minds as Prof. DuBois.
While I agree with Prof. DuBois that our term "Afro-American" lacks
precision and is somewhat high sounding, yet I prefer it, because it
rids us of the word "nigger," and it has within itself an element of
dignity and solidity which helps to promote aspiration in ourselves
and to command respectful mention from others. And I think that the
name is growing in use. I find it in a late standard dictionary and I
notice that public speakers and writers in our best American
publications are using it. But, although I rejoice in the fact, I
cannot stand against the logic of the scholar who argues that the term
cannot be defended upon scientific principles.
* * * * *
OPINION OF P. BUTLER THOMPKINS, NEW YORK.
In the last edition of the "Age" Prof. DuBois argues at considerable
length why we should be called "Negroes," and not "Afro-Americans." I
read his article with much interest, because the Professor advanced
the best reasons why we should be called "Afro-Americans." He admits
that the term "colored" is a misnomer, and therefore meaningless.
The term "Negro" was not broad enough even to include all the
inhabitants of Africa. All three of the great races were, from days
immemorial, represented in Africa; but these were not then, nor are
they now, known as "Negroes," but "Africans," subdivided into families
and tribes. Those families that were known as true Negroes dwell
between the Tropic of Cancer on the north and the equator on the
south, and between the Nile (extremely north) and the Atlantic Ocean.
These were divided into three classes--viz., true "Negroes,"
"Negroids," and the "Negrillos." What say we of that other part of the
great Hamitic family not known as "Negroes?" Were all of the slaves
deported to America from that particular territory? If not, can we say
that they were all Negroes? Nay, but they were all Africans.
The Professor next hastens into the middle of his subject. "Where does
'Afro-American' come in?" he asks; and then replies: "Awkwardly." In
reply, let me say that nothing is "awkward" that is right; the user
may be awkward. Says he: "It may not be so objectionable when applied
to some national gathering." We have in America one great national
gathering of Afro-Americans numbering some ten million or more. The
Professor knows very well that it is not fair to argue from the
general to the particular. The "Old Auntie in Hackensack" is not the
subject. She is a member of the Afro-American family. Children
generally take the name of their parents by birth or by adoption.
Don't refuse to call a thing by its right name because it is
"awkward," for the name is not "awkward," but the tongue that handles
it. We have a similar case in God's Word. The Gileadites took the
passage of Jordan and adopted a distinct watchword by which everyone
of their number could be known. The Ephraimites, who desired to pass
over the river, were required to say the word "Shibboleth," which, if
said properly, would signify that they were Gileadites. The
Ephraimites could not pronounce it correctly, so they could not pass
over, but were slain. This word "Shibboleth" was "awkward" to the
Ephraimites; but not to the Gileadites, because they had trained
themselves to say it. So must we train ourselves to say the right
name, "Afro-American."
In the second place, the Professor objects to the appellation
"Afro-American" because, says he: "The adjectives 'Irish' or 'German'
or 'Swedish,' which are sometimes used to designate certain classes,
refer always to race rather than to country, and never to either of
the great world divisions." This may be true in a sense, but we beg to
offer an alternative. There were many of us brought from those
families or tribes in Africa which were not known as "Negroes," for
the Negroes, as we have shown, were only a remnant of the great
African, or Hamitic, race.
In the third place the Professor objects to the term "Afro-American"
because, says he: "This name would seek to separate us from our
kindred in the land of our fathers." This kind of reasoning is what we
call _reductio ad absurdum_, for just the reverse of what he says is
true. To say "Afro-American" is to reunite us to our forefathers, both
by blood and language. It tells, whence we came and where we are.
There is no other term in language, thought, or reason that fits in
and at the same time covers the ground so completely as
"Afro-American." "Let us be Negroes, let us be one in blood," says he.
We can't be what we are not. How can we be one in blood when our blood
has been crossed a thousand times?
But we all can be Afro-Americans, because we all were of Africa and
now are of America. In other words, our forefathers were Africans by
birth and became Americans by adoption. We are Africans by descent and
Americans both by birth and adoption. This addition, Africans plus
Americans, equals Afro-Americans. We conclude, therefore, that the
term "Negro," although honorable and significant, is too narrow to be
adopted as a national appellation. We need a name that will include
every man that came from Africa, regardless of the section or
territory from which he came, and that name is "African." We want a
name that will include every American citizen who has a drop of Negro
blood in his or her veins, let them be as white as snow or as black as
soot, and that name is "Afro-American."
THE NATION'S DUTY TO THE NEGRO.
BY BISHOP PETTY, NORTH CAROLINA.
THE NEGRO AS A SLAVE.
In order to define the duty of the nation to the Negro we must first
notice the relationship existing between the Negro and the nation. For
two hundred and seventy-six years we have inhabited this country, and,
whether as slaves or as freemen, I say here, without fear of
successful contradiction, that we have done more to enhance the wealth
of this country, in proportion to our numbers, than any other race in
America. The Negro as a slave was docile and obedient. He was harmless
to his master--yea, one white woman was not afraid to live alone on
her farm with a hundred Negro men as her servants. They frequently did
so, and were never harmed, notwithstanding the number of Negroes who
have been lynched since under the accusation of unbecoming conduct. In
other words, he made a good slave, if such a thing as a good slave be
possible.
THE NEGRO AS A COMMON LABORER.
As for this great Southland, the largest portion of her wealth is but
the product of the black man's labor. Cotton is the chief staple of
America, and when to this we add sugar and iron we have the heft of
Southern wealth--and the brawny hand of the Negro produces at least
three-fourths of these commodities. It was his hand chiefly that
felled the mighty forest of this Southland; it was his hand that dug
out and laid these railroads, taking away the old stagecoach and
making pleasant and rapid transit possible; it was his shoulder that
carried the mortar hod to erect these palatial cities; it was the
sweat from the Negro's brow that has made Georgia the Empire State of
the South; it was Negro labor that made it possible for the Exposition
to be held in Atlanta. Go where you will, from Washington to the gulf,
and from the Atlantic to the Ohio River, and almost every acre of land
and object of interest you behold bears the impress of Negro labor,
industry, and skill. Looking from your car window on either side most
of the beautiful farms that you see were cleared and are tilled by the
Negro; and most of the beautiful residences you have passed were
built, painted, and kept in order by Negroes. All of those beautiful,
flowered lawns show Negro industry. The glittering iron rails which
led you on lightning express to this city were laid by Negro hands
after he had tunneled the mountains, leveled the hills, and filled the
hollows. And if those iron rails were made South and the Negro did not
forge them, it was because the boss had an acute attack of colorphobia
and gave the job to some nondecitizenized, ready-to-work emigrant.
Some people used to say that the Negro was lazy, and that if freed he
would perish. I have traveled all over this country and through many
others, and I have seen thousands of tramps, but I have as yet met but
one first-class Negro tramp, and he was in London; therefore I
concluded that he had strayed from his race, and had learned the trade
from the white people. I have also learned that at the great national
tramp convention recently held in New York not a single Negro was
present. True it is that we find too many idle Negroes in the towns
and cities "holding up the corners." Well, Dr. Price once said that
the Negro had to work so hard in the hot sun during slavery that a
great many of them promised themselves that if ever they got free they
would take a good rest. The Doctor concluded that this idle class were
making good their promise. But the true cause of this apparent
idleness lies far back of this. It arises partially out of the very
distressing condition of the cotton planters of the South. The Negroes
have been so industrious for the last decade that they have
overflooded the cotton markets of the world, and consequently so
reduced the price of this staple that the landlords are not disposed
to feed hirelings through the winter, and the colored people, who have
been fed from the stores under the mortgage system, getting all their
food on time at two prices, and paying for the same in cotton in the
fall at half price, find themselves in the end in debt and greatly
discouraged. Hence thousands of would-be industrious young men float
into the cities and towns looking for jobs, in order to clothe
themselves for the winter. They find every position occupied, and
float on as apparent idlers.
One other cause of the seeming laziness on the part of the Negro is
that, as a rule, the cruel sentiment of the country has closed the
doors of every machine shop, cotton mill, and similar factories to all
persons of color. Again, almost every class of labor which once was
done by hand is now being turned off by the crank of invention. The
old-fashioned washboard has been turned into a steam laundry and the
old spinning wheel has given place to the American cotton mills. The
same is true along all lines of common labor. The Negro, however,
either by contact or in the schools of theory, has learned something
about applied science, and as his old trades have been elevated and
dignified by machinery, he would like to be elevated with them. The
washerwoman would like now to enter the steam laundry, since it has
captured her business; the blacksmith would like to enter the foundry,
where they are now molding the plowshares he once made with his
hammer; and where the Negro is capable of following his old trade to a
more elevated station we believe it the duty of the nation to allow
him to do so. While we entertain no feelings against foreigners, we
believe these to be the birth-right of American citizens, and
therefore appeal to the sentiment of this nation and ask that every
door to foundries, factories, and machine shops of every kind be
opened alike to Negroes and whites. We ask that you give us a bench,
an anvil, or a loom by the side of our white brother, with equal
wages; then, if we do not prove to be as skillful workmen as they,
after a fair trial, turn us away. This is the duty of the nation to
the Negro. I have always been a protectionist, but if every cotton
mill is to be run by immigrants from across the sea, while our sons
and daughters, who are black and poor, but to the manner born--true
and patriotic American citizens--are to be refused employment in the
factories of this country, I would advise the Negroes to vote for
whatever party may represent low tariff or free trade for all
fabricated material.
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER.
From the days of Washington to the days of Grant there was scarcely a
decisive battle fought upon American soil in which the Negro did not
participate in the defense of the stars and stripes. Though much of
his heroism has been forgotten because it was not published and
commented upon in American history, yet a few great men, such as Gens.
Lee, Jackson, Sherman, and Grant, have been generous enough to hand
down to us in their private diaries the valuable service rendered the
government by these black soldiers on the bloody field of battle.
Especially in the late war did the government learn to recognize the
Spartanlike heroism of the Negro. He was always ready to charge and
the last man to retreat. He was the first to lift his hand and shed
his blood when the colonies were attacked by the British in Boston;
and Gen. Sherman, in his "History of the War," says that the last man
wounded in the late rebellion was a Negro, and the last man who fired
a gun to close the unfortunate war was a Negro, upon the banks of the
Rio Grande. Hence the Negro has a record that any race might envy.
THE NEGRO AS A CITIZEN.
As a citizen, the Negro is peaceable, unassuming, and friendly toward
all races. He has studied to know his duty as a constituent of the
government, and does all in his power to perform the same. He is
always looking and praying for better times, but he never organizes a
labor union and goes out on a strike to make times better.
He is rapidly gaining wealth and intelligence. He is making every
effort to keep pace with the advancing tide of Christian civilization,
and the census of this country shows that he is making progress on
every line. Remember, too, that the most of these men were born slaves
and started out with nothing, not even good advice, but with all
odds--even their color, their previous condition, and public
sentiment--against them. Remember also that only one Negro out of a
thousand has had as yet an equal chance in the race of life, for
freedom of body, with every avenue leading toward the heights of
unqualified freedom of will and of purpose closed, and he left
standing uncovered and exposed to the worst elements of a superior
race, is worse (if anything can be worse) than slavery. And yet, with
all that, the Negro has proven to be equal to all occasions as a
citizen, and, with superior zeal to any race, he has seized every
opportunity and entered every door of usefulness that opened to him.
Come walk with me through these halls and let us see his higher life
and aims. See the walls bedecked with pictures of Negro homes and
other real estate that would compare very favorably with a majority of
the homes of the white men of this country; and this is not a fair
exhibit of the progress of the race, for not one-thousandth part of
the Negro wealth is on exhibition here. You find him an inventor, a
painter, a sculptor, and no mean artist. He can make tools, invent
machinery, and knows how to use them. He understands the sciences, and
can apply them in the daily vocations of life. He has made an earnest
effort to prepare himself for the responsibilities of citizenship.
Having been on probation for thirty years and proved our worthiness,
we now feel that we ought to be permitted to enjoy to the fullest
extent all of the rights guaranteed American citizens. Since we assume
the attitude of petitioners, I am sure that I speak the sentiment of
the American Negro when I say that we do not ask to be made white, for
had it pleased God, we would have been white. We do, not ask the
liberty of any man's power; but we would ask the liberty to have and
to occupy our own in peace and safety. I am sure the Hon. Hoke Smith
voiced the sentiment of every intelligent colored man in America when
he said that the Negro had no desire to mix with the whites--that is,
to impose himself upon them. The Negro never wanted social rights in
the sense of the common interpretation, but has and will ever contend
for civil and religious rights. I am not sorry that the white people
have been clannish enough and have had race pride enough to protect
their own society. The Negro has formed his own society, and now there
is but one favor on this line that we would ask of our white brethren,
and that is that any white man who is so unworthy of his ancestry and
unconscious of race pride as to attempt to corrupt Negro society be
punished as Negroes are (save the lynching) by the just laws of our
country. This we believe to be another duty of the nation to the
Negro. As citizens, we would not ask any state or the Federal
government for a single legislative act for our special benefit, but
we do ask that no special acts be passed by either to impede our
progress. All that we ask as citizens is that the several states and
general government legislate for the common good of all citizens,
regardless of races, and we are willing to take our chances. What more
can we ask and what less can be given by an honest Christian nation?
And may God have mercy upon any nation or people that would not grant
this! The white people of this country proudly boast of their
superiority as a race, and I grant it when considered en masse. Their
opportunities have made them thus. Then why should the stronger refuse
the weaker an equal chance in the race of life? Can it be possible
that the stronger fears the weaker?
THE NEGRO AS A SOUTHERNER.
The question has often been asked: "What must we do with the Negro?"
If you will allow, I would say: "Do nothing with him, but respect him
as a citizen at his home in the South." For the Negro is at home in
this Southland. He knows and loves no other country. He was born here.
Our fathers died here. We helped to make this Sunny South glorious,
and we desire to enjoy the fruit of our labors. The Negro understands
his white neighbors and they understand him. We are all Southerners
together, and whatever is of interest to one is a blessing to the
other. The greatest enemy to either race is he who would break our
peace and generate strife. The Negro is an indispensable factor of the
South. No race could fill his place. We know of no other clime where
the Negro, if transplanted, could better his condition. The interest
of the South is common to both races alike. We are inseparable in all
that concerns this Southland. One race cannot suffer without the other
proportionately being affected in the end. The sooner we all learn
this lesson the better for all concerned.
THE NEGRO IN POLITICS.
I have never discussed politics publicly in my life. When called upon
to represent the sentiment of my Church I feel it to be pardonable for
daring to speak my sentiments touching the vital issues of to-day. If
low tariff or free trade on certain commodities is to the best
interest of the white South, it certainly is to the best interest of
the black South, who produce the raw material, manufacture nothing,
but are all-round consumers; and if free silver, as it is now termed,
is to the best interest of the laboring classes of this country,
especially of the South and West, it must be doubly so to the Negro. I
have thought for twenty years whether or no the Negro is doing right
in voting solidly for any one national party. I would advise the race
to be slaves to no political party because of public sentiment or
misguiding politicians, but would call upon every man of the race to
be a freeman at the polls and vote his individual sentiments, looking
well to the best interest not only for the common country, but to the
best local and sectional interest as well, and for the best men to
represent that interest. And it also becomes the duty of the white
citizens of the South not only to protect the life and property of the
colored man, but to see that the Negro obtains a proportionate
patronage of the offices of the local and Federal government.
FACTS FOR COLORED PEOPLE.
_What is the black population of the world?_
The black people of the human race are estimated at 250,000,000 souls.
_What is the African population of the United States?_
The census of 1890 places the colored population at 7,470,040, and it
is believed that they have increased to nearly 10,000,000.
_How many states in the United States have a majority of Negroes?_
Three--South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
_How many more Negroes than whites in each of these states?_
The latest census gives the Negroes of Louisiana a majority of 798;
Mississippi a majority of 197,708; and South Carolina a majority of
226,926.
_What state is having the greatest increase of population?_
Arkansas.
_What state has the greatest wealth among colored people?_
Louisiana.
_How many Negroes on the island of Cuba?_
There are 480,000 Negroes on the island of Cuba.
_What does Dr. Palmore, editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate,
say of the Negro as a race?_
He says: "Possibly no race that God has created has made such rapid
progress in the same length of time as the Negro. As a rule, they
should not be judged by the criminals among them who have become
conspicuous in the newspapers for their evil deeds, but they should be
judged from the honest, hard-working men and women, who, beginning
with nothing, have in the course of one generation accumulated over
$650,000,000 worth of real and personal property."
_How many Negroes in the 55th Congress of the United States?_
Only one--Hon. George H. White, of North Carolina.
_How many colored people own their own homes in this country?_
According to the census of 1890, there were 234,747 homes and farms,
free from all incumbrance, owned by Negroes; and since that time the
number has probably doubled.
_How many books have been written by Afro-Americans?_
More than 300 books written by Negro men and women have been
published, while probably not more than fifty have had an extensive
circulation. The "Afro-American Encyclopedia" has had the largest
sale.
_How many newspapers are edited and published by Afro-Americans?_
Over 400.
_Name one of the leading papers in each of the several states._
The "Colored American," Washington, D. C.; the "Age," New York, N. Y.;
the "Freeman," Indianapolis, Ind.; the "Gazette," Cleveland, O.; the
"Courant," Boston, Mass.; the "Planet," Richmond, Va.; the "Gazette,"
Huntsville, Ala.; the "Southern Age," Atlanta, Ga.; the "Progress,"
Helena, Ark.; the "Elevator," San Francisco, Cal.; the "Statesman,"
Denver, Colo.; the "Sentinel," Pensacola, Fla.; the "Appeal," Chicago,
Ill.; the "Herald," Leavenworth, Kans.; the "Standard," Lexington,
Ky.; the "Afro-American," Baltimore, Md.; the "Enquirer," Charleston,
S. C.; the "Woman's Messenger," Memphis, Tenn.; the "Republican," New
Orleans, La.; the "American Citizen," Kansas City, Mo.; the
"Progress," Omaha, Neb.; the "Gazette," Raleigh, N. C.; the "Tribune,"
Philadelphia, Pa.; the "Freeman," Houston, Tex.; the "People's
Defender," Jackson, Miss.
_By whom were Negroes first called contrabands?_
By Gen. B. F. Butler, on the 22d of May, 1861, at Newport News, Va.
_When did Hon. Frederick Douglass die?_
On the 20th of February, 1895, at seven o'clock p.m., at his home in
Washington, D. C.
_Who is the greatest poet of the race?_
Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
_Whose blood was the first spilled in revolution?_
Crispus Attucks, a Negro, was the first to lay down his life in the
defense of his country.
_What does the Washington Post say of G. W. Bryant, editor of the Race
Standard, of Baltimore, Md.?_
"He is one of the most gifted orators of natural compass, white or
black, in the United States. He has a voice that reminds men of Henry
Grady, and controls an almost inexhaustible vocabulary."
_How many building and loan associations are conducted by Negroes?_
At least forty building, loan, and co-operative associations are doing
business on a substantial basis, having conformed to the laws of the
various states in which they are operated.
[Illustration: John Q. Adams, Chicago Ill.]
_Who was the first President of the Afro-American Press Association?_
John Quincy Adams, editor of the "Appeal," was the first President of
the Afro-American Press Association.
_When did the Negro exodus take place?_
In 1879-80, when about 7,000 colored people left the Southern States
and settled in Kansas.
_When did the last sale of slaves lake place?_
In October, 1859, Pierce Butler, of Philadelphia, sold 988 slaves at
the race track, Savannah, Ga., for $303,850.
_How many Negro colleges in Mississippi?_
There are ten colleges in Mississippi for the education of Negro
youths, and they are all well filled with bright, progressive
students, who are fitting themselves for intelligent, worthy
leadership of the race.
_When was the Freedman's Bank established?_
In March, 1865. It was established in Washington, D. C., and had
thirty-four branch banks in different parts of the United States.
_How long did this bank live?_
Nine years, during which time it handled no less than $56,000,000.
_How many colored Catholics in the United States?_
Colored Catholics have two priests and over 200,000 communicants.
_Who are among the leading poetesses of the race?_
Mrs. Francis E. W. Harper, Mrs. Charlotte F. Grimke, Mrs. M. E. Lee,
and Mrs. Josie Heard.
_Who is the highest colored Mason in the United States?_
John G. Jones, who was recently elected Third Vice President of the
Cook County Lawyers' Association, a new but strong organization
composed of those admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of
Illinois. He is a thirty-third degree Mason, the highest in the United
States.
[Illustration: JOHN G. JONES, CHICAGO, ILL.]
_How many colored lawyers in Chicago?_
There are thirty colored lawyers in Chicago, Lloyd G. Wheeler being
the first, and was admitted in 1869. Miss Ida Platt is the only
colored lady lawyer in Chicago. She was admitted to the bar about two
years ago, and sought to make herself a first-class lawyer in every
respect.
_How many colored councilmen has Philadelphia?_
Six.
_Who is the richest negro bootblack in the United States?_
Thomas Gleason, of Baltimore, Md., is said to have accumulated $15,000
polishing boots and shoes.
_Who is considered the best colored mathematician?_
Prof. Kelly Miller, of Howard University, Washington, is the finest
mathematician of which the race can boast. He is the author of a
text-book on geometry, which is taught at Howard University.
_How many colored public schools in Washington?_
In his annual report of the colored public schools of Washington, D.
C., Superintendent G. F. Cook accounts for 242 schools; 297 teachers,
of whom 252 are females and 45 males; 12,876 pupils, with an average
daily attendance of 9,767.
_How many Negroes on the police force in Chicago?_
Twenty-seven.
_Can you tell how many colored troops there are in the United States
Army?_
The Negro soldiers in the United States Army number 2,400.
_When was the National Baptist Publishing Board organized?_
This institution was organized at St. Louis, Mo., on the 16th of
September, 1896, and the Publishing House established in Nashville,
Tenn., January 1, 1897, with Rev. R. H. Boyd, D.D., as Secretary.
[Illustration: REV. R. H. BOYD, D.D., SAN ANTONIO, TEX.]
_Of what is this organization composed?_
This organization is composed entirely of Negro Baptists, and is said
to be the largest Baptist organization in the world.
_How many colored men and women are employed by the city of Pittsburg,
Pa.?_
The city government of Pittsburg, Pa., gives employment to 233 colored
persons, 23 of whom are in the police department as clerks, patrolmen,
turnkeys, etc., and 9 are clerks in the courthouse.
_Who was the first colored man elected judge in Florida?_
Hon. Joseph E. Lee, of Jacksonville, Fla., enjoys the distinction of
being the first Negro to be elected to a judicial office in that
state. He is a lawyer of high repute, and has served in the
Legislature of his state for many years. He was elected city judge of
Jacksonville in 1887, and has been collector of customs there for some
time. He will doubtless serve in that capacity under the incoming
administration.
DR. WILLIAM KEY.
[Illustration: DR. WILLIAM KEY.
Shelbyville, Tenn.]
No colored man in all the South is more highly esteemed for his
integrity by all who know him than Dr. William Key. He is the very
soul of honour, and is a living example of what every colored boy
should strive to be. His word is his bond among all classes wherever
he is known. He is the inventor of Key's Liniment, so widely known and
used all over the Southern States.
JIM KEY.
In many respects this is beyond all question the most wonderfully
trained horse in the world. He was foaled near Shelbyville, Bedford
County, Tenn., May 1, 1888, and was reared and educated by Dr. William
Key. Seven years of close attention were given to his education. He is
a graduate, and is said to be the finest scholar of the equestrian
race, or possibly in the animal kingdom.
He gives all the symptoms of the common diseases to which the horse is
heir, prescribes the remedy for same, gets and delivers the medicine,
collects the money, makes the correct change (when needed), and puts
it in the cash drawer as correctly as any clerk.
He takes a silver dollar out of a full bucket of water without
upsetting the bucket or drinking a drop of the water.
He delivers mail correctly, allowing any person to call for it by
number.
He can play a number of pieces on an organ as correctly as an Italian.
He knows every piece of money from a one-cent copper coin to a
one-hundred-dollar bill, and can change any bill as correctly as the
average clerk.
He knows the deck of cards perfectly, and will get any suit or size
called for.
Jim is also a mind reader, and after reading the mind of a man, woman,
or child he will go to his wheel of fortune, turn it, and get the true
character of the person as well as any clairvoyant in the country.
[Illustration: Jim Key, Shelbyville, Tenn.]
Every coin from one cent to one dollar can be laid on a table
promiscuously, when any one in the audience may name the coin he wants
removed, telling Jim to give it to his owner or place it in the cash
drawer, and he will comply with the request promptly and correctly.
Kerchiefs of different colors may be tied on each hind foot, and this
intelligent horse will remove the one desired by any one simply by
naming the color.
If Dr. Key should say, "Jim, I am going to sell you, provided you are
a sound horse," Jim will immediately get so lame that he can hardly
move; but on being assured that he shall not be sold he is
miraculously cured of his lameness.
The above are only a few of the wonderful things this horse performs.
Dr. Key, his owner, has his horse now on exhibition at the Tennessee
Centennial, and he challenges any or all the horsemen of the world for
a wager of $10,000 to show on these grounds his equal, the winner to
donate $5,000 to the Centennial Committee.
Seven thousand dollars has been offered for the horse since the
exhibition commenced, but was promptly refused. We have learned that
$10,000 will buy him.
A SOUL AT AUCTION.
BY REV. JOHN HENRY DICKERSON, OCALA, FLA.
There is a very good story told of Rowland Hill and Lady Ann Erskine.
You have seen it in print perhaps, but I would like to tell it to you.
While he was preaching in a park in London to a large assemblage, she
was passing in her carriage. She said to her footman, when she saw
Rowland Hill in the midst of the people: "Who is that man?"
"That is Rowland Hill, my lady."
She had heard a good deal of him, and, desiring to see him, directed
her coachman to drive near.
When the carriage came near Rowland Hill saw the insignia of nobility,
and he asked who that noble lady was. Upon being told, he said: "Stop,
my friends, I have something to sell." The idea of the preacher
suddenly becoming an auctioneer made the people wonder, and in the
midst of a dead silence he said:
"I have more than a title to sell, I have more than the crown of
Europe to sell--it is the soul of Lady Ann Erskine. Is there any one
here who bids for it? Yes, I hear a bid. Satan, Satan, what will you
give?
"'I will give pleasure, honor, riches--yea, I will give the whole
world for her soul.'
"Do you hear another bid? Is there another one? Do I hear another bid?
Ah! I thought so; I hear another bid: the Lord Jesus Christ--what will
you give for this soul?
"'I will give peace, joy, comfort, that the world knows not of--yea, I
will eternal life.'
"Lady Ann Erskine, you have heard the two bidders for your soul; which
will you accept?"
[Illustration: Rev. John Henry Dickerson, Ocala, Fla.
Deputy Grand Master of Florida Free and Accepted Masons.]
And she ordered the door of her carriage to be opened, and came
weeping and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear reader, will you do
the same?
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Illustrations have been moved from their original locations to prevent
splitting paragraphs. The page numbers in the List of Illustrations are
for the original printed book.
Table of Contents page numbers put in order: Moved Mrs. Georgia Gordon
Taylor (page 75); originally listed after page 57 in book.
Pg. 53: Changed section to sections (other sections of the country.)
Pg. 78: Changed citzen to citizen (Douglass is the new citizen--).
Pg. 131: Changed our to ours (prosperity as ours is at this late day)
Pg. 176: Changed nothwithstanding to notwithstanding (never harmed,
notwithstanding the number)
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