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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35399-8.txt b/35399-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..177eedc --- /dev/null +++ b/35399-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3976 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Negro in the South, by +Booker T. Washington and W. E. Burghardt DuBois + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Negro in the South + His Economic Progress in Relation to his Moral and Religious Development + +Author: Booker T. Washington + W. E. Burghardt DuBois + +Release Date: February 25, 2011 [EBook #35399] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + The Negro in the South + + _His Economic Progress in Relation to + His Moral and Religious Development_ + + Being the William Levi Bull + Lectures for the Year 1907 + + By + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + _Of the Tuskeegee Normal and Industrial Institute_ + + and + + W.E. BURGHARDT DuBOIS + _Of the Atlanta University_ + + [Illustration] + + PHILADELPHIA + GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + + + + Copyright, 1907, by + GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY + _Published, June, 1907_ + + + _All rights reserved_ + Printed in U.S.A. + + + + +The Letter Establishing the Lectureship + + +Bishop Whitaker presented the Letter of Endowment of the Lectureship +on Christian Sociology from Rev. William L. Bull as follows: + +For many years it has been my earnest desire to found a Lectureship on +Christian Sociology, meaning thereby the application of Christian +principles to the Social, Industrial, and Economic problems of the +time, in my Alma Mater, the Philadelphia Divinity School. My object in +founding this Lectureship is to secure the free, frank, and full +consideration of these subjects, with special reference to the +Christian aspects of the question involved, which have heretofore, in +my opinion, been too much neglected in such discussion. It would seem +that the time is now ripe and the moment an auspicious one for the +establishment of this Lectureship, at least tentatively. + +After a trial of three years, I again make the offer, as in my letter +of January 1, 1901, to continue these Lectures for a period of three +years, with the hope that they may excite such an interest, +particularly among the undergraduates of the Divinity School, that I +shall be justified, with the approval of the authorities of the +Divinity School, in placing the Lectureship on a more permanent +foundation. + +I herewith pledge myself to contribute the sum of six hundred dollars +annually, for a period of three years, to the payment of a lecturer on +Christian Sociology, whose duty it shall be to deliver a course of not +less than four lectures to the students of the Divinity School, +either at the school or elsewhere, as may be deemed most advisable, on +the application of Christian principles to the Social, Industrial, and +Economic problems and needs of the times; the said lecturer to be +appointed annually by a committee of five members: the Bishop of the +Diocese of Pennsylvania; the Dean of the Divinity School; a member of +the Board of Overseers, who shall at the same time be an Alumnus; and +two others, one of whom shall be myself and the other chosen by the +preceding four members of the committee. + +Furthermore, if it shall be deemed desirable that the Lectures shall +be published, I pledge myself to the additional payment of from one to +two hundred dollars for such purpose. + +To secure a full, frank, and free consideration of the questions +involved, it is my desire that the opportunity shall be given from +time to time to the representatives of each school of economic thought +to express their views in these Lectures. + +The only restriction I wish placed on the lecturer is that he shall be +a believer in the moral teachings and principles of the Christian +Religion as the true solvent of our Social, Industrial, and Economic +problems. Of course, it is my intention that a new lecturer shall be +appointed by the committee each year, who shall deliver the course of +Lectures for the ensuing year. + + WILLIAM LEVI BULL. + + + + +Contents + + + I. THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE IN SLAVERY 7 + _By Booker T. Washington_ + + II. THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE SINCE ITS + EMANCIPATION 43 + _By Booker T. Washington_ + + III. THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH 77 + _By W.E. Burghardt DuBois_ + + IV. RELIGION IN THE SOUTH 123 + _By W.E. Burghardt DuBois_ + + NOTES TO CHAPTERS III AND IV 193 + + + + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER I + +THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE IN SLAVERY + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE IN SLAVERY + + +We are now, I think, far enough removed from the period of slavery to +be able to study the influence of that institution objectively rather +than subjectively. Surely if any Negro who was a part of the +institution itself can do so, the remaining portion of the American +people ought to be able to do so, whether they live at the North or at +the South. + +My subject naturally leads me to a discussion of the Negro as he was +in slavery. We must all acknowledge, whatever else resulted from +slavery that, first of all, it was the economic element involved that +brought the Negro to America, and it was largely this consideration +that held the race in slavery for a period of about 245 years. But, +in this discussion, I am not to consider the economic value of the +Negro as a slave, as such, but only the influence of his industrial +training while in slavery in the development of his moral and +religious life. + +In my opinion, it requires no little effort on the part of a man who +was once himself a slave to be able to admit this. If any Negro who +was a part of the institution of slavery itself can so far rid himself +of the prejudices of the same, it seems to me other people, living in +whatever section, should be able to do so. + +I have been a slave once in my life--a slave in body. But I long since +resolved that no inducement and no influence would ever make me a +slave in soul, in my love for humanity, and in my search for truth. + +At the same time slaves were being brought to the shores of Virginia +from their native land, Africa, the woods of Virginia were swarming +with thousands of another dark-skinned race. The question naturally +arises: Why did the importers of Negro slaves go to the trouble and +expense of going thousands of miles for a dark-skinned people to hew +wood and draw water for the whites, when they had right among them a +people of another race who could have answered the purpose? The answer +is that the Indian was tried and found wanting in the commercial +qualities which the Negro seemed to possess. The Indian, as a race, +would not submit to slavery and in those instances where he was tried, +as a slave, his labor was not profitable and he was found unable to +stand the physical strain of slavery. As a slave, the Indian died in +large numbers. This was true in San Domingo and in other parts of the +American continent. + +The two races, the Indian and the Negro, have been often compared to +the disadvantage of the Negro. It is often said of the Negro that he +is an imitative race. That, in a large degree, is true. That element +has its disadvantages and it also has its advantages. Very often the +Negro imitates the worst element in the white man; on the other hand I +believe that the masses of our people imitate the best they find in +the white man. + +I have said more than once that one of the unfortunate conditions of +the Negro in the North is that,--because of the large proportion of +our people who are in menial service, their duties bring them in +contact with the worst. They, for example, are waiters in clubs and in +various organizations, and being engaged in that capacity makes it +necessary for them to touch the white man at his weakest point. In the +city of Philadelphia, there are hundreds, I do not suppose I should +exaggerate if I were to say thousands, who are serving the white man +as a waiter in some club or similar organization. When that white man +was at work in his factory, in his counting-room, in his bank, he was +far removed from him. When he was at his best the Negro did not come +into touch with him. In the evening when he lays aside the working +dress, takes matters easy, and gets his cigar and perhaps champagne, +the Negro comes into contact with him, not to an advantage, but at his +weakest point rather than at his strongest. + +In the South, as in most parts of America, during slavery and after, +the Negro has gotten something from the white man that has made him +more valuable as a citizen. In most cases he imitates the best rather +than the worst. For example, you never see a Negro braiding his hair +in the same way as a Chinaman braids his, but he cuts his like the +white man. The Negro is seeking out the highest and best as to +quality. + +It has been more than once stated that the Indian proved himself the +superior race in not submitting to slavery. We shall see about this. +In this respect it may be that the Indian secured a temporary +advantage in so far as race feeling or prejudice is concerned; I mean +by this that he escaped the badge of servitude which has fastened +itself upon the Negro,--not only upon the Negro in America, but upon +that race wherever found, for the known commercial value of the Negro +has made him a subject of traffic in other portions of the globe +during many centuries. + +The Indian refused to submit to bondage and to learn the white man's +ways. The result is that the greater portion of the American Indians +have disappeared, the greater portion of those who remain are not +civilized. The Negro, wiser and more enduring than the Indian, +patiently endured slavery; and contact with the white man has given +him a civilization vastly superior to that of the Indian. + +The Indian and the Negro met on the American continent for the first +time at Jamestown, in 1619. Both were in the darkest barbarism. There +were twenty Negroes and thousands of Indians. At the present time +there are between nine and ten million Negroes and two hundred and +eighty-four thousand and seventy-nine Indians. The annual tax upon the +Government on account of the Indian is $14,236,078.71 (1905); the cost +from 1789 to 1902, inclusive, reached the sum of $389,282,361.00. The +one in this case not only decreased in numbers and failed to add +anything to the economic value of his country, but has actually proven +a charge upon the state. + +The Negro seems to be about the only race that has been able to look +the white man in the face during the long period of years and +live--not only live, but multiply. The Negro has not only done this, +but he has had the good sense to get something from the white man at +every point where he has touched him--something that has made him a +stronger and a better race. + +Let me say in the beginning that nothing which I shall say should be +taken as an endorsement of the enslavement of my race. The experience +of the world's civilization teaches that the final and net result of +slavery is bad--bad for the enslaved, and perhaps worse for the +enslaver. If permitted a choice, I think I should prefer being the +first to being the last. But in the case of the Negro in America no +one, willing to be frank and fair, can fail to see that the Negro did +get certain benefits out of slavery; at the same time he was, as I +have stated, harmed. But in this connection we must deal with the +facts and not with prejudice, either for or against the race. + +Let me make this statement with which you may or may not agree: In my +opinion, there cannot be found in the civilized or uncivilized world +ten millions of Negroes whose economic, educational, moral and +religious life is so advanced as that of the ten millions of Negroes +within the United States. If this statement be true, let us find the +cause thereof, especially as regards the Negro's moral and Christian +growth. In doing so, let credit be given wherever it is due, whether +to the Northern white man, the Southern white man, or the Negro +himself. If, as stated, the ten millions of black people in the United +States have excelled all the other groups of their race-type in moral +and Christian growth, let us trace the cause, and in doing so we may +get some light and information that will be of value in dealing with +the Negro race in America and elsewhere, and in elevating and +Christianizing other races. + +In order to determine the influence of economic or industrial training +upon the moral and Christian life of the Negro, we must begin with +slavery and trace the development of the black man, noticing in a +brief manner his development through slavery to freedom, and to the +present time. + +This involves, then, the period of slavery, and the period of +freedom. To begin with, let me repeat that at first, at least, the +underlying object of slavery was an economic, and an industrial one. +The climatic and other new conditions required that the slave should +wear clothing, a thing, for the most part, new to him. It has perhaps +already occurred to you that one of the conditions requisite for the +Christian life is clothing. So far as I know, Christianity is the only +religion that makes the wearing of clothes one of its conditions. A +naked Christian is impossible--and I may add that I have little faith +in a hungry Christian. + +Some years ago we were holding the Tuskeegee Annual Negro Conference, +and I remember on several occasions there was one old fellow who tried +to get the floor without success. He tried continually to get +recognition from the chair, and, finally, was recognized. He said: +"Mr. Washington, we's making great progress in our community. It is +not the same as it used to be. We's making great progress. We's +getting to the point where nearly all the people in my community owns +their own pigs." I asked him why he was so much interested in his +neighbors owning their own pigs. He said: "I feel that when all my +neighbors own their own pigs, I can always sleep better every night." +There is a good deal of philosophy underlying that remark. + +The economic element not only made it necessary that the Negro slave +should be clothed for the sake of decency and in order to preserve his +health, but the same considerations made it necessary that he be +housed and taught the comforts to be found in a home. Within a few +months, then, after the arrival of the Negro in America, he was +wearing clothes and living in a house--no inconsiderable step in the +direction of morality and Christianity. True, the Negro slave had worn +some kind of garment and occupied some kind of hut before he was +brought to America, but he had made little progress in the improvement +of his garments or in the kind of hut he inhabited. As we shall +perhaps see later, his introduction into American slavery was the +beginning of real growth in the two directions under consideration. + +There is another important element. In his native country, owing to +climatic conditions, and also because of his few simple and crude +wants, the Negro, before coming to America, had little necessity to +labor. You have, perhaps, read the story, that it is said might be +true in certain portions of Africa, of how the native simply lies down +on his back under a banana-tree and falls asleep with his mouth open. +The banana falls into his mouth while he is asleep and when he wakes +up he finds that all he has to do is to chew it--he has his meal +already served. + +Notwithstanding the fact that, in most cases, the element of +compulsion entered into the labor of the slave, and the main object +sought was the enrichment of the owner, the American Negro had, under +the regime of slavery, his first lesson in anything like continuous, +progressive, systematic labor. I have said that two of the signs of +Christianity are clothes and houses, and now I add a third, "work." + +In the early days of slavery the labor performed by the slave was +naturally of a crude and primitive kind. With the growth of +civilization came a demand for a higher kind of labor, hence the Negro +slave was soon demanded as a skilled laborer, as well as for ordinary +farm and common labor. It soon became evident that from an economic +point of view it paid to give the Negro just as high a degree of skill +as possible--the more skill, the more dollars. When an ordinary slave +sold for, say seven hundred dollars, a skilled mechanic would easily +bring on the auction block from fourteen hundred to two thousand +dollars. It is strangely true that when a black man would bring two +thousand dollars a white man would not bring fifty cents. + +As the slave grew in the direction of skilled labor, he was given an +increased amount of freedom. This was practiced by some owners to such +an extent that the skilled mechanic was permitted to "hire" his own +time, working where and for whom he pleased, and for what wage, on +condition that he pay his owner so much per month or year, as agreed +upon. Not a few masters found that this policy paid better than the +one of close personal supervision; many female slaves were trained not +only in ordinary house duties, but on every large plantation there was +at least one high class seamstress. + +I have made a search but have not yet been able to find a single case +of abuse of confidence, and the policy to which I have referred was +practiced very largely in Virginia and especially in West +Virginia--the policy of permitting those slaves who were skilled +laborers to work for whom they pleased, on condition that they pay +their masters a fixed sum each month or each year. I have never yet +heard of a single case of failure at the end of the month or at the +end of the year to bring and place in his master's hands the +stipulated sum of money. + +A discussion of this subject calls to mind one of those curious +changes in public opinion and custom with regard to races which often +occur in the United States. At the period to which I am now referring, +a great number of the Negroes in the South were compelled to follow a +trade, and they seem to have no difficulty in pursuing trades there +to-day. In the North where the agitation for the Negro's freedom +began, it is in most cases difficult, and often impossible, for a +black man to find an opportunity to work at any kind of skilled labor. +I sometimes wonder which man is the greater sinner,--the man who by +force compels the Negro to work without pay, or the man who by +physical force and through the force of public sentiment prevents the +Negro from working for him, when he is ready, willing, and fit to do +so. + +I do not overstate the matter when I say that I am quite sure that in +one county in the South during the days of slavery there were more +colored youths being taught trades than there are members of my race +now being taught trades in any of the larger cities of the North. + +Before I go further, I ought, in justice, to add that as slavery +spread and the owners came to know their slaves better, there appeared +in nearly every section of the South, especially in Virginia and South +Carolina, a considerable number of slave-holders who rose above the +mere idea of economic and selfish gain; and thus, through the medium +of slavery, the opportunity to train the Negro in morality and +Christianity presented itself in many sections of the South. During +the days of slavery regular religious services were provided for the +slaves, the same minister who served the white congregation preached +to the blacks. In some of the most aristocratic families, the Negro +children were taught in the Sunday-school; this was true of the Lees +and Jacksons of Virginia, and of the family of Bishop Capers and other +men of that type in South Carolina. + +At the end of the period of slavery, about two hundred and fifty +years, the Negro race as a whole had learned, as I have stated, to +wear clothes, to live in a home, to work with a reasonable degree of +regularity and system, and a few had learned to work with a high +degree of skill. Not only this, the race had reached the point where, +from speaking scores of dialects, it had learned to speak +intelligently the English language. It had also a fair knowledge of +American civilization and had changed from a pagan into a Christian +race. Further, at the beginning of his freedom, the Negro found +himself in possession of--in fact had a monopoly of--the common and +skilled labor throughout the South; not only this, but, by reason of +the contact of whites and blacks during slavery, the Negro found +business and commercial careers open to him at the beginning of his +freedom. + +Such conditions were unusual in the case of a race that had been +occupying so low a place in the civilization of another people. They +resulted from the fact that in slavery when the master wanted a pair +of shoes made, he went to the Negro shoemaker for those shoes; when he +wanted a suit of clothes, he went to the Negro tailor for those +clothes; and when he wanted a house built, he consulted the Negro +carpenter and mason about the plans and cost--thus the two races +learned to do business with each other. It was an easy step from this +to a higher plane of business, hence immediately after the war the +Negro found that he could become a dry goods merchant, a grocery +merchant, start a bank, go into real estate dealing, and secure the +trade not only of his own people, but also of the white man, who was +glad to do business with him and thought nothing of it. + +In my own town of Tuskeegee there is a colored merchant who, not +excepting any other merchant, has the largest trade in that county in +retail groceries, and in a recent conversation with him he said that +for thirty-five years his customers had been among the best white +families of the county. More than a dozen times have I met the man who +owned this Negro in the days of slavery and he expressed himself as +more than pleased that his former slave had attained the honor of +being the most successful grocery dealer in the town of Tuskeegee. + +You would be surprised, if you were to inquire into the facts, to +know how the Negro has grown in this direction. In the Southern states +there are one hundred and fifteen drug stores owned by Negroes. In +Anniston, Alabama, there are two large drug stores owned by black +people, and in one section a wholesale drug store owned and operated +successfully by a black man. The Negro who to-day owns and operates +that large wholesale drug store, selling drugs to the white as well as +colored retail druggists, was a slave, I think, until he was twelve or +fifteen years of age. It is interesting to know that more banks have +been organized in the last three years in the state of Mississippi +than ever before. There have been ten banks organized since Vardaman +became governor of the state. + +For the reasons I have mentioned, the Negro in the South has not only +found a practically free field in the commercial world, but in the +world of skilled labor. Such a field is not open to him in such a +degree in any other part of the United States, or perhaps in the +world, as is open in the South. All of this has had a tremendously +strong bearing in developing the Negro's moral and Christian life. + +In proportion to their numbers, I question whether so large a +proportion of any other race are members of some Christian Church as +is true of the American Negro. In many cases their practical ideas of +Christianity are crude, and their daily practice of religion is far +from satisfactory; still the foundation is laid, upon which can be +builded a rational, practical and helpful Christian life. + +Let me illustrate the value of the economic and industrial training of +the Negro: If one chooses, let him try this plan which I have tried on +a good many occasions. Go into any village or town, North or South, +enter their Baptist and Methodist churches--for the most part they +belong to the Baptist Church--and ask their pastors to point out to +you the most reliable, progressive and leading colored man in the +community, the man who is most given to putting his religious +teachings into practice in his daily life, and in a majority of cases +one will have pointed out to him a Negro who learned a trade or got +some special economic training during the days of slavery,--in all +probability an individual who has become the owner of a little piece +of land, who lives in his own house. + +Now what lessons for the work that is before us can you and I learn +from what I have attempted to say? The lesson suggested in the +elevation of the black race in America will apply with equal force, in +my opinion, to the inculcating of moral and Christian principles into +_any_ race, regardless of color, that is in the same relative stage of +civilization. Here let me add that in all my advocacy of the value of +industrial training I have never done so because my people are black; +I would advocate the same kind of training for any race that is on +the same plane of civilization as our people are found on at the +present time. + +But as to the lesson which may prove of direct interest, so far as you +are concerned. In the old days, the method of converting the heathen +to Christianity was very largely abstract. The Bible was, in most +cases, the only argument. In the conversion of the heathen to +Christianity or in raising the standard of moral and Christian living +for any people, I argue that in the use of the economic element and +the teaching of the industries we should be guided by the same rules +that are now used in the most advanced methods of ordinary +school-teaching--that is, to begin with the known and gradually +advance to the unknown; we should advance from the concrete to the +abstract. In doing this, industrial education, it seems to me, +furnishes a tremendously good opportunity. + +Let me illustrate: Not long ago a missionary who was going into a +foreign field very kindly asked of me advice as to how he should +proceed to convert the people to Christianity. I asked him, first, +upon what the people depended mostly for a living in the country where +he was to labor; he replied that for the most part they were engaged +in sheep raising. I said to him at once that if I were going into that +country as a missionary, I should begin my efforts by teaching the +people to raise more sheep and better sheep. If he could convince them +that Christianity could raise more sheep and better sheep than +paganism, he would at once get a hold upon their sympathy and +confidence in a way he could not do by following more abstract methods +of converting them. + +The average man can discern more quickly the difference between good +sheep and bad sheep, than he can the difference between Unitarianism +and Trinitarianism. + +If the Christian missionary can gradually teach the heathen how to +build a better house than he has used, how to make better clothes, how +to grow, prepare and secure better food for his daily meals, the +missionary will have gone a long way, may I repeat, toward securing +the confidence of the heathen and will have laid the foundation in +this concrete manner for interesting the pagan in a higher moral life +and in getting him to appreciate the difference between the heathen +life and the Christian life. In teaching the child to read we use the +objective method; in converting the heathen we should employ the same +method--and this means the economic or industrial method. + +Some six years ago a group of Tuskeegee graduates and former students +went to Africa for the purpose of giving the natives in a certain +territory of West Africa training in methods of raising American +cotton. They did not go there primarily as missionaries, nor was their +chief end the conversion of these pagans to Christianity. Naturally, +they began their work by training the natives how to cultivate their +land differently, how and when to plant the crop, and when to harvest +it, and gradually taught them how to use a small hand gin in getting +the cotton ready for market. + +Largely through the leadership of this group of Tuskeegee students, +there is shipped from this section of Africa to the Berlin market each +year many bales of cotton. The natives have learned through the +teaching of these men to grow more cotton and better cotton. They have +learned to use their time, have learned that by working systematically +and regularly they can increase their income and thus add to their +independence and supply their wants. Not only this, but in order that +these people might be fitted for continuous and regular service in the +cotton field, their houses have been improved and the natives have +been taught how to take better care of their bodies. In a word, +during the years that these Tuskeegee people have been in the +community they have improved the entire economic, industrial, and +physical life of the people in this immediate territory. + +The result is, as one of the men stated on his last visit to +Tuskeegee, there is little difficulty now in getting the children of +these people to attend Sunday-school and the older people to attend +church; in fact, in a natural, logical manner they seem to have been +converted to the idea that the religion practiced by these Tuskeegee +men is superior to their own. They believe this firmly, because they +have seen that better results have been produced through the Christian +influence of these Tuskeegee men than has been produced when they had +no such leadership. If these Tuskeegee people had gone there as +missionaries of the old type and had confined themselves to abstract +teachings of the Bible alone, it would have required many years to +have brought about the results which have been attained within a few +years. + +Some time ago in Montgomery, Alabama, there was a church, attended by +members of my race, which happened to be located not very far from the +residence of a white family. The cook who served in this white family +attended this church to which I refer. The members of the church made +considerable noise in their singing, shouting, and praying, and after +a while the white family grew rather exasperated because of this +noise. One Sunday the church services were prolonged until an unusual +hour and there was more noise than usual; so the next morning when the +cook came, the lady of the house called her into the sitting-room, and +said: "Jane, why in the world do you make so much noise in your +worship, in your singing, praying, and shouting? Why don't you be +orderly, quiet, and systematic in your worship? Why, Jane, in the +Bible we read that in the building of Solomon's Temple, no noise +pervaded the silence of the builders. Why can you not worship in the +same way?" The old colored woman looked at her mistress for a few +moments and said: "Lordy, missus, you don't know what we's doing; +Lordy, missus, you don't know what we's striving at; we's just +blasting out de stone for de foundation ob de Temple." So, my friends, +when you hear us laying so much emphasis upon the moral and economic +training, upon home-getting and all those things, remember we are +simply trying to teach our people to blast out the foundation of the +temple in which we are to grow and be useful. + +Says the Psalmist: "O Lord, how manifold are Thy works; in wisdom hast +Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches." I believe that a +wise Providence means that we shall use all the material riches of the +earth: soil, wood, minerals, stones, water, air, and what not, as a +means through which to reach God and glorify Him. + +I have thus briefly dealt with the problem of slavery in its relations +to the economic and moral growth of my people. Each one of these +periods has presented a problem of tremendous importance and +seriousness to your race and to my race. + +If more attention had been given to the economic and industrial +development of Liberia in the early stages of the history of that +republic, Liberia would be far in advance of its present condition +both in morals and religion, to say nothing of commercial prosperity. +In Liberia there is an immense territory rich with resources. +Notwithstanding this, there are no improved or advanced methods of +agriculture; the soil is scarcely stirred; there are no carts, wagons +or other wheeled vehicles, practically no public roads, no bridges, no +railroads; the mineral wealth and the timber wealth remain almost +untouched; and I am told on good authority that, in spite of all this +wealth right at the very door of these people, even school-teachers +and ministers wear clothing manufactured in the United States or in +Europe, and eat canned goods that come from Chicago or Germany. + +It requires no argument to impress the fact that the most practical +missionary work would have been in the direction of teaching these +people how to cultivate the soil in the best manner with the very best +implements, how to get the wealth out of their forests and water and +mines, how to build roads, decent bridges and decent houses; in a +word, how to take hold of the material riches with which Providence +has blessed the land and turn these riches into moral and religious +growth. This, in my opinion, would have represented the very highest +kind of missionary work. + +I do not grow discouraged or despondent by reason of great and serious +problems. On the contrary, I deem it a privilege to be permitted to +live in an age when great, serious, and perplexing problems are to be +met and solved. I would not care to live in a period when there was no +weak part of the human family to be helped up and no wrongs to be +righted. It is only through struggle and the surmounting of +difficulties that races, like individuals, are made strong, powerful, +and useful. + +This is the road the Negro should travel; this is the road, in my +opinion, the Negro will travel. I sometimes fear that in our great +anxiety to push forward we lay too much stress upon our former +condition. We should think less of our former growth and more of the +present and of the things which go to retard or hinder that growth. In +one of his letters to the Galatians, St. Paul says: "But the fruit of +the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, +faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law." + +I believe that it is possible for a race, as it is for an individual, +to learn to live up in such a high atmosphere that there is no human +law that can prevail against it. There is no man who can pass a law to +affect the Negro in relation to his singing, his peace, and his +self-control. Wherever I go I would enter St. Paul's atmosphere and, +living through and in that spirit, we will grow and make progress and, +notwithstanding discouragements and mistakes, we will become an +increasingly strong part of the Christian citizenship of this +republic. + + + + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER II + +THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE SINCE ITS EMANCIPATION + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE SINCE ITS EMANCIPATION + + +In the preceding chapter, I referred to some of the things which the +Negro brought with him out of slavery into his life of freedom that he +used to his advantage. I shall now discuss those things that were to +his disadvantage. + +We must bear in mind that one of the influences of slavery was to +impress upon both master and slave the fact that labor with the hand +was not dignified, was disgraceful, that labor of this character was +something to be escaped, to be gotten rid of just as soon as possible. +Hence, it was very natural that the Negro race looked forward to the +day of freedom as being that period when it would be delivered from +all necessity of laboring with the hand. It was natural that a large +proportion of the race, immediately after its freedom, should make the +mistake of confusing freedom with license. Under the circumstances, +any other race would have acted in the same manner. + +One of the first and most important lessons, then, to be taught the +Negro when he became free was the one that labor with the hand or with +the head, so far from being something to be dreaded and shunned, was +something that was dignified and something that should be sought, +loved, and appreciated. Here began the function of the industrial +school for the education of the Negro. This was the uppermost idea of +General Armstrong, the father of industrial education of the Negro. +And permit me to say right here, that, in my opinion, General +Armstrong, more than any other single individual, is the father of +industrial education not only for the Negro, but in a large measure +for the entire United States. For you must always bear in mind that, +prior to the establishment of such institutions as the Hampton +Institute, there was practically no systematic industrial training +given for either black or white people, either North or South. At the +present time more attention is being paid to this kind of education +for white boys and girls than is being given to black boys and girls. + +It is an interesting thought that this kind of education, started +thirty-five years ago for the education of the Negro, has spread +throughout the United States, in the North and West, and has taken +hold upon the people who once enslaved the Negro in our Southern +states. + +When industrial schools were first established in the South for the +education of members of my race, stubborn objection was raised against +them on the part of black people. This was the experience of Hampton, +and this in later years was the experience of the Tuskeegee +Institute. + +I remember that for a number of years after the founding of the +Tuskeegee Institute, objection on the part of parents and on the part +of students poured in upon me from day to day. The parents said that +they wanted their children taught "the book," but they did not want +them taught anything concerning farming or household duties. It was +curious to note how most of the people worshiped "the book." The +parent did not care what was inside the book; the harder and the +longer the name of it, the better it satisfied the parent every time, +and the more books you could require the child to purchase, the better +teacher you were. His reputation as a first-class pedagogue was added +to very largely in that section if the teacher required the child to +buy a long string of books each year and each month. I found some +white people who had the same idea. + +They reminded me further that the Negro for two hundred and fifty +years as a slave had been worked, and now that the race was free they +contended that their children ought not to be taught to work and +especially while in school. In answer to these objections I said to +them that it was true that the race had been worked in slavery, but +the great lesson which we wanted to learn in freedom was to work. I +explained to them that there was a vast difference between being +worked and working. I said to them that being worked meant +degradation, that working meant civilization. + +We have gone on at Tuskeegee from that day until this, emphasizing the +difference between being worked and working, until, I am glad to say, +every sign of opposition against any form of industrial education has +completely disappeared from among parents and students; and I but +state the truth when I say that industrial education, whether on the +farm or in the carpenter shop or in the cooking class, is even more +sought after at Tuskeegee than is training in purely academic +branches. It has been ten years since I have had a single application +for other than a form of industrial training. On the contrary, this +kind of training is so popular among them that we have many +applications from other students who live in other states who wish to +devote themselves wholly to the industrial side of education. + +From Hampton and Tuskeegee and other large educational centres the +idea of industrial education has spread throughout the South, and +there are now scores of institutions that are giving this kind of +training in a most effective and helpful manner; so that, in my +opinion, the greatest thing that we have accomplished for the Negro +race within the last twenty-five years has been to rid his mind of all +idea of labor's being degrading. This has been no inconsiderable +achievement. If I were asked to point out the greatest change +accomplished for the Negro race, I would say that it was not a +tangible, physical change, but a change of the spirit,--the new idea +of our people with respect to Negro labor. + +Industrial education has had another value wherever it has been put +into practice, that is in starting the Negro off in his new life in a +natural, logical, sensible manner instead of allowing him to be led +into temptation to begin life in an artificial atmosphere without any +real foundation. + +All races that have reached success and have influenced the world for +righteousness have laid their foundation at one stage of their career +in the intelligent and successful cultivation of the soil; that is, +have begun their free life by coming into contact with earth and wood +and stone and minerals. Any people that begins on a natural foundation +of this kind, rises slowly but naturally and gradually in the world. + +In my work at Tuskeegee and in what I have endeavored to accomplish in +writing and in speaking before the public, I have always found it +important to stick to nature as closely as possible, and the same +policy should be followed with a race. If you will excuse my making a +personal reference, just as often as I can when I am at home, I like +to get my hoe and dig in my garden, to come into contact with real +earth, or to touch my pigs and fowls. Whenever I want new material for +an address or a magazine article, I follow the plan of getting away +from the town with its artificial surroundings and getting back into +the country, where I can sleep in a log cabin and eat the food of the +farmer, go among the people at work on the plantations and hear them +tell their experiences. I have gotten more material in this way than I +have by reading books. + +Many of these seemingly ignorant people, while not educated in the way +that we consider education, have in reality a very high form of +education--that which they have gotten out of contact with nature. +Only a few days ago I heard one of these old farmers, who could +neither read nor write, give a lesson before a Farmers' Institute that +I shall never forget. The old man got up on the platform and began +with this remark: "I'se had no chance to study science, but I'se been +making some science for myself," and then he held up before the +audience a stalk of cotton with only two bolls on it. He said he began +his scientific work with that stalk. Then he held up a second stalk +and showed how the following year he had improved the soil so that the +stalk contained four bolls, and then he held up a third stalk and +showed how he had improved the soil and method of cultivation until +the stalk contained six bolls, and so he went through the whole +process until he had demonstrated to his fellow farmers how he had +made a single stalk of cotton produce twelve or fourteen bolls. At the +close of the old man's address somebody in the audience asked what his +name was. He replied, "When I didn't own no home and was in debt, +they used to call me old Jim Hill, but now that I own a home and am +out of debt, they call me 'Mr. James Hill.'" + +In the previous chapter I referred to the practical benefit that could +be achieved in foreign mission fields through economic and industrial +development. Now that industrial education is understood and +appreciated by the Negro in America, the question which has the most +practical value to you and to me is what effect has this kind of +development had upon the moral and religious life of the Negro right +here in America since the race became free. + +By reason of the difficulty in getting reliable and comprehensive +statistics, it is not easy to answer this question with satisfaction, +but I believe that enough facts can be given to show that economic and +industrial development has wonderfully improved the moral and +religious life of the Negro race in America, and that, just in +proportion as any race progresses in this same direction, its moral +and religious life will be strengthened and made more practical. + +Let me first emphasize the fact that in order for the moral and +religious life to be strengthened we must of necessity have industry, +but along with industry there must be intelligence and refinement. +Without these two elements combined, the moral and religious lives of +the people are not very much helped. + +A few months ago I was in a mining camp composed largely of members of +my race who were, for the most part, ignorant and uncultivated, who +had had little opportunities in the way of education, but they had +been taught to mine coal. The operators of this mine complained that, +notwithstanding the unusually high wages being paid during that +season, these miners could not be induced to work more than three or +four days out of six. The difficulty was right here; these miners +were so ignorant that they had few wants, and these were simple and +crude. Their wants could be satisfied by working a few days out of +each week, and when they had satisfied their wants they could not +understand why it was necessary to work any longer, and we must all +acknowledge that there is a good deal of human nature in this point of +view. + +In a case of this kind, what is needed is not only to have the +individual educated in industry but to have his hand so trained that +he will become ambitious; as one man put it not long ago, "He will +want more wants." We should get the man to the point where he will +want a house, where his wife will want carpet for the floor, pictures +for the walls, books, a newspaper and a substantial kind of furniture. +We should get the family to the point where it will want money to +educate its children, to support the minister and the church. Later, +we should get this family to the point where it will want to put +money in the bank and perhaps have the experience of placing a +mortgage on some property. When this stage of development has been +reached, there is no difficulty in getting individuals to work six +days during the week. + +I have in mind now an old colored man who lived some four miles from +the Institution. I first noticed him a number of years ago as I took +my daily exercise after my day's work. I found him and his wife living +in a little broken-down cabin and resolved to try an experiment on +them to see if I could not get them to realize that that kind of life +proved of no benefit. When I began, their wants were for the bare +necessities of life only. I gradually began to talk to his wife and +urge her to see the importance of living a different kind of life. +Without the old man's knowing it, I took pains to tell her of how some +of their neighbors were living and about some of the things her +neighbors were owning. Some had two-room houses, glass windows, new +furniture, and little pieces of carpet, and had whitewashed their +houses. Finally she became quite interested. + +When I began with the man he was working about three days in the week. +The old fellow grew interested and began to work a little longer, +until the last time I rode by that house the old man was working +nearly every day in the week, while they were living in a two-room +house and everything had changed. The hardest task I had was to get +him to put up a chimney for the second room, finally he put up one and +although it was a pretty rickety, crooked affair, yet it answered the +purpose and he felt proud of it. When I left this time he informed me +that by the time I came back he would try to have both of those rooms +whitewashed. I am not through with that family yet. I am going to work +on that woman until through her I will get the old man to work five +and six days out of the week. + +It should always be borne in mind that, for any person of any race, +literary education alone increases his want; and, if you increase +these wants without at the same time training the individual in a +manner to enable him to supply these increased wants, you have not +always strengthened his moral and religious basis. + +The same principle might be illustrated in connection with South +Africa. In that country there are six millions of Negroes. +Notwithstanding this fact, South Africa suffers to-day perhaps as +never before for lack of labor. The natives have never been educated +by contact with the white man in the same way as has been true of the +American Negro. They have never been educated in the day school nor in +the Sunday-school nor in the church, nor in the industrial school or +college; hence their ambitions have never been awakened, their wants +have not been increased, and they work perhaps two days out of the +week and are in idleness during the remaining portion of the time. +This view of the case I had confirmed in a conversation with a +gentleman who had large interests in South Africa. + +How different in the Southern part of the United States where we have +eight millions of black people! Ask any man who has had practical +experience in using the masses of these people as laborers and he will +tell you that in proportion to their progress in the civilization of +the world, it is difficult to find any set of men who will labor in a +more satisfactory way. True, these people have not by any means +reached perfection in this regard, but they have advanced on the whole +much beyond the condition of the South Africans. The trained American +Negro has learned to want the highest and best in our civilization, +and as we go on giving him more education, increasing his industrial +efficiency and his love of labor, he will soon get to the point where +he will work six days out of each week. + +But as to the results of industrial training. Following the example of +the modern pedagogue, let me begin with that which I know most about, +the Tuskeegee Institute. This institution employs one of its officers +who spends a large part of his time in keeping in close contact with +our graduates and former students. He visits them in their homes and +in their places of employment and not only sees for himself what they +are doing, but gets the testimony of their neighbors and employers, +and I can state positively that not ten per cent. of the men and women +who have graduated from the Tuskeegee Institute or who have been there +long enough to understand the spirit and methods of that institution +can be found to-day in idleness in any part of the country. They are +at work because they have learned the dignity and beauty and +civilizing influence and, I might add, Christianizing power of labor; +they have learned the degradation and demoralizing influence of +idleness; they have learned to love labor for its own sake and are +miserable unless they are at work. I consider labor one of the +greatest boons which our Creator has conferred upon human beings. + +Further, after making careful investigation, I am prepared to say that +there is not a single man or woman who holds a diploma from the +Tuskeegee Institute who can be found within the walls of any +penitentiary in the United States. + +I have learned that not more than a score of the graduates of the +fifteen oldest and largest colleges and industrial schools in the +entire South have been sent to prison since these institutions were +established. Those who are guilty of crime for the most part are +individuals who are without education, without a trade, who own no +land, who are not taxpayers, who have no bank account, and who have +made no progress in industrial and economic development. + +The following extracts from a letter written by a Southern white man +to the _Daily Advertiser_, of Montgomery, Alabama, contains most +valuable testimony. The letter refers to convicts in Alabama, most of +whom are colored: + + "I was conversing not long ago with the warden of one of our + mining prisons, containing about 500 convicts. The warden is a + practical man, who has been in charge of prisoners for more than + fifteen years, and has no theories of any kind to support. I + remarked to him that I wanted some information as to the effect + of manual training in preventing criminality, and asked him to + state what per cent. of the prisoners under his charge had + received any manual training, besides acquaintance with the + crudest agricultural labor. He replied: 'Perhaps about one per + cent.' He added: 'No, much less than that. We have here at + present only one mechanic; that is, there is one man who claims + to be a house painter.' + + "'Have you any shoemakers?' + + "'Never had a shoemaker.' + + "'Have you any tailors?' + + "'Never had a tailor.' + + "'Any printers?' + + "'Never had a printer.' + + "'Any carpenters?' + + "'Never had a carpenter. There is not a man in this prison that + could saw to a straight line.'" + +Now these facts seem to show that manual training is almost as good a +preventative of criminality as vaccination is of smallpox. + +The records of the South show that ninety per cent. of the colored +people in prisons are without knowledge of trades, and sixty-one per +cent. are illiterate. + +There are few higher authorities on the progress of the Negro than +Joel Chandler Harris, of the _Atlanta Constitution_, of "Uncle Remus" +fame. Mr. Harris had opportunity to know the Negro before the war, and +he has followed his progress closely in freedom. In a printed +statement made some time ago Mr. Harris says: + + "The point I desire to make is that the overwhelming majority of + the Negroes in all parts of the South, especially in the + agricultural regions, are leading sober and industrious lives. A + temperate race is bound to be industrious, and the Negroes are + temperate when compared with the whites. Even in the towns the + majority of them are sober and industrious." + +Dr. Frissell makes the same statement regarding Hampton Institute. Not +more than a score of the graduates have been sent to prison since +these institutions were established. The majority is among those who +are without training and who have made no progress in industrial and +economic development. The idle and criminal classes among them make a +great show in the police court records, but right here in Atlanta the +respectable and decent Negroes far outnumber those who are on the +lists of the police as old or new offenders. I am bound to conclude +from what I see all about me, and what I know of the race elsewhere, +that the Negro, notwithstanding the late start he has made in +civilization and enlightenment, is capable of making himself a useful +member in the communities in which he lives and moves, and that he is +become more and more desirous of conforming to all the laws that have +been enacted for the protection of society. + +Some time ago I sent out letters to representative Southern men, +covering each ex-slave state, asking them to state, judging by their +observation in their own communities, what effect industrial education +has upon the morals and religion of the Negro. To these questions I +received 136 replies as follows: + +Has education improved the morals of the black race? + +Answers--Yes, 97; No, 20; Unanswered, 19. + +Has it made his religion less emotional and more practical? + +Answers--Yes, 101; No, 16; Unanswered, 19. + +Is it, as a rule, the ignorant or the educated who commit crime? + +Answers--Ignorant, 115; Educated, 3; Unanswered, 18. + +Does crime grow less as education increases among the colored people? + +Answers--Yes, 102; No, 19; Unanswered, 15. + +Do not these figures speak for themselves? + +If possible I want to give you an idea of the progress of the Negro +race in a single county in one of the Southern States. For this +purpose I select Gloucester County, Virginia. I take this one for the +reason that I had the privilege of visiting it a number of years ago, +just about the time when interest in the education of the colored +people was beginning to be aroused, and for the further reason that +this is one of the counties in Virginia and the South that has been +longest under the influence of graduates of the Hampton Institute, or +of men and women trained in other centres of education. + +Gloucester County is the tide-water section of Eastern Virginia. +According to the census of 1890, Gloucester County contained a total +population of 12,832, a little over one-half being colored, and both +sets of schools are in session from five and a half to six months, and +the pay of the two sets of teachers is about the same. The majority of +the colored teachers in this county were trained at Hampton, and have +been teaching in this county a number of years. For the most part, the +teachers of Gloucester County are not mentally superior, but what they +lack in methods of teaching and mental alertness is more than made up +for by the moral earnestness and the example they set. Most of the +teachers are natives of the county, and, what is more important, most +of them own property in the county. + +Now, what is the economic or material result in one county where the +Negro has been given a reasonable chance to make progress? I say +"reasonable" because it must be kept in mind that the great body of +white people in America, with whom the Negro is constantly compared, +have schools that are in session from eight to nine months in the +year. Note especially what I am going to say now. According to the +public records, the total assessed value of the land in Gloucester +County is $666,132.33. Of the total value of the land, the colored +people own $87,953.55. The buildings in the county have an assessed +valuation of $466,127.05. The colored people pay taxes upon $79,387.00 +of this amount. To state it differently, the Negroes of Gloucester +County, beginning about forty years ago in poverty, have reached the +point where they now own and pay taxes upon one-sixth of the real +estate in this county. This property is very largely in the shape of +small farms, varying in size from ten to one hundred acres. A large +proportion of the farms contain about ten acres. + +It is interesting to note the influence of this material growth upon +the home life of the people. It is stated upon good authority that +about twenty-five years ago at least three-fourths of the colored +people lived in one-roomed cabins. Let a single illustration tell the +story of the growth. In a school where there were thirty pupils ten +testified that they lived in houses containing six rooms, and only one +said that he lived in a house containing but a single room. + +I repeat, I have always believed that in proportion as the industrial, +not omitting the intellectual, condition of my race is improved, in +the same degree would their moral and religious life improve. + +Some years ago, before the home life and economic condition of the +people had improved, bastardy was common in Gloucester County. In 1903 +there were only eight cases of bastardy reported in the whole county, +and two of those were among the white population. During the year 1904 +there was only one case of bastardy within a radius of ten miles of +the court house. Another gratifying evidence of progress is shown by +the fact that there is very little evidence of immoral relations +existing between the races. In the whole county, during the year 1903, +about twenty-five years after the work of education had gotten under +way, there were only thirty arrests for misdemeanors; of these sixteen +were white, fourteen colored. In 1904 there were fifteen such +arrests--fourteen white and one colored. In 1904 there were but seven +arrests for felonies; of these two were white and five were colored. + +In one point at least the colored people in Gloucester County have set +an example for the rest of the religious world that ought to receive +attention. It is in this regard: there is only one religious +denomination in all of this county, and that is the Baptist. No +over-multiplying, no over-lapping, no denominational wrangling and +wasting of money and energy. + +May I add that, out of my own observation and experience in the heart +of the South during the last twenty-five years, I have learned that +the man of my race who has some regular occupation, who owns his farm, +is a taxpayer and perhaps has a little money in the bank, is the most +reliable and helpful man in the Sunday-school, in the church, and in +all religious endeavor. The man who has gotten upon his feet in these +directions is almost never charged with crime, but is the one who has +the respect and the confidence of both races in his community. + +I can give you no better idea of the tremendous advance which the +Negro has made since he became free than to say that largely through +the influence of industrial education the race has acquired ownership +in land that is equal in area to the combined countries of Belgium and +Holland. This, for a race starting in poverty and ignorance forty +years ago, it seems to me is a pretty good record. + +I would not have you understand that I emphasize material possessions +as the chief thing in life or as an object within itself. I emphasize +economic growth because the civilization of the world teaches that the +possession of a certain amount of material wealth indicates the +ability of a race to exercise self-control, to plan to-day for +to-morrow, to do without to-day in order that it may possess +to-morrow. In other words, a race, like an individual, becomes highly +civilized and useful in proportion as it learns to use the good things +of this earth, not as an end, but as a means toward promoting its own +moral and religious growth and the prosperity and happiness of the +world. This is what I advocate for my race; it is what I would +advocate for any race. + +The average white man of America, in passing judgment upon the black +race, very often overlooks the fact that geographically and physically +the semi-barbarous Negro race has been thrown right down in the centre +of the highest civilization that the world knows anything about. +Consciously or unconsciously, you compare the Negro's progress with +your progress, forgetting, when you are doing it, that you are placing +a pretty severe test on the members of my race. If, for example, we +were compared with the civilization of the Oriental countries, the +test would not be so severe. But we have been placed in the midst of a +pushing, surging, restless, conquering, successful civilization, and +you must acknowledge that when the American white man wants to lead, +no other race can go far ahead. In fact, he would have the whole +field to himself. The progress of the Negro will be in proportion as +they learn to get the material things of this world, consecrate them, +and weave them into the service of our Heavenly Father. + +In conclusion, may I say that I hope the people of this country, North +and South, will learn to pray more and more; and, as they pray, to put +their hands upon their hearts and then ask God if they were placed in +the Negro's state, how, under the circumstances, would they like to be +treated by their fellows. Conscience will answer the question. + + + + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER III + +THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH + + +Two questions may be asked of any group of human beings: first, How do +they earn their living, and secondly, What is their attitude toward +life? The first relates to the economic history and condition of that +people; the second is a study of their religion. In these two essays I +am to treat the first of these questions under the subject: The +Economic Revolution in the South, and the second under the subject: +Christianity in the South. + +The last century was notable because of the great change in method and +organization of human work and we call the early part of the +nineteenth century the time of economic revolution in Europe and to +some extent in America. The southern United States, however, while +profoundly influenced by this revolution from the first, has not +until to-day actually felt its full effect. The new factory system of +the early nineteenth century is just to-day appearing in the South, +and yet its appearance in England and New England seventy-five years +ago made the South a part of the world industrial organization by +making it the seat of cotton culture (see Note [1]). + +Two diverse developments resulted: In England and the North came a +change from household industry to social industry, a step forward +which led to an era of machinery, to a curious concentration of +individuals and wealth and the necessities of living in certain great +centres. That very concentration led to a wonderful contact of man +with man which sharpened mind and sharpened thought and in the long +run made the Europe of to-day. On the other hand, the southern United +States, though really a part of this great system through its work of +furnishing raw cotton, did not come into the whirl of the new +industry because she had an industrial system which forbade machinery, +discouraged human contact, and shackled thought. + +Why did this system of slavery persist so long in the South as to be +caught in the vortex of the new industrial movement and rendered +almost inextricable? + +If the South had been a place of intelligent farmers on small farms, +we could imagine a development which would have been the wonder of the +world; but because the fathers of the United States were so busy with +large questions that they forgot larger ones, so busy settling matters +of commerce and representation and politics that they forgot matters +of work and justice and human rights--because of this we have in the +South one of those curious back eddies of human progress that twist +and puzzle advance and thought. + +The very forward forces of industry that fastened slavery on the South +were weaving a social system which made the enslavement of laborers +impossible and unprofitable. Consequently at the very time when the +South ought to have been increasing in intelligence, law and order, +the use of machinery, industrial concentration, and the intensive +culture of land with the rest of the world, she lost a half century in +a development backward toward a dispersing of population, extensive +rather than intensive land culture, increased and compulsory ignorance +of the laboring class, and the rearing of a complete system of caste +and aristocracy (see Note 2). + +Evils there were to be sure in the new factory system of Europe and +the North, evils which southern leaders did not fail to note and gloat +over, but they were evils of another and newer industrial era, which +did not stop progress, but gave it added incentive. + +The industrial back-set of the South meant of course but one thing: +the discovery of the paradox of slavery, the turning from the +mistake, and the adoption of remedial measures which should usher into +the South the same industrial revolution in methods of work which +Europe saw begin a century ago. This is exactly what has happened, and +to-day the Industrial Revolution is beginning south of Mason and +Dixon's line. The forecast of change was apparent by 1850. Slavery +still paid then--was still an economic success, but only under +conditions which became more and more impossible of realization +because of the factory system and the new industrial conditions in the +rest of the world (see Note 3). + +It was, in other words, an attempt at an industrial system with the +lowest wages, the most oppressive labor laws, and the best natural +advantages. Such a system at such a time carried its own sentence of +death: fertile land was becoming scarce in the forties, the horrors of +the slave trade had shocked even the eighteenth century, and southern +labor laws which made knowledge a crime and migration of laborers a +capital offense, simply could not be enforced. It was in vain that the +solidly united capitalistic classes of the South threw themselves +bodily into the fray--raped Mexico, filibustered in Cuba and Central +America, encouraged slave-smuggling (see Note 4), and bullied the +hesitating North; their economic doom was written even if militant +Abolitionism had not appeared. + +The economic student could have foretold and did foretell easily in +the forties and fifties that slavery in the South was doomed (see Note +5): even if all available territory had been thrown wide to the slave +system, slavery could not possibly have stayed in Kansas and Utah, in +New Mexico or in Arizona; it could have stayed only temporarily in +Missouri and in Texas. It had already reached its territorial limit, +it was bound to have evolved something different. It will always be an +interesting speculation as to how soon this economic necessity would +have been recognized; whether the South would have had the acumen +eventually to see the end, and what sort of gradual change could have +come about, had it not been for the political crisis precipitated in +1861. + +Then came the war--that disgraceful episode of civil strife when, +leaving the arguments of men, the nation appealed to the last resort +of dogs, murdering and ravishing each other for four long shameful +years (see Note 6). + +When this nightmare had passed there came, after the resulting period +of disorder, a new régime, a new problem of labor, a new industrial +order. Not only that, but gradually in the decade 1870-1880 there were +added to the South four new economic activities: first, the iron +industry; second, the manufacture of cotton cloth; third, the +transportation of these goods to, from, and through the South; and +fourth, the general exchange of goods in this growing Southern +industrial population--in other words, the Industrial Revolution was +beginning in the South. So that the South of the 80's was a different +South from the South of the 60's, not simply by reason of emancipation +but by reason of new economic possibilities. + +However, this change could not go on unhindered by the mistakes of the +past. With all that was new in the South, there was also much that was +old, and of these old things the most important were the Ideals which +slavery handed down--ideals of government, of labor, of caste. + +Consequently when the South tried to use its new freed labor on its +new industrial possibilities, it went to the problem full of the +ideals of slavery, and it made four separate attempts. In the first +place it was perfectly natural for a land which had said for +generations that free Negro labor was an impossibility, and free Negro +citizens unthinkable, to cherish a very distinct idea that the way to +get along with the emancipated Negro was to make him a slave in fact +if not in name. The idea that was back of the first apprentice laws +and the various labor codes passed directly after Lee's surrender was +that the labor of the blacks belonged to the former white owners by +right and could be directed only by force under a nominal wage system. +These labor codes therefore attempted to reëstablish slavery without a +slave trade (see Note 7). + +These ill-advised attempts were frustrated by the Fifteenth Amendment +which made the freedmen voters. The Thirteenth Amendment did not +abolish slavery--it directed its abolition and the answer to it was +the labor codes. The Fourteenth Amendment gave the freedmen civil +rights and put a premium on granting them political rights, but the +premium was not accepted and the civil rights remained unenforced. The +Fifteenth Amendment went to the root of the matter by putting local +political power into the hands of the freedmen and their friends and +this made slavery and the slave system impossible. + +What the nation had before it then was not the nice academic question +as to whether it would be better to have as voters men of intelligence +or men of ignorance, whether it would be better to throw into the +electorate of a great modern country a mass of slaves or a mass of +college graduates--no such question came before the country; it was, +as we are fond of saying, a situation and not a theory that confronted +the country and that situation was this: here in the South we had +attempted to abolish slavery by act of legislature--it was not +abolished. The people who hitherto held power did not believe in its +real abolishment; a great and growing economic revolution fronted +them, cotton was still king. They were about to solve that problem--to +meet the Revolution--according to their former labor ideals. + +One could not expect any other outcome. One could not in justice ask +them voluntarily to accept free black labor; the only possible way to +insure the solving of that economic problem with labor really free was +to put in the South a political power which should make slavery in +fact or inference forever impossible. This truth the great Thaddeus +Stephens saw, and with a statesmanship far greater than Lincoln's he +forced Negro suffrage on the South. + +Although the new voters thus introduced in the South were crude and +ignorant, and in many ways ill-fitted to rule, nevertheless in the +fundamental postulates of American freedom and democracy they were +sane and sound. Some of them were silly, some were ignorant, and some +were venal, but they were not as silly as those who had fostered +slavery in the South, nor as ignorant as those who were determined to +perpetuate it, and the black voters of South Carolina never stole half +as much as the white voters of Pennsylvania are stealing to-day. + +The eternal monument to these maligned victims of a nation's wrong is +the fact that they began the abolition of slavery in fact and not +merely attack it in theory, they established free schools, and they +passed laws on all subjects under which the white South is still +content to live (see Note 8). If these men had been protected in their +legal rights by the strong arm of the government, they would have been +able to protect themselves in a generation or so. They would have +increased in intelligence, responsibility, and power, and this the +South was determined to prevent. The North wavered; having put its +hand to the plow it looked back, and gradually allowed the black +peasantry of the South to be almost completely disfranchised. What +happened? + +The time had passed for a reëstablishment of slavery, but serfdom and +peonage were still possible and probable. When you have the leading +classes of a country with the ideal of slavery in their minds and the +laboring classes ignorant and without political power, there is but +one system that can ensue and that is serfdom, and through serfdom was +the second way in which the South strove to meet its great post-bellum +economic problem. + +Given these premises the economic answer of the South was, from a +business standpoint, perfectly sound. The men who, starting poor after +a miserable war, went into the development of the South, went in to +make money--to use the great American thesis, they were "not in +business for their health." They were going to grant to the laborer +just as little as they must; the laborer was unused to a system of +free labor, he was not a steady workman, he was not a skilled workman, +he had been for two or three hundred years driven to his work, he took +no pride in his work--how could he take pride in that which hitherto +had been the badge of his shame? + +Now it was not considered the business of the new Southern business +man to develop and train the working man. It was his business, as I +have said, from the American point of view, to make money. And the +consequence was that he evolved a peculiarly ingenious system of land +serfdom, which bears many likenesses to the serfdom that replaced +slavery in Europe. The land belonged to the landlord--it was rented +out to the serf; the serf was nominally free, but as a matter of fact +he was not free at all; he was held to his labor: he rose with the +morning work bell of slavery days, he was driven to his labor by +mounted riders, he was whipped for delinquencies, he received no +stipulated return, but on the contrary the owner of the land made the +contract, kept the accounts, and gave him enough once or twice a year +to make him not too dissatisfied. + +After a time this changed somewhat; instead of the land owner himself +undertaking the advancing of supplies, a third party, the merchant +with capital, came in. In order to enforce such a system it needed to +be backed by a peculiar law system--therefore the business men went +into politics in the South with the same result as when business men +go into politics in the North. Things were done quickly and quietly; +they were done not for the good of people who had no political voice, +but for the good of those who wielded the political power, _i.e._, the +business men and land owners. The laws were made to favor the landlord +and the merchant and to make it easy to exploit the tenant and +laborer. + +This system, which still is the rule of agricultural labor in the +black belt of the South, is not a system of free labor; it is simply +a form of peonage. The black peon is held down by perpetual debt or +petty criminal judgments; his rent rises with the price of cotton, his +chances to buy land are either non-existent or confined to infertile +regions. Judge and jury are in honor bound to hold him down; if by +accident or miracle he escapes and becomes a landholder, his property, +civil and political status are still at the mercy of the worst of the +white voters, and his very life at the whim of the mob. The power of +the individual white patron to protect colored men is still great and +is often exercised, but this is but another argument against the +system: it is undemocratic and un-American, and stamps on the serf +system its most damning criticism. + +Moreover, this second attempt to meet the economic revolution of the +South is failing, and its failure is shown by the scarcity of farm +labor, the migration of Negroes, and the increase of crime and +lawlessness. Serfdom like slavery demands ignorance and strict laws. +The decade of Negro voting and Northern benevolence had however given +the Negro schools and aspiration. + +What now has been the reaction of this group on the environment thrown +around it since slavery days? + +The slaves had their select classes in the house servants and the +artisans. After freedom came, the Negro made four distinct efforts to +reach economic safety. The first effort was by means of the select +house-servant class; the second, by means of competitive industry; the +third, by land-owning; and the fourth, by what I shall call the group +economy. + +First, let us look at the effort of the house servants. The one person +under the slave régime who came nearest to escaping from the toils of +slavery and the disabilities of caste was the favorite house servant. +This was because the house servant was brought into contact with the +culture of the master and the family, because he had often the +advantages of town and city life, was able to gain some smattering of +education, and also because he was usually a blood relative of the +master class. These house servants, therefore, became the natural +leaders of the emancipated race and the brunt of the burden of +reconstruction fell upon their shoulders. When the history of this +period is carefully written it will show that few men ever made a more +meritorious fight against overwhelming odds. + +Under free competition it would have been natural for this class of +house servants to enter the economic life of the nation directly. In +some cases this happened, especially in the case of the barber and the +caterer. For the most part, however, the black applicant was refused +admittance to the economic society of the nation. He held his own in +the semi-servile work of barber until he met the charge of color +discrimination in his own race, and the competition of foreigners. The +caterer was displaced by palatial hotels in which he could have no +part. + +On the whole, then, the mass of house servants soon found the doors in +their own lines closed in their faces. They could remain good servants +but they could not by this means often escape into higher walks of +life. The better tenth of them went gradually into professions and +thus found economic independence for themselves and their children. +The mass of them either remained house servants or turned toward +industry. + +The second attempt of the freedmen toward economic safety lay in +industry. It was a less ambitious effort than that of the house +servants, and included larger numbers of men. It was characterized by +a large migration to the towns. Here it was that the class of slave +artisans made themselves felt in freedom and they were joined by +numbers of unskilled workmen, such as steam railway hands, porters, +hostlers, etc. This class attracted considerable attention and bore +the brunt of the economic battle in competition with white working +men. It is a class that is growing and in the future it is going to +have a large development. At present, however, its fight is difficult. + +The third effort of economic elevation was by land owning. This was +the ideal toward which the great mass of black people looked. They at +first thought that the government was going to help them, and the +government did in a few instances, as when Sherman distributed land in +Georgia and the government sold South Carolina lands for taxes. For +the most part, however, the Negroes had to buy their own lands which +they did in some cases by means of their bounty money for serving in +the army or by means of special monies which they earned as workmen +during the war or by the help of the former masters. Some too, by the +share tenant system gained enough to buy land. In this way about +200,000 to-day own their farms and thus approximate economic +independence. + +The fourth and last effort, which I call the Group Economy, is of +great importance, but is not very well understood. It consists of a +coöperative arrangement of industry and service in a group which tends +to make the group a closed economic circle, largely independent of +surrounding whites. This development explains many anomalies in the +situation of the Negro. Many people think that the colored barber is +disappearing, yet there are more colored barbers in the United States +to-day than ever before, but a larger number than ever cater to only +colored trade. The Negro lawyer serves almost exclusively colored +clientage, so that his existence is half forgotten by the white world. +The new Negro business men are not successors of the old. There used +to be Negro business men in Northern cities and a few even in Southern +cities, but they catered to white trade; the Negro business man to-day +caters to colored trade. So far has this gone to-day that in every +city in the United States which has considerable Negro population, the +colored group is serving itself in religion, medical care, legal +advice and often educating its children. In growing degree also it is +serving itself in insurance, houses, books, amusements. + +So extraordinary has been this development that it forms a large and +growing part in the economy of perhaps half the Negroes of the United +States, and in the case of perhaps 100,000 town Negroes, representing +at least 300,000 persons, the group economy approaches a complete +system. To these we may add the bulk of 200,000 farmers who own their +farms. Thus we have a group of half a million who are reaching +economic safety by means of group economy (see Note 9). + +Here then are the two developments--a determined effort at an +established serfdom on the part of landholding capitalists, and a +determined effort on the part of freedmen and their sons to attain +economic independence. + +While both these movements were progressing the full change of the +industrial revolution, so long postponed, began to be felt all over +the South; the iron and steel industry developed in Alabama and +Tennessee, coal mining in Tennessee and West Virginia, and cotton +manufacture in Carolina and Georgia; railways were consolidated into +systems and extended, commerce was organized and concentrated. The +greatest single visible result of this was the growth of cities. Towns +of eight thousand and more had a tenth of the white Southerners in +1860; they held a seventh of a much larger population in 1900, while +a fifth were in cities and villages. Still more striking was the +movement of Negroes; only four per cent. were in cities before the +war, to-day a seventh are there. + +The reason for this is clear: the oppression and serfdom of the +country, the opportunities of the city. It was in the town and city +alone that the emerging classes, outside the landholders, were +successful, and even the landholders were helped by the earnings of +the city; the house servants with the upper class of barbers and +caterers, the artisans, the day laborers, the professional men, +including the best of the teachers, were in the cities, and the new +group economy was developed here. + +On the other hand one of the inevitable expedients for fastening +serfdom on the country Negro was enforced ignorance. + +The Negro school system established by the Negro reconstruction +governments reached its culmination in the decade 1870-1880. Since +then determined effort has been made in the country districts to make +the Negro schools less efficient. To-day these schools are worse than +they were twenty years ago; the nominal term is longer and the +enrolment larger, but the salaries are so small that only the poorest +local talent can teach. There is little supervision, there are few +appliances, few schoolhouses and no inspiration. On the other hand the +city schools have usually improved. It was natural that the Negro +should rush city-ward toward freedom, education, and decent wages. + +This migration resulted in two things: in the increase and +intensification of the problems of the city, and in redoubled effort +to keep the Negro laborer on the plantations. + +To take the latter efforts first, we find that the efforts of the +landlords to keep Negro labor varied from force to persuasion: force +was used by the landlords to the extent of actual peonage, by which +Negroes were held on plantations in large numbers; next to peonage for +crime came debt peonage, which used the indebtedness of the Negro +tenants to prevent their moving away; then came the system of labor +contracts and the laws making the breaking of a labor contract a crime +(see Note 10); after that came a crop of vagrancy laws aimed at the +idle Negroes in city and town and designed to compel them to work on +farms, going so far in several states as to reverse the common law +principle and force the person arrested for vagrancy to prove his +innocence (see Note 11). + +In order that the farm laborers should not be tempted away by higher +wages, penalties were laid on "enticing laborers away" and agents were +compelled to take out licenses which ran as high as $2,000 for each +county in some states (see Note 12). Such laws and their +administration required, of course, absolute control of the +government and courts. This was secured by manipulation and fraud, +while at the same time the landlords of the black belt usually opposed +the disfranchisement of Negroes lest such a measure reduce their +political influence which was based on the Negro population. + +All these measures were measures of force, while nothing was done to +attract laborers to the land. The only real attraction of the Negro to +the country was landowning. The Negroes had succeeded in buying land: +by government gift and bounty money they held about three million +acres in 1875, perhaps 8,000,000 in 1890, and 12,000,000 in 1900; but +distinct efforts appeared here and there to stop their buying land. + +There are still vast tracts of land in the South, that anybody, black +or white, can buy for little or nothing, simply because it is worth +little or nothing. Some time, of course, these lands will become +valuable but they are not valuable to-day. Now the Negro cannot invest +in this land as a speculation, for he is too poor to wait. He must +have land which he knows how to cultivate, which is near a market, and +which is so situated as to provide reasonable protection for his +family. There are only certain crops which he knows how to cultivate. +He cannot be expected to learn quickly to cultivate crops which he was +not taught to cultivate in the past. He must be within reach of a +market and he must have some community life with his own people and +some protection from other people. + +All these conditions are fulfilled chiefly in the black belt. That is +the cotton region, the crop which he knows best how to raise; from +certain parts of it he can get to the market and he has a great black +population for company and protection. But it is precisely here in the +black belt that it is most difficult to buy land. Capitalistic culture +of cotton, the high price of cotton, and the system of labor peonage +have made land high. Moreover in most of these regions it is +considered bad policy to sell Negroes land because, as has been said, +this "demoralizes" labor. Thus in the densest part of the black belt +in the South, the percentage of land holding is usually low among +Negroes. + +The concentration of land-owning on the other hand in the hands of the +single white proprietors has gone on to a much larger extent than the +country realizes. This is shown not simply in the increase of the +average size of farms in the last decade but it must also be +remembered that the farms do not belong to single owners but are owned +in groups of five, forty or fifty by single landed proprietors. There +are 140,000 owners who own from two to fifty farms in the South and +there are 50,000 owners who have over twenty farms apiece. + +It is not true then to-day that land-buying for the average colored +farmer in the South is an easy thing. The land which has been bought +has been bought by the exceptional men or by the men who have had +unusual opportunity, who have been helped by their former masters or +by some other patrons, who have been aided by members of their own +families in the North or in the cities, or who have escaped the +wretched crop system by some sudden rise in the price of cotton, which +did not enable the landlord to take the whole economic advantage. It +is therefore in spite of the land system and not because of it that +the Negroes to-day own 12,000,000 acres of land (see Note 13). + +The net result of the whole policy of serfdom was so to deplete the +ranks of laborers that a new solution of the labor problem must be +found. + +Here it was that the southern city came forward. The city had new +significance, especially new cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, and +Chattanooga as contrasted with Charleston and Savannah. They saw a +new industrial solution of the problem of Negro labor. It was a simple +program: Industry and disfranchisement; the separation of the masses +of the Negroes from all participation in government, and such +technical training as should fit them to become skilled working men. + +There was an _arriere pensee_ here too, born in the minds of northern +capitalists. The white southern working men were becoming unionized by +northern agitators; here was a chance to keep them down to reasonable +demands by black competition and the threat of more competition in the +future. Moreover working men without votes would be far more docile +and tractable. Politics had already spoiled the Negroes. Let the +whites rule and the blacks work. + +The plea was specious, it had the sanction of great names, of wealth +and social influence, and it convinced not only those who wanted to be +convinced but practically all Americans who were eager to be relieved +of troublesome questions and difficult public duties. + +All the more eagerly was this solution seized upon because of the +definite and distinct promises which it made. Disfranchise the Negro, +said the South, and the race problem is solved; there is no race +problem save the menace of an ignorant and venal vote;--relieve us +from this and the lion and the lamb will lie down together;--the Negro +will go peacefully and contentedly to work and the whites will wax +just and rich. We all remember with what confidence and absolute +certainty of conviction this program was announced when Mississippi +disfranchised her Negro voters seventeen years ago. It was repeated +twelve years ago in South Carolina, ten years ago in Louisiana, and +still more recently in North Carolina and Alabama. + +What has been the result? Is the race problem solved? Is the Negro out +of politics in the South? Has there been a single southern campaign +in the last twenty years in which the Negro has not figured as the +prime issue? Have the southern representatives in Congress any settled +convictions or policy save hatred of black men, and can they discuss +any other matter? Is it not the irony of fate that in the state that +first discovered the legal fraud of disfranchisement a hot political +battle is to-day waging on the old, old question: the right of black +men to vote? + +The reason for all this is not far to seek. In modern industrial +democracy disfranchisement is impossible. The fate, wishes, and +destiny of ten million human beings cannot be delivered, sealed and +bound into the keeping of Dixon, Tillman, Vardaman, and Nelson Page. +They are bound to vote even when disfranchised. + +Disfranchised and voiceless though I am in Georgia to-day by the +illegal White Primary system, there are still fifty congressmen in +Washington fraudulently representing me and my fellows in the +councils of the nation (see Note 14). + +It was promised that disfranchisement would lead to more careful +attention to the Negro's moral and economic advancement. It has on the +contrary stripped them naked to their enemies; discriminating laws of +all sorts have followed, the administration of other laws has become +harsher and more unfair, school funds have been curtailed and +education discouraged, and mobs and murder have gone on. + +If the new policy has been a farce politically and socially, how much +more has it failed as an economic cure-all! No sooner was it +proclaimed from the house-tops than the rift in the lute appeared. "We +do not want educated farmers," cried the landlords, "we want docile +laborers." "We do not want educated Negro artisans," cried the white +artisans, and they enforced their demands by their votes and by mob +violence. "We do not want to raise the Negro; we want to put him in +his place and keep him there," cried the dominant forces of the South. +Then those northerners who had lightly embraced the fair sounding +program of limited labor training and disfranchisement found +themselves grasping the air. + +Not only this, but the South itself faced a puzzling paradox. The +industrial revolution was demanding labor; it was demanding +intelligent labor, while the supposed political and social exigences +of the situation called for ignorance and subserviency. It was an +impossible contradiction and the South to-day knows it. + +What is it that makes a successful laboring force? It is laborers of +education and natural intelligence, reasonably satisfied with their +conditions, inspired with certain ideals of life, and with a growing +sense of self-respect and self-reliance. How is the caste system of +the South influencing the Negro laborer? It is systematically +restricting his development; it is restricting his education so that +the public common schools of the South except in a few cities are +worse this moment than they were twenty years ago; it is seeking to +kill self-respect by putting upon the accident of color every mark of +humiliation that it can invent; it is discouraging self-reliance by +treating a class of men as wards and children; it is killing ambition +by drawing a color line instead of a line of desert and +accomplishment; and finally, through these things, it is encouraging +crime, and by the unintelligent and brutal treatment of criminals, it +is developing more crime. + +This general attitude toward the main laboring class reflects itself +less glaringly but as certainly in the treatment even of white +laborers. So long as white labor must compete with black labor, it +must approximate black labor conditions--long hours, small wages, +child labor, labor of women, and even peonage. Moreover it can raise +itself above black labor only by a legalized caste system which will +cut off competition and this is what the South is straining every +nerve to create. + +The last fatal campaign in Georgia which culminated in the Atlanta +Massacre was an attempt, fathered by conscienceless politicians, to +arouse the prejudices of the rank and file of white laborers and +farmers against the growing competition of black men, so that black +men by law could be forced back to subserviency and serfdom. It +succeeded so well that smouldering hate burst into flaming murder +before the politicians could curb it. + +There is, however, a limit to this sort of thing. The day when mobs +can successfully cow the Negro to willing slavery is past. The Atlanta +Negroes shot back and shot to kill, and that stopped the riot with a +certain suddenness (see Note 15). The South is realizing that +lawlessness and economic advance cannot coexist. If the wonderful +industrial revolution is to develop unhindered, the South must have +law and order and it must have intelligent workmen. + +It is only a question of time when white working men and black working +men will see their common cause against the aggressions of exploiting +capitalists. Already there are signs of this: white and black miners +are working as a unit in Alabama; white and black masons are in one +union in Atlanta (see Note 16). The economic strength of the Negro +cannot be beaten into weakness, and therefore it must be taken into +partnership, and this the Southern white working man, befuddled by +prejudice as he is, begins dimly to realize. + +It is this paradox that brings us to-day in the South to a fourth +solution of the problem: Immigration. The voice that calls foreign +immigrants southward to-day is not single but double. First, the +exploiter of common labor wishes to exploit this new labor just as +formerly he exploited Negro labor. On the other hand the far-sighted +ones know that the present freedom of labor exploitation must +pass--that some time or other the industrial system of the South must +be made to conform more and more to the growing sense of industrial +justice in the North and in the civilized world. Consequently the +second object of the immigration philosopher is to make sure that, +when the rights of the laborer come to be recognized in the South, +that laborer will be white, and just so far as possible the black +laborer will still be forced down below the white laborer until he +becomes thoroughly demoralized or extinct. + +The query is therefore: If immigration turns toward the South as it +undoubtedly will in time, what will become of the Negro? The view of +the white world is usually that there are two possibilities. First, +that the immigrants will crush the Negro utterly; or secondly, that by +competition there will come a sifting which will lead to the survival +of the best in both groups of laborers. + +Let us consider these possibilities. First it is certain that so far +as the Negroes are land holders, and so far as they belong to a +self-employing, self-supplying group economy, no possible competition +from without can disturb them. I have shown already how rapidly this +system is growing. Further than that, there is a large group of +Negroes who have already gained an assured place in the national +economy as artisans, servants, and laborers. The worst of these may be +supplanted, but the best could not be unless there came a sudden +unprecedented and improbable influx of skilled foreign labor. A slow +infiltration of foreigners cannot displace the better class of Negro +workers; simply because the growing labor demand of the South cannot +spare them. If then it is to be merely a matter of ability to work, +the result of immigration will on the whole be beneficial and will +differentiate the good Negro workman from the careless and +indifferent. + +But one element remains to be considered, and this is political power. +If the black workman is to remain disfranchised while the white native +and immigrant not only has the economic defense of the ballot, but the +power to use it so as to hem in the Negro competitor, cow and +humiliate him and force him to a lower plane, then the Negro will +suffer from immigration. + +It is becoming distinctly obvious to Negroes that to-day, in modern +economic organization, the one thing that is giving the workman a +chance is intelligence and political power, and that it is utterly +impossible for a moment to suppose that the Negro in the South is +going to hold his own in the new competition with immigrants if, on +the one hand, the immigrant has access to the best schools of the +community and has equal political power with other men to defend his +rights and to assert his wishes, while, on the other hand, his black +competitor is not only weighed down by past degradation, but has few +or no schools and is disfranchised. + +The question then as to what will happen in the South when immigration +comes, is a very simple question. If the Negro is kept disfranchised +and ignorant and if the new foreign immigrants are allowed access to +the schools and given votes as they undoubtedly will be, then there +can ensue only accentuated race hatred, the spread of poverty and +disease among Negroes, the increase of crime, and the gradual murder +of the eight millions of black men who live in the South except in so +far as they escape North and bring their problems there as thousands +will. + +If on the contrary, with the coming of the immigrants to the South, +there is given to the Negro equal educational opportunity and the +chance to cast his vote like a man and be counted as a man in the +councils of the county, city, state and nation, then there will ensue +that competition between men in the industrial world which, if it is +not altogether just, is at least better than slavery and serfdom. + +There of course could be strong argument that the nation owes the +Negro something better than harsh industrial competition just after +slavery, but the Negro does not ask the payment of debts that are +dead. He is perfectly willing to come into competition with immigrants +from any part of the world, to welcome them as human beings and as +fellows in the struggle for life, to struggle with them and for them +and for a greater South and a better nation. But the black man +certainly has a right to ask, when he starts into this race, that he +be allowed to start with hands untied and brain unclouded (see Note +17). + +Such in bare outline is the economic history of the South. It is the +story of an attempt to degrade working men. It failed in 1860, after +it had sought for centuries to reduce laborers to the level of +purchasable cattle; it failed in 1870, after a fearful catastrophe +while endeavoring to revive this system under another name; it has +failed since then satisfactorily to maintain the present rural serfdom +or to establish a disfranchised caste of artisans; and it will fail in +the future to keep the stubbornly up-struggling masses of black +laborers down, by shackling their souls and loading immigrants atop of +them. It will always fail unless indeed, as sometimes seems possible, +both Church and State in America shall refuse longer to listen to the +teaching of Jesus when He said: "Come unto Me all ye that labor and +are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. + +"Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in +heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls. + +"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." + + + + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER IV + +RELIGION IN THE SOUTH + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RELIGION IN THE SOUTH + + +It is often a nice question as to which is of greater importance among +a people--the way in which they earn their living, or their attitude +toward life. As a matter of fact these two things are but two sides of +the same problem, for nothing so reveals the attitude of a people +toward life as the manner in which they earn their living; and on the +other hand the earning of a living depends in the last analysis upon +one's estimate of what life really is. So that these two questions +that I am discussing with regard to the South are intimately bound up +with each other. + +If we have studied the economic development of the South carefully, +then we have already seen something of its attitude toward life; the +history of religion in the South means a study of these same facts +over which we have gone, from a different point of view. Moreover, as +the economic history of the South is in effect the economics of +slavery and the Negro problem, so the essence of a study of religion +in the South is a study of the ethics of slavery and emancipation. + +It is very difficult of course for one who has not seen the practical +difficulties that surround a people at any particular time in their +battle with the hard facts of this world, to interpret with sympathy +their ideals of life; and this is especially difficult when the +economic life of a nation has been expressed by such a discredited +word as slavery. If, then, we are to study the history of religion in +the South, we must first of all divest ourselves of prejudice, pro and +con; we must try to put ourselves in the place of those who are +seeking to read the riddle of life and grant to them about the same +general charity and the same general desire to do right that we find +in the average human being. On the other hand, we must not, in +striving to be charitable, be false to truth and right. Slavery in the +United States was an economic mistake and a moral crime. This we +cannot forget. Yet it had its excuses and mitigations. These we must +remember. + +When in the seventeenth century there grew up in the New World a +system of human slavery, it was not by any means a new thing. There +were slaves and slavery in Europe, not, to be sure, to a great extent, +but none the less real. The Christian religion, however, had come to +regard it as wrong and unjust that those who partook of the privileges +and hopes and aspirations of that religion should oppress each other +to the extent of actual enslavement. The idea of human brotherhood in +the seventeenth century was of a brotherhood of co-religionists. When +it came to the dealing of Christian with heathen, however, the +century saw nothing wrong in slavery; rather, theoretically, they saw +a chance for a great act of humanity and religion. The slaves were to +be brought from heathenism to Christianity, and through slavery the +benighted Indian and African were to find their passport into the +kingdom of God. This theory of human slavery was held by Spaniards, +French, and English. It was New England in the early days that put the +echo of it in her codes (see Note 18) and recognition of it can be +seen in most of the colonies. + +But no sooner had people adopted this theory than there came the +insistent and perplexing question as to what the status of the heathen +slave was to be after he was Christianized and baptized; and even more +pressing, what was to be the status of his children? + +It took a great deal of bitter heart searching for the conscientious +early slave-holders to settle this question. The obvious state of +things was that the new convert awoke immediately to the freedom of +Christ and became a freeman. But while this was the theoretical, +religious answer, and indeed the answer which was given in several +instances, the practice soon came into direct and perplexing conflict +with the grim facts of economic life. + +Here was a man who had invested his money and his labor in slaves; he +had done it with dependence on the institution of property. Could he +be deprived of his property simply because his slaves were baptized +afterward into a Christian church? Very soon such economic reasoning +swept away the theological dogma and it was expressly declared in +colony after colony that baptism did not free the slaves (see Note +19). This, of course, put an end to the old doctrine of the heathen +slave and it was necessary for the church to arrange for itself a new +theory by which it could ameliorate, if not excuse, the position of +the slave. The next question was naturally that of the children of +slaves born in Christianity and the church for a time hedged +unworthily on the subject by consigning to perpetual slavery the +children of heathen but not those born of Christian parents; this was +satisfactory for the first generation but it fell short of the logic +of slavery later, and a new adjustment was demanded. + +Here again this was not found difficult. In Virginia there had been +built up the beginnings of a feudal aristocracy. Men saw nothing wrong +or unthinkable in the situation as it began to develop, but rather +something familiar. At the head of the feudal manor was the lord, or +master, beneath him the under-lord or overseers and then the artisans, +retainers, the free working men and lastly the serfs, slaves or +servants as they were called. The servant was not free and yet he was +not theoretically exactly a slave, and the laws of Virginia were +rather careful to speak very little of slaves. + +Serfdom in America as in Europe was to be a matter of status or +position and not of race or blood, and the law of the South in the +seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries made little or no +distinction between black and white bondservants save in the time of +their service. The idea, felt rather than expressed, was that here in +America we were to have a new feudalism suited to the new country. At +the top was the governor of the colony representing the majesty of the +English king, at the bottom the serfs or slaves, some white, most of +them black. + +Slavery therefore was gradually transformed in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries into a social status out of which a man, even a +black man, could escape and did escape; and, no matter what his color +was, when he became free, he became free in the same sense that other +people were. Thus it was that there were free black voters in the +southern colonies (Virginia and the Carolinas) in the early days +concerning whose right to vote there was less question than there is +concerning my right to vote now in Georgia (see Note 20). + +The church recognized the situation and the Episcopal church +especially gave itself easily to this new conception. This church +recognized the social gradation of men; all souls were equal in the +sight of God, but there were differences in worldly consideration and +respect, and consequently it was perfectly natural that there should +be an aristocracy at the top and a group of serfs at the bottom. + +Meantime, however, America began to be stirred by a new democratic +ideal; there came the reign of that ruler of men, Andrew Jackson; +there came the spread of the democratic churches, Methodist and +Baptist, and the democratization of other churches. Now when America +became to be looked upon more and more as the dwelling place of free +and equal men and when the Methodist and, particularly, the Baptist +churches went down into the fields and proselyted among the slaves, a +thing which the more aristocratic Episcopal church had never done (see +Note 21), there came new questions and new heart-searchings among +those who wanted to explain the difficulties and to think and speak +clearly in the midst of their religious convictions. + +As such people began to look round them the condition of the slaves +appalled them. The Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina and Georgia +declared in 1833: "There are over two millions of human beings in the +condition of heathen and some of them in a worse condition. They may +be justly considered the heathen of this country, and will bear a +comparison with heathen in any country in the world. The Negroes are +destitute of the gospel, and ever will be under the present state of +things. In the vast field extending from an entire state beyond the +Potomac [_i.e._, Maryland] to the Sabine River [at the time our +southwestern boundary] and from the Atlantic to the Ohio, there are, +to the best of our knowledge, not twelve men exclusively devoted to +the religious instruction of the Negroes. In the present state of +feeling in the South, a ministry of their own color could neither be +obtained nor tolerated. + +"But do not the Negroes have access to the gospel through the stated +ministry of the whites? We answer, no. The Negroes have no regular and +efficient ministry; as a matter of course, no churches; neither is +there sufficient room in the white churches for their accommodation. +We know of but five churches in the slave-holding states built +expressly for their use. These are all in the state of Georgia. We may +now inquire whether they enjoy the privileges of the gospel in their +own houses, and on our plantations? Again we return a negative answer. +They have no Bibles to read by their own firesides. They have no +family altars; and when in affliction, sickness, or death, they have +no minister to address to them the consolations of the gospel, nor to +bury them with appropriate services." + +The same synod said in 1834: "The gospel, as things now are, can never +be preached to the two classes (whites and blacks) successfully in +conjunction. The galleries or back seats on the lower floor of white +churches are generally appropriated to the Negroes, when it can be +done without inconvenience to the whites. When it cannot be done +conveniently, the Negroes must catch the gospel as it escapes through +the doors and windows. If the master is pious, the house servants +alone attend family worship, and frequently few of them, while the +field hands have no attention at all. So far as masters are engaged in +the work [of religious instruction of slaves], an almost unbroken +silence reigns on this vast field." + +The Rev. C.C. Jones, a Georgian and ardent defender of slavery (see +Note 22) says of the period 1790-1820: "It is not too much to say that +the religious and physical condition of the Negroes were both improved +during this period. Their increase was natural and regular, ranging +every ten years between thirty-four and thirty-six per cent. As the +old stock from Africa died out of the country, the grosser customs, +ignorance, and paganism of Africa died with them. Their descendants, +the country-born, were better looking, more intelligent, more +civilized, more susceptible of religious impressions. + +"On the whole, however, but a minority of the Negroes, and that a +small one, attended regularly the house of God, and taking them as a +class, their religious instruction was extensively and most seriously +neglected." + +And of the decade 1830-40, he insists: "We cannot cry out against the +Papists for withholding the Scriptures from the common people and +keeping them in ignorance of the way of life, for we withhold the +Bible from our servants, and keep them in ignorance of it, while we +will not use the means to have it read and explained to them." + +Such condition stirred the more radical-minded toward abolition +sentiments and the more conservative toward renewed effort to +evangelize and better the condition of the slaves. This condition was +deplorable as Jones pictures it. "Persons live and die in the midst of +Negroes and know comparatively little of their real character. They +have not the immediate management of them. They have to do with them +in the ordinary discharge of their duty as servants, further than this +they institute no inquiries; they give themselves no trouble. + +"The Negroes are a distinct class in the community, and keep +themselves very much to themselves. They are one thing before the +whites and another before their own color. Deception before the former +is characteristic of them, whether bond or free, throughout the whole +United States. It is habit, a long established custom, which descends +from generation to generation. There is an upper and an under current. +Some are contented with the appearance on the surface; others dive +beneath. Hence the diversity of impressions and representations of the +moral and religious condition of the Negroes. Hence the disposition of +some to deny the darker pictures of their more searching and knowing +friends." + +He then enumerates the vice of the slaves: "The divine institution of +marriage depends for its perpetuity, sacredness, and value, largely +upon the protection given it by the law of the land. Negro marriages +are neither recognized nor protected by law. The Negroes receive no +instruction on the nature, sacredness, and perpetuity of the +institution; at any rate they are far from being duly impressed with +these things. They are not required to be married in any particular +form, nor by any particular persons." + +He continues: "Hence, as may well be imagined, the marriage relation +loses much of the sacredness and perpetuity of its character. It is a +contract of convenience, profit, or pleasure, that may be entered into +and dissolved at the will of the parties, and that without heinous +sin, or the injury of the property or interests of any one. That which +they possess in common is speedily divided, and the support of the +wife and children falls not upon the husband, but upon the master. +Protracted sickness, want of industrial habits, of congeniality of +disposition, or disparity of age, are sufficient grounds for a +separation." + +Under such circumstances, "polygamy is practiced both secretly and +openly." Un-cleanness, infanticide, theft, lying, quarreling, and +fighting are noted, and the words of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in +1829 are recalled: "There needs no stronger illustration of the +doctrine of human depravity than the state of morals on plantations in +general. Besides the mischievous tendency of bad example in parents +and elders, the little Negro is often taught by these natural +instructors that he may commit any vice that he can conceal from his +superiors, and thus falsehood and deception are among the earliest +lessons they imbibe. Their advance in years is but a progression to +the higher grades of iniquity. The violation of the Seventh +Commandment is viewed in a more venial light than in fashionable +European circles. Their depredations of rice have been estimated to +amount to twenty-five per cent. of the gross average of crops." + +John Randolph of Roanoke once visited a lady and "found her surrounded +with her seamstresses, making up a quantity of clothing. 'What work +have you in hand?' 'O sir, I am preparing this clothing to send to the +poor Greeks.' On taking leave at the steps of her mansion, he saw +some of her servants in need of the very clothing which their +tender-hearted mistress was sending abroad. He exclaimed, 'Madam, +madam, the Greeks are at your door!'" + +One natural solution of this difficulty was to train teachers and +preachers for the slaves from among their own number. The old Voodoo +priests were passing away and already here and there new spiritual +leaders of the Negroes began to arise. Accounts of several of these, +taken from "The Negro Church," will be given. + +Among the earliest was Harry Hosier who traveled with the Methodist +Bishop Asbury and often filled appointments for him. George Leile and +Andrew Bryan were preachers whose life history is of intense interest. +"George Leile or Lisle, sometimes called George Sharp, was born in +Virginia about 1750. His master (Mr. Sharp) some time before the +American war removed and settled in Burke County, Georgia. Mr. Sharp +was a Baptist and a deacon in a Baptist church, of which Rev. Matthew +Moore was pastor. George was converted and baptized under Mr. Moore's +ministry. The church gave him liberty to preach. + +"About nine months after George Leile left Georgia, Andrew, surnamed +Bryan, a man of good sense, great zeal, and some natural elocution, +began to exhort his black brethren and friends. He and his followers +were reprimanded and forbidden to engage further in religious +exercises. He would, however, pray, sing, and encourage his fellow +worshipers to seek the Lord. + +"Their persecution was carried to an inhuman extent. Their evening +assemblies were broken up and those found present were punished with +stripes. Andrew Bryan and Sampson, his brother, converted about a year +after him, were twice imprisoned, and they with about fifty others +were whipped. When publicly whipped, and bleeding under his wounds, +Andrew declared that he not only rejoiced to be whipped, but would +gladly suffer death for the cause of Jesus Christ, and that while he +had life and opportunity he would continue to preach Christ. He was +faithful to his vow and, by patient continuance in well-doing, he put +to silence and shamed his adversaries, and influential advocates and +patrons were raised up for him. Liberty was given Andrew by the civil +authority to continue his religious meetings under certain +regulations. His master gave him the use of his barn at Brampton, +three miles from Savannah, where he preached for two years with little +interruption." + +Lott Carey a free Virginia Negro "was evidently a man of superior +intellect and force of character, as is evidenced from the fact that +his reading took a wide range--from political economy, in Adam Smith's +'Wealth of Nations,' to the voyage of Captain Cook. That he was a +worker as well as a preacher is true, for when he decided to go to +Africa his employers offered to raise his salary from $800 to $1,000 a +year. Remember that this was over eighty years ago. Carey was not +seduced by such a flattering offer, for he was determined. + +"His last sermon in the old First Church in Richmond must have been +exceedingly powerful, for it was compared by an eye-witness, a +resident of another state, to the burning, eloquent appeals of George +Whitfield. Fancy him as he stands there in that historic building +ringing the changes on the word 'freely,' depicting the willingness +with which he was ready to give up his life for service in Africa. + +"He, as you may already know, was the leader of the pioneer colony to +Liberia, where he arrived even before the agent of the Colonization +Society. In his new home his abilities were recognized, for he was +made vice governor, and became governor in fact while Governor Ashmun +was absent from the colony in this country. Carey did not allow his +position to betray the cause of his people, for he did not hesitate to +expose the duplicity of the Colonization Society and even to defy +their authority, it would seem, in the interests of the people. + +"While casting cartridges to defend the colonists against the natives +in 1828, the accidental upsetting of a candle caused an explosion that +resulted in his death. + +"Carey is described as a typical Negro, six feet in height, of massive +and erect frame, with the sinews of a Titan. He had a square face, +keen eyes, and a grave countenance. His movements were measured; in +short, he had all the bearing and dignity of a prince of the blood." + +John Chavis was a full-blooded Negro, born in Granville County, N.C., +near Oxford, in 1763. He was born free and was sent to Princeton, +studying privately under Dr. Witherspoon, where he did well. He went +to Virginia to preach to Negroes. In 1802, in the county court, his +freedom and character were certified to and it was declared that he +had passed "through a regular course of academic studies" at what is +now Washington and Lee University. In 1805 he returned to North +Carolina, where in 1809 he was made a licentiate in the Presbyterian +Church and allowed to preach. His English was remarkably pure, his +manner impressive, his explanations clear and concise. + +For a long time he taught school and had the best whites as pupils--a +United States senator, the sons of a chief justice of North Carolina, +a governor of the state and many others. Some of his pupils boarded in +the family, and his school was regarded as the best in the State. "All +accounts agree that John Chavis was a gentleman," and he was received +socially among the best whites and asked to table. In 1830 he was +stopped from preaching by the law. Afterward he taught a school for +free Negroes in Raleigh. + +Henry Evans was a full-blooded Virginia free Negro, and was the +pioneer of Methodism in Fayetteville, N.C. He found the Negroes there, +about 1800, without any religious instruction. He began preaching and +the town council ordered him away; he continued and whites came to +hear him. Finally the white auditors outnumbered the blacks and sheds +were erected for Negroes at the side of the church. The gathering +became a regular Methodist Church, with a white and Negro membership, +but Evans continued to preach. He exhibited "rare self-control before +the most wretched of castes! Henry Evans did much good, but he would +have done more good had his spirit been untrammeled by this sense of +inferiority." + +His dying words uttered as he stood, aged and bent beside his pulpit, +are of singular pathos: "I have come to say my last word to you. It +is this: None but Christ. Three times have I had my life in jeopardy +for preaching the gospel to you. Three times I have broken ice on the +edge of the water and swam across the Cape Fear to preach the gospel +to you; and, if in my last hour I could trust to that, or anything but +Christ crucified, for my salvation, all should be lost and my soul +perish forever." + +Early in the nineteenth century Ralph Freeman was a slave in Anson +County, N.C. He was a full-blooded Negro, and was ordained and became +an able Baptist preacher. He baptized and administered communion, and +was greatly respected. When the Baptists split on the question of +missions he sided with the anti-mission side. Finally the law forbade +him to preach. + +Lunsford Lane was a Negro who bought his freedom in Raleigh, N.C., by +the manufacture of smoking tobacco. He later became a minister of the +gospel, and had the confidence of many of the best people. + +The story of Jack of Virginia is best told in the words of a Southern +writer: + +"Probably the most interesting case in the whole South is that of an +African preacher of Nottoway County, popularly known as 'Uncle Jack,' +whose services to white and black were so valuable that a +distinguished minister of the Southern Presbyterian Church felt called +upon to memorialize his work in a biography. + +"Kidnapped from his idolatrous parents in Africa, he was brought over +in one of the last cargoes of slaves admitted to Virginia and sold to +a remote and obscure planter in Nottoway County, a region at that time +in the backwoods and destitute particularly as to religious life and +instruction. He was converted under the occasional preaching of Rev. +Dr. John Blair Smith, president of Hampden-Sidney College, and of Dr. +William Hill and Dr. Archibald Alexander of Princeton, then young +theologues, and by hearing the Scriptures read. + +"Taught by his master's children to read, he became so full of the +spirit and knowledge of the Bible that he was recognized among the +whites as a powerful expounder of Christian doctrine, was licensed to +preach by the Baptist Church, and preached from plantation to +plantation within a radius of thirty miles, as he was invited by +overseers or masters. His freedom was purchased by a subscription of +whites, and he was given a home and tract of land for his support. He +organized a large and orderly Negro church, and exercised such a +wonderful controlling influence over the private morals of his flock +that masters, instead of punishing their slaves, often referred them +to the discipline of their pastor, which they dreaded far more. + +"He stopped a heresy among the Negroes of Southern Virginia, defeating +in open argument a famous fanatical Negro preacher named Campbell, who +advocated noise and 'the spirit' against the Bible, and winning over +Campbell's adherents in a body. For over forty years, and until he was +nearly a hundred years of age, he labored successfully in public and +private among black and whites, voluntarily giving up his preaching in +obedience to the law of 1832, the result of 'Old Nat's war.' + +"The most refined and aristocratic people paid tribute to him, and he +was instrumental in the conversion of many whites. Says his +biographer, Rev. Dr. William S. White: 'He was invited into their +houses, sat with their families, took part in their social worship, +sometimes leading the prayer at the family altar. Many of the most +intelligent people attended upon his ministry and listened to his +sermons with great delight. Indeed, previous to the year 1825, he was +considered by the best judges to be the best preacher in that county. +His opinions were respected, his advice followed, and yet he never +betrayed the least symptoms of arrogance or self-conceit. + +"'His dwelling was a rude log cabin, his apparel of the plainest and +coarsest materials.' This was because he wanted to be fully identified +with his class. He refused gifts of better clothing, saying 'These +clothes are a great deal better than are generally worn by people of +my color, and besides if I wear finer ones I find I shall be obliged +to think about them even at meeting.'" + +Thus slowly, surely, the slave, in the persons of such exceptional +men, appearing here and there at rare intervals, was persistently +stretching upward. The Negroes bade fair in time to have their +leaders. The new democratic evangelism began to encourage this, and +then came the difficulty--the inevitable ethical paradox. + +The good men of the South recognized the needs of the slaves. Here and +there Negro ministers were arising. What now should be the policy? On +the part of the best thinkers it seemed as if men might strive here, +in spite of slavery, after brotherhood; that the slaves should be +proselyted, taught religion, admitted to the churches, and, +notwithstanding their civil station, looked upon as the spiritual +brothers of the white communicants. Much was done to make this true. +The conditions improved in a great many respects, but no sooner was +there a systematic effort to teach the slaves, even though that +teaching was confined to elementary religion, than the various things +followed that must follow all intellectual awakenings. + +We have had the same thing in our day. A few Negroes of the South have +been taught, they consequently have begun to think, they have begun to +assert themselves, and suddenly men are face to face with the fact +that either one of two things must happen--either they must stop +teaching or these people are going to be men, not serfs or slaves. Not +only that, but to seek to put an awakening people back to sleep means +revolt. It meant revolt in the eighteenth century, when a series of +insurrections and disturbances frightened the South tremendously, not +so much by their actual extent as by the possibilities they suggested. +It was noticeable that many of these revolts were led by preachers. + +The revolution in Hayti greatly stirred the South and induced South +Carolina to declare in 1800: + +"It shall not be lawful for any number of slaves, free Negroes, +mulattoes, or mestizoes, even in company with white persons, to meet +together and assemble for the purpose of mental instruction or +religious worship either before the rising of the sun or after the +going down of the same. And all magistrates, sheriffs, militia +officers, etc., etc., are hereby vested with power, etc., for +dispersing such assemblies." + +On petition of the white churches the rigor of this law was slightly +abated in 1803 by a modification which forbade any person, before nine +o'clock in the evening, "to break into a place of meeting wherein +shall be assembled the members of any religious society in this State, +provided a majority of them shall be white persons, or otherwise to +disturb their devotions unless such persons, etc., so entering said +place (of worship) shall first have obtained from some magistrate, +etc., a warrant, etc., in case a magistrate shall be then actually +within a distance of three miles from such place of meeting; otherwise +the provisions, etc. (of the Act of 1800) to remain in full force." + +So, too, in Virginia the Haytian revolt and the attempted insurrection +under Gabriel in 1800 led to the Act of 1804, which forbade all +evening meetings of slaves. This was modified in 1805 so as to allow a +slave, in company with a white person, to listen to a white minister +in the evening. A master was "allowed" to employ a religious teacher +for his slaves. Mississippi passed similar restrictions. + +By 1822 the rigor of the South Carolina laws in regard to Negro +meetings had abated, especially in a city like Charleston, and one of +the results was the Vesey plot. + +"The sundry religious classes or congregations, with Negro leaders or +local preachers, into which were formed the Negro members of the +various churches of Charleston, furnished Vesey with the first +rudiments of an organization, and at the same time with a singularly +safe medium for conducting his underground agitation. It was +customary, at that time, for these Negro congregations to meet for +purposes of worship entirely free from the presence of whites. Such +meetings were afterward forbidden to be held except in the presence of +at least one representative of the dominant race, but during the three +or four years prior to the year 1822 they certainly offered Denmark +Vesey regular, easy, and safe opportunity for preaching his gospel of +liberty and hate. And we are left in no doubt whatever in regard to +the uses to which he put those gatherings of blacks. + +"Like many of his race, he possessed the gift of gab, as the silver in +the tongue and the gold in the full or thick-lipped mouth are +oftentimes contemptuously characterized. And, like many of his race, +he was a devoted student of the Bible, to whose interpretation he +brought, like many other Bible students not confined to the Negro +race, a good deal of imagination and not a little of superstition, +which, with some natures, is perhaps but another name for the desires +of the heart. + +"Thus equipped, it is no wonder that Vesey, as he pored over the Old +Testament scriptures, found many points of similitude in the history +of the Jews and that of the slaves in the United States. They were +both peculiar peoples. They were both Jehovah's peculiar peoples, one +in the past, the other in the present. And it seemed to him that as +Jehovah bent His ear, and bared His arm once in behalf of the one, so +would He do the same for the other. It was all vividly real to his +thought, I believe, for to his mind thus had said the Lord. + +"He ransacked the Bible for apposite and terrible texts whose commands +in the olden times, to the olden people, were no less imperative upon +the new times and the new people. This new people were also commanded +to arise and destroy their enemies and the city in which they dwelt, +'both man and woman, young and old, with the edge of the sword.' +Believing superstitiously as he did in the stern and Nemesis-like God +of the Old Testament he looked confidently for a day of vengeance and +retribution for the blacks. He felt, I doubt not, something peculiarly +applicable to his enterprise and intensely personal to himself in the +stern and exultant prophecy of Zachariah, fierce and sanguinary words, +which were constantly in his mouth: 'Then shall the Lord go forth and +fight against those nations as when He fought in the day of battle.' +According to Vesey's lurid exegesis 'those nations' in the text meant +beyond peradventure the cruel masters, and Jehovah was to go forth to +fight them for the poor slaves and on whichever side fought that day +the Almighty God on that side would assuredly rest victory and +deliverance. + +"It will not be denied that Vesey's plan contemplated the total +annihilation of the white population of Charleston. Nursing for many +dark years the bitter wrongs of himself and race had filled him +without doubt with a mad spirit of revenge and had given to him a +decided predilection for shedding the blood of his oppressors. But if +he intended to kill them to satisfy a desire for vengeance he intended +to do so also on broader ground. The conspirators, he argued, had no +choice in the matter, but were compelled to adopt a policy of +extermination by the necessity of their position. The liberty of the +blacks was in the balance of fate against the lives of the whites. He +could strike that balance in favor of the blacks only by the total +destruction of the whites. Therefore the whites, men, women, and +children, were doomed to death."[1] + +Vesey's plot was well laid, but the conspirators were betrayed. + +Less than ten years after this plot was discovered and Vesey and his +associates hanged, there broke out the Nat Turner insurrection in +Virginia. Turner was himself a preacher. + +"He was a Christian and a man. He was conscious that he was a Man and +not a 'thing'; therefore, driven by religious fanaticism, he undertook +a difficult and bloody task. Nathaniel Turner was born in Southampton +County, Virginia, October 2, 1800. His master was one Benjamin Turner, +a very wealthy and aristocratic man. He owned many slaves, and was a +cruel and exacting master. Young 'Nat' was born of slave parents, and +carried to his grave many of the superstitions and traits of his +father and mother. The former was a preacher, the latter a 'mother in +Israel.' Both were unlettered but, nevertheless, very pious people. + +"The mother began when Nat was quite young to teach him that he was +born, like Moses, to be the deliverer of his race. She would sing to +him snatches of wild, rapturous songs and repeat portions of prophecy +she had learned from the preachers of those times. Nat listened with +reverence and awe, and believed everything his mother said. He imbibed +the deep religious character of his parents, and soon manifested a +desire to preach. He was solemnly set apart to 'the gospel ministry' +by his father, the church, and visiting preachers. He was quite low in +stature, dark, and had the genuine African features. His eyes were +small but sharp, and gleamed like fire when he was talking about his +'mission' or preaching from some prophetic passage of scripture. It is +said that he never laughed. He was a dreamy sort of a man, and avoided +the crowd. + +"Like Moses he lived in the solitudes of the mountains and brooded +over the condition of his people. There was something grand to him in +the rugged scenery that nature had surrounded him with. He believed +that he was a prophet, a leader raised up by God to burst the bolts of +the prison-house and set the oppressed free. The thunder, the hail, +the storm-cloud, the air, the earth, the stars, at which he would sit +and gaze half the night all spake the language of the God of the +oppressed. He was seldom seen in a large company, and never drank a +drop of ardent spirits. Like John the Baptist, when he had delivered +his message, he would retire to the fastness of the mountain or seek +the desert, where he could meditate upon his great work." + +In the impression of the Richmond _Enquirer_ of the 30th of August, +1831, the first editorial or leader is under the caption of "The +Banditte." The editor says: + +"They remind one of a parcel of blood-thirsty wolves rushing down from +the Alps; or, rather, like a former incursion of the Indians upon the +white settlements. Nothing is spared; neither age nor sex +respected--the helplessness of women and children pleads in vain for +mercy.... The case of Nat Turner warns us. No black man ought to be +permitted to turn preacher through the country. The law must be +enforced, or the tragedy of Southampton appeals to us in vain." + +Mr. Gray, the man to whom Turner made his confession before dying, +said: + +"It has been said that he was ignorant and cowardly and that his +object was to murder and rob for the purpose of obtaining money to +make his escape. It is notorious that he was never known to have a +dollar in his life, to swear an oath, or drink a drop of spirits. As +to his ignorance, he certainly never had the advantages of an +education, but he can read and write, and for natural intelligence and +quickness of apprehension is surpassed by few men I have ever seen. As +to his being a coward, his reason as given for not resisting Mr. +Phipps, shows the decision of his character. When he saw Mr. Phipps +present his gun, he said he knew it was impossible for him to escape +as the woods were full of men. He, therefore, thought it was better +for him to surrender and trust to fortune for his escape. + +"He is a complete fanatic or plays his part most admirably. On other +subjects he possesses an uncommon share of intelligence, with a mind +capable of attaining anything, but warped and perverted by the +influence of early impressions. He is below the ordinary stature, +though strong and active, having the true Negro face, every feature of +which is strongly marked. + +"I shall not attempt to describe the effect of his narrative, as told +and commented on by himself, in the condemned hole of the prison; the +calm deliberate composure with which he spoke of his late deeds and +intentions; the expression of his fiend-like face when excited by +enthusiasm, still bearing the stains of the blood of the helpless +innocence about him, clothed with rags and covered with chains, yet +daring to raise his manacled hand to Heaven, with a spirit soaring +above the attributes of man. I looked on him and the blood curdled in +my veins."[2] + +The Turner insurrection is so connected with the economic revolution +which enthroned cotton that it marks an epoch in the history of the +slave. A wave of legislation passed over the South prohibiting the +slaves from learning to read and write, forbidding Negroes to preach, +and interfering with Negro religious meetings. + +Virginia declared, in 1831, that neither slaves nor free Negroes might +preach, nor could they attend religious service at night without +permission. In North Carolina slaves and free Negroes were forbidden +to preach, exhort or teach "in any prayer-meeting or other association +for worship where slaves of different families are collected together" +on penalty of not more than thirty-nine lashes. Maryland and Georgia +had similar laws. The Mississippi law of 1831 said: It is "unlawful +for any slave, free Negro, or mulatto to preach the gospel" upon pain +of receiving thirty-nine lashes upon the naked back of the +presumptuous preacher. If a Negro received written permission from his +master he might preach to the Negroes in his immediate neighborhood, +providing six respectable white men, owners of slaves, were present. +In Alabama the law of 1832 prohibited the assembling of more than five +male slaves at any place off the plantation to which they belonged, +but nothing in the act was to be considered as forbidding attendance +at places of public worship held by white persons. No slave or free +person of color was permitted to "preach, exhort, or harangue any +slave or slaves, or free persons of color, except in the presence of +five respectable slaveholders, or unless the person preaching was +licensed by some regular body of professing Christians in the +neighborhood, to whose society or church the Negroes addressed +properly belonged." + +In the District of Columbia the free Negroes began to leave white +churches in 1831 and to assemble in their own. + +Thus it was that through the fear of insurrection, the economic press +of the new slavery that was arising, and the new significance of +slavery in the economics of the South, the strife for spiritual +brotherhood was given up. Slavery became distinctly a matter of race +and not of status. Long years before, the white servants had been +freed and only black servants were left; now social condition came to +be not simply a matter of slavery but a matter of belonging to the +black race, so that even the free Negroes began to be disfranchised +and put into the caste system (see Note 23). + +A new adjustment of ethics and religion had to be made to meet this +new situation, and in the adjustment, no matter what might be said or +thought, the Negro and slavery had to be the central thing. + +In the adjustment of religion and ethics that was made for the new +slavery, under the cotton kingdom, there was in the first place a +distinct denial of human brotherhood. These black men were not men in +the sense that white men were men. They were different--different in +kind, different in origin; they had different diseases (see Note 24); +they had different feelings; they were not to be treated the same; +they were not looked upon as the same; they were altogether apart and, +while perhaps they had certain low sensibilities and aspirations, yet +so far as this world is concerned, there could be with them neither +human nor spiritual brotherhood. + +The only status that they could possibly occupy was the status of +slaves. They could not get along as freemen; they could not work as +freemen; it was utterly unthinkable that people should live with them +free. This was the philosophy that was worked out gradually, with +exceptions here and there, and that was thought through, written on, +preached from the pulpits and taught in the homes, until people in the +South believed it as they believed the rising and the setting of the +sun. + +As this became more and more the orthodox ethical opinion, heretics +appeared in the land as they always do. But intolerance and anathema +met them. In community after community there was a demand for +orthodoxy on this one burning question of the economic and religious +South, and the heretics were driven out. The Quakers left North +Carolina, the abolitionists either left Virginia or ceased to talk, +and throughout the South those people who dared to think otherwise +were left silent or dead (see Note 25). + +So long as slavery was an economic success this orthodoxy was all +powerful; when signs of economic distress appeared it became +intolerant and aggressive. A great moral battle was impending in the +South, but political turmoil and a development of northern thought so +rapid as to be unintelligible in the South stopped this development +forcibly. War came and the hatred and moral bluntness incident to war, +and men crystallized in their old thought. + +The matter now could no longer be argued and thought out, it became a +matter of tradition, of faith, of family and personal honor. There +grew up therefore after the war a new predicament; a new-old paradox. +Upon the whites hung the curse of the past; because they had not +settled their labor problem then, they must settle the problem now in +the face of upheaval and handicapped by the natural advance of the +world. + +So after the war and even to this day, the religious and ethical life +of the South bows beneath this burden. Shrinking from facing the +burning ethical questions that front it unrelentingly, the Southern +Church clings all the more closely to the letter of a worn out +orthodoxy, while its inner truer soul crouches before and fears to +answer the problem of eight million black neighbors. It therefore +assiduously "preaches Christ crucified," in prayer meeting _patois_, +and crucifies "Niggers" in unrelenting daily life. + +While the Church in the North, all too slowly but surely is struggling +up from the ashes of a childish faith in myth and miracle, and +beginning to preach a living gospel of civic virtue, peace and good +will and a crusade against lying, stealing and snobbery, the Southern +church for the most part is still murmuring of modes of "baptism," +"infant damnation" and the "divine plan of creation." + +Thus the post-bellum ethical paradox of the South is far more puzzling +than the economic paradox. To be sure there is leaven in the lump. +There are brave voices here and there, but they are easily drowned by +social tyranny in the South and by indifference and sensationalism in +the North (see Note 26). + +First of all the result of the war was the complete expulsion of +Negroes from white churches. Little has been said of this, but perhaps +it was in itself the most singular and tremendous result of slavery. +The Methodist Church South simply set its Negro members bodily out of +doors. They did it with some consideration for their feelings, with as +much kindliness as crass unkindliness can show, but they virtually +said to all their black members--to the black mammies whom they have +almost fulsomely praised and whom they remember in such astonishing +numbers to-day, to the polite and deferential old servant, to whose +character they build monuments--they said to them: "You cannot worship +God with us." There grew up, therefore, the Colored Methodist +Episcopal Church. + +Flagrantly unchristian as this course was, it was still in some ways +better than the absolute withdrawal of church fellowship on the part +of the Baptists, or the policy of Episcopalians, which was simply that +of studied neglect and discouragement which froze, harried, and well +nigh invited the black communicants to withdraw. + +From the North now came those Negro church bodies born of color +discrimination in Philadelphia and New York in the eighteenth century, +and thus a Christianity absolutely divided along the color line arose. +There may be in the South a black man belonging to a white church +to-day but if so, he must be very old and very feeble. This +anomaly--this utter denial of the very first principles of the ethics +of Jesus Christ--is to-day so deep seated and unquestionable a +principle of Southern Christianity that its essential heathenism is +scarcely thought of, and every revival of religion in this section +banks its spiritual riches solidly and unmovedly against the color +line, without conscious question. + +Among the Negroes the results are equally unhappy. They needed ethical +leadership, spiritual guidance, and religious instruction. If the +Negroes of the South are to any degree immoral, sexually unchaste, +criminally inclined, and religiously ignorant, what right has the +Christian South even to whisper reproach or accusation? How often have +they raised a finger to assume spiritual or religious guardianship +over those victims of their past system of economic and social life? + +Left thus unguided the Negroes, with some help from such Northern +white churches as dared, began their own religious upbuilding (see +Note 27). They faced tremendous difficulties--lack of ministers, +money, and experience. Their churches could not be simply centres of +religious life--because in the poverty of their organized efforts all +united striving tended to centre in this one social organ. The Negro +Church consequently became a great social institution with some +ethical ideas but with those ethical ideas warped and changed and +perverted by the whole history of the past; with memories, traditions, +and rites of heathen worship, of intense emotionalism, trance, and +weird singing. + +And above all, there brooded over and in the church the sense of all +their grievances. Whatsoever their own shortcomings might be, at least +they knew that they were not guilty of hypocrisy; they did not cry +"Whosoever will" and then brazenly ostracize half the world. They +knew that they opened their doors and hearts wide to all people that +really wanted to come in and they looked upon the white churches not +as examples but with a sort of silent contempt and a real inner +questioning of the genuineness of their Christianity. + +On the other hand, so far as the white post-bellum Christian church is +concerned, I can conceive no more pitiable paradox than that of the +young white Christian in the South to-day who really believes in the +ethics of Jesus Christ. What can he think when he hangs upon his +church doors the sign that I have often seen, "All are welcome." He +knows that half the population of his city would not dare to go inside +that church. Or if there was any fellowship between Christians, white +and black, it would be after the manner explained by a white +Mississippi clergyman in all seriousness: "The whites and Negroes +understand each other here perfectly, sir, perfectly; if they come to +my church they take a seat in the gallery. If I go to theirs, they +invite me to the front pew or the platform." + +Once in Atlanta a great revival was going on in a prominent white +church. The people were at fever heat, the minister was preaching and +calling "Come to Jesus." Up the aisle tottered an old black man--he +was an outcast, he had wandered in there aimlessly off the streets, +dimly he had comprehended this call and he came tottering and swaying +up the aisle. What was the result? It broke up the revival. There was +no disturbance; he was gently led out, but that sudden appearance of a +black face spoiled the whole spirit of the thing and the revival was +at an end. + +Who can doubt that if Christ came to Georgia to-day one of His first +deeds would be to sit down and take supper with black men, and who can +doubt the outcome if He did? + +It is this tremendous paradox of a Christianity that theoretically +opens the church to all men and yet closes it forcibly and insultingly +in the face of black men and that does this not simply in the visible +church but even more harshly in the spiritual fellowship of human +souls--it is this that makes the ethical and religious problem in the +South to-day of such tremendous importance, and that gives rise to the +one thing which it seems to me is the most difficult in the Southern +situation and that is, the tendency to deny the truth, the tendency to +lie when the real situation comes up because the truth is too hard to +face. This lying about the situation of the South has not been simply +a political subterfuge against the dangers of ignorance, but is a sort +of gasping inner revolt against acknowledging the real truth of the +ethical conviction which every true Southerner must feel, namely: that +the South is eternally and fundamentally wrong on the plain straight +question of the equality of souls before God--of the inalienable +rights of all men. + +Here are men--they are aspiring, they are struggling piteously +forward, they have frequent instances of ability, there is no doubt as +to the tremendous strides which certain classes of Negroes have +made--how shall they be treated? That they should be treated as men, +of course, the best class of Southerners know and sometimes +acknowledge. And yet they believe, and believe with fierce conviction, +that it is impossible to treat Negroes as men, and still live with +them. Right there is the paradox which they face daily and which is +daily stamping hypocrisy upon their religion and upon their land. + +Their irresistible impulse in this awful dilemma is to point to and +emphasize the Negro's degradation, even though they know that it is +not the degraded Negro whom they most fear, ostracize, and fight to +keep down, but rather the rising, ambitious Negro. + +If my own city of Atlanta had offered it to-day the choice between 500 +Negro college graduates--forceful, busy, ambitious men of property and +self-respect, and 500 black cringing vagrants and criminals, the +popular vote in favor of the criminals would be simply overwhelming. +Why? because they want Negro crime? No, not that they fear Negro crime +less, but that they fear Negro ambition and success more. They can +deal with crime by chain-gang and lynch law, or at least they think +they can, but the South can conceive neither machinery nor place for +the educated, self-reliant, self-assertive black man. + +Are a people pushed to such moral extremities, the ones whose +level-headed, unbiased statements of fact concerning the Negro can be +relied upon? Do they really know the Negro? Can the nation expect of +them the poise and patience necessary for the settling of a great +social problem? + +Not only is there then this initial falseness when the South excuses +its ethical paradox by pointing to the low condition of the Negro +masses, but there is also a strange blindness in failing to see that +every pound of evidence to prove the present degradation of black men +but adds to the crushing weight of indictment against their past +treatment of this race. + +A race is not made in a single generation. If they accuse Negro women +of lewdness and Negro men of monstrous crime, what are they doing but +advertising to the world the shameless lewdness of those Southern men +who brought millions of mulattoes into the world, and whose deeds +throughout the South and particularly in Virginia, the mother of +slavery, have left but few prominent families whose blood does not +to-day course in black veins? Suppose to-day Negroes do steal; who +was it that for centuries made stealing a virtue by stealing their +labor? Have not laziness and listlessness always been the followers of +slavery? If these ten millions are ignorant by whose past law and +mandate and present practice is this true? + +The truth then cannot be controverted. The present condition of the +Negro in America is better than the history of slavery proves we might +reasonably expect. With the help of his friends, North and South, and +despite the bitter opposition of his foes, South and North, he has +bought twelve million acres of land, swept away two-thirds of his +illiteracy, organized his church, and found leadership and articulate +voice. Yet despite this the South, Christian and unchristian, with +only here and there an exception, still stands like a rock wall and +says: Negroes are not men and must not be treated as men. + +When now the world faces such an absolute ethical contradiction, the +truth is nearer than it seems. + +It stands to-day perfectly clear and plain despite all sophistication +and false assumption: If the contention of the South is true--that +Negroes cannot by reason of hereditary inferiority take their places +in modern civilization beside white men, then the South owes it to the +world and to its better self to give the Negro every chance to prove +this. To make the assertion dogmatically and then resort to all means +which retard and restrict Negro development is not simply to stand +convicted of insincerity before the civilized world, but, far worse +than that, it is to make a nation of naturally generous, honest people +to sit humiliated before their own consciences. + +I believe that a straightforward, honorable treatment of black men +according to their desert and achievement, will soon settle the Negro +problem. If the South is right few will rise to a plane that will +make their social reception a matter worth consideration; few will +gain the sobriety and industry which will deserve the ballot; and few +will achieve such solid moral character as will give them welcome to +the fellowship of the church. If, on the other hand, Negroes with the +door of opportunity thrown wide do become men of industry and +achievement, of moral strength and even genius, then such rise will +silence the South with an eternal silence. + +The nation that enslaved the Negro owes him this trial; the section +that doggedly and unreasonably kept him in slavery owes him at least +this chance; and the church which professes to follow Jesus Christ and +does not insist on this elemental act of justice merits the denial of +the Master--"_I never knew you._" + +This, then, is the history of those mighty moral battles in the South +which have given us the Negro problem. And the last great battle is +not a battle of South or East, of black or white, but of all of us. +The path to racial peace is straight but narrow--its following to-day +means tremendous fight against inertia, prejudice, and intrenched +snobbery. But it is the duty of men, it is a duty of the church, to +face the problem. Not only is it their duty to face it--they _must_ +face it, it is impossible not to, the very attempt to ignore it is +assuming an attitude. It is a problem not simply of political +expediency, of economic success, but a problem above all of religious +and social life; and it carries with it not simply a demand for its +own solution, but beneath it lies the whole question of the real +intent of our civilization: Is the civilization of the United States +Christian? + +It is a matter of grave consideration what answer we ought to give to +that question. The precepts of Jesus Christ cannot but mean that +Christianity consists of an attitude of humility, of a desire for +peace, of a disposition to treat our brothers as we would have our +brothers treat us, of mercy and charity toward our fellow men, of +willingness to suffer persecution for right ideals and in general of +love not only toward our friends but even toward our enemies. + +Judged by this, it is absurd to call the practical religion of this +nation Christian. We are not humble, we are impudently proud; we are +not merciful, we are unmerciful toward friend and foe; we are not +peaceful nor peacefully inclined as our armies and battle-ships +declare; we do not want to be martyrs, we would much rather be thieves +and liars so long as we can be rich; we do not seek continuously, and +prayerfully inculcate, love and justice for our fellow men, but on the +contrary the treatment of the poor, the unfortunate, and the black +within our borders is almost a national crime. + +The problem that lies before Christians is tremendous (see Note 28), +and the answer must begin not by a slurring over of the one problem +where these different tests of Christianity are most flagrantly +disregarded, but it must begin by a girding of ourselves and a +determination to see that justice is done in this country to the +humblest and blackest as well as to the greatest and whitest of our +citizens. + +Now a word especially about the Episcopal church, whose position +toward its Negro communicants is peculiar. I appreciate this position +and speak of it specifically because I am one of those communicants. +For four generations my family has belonged to this church and I +belong to it, not by personal choice, not because I feel myself +welcome within its portals, but simply because I refuse to be read +outside of a church which is mine by inheritance and the service of my +fathers. When the Episcopal church comes, as it does come to-day, to +the Parting of the Ways, to the question as to whether its record in +the future is going to be, on the Negro problem, as disgraceful as it +has been in the past, I feel like appealing to all who are members of +that church to remember that after all it is a church of Jesus Christ. +Your creed and your duty enjoin upon you one, and only one, course of +procedure. + +In the real Christian church there is neither black nor white, rich +nor poor, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but all stand equal +before the face of the Master. If you find that you cannot treat your +Negro members as fellow Christians then do not deceive yourselves into +thinking that the differences that you make or are going to make in +their treatment are made for their good or for the service of the +world; do not entice them to ask for a separation which your +unchristian conduct forces them to prefer; do not pretend that the +distinctions which you make toward them are distinctions which are +made for the larger good of men, but simply confess in humility and +self-abasement that you are not able to live up to your Christian +vows; that you cannot treat these men as brothers and therefore you +are going to set them aside and let them go their half-tended way. + +I should be sorry, I should be grieved more than I can say, to see +that which happened in the Southern Methodist Church and that which is +practically happening in the Presbyterian Church, and that which will +come in other sects--namely, a segregation of Negro Christians, come +to be true among Episcopalians. It would be a sign of Christian +disunity far more distressing than sectarianism. I should therefore +deplore it; and yet I am also free to say that unless this church is +prepared to treat its Negro members with exactly the same +consideration that other members receive, with the same brotherhood +and fellowship, the same encouragement to aspiration, the same +privileges, similarly trained priests and similar preferment for them, +then I should a great deal rather see them set aside than to see a +continuation of present injustice. All I ask is that when you do this +you do it with an open and honest statement of the real reasons and +not with statements veiled by any hypocritical excuses. + +I am therefore above all desirous that the younger men and women who +are to-day taking up the leadership of this great group of men, who +wish the world better and work toward that end, should begin to see +the real significance of this step and of the great problem behind it. +It is not a problem simply of the South, not a problem simply of this +country, it is a problem of the world. + +As I have said elsewhere: "Most men are colored. A belief in humanity +is above all a belief in colored men." If you cannot get on with +colored men in America you cannot get on with the modern world; and if +you cannot work with the humanity of this world how shall your souls +ever tune with the myriad sided souls of worlds to come? + +It may be that the price of the black man's survival in America and in +the modern world, will be a long and shameful night of subjection to +caste and segregation. If so, he will pay it, doggedly, silently, +unfalteringly, for the sake of human liberty and the souls of his +children's children. But as he stoops he will remember the indignation +of that Jesus who cried, yonder behind heaving seas and years: "Woe +unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that strain out a gnat and +swallow a camel,"--as if God cared a whit whether His Sons are born of +maid, wife or widow so long as His church sits deaf to His own +calling: + +"Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and he that hath +no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without +money and without price!" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Grimke: "Right on the Scaffold." + +[2] "The Negro Church," Atlanta University Publications, No. 8. + + + + + * * * * * + +NOTES + +TO CHAPTERS III AND IV + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER III + +NOTE 1 + + +"The history of slavery and the slave trade after 1820 must be read in +the light of the industrial revolution through which the civilized +world passed in the first half of the nineteenth century. Between the +years 1775 and 1825 occurred economic events and changes of the +highest importance and widest influence. Though all branches of the +industry felt the impulse of this new industrial life, yet, if we +consider single industries, cotton manufacture has, during the +nineteenth century, made the most magnificent and gigantic advances." + +This fact is easily explained by the remarkable series of inventions +that revolutionized this industry between 1738 and 1830, including +Arkwright's, Watt's, Compton's, and Cartwright's epoch making +contrivances. The effect which these inventions had on the manufacture +of cotton goods is best illustrated by the fact that in England, the +chief cotton market of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose +steadily from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in +1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860. Very early, therefore, came the query +whence the supply of raw cotton was to come. Tentative experiments on +the rich, broad fields of the Southern United States, together with +the indispensable invention of Whitney's cotton gin, soon answered +this question. A new economic future was opened up to this land, and +immediately the whole South began to extend its cotton culture, and +more and more to throw its whole energy into this one staple. + +Here it was that the fatal mistake of compromising with slavery in the +beginning, and of the policy of _laissez-faire_ pursued thereafter, +became painfully manifest; for, instead now of a healthy, normal, +economic development along proper industrial lines, we have the +abnormal and fatal rise of a slave-labor, large-farming system, which, +before it was realized, had so intertwined itself with and braced +itself upon the economic forces of an industrial age, that a vast and +terrible civil war was necessary to displace it. The tendencies to a +patriarchal serfdom, recognized in the age of Washington and +Jefferson, began slowly but surely to disappear; and in the second +quarter of the century Southern slavery was irresistibly changing from +a family institution to an industrial system. + +DuBois, "Suppression of the Slave Trade," p. 151. + +A list of the chief inventions most graphically illustrates the +above:-- + + 1738, John Jay, fly shuttle. + John Wyatt, spinning by rollers. + 1748, Lewis Paul, carding machine. + 1760, Robert Kay, drop box. + 1769, Richard Arkwright, water-frame and throstle. + James Watt, steam-engine. + 1772, James Lees, improvements on carding-machine. + 1775, Richard Arkwright, series of combinations. + 1779, Samuel Compton, mule. + 1785, Edmund Cartwright, power-loom. + 1803-4, Radcliffe and Johnson, dressing-machine. + 1817, Roberts, fly-frame. + 1818, William Eaton, self-acting frame. + 1825-30, Roberts, improvements on mule. + +Cf. Baines, "History of the Cotton Manufactures," pp. 116-23; +"Encyclopædia Britannica," 9th ed., article "Cotton." + + +NOTE 2 + +In 1832, Alabama declared that "any person or persons who shall +attempt to teach any free person of color or slave to spell, read, or +write, shall, upon conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in a +sum not less than $250, nor more than $500." + +Georgia, in 1770, fined any person who taught a slave to read or write +twenty pounds. In 1829 the State enacted: + +"If any slave, Negro or free person of color, or any white person, +shall teach any other slave, Negro or free person of color to read or +write, either written or printed characters, the same free person of +color or slave shall be punished by fine and whipping, or fine or +whipping, at the discretion of the court; and if a white person so +offend, he, she or they shall be punished with a fine not exceeding +$500 and imprisonment in the common jail at the discretion of the +court." + +In 1833 this law was put into the penal code, with additional +penalties for using slaves in printing offices to set type. These laws +were violated sometimes by individual masters, and clandestine schools +were opened for Negroes in some of the cities before the war. In 1850 +and thereafter there was some agitation to repeal these laws and a +bill to that effect failed in the Senate of Georgia by two or three +votes. + +Louisiana, in 1830, declared that "All persons who shall teach or +permit or cause to be taught any slave to read or write shall be +imprisoned not less than one month nor more than twelve months." + +Missouri, in 1847, passed an act saying that "No person shall keep or +teach any school for the instruction of Negroes or mulattoes in +reading or writing in this state." + +North Carolina had schools supported by free Negroes up until 1835, +when they were abolished by law. + +South Carolina, in 1740, declared: "Whereas, the having of slaves +taught to write or suffering them to be employed in writing may be +attended with inconveniences, be it enacted, that all and every person +and persons whatsoever who shall hereafter teach or cause any slave +or slaves to be taught, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe +in any manner of writing whatever, hereafter taught to write, every +such person or persons shall for every such offense forfeit the sum of +£100 current money." + +In 1800 and 1833 the teaching of free Negroes was restricted: "And if +any free person of color or slave shall keep any school or other +places of instruction for teaching any slave or free person of color +to read or write, such free person of color or slave shall be liable +to the same fine, imprisonment and corporal punishment as by this act +are imposed and inflicted on free persons of color and slaves for +teaching slaves to write." Other sections prohibited white persons +from teaching slaves. Apparently whites might teach free Negroes to +some extent. + +Virginia, in 1819, forbade "all meetings or assemblages of slaves or +free Negroes or mulattoes mixing and associating with such slaves, +... at any school or schools for teaching them reading and writing, +either in the day or night." Nevertheless free Negroes kept schools +for themselves until the Nat Turner Insurrection, when it was enacted, +1831, that "all meetings of free Negroes or mulattoes at any +school-house, church, meeting-house or other place, for teaching them +reading and writing, either in the day or night, under whatsoever +pretext, shall be deemed and considered an unlawful assembly." This +law was carefully enforced. + +In the Northern States few actual prohibitory laws were enacted, but +in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and elsewhere, mob +violence frequently arose against Negro schools, and in Connecticut +the teaching of Negroes was restricted as follows in 1833: "No person +shall set up or establish in this state any school, academy or other +literary institution for the instruction or education of colored +persons who are not inhabitants of this State, or harbor or board, +for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed in any such +school, academy or literary institution any colored person who is not +an inhabitant of any town in this State, without the consent, in +writing, first obtained, of a majority of the civil authority, and +also of the select-men of the town in which each school, academy or +literary institution is situated." This was especially directed +against the famous Prudence Crandall school, and was repeated in 1838. + +Ohio decreed, in 1829, that "the attendance of black or mulatto +persons be specifically prohibited, but all taxes assessed upon the +property of colored persons for school purposes should be appropriated +to their instruction and no other purpose." This prohibition was +enforced, but the second clause was a dead letter for twenty years. +Cf. Atlanta University Publications, No. 6. + + +NOTE 3 + +Cf. Cairnes' "Slave Power." + + +NOTE 4 + +Stephen A. Douglas said "that there was not the shadow of doubt that +the slave-trade had been carried on quite extensively for a long time +back, and that there had been more slaves imported into the Southern +States, during the last year, than had ever been imported before in +any one year, even when the slave-trade was legal. It was his +confident belief, that over fifteen thousand slaves had been brought +into this country during the past year (1859). He had seen, with his +own eyes, three hundred of those recently-imported, miserable beings, +in a slave-pen in Vicksburg, Miss., and also large numbers at Memphis, +Tenn." It was currently reported that depots for these slaves existed +in over twenty large cities and towns in the South, and an interested +person boasted to a senator, about 1860, that "twelve vessels would +discharge their living freight upon our shores within ninety days from +the 1st of June last," and that between sixty and seventy cargoes had +been successfully introduced in the last eighteen months. (Cf. DuBois: +"Slave Trade," ch. xi.) + + +NOTE 5 + +Cf. Olmsted's "Journeys" and Helper's "Impending Crisis." + + +NOTE 6 + +Has not the time come for characterizing war plainly and ceasing to +envelope it in a haze of sentimental lies? We have near worshiped the +Civil War for a generation, when in truth it was a disgrace to +civilization and we know it. + + +NOTE 7 + +Cf. Blaine: "Twenty Years in Congress"; "American Political Science +Review," Vol. 1, pp. 44-61; _e.g._, "South Carolina, besides thus +minutely regulating the labor of Negroes under contract, prohibited +them from practicing the 'art, trade or business of an artisan, +mechanic, or shopkeeper,' or any other trade or business on their own +account without paying an annual license fee to the district judge. +And no Negro could obtain a license who had not served a term of +'apprenticeship' at the trade. Tennessee also required licenses; and +Mississippi required Negroes to have written evidence of their home +and employment. Mississippi also prohibited the renting or leasing of +any land to Negroes, except in incorporated towns and cities." +Louisiana had perhaps the most outrageous provisions. + + +NOTE 8 + +Albion W. Tourgee said: "They instituted a public school system in a +region where public schools had been unknown. They opened the +ballot-box and the jury-box to thousands of white men who had been +debarred from them by a lack of earthly possessions. They introduced +home rule in the South. They abolished the whipping-post, the +branding-iron, the stocks and other barbarous forms of punishment +which had up to that time prevailed. They reduced capital felonies +from about twenty to two or three. In an age of extravagance they were +extravagant in the sums appropriated for public works. In all that +time no man's rights of person were invaded under the forms of law." +Thomas E. Miller, a Negro member of the late Constitutional Convention +of South Carolina, said: "The gentleman from Edgefield (Mr. Tillman) +speaks of the piling of the State debt; of jobbery and peculation +during the period between 1869 and 1873 in South Carolina, but he has +not found voice eloquent enough nor pen exact enough to mention those +imperishable gifts bestowed upon South Carolina between 1873 and 1876 +by Negro legislators--the laws relative to finance, the building of +penal and charitable institutions, and, greatest of all, the +establishment of the public school system. Starting as infants in +legislation in 1869, many wise measures were not thought of, many +injudicious acts were passed. But in the administration of affairs for +the next four years, having learned by experience the result of bad +acts, we immediately passed reformatory laws touching every department +of state, county, municipal and town governments. These enactments are +to-day upon the statute books of South Carolina. They stand as living +witnesses of the Negro's fitness to vote and legislate upon the rights +of mankind." + +Cf. Love's "Disfranchisement of the Negro," p. 10. + + +NOTE 9 + +Cf. "The Economic Future of the Negro," in papers and proceedings of +the eighteenth Annual Meeting, American Economic Association, pp. +219-42. + + +NOTE 10 + +See Alabama Laws on Labor Contracts. + + +NOTE 11 + +See Laws of Alabama, 1906-1907. + + +NOTE 12 + +See Laws of South Carolina, 1906-1907. + + +NOTE 13 + +Cf. Bulletin Number 8, 12th United States Census. + + +NOTE 14 + +This statement when made was challenged by a Virginia rector. Let John +Sharp Williams, minority leader of the House of Representatives answer +him. + +"It is the physical presence of the Negro which constitutes the Negro +problem and the race issue. It is not the fact that the Negro can vote +in the South, because, as a matter of fact, he cannot and does not. +The Negro problem would be just as troublesome as it is to-day if the +fifteenth amendment were repealed. The fifteenth amendment touches it +only on its political or voting side, where the trouble is cured +already in the South. It is true that the Negro does vote in Ohio, +Illinois and New Jersey and various other places. But the people of +those states could to-morrow, if they wanted to, get rid of his vote, +just as we have got rid of it in Mississippi. The very fact that they +have not done it is proof of the fact that they do not want to do it, +and that very fact is the death-blow of the Vardaman agitation." + +Negroes are disfranchised by legal and illegal methods and by unfair +administration of the law. The "white" primary is a wide-spread +subterfuge: to the democratic primary election all white men are +admitted without question, and no Negro under any circumstances. The +verdict of the primary is then registered in a farce "election." In +Atlanta, _e.g._, at the "election" 700 votes are cast in a city of +100,000! The success of the "white" primary depends of course (_a_) on +the illegal power of the party chiefs to exclude any votes they choose +on any pretext and (_b_) on the absolute and unfair control of +election machinery and returns by one party and (_c_) on public +acquiescence in this travesty on popular government. + + +NOTE 15 + +The Atlanta riot had two distinct phases: first, Saturday, the killing +of innocent and surprised Negroes by a white mob; then a lull when +blacks rapidly armed themselves; finally the attempt to renew the +assault by a crowd mingled with county policemen, who were repulsed by +a fierce defense by Negroes; these Negroes were afterward acquitted of +murder by a southern jury. The number of white and black killed in +that encounter will never be known, but it stopped the riot. Cf. +"World To-Day," Nov. 1906. + + +NOTE 16 + +The executive officials of the miners in Alabama consist of four +whites and four Negroes. + + +NOTE 17 + +Ten good references on the economic history of the Negro and slavery +are: + +1. Kemble, Fanny, "A Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation," +N.Y., 1863. 337 pp. 12mo. + +2. Olmsted, F.L., "A Journey in the Sea Board Slave States," N.Y., +1856. 723 pp. 12mo. + +3. Cairnes, J.E., "The Slave Power: Its Character, Career, and +Probable Designs," London, 1862. 304 pp., 2d ed. N.Y. 410 pp. + +4. United States 12th Census, Bulletin No. 8: "Negroes in United +States," by W.F. Wilcox and W.E.B. DuBois, Wash., 1904, 333 pp. + +5. "The Philadelphia Negro" (Publications of the University of +Pennsylvania) 520 pp. Ginn. + +6. "The Suppression of the Slave Trade" (Harvard Historical +Monographs, No. 1) 335 pp. Longmans, 1896. + +7. Atlanta University Publications: + +No. 3, "Efforts for Social Betterment," 66 pp. 1898. + +No. 4, "The Negro in Business," 77 pp. 1899. + +No. 7, "The Negro Artisan," 192 pp. 1902. + +8. Bulletins of the United States Department of Labor. + +Nos. 10, 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48. + +9. United States: Report of the Industrial Commission 1901-2, 19 vols. + +10. Proceedings of the American Economic Association, 1906. + + + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER IV + + +NOTE 18 + +See Atlanta University Publications, No. 8, Section 4. + + +NOTE 19 + +"Baptism doth not alter the condition of the person as to his bondage +or freedom, in order that diverse masters freed from this doubt may +more carefully endeavor the propagation of Christianity." (Williams I, +139.) + + +NOTE 20 + +Cf. Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart, "The Realities of Negro Suffrage," +Proceedings of the American Political Science Association, Vol. II, +1905. + + +NOTE 21 + +The Church of England through the "Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel" (incorporated 1701) sent several missionaries who worked +chiefly in the North. The history of the society goes on to say: "It +is a matter of commendation to the clergy that they have done thus +much in so great and difficult a work. But, alas! what is the +instruction of a few hundreds in several years with respect to the +many thousands uninstructed, unconverted, living, dying, utter pagans. +It must be confessed what hath been done is as nothing with regard to +what a true Christian would hope to see effected." After stating +several difficulties in respect to the religious instruction of the +Negroes, it is said: "But the greatest obstruction is the masters +themselves do not consider enough the obligation which lies upon them +to have their slaves instructed." The work of this society in America +ceased in 1783. The Methodists report the following members: + + 1786 1,890 + 1790 11,682 + 1791 12,884 + 1796 12,215 + +Nearly all were in the North and the border states. Georgia had only +148. The Baptists had 18,000 Negro members in 1793. As to the +Episcopalians, the single state of Virginia where more was done than +elsewhere will illustrate the result: + +"The Church Commission for Work among the Colored People at a late +meeting decided to request the various rectors of parishes throughout +the South to institute Sunday-schools and special services for the +colored population 'such as were frequently found in the South before +the war.' The commission hope for 'real advance' among the colored +people in so doing. We do not agree with the commission with respect +to either the wisdom or the efficiency of the plan suggested. In the +first place, this 'before the war' plan was a complete failure so far +as church extension was concerned, in the past when white churchmen +had complete bodily control of their slaves.... + +"The Journals of Virginia will verify the contention, that during the +'before the war' period, while the bishops and a large number of the +clergy were always interested in the religious training of the slaves, +yet as a matter of fact there was general apathy and indifference upon +the part of the laity with respect to this matter. + +"At various intervals resolutions were presented in the Annual +Conventions with the avowed purpose of stimulating an interest in the +religious welfare of the slaves. But despite all these efforts the +Journals fail to record any great achievements along that line.... So +faithful had been the work under such conditions that as late as 1879 +there were less than 200 colored communicants reported in the whole +state of Virginia." (_Church Advocate._) + + +NOTE 22 + +Charles C. Jones: "The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the +United States," Savannah, 1842. Cf. Atlanta University Publication, +No. 8, passim. + + +NOTE 23 + +Cf. Hart, _supra._ Note too the decrease in the proportion of free +Negroes. + + +NOTE 24 + +Note Dr. Cartwright's articles; DeBow's "Review," Vol. II, pp. 29, +184, 331 and 504. Cf. Fitzhugh, "Cannibals All." + + +NOTE 25 + +Cf. Weeks, "Southern Quakers and Slavery," Balt. 1896; Ballagh, +"Slavery in Virginia." + + +NOTE 26 + +There has been in the North a generously conceived campaign in the +last ten years to emphasize the good in the South and minimize the +evil. Consequently many people have come to believe that men like +Fleming and Murphy represent either the dominant Southern sentiment +or that of a strong minority. On the contrary the brave utterances of +such men represent a very small and very weak minority--a minority +which is growing very slowly and which can only hope for success by +means of moral support from the outside. Such moral support has not +been generally given; it is Tillman, Vardaman and Dixon who get the +largest hearing in the land and they represent the dominant public +opinion in the South. The mass of public opinion there while it +hesitates at the extreme brutality of these spokesmen is nearer to +them than to Bassett or Fleming or Alderman. + + +NOTE 27 + +Cf. "The Negro Church," Atlanta University Publication, No. 8. 212 pp. +1903. + + +NOTE 28 + +Twenty good references on the ethical and religious aspect of slavery +and the Negro problem are: + +C.C. Jones, "The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United +States," Savannah, 1842. 277 pp. 12mo. + +R.F. Campbell, "Some Aspects of the Race Problem in the South," +Pamphlet, 1899. Asheville, N.C. 31 pp. 8vo. + +R.L. Dabney, "Defence of Virginia, and Through Her of the South," New +York, 1867. 356 pp. 12mo. + +Nehemiah Adams, "A South Side View of Slavery," Boston, 1854. viii, +7-214 pp. 16mo. + +Richard Allen, First Bishop of the A.M.E. Church. "The life, +experience and gospel labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen." Written +by himself. Phila., 1793. 69 pp. 8vo. + +Matthew Anderson, "Presbyterianism and Its Relation to the Negro," +Phila., 1897. + +Geo. S. Merriam, "The Negro and the Nation," N.Y., 1906. 436 pp. +12mo. + +M.S. Locke, "Anti-Slavery in America," 255 pp. 1901. + +W.A. Sinclair, "The Aftermath of Slavery," etc., with an introduction +by T.W. Higginson, Boston, 1905. 358 pp. + +N.S. Shaler, "The Neighbor: The Natural History of Human Contrasts" +(The problem of the African), Boston, 1904. vii, 342 pp. 12mo. + +Atlanta University Publications: + + Number 6, "The Negro Common School," 120 pp. 1901. + + Number 8, "The Negro Church," 212 pp. 1903. + + Number 9, "Notes on Negro Crime," 76 pp. 1904. + +E.H. Abbott, "Religious life in America," A record of personal +observation. N.Y.: _The Outlook_, 1902. xii, 730 pp. 8vo. + +W.E.B. DuBois, "The Souls of Black Folk," Chicago, 1903. + +Friends, "A Brief Testimony of the Progress of the Friends Against +Slavery and the Slave-Trade," 1671-1787. Phila., 1843. + +J.W. Hood, "One Hundred Years of the A.M.E. Zion Church." + +S.M. Janney, "History of the Religious Society of Friends," Phila., +1859-1867. + +D.A. Payne, "History of the A.M.E. Church," Nashville, 1891. + +S.B. Weeks, "Anti-Slavery Sentiment in the South," Washington, D.C., +1898. "Southern Quakers and Slavery," Baltimore, 1896. + +White, "The African Preacher." + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 162: 'My I add that' replaced with 'May I add that' | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Negro in the South, by +Booker T. Washington and W. E. 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Washington and W.E. Burghardt DuBois. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + p { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + h1 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h5,h6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h2 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h3 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + hr.wide {margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; width: 25%; color: black;} + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} /* small caps */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .block {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} /* block indent */ + .right {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} /* right aligning paragraphs */ + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* Table of contents anchor */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .tdr {text-align: right; padding-right: .5em;} /* right align cell */ + .tdrvt {text-align: right; padding-right: .5em; vertical-align: top;} /* right align cell */ + .tdrvb {text-align: right; padding-right: .5em; vertical-align: bottom;} /* right align cell */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* left align cell */ + .tr {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + color: gray; + background-color: inherit; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; font-size: 90%;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Negro in the South, by +Booker T. Washington and W. E. Burghardt DuBois + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Negro in the South + His Economic Progress in Relation to his Moral and Religious Development + +Author: Booker T. Washington + W. E. Burghardt DuBois + +Release Date: February 25, 2011 [EBook #35399] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin" style="text-align: left;">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. +For a complete list, please see the <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>The Negro in the South</h1> + +<h3><i>His Economic Progress in Relation to<br /> +His Moral and Religious Development</i></h3> + +<h3>Being the William Levi Bull<br /> +Lectures for the Year 1907</h3> + +<br /> + +<h4>By</h4> +<h3>BOOKER T. WASHINGTON</h3> +<h5><i>Of the Tuskeegee Normal and Industrial Institute</i></h5> + +<h4>and</h4> + +<h3>W.E. BURGHARDT DuBOIS</h3> +<h5><i>Of the Atlanta University</i></h5> + +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/logo.jpg" width="8%" alt="Publisher's Mark" /> +</div> + +<br /> + +<h4>PHILADELPHIA<br /> +GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY<br /> +PUBLISHERS</h4> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>Copyright, 1907, by<br /> +<span class="sc">George W. Jacobs & Company</span><br /> +<i>Published, June, 1907</i></h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5><i>All rights reserved</i><br /> +Printed in U.S.A.</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>The Letter Establishing the Lectureship</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Bishop Whitaker presented the Letter of Endowment of the Lectureship +on Christian Sociology from Rev. William L. Bull as follows:</p> + +<p>For many years it has been my earnest desire to found a Lectureship on +Christian Sociology, meaning thereby the application of Christian +principles to the Social, Industrial, and Economic problems of the +time, in my Alma Mater, the Philadelphia Divinity School. My object in +founding this Lectureship is to secure the free, frank, and full +consideration of these subjects, with special reference to the +Christian aspects of the question involved, which have heretofore, in +my opinion, been too much neglected in such discussion. It would seem +that the time is now ripe and the moment an auspicious one for the +establishment of this Lectureship, at least tentatively.</p> + +<p>After a trial of three years, I again make the offer, as in my letter +of January 1, 1901, to continue these Lectures for a period of three +years, with the hope that they may excite such an interest, +particularly among the undergraduates of the Divinity School, that I +shall be justified, with the approval of the authorities of the +Divinity School, in placing the Lectureship on a more permanent +foundation.</p> + +<p>I herewith pledge myself to contribute the sum of six hundred dollars +annually, for a period of three years, to the payment of a lecturer on +Christian Sociology, whose duty it shall be to deliver a course of not +less than four lectures to the students of the Divinity School, +either at the school or elsewhere, as may be deemed most advisable, on +the application of Christian principles to the Social, Industrial, and +Economic problems and needs of the times; the said lecturer to be +appointed annually by a committee of five members: the Bishop of the +Diocese of Pennsylvania; the Dean of the Divinity School; a member of +the Board of Overseers, who shall at the same time be an Alumnus; and +two others, one of whom shall be myself and the other chosen by the +preceding four members of the committee.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, if it shall be deemed desirable that the Lectures shall +be published, I pledge myself to the additional payment of from one to +two hundred dollars for such purpose.</p> + +<p>To secure a full, frank, and free consideration of the questions +involved, it is my desire that the opportunity shall be given from +time to time to the representatives of each school of economic thought +to express their views in these Lectures.</p> + +<p>The only restriction I wish placed on the lecturer is that he shall be +a believer in the moral teachings and principles of the Christian +Religion as the true solvent of our Social, Industrial, and Economic +problems. Of course, it is my intention that a new lecturer shall be +appointed by the committee each year, who shall deliver the course of +Lectures for the ensuing year.</p> + +<p class="right">WILLIAM LEVI BULL.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt" width="10%">I.</td> + <td class="tdl" width="70%"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="sc">The Economic Development of the Negro Race in Slavery</span></a><br /> + <i>By Booker T. Washington</i></td> + <td class="tdrvb" width="20%">7</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">II.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="sc">The Economic Development of the Negro Race since its + Emancipation</span></a><br /> + <i>By Booker T. Washington</i></td> + <td class="tdrvb">43</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">III.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="sc">The Economic Revolution in the South</span></a><br /> + <i>By W.E. Burghardt DuBois</i></td> + <td class="tdrvb">77</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">IV.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="sc">Religion in the South</span></a><br /> + <i>By W.E. Burghardt DuBois</i></td> + <td class="tdrvb">123</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#NOTES"><span class="sc">Notes to Chapters III and IV</span></a></td> + <td class="tdrvb">193</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE IN SLAVERY</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE IN SLAVERY<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>We are now, I think, far enough removed from the period of slavery to +be able to study the influence of that institution objectively rather +than subjectively. Surely if any Negro who was a part of the +institution itself can do so, the remaining portion of the American +people ought to be able to do so, whether they live at the North or at +the South.</p> + +<p>My subject naturally leads me to a discussion of the Negro as he was +in slavery. We must all acknowledge, whatever else resulted from +slavery that, first of all, it was the economic element involved that +brought the Negro to America, and it was largely this consideration +that held the race in slavery for a period of about 245 years. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>But, +in this discussion, I am not to consider the economic value of the +Negro as a slave, as such, but only the influence of his industrial +training while in slavery in the development of his moral and +religious life.</p> + +<p>In my opinion, it requires no little effort on the part of a man who +was once himself a slave to be able to admit this. If any Negro who +was a part of the institution of slavery itself can so far rid himself +of the prejudices of the same, it seems to me other people, living in +whatever section, should be able to do so.</p> + +<p>I have been a slave once in my life—a slave in body. But I long since +resolved that no inducement and no influence would ever make me a +slave in soul, in my love for humanity, and in my search for truth.</p> + +<p>At the same time slaves were being brought to the shores of Virginia +from their native land, Africa, the woods of Virginia were swarming +with thousands of another dark-skinned race. The question naturally +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>arises: Why did the importers of Negro slaves go to the trouble and +expense of going thousands of miles for a dark-skinned people to hew +wood and draw water for the whites, when they had right among them a +people of another race who could have answered the purpose? The answer +is that the Indian was tried and found wanting in the commercial +qualities which the Negro seemed to possess. The Indian, as a race, +would not submit to slavery and in those instances where he was tried, +as a slave, his labor was not profitable and he was found unable to +stand the physical strain of slavery. As a slave, the Indian died in +large numbers. This was true in San Domingo and in other parts of the +American continent.</p> + +<p>The two races, the Indian and the Negro, have been often compared to +the disadvantage of the Negro. It is often said of the Negro that he +is an imitative race. That, in a large degree, is true. That element +has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>its disadvantages and it also has its advantages. Very often the +Negro imitates the worst element in the white man; on the other hand I +believe that the masses of our people imitate the best they find in +the white man.</p> + +<p>I have said more than once that one of the unfortunate conditions of +the Negro in the North is that,—because of the large proportion of +our people who are in menial service, their duties bring them in +contact with the worst. They, for example, are waiters in clubs and in +various organizations, and being engaged in that capacity makes it +necessary for them to touch the white man at his weakest point. In the +city of Philadelphia, there are hundreds, I do not suppose I should +exaggerate if I were to say thousands, who are serving the white man +as a waiter in some club or similar organization. When that white man +was at work in his factory, in his counting-room, in his bank, he was +far <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>removed from him. When he was at his best the Negro did not come +into touch with him. In the evening when he lays aside the working +dress, takes matters easy, and gets his cigar and perhaps champagne, +the Negro comes into contact with him, not to an advantage, but at his +weakest point rather than at his strongest.</p> + +<p>In the South, as in most parts of America, during slavery and after, +the Negro has gotten something from the white man that has made him +more valuable as a citizen. In most cases he imitates the best rather +than the worst. For example, you never see a Negro braiding his hair +in the same way as a Chinaman braids his, but he cuts his like the +white man. The Negro is seeking out the highest and best as to +quality.</p> + +<p>It has been more than once stated that the Indian proved himself the +superior race in not submitting to slavery. We shall see about this. +In this respect it may be that the Indian secured a temporary +advantage in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>so far as race feeling or prejudice is concerned; I mean +by this that he escaped the badge of servitude which has fastened +itself upon the Negro,—not only upon the Negro in America, but upon +that race wherever found, for the known commercial value of the Negro +has made him a subject of traffic in other portions of the globe +during many centuries.</p> + +<p>The Indian refused to submit to bondage and to learn the white man's +ways. The result is that the greater portion of the American Indians +have disappeared, the greater portion of those who remain are not +civilized. The Negro, wiser and more enduring than the Indian, +patiently endured slavery; and contact with the white man has given +him a civilization vastly superior to that of the Indian.</p> + +<p>The Indian and the Negro met on the American continent for the first +time at Jamestown, in 1619. Both were in the darkest barbarism. There +were twenty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>Negroes and thousands of Indians. At the present time +there are between nine and ten million Negroes and two hundred and +eighty-four thousand and seventy-nine Indians. The annual tax upon the +Government on account of the Indian is $14,236,078.71 (1905); the cost +from 1789 to 1902, inclusive, reached the sum of $389,282,361.00. The +one in this case not only decreased in numbers and failed to add +anything to the economic value of his country, but has actually proven +a charge upon the state.</p> + +<p>The Negro seems to be about the only race that has been able to look +the white man in the face during the long period of years and +live—not only live, but multiply. The Negro has not only done this, +but he has had the good sense to get something from the white man at +every point where he has touched him—something that has made him a +stronger and a better race.</p> + +<p>Let me say in the beginning that nothing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>which I shall say should be +taken as an endorsement of the enslavement of my race. The experience +of the world's civilization teaches that the final and net result of +slavery is bad—bad for the enslaved, and perhaps worse for the +enslaver. If permitted a choice, I think I should prefer being the +first to being the last. But in the case of the Negro in America no +one, willing to be frank and fair, can fail to see that the Negro did +get certain benefits out of slavery; at the same time he was, as I +have stated, harmed. But in this connection we must deal with the +facts and not with prejudice, either for or against the race.</p> + +<p>Let me make this statement with which you may or may not agree: In my +opinion, there cannot be found in the civilized or uncivilized world +ten millions of Negroes whose economic, educational, moral and +religious life is so advanced as that of the ten millions of Negroes +within the United States. If this statement be true, let us find <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>the +cause thereof, especially as regards the Negro's moral and Christian +growth. In doing so, let credit be given wherever it is due, whether +to the Northern white man, the Southern white man, or the Negro +himself. If, as stated, the ten millions of black people in the United +States have excelled all the other groups of their race-type in moral +and Christian growth, let us trace the cause, and in doing so we may +get some light and information that will be of value in dealing with +the Negro race in America and elsewhere, and in elevating and +Christianizing other races.</p> + +<p>In order to determine the influence of economic or industrial training +upon the moral and Christian life of the Negro, we must begin with +slavery and trace the development of the black man, noticing in a +brief manner his development through slavery to freedom, and to the +present time.</p> + +<p>This involves, then, the period of slavery, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>and the period of +freedom. To begin with, let me repeat that at first, at least, the +underlying object of slavery was an economic, and an industrial one. +The climatic and other new conditions required that the slave should +wear clothing, a thing, for the most part, new to him. It has perhaps +already occurred to you that one of the conditions requisite for the +Christian life is clothing. So far as I know, Christianity is the only +religion that makes the wearing of clothes one of its conditions. A +naked Christian is impossible—and I may add that I have little faith +in a hungry Christian.</p> + +<p>Some years ago we were holding the Tuskeegee Annual Negro Conference, +and I remember on several occasions there was one old fellow who tried +to get the floor without success. He tried continually to get +recognition from the chair, and, finally, was recognized. He said: +"Mr. Washington, we's making great progress in our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>community. It is +not the same as it used to be. We's making great progress. We's +getting to the point where nearly all the people in my community owns +their own pigs." I asked him why he was so much interested in his +neighbors owning their own pigs. He said: "I feel that when all my +neighbors own their own pigs, I can always sleep better every night." +There is a good deal of philosophy underlying that remark.</p> + +<p>The economic element not only made it necessary that the Negro slave +should be clothed for the sake of decency and in order to preserve his +health, but the same considerations made it necessary that he be +housed and taught the comforts to be found in a home. Within a few +months, then, after the arrival of the Negro in America, he was +wearing clothes and living in a house—no inconsiderable step in the +direction of morality and Christianity. True, the Negro slave had worn +some kind of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>garment and occupied some kind of hut before he was +brought to America, but he had made little progress in the improvement +of his garments or in the kind of hut he inhabited. As we shall +perhaps see later, his introduction into American slavery was the +beginning of real growth in the two directions under consideration.</p> + +<p>There is another important element. In his native country, owing to +climatic conditions, and also because of his few simple and crude +wants, the Negro, before coming to America, had little necessity to +labor. You have, perhaps, read the story, that it is said might be +true in certain portions of Africa, of how the native simply lies down +on his back under a banana-tree and falls asleep with his mouth open. +The banana falls into his mouth while he is asleep and when he wakes +up he finds that all he has to do is to chew it—he has his meal +already served.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the fact that, in most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>cases, the element of +compulsion entered into the labor of the slave, and the main object +sought was the enrichment of the owner, the American Negro had, under +the regime of slavery, his first lesson in anything like continuous, +progressive, systematic labor. I have said that two of the signs of +Christianity are clothes and houses, and now I add a third, "work."</p> + +<p>In the early days of slavery the labor performed by the slave was +naturally of a crude and primitive kind. With the growth of +civilization came a demand for a higher kind of labor, hence the Negro +slave was soon demanded as a skilled laborer, as well as for ordinary +farm and common labor. It soon became evident that from an economic +point of view it paid to give the Negro just as high a degree of skill +as possible—the more skill, the more dollars. When an ordinary slave +sold for, say seven hundred dollars, a skilled mechanic would easily +bring on the auction block from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>fourteen hundred to two thousand +dollars. It is strangely true that when a black man would bring two +thousand dollars a white man would not bring fifty cents.</p> + +<p>As the slave grew in the direction of skilled labor, he was given an +increased amount of freedom. This was practiced by some owners to such +an extent that the skilled mechanic was permitted to "hire" his own +time, working where and for whom he pleased, and for what wage, on +condition that he pay his owner so much per month or year, as agreed +upon. Not a few masters found that this policy paid better than the +one of close personal supervision; many female slaves were trained not +only in ordinary house duties, but on every large plantation there was +at least one high class seamstress.</p> + +<p>I have made a search but have not yet been able to find a single case +of abuse of confidence, and the policy to which I have referred was +practiced very largely in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>Virginia and especially in West +Virginia—the policy of permitting those slaves who were skilled +laborers to work for whom they pleased, on condition that they pay +their masters a fixed sum each month or each year. I have never yet +heard of a single case of failure at the end of the month or at the +end of the year to bring and place in his master's hands the +stipulated sum of money.</p> + +<p>A discussion of this subject calls to mind one of those curious +changes in public opinion and custom with regard to races which often +occur in the United States. At the period to which I am now referring, +a great number of the Negroes in the South were compelled to follow a +trade, and they seem to have no difficulty in pursuing trades there +to-day. In the North where the agitation for the Negro's freedom +began, it is in most cases difficult, and often impossible, for a +black man to find an opportunity to work at any kind of skilled labor. +I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>sometimes wonder which man is the greater sinner,—the man who by +force compels the Negro to work without pay, or the man who by +physical force and through the force of public sentiment prevents the +Negro from working for him, when he is ready, willing, and fit to do +so.</p> + +<p>I do not overstate the matter when I say that I am quite sure that in +one county in the South during the days of slavery there were more +colored youths being taught trades than there are members of my race +now being taught trades in any of the larger cities of the North.</p> + +<p>Before I go further, I ought, in justice, to add that as slavery +spread and the owners came to know their slaves better, there appeared +in nearly every section of the South, especially in Virginia and South +Carolina, a considerable number of slave-holders who rose above the +mere idea of economic and selfish gain; and thus, through the medium +of slavery, the opportunity to train the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>Negro in morality and +Christianity presented itself in many sections of the South. During +the days of slavery regular religious services were provided for the +slaves, the same minister who served the white congregation preached +to the blacks. In some of the most aristocratic families, the Negro +children were taught in the Sunday-school; this was true of the Lees +and Jacksons of Virginia, and of the family of Bishop Capers and other +men of that type in South Carolina.</p> + +<p>At the end of the period of slavery, about two hundred and fifty +years, the Negro race as a whole had learned, as I have stated, to +wear clothes, to live in a home, to work with a reasonable degree of +regularity and system, and a few had learned to work with a high +degree of skill. Not only this, the race had reached the point where, +from speaking scores of dialects, it had learned to speak +intelligently the English language. It had also a fair knowledge of +American <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>civilization and had changed from a pagan into a Christian +race. Further, at the beginning of his freedom, the Negro found +himself in possession of—in fact had a monopoly of—the common and +skilled labor throughout the South; not only this, but, by reason of +the contact of whites and blacks during slavery, the Negro found +business and commercial careers open to him at the beginning of his +freedom.</p> + +<p>Such conditions were unusual in the case of a race that had been +occupying so low a place in the civilization of another people. They +resulted from the fact that in slavery when the master wanted a pair +of shoes made, he went to the Negro shoemaker for those shoes; when he +wanted a suit of clothes, he went to the Negro tailor for those +clothes; and when he wanted a house built, he consulted the Negro +carpenter and mason about the plans and cost—thus the two races +learned to do business with each other. It was an easy step from this +to a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>higher plane of business, hence immediately after the war the +Negro found that he could become a dry goods merchant, a grocery +merchant, start a bank, go into real estate dealing, and secure the +trade not only of his own people, but also of the white man, who was +glad to do business with him and thought nothing of it.</p> + +<p>In my own town of Tuskeegee there is a colored merchant who, not +excepting any other merchant, has the largest trade in that county in +retail groceries, and in a recent conversation with him he said that +for thirty-five years his customers had been among the best white +families of the county. More than a dozen times have I met the man who +owned this Negro in the days of slavery and he expressed himself as +more than pleased that his former slave had attained the honor of +being the most successful grocery dealer in the town of Tuskeegee.</p> + +<p>You would be surprised, if you were to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>inquire into the facts, to +know how the Negro has grown in this direction. In the Southern states +there are one hundred and fifteen drug stores owned by Negroes. In +Anniston, Alabama, there are two large drug stores owned by black +people, and in one section a wholesale drug store owned and operated +successfully by a black man. The Negro who to-day owns and operates +that large wholesale drug store, selling drugs to the white as well as +colored retail druggists, was a slave, I think, until he was twelve or +fifteen years of age. It is interesting to know that more banks have +been organized in the last three years in the state of Mississippi +than ever before. There have been ten banks organized since Vardaman +became governor of the state.</p> + +<p>For the reasons I have mentioned, the Negro in the South has not only +found a practically free field in the commercial world, but in the +world of skilled labor. Such a field is not open to him in such a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>degree in any other part of the United States, or perhaps in the +world, as is open in the South. All of this has had a tremendously +strong bearing in developing the Negro's moral and Christian life.</p> + +<p>In proportion to their numbers, I question whether so large a +proportion of any other race are members of some Christian Church as +is true of the American Negro. In many cases their practical ideas of +Christianity are crude, and their daily practice of religion is far +from satisfactory; still the foundation is laid, upon which can be +builded a rational, practical and helpful Christian life.</p> + +<p>Let me illustrate the value of the economic and industrial training of +the Negro: If one chooses, let him try this plan which I have tried on +a good many occasions. Go into any village or town, North or South, +enter their Baptist and Methodist churches—for the most part they +belong to the Baptist Church—and ask their pastors to point <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>out to +you the most reliable, progressive and leading colored man in the +community, the man who is most given to putting his religious +teachings into practice in his daily life, and in a majority of cases +one will have pointed out to him a Negro who learned a trade or got +some special economic training during the days of slavery,—in all +probability an individual who has become the owner of a little piece +of land, who lives in his own house.</p> + +<p>Now what lessons for the work that is before us can you and I learn +from what I have attempted to say? The lesson suggested in the +elevation of the black race in America will apply with equal force, in +my opinion, to the inculcating of moral and Christian principles into +<i>any</i> race, regardless of color, that is in the same relative stage of +civilization. Here let me add that in all my advocacy of the value of +industrial training I have never done so because my people are black; +I would advocate the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>same kind of training for any race that is on +the same plane of civilization as our people are found on at the +present time.</p> + +<p>But as to the lesson which may prove of direct interest, so far as you +are concerned. In the old days, the method of converting the heathen +to Christianity was very largely abstract. The Bible was, in most +cases, the only argument. In the conversion of the heathen to +Christianity or in raising the standard of moral and Christian living +for any people, I argue that in the use of the economic element and +the teaching of the industries we should be guided by the same rules +that are now used in the most advanced methods of ordinary +school-teaching—that is, to begin with the known and gradually +advance to the unknown; we should advance from the concrete to the +abstract. In doing this, industrial education, it seems to me, +furnishes a tremendously good opportunity.</p> + +<p>Let me illustrate: Not long ago a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>missionary who was going into a +foreign field very kindly asked of me advice as to how he should +proceed to convert the people to Christianity. I asked him, first, +upon what the people depended mostly for a living in the country where +he was to labor; he replied that for the most part they were engaged +in sheep raising. I said to him at once that if I were going into that +country as a missionary, I should begin my efforts by teaching the +people to raise more sheep and better sheep. If he could convince them +that Christianity could raise more sheep and better sheep than +paganism, he would at once get a hold upon their sympathy and +confidence in a way he could not do by following more abstract methods +of converting them.</p> + +<p>The average man can discern more quickly the difference between good +sheep and bad sheep, than he can the difference between Unitarianism +and Trinitarianism.</p> + +<p>If the Christian missionary can gradually <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>teach the heathen how to +build a better house than he has used, how to make better clothes, how +to grow, prepare and secure better food for his daily meals, the +missionary will have gone a long way, may I repeat, toward securing +the confidence of the heathen and will have laid the foundation in +this concrete manner for interesting the pagan in a higher moral life +and in getting him to appreciate the difference between the heathen +life and the Christian life. In teaching the child to read we use the +objective method; in converting the heathen we should employ the same +method—and this means the economic or industrial method.</p> + +<p>Some six years ago a group of Tuskeegee graduates and former students +went to Africa for the purpose of giving the natives in a certain +territory of West Africa training in methods of raising American +cotton. They did not go there primarily as missionaries, nor was their +chief end the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>conversion of these pagans to Christianity. Naturally, +they began their work by training the natives how to cultivate their +land differently, how and when to plant the crop, and when to harvest +it, and gradually taught them how to use a small hand gin in getting +the cotton ready for market.</p> + +<p>Largely through the leadership of this group of Tuskeegee students, +there is shipped from this section of Africa to the Berlin market each +year many bales of cotton. The natives have learned through the +teaching of these men to grow more cotton and better cotton. They have +learned to use their time, have learned that by working systematically +and regularly they can increase their income and thus add to their +independence and supply their wants. Not only this, but in order that +these people might be fitted for continuous and regular service in the +cotton field, their houses have been improved and the natives have +been taught how to take better care of their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>bodies. In a word, +during the years that these Tuskeegee people have been in the +community they have improved the entire economic, industrial, and +physical life of the people in this immediate territory.</p> + +<p>The result is, as one of the men stated on his last visit to +Tuskeegee, there is little difficulty now in getting the children of +these people to attend Sunday-school and the older people to attend +church; in fact, in a natural, logical manner they seem to have been +converted to the idea that the religion practiced by these Tuskeegee +men is superior to their own. They believe this firmly, because they +have seen that better results have been produced through the Christian +influence of these Tuskeegee men than has been produced when they had +no such leadership. If these Tuskeegee people had gone there as +missionaries of the old type and had confined themselves to abstract +teachings of the Bible alone, it would have required many years to +have brought about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>the results which have been attained within a few +years.</p> + +<p>Some time ago in Montgomery, Alabama, there was a church, attended by +members of my race, which happened to be located not very far from the +residence of a white family. The cook who served in this white family +attended this church to which I refer. The members of the church made +considerable noise in their singing, shouting, and praying, and after +a while the white family grew rather exasperated because of this +noise. One Sunday the church services were prolonged until an unusual +hour and there was more noise than usual; so the next morning when the +cook came, the lady of the house called her into the sitting-room, and +said: "Jane, why in the world do you make so much noise in your +worship, in your singing, praying, and shouting? Why don't you be +orderly, quiet, and systematic in your worship? Why, Jane, in the +Bible we read that in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>the building of Solomon's Temple, no noise +pervaded the silence of the builders. Why can you not worship in the +same way?" The old colored woman looked at her mistress for a few +moments and said: "Lordy, missus, you don't know what we's doing; +Lordy, missus, you don't know what we's striving at; we's just +blasting out de stone for de foundation ob de Temple." So, my friends, +when you hear us laying so much emphasis upon the moral and economic +training, upon home-getting and all those things, remember we are +simply trying to teach our people to blast out the foundation of the +temple in which we are to grow and be useful.</p> + +<p>Says the Psalmist: "O Lord, how manifold are Thy works; in wisdom hast +Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches." I believe that a +wise Providence means that we shall use all the material riches of the +earth: soil, wood, minerals, stones, water, air, and what not, as a +means <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>through which to reach God and glorify Him.</p> + +<p>I have thus briefly dealt with the problem of slavery in its relations +to the economic and moral growth of my people. Each one of these +periods has presented a problem of tremendous importance and +seriousness to your race and to my race.</p> + +<p>If more attention had been given to the economic and industrial +development of Liberia in the early stages of the history of that +republic, Liberia would be far in advance of its present condition +both in morals and religion, to say nothing of commercial prosperity. +In Liberia there is an immense territory rich with resources. +Notwithstanding this, there are no improved or advanced methods of +agriculture; the soil is scarcely stirred; there are no carts, wagons +or other wheeled vehicles, practically no public roads, no bridges, no +railroads; the mineral wealth and the timber wealth remain almost +untouched; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>and I am told on good authority that, in spite of all this +wealth right at the very door of these people, even school-teachers +and ministers wear clothing manufactured in the United States or in +Europe, and eat canned goods that come from Chicago or Germany.</p> + +<p>It requires no argument to impress the fact that the most practical +missionary work would have been in the direction of teaching these +people how to cultivate the soil in the best manner with the very best +implements, how to get the wealth out of their forests and water and +mines, how to build roads, decent bridges and decent houses; in a +word, how to take hold of the material riches with which Providence +has blessed the land and turn these riches into moral and religious +growth. This, in my opinion, would have represented the very highest +kind of missionary work.</p> + +<p>I do not grow discouraged or despondent by reason of great and serious +problems. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>On the contrary, I deem it a privilege to be permitted to +live in an age when great, serious, and perplexing problems are to be +met and solved. I would not care to live in a period when there was no +weak part of the human family to be helped up and no wrongs to be +righted. It is only through struggle and the surmounting of +difficulties that races, like individuals, are made strong, powerful, +and useful.</p> + +<p>This is the road the Negro should travel; this is the road, in my +opinion, the Negro will travel. I sometimes fear that in our great +anxiety to push forward we lay too much stress upon our former +condition. We should think less of our former growth and more of the +present and of the things which go to retard or hinder that growth. In +one of his letters to the Galatians, St. Paul says: "But the fruit of +the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, +faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>I believe that it is possible for a race, as it is for an individual, +to learn to live up in such a high atmosphere that there is no human +law that can prevail against it. There is no man who can pass a law to +affect the Negro in relation to his singing, his peace, and his +self-control. Wherever I go I would enter St. Paul's atmosphere and, +living through and in that spirit, we will grow and make progress and, +notwithstanding discouragements and mistakes, we will become an +increasingly strong part of the Christian citizenship of this +republic.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE SINCE ITS EMANCIPATION</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span><br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE SINCE ITS EMANCIPATION<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>In the preceding chapter, I referred to some of the things which the +Negro brought with him out of slavery into his life of freedom that he +used to his advantage. I shall now discuss those things that were to +his disadvantage.</p> + +<p>We must bear in mind that one of the influences of slavery was to +impress upon both master and slave the fact that labor with the hand +was not dignified, was disgraceful, that labor of this character was +something to be escaped, to be gotten rid of just as soon as possible. +Hence, it was very natural that the Negro race looked forward to the +day of freedom as being that period when it would be delivered from +all necessity of laboring with the hand. It was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>natural that a large +proportion of the race, immediately after its freedom, should make the +mistake of confusing freedom with license. Under the circumstances, +any other race would have acted in the same manner.</p> + +<p>One of the first and most important lessons, then, to be taught the +Negro when he became free was the one that labor with the hand or with +the head, so far from being something to be dreaded and shunned, was +something that was dignified and something that should be sought, +loved, and appreciated. Here began the function of the industrial +school for the education of the Negro. This was the uppermost idea of +General Armstrong, the father of industrial education of the Negro. +And permit me to say right here, that, in my opinion, General +Armstrong, more than any other single individual, is the father of +industrial education not only for the Negro, but in a large measure +for the entire United States. For <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>you must always bear in mind that, +prior to the establishment of such institutions as the Hampton +Institute, there was practically no systematic industrial training +given for either black or white people, either North or South. At the +present time more attention is being paid to this kind of education +for white boys and girls than is being given to black boys and girls.</p> + +<p>It is an interesting thought that this kind of education, started +thirty-five years ago for the education of the Negro, has spread +throughout the United States, in the North and West, and has taken +hold upon the people who once enslaved the Negro in our Southern +states.</p> + +<p>When industrial schools were first established in the South for the +education of members of my race, stubborn objection was raised against +them on the part of black people. This was the experience of Hampton, +and this in later years was the experience of the Tuskeegee +Institute.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>I remember that for a number of years after the founding of the +Tuskeegee Institute, objection on the part of parents and on the part +of students poured in upon me from day to day. The parents said that +they wanted their children taught "the book," but they did not want +them taught anything concerning farming or household duties. It was +curious to note how most of the people worshiped "the book." The +parent did not care what was inside the book; the harder and the +longer the name of it, the better it satisfied the parent every time, +and the more books you could require the child to purchase, the better +teacher you were. His reputation as a first-class pedagogue was added +to very largely in that section if the teacher required the child to +buy a long string of books each year and each month. I found some +white people who had the same idea.</p> + +<p>They reminded me further that the Negro for two hundred and fifty +years as a slave <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>had been worked, and now that the race was free they +contended that their children ought not to be taught to work and +especially while in school. In answer to these objections I said to +them that it was true that the race had been worked in slavery, but +the great lesson which we wanted to learn in freedom was to work. I +explained to them that there was a vast difference between being +worked and working. I said to them that being worked meant +degradation, that working meant civilization.</p> + +<p>We have gone on at Tuskeegee from that day until this, emphasizing the +difference between being worked and working, until, I am glad to say, +every sign of opposition against any form of industrial education has +completely disappeared from among parents and students; and I but +state the truth when I say that industrial education, whether on the +farm or in the carpenter shop or in the cooking class, is even more +sought after at Tuskeegee than is training in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>purely academic +branches. It has been ten years since I have had a single application +for other than a form of industrial training. On the contrary, this +kind of training is so popular among them that we have many +applications from other students who live in other states who wish to +devote themselves wholly to the industrial side of education.</p> + +<p>From Hampton and Tuskeegee and other large educational centres the +idea of industrial education has spread throughout the South, and +there are now scores of institutions that are giving this kind of +training in a most effective and helpful manner; so that, in my +opinion, the greatest thing that we have accomplished for the Negro +race within the last twenty-five years has been to rid his mind of all +idea of labor's being degrading. This has been no inconsiderable +achievement. If I were asked to point out the greatest change +accomplished for the Negro race, I would say that it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>not a +tangible, physical change, but a change of the spirit,—the new idea +of our people with respect to Negro labor.</p> + +<p>Industrial education has had another value wherever it has been put +into practice, that is in starting the Negro off in his new life in a +natural, logical, sensible manner instead of allowing him to be led +into temptation to begin life in an artificial atmosphere without any +real foundation.</p> + +<p>All races that have reached success and have influenced the world for +righteousness have laid their foundation at one stage of their career +in the intelligent and successful cultivation of the soil; that is, +have begun their free life by coming into contact with earth and wood +and stone and minerals. Any people that begins on a natural foundation +of this kind, rises slowly but naturally and gradually in the world.</p> + +<p>In my work at Tuskeegee and in what I have endeavored to accomplish in +writing and in speaking before the public, I have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>always found it +important to stick to nature as closely as possible, and the same +policy should be followed with a race. If you will excuse my making a +personal reference, just as often as I can when I am at home, I like +to get my hoe and dig in my garden, to come into contact with real +earth, or to touch my pigs and fowls. Whenever I want new material for +an address or a magazine article, I follow the plan of getting away +from the town with its artificial surroundings and getting back into +the country, where I can sleep in a log cabin and eat the food of the +farmer, go among the people at work on the plantations and hear them +tell their experiences. I have gotten more material in this way than I +have by reading books.</p> + +<p>Many of these seemingly ignorant people, while not educated in the way +that we consider education, have in reality a very high form of +education—that which they have gotten out of contact with nature. +Only a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>few days ago I heard one of these old farmers, who could +neither read nor write, give a lesson before a Farmers' Institute that +I shall never forget. The old man got up on the platform and began +with this remark: "I'se had no chance to study science, but I'se been +making some science for myself," and then he held up before the +audience a stalk of cotton with only two bolls on it. He said he began +his scientific work with that stalk. Then he held up a second stalk +and showed how the following year he had improved the soil so that the +stalk contained four bolls, and then he held up a third stalk and +showed how he had improved the soil and method of cultivation until +the stalk contained six bolls, and so he went through the whole +process until he had demonstrated to his fellow farmers how he had +made a single stalk of cotton produce twelve or fourteen bolls. At the +close of the old man's address somebody in the audience asked what his +name was. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>replied, "When I didn't own no home and was in debt, +they used to call me old Jim Hill, but now that I own a home and am +out of debt, they call me 'Mr. James Hill.'"</p> + +<p>In the previous chapter I referred to the practical benefit that could +be achieved in foreign mission fields through economic and industrial +development. Now that industrial education is understood and +appreciated by the Negro in America, the question which has the most +practical value to you and to me is what effect has this kind of +development had upon the moral and religious life of the Negro right +here in America since the race became free.</p> + +<p>By reason of the difficulty in getting reliable and comprehensive +statistics, it is not easy to answer this question with satisfaction, +but I believe that enough facts can be given to show that economic and +industrial development has wonderfully improved the moral and +religious life of the Negro race in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>America, and that, just in +proportion as any race progresses in this same direction, its moral +and religious life will be strengthened and made more practical.</p> + +<p>Let me first emphasize the fact that in order for the moral and +religious life to be strengthened we must of necessity have industry, +but along with industry there must be intelligence and refinement. +Without these two elements combined, the moral and religious lives of +the people are not very much helped.</p> + +<p>A few months ago I was in a mining camp composed largely of members of +my race who were, for the most part, ignorant and uncultivated, who +had had little opportunities in the way of education, but they had +been taught to mine coal. The operators of this mine complained that, +notwithstanding the unusually high wages being paid during that +season, these miners could not be induced to work more than three or +four days out of six. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>difficulty was right here; these miners +were so ignorant that they had few wants, and these were simple and +crude. Their wants could be satisfied by working a few days out of +each week, and when they had satisfied their wants they could not +understand why it was necessary to work any longer, and we must all +acknowledge that there is a good deal of human nature in this point of +view.</p> + +<p>In a case of this kind, what is needed is not only to have the +individual educated in industry but to have his hand so trained that +he will become ambitious; as one man put it not long ago, "He will +want more wants." We should get the man to the point where he will +want a house, where his wife will want carpet for the floor, pictures +for the walls, books, a newspaper and a substantial kind of furniture. +We should get the family to the point where it will want money to +educate its children, to support the minister and the church. Later, +we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>should get this family to the point where it will want to put +money in the bank and perhaps have the experience of placing a +mortgage on some property. When this stage of development has been +reached, there is no difficulty in getting individuals to work six +days during the week.</p> + +<p>I have in mind now an old colored man who lived some four miles from +the Institution. I first noticed him a number of years ago as I took +my daily exercise after my day's work. I found him and his wife living +in a little broken-down cabin and resolved to try an experiment on +them to see if I could not get them to realize that that kind of life +proved of no benefit. When I began, their wants were for the bare +necessities of life only. I gradually began to talk to his wife and +urge her to see the importance of living a different kind of life. +Without the old man's knowing it, I took pains to tell her of how some +of their neighbors were living and about some of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>things her +neighbors were owning. Some had two-room houses, glass windows, new +furniture, and little pieces of carpet, and had whitewashed their +houses. Finally she became quite interested.</p> + +<p>When I began with the man he was working about three days in the week. +The old fellow grew interested and began to work a little longer, +until the last time I rode by that house the old man was working +nearly every day in the week, while they were living in a two-room +house and everything had changed. The hardest task I had was to get +him to put up a chimney for the second room, finally he put up one and +although it was a pretty rickety, crooked affair, yet it answered the +purpose and he felt proud of it. When I left this time he informed me +that by the time I came back he would try to have both of those rooms +whitewashed. I am not through with that family yet. I am going to work +on that woman until through her I will get <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>the old man to work five +and six days out of the week.</p> + +<p>It should always be borne in mind that, for any person of any race, +literary education alone increases his want; and, if you increase +these wants without at the same time training the individual in a +manner to enable him to supply these increased wants, you have not +always strengthened his moral and religious basis.</p> + +<p>The same principle might be illustrated in connection with South +Africa. In that country there are six millions of Negroes. +Notwithstanding this fact, South Africa suffers to-day perhaps as +never before for lack of labor. The natives have never been educated +by contact with the white man in the same way as has been true of the +American Negro. They have never been educated in the day school nor in +the Sunday-school nor in the church, nor in the industrial school or +college; hence their ambitions have never been awakened, their wants +have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>not been increased, and they work perhaps two days out of the +week and are in idleness during the remaining portion of the time. +This view of the case I had confirmed in a conversation with a +gentleman who had large interests in South Africa.</p> + +<p>How different in the Southern part of the United States where we have +eight millions of black people! Ask any man who has had practical +experience in using the masses of these people as laborers and he will +tell you that in proportion to their progress in the civilization of +the world, it is difficult to find any set of men who will labor in a +more satisfactory way. True, these people have not by any means +reached perfection in this regard, but they have advanced on the whole +much beyond the condition of the South Africans. The trained American +Negro has learned to want the highest and best in our civilization, +and as we go on giving him more education, increasing his industrial +efficiency and his love of labor, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>he will soon get to the point where +he will work six days out of each week.</p> + +<p>But as to the results of industrial training. Following the example of +the modern pedagogue, let me begin with that which I know most about, +the Tuskeegee Institute. This institution employs one of its officers +who spends a large part of his time in keeping in close contact with +our graduates and former students. He visits them in their homes and +in their places of employment and not only sees for himself what they +are doing, but gets the testimony of their neighbors and employers, +and I can state positively that not ten per cent. of the men and women +who have graduated from the Tuskeegee Institute or who have been there +long enough to understand the spirit and methods of that institution +can be found to-day in idleness in any part of the country. They are +at work because they have learned the dignity and beauty and +civilizing influence and, I might add, Christianizing power <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>of labor; +they have learned the degradation and demoralizing influence of +idleness; they have learned to love labor for its own sake and are +miserable unless they are at work. I consider labor one of the +greatest boons which our Creator has conferred upon human beings.</p> + +<p>Further, after making careful investigation, I am prepared to say that +there is not a single man or woman who holds a diploma from the +Tuskeegee Institute who can be found within the walls of any +penitentiary in the United States.</p> + +<p>I have learned that not more than a score of the graduates of the +fifteen oldest and largest colleges and industrial schools in the +entire South have been sent to prison since these institutions were +established. Those who are guilty of crime for the most part are +individuals who are without education, without a trade, who own no +land, who are not taxpayers, who have no bank account, and who have +made no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>progress in industrial and economic development.</p> + +<p>The following extracts from a letter written by a Southern white man +to the <i>Daily Advertiser</i>, of Montgomery, Alabama, contains most +valuable testimony. The letter refers to convicts in Alabama, most of +whom are colored:</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"I was conversing not long ago with the warden of one of our +mining prisons, containing about 500 convicts. The warden is a +practical man, who has been in charge of prisoners for more than +fifteen years, and has no theories of any kind to support. I +remarked to him that I wanted some information as to the effect +of manual training in preventing criminality, and asked him to +state what per cent. of the prisoners under his charge had +received any manual training, besides acquaintance with the +crudest agricultural labor. He replied: 'Perhaps about one per +cent.' He added: 'No, much less than that. We have here at +present only one mechanic; that is, there is one man who claims +to be a house painter.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>"'Have you any shoemakers?'</p> + +<p>"'Never had a shoemaker.'</p> + +<p>"'Have you any tailors?'</p> + +<p>"'Never had a tailor.'</p> + +<p>"'Any printers?'</p> + +<p>"'Never had a printer.'</p> + +<p>"'Any carpenters?'</p> + +<p>"'Never had a carpenter. There is not a man in this prison that +could saw to a straight line.'"</p></div> + +<p>Now these facts seem to show that manual training is almost as good a +preventative of criminality as vaccination is of smallpox.</p> + +<p>The records of the South show that ninety per cent. of the colored +people in prisons are without knowledge of trades, and sixty-one per +cent. are illiterate.</p> + +<p>There are few higher authorities on the progress of the Negro than +Joel Chandler Harris, of the <i>Atlanta Constitution</i>, of "Uncle Remus" +fame. Mr. Harris had opportunity to know the Negro before the war, and +he has followed his progress closely in freedom. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>In a printed +statement made some time ago Mr. Harris says:</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"The point I desire to make is that the overwhelming majority of +the Negroes in all parts of the South, especially in the +agricultural regions, are leading sober and industrious lives. A +temperate race is bound to be industrious, and the Negroes are +temperate when compared with the whites. Even in the towns the +majority of them are sober and industrious."</p></div> + +<p>Dr. Frissell makes the same statement regarding Hampton Institute. Not +more than a score of the graduates have been sent to prison since +these institutions were established. The majority is among those who +are without training and who have made no progress in industrial and +economic development. The idle and criminal classes among them make a +great show in the police court records, but right here in Atlanta the +respectable and decent Negroes far outnumber those who are on the +lists <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>of the police as old or new offenders. I am bound to conclude +from what I see all about me, and what I know of the race elsewhere, +that the Negro, notwithstanding the late start he has made in +civilization and enlightenment, is capable of making himself a useful +member in the communities in which he lives and moves, and that he is +become more and more desirous of conforming to all the laws that have +been enacted for the protection of society.</p> + +<p>Some time ago I sent out letters to representative Southern men, +covering each ex-slave state, asking them to state, judging by their +observation in their own communities, what effect industrial education +has upon the morals and religion of the Negro. To these questions I +received 136 replies as follows:</p> + +<p>Has education improved the morals of the black race?</p> + +<p>Answers—Yes, 97; No, 20; Unanswered, 19.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>Has it made his religion less emotional and more practical?</p> + +<p>Answers—Yes, 101; No, 16; Unanswered, 19.</p> + +<p>Is it, as a rule, the ignorant or the educated who commit crime?</p> + +<p>Answers—Ignorant, 115; Educated, 3; Unanswered, 18.</p> + +<p>Does crime grow less as education increases among the colored people?</p> + +<p>Answers—Yes, 102; No, 19; Unanswered, 15.</p> + +<p>Do not these figures speak for themselves?</p> + +<p>If possible I want to give you an idea of the progress of the Negro +race in a single county in one of the Southern States. For this +purpose I select Gloucester County, Virginia. I take this one for the +reason that I had the privilege of visiting it a number of years ago, +just about the time when interest in the education of the colored +people was beginning to be aroused, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>and for the further reason that +this is one of the counties in Virginia and the South that has been +longest under the influence of graduates of the Hampton Institute, or +of men and women trained in other centres of education.</p> + +<p>Gloucester County is the tide-water section of Eastern Virginia. +According to the census of 1890, Gloucester County contained a total +population of 12,832, a little over one-half being colored, and both +sets of schools are in session from five and a half to six months, and +the pay of the two sets of teachers is about the same. The majority of +the colored teachers in this county were trained at Hampton, and have +been teaching in this county a number of years. For the most part, the +teachers of Gloucester County are not mentally superior, but what they +lack in methods of teaching and mental alertness is more than made up +for by the moral earnestness and the example they set. Most of the +teachers are natives <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>of the county, and, what is more important, most +of them own property in the county.</p> + +<p>Now, what is the economic or material result in one county where the +Negro has been given a reasonable chance to make progress? I say +"reasonable" because it must be kept in mind that the great body of +white people in America, with whom the Negro is constantly compared, +have schools that are in session from eight to nine months in the +year. Note especially what I am going to say now. According to the +public records, the total assessed value of the land in Gloucester +County is $666,132.33. Of the total value of the land, the colored +people own $87,953.55. The buildings in the county have an assessed +valuation of $466,127.05. The colored people pay taxes upon $79,387.00 +of this amount. To state it differently, the Negroes of Gloucester +County, beginning about forty years ago in poverty, have reached the +point where they now own and pay taxes upon one-sixth of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>the real +estate in this county. This property is very largely in the shape of +small farms, varying in size from ten to one hundred acres. A large +proportion of the farms contain about ten acres.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note the influence of this material growth upon +the home life of the people. It is stated upon good authority that +about twenty-five years ago at least three-fourths of the colored +people lived in one-roomed cabins. Let a single illustration tell the +story of the growth. In a school where there were thirty pupils ten +testified that they lived in houses containing six rooms, and only one +said that he lived in a house containing but a single room.</p> + +<p>I repeat, I have always believed that in proportion as the industrial, +not omitting the intellectual, condition of my race is improved, in +the same degree would their moral and religious life improve.</p> + +<p>Some years ago, before the home life and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>economic condition of the +people had improved, bastardy was common in Gloucester County. In 1903 +there were only eight cases of bastardy reported in the whole county, +and two of those were among the white population. During the year 1904 +there was only one case of bastardy within a radius of ten miles of +the court house. Another gratifying evidence of progress is shown by +the fact that there is very little evidence of immoral relations +existing between the races. In the whole county, during the year 1903, +about twenty-five years after the work of education had gotten under +way, there were only thirty arrests for misdemeanors; of these sixteen +were white, fourteen colored. In 1904 there were fifteen such +arrests—fourteen white and one colored. In 1904 there were but seven +arrests for felonies; of these two were white and five were colored.</p> + +<p>In one point at least the colored people in Gloucester County have set +an example <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>for the rest of the religious world that ought to receive +attention. It is in this regard: there is only one religious +denomination in all of this county, and that is the Baptist. No +over-multiplying, no over-lapping, no denominational wrangling and +wasting of money and energy.</p> + +<p>May I add that, out of my own observation and experience in the heart +of the South during the last twenty-five years, I have learned that +the man of my race who has some regular occupation, who owns his farm, +is a taxpayer and perhaps has a little money in the bank, is the most +reliable and helpful man in the Sunday-school, in the church, and in +all religious endeavor. The man who has gotten upon his feet in these +directions is almost never charged with crime, but is the one who has +the respect and the confidence of both races in his community.</p> + +<p>I can give you no better idea of the tremendous advance which the +Negro has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>made since he became free than to say that largely through +the influence of industrial education the race has acquired ownership +in land that is equal in area to the combined countries of Belgium and +Holland. This, for a race starting in poverty and ignorance forty +years ago, it seems to me is a pretty good record.</p> + +<p>I would not have you understand that I emphasize material possessions +as the chief thing in life or as an object within itself. I emphasize +economic growth because the civilization of the world teaches that the +possession of a certain amount of material wealth indicates the +ability of a race to exercise self-control, to plan to-day for +to-morrow, to do without to-day in order that it may possess +to-morrow. In other words, a race, like an individual, becomes highly +civilized and useful in proportion as it learns to use the good things +of this earth, not as an end, but as a means toward promoting its own +moral and religious growth <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>and the prosperity and happiness of the +world. This is what I advocate for my race; it is what I would +advocate for any race.</p> + +<p>The average white man of America, in passing judgment upon the black +race, very often overlooks the fact that geographically and physically +the semi-barbarous Negro race has been thrown right down in the centre +of the highest civilization that the world knows anything about. +Consciously or unconsciously, you compare the Negro's progress with +your progress, forgetting, when you are doing it, that you are placing +a pretty severe test on the members of my race. If, for example, we +were compared with the civilization of the Oriental countries, the +test would not be so severe. But we have been placed in the midst of a +pushing, surging, restless, conquering, successful civilization, and +you must acknowledge that when the American white man wants to lead, +no other race can go far ahead. In <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>fact, he would have the whole +field to himself. The progress of the Negro will be in proportion as +they learn to get the material things of this world, consecrate them, +and weave them into the service of our Heavenly Father.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, may I say that I hope the people of this country, North +and South, will learn to pray more and more; and, as they pray, to put +their hands upon their hearts and then ask God if they were placed in +the Negro's state, how, under the circumstances, would they like to be +treated by their fellows. Conscience will answer the question.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span><br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>Two questions may be asked of any group of human beings: first, How do +they earn their living, and secondly, What is their attitude toward +life? The first relates to the economic history and condition of that +people; the second is a study of their religion. In these two essays I +am to treat the first of these questions under the subject: The +Economic Revolution in the South, and the second under the subject: +Christianity in the South.</p> + +<p>The last century was notable because of the great change in method and +organization of human work and we call the early part of the +nineteenth century the time of economic revolution in Europe and to +some extent in America. The southern United States, however, while +profoundly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>influenced by this revolution from the first, has not +until to-day actually felt its full effect. The new factory system of +the early nineteenth century is just to-day appearing in the South, +and yet its appearance in England and New England seventy-five years +ago made the South a part of the world industrial organization by +making it the seat of cotton culture (see Note [1]).</p> + +<p>Two diverse developments resulted: In England and the North came a +change from household industry to social industry, a step forward +which led to an era of machinery, to a curious concentration of +individuals and wealth and the necessities of living in certain great +centres. That very concentration led to a wonderful contact of man +with man which sharpened mind and sharpened thought and in the long +run made the Europe of to-day. On the other hand, the southern United +States, though really a part of this great system through its work of +furnishing raw cotton, did not come into the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>whirl of the new +industry because she had an industrial system which forbade machinery, +discouraged human contact, and shackled thought.</p> + +<p>Why did this system of slavery persist so long in the South as to be +caught in the vortex of the new industrial movement and rendered +almost inextricable?</p> + +<p>If the South had been a place of intelligent farmers on small farms, +we could imagine a development which would have been the wonder of the +world; but because the fathers of the United States were so busy with +large questions that they forgot larger ones, so busy settling matters +of commerce and representation and politics that they forgot matters +of work and justice and human rights—because of this we have in the +South one of those curious back eddies of human progress that twist +and puzzle advance and thought.</p> + +<p>The very forward forces of industry that fastened slavery on the South +were weaving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>a social system which made the enslavement of laborers +impossible and unprofitable. Consequently at the very time when the +South ought to have been increasing in intelligence, law and order, +the use of machinery, industrial concentration, and the intensive +culture of land with the rest of the world, she lost a half century in +a development backward toward a dispersing of population, extensive +rather than intensive land culture, increased and compulsory ignorance +of the laboring class, and the rearing of a complete system of caste +and aristocracy (see Note 2).</p> + +<p>Evils there were to be sure in the new factory system of Europe and +the North, evils which southern leaders did not fail to note and gloat +over, but they were evils of another and newer industrial era, which +did not stop progress, but gave it added incentive.</p> + +<p>The industrial back-set of the South meant of course but one thing: +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>discovery of the paradox of slavery, the turning from the +mistake, and the adoption of remedial measures which should usher into +the South the same industrial revolution in methods of work which +Europe saw begin a century ago. This is exactly what has happened, and +to-day the Industrial Revolution is beginning south of Mason and +Dixon's line. The forecast of change was apparent by 1850. Slavery +still paid then—was still an economic success, but only under +conditions which became more and more impossible of realization +because of the factory system and the new industrial conditions in the +rest of the world (see Note 3).</p> + +<p>It was, in other words, an attempt at an industrial system with the +lowest wages, the most oppressive labor laws, and the best natural +advantages. Such a system at such a time carried its own sentence of +death: fertile land was becoming scarce in the forties, the horrors of +the slave trade had shocked even the eighteenth century, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>southern +labor laws which made knowledge a crime and migration of laborers a +capital offense, simply could not be enforced. It was in vain that the +solidly united capitalistic classes of the South threw themselves +bodily into the fray—raped Mexico, filibustered in Cuba and Central +America, encouraged slave-smuggling (see Note 4), and bullied the +hesitating North; their economic doom was written even if militant +Abolitionism had not appeared.</p> + +<p>The economic student could have foretold and did foretell easily in +the forties and fifties that slavery in the South was doomed (see Note +5): even if all available territory had been thrown wide to the slave +system, slavery could not possibly have stayed in Kansas and Utah, in +New Mexico or in Arizona; it could have stayed only temporarily in +Missouri and in Texas. It had already reached its territorial limit, +it was bound to have evolved something different. It will always be an +interesting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>speculation as to how soon this economic necessity would +have been recognized; whether the South would have had the acumen +eventually to see the end, and what sort of gradual change could have +come about, had it not been for the political crisis precipitated in +1861.</p> + +<p>Then came the war—that disgraceful episode of civil strife when, +leaving the arguments of men, the nation appealed to the last resort +of dogs, murdering and ravishing each other for four long shameful +years (see Note 6).</p> + +<p>When this nightmare had passed there came, after the resulting period +of disorder, a new régime, a new problem of labor, a new industrial +order. Not only that, but gradually in the decade 1870-1880 there were +added to the South four new economic activities: first, the iron +industry; second, the manufacture of cotton cloth; third, the +transportation of these goods to, from, and through the South; and +fourth, the general <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>exchange of goods in this growing Southern +industrial population—in other words, the Industrial Revolution was +beginning in the South. So that the South of the 80's was a different +South from the South of the 60's, not simply by reason of emancipation +but by reason of new economic possibilities.</p> + +<p>However, this change could not go on unhindered by the mistakes of the +past. With all that was new in the South, there was also much that was +old, and of these old things the most important were the Ideals which +slavery handed down—ideals of government, of labor, of caste.</p> + +<p>Consequently when the South tried to use its new freed labor on its +new industrial possibilities, it went to the problem full of the +ideals of slavery, and it made four separate attempts. In the first +place it was perfectly natural for a land which had said for +generations that free Negro labor was an impossibility, and free Negro +citizens unthinkable, to cherish a very distinct <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>idea that the way to +get along with the emancipated Negro was to make him a slave in fact +if not in name. The idea that was back of the first apprentice laws +and the various labor codes passed directly after Lee's surrender was +that the labor of the blacks belonged to the former white owners by +right and could be directed only by force under a nominal wage system. +These labor codes therefore attempted to reëstablish slavery without a +slave trade (see Note 7).</p> + +<p>These ill-advised attempts were frustrated by the Fifteenth Amendment +which made the freedmen voters. The Thirteenth Amendment did not +abolish slavery—it directed its abolition and the answer to it was +the labor codes. The Fourteenth Amendment gave the freedmen civil +rights and put a premium on granting them political rights, but the +premium was not accepted and the civil rights remained unenforced. The +Fifteenth Amendment went to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>the root of the matter by putting local +political power into the hands of the freedmen and their friends and +this made slavery and the slave system impossible.</p> + +<p>What the nation had before it then was not the nice academic question +as to whether it would be better to have as voters men of intelligence +or men of ignorance, whether it would be better to throw into the +electorate of a great modern country a mass of slaves or a mass of +college graduates—no such question came before the country; it was, +as we are fond of saying, a situation and not a theory that confronted +the country and that situation was this: here in the South we had +attempted to abolish slavery by act of legislature—it was not +abolished. The people who hitherto held power did not believe in its +real abolishment; a great and growing economic revolution fronted +them, cotton was still king. They were about to solve that problem—to +meet the Revolution—according to their former labor ideals.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>One could not expect any other outcome. One could not in justice ask +them voluntarily to accept free black labor; the only possible way to +insure the solving of that economic problem with labor really free was +to put in the South a political power which should make slavery in +fact or inference forever impossible. This truth the great Thaddeus +Stephens saw, and with a statesmanship far greater than Lincoln's he +forced Negro suffrage on the South.</p> + +<p>Although the new voters thus introduced in the South were crude and +ignorant, and in many ways ill-fitted to rule, nevertheless in the +fundamental postulates of American freedom and democracy they were +sane and sound. Some of them were silly, some were ignorant, and some +were venal, but they were not as silly as those who had fostered +slavery in the South, nor as ignorant as those who were determined to +perpetuate it, and the black voters of South Carolina never stole half +as much as the white <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>voters of Pennsylvania are stealing to-day.</p> + +<p>The eternal monument to these maligned victims of a nation's wrong is +the fact that they began the abolition of slavery in fact and not +merely attack it in theory, they established free schools, and they +passed laws on all subjects under which the white South is still +content to live (see Note 8). If these men had been protected in their +legal rights by the strong arm of the government, they would have been +able to protect themselves in a generation or so. They would have +increased in intelligence, responsibility, and power, and this the +South was determined to prevent. The North wavered; having put its +hand to the plow it looked back, and gradually allowed the black +peasantry of the South to be almost completely disfranchised. What +happened?</p> + +<p>The time had passed for a reëstablishment of slavery, but serfdom and +peonage were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>still possible and probable. When you have the leading +classes of a country with the ideal of slavery in their minds and the +laboring classes ignorant and without political power, there is but +one system that can ensue and that is serfdom, and through serfdom was +the second way in which the South strove to meet its great post-bellum +economic problem.</p> + +<p>Given these premises the economic answer of the South was, from a +business standpoint, perfectly sound. The men who, starting poor after +a miserable war, went into the development of the South, went in to +make money—to use the great American thesis, they were "not in +business for their health." They were going to grant to the laborer +just as little as they must; the laborer was unused to a system of +free labor, he was not a steady workman, he was not a skilled workman, +he had been for two or three hundred years driven to his work, he took +no pride in his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>work—how could he take pride in that which hitherto +had been the badge of his shame?</p> + +<p>Now it was not considered the business of the new Southern business +man to develop and train the working man. It was his business, as I +have said, from the American point of view, to make money. And the +consequence was that he evolved a peculiarly ingenious system of land +serfdom, which bears many likenesses to the serfdom that replaced +slavery in Europe. The land belonged to the landlord—it was rented +out to the serf; the serf was nominally free, but as a matter of fact +he was not free at all; he was held to his labor: he rose with the +morning work bell of slavery days, he was driven to his labor by +mounted riders, he was whipped for delinquencies, he received no +stipulated return, but on the contrary the owner of the land made the +contract, kept the accounts, and gave him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>enough once or twice a year +to make him not too dissatisfied.</p> + +<p>After a time this changed somewhat; instead of the land owner himself +undertaking the advancing of supplies, a third party, the merchant +with capital, came in. In order to enforce such a system it needed to +be backed by a peculiar law system—therefore the business men went +into politics in the South with the same result as when business men +go into politics in the North. Things were done quickly and quietly; +they were done not for the good of people who had no political voice, +but for the good of those who wielded the political power, <i>i.e.</i>, the +business men and land owners. The laws were made to favor the landlord +and the merchant and to make it easy to exploit the tenant and +laborer.</p> + +<p>This system, which still is the rule of agricultural labor in the +black belt of the South, is not a system of free labor; it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>simply +a form of peonage. The black peon is held down by perpetual debt or +petty criminal judgments; his rent rises with the price of cotton, his +chances to buy land are either non-existent or confined to infertile +regions. Judge and jury are in honor bound to hold him down; if by +accident or miracle he escapes and becomes a landholder, his property, +civil and political status are still at the mercy of the worst of the +white voters, and his very life at the whim of the mob. The power of +the individual white patron to protect colored men is still great and +is often exercised, but this is but another argument against the +system: it is undemocratic and un-American, and stamps on the serf +system its most damning criticism.</p> + +<p>Moreover, this second attempt to meet the economic revolution of the +South is failing, and its failure is shown by the scarcity of farm +labor, the migration of Negroes, and the increase of crime and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>lawlessness. Serfdom like slavery demands ignorance and strict laws. +The decade of Negro voting and Northern benevolence had however given +the Negro schools and aspiration.</p> + +<p>What now has been the reaction of this group on the environment thrown +around it since slavery days?</p> + +<p>The slaves had their select classes in the house servants and the +artisans. After freedom came, the Negro made four distinct efforts to +reach economic safety. The first effort was by means of the select +house-servant class; the second, by means of competitive industry; the +third, by land-owning; and the fourth, by what I shall call the group +economy.</p> + +<p>First, let us look at the effort of the house servants. The one person +under the slave régime who came nearest to escaping from the toils of +slavery and the disabilities of caste was the favorite house servant. +This was because the house servant was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>brought into contact with the +culture of the master and the family, because he had often the +advantages of town and city life, was able to gain some smattering of +education, and also because he was usually a blood relative of the +master class. These house servants, therefore, became the natural +leaders of the emancipated race and the brunt of the burden of +reconstruction fell upon their shoulders. When the history of this +period is carefully written it will show that few men ever made a more +meritorious fight against overwhelming odds.</p> + +<p>Under free competition it would have been natural for this class of +house servants to enter the economic life of the nation directly. In +some cases this happened, especially in the case of the barber and the +caterer. For the most part, however, the black applicant was refused +admittance to the economic society of the nation. He held his own in +the semi-servile work of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>barber until he met the charge of color +discrimination in his own race, and the competition of foreigners. The +caterer was displaced by palatial hotels in which he could have no +part.</p> + +<p>On the whole, then, the mass of house servants soon found the doors in +their own lines closed in their faces. They could remain good servants +but they could not by this means often escape into higher walks of +life. The better tenth of them went gradually into professions and +thus found economic independence for themselves and their children. +The mass of them either remained house servants or turned toward +industry.</p> + +<p>The second attempt of the freedmen toward economic safety lay in +industry. It was a less ambitious effort than that of the house +servants, and included larger numbers of men. It was characterized by +a large migration to the towns. Here it was that the class of slave +artisans made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>themselves felt in freedom and they were joined by +numbers of unskilled workmen, such as steam railway hands, porters, +hostlers, etc. This class attracted considerable attention and bore +the brunt of the economic battle in competition with white working +men. It is a class that is growing and in the future it is going to +have a large development. At present, however, its fight is difficult.</p> + +<p>The third effort of economic elevation was by land owning. This was +the ideal toward which the great mass of black people looked. They at +first thought that the government was going to help them, and the +government did in a few instances, as when Sherman distributed land in +Georgia and the government sold South Carolina lands for taxes. For +the most part, however, the Negroes had to buy their own lands which +they did in some cases by means of their bounty money for serving in +the army or by means of special monies which they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>earned as workmen +during the war or by the help of the former masters. Some too, by the +share tenant system gained enough to buy land. In this way about +200,000 to-day own their farms and thus approximate economic +independence.</p> + +<p>The fourth and last effort, which I call the Group Economy, is of +great importance, but is not very well understood. It consists of a +coöperative arrangement of industry and service in a group which tends +to make the group a closed economic circle, largely independent of +surrounding whites. This development explains many anomalies in the +situation of the Negro. Many people think that the colored barber is +disappearing, yet there are more colored barbers in the United States +to-day than ever before, but a larger number than ever cater to only +colored trade. The Negro lawyer serves almost exclusively colored +clientage, so that his existence is half forgotten by the white world. +The new Negro business men are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>not successors of the old. There used +to be Negro business men in Northern cities and a few even in Southern +cities, but they catered to white trade; the Negro business man to-day +caters to colored trade. So far has this gone to-day that in every +city in the United States which has considerable Negro population, the +colored group is serving itself in religion, medical care, legal +advice and often educating its children. In growing degree also it is +serving itself in insurance, houses, books, amusements.</p> + +<p>So extraordinary has been this development that it forms a large and +growing part in the economy of perhaps half the Negroes of the United +States, and in the case of perhaps 100,000 town Negroes, representing +at least 300,000 persons, the group economy approaches a complete +system. To these we may add the bulk of 200,000 farmers who own their +farms. Thus we have a group of half a million who are reaching +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>economic safety by means of group economy (see Note 9).</p> + +<p>Here then are the two developments—a determined effort at an +established serfdom on the part of landholding capitalists, and a +determined effort on the part of freedmen and their sons to attain +economic independence.</p> + +<p>While both these movements were progressing the full change of the +industrial revolution, so long postponed, began to be felt all over +the South; the iron and steel industry developed in Alabama and +Tennessee, coal mining in Tennessee and West Virginia, and cotton +manufacture in Carolina and Georgia; railways were consolidated into +systems and extended, commerce was organized and concentrated. The +greatest single visible result of this was the growth of cities. Towns +of eight thousand and more had a tenth of the white Southerners in +1860; they held a seventh of a much larger population in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>1900, while +a fifth were in cities and villages. Still more striking was the +movement of Negroes; only four per cent. were in cities before the +war, to-day a seventh are there.</p> + +<p>The reason for this is clear: the oppression and serfdom of the +country, the opportunities of the city. It was in the town and city +alone that the emerging classes, outside the landholders, were +successful, and even the landholders were helped by the earnings of +the city; the house servants with the upper class of barbers and +caterers, the artisans, the day laborers, the professional men, +including the best of the teachers, were in the cities, and the new +group economy was developed here.</p> + +<p>On the other hand one of the inevitable expedients for fastening +serfdom on the country Negro was enforced ignorance.</p> + +<p>The Negro school system established by the Negro reconstruction +governments <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>reached its culmination in the decade 1870-1880. Since +then determined effort has been made in the country districts to make +the Negro schools less efficient. To-day these schools are worse than +they were twenty years ago; the nominal term is longer and the +enrolment larger, but the salaries are so small that only the poorest +local talent can teach. There is little supervision, there are few +appliances, few schoolhouses and no inspiration. On the other hand the +city schools have usually improved. It was natural that the Negro +should rush city-ward toward freedom, education, and decent wages.</p> + +<p>This migration resulted in two things: in the increase and +intensification of the problems of the city, and in redoubled effort +to keep the Negro laborer on the plantations.</p> + +<p>To take the latter efforts first, we find that the efforts of the +landlords to keep Negro labor varied from force to persuasion: force +was used by the landlords to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>extent of actual peonage, by which +Negroes were held on plantations in large numbers; next to peonage for +crime came debt peonage, which used the indebtedness of the Negro +tenants to prevent their moving away; then came the system of labor +contracts and the laws making the breaking of a labor contract a crime +(see Note 10); after that came a crop of vagrancy laws aimed at the +idle Negroes in city and town and designed to compel them to work on +farms, going so far in several states as to reverse the common law +principle and force the person arrested for vagrancy to prove his +innocence (see Note 11).</p> + +<p>In order that the farm laborers should not be tempted away by higher +wages, penalties were laid on "enticing laborers away" and agents were +compelled to take out licenses which ran as high as $2,000 for each +county in some states (see Note 12). Such laws and their +administration required, of course, absolute control of the +government <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>and courts. This was secured by manipulation and fraud, +while at the same time the landlords of the black belt usually opposed +the disfranchisement of Negroes lest such a measure reduce their +political influence which was based on the Negro population.</p> + +<p>All these measures were measures of force, while nothing was done to +attract laborers to the land. The only real attraction of the Negro to +the country was landowning. The Negroes had succeeded in buying land: +by government gift and bounty money they held about three million +acres in 1875, perhaps 8,000,000 in 1890, and 12,000,000 in 1900; but +distinct efforts appeared here and there to stop their buying land.</p> + +<p>There are still vast tracts of land in the South, that anybody, black +or white, can buy for little or nothing, simply because it is worth +little or nothing. Some time, of course, these lands will become +valuable but they are not valuable to-day. Now the Negro cannot invest +in this land as a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>speculation, for he is too poor to wait. He must +have land which he knows how to cultivate, which is near a market, and +which is so situated as to provide reasonable protection for his +family. There are only certain crops which he knows how to cultivate. +He cannot be expected to learn quickly to cultivate crops which he was +not taught to cultivate in the past. He must be within reach of a +market and he must have some community life with his own people and +some protection from other people.</p> + +<p>All these conditions are fulfilled chiefly in the black belt. That is +the cotton region, the crop which he knows best how to raise; from +certain parts of it he can get to the market and he has a great black +population for company and protection. But it is precisely here in the +black belt that it is most difficult to buy land. Capitalistic culture +of cotton, the high price of cotton, and the system of labor peonage +have made land <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>high. Moreover in most of these regions it is +considered bad policy to sell Negroes land because, as has been said, +this "demoralizes" labor. Thus in the densest part of the black belt +in the South, the percentage of land holding is usually low among +Negroes.</p> + +<p>The concentration of land-owning on the other hand in the hands of the +single white proprietors has gone on to a much larger extent than the +country realizes. This is shown not simply in the increase of the +average size of farms in the last decade but it must also be +remembered that the farms do not belong to single owners but are owned +in groups of five, forty or fifty by single landed proprietors. There +are 140,000 owners who own from two to fifty farms in the South and +there are 50,000 owners who have over twenty farms apiece.</p> + +<p>It is not true then to-day that land-buying for the average colored +farmer in the South is an easy thing. The land which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>has been bought +has been bought by the exceptional men or by the men who have had +unusual opportunity, who have been helped by their former masters or +by some other patrons, who have been aided by members of their own +families in the North or in the cities, or who have escaped the +wretched crop system by some sudden rise in the price of cotton, which +did not enable the landlord to take the whole economic advantage. It +is therefore in spite of the land system and not because of it that +the Negroes to-day own 12,000,000 acres of land (see Note 13).</p> + +<p>The net result of the whole policy of serfdom was so to deplete the +ranks of laborers that a new solution of the labor problem must be +found.</p> + +<p>Here it was that the southern city came forward. The city had new +significance, especially new cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, and +Chattanooga as contrasted with Charleston and Savannah. They saw a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>new industrial solution of the problem of Negro labor. It was a simple +program: Industry and disfranchisement; the separation of the masses +of the Negroes from all participation in government, and such +technical training as should fit them to become skilled working men.</p> + +<p>There was an <i>arriere pensee</i> here too, born in the minds of northern +capitalists. The white southern working men were becoming unionized by +northern agitators; here was a chance to keep them down to reasonable +demands by black competition and the threat of more competition in the +future. Moreover working men without votes would be far more docile +and tractable. Politics had already spoiled the Negroes. Let the +whites rule and the blacks work.</p> + +<p>The plea was specious, it had the sanction of great names, of wealth +and social influence, and it convinced not only those who wanted to be +convinced but practically all Americans who were eager to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>relieved +of troublesome questions and difficult public duties.</p> + +<p>All the more eagerly was this solution seized upon because of the +definite and distinct promises which it made. Disfranchise the Negro, +said the South, and the race problem is solved; there is no race +problem save the menace of an ignorant and venal vote;—relieve us +from this and the lion and the lamb will lie down together;—the Negro +will go peacefully and contentedly to work and the whites will wax +just and rich. We all remember with what confidence and absolute +certainty of conviction this program was announced when Mississippi +disfranchised her Negro voters seventeen years ago. It was repeated +twelve years ago in South Carolina, ten years ago in Louisiana, and +still more recently in North Carolina and Alabama.</p> + +<p>What has been the result? Is the race problem solved? Is the Negro out +of politics in the South? Has there been a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>single southern campaign +in the last twenty years in which the Negro has not figured as the +prime issue? Have the southern representatives in Congress any settled +convictions or policy save hatred of black men, and can they discuss +any other matter? Is it not the irony of fate that in the state that +first discovered the legal fraud of disfranchisement a hot political +battle is to-day waging on the old, old question: the right of black +men to vote?</p> + +<p>The reason for all this is not far to seek. In modern industrial +democracy disfranchisement is impossible. The fate, wishes, and +destiny of ten million human beings cannot be delivered, sealed and +bound into the keeping of Dixon, Tillman, Vardaman, and Nelson Page. +They are bound to vote even when disfranchised.</p> + +<p>Disfranchised and voiceless though I am in Georgia to-day by the +illegal White Primary system, there are still fifty congressmen in +Washington fraudulently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>representing me and my fellows in the +councils of the nation (see Note 14).</p> + +<p>It was promised that disfranchisement would lead to more careful +attention to the Negro's moral and economic advancement. It has on the +contrary stripped them naked to their enemies; discriminating laws of +all sorts have followed, the administration of other laws has become +harsher and more unfair, school funds have been curtailed and +education discouraged, and mobs and murder have gone on.</p> + +<p>If the new policy has been a farce politically and socially, how much +more has it failed as an economic cure-all! No sooner was it +proclaimed from the house-tops than the rift in the lute appeared. "We +do not want educated farmers," cried the landlords, "we want docile +laborers." "We do not want educated Negro artisans," cried the white +artisans, and they enforced their demands by their votes and by mob +violence. "We do not want to raise the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>Negro; we want to put him in +his place and keep him there," cried the dominant forces of the South. +Then those northerners who had lightly embraced the fair sounding +program of limited labor training and disfranchisement found +themselves grasping the air.</p> + +<p>Not only this, but the South itself faced a puzzling paradox. The +industrial revolution was demanding labor; it was demanding +intelligent labor, while the supposed political and social exigences +of the situation called for ignorance and subserviency. It was an +impossible contradiction and the South to-day knows it.</p> + +<p>What is it that makes a successful laboring force? It is laborers of +education and natural intelligence, reasonably satisfied with their +conditions, inspired with certain ideals of life, and with a growing +sense of self-respect and self-reliance. How is the caste system of +the South influencing the Negro laborer? It is systematically +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>restricting his development; it is restricting his education so that +the public common schools of the South except in a few cities are +worse this moment than they were twenty years ago; it is seeking to +kill self-respect by putting upon the accident of color every mark of +humiliation that it can invent; it is discouraging self-reliance by +treating a class of men as wards and children; it is killing ambition +by drawing a color line instead of a line of desert and +accomplishment; and finally, through these things, it is encouraging +crime, and by the unintelligent and brutal treatment of criminals, it +is developing more crime.</p> + +<p>This general attitude toward the main laboring class reflects itself +less glaringly but as certainly in the treatment even of white +laborers. So long as white labor must compete with black labor, it +must approximate black labor conditions—long hours, small wages, +child labor, labor of women, and even peonage. Moreover it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>can raise +itself above black labor only by a legalized caste system which will +cut off competition and this is what the South is straining every +nerve to create.</p> + +<p>The last fatal campaign in Georgia which culminated in the Atlanta +Massacre was an attempt, fathered by conscienceless politicians, to +arouse the prejudices of the rank and file of white laborers and +farmers against the growing competition of black men, so that black +men by law could be forced back to subserviency and serfdom. It +succeeded so well that smouldering hate burst into flaming murder +before the politicians could curb it.</p> + +<p>There is, however, a limit to this sort of thing. The day when mobs +can successfully cow the Negro to willing slavery is past. The Atlanta +Negroes shot back and shot to kill, and that stopped the riot with a +certain suddenness (see Note 15). The South is realizing that +lawlessness and economic advance cannot coexist. If the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>wonderful +industrial revolution is to develop unhindered, the South must have +law and order and it must have intelligent workmen.</p> + +<p>It is only a question of time when white working men and black working +men will see their common cause against the aggressions of exploiting +capitalists. Already there are signs of this: white and black miners +are working as a unit in Alabama; white and black masons are in one +union in Atlanta (see Note 16). The economic strength of the Negro +cannot be beaten into weakness, and therefore it must be taken into +partnership, and this the Southern white working man, befuddled by +prejudice as he is, begins dimly to realize.</p> + +<p>It is this paradox that brings us to-day in the South to a fourth +solution of the problem: Immigration. The voice that calls foreign +immigrants southward to-day is not single but double. First, the +exploiter of common labor wishes to exploit this new labor just as +formerly he exploited Negro <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>labor. On the other hand the far-sighted +ones know that the present freedom of labor exploitation must +pass—that some time or other the industrial system of the South must +be made to conform more and more to the growing sense of industrial +justice in the North and in the civilized world. Consequently the +second object of the immigration philosopher is to make sure that, +when the rights of the laborer come to be recognized in the South, +that laborer will be white, and just so far as possible the black +laborer will still be forced down below the white laborer until he +becomes thoroughly demoralized or extinct.</p> + +<p>The query is therefore: If immigration turns toward the South as it +undoubtedly will in time, what will become of the Negro? The view of +the white world is usually that there are two possibilities. First, +that the immigrants will crush the Negro utterly; or secondly, that by +competition there will come a sifting which will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>lead to the survival +of the best in both groups of laborers.</p> + +<p>Let us consider these possibilities. First it is certain that so far +as the Negroes are land holders, and so far as they belong to a +self-employing, self-supplying group economy, no possible competition +from without can disturb them. I have shown already how rapidly this +system is growing. Further than that, there is a large group of +Negroes who have already gained an assured place in the national +economy as artisans, servants, and laborers. The worst of these may be +supplanted, but the best could not be unless there came a sudden +unprecedented and improbable influx of skilled foreign labor. A slow +infiltration of foreigners cannot displace the better class of Negro +workers; simply because the growing labor demand of the South cannot +spare them. If then it is to be merely a matter of ability to work, +the result of immigration will on the whole be beneficial and will +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>differentiate the good Negro workman from the careless and +indifferent.</p> + +<p>But one element remains to be considered, and this is political power. +If the black workman is to remain disfranchised while the white native +and immigrant not only has the economic defense of the ballot, but the +power to use it so as to hem in the Negro competitor, cow and +humiliate him and force him to a lower plane, then the Negro will +suffer from immigration.</p> + +<p>It is becoming distinctly obvious to Negroes that to-day, in modern +economic organization, the one thing that is giving the workman a +chance is intelligence and political power, and that it is utterly +impossible for a moment to suppose that the Negro in the South is +going to hold his own in the new competition with immigrants if, on +the one hand, the immigrant has access to the best schools of the +community and has equal political power with other men to defend his +rights and to assert his wishes, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>while, on the other hand, his black +competitor is not only weighed down by past degradation, but has few +or no schools and is disfranchised.</p> + +<p>The question then as to what will happen in the South when immigration +comes, is a very simple question. If the Negro is kept disfranchised +and ignorant and if the new foreign immigrants are allowed access to +the schools and given votes as they undoubtedly will be, then there +can ensue only accentuated race hatred, the spread of poverty and +disease among Negroes, the increase of crime, and the gradual murder +of the eight millions of black men who live in the South except in so +far as they escape North and bring their problems there as thousands +will.</p> + +<p>If on the contrary, with the coming of the immigrants to the South, +there is given to the Negro equal educational opportunity and the +chance to cast his vote like a man and be counted as a man in the +councils of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>the county, city, state and nation, then there will ensue +that competition between men in the industrial world which, if it is +not altogether just, is at least better than slavery and serfdom.</p> + +<p>There of course could be strong argument that the nation owes the +Negro something better than harsh industrial competition just after +slavery, but the Negro does not ask the payment of debts that are +dead. He is perfectly willing to come into competition with immigrants +from any part of the world, to welcome them as human beings and as +fellows in the struggle for life, to struggle with them and for them +and for a greater South and a better nation. But the black man +certainly has a right to ask, when he starts into this race, that he +be allowed to start with hands untied and brain unclouded (see Note +17).</p> + +<p>Such in bare outline is the economic history of the South. It is the +story of an attempt to degrade working men. It failed in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>1860, after +it had sought for centuries to reduce laborers to the level of +purchasable cattle; it failed in 1870, after a fearful catastrophe +while endeavoring to revive this system under another name; it has +failed since then satisfactorily to maintain the present rural serfdom +or to establish a disfranchised caste of artisans; and it will fail in +the future to keep the stubbornly up-struggling masses of black +laborers down, by shackling their souls and loading immigrants atop of +them. It will always fail unless indeed, as sometimes seems possible, +both Church and State in America shall refuse longer to listen to the +teaching of Jesus when He said: "Come unto Me all ye that labor and +are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.</p> + +<p>"Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in +heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls.</p> + +<p>"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>RELIGION IN THE SOUTH</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span><br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>RELIGION IN THE SOUTH<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>It is often a nice question as to which is of greater importance among +a people—the way in which they earn their living, or their attitude +toward life. As a matter of fact these two things are but two sides of +the same problem, for nothing so reveals the attitude of a people +toward life as the manner in which they earn their living; and on the +other hand the earning of a living depends in the last analysis upon +one's estimate of what life really is. So that these two questions +that I am discussing with regard to the South are intimately bound up +with each other.</p> + +<p>If we have studied the economic development of the South carefully, +then we have already seen something of its attitude toward life; the +history of religion in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>South means a study of these same facts +over which we have gone, from a different point of view. Moreover, as +the economic history of the South is in effect the economics of +slavery and the Negro problem, so the essence of a study of religion +in the South is a study of the ethics of slavery and emancipation.</p> + +<p>It is very difficult of course for one who has not seen the practical +difficulties that surround a people at any particular time in their +battle with the hard facts of this world, to interpret with sympathy +their ideals of life; and this is especially difficult when the +economic life of a nation has been expressed by such a discredited +word as slavery. If, then, we are to study the history of religion in +the South, we must first of all divest ourselves of prejudice, pro and +con; we must try to put ourselves in the place of those who are +seeking to read the riddle of life and grant to them about the same +general charity and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>same general desire to do right that we find +in the average human being. On the other hand, we must not, in +striving to be charitable, be false to truth and right. Slavery in the +United States was an economic mistake and a moral crime. This we +cannot forget. Yet it had its excuses and mitigations. These we must +remember.</p> + +<p>When in the seventeenth century there grew up in the New World a +system of human slavery, it was not by any means a new thing. There +were slaves and slavery in Europe, not, to be sure, to a great extent, +but none the less real. The Christian religion, however, had come to +regard it as wrong and unjust that those who partook of the privileges +and hopes and aspirations of that religion should oppress each other +to the extent of actual enslavement. The idea of human brotherhood in +the seventeenth century was of a brotherhood of co-religionists. When +it came to the dealing of Christian with heathen, however, the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>century saw nothing wrong in slavery; rather, theoretically, they saw +a chance for a great act of humanity and religion. The slaves were to +be brought from heathenism to Christianity, and through slavery the +benighted Indian and African were to find their passport into the +kingdom of God. This theory of human slavery was held by Spaniards, +French, and English. It was New England in the early days that put the +echo of it in her codes (see Note 18) and recognition of it can be +seen in most of the colonies.</p> + +<p>But no sooner had people adopted this theory than there came the +insistent and perplexing question as to what the status of the heathen +slave was to be after he was Christianized and baptized; and even more +pressing, what was to be the status of his children?</p> + +<p>It took a great deal of bitter heart searching for the conscientious +early slave-holders to settle this question. The obvious state <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>of +things was that the new convert awoke immediately to the freedom of +Christ and became a freeman. But while this was the theoretical, +religious answer, and indeed the answer which was given in several +instances, the practice soon came into direct and perplexing conflict +with the grim facts of economic life.</p> + +<p>Here was a man who had invested his money and his labor in slaves; he +had done it with dependence on the institution of property. Could he +be deprived of his property simply because his slaves were baptized +afterward into a Christian church? Very soon such economic reasoning +swept away the theological dogma and it was expressly declared in +colony after colony that baptism did not free the slaves (see Note +19). This, of course, put an end to the old doctrine of the heathen +slave and it was necessary for the church to arrange for itself a new +theory by which it could ameliorate, if not excuse, the position of +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>slave. The next question was naturally that of the children of +slaves born in Christianity and the church for a time hedged +unworthily on the subject by consigning to perpetual slavery the +children of heathen but not those born of Christian parents; this was +satisfactory for the first generation but it fell short of the logic +of slavery later, and a new adjustment was demanded.</p> + +<p>Here again this was not found difficult. In Virginia there had been +built up the beginnings of a feudal aristocracy. Men saw nothing wrong +or unthinkable in the situation as it began to develop, but rather +something familiar. At the head of the feudal manor was the lord, or +master, beneath him the under-lord or overseers and then the artisans, +retainers, the free working men and lastly the serfs, slaves or +servants as they were called. The servant was not free and yet he was +not theoretically exactly a slave, and the laws of Virginia were +rather careful to speak very little of slaves.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>Serfdom in America as in Europe was to be a matter of status or +position and not of race or blood, and the law of the South in the +seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries made little or no +distinction between black and white bondservants save in the time of +their service. The idea, felt rather than expressed, was that here in +America we were to have a new feudalism suited to the new country. At +the top was the governor of the colony representing the majesty of the +English king, at the bottom the serfs or slaves, some white, most of +them black.</p> + +<p>Slavery therefore was gradually transformed in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries into a social status out of which a man, even a +black man, could escape and did escape; and, no matter what his color +was, when he became free, he became free in the same sense that other +people were. Thus it was that there were free black voters in the +southern colonies (Virginia <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>and the Carolinas) in the early days +concerning whose right to vote there was less question than there is +concerning my right to vote now in Georgia (see Note 20).</p> + +<p>The church recognized the situation and the Episcopal church +especially gave itself easily to this new conception. This church +recognized the social gradation of men; all souls were equal in the +sight of God, but there were differences in worldly consideration and +respect, and consequently it was perfectly natural that there should +be an aristocracy at the top and a group of serfs at the bottom.</p> + +<p>Meantime, however, America began to be stirred by a new democratic +ideal; there came the reign of that ruler of men, Andrew Jackson; +there came the spread of the democratic churches, Methodist and +Baptist, and the democratization of other churches. Now when America +became to be looked upon more and more as the dwelling place of free +and equal men and when the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>Methodist and, particularly, the Baptist +churches went down into the fields and proselyted among the slaves, a +thing which the more aristocratic Episcopal church had never done (see +Note 21), there came new questions and new heart-searchings among +those who wanted to explain the difficulties and to think and speak +clearly in the midst of their religious convictions.</p> + +<p>As such people began to look round them the condition of the slaves +appalled them. The Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina and Georgia +declared in 1833: "There are over two millions of human beings in the +condition of heathen and some of them in a worse condition. They may +be justly considered the heathen of this country, and will bear a +comparison with heathen in any country in the world. The Negroes are +destitute of the gospel, and ever will be under the present state of +things. In the vast field extending from an entire state beyond the +Potomac [<i>i.e.</i>, Maryland] to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>Sabine River [at the time our +southwestern boundary] and from the Atlantic to the Ohio, there are, +to the best of our knowledge, not twelve men exclusively devoted to +the religious instruction of the Negroes. In the present state of +feeling in the South, a ministry of their own color could neither be +obtained nor tolerated.</p> + +<p>"But do not the Negroes have access to the gospel through the stated +ministry of the whites? We answer, no. The Negroes have no regular and +efficient ministry; as a matter of course, no churches; neither is +there sufficient room in the white churches for their accommodation. +We know of but five churches in the slave-holding states built +expressly for their use. These are all in the state of Georgia. We may +now inquire whether they enjoy the privileges of the gospel in their +own houses, and on our plantations? Again we return a negative answer. +They have no Bibles to read by their own firesides. They have no +family <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>altars; and when in affliction, sickness, or death, they have +no minister to address to them the consolations of the gospel, nor to +bury them with appropriate services."</p> + +<p>The same synod said in 1834: "The gospel, as things now are, can never +be preached to the two classes (whites and blacks) successfully in +conjunction. The galleries or back seats on the lower floor of white +churches are generally appropriated to the Negroes, when it can be +done without inconvenience to the whites. When it cannot be done +conveniently, the Negroes must catch the gospel as it escapes through +the doors and windows. If the master is pious, the house servants +alone attend family worship, and frequently few of them, while the +field hands have no attention at all. So far as masters are engaged in +the work [of religious instruction of slaves], an almost unbroken +silence reigns on this vast field."</p> + +<p>The Rev. C.C. Jones, a Georgian and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>ardent defender of slavery (see +Note 22) says of the period 1790-1820: "It is not too much to say that +the religious and physical condition of the Negroes were both improved +during this period. Their increase was natural and regular, ranging +every ten years between thirty-four and thirty-six per cent. As the +old stock from Africa died out of the country, the grosser customs, +ignorance, and paganism of Africa died with them. Their descendants, +the country-born, were better looking, more intelligent, more +civilized, more susceptible of religious impressions.</p> + +<p>"On the whole, however, but a minority of the Negroes, and that a +small one, attended regularly the house of God, and taking them as a +class, their religious instruction was extensively and most seriously +neglected."</p> + +<p>And of the decade 1830-40, he insists: "We cannot cry out against the +Papists for withholding the Scriptures from the common people and +keeping them in ignorance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>of the way of life, for we withhold the +Bible from our servants, and keep them in ignorance of it, while we +will not use the means to have it read and explained to them."</p> + +<p>Such condition stirred the more radical-minded toward abolition +sentiments and the more conservative toward renewed effort to +evangelize and better the condition of the slaves. This condition was +deplorable as Jones pictures it. "Persons live and die in the midst of +Negroes and know comparatively little of their real character. They +have not the immediate management of them. They have to do with them +in the ordinary discharge of their duty as servants, further than this +they institute no inquiries; they give themselves no trouble.</p> + +<p>"The Negroes are a distinct class in the community, and keep +themselves very much to themselves. They are one thing before the +whites and another before their own color. Deception before the former +is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>characteristic of them, whether bond or free, throughout the whole +United States. It is habit, a long established custom, which descends +from generation to generation. There is an upper and an under current. +Some are contented with the appearance on the surface; others dive +beneath. Hence the diversity of impressions and representations of the +moral and religious condition of the Negroes. Hence the disposition of +some to deny the darker pictures of their more searching and knowing +friends."</p> + +<p>He then enumerates the vice of the slaves: "The divine institution of +marriage depends for its perpetuity, sacredness, and value, largely +upon the protection given it by the law of the land. Negro marriages +are neither recognized nor protected by law. The Negroes receive no +instruction on the nature, sacredness, and perpetuity of the +institution; at any rate they are far from being duly impressed with +these things. They are not required to be married in any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>particular +form, nor by any particular persons."</p> + +<p>He continues: "Hence, as may well be imagined, the marriage relation +loses much of the sacredness and perpetuity of its character. It is a +contract of convenience, profit, or pleasure, that may be entered into +and dissolved at the will of the parties, and that without heinous +sin, or the injury of the property or interests of any one. That which +they possess in common is speedily divided, and the support of the +wife and children falls not upon the husband, but upon the master. +Protracted sickness, want of industrial habits, of congeniality of +disposition, or disparity of age, are sufficient grounds for a +separation."</p> + +<p>Under such circumstances, "polygamy is practiced both secretly and +openly." Un-cleanness, infanticide, theft, lying, quarreling, and +fighting are noted, and the words of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in +1829 are recalled: "There needs no stronger <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>illustration of the +doctrine of human depravity than the state of morals on plantations in +general. Besides the mischievous tendency of bad example in parents +and elders, the little Negro is often taught by these natural +instructors that he may commit any vice that he can conceal from his +superiors, and thus falsehood and deception are among the earliest +lessons they imbibe. Their advance in years is but a progression to +the higher grades of iniquity. The violation of the Seventh +Commandment is viewed in a more venial light than in fashionable +European circles. Their depredations of rice have been estimated to +amount to twenty-five per cent. of the gross average of crops."</p> + +<p>John Randolph of Roanoke once visited a lady and "found her surrounded +with her seamstresses, making up a quantity of clothing. 'What work +have you in hand?' 'O sir, I am preparing this clothing to send to the +poor Greeks.' On taking leave at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>the steps of her mansion, he saw +some of her servants in need of the very clothing which their +tender-hearted mistress was sending abroad. He exclaimed, 'Madam, +madam, the Greeks are at your door!'"</p> + +<p>One natural solution of this difficulty was to train teachers and +preachers for the slaves from among their own number. The old Voodoo +priests were passing away and already here and there new spiritual +leaders of the Negroes began to arise. Accounts of several of these, +taken from "The Negro Church," will be given.</p> + +<p>Among the earliest was Harry Hosier who traveled with the Methodist +Bishop Asbury and often filled appointments for him. George Leile and +Andrew Bryan were preachers whose life history is of intense interest. +"George Leile or Lisle, sometimes called George Sharp, was born in +Virginia about 1750. His master (Mr. Sharp) some time before the +American war removed and settled in Burke County, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>Georgia. Mr. Sharp +was a Baptist and a deacon in a Baptist church, of which Rev. Matthew +Moore was pastor. George was converted and baptized under Mr. Moore's +ministry. The church gave him liberty to preach.</p> + +<p>"About nine months after George Leile left Georgia, Andrew, surnamed +Bryan, a man of good sense, great zeal, and some natural elocution, +began to exhort his black brethren and friends. He and his followers +were reprimanded and forbidden to engage further in religious +exercises. He would, however, pray, sing, and encourage his fellow +worshipers to seek the Lord.</p> + +<p>"Their persecution was carried to an inhuman extent. Their evening +assemblies were broken up and those found present were punished with +stripes. Andrew Bryan and Sampson, his brother, converted about a year +after him, were twice imprisoned, and they with about fifty others +were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>whipped. When publicly whipped, and bleeding under his wounds, +Andrew declared that he not only rejoiced to be whipped, but would +gladly suffer death for the cause of Jesus Christ, and that while he +had life and opportunity he would continue to preach Christ. He was +faithful to his vow and, by patient continuance in well-doing, he put +to silence and shamed his adversaries, and influential advocates and +patrons were raised up for him. Liberty was given Andrew by the civil +authority to continue his religious meetings under certain +regulations. His master gave him the use of his barn at Brampton, +three miles from Savannah, where he preached for two years with little +interruption."</p> + +<p>Lott Carey a free Virginia Negro "was evidently a man of superior +intellect and force of character, as is evidenced from the fact that +his reading took a wide range—from political economy, in Adam Smith's +'Wealth of Nations,' to the voyage of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>Captain Cook. That he was a +worker as well as a preacher is true, for when he decided to go to +Africa his employers offered to raise his salary from $800 to $1,000 a +year. Remember that this was over eighty years ago. Carey was not +seduced by such a flattering offer, for he was determined.</p> + +<p>"His last sermon in the old First Church in Richmond must have been +exceedingly powerful, for it was compared by an eye-witness, a +resident of another state, to the burning, eloquent appeals of George +Whitfield. Fancy him as he stands there in that historic building +ringing the changes on the word 'freely,' depicting the willingness +with which he was ready to give up his life for service in Africa.</p> + +<p>"He, as you may already know, was the leader of the pioneer colony to +Liberia, where he arrived even before the agent of the Colonization +Society. In his new home his abilities were recognized, for he was +made vice governor, and became governor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>in fact while Governor Ashmun +was absent from the colony in this country. Carey did not allow his +position to betray the cause of his people, for he did not hesitate to +expose the duplicity of the Colonization Society and even to defy +their authority, it would seem, in the interests of the people.</p> + +<p>"While casting cartridges to defend the colonists against the natives +in 1828, the accidental upsetting of a candle caused an explosion that +resulted in his death.</p> + +<p>"Carey is described as a typical Negro, six feet in height, of massive +and erect frame, with the sinews of a Titan. He had a square face, +keen eyes, and a grave countenance. His movements were measured; in +short, he had all the bearing and dignity of a prince of the blood."</p> + +<p>John Chavis was a full-blooded Negro, born in Granville County, N.C., +near Oxford, in 1763. He was born free and was sent to Princeton, +studying privately under Dr. Witherspoon, where he did well. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>went +to Virginia to preach to Negroes. In 1802, in the county court, his +freedom and character were certified to and it was declared that he +had passed "through a regular course of academic studies" at what is +now Washington and Lee University. In 1805 he returned to North +Carolina, where in 1809 he was made a licentiate in the Presbyterian +Church and allowed to preach. His English was remarkably pure, his +manner impressive, his explanations clear and concise.</p> + +<p>For a long time he taught school and had the best whites as pupils—a +United States senator, the sons of a chief justice of North Carolina, +a governor of the state and many others. Some of his pupils boarded in +the family, and his school was regarded as the best in the State. "All +accounts agree that John Chavis was a gentleman," and he was received +socially among the best whites and asked to table. In 1830 he was +stopped from preaching by the law. Afterward <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>he taught a school for +free Negroes in Raleigh.</p> + +<p>Henry Evans was a full-blooded Virginia free Negro, and was the +pioneer of Methodism in Fayetteville, N.C. He found the Negroes there, +about 1800, without any religious instruction. He began preaching and +the town council ordered him away; he continued and whites came to +hear him. Finally the white auditors outnumbered the blacks and sheds +were erected for Negroes at the side of the church. The gathering +became a regular Methodist Church, with a white and Negro membership, +but Evans continued to preach. He exhibited "rare self-control before +the most wretched of castes! Henry Evans did much good, but he would +have done more good had his spirit been untrammeled by this sense of +inferiority."</p> + +<p>His dying words uttered as he stood, aged and bent beside his pulpit, +are of singular pathos: "I have come to say my last word <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>to you. It +is this: None but Christ. Three times have I had my life in jeopardy +for preaching the gospel to you. Three times I have broken ice on the +edge of the water and swam across the Cape Fear to preach the gospel +to you; and, if in my last hour I could trust to that, or anything but +Christ crucified, for my salvation, all should be lost and my soul +perish forever."</p> + +<p>Early in the nineteenth century Ralph Freeman was a slave in Anson +County, N.C. He was a full-blooded Negro, and was ordained and became +an able Baptist preacher. He baptized and administered communion, and +was greatly respected. When the Baptists split on the question of +missions he sided with the anti-mission side. Finally the law forbade +him to preach.</p> + +<p>Lunsford Lane was a Negro who bought his freedom in Raleigh, N.C., by +the manufacture of smoking tobacco. He later became a minister of the +gospel, and had the confidence of many of the best people.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>The story of Jack of Virginia is best told in the words of a Southern +writer:</p> + +<p>"Probably the most interesting case in the whole South is that of an +African preacher of Nottoway County, popularly known as 'Uncle Jack,' +whose services to white and black were so valuable that a +distinguished minister of the Southern Presbyterian Church felt called +upon to memorialize his work in a biography.</p> + +<p>"Kidnapped from his idolatrous parents in Africa, he was brought over +in one of the last cargoes of slaves admitted to Virginia and sold to +a remote and obscure planter in Nottoway County, a region at that time +in the backwoods and destitute particularly as to religious life and +instruction. He was converted under the occasional preaching of Rev. +Dr. John Blair Smith, president of Hampden-Sidney College, and of Dr. +William Hill and Dr. Archibald Alexander of Princeton, then young +theologues, and by hearing the Scriptures read.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>"Taught by his master's children to read, he became so full of the +spirit and knowledge of the Bible that he was recognized among the +whites as a powerful expounder of Christian doctrine, was licensed to +preach by the Baptist Church, and preached from plantation to +plantation within a radius of thirty miles, as he was invited by +overseers or masters. His freedom was purchased by a subscription of +whites, and he was given a home and tract of land for his support. He +organized a large and orderly Negro church, and exercised such a +wonderful controlling influence over the private morals of his flock +that masters, instead of punishing their slaves, often referred them +to the discipline of their pastor, which they dreaded far more.</p> + +<p>"He stopped a heresy among the Negroes of Southern Virginia, defeating +in open argument a famous fanatical Negro preacher named Campbell, who +advocated noise and 'the spirit' against the Bible, and winning <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>over +Campbell's adherents in a body. For over forty years, and until he was +nearly a hundred years of age, he labored successfully in public and +private among black and whites, voluntarily giving up his preaching in +obedience to the law of 1832, the result of 'Old Nat's war.'</p> + +<p>"The most refined and aristocratic people paid tribute to him, and he +was instrumental in the conversion of many whites. Says his +biographer, Rev. Dr. William S. White: 'He was invited into their +houses, sat with their families, took part in their social worship, +sometimes leading the prayer at the family altar. Many of the most +intelligent people attended upon his ministry and listened to his +sermons with great delight. Indeed, previous to the year 1825, he was +considered by the best judges to be the best preacher in that county. +His opinions were respected, his advice followed, and yet he never +betrayed the least symptoms of arrogance or self-conceit.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>"'His dwelling was a rude log cabin, his apparel of the plainest and +coarsest materials.' This was because he wanted to be fully identified +with his class. He refused gifts of better clothing, saying 'These +clothes are a great deal better than are generally worn by people of +my color, and besides if I wear finer ones I find I shall be obliged +to think about them even at meeting.'"</p> + +<p>Thus slowly, surely, the slave, in the persons of such exceptional +men, appearing here and there at rare intervals, was persistently +stretching upward. The Negroes bade fair in time to have their +leaders. The new democratic evangelism began to encourage this, and +then came the difficulty—the inevitable ethical paradox.</p> + +<p>The good men of the South recognized the needs of the slaves. Here and +there Negro ministers were arising. What now should be the policy? On +the part of the best thinkers it seemed as if men might strive here, +in spite of slavery, after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>brotherhood; that the slaves should be +proselyted, taught religion, admitted to the churches, and, +notwithstanding their civil station, looked upon as the spiritual +brothers of the white communicants. Much was done to make this true. +The conditions improved in a great many respects, but no sooner was +there a systematic effort to teach the slaves, even though that +teaching was confined to elementary religion, than the various things +followed that must follow all intellectual awakenings.</p> + +<p>We have had the same thing in our day. A few Negroes of the South have +been taught, they consequently have begun to think, they have begun to +assert themselves, and suddenly men are face to face with the fact +that either one of two things must happen—either they must stop +teaching or these people are going to be men, not serfs or slaves. Not +only that, but to seek to put an awakening people back to sleep means +revolt. It meant revolt in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>eighteenth century, when a series of +insurrections and disturbances frightened the South tremendously, not +so much by their actual extent as by the possibilities they suggested. +It was noticeable that many of these revolts were led by preachers.</p> + +<p>The revolution in Hayti greatly stirred the South and induced South +Carolina to declare in 1800:</p> + +<p>"It shall not be lawful for any number of slaves, free Negroes, +mulattoes, or mestizoes, even in company with white persons, to meet +together and assemble for the purpose of mental instruction or +religious worship either before the rising of the sun or after the +going down of the same. And all magistrates, sheriffs, militia +officers, etc., etc., are hereby vested with power, etc., for +dispersing such assemblies."</p> + +<p>On petition of the white churches the rigor of this law was slightly +abated in 1803 by a modification which forbade any person, before nine +o'clock in the evening, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>"to break into a place of meeting wherein +shall be assembled the members of any religious society in this State, +provided a majority of them shall be white persons, or otherwise to +disturb their devotions unless such persons, etc., so entering said +place (of worship) shall first have obtained from some magistrate, +etc., a warrant, etc., in case a magistrate shall be then actually +within a distance of three miles from such place of meeting; otherwise +the provisions, etc. (of the Act of 1800) to remain in full force."</p> + +<p>So, too, in Virginia the Haytian revolt and the attempted insurrection +under Gabriel in 1800 led to the Act of 1804, which forbade all +evening meetings of slaves. This was modified in 1805 so as to allow a +slave, in company with a white person, to listen to a white minister +in the evening. A master was "allowed" to employ a religious teacher +for his slaves. Mississippi passed similar restrictions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>By 1822 the rigor of the South Carolina laws in regard to Negro +meetings had abated, especially in a city like Charleston, and one of +the results was the Vesey plot.</p> + +<p>"The sundry religious classes or congregations, with Negro leaders or +local preachers, into which were formed the Negro members of the +various churches of Charleston, furnished Vesey with the first +rudiments of an organization, and at the same time with a singularly +safe medium for conducting his underground agitation. It was +customary, at that time, for these Negro congregations to meet for +purposes of worship entirely free from the presence of whites. Such +meetings were afterward forbidden to be held except in the presence of +at least one representative of the dominant race, but during the three +or four years prior to the year 1822 they certainly offered Denmark +Vesey regular, easy, and safe opportunity for preaching his gospel of +liberty and hate. And we are left in no doubt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>whatever in regard to +the uses to which he put those gatherings of blacks.</p> + +<p>"Like many of his race, he possessed the gift of gab, as the silver in +the tongue and the gold in the full or thick-lipped mouth are +oftentimes contemptuously characterized. And, like many of his race, +he was a devoted student of the Bible, to whose interpretation he +brought, like many other Bible students not confined to the Negro +race, a good deal of imagination and not a little of superstition, +which, with some natures, is perhaps but another name for the desires +of the heart.</p> + +<p>"Thus equipped, it is no wonder that Vesey, as he pored over the Old +Testament scriptures, found many points of similitude in the history +of the Jews and that of the slaves in the United States. They were +both peculiar peoples. They were both Jehovah's peculiar peoples, one +in the past, the other in the present. And it seemed to him that as +Jehovah bent His ear, and bared <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>His arm once in behalf of the one, so +would He do the same for the other. It was all vividly real to his +thought, I believe, for to his mind thus had said the Lord.</p> + +<p>"He ransacked the Bible for apposite and terrible texts whose commands +in the olden times, to the olden people, were no less imperative upon +the new times and the new people. This new people were also commanded +to arise and destroy their enemies and the city in which they dwelt, +'both man and woman, young and old, with the edge of the sword.' +Believing superstitiously as he did in the stern and Nemesis-like God +of the Old Testament he looked confidently for a day of vengeance and +retribution for the blacks. He felt, I doubt not, something peculiarly +applicable to his enterprise and intensely personal to himself in the +stern and exultant prophecy of Zachariah, fierce and sanguinary words, +which were constantly in his mouth: 'Then shall the Lord go forth and +fight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>against those nations as when He fought in the day of battle.' +According to Vesey's lurid exegesis 'those nations' in the text meant +beyond peradventure the cruel masters, and Jehovah was to go forth to +fight them for the poor slaves and on whichever side fought that day +the Almighty God on that side would assuredly rest victory and +deliverance.</p> + +<p>"It will not be denied that Vesey's plan contemplated the total +annihilation of the white population of Charleston. Nursing for many +dark years the bitter wrongs of himself and race had filled him +without doubt with a mad spirit of revenge and had given to him a +decided predilection for shedding the blood of his oppressors. But if +he intended to kill them to satisfy a desire for vengeance he intended +to do so also on broader ground. The conspirators, he argued, had no +choice in the matter, but were compelled to adopt a policy of +extermination by the necessity of their position. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>The liberty of the +blacks was in the balance of fate against the lives of the whites. He +could strike that balance in favor of the blacks only by the total +destruction of the whites. Therefore the whites, men, women, and +children, were doomed to death."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>Vesey's plot was well laid, but the conspirators were betrayed.</p> + +<p>Less than ten years after this plot was discovered and Vesey and his +associates hanged, there broke out the Nat Turner insurrection in +Virginia. Turner was himself a preacher.</p> + +<p>"He was a Christian and a man. He was conscious that he was a Man and +not a 'thing'; therefore, driven by religious fanaticism, he undertook +a difficult and bloody task. Nathaniel Turner was born in Southampton +County, Virginia, October 2, 1800. His master was one Benjamin Turner, +a very wealthy and aristocratic man. He owned many slaves, and was a +cruel and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>exacting master. Young 'Nat' was born of slave parents, and +carried to his grave many of the superstitions and traits of his +father and mother. The former was a preacher, the latter a 'mother in +Israel.' Both were unlettered but, nevertheless, very pious people.</p> + +<p>"The mother began when Nat was quite young to teach him that he was +born, like Moses, to be the deliverer of his race. She would sing to +him snatches of wild, rapturous songs and repeat portions of prophecy +she had learned from the preachers of those times. Nat listened with +reverence and awe, and believed everything his mother said. He imbibed +the deep religious character of his parents, and soon manifested a +desire to preach. He was solemnly set apart to 'the gospel ministry' +by his father, the church, and visiting preachers. He was quite low in +stature, dark, and had the genuine African features. His eyes were +small but sharp, and gleamed like fire when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>he was talking about his +'mission' or preaching from some prophetic passage of scripture. It is +said that he never laughed. He was a dreamy sort of a man, and avoided +the crowd.</p> + +<p>"Like Moses he lived in the solitudes of the mountains and brooded +over the condition of his people. There was something grand to him in +the rugged scenery that nature had surrounded him with. He believed +that he was a prophet, a leader raised up by God to burst the bolts of +the prison-house and set the oppressed free. The thunder, the hail, +the storm-cloud, the air, the earth, the stars, at which he would sit +and gaze half the night all spake the language of the God of the +oppressed. He was seldom seen in a large company, and never drank a +drop of ardent spirits. Like John the Baptist, when he had delivered +his message, he would retire to the fastness of the mountain or seek +the desert, where he could meditate upon his great work."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>In the impression of the Richmond <i>Enquirer</i> of the 30th of August, +1831, the first editorial or leader is under the caption of "The +Banditte." The editor says:</p> + +<p>"They remind one of a parcel of blood-thirsty wolves rushing down from +the Alps; or, rather, like a former incursion of the Indians upon the +white settlements. Nothing is spared; neither age nor sex +respected—the helplessness of women and children pleads in vain for +mercy.... The case of Nat Turner warns us. No black man ought to be +permitted to turn preacher through the country. The law must be +enforced, or the tragedy of Southampton appeals to us in vain."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gray, the man to whom Turner made his confession before dying, +said:</p> + +<p>"It has been said that he was ignorant and cowardly and that his +object was to murder and rob for the purpose of obtaining money to +make his escape. It is notorious that he was never known to have a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>dollar in his life, to swear an oath, or drink a drop of spirits. As +to his ignorance, he certainly never had the advantages of an +education, but he can read and write, and for natural intelligence and +quickness of apprehension is surpassed by few men I have ever seen. As +to his being a coward, his reason as given for not resisting Mr. +Phipps, shows the decision of his character. When he saw Mr. Phipps +present his gun, he said he knew it was impossible for him to escape +as the woods were full of men. He, therefore, thought it was better +for him to surrender and trust to fortune for his escape.</p> + +<p>"He is a complete fanatic or plays his part most admirably. On other +subjects he possesses an uncommon share of intelligence, with a mind +capable of attaining anything, but warped and perverted by the +influence of early impressions. He is below the ordinary stature, +though strong and active, having the true Negro face, every feature of +which is strongly marked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>"I shall not attempt to describe the effect of his narrative, as told +and commented on by himself, in the condemned hole of the prison; the +calm deliberate composure with which he spoke of his late deeds and +intentions; the expression of his fiend-like face when excited by +enthusiasm, still bearing the stains of the blood of the helpless +innocence about him, clothed with rags and covered with chains, yet +daring to raise his manacled hand to Heaven, with a spirit soaring +above the attributes of man. I looked on him and the blood curdled in +my veins."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>The Turner insurrection is so connected with the economic revolution +which enthroned cotton that it marks an epoch in the history of the +slave. A wave of legislation passed over the South prohibiting the +slaves from learning to read and write, forbidding Negroes to preach, +and interfering with Negro religious meetings.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>Virginia declared, in 1831, that neither slaves nor free Negroes might +preach, nor could they attend religious service at night without +permission. In North Carolina slaves and free Negroes were forbidden +to preach, exhort or teach "in any prayer-meeting or other association +for worship where slaves of different families are collected together" +on penalty of not more than thirty-nine lashes. Maryland and Georgia +had similar laws. The Mississippi law of 1831 said: It is "unlawful +for any slave, free Negro, or mulatto to preach the gospel" upon pain +of receiving thirty-nine lashes upon the naked back of the +presumptuous preacher. If a Negro received written permission from his +master he might preach to the Negroes in his immediate neighborhood, +providing six respectable white men, owners of slaves, were present. +In Alabama the law of 1832 prohibited the assembling of more than five +male slaves at any place off the plantation to which they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>belonged, +but nothing in the act was to be considered as forbidding attendance +at places of public worship held by white persons. No slave or free +person of color was permitted to "preach, exhort, or harangue any +slave or slaves, or free persons of color, except in the presence of +five respectable slaveholders, or unless the person preaching was +licensed by some regular body of professing Christians in the +neighborhood, to whose society or church the Negroes addressed +properly belonged."</p> + +<p>In the District of Columbia the free Negroes began to leave white +churches in 1831 and to assemble in their own.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that through the fear of insurrection, the economic press +of the new slavery that was arising, and the new significance of +slavery in the economics of the South, the strife for spiritual +brotherhood was given up. Slavery became distinctly a matter of race +and not of status. Long years before, the white servants had been +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>freed and only black servants were left; now social condition came to +be not simply a matter of slavery but a matter of belonging to the +black race, so that even the free Negroes began to be disfranchised +and put into the caste system (see Note 23).</p> + +<p>A new adjustment of ethics and religion had to be made to meet this +new situation, and in the adjustment, no matter what might be said or +thought, the Negro and slavery had to be the central thing.</p> + +<p>In the adjustment of religion and ethics that was made for the new +slavery, under the cotton kingdom, there was in the first place a +distinct denial of human brotherhood. These black men were not men in +the sense that white men were men. They were different—different in +kind, different in origin; they had different diseases (see Note 24); +they had different feelings; they were not to be treated the same; +they were not looked upon as the same; they were altogether apart and, +while perhaps <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>they had certain low sensibilities and aspirations, yet +so far as this world is concerned, there could be with them neither +human nor spiritual brotherhood.</p> + +<p>The only status that they could possibly occupy was the status of +slaves. They could not get along as freemen; they could not work as +freemen; it was utterly unthinkable that people should live with them +free. This was the philosophy that was worked out gradually, with +exceptions here and there, and that was thought through, written on, +preached from the pulpits and taught in the homes, until people in the +South believed it as they believed the rising and the setting of the +sun.</p> + +<p>As this became more and more the orthodox ethical opinion, heretics +appeared in the land as they always do. But intolerance and anathema +met them. In community after community there was a demand for +orthodoxy on this one burning question of the economic and religious +South, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>heretics were driven out. The Quakers left North +Carolina, the abolitionists either left Virginia or ceased to talk, +and throughout the South those people who dared to think otherwise +were left silent or dead (see Note 25).</p> + +<p>So long as slavery was an economic success this orthodoxy was all +powerful; when signs of economic distress appeared it became +intolerant and aggressive. A great moral battle was impending in the +South, but political turmoil and a development of northern thought so +rapid as to be unintelligible in the South stopped this development +forcibly. War came and the hatred and moral bluntness incident to war, +and men crystallized in their old thought.</p> + +<p>The matter now could no longer be argued and thought out, it became a +matter of tradition, of faith, of family and personal honor. There +grew up therefore after the war a new predicament; a new-old paradox. +Upon the whites hung the curse of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>past; because they had not +settled their labor problem then, they must settle the problem now in +the face of upheaval and handicapped by the natural advance of the +world.</p> + +<p>So after the war and even to this day, the religious and ethical life +of the South bows beneath this burden. Shrinking from facing the +burning ethical questions that front it unrelentingly, the Southern +Church clings all the more closely to the letter of a worn out +orthodoxy, while its inner truer soul crouches before and fears to +answer the problem of eight million black neighbors. It therefore +assiduously "preaches Christ crucified," in prayer meeting <i>patois</i>, +and crucifies "Niggers" in unrelenting daily life.</p> + +<p>While the Church in the North, all too slowly but surely is struggling +up from the ashes of a childish faith in myth and miracle, and +beginning to preach a living gospel of civic virtue, peace and good +will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>and a crusade against lying, stealing and snobbery, the Southern +church for the most part is still murmuring of modes of "baptism," +"infant damnation" and the "divine plan of creation."</p> + +<p>Thus the post-bellum ethical paradox of the South is far more puzzling +than the economic paradox. To be sure there is leaven in the lump. +There are brave voices here and there, but they are easily drowned by +social tyranny in the South and by indifference and sensationalism in +the North (see Note 26).</p> + +<p>First of all the result of the war was the complete expulsion of +Negroes from white churches. Little has been said of this, but perhaps +it was in itself the most singular and tremendous result of slavery. +The Methodist Church South simply set its Negro members bodily out of +doors. They did it with some consideration for their feelings, with as +much kindliness as crass unkindliness can show, but they virtually +said to all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>their black members—to the black mammies whom they have +almost fulsomely praised and whom they remember in such astonishing +numbers to-day, to the polite and deferential old servant, to whose +character they build monuments—they said to them: "You cannot worship +God with us." There grew up, therefore, the Colored Methodist +Episcopal Church.</p> + +<p>Flagrantly unchristian as this course was, it was still in some ways +better than the absolute withdrawal of church fellowship on the part +of the Baptists, or the policy of Episcopalians, which was simply that +of studied neglect and discouragement which froze, harried, and well +nigh invited the black communicants to withdraw.</p> + +<p>From the North now came those Negro church bodies born of color +discrimination in Philadelphia and New York in the eighteenth century, +and thus a Christianity absolutely divided along the color line arose. +There may be in the South a black <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>man belonging to a white church +to-day but if so, he must be very old and very feeble. This +anomaly—this utter denial of the very first principles of the ethics +of Jesus Christ—is to-day so deep seated and unquestionable a +principle of Southern Christianity that its essential heathenism is +scarcely thought of, and every revival of religion in this section +banks its spiritual riches solidly and unmovedly against the color +line, without conscious question.</p> + +<p>Among the Negroes the results are equally unhappy. They needed ethical +leadership, spiritual guidance, and religious instruction. If the +Negroes of the South are to any degree immoral, sexually unchaste, +criminally inclined, and religiously ignorant, what right has the +Christian South even to whisper reproach or accusation? How often have +they raised a finger to assume spiritual or religious guardianship +over those victims of their past system of economic and social life?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>Left thus unguided the Negroes, with some help from such Northern +white churches as dared, began their own religious upbuilding (see +Note 27). They faced tremendous difficulties—lack of ministers, +money, and experience. Their churches could not be simply centres of +religious life—because in the poverty of their organized efforts all +united striving tended to centre in this one social organ. The Negro +Church consequently became a great social institution with some +ethical ideas but with those ethical ideas warped and changed and +perverted by the whole history of the past; with memories, traditions, +and rites of heathen worship, of intense emotionalism, trance, and +weird singing.</p> + +<p>And above all, there brooded over and in the church the sense of all +their grievances. Whatsoever their own shortcomings might be, at least +they knew that they were not guilty of hypocrisy; they did not cry +"Whosoever will" and then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>brazenly ostracize half the world. They +knew that they opened their doors and hearts wide to all people that +really wanted to come in and they looked upon the white churches not +as examples but with a sort of silent contempt and a real inner +questioning of the genuineness of their Christianity.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, so far as the white post-bellum Christian church is +concerned, I can conceive no more pitiable paradox than that of the +young white Christian in the South to-day who really believes in the +ethics of Jesus Christ. What can he think when he hangs upon his +church doors the sign that I have often seen, "All are welcome." He +knows that half the population of his city would not dare to go inside +that church. Or if there was any fellowship between Christians, white +and black, it would be after the manner explained by a white +Mississippi clergyman in all seriousness: "The whites and Negroes +understand each <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>other here perfectly, sir, perfectly; if they come to +my church they take a seat in the gallery. If I go to theirs, they +invite me to the front pew or the platform."</p> + +<p>Once in Atlanta a great revival was going on in a prominent white +church. The people were at fever heat, the minister was preaching and +calling "Come to Jesus." Up the aisle tottered an old black man—he +was an outcast, he had wandered in there aimlessly off the streets, +dimly he had comprehended this call and he came tottering and swaying +up the aisle. What was the result? It broke up the revival. There was +no disturbance; he was gently led out, but that sudden appearance of a +black face spoiled the whole spirit of the thing and the revival was +at an end.</p> + +<p>Who can doubt that if Christ came to Georgia to-day one of His first +deeds would be to sit down and take supper with black men, and who can +doubt the outcome if He did?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>It is this tremendous paradox of a Christianity that theoretically +opens the church to all men and yet closes it forcibly and insultingly +in the face of black men and that does this not simply in the visible +church but even more harshly in the spiritual fellowship of human +souls—it is this that makes the ethical and religious problem in the +South to-day of such tremendous importance, and that gives rise to the +one thing which it seems to me is the most difficult in the Southern +situation and that is, the tendency to deny the truth, the tendency to +lie when the real situation comes up because the truth is too hard to +face. This lying about the situation of the South has not been simply +a political subterfuge against the dangers of ignorance, but is a sort +of gasping inner revolt against acknowledging the real truth of the +ethical conviction which every true Southerner must feel, namely: that +the South is eternally and fundamentally wrong on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>plain straight +question of the equality of souls before God—of the inalienable +rights of all men.</p> + +<p>Here are men—they are aspiring, they are struggling piteously +forward, they have frequent instances of ability, there is no doubt as +to the tremendous strides which certain classes of Negroes have +made—how shall they be treated? That they should be treated as men, +of course, the best class of Southerners know and sometimes +acknowledge. And yet they believe, and believe with fierce conviction, +that it is impossible to treat Negroes as men, and still live with +them. Right there is the paradox which they face daily and which is +daily stamping hypocrisy upon their religion and upon their land.</p> + +<p>Their irresistible impulse in this awful dilemma is to point to and +emphasize the Negro's degradation, even though they know that it is +not the degraded Negro whom they most fear, ostracize, and fight to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>keep down, but rather the rising, ambitious Negro.</p> + +<p>If my own city of Atlanta had offered it to-day the choice between 500 +Negro college graduates—forceful, busy, ambitious men of property and +self-respect, and 500 black cringing vagrants and criminals, the +popular vote in favor of the criminals would be simply overwhelming. +Why? because they want Negro crime? No, not that they fear Negro crime +less, but that they fear Negro ambition and success more. They can +deal with crime by chain-gang and lynch law, or at least they think +they can, but the South can conceive neither machinery nor place for +the educated, self-reliant, self-assertive black man.</p> + +<p>Are a people pushed to such moral extremities, the ones whose +level-headed, unbiased statements of fact concerning the Negro can be +relied upon? Do they really know the Negro? Can the nation expect <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>of +them the poise and patience necessary for the settling of a great +social problem?</p> + +<p>Not only is there then this initial falseness when the South excuses +its ethical paradox by pointing to the low condition of the Negro +masses, but there is also a strange blindness in failing to see that +every pound of evidence to prove the present degradation of black men +but adds to the crushing weight of indictment against their past +treatment of this race.</p> + +<p>A race is not made in a single generation. If they accuse Negro women +of lewdness and Negro men of monstrous crime, what are they doing but +advertising to the world the shameless lewdness of those Southern men +who brought millions of mulattoes into the world, and whose deeds +throughout the South and particularly in Virginia, the mother of +slavery, have left but few prominent families whose blood does not +to-day course in black veins? Suppose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>to-day Negroes do steal; who +was it that for centuries made stealing a virtue by stealing their +labor? Have not laziness and listlessness always been the followers of +slavery? If these ten millions are ignorant by whose past law and +mandate and present practice is this true?</p> + +<p>The truth then cannot be controverted. The present condition of the +Negro in America is better than the history of slavery proves we might +reasonably expect. With the help of his friends, North and South, and +despite the bitter opposition of his foes, South and North, he has +bought twelve million acres of land, swept away two-thirds of his +illiteracy, organized his church, and found leadership and articulate +voice. Yet despite this the South, Christian and unchristian, with +only here and there an exception, still stands like a rock wall and +says: Negroes are not men and must not be treated as men.</p> + +<p>When now the world faces such an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>absolute ethical contradiction, the +truth is nearer than it seems.</p> + +<p>It stands to-day perfectly clear and plain despite all sophistication +and false assumption: If the contention of the South is true—that +Negroes cannot by reason of hereditary inferiority take their places +in modern civilization beside white men, then the South owes it to the +world and to its better self to give the Negro every chance to prove +this. To make the assertion dogmatically and then resort to all means +which retard and restrict Negro development is not simply to stand +convicted of insincerity before the civilized world, but, far worse +than that, it is to make a nation of naturally generous, honest people +to sit humiliated before their own consciences.</p> + +<p>I believe that a straightforward, honorable treatment of black men +according to their desert and achievement, will soon settle the Negro +problem. If the South is right few will rise to a plane that will +make <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>their social reception a matter worth consideration; few will +gain the sobriety and industry which will deserve the ballot; and few +will achieve such solid moral character as will give them welcome to +the fellowship of the church. If, on the other hand, Negroes with the +door of opportunity thrown wide do become men of industry and +achievement, of moral strength and even genius, then such rise will +silence the South with an eternal silence.</p> + +<p>The nation that enslaved the Negro owes him this trial; the section +that doggedly and unreasonably kept him in slavery owes him at least +this chance; and the church which professes to follow Jesus Christ and +does not insist on this elemental act of justice merits the denial of +the Master—"<i>I never knew you.</i>"</p> + +<p>This, then, is the history of those mighty moral battles in the South +which have given us the Negro problem. And the last great battle is +not a battle of South or East, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>of black or white, but of all of us. +The path to racial peace is straight but narrow—its following to-day +means tremendous fight against inertia, prejudice, and intrenched +snobbery. But it is the duty of men, it is a duty of the church, to +face the problem. Not only is it their duty to face it—they <i>must</i> +face it, it is impossible not to, the very attempt to ignore it is +assuming an attitude. It is a problem not simply of political +expediency, of economic success, but a problem above all of religious +and social life; and it carries with it not simply a demand for its +own solution, but beneath it lies the whole question of the real +intent of our civilization: Is the civilization of the United States +Christian?</p> + +<p>It is a matter of grave consideration what answer we ought to give to +that question. The precepts of Jesus Christ cannot but mean that +Christianity consists of an attitude of humility, of a desire for +peace, of a disposition to treat our brothers as we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>would have our +brothers treat us, of mercy and charity toward our fellow men, of +willingness to suffer persecution for right ideals and in general of +love not only toward our friends but even toward our enemies.</p> + +<p>Judged by this, it is absurd to call the practical religion of this +nation Christian. We are not humble, we are impudently proud; we are +not merciful, we are unmerciful toward friend and foe; we are not +peaceful nor peacefully inclined as our armies and battle-ships +declare; we do not want to be martyrs, we would much rather be thieves +and liars so long as we can be rich; we do not seek continuously, and +prayerfully inculcate, love and justice for our fellow men, but on the +contrary the treatment of the poor, the unfortunate, and the black +within our borders is almost a national crime.</p> + +<p>The problem that lies before Christians is tremendous (see Note 28), +and the answer must begin not by a slurring over of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>one problem +where these different tests of Christianity are most flagrantly +disregarded, but it must begin by a girding of ourselves and a +determination to see that justice is done in this country to the +humblest and blackest as well as to the greatest and whitest of our +citizens.</p> + +<p>Now a word especially about the Episcopal church, whose position +toward its Negro communicants is peculiar. I appreciate this position +and speak of it specifically because I am one of those communicants. +For four generations my family has belonged to this church and I +belong to it, not by personal choice, not because I feel myself +welcome within its portals, but simply because I refuse to be read +outside of a church which is mine by inheritance and the service of my +fathers. When the Episcopal church comes, as it does come to-day, to +the Parting of the Ways, to the question as to whether its record in +the future is going to be, on the Negro problem, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>as disgraceful as it +has been in the past, I feel like appealing to all who are members of +that church to remember that after all it is a church of Jesus Christ. +Your creed and your duty enjoin upon you one, and only one, course of +procedure.</p> + +<p>In the real Christian church there is neither black nor white, rich +nor poor, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but all stand equal +before the face of the Master. If you find that you cannot treat your +Negro members as fellow Christians then do not deceive yourselves into +thinking that the differences that you make or are going to make in +their treatment are made for their good or for the service of the +world; do not entice them to ask for a separation which your +unchristian conduct forces them to prefer; do not pretend that the +distinctions which you make toward them are distinctions which are +made for the larger good of men, but simply confess in humility and +self-abasement that you are not able to live <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>up to your Christian +vows; that you cannot treat these men as brothers and therefore you +are going to set them aside and let them go their half-tended way.</p> + +<p>I should be sorry, I should be grieved more than I can say, to see +that which happened in the Southern Methodist Church and that which is +practically happening in the Presbyterian Church, and that which will +come in other sects—namely, a segregation of Negro Christians, come +to be true among Episcopalians. It would be a sign of Christian +disunity far more distressing than sectarianism. I should therefore +deplore it; and yet I am also free to say that unless this church is +prepared to treat its Negro members with exactly the same +consideration that other members receive, with the same brotherhood +and fellowship, the same encouragement to aspiration, the same +privileges, similarly trained priests and similar preferment for them, +then I should a great deal rather see them set aside than to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>see a +continuation of present injustice. All I ask is that when you do this +you do it with an open and honest statement of the real reasons and +not with statements veiled by any hypocritical excuses.</p> + +<p>I am therefore above all desirous that the younger men and women who +are to-day taking up the leadership of this great group of men, who +wish the world better and work toward that end, should begin to see +the real significance of this step and of the great problem behind it. +It is not a problem simply of the South, not a problem simply of this +country, it is a problem of the world.</p> + +<p>As I have said elsewhere: "Most men are colored. A belief in humanity +is above all a belief in colored men." If you cannot get on with +colored men in America you cannot get on with the modern world; and if +you cannot work with the humanity of this world how shall your souls +ever tune <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>with the myriad sided souls of worlds to come?</p> + +<p>It may be that the price of the black man's survival in America and in +the modern world, will be a long and shameful night of subjection to +caste and segregation. If so, he will pay it, doggedly, silently, +unfalteringly, for the sake of human liberty and the souls of his +children's children. But as he stoops he will remember the indignation +of that Jesus who cried, yonder behind heaving seas and years: "Woe +unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that strain out a gnat and +swallow a camel,"—as if God cared a whit whether His Sons are born of +maid, wife or widow so long as His church sits deaf to His own +calling:</p> + +<p>"Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and he that hath +no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without +money and without price!"</p> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Grimke: "Right on the Scaffold."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "The Negro Church," Atlanta University Publications, No. +8.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span><br /> +<a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span><br /> +<br /> + +<h2>NOTES</h2> + +<h3>TO CHAPTERS III AND IV</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span><br /> +<hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>NOTES TO CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 1</h4> + +<p>"The history of slavery and the slave trade after 1820 must be read in +the light of the industrial revolution through which the civilized +world passed in the first half of the nineteenth century. Between the +years 1775 and 1825 occurred economic events and changes of the +highest importance and widest influence. Though all branches of the +industry felt the impulse of this new industrial life, yet, if we +consider single industries, cotton manufacture has, during the +nineteenth century, made the most magnificent and gigantic advances."</p> + +<p>This fact is easily explained by the remarkable series of inventions +that revolutionized this industry between 1738 and 1830, including +Arkwright's, Watt's, Compton's, and Cartwright's epoch making +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>contrivances. The effect which these inventions had on the manufacture +of cotton goods is best illustrated by the fact that in England, the +chief cotton market of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose +steadily from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in +1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860. Very early, therefore, came the query +whence the supply of raw cotton was to come. Tentative experiments on +the rich, broad fields of the Southern United States, together with +the indispensable invention of Whitney's cotton gin, soon answered +this question. A new economic future was opened up to this land, and +immediately the whole South began to extend its cotton culture, and +more and more to throw its whole energy into this one staple.</p> + +<p>Here it was that the fatal mistake of compromising with slavery in the +beginning, and of the policy of <i>laissez-faire</i> pursued thereafter, +became painfully manifest; for, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>instead now of a healthy, normal, +economic development along proper industrial lines, we have the +abnormal and fatal rise of a slave-labor, large-farming system, which, +before it was realized, had so intertwined itself with and braced +itself upon the economic forces of an industrial age, that a vast and +terrible civil war was necessary to displace it. The tendencies to a +patriarchal serfdom, recognized in the age of Washington and +Jefferson, began slowly but surely to disappear; and in the second +quarter of the century Southern slavery was irresistibly changing from +a family institution to an industrial system.</p> + +<p>DuBois, "Suppression of the Slave Trade," p. 151.</p> + +<p>A list of the chief inventions most graphically illustrates the +above:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="chief inventions"> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt" width="20%">1738,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="80%">John Jay, fly shuttle.<br />John Wyatt, spinning by rollers.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1748,</td> + <td class="tdl">Lewis Paul, carding machine.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1760,</td> + <td class="tdl">Robert Kay, drop box.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>1769,</td> + <td class="tdl">Richard Arkwright, water-frame and throstle.<br />James Watt, steam-engine.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1772,</td> + <td class="tdl">James Lees, improvements on carding-machine.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1775,</td> + <td class="tdl">Richard Arkwright, series of combinations.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1779,</td> + <td class="tdl">Samuel Compton, mule.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1785,</td> + <td class="tdl">Edmund Cartwright, power-loom.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1803-4,</td> + <td class="tdl">Radcliffe and Johnson, dressing-machine.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1817,</td> + <td class="tdl">Roberts, fly-frame.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1818,</td> + <td class="tdl">William Eaton, self-acting frame.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrvt">1825-30,</td> + <td class="tdl">Roberts, improvements on mule.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Cf. Baines, "History of the Cotton Manufactures," pp. 116-23; +"Encyclopædia Britannica," 9th ed., article "Cotton."</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 2</h4> + +<p>In 1832, Alabama declared that "any person or persons who shall +attempt to teach any free person of color or slave to spell, read, or +write, shall, upon conviction <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>thereof by indictment, be fined in a +sum not less than $250, nor more than $500."</p> + +<p>Georgia, in 1770, fined any person who taught a slave to read or write +twenty pounds. In 1829 the State enacted:</p> + +<p>"If any slave, Negro or free person of color, or any white person, +shall teach any other slave, Negro or free person of color to read or +write, either written or printed characters, the same free person of +color or slave shall be punished by fine and whipping, or fine or +whipping, at the discretion of the court; and if a white person so +offend, he, she or they shall be punished with a fine not exceeding +$500 and imprisonment in the common jail at the discretion of the +court."</p> + +<p>In 1833 this law was put into the penal code, with additional +penalties for using slaves in printing offices to set type. These laws +were violated sometimes by individual masters, and clandestine schools +were opened for Negroes in some of the cities before the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>war. In 1850 +and thereafter there was some agitation to repeal these laws and a +bill to that effect failed in the Senate of Georgia by two or three +votes.</p> + +<p>Louisiana, in 1830, declared that "All persons who shall teach or +permit or cause to be taught any slave to read or write shall be +imprisoned not less than one month nor more than twelve months."</p> + +<p>Missouri, in 1847, passed an act saying that "No person shall keep or +teach any school for the instruction of Negroes or mulattoes in +reading or writing in this state."</p> + +<p>North Carolina had schools supported by free Negroes up until 1835, +when they were abolished by law.</p> + +<p>South Carolina, in 1740, declared: "Whereas, the having of slaves +taught to write or suffering them to be employed in writing may be +attended with inconveniences, be it enacted, that all and every person +and persons whatsoever who shall <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>hereafter teach or cause any slave +or slaves to be taught, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe +in any manner of writing whatever, hereafter taught to write, every +such person or persons shall for every such offense forfeit the sum of +£100 current money."</p> + +<p>In 1800 and 1833 the teaching of free Negroes was restricted: "And if +any free person of color or slave shall keep any school or other +places of instruction for teaching any slave or free person of color +to read or write, such free person of color or slave shall be liable +to the same fine, imprisonment and corporal punishment as by this act +are imposed and inflicted on free persons of color and slaves for +teaching slaves to write." Other sections prohibited white persons +from teaching slaves. Apparently whites might teach free Negroes to +some extent.</p> + +<p>Virginia, in 1819, forbade "all meetings or assemblages of slaves or +free Negroes or mulattoes mixing and associating with such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>slaves, +... at any school or schools for teaching them reading and writing, +either in the day or night." Nevertheless free Negroes kept schools +for themselves until the Nat Turner Insurrection, when it was enacted, +1831, that "all meetings of free Negroes or mulattoes at any +school-house, church, meeting-house or other place, for teaching them +reading and writing, either in the day or night, under whatsoever +pretext, shall be deemed and considered an unlawful assembly." This +law was carefully enforced.</p> + +<p>In the Northern States few actual prohibitory laws were enacted, but +in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and elsewhere, mob +violence frequently arose against Negro schools, and in Connecticut +the teaching of Negroes was restricted as follows in 1833: "No person +shall set up or establish in this state any school, academy or other +literary institution for the instruction or education of colored +persons <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>who are not inhabitants of this State, or harbor or board, +for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed in any such +school, academy or literary institution any colored person who is not +an inhabitant of any town in this State, without the consent, in +writing, first obtained, of a majority of the civil authority, and +also of the select-men of the town in which each school, academy or +literary institution is situated." This was especially directed +against the famous Prudence Crandall school, and was repeated in 1838.</p> + +<p>Ohio decreed, in 1829, that "the attendance of black or mulatto +persons be specifically prohibited, but all taxes assessed upon the +property of colored persons for school purposes should be appropriated +to their instruction and no other purpose." This prohibition was +enforced, but the second clause was a dead letter for twenty years. +Cf. Atlanta University Publications, No. 6.</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span><br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 3</h4> + +<p>Cf. Cairnes' "Slave Power."</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 4</h4> + +<p>Stephen A. Douglas said "that there was not the shadow of doubt that +the slave-trade had been carried on quite extensively for a long time +back, and that there had been more slaves imported into the Southern +States, during the last year, than had ever been imported before in +any one year, even when the slave-trade was legal. It was his +confident belief, that over fifteen thousand slaves had been brought +into this country during the past year (1859). He had seen, with his +own eyes, three hundred of those recently-imported, miserable beings, +in a slave-pen in Vicksburg, Miss., and also large numbers at Memphis, +Tenn." It was currently reported that depots for these slaves existed +in over twenty large cities and towns in the South, and an interested +person boasted to a senator, about 1860, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>that "twelve vessels would +discharge their living freight upon our shores within ninety days from +the 1st of June last," and that between sixty and seventy cargoes had +been successfully introduced in the last eighteen months. (Cf. DuBois: +"Slave Trade," ch. xi.)</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 5</h4> + +<p>Cf. Olmsted's "Journeys" and Helper's "Impending Crisis."</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 6</h4> + +<p>Has not the time come for characterizing war plainly and ceasing to +envelope it in a haze of sentimental lies? We have near worshiped the +Civil War for a generation, when in truth it was a disgrace to +civilization and we know it.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 7</h4> + +<p>Cf. Blaine: "Twenty Years in Congress"; "American Political Science +Review," Vol. 1, pp. 44-61; <i>e.g.</i>, "South Carolina, besides thus +minutely regulating the labor of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>Negroes under contract, prohibited +them from practicing the 'art, trade or business of an artisan, +mechanic, or shopkeeper,' or any other trade or business on their own +account without paying an annual license fee to the district judge. +And no Negro could obtain a license who had not served a term of +'apprenticeship' at the trade. Tennessee also required licenses; and +Mississippi required Negroes to have written evidence of their home +and employment. Mississippi also prohibited the renting or leasing of +any land to Negroes, except in incorporated towns and cities." +Louisiana had perhaps the most outrageous provisions.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 8</h4> + +<p>Albion W. Tourgee said: "They instituted a public school system in a +region where public schools had been unknown. They opened the +ballot-box and the jury-box to thousands of white men who had been +debarred from them by a lack of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>earthly possessions. They introduced +home rule in the South. They abolished the whipping-post, the +branding-iron, the stocks and other barbarous forms of punishment +which had up to that time prevailed. They reduced capital felonies +from about twenty to two or three. In an age of extravagance they were +extravagant in the sums appropriated for public works. In all that +time no man's rights of person were invaded under the forms of law." +Thomas E. Miller, a Negro member of the late Constitutional Convention +of South Carolina, said: "The gentleman from Edgefield (Mr. Tillman) +speaks of the piling of the State debt; of jobbery and peculation +during the period between 1869 and 1873 in South Carolina, but he has +not found voice eloquent enough nor pen exact enough to mention those +imperishable gifts bestowed upon South Carolina between 1873 and 1876 +by Negro legislators—the laws relative to finance, the building of +penal and charitable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>institutions, and, greatest of all, the +establishment of the public school system. Starting as infants in +legislation in 1869, many wise measures were not thought of, many +injudicious acts were passed. But in the administration of affairs for +the next four years, having learned by experience the result of bad +acts, we immediately passed reformatory laws touching every department +of state, county, municipal and town governments. These enactments are +to-day upon the statute books of South Carolina. They stand as living +witnesses of the Negro's fitness to vote and legislate upon the rights +of mankind."</p> + +<p>Cf. Love's "Disfranchisement of the Negro," p. 10.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 9</h4> + +<p>Cf. "The Economic Future of the Negro," in papers and proceedings of +the eighteenth Annual Meeting, American Economic Association, pp. +219-42.</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span><br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 10</h4> + +<p>See Alabama Laws on Labor Contracts.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 11</h4> + +<p>See Laws of Alabama, 1906-1907.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 12</h4> + +<p>See Laws of South Carolina, 1906-1907.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 13</h4> + +<p>Cf. Bulletin Number 8, 12th United States Census.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 14</h4> + +<p>This statement when made was challenged by a Virginia rector. Let John +Sharp Williams, minority leader of the House of Representatives answer +him.</p> + +<p>"It is the physical presence of the Negro which constitutes the Negro +problem and the race issue. It is not the fact that the Negro can vote +in the South, because, as a matter of fact, he cannot and does not. +The Negro problem would be just as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>troublesome as it is to-day if the +fifteenth amendment were repealed. The fifteenth amendment touches it +only on its political or voting side, where the trouble is cured +already in the South. It is true that the Negro does vote in Ohio, +Illinois and New Jersey and various other places. But the people of +those states could to-morrow, if they wanted to, get rid of his vote, +just as we have got rid of it in Mississippi. The very fact that they +have not done it is proof of the fact that they do not want to do it, +and that very fact is the death-blow of the Vardaman agitation."</p> + +<p>Negroes are disfranchised by legal and illegal methods and by unfair +administration of the law. The "white" primary is a wide-spread +subterfuge: to the democratic primary election all white men are +admitted without question, and no Negro under any circumstances. The +verdict of the primary is then registered in a farce "election." In +Atlanta, <i>e.g.</i>, at the "election" 700 votes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>are cast in a city of +100,000! The success of the "white" primary depends of course (<i>a</i>) on +the illegal power of the party chiefs to exclude any votes they choose +on any pretext and (<i>b</i>) on the absolute and unfair control of +election machinery and returns by one party and (<i>c</i>) on public +acquiescence in this travesty on popular government.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 15</h4> + +<p>The Atlanta riot had two distinct phases: first, Saturday, the killing +of innocent and surprised Negroes by a white mob; then a lull when +blacks rapidly armed themselves; finally the attempt to renew the +assault by a crowd mingled with county policemen, who were repulsed by +a fierce defense by Negroes; these Negroes were afterward acquitted of +murder by a southern jury. The number of white and black killed in +that encounter will never be known, but it stopped the riot. Cf. +"World To-Day," Nov. 1906.</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span><br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 16</h4> + +<p>The executive officials of the miners in Alabama consist of four +whites and four Negroes.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 17</h4> + +<p>Ten good references on the economic history of the Negro and slavery +are:</p> + +<p>1. Kemble, Fanny, "A Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation," +N.Y., 1863. 337 pp. 12mo.</p> + +<p>2. Olmsted, F.L., "A Journey in the Sea Board Slave States," N.Y., +1856. 723 pp. 12mo.</p> + +<p>3. Cairnes, J.E., "The Slave Power: Its Character, Career, and +Probable Designs," London, 1862. 304 pp., 2d ed. N.Y. 410 pp.</p> + +<p>4. United States 12th Census, Bulletin No. 8: "Negroes in United +States," by W.F. Wilcox and W.E.B. DuBois, Wash., 1904, 333 pp.</p> + +<p>5. "The Philadelphia Negro" <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>(Publications of the University of +Pennsylvania) 520 pp. Ginn.</p> + +<p>6. "The Suppression of the Slave Trade" (Harvard Historical +Monographs, No. 1) 335 pp. Longmans, 1896.</p> + +<p>7. Atlanta University Publications:</p> + +<div class="block"> + <p>No. 3, "Efforts for Social Betterment," 66 pp. 1898.</p> + + <p>No. 4, "The Negro in Business," 77 pp. 1899.</p> + + <p>No. 7, "The Negro Artisan," 192 pp. 1902.</p> +</div> + +<p>8. Bulletins of the United States Department of Labor.</p> + +<p>Nos. 10, 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48.</p> + +<p>9. United States: Report of the Industrial Commission 1901-2, 19 vols.</p> + +<p>10. Proceedings of the American Economic Association, 1906.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>NOTES TO CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 18</h4> + +<p>See Atlanta University Publications, No. 8, Section 4.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 19</h4> + +<p>"Baptism doth not alter the condition of the person as to his bondage +or freedom, in order that diverse masters freed from this doubt may +more carefully endeavor the propagation of Christianity." (Williams I, +139.)</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 20</h4> + +<p>Cf. Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart, "The Realities of Negro Suffrage," +Proceedings of the American Political Science Association, Vol. II, +1905.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 21</h4> + +<p>The Church of England through the "Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel" (incorporated 1701) sent several missionaries who worked +chiefly in the North. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>The history of the society goes on to say: "It +is a matter of commendation to the clergy that they have done thus +much in so great and difficult a work. But, alas! what is the +instruction of a few hundreds in several years with respect to the +many thousands uninstructed, unconverted, living, dying, utter pagans. +It must be confessed what hath been done is as nothing with regard to +what a true Christian would hope to see effected." After stating +several difficulties in respect to the religious instruction of the +Negroes, it is said: "But the greatest obstruction is the masters +themselves do not consider enough the obligation which lies upon them +to have their slaves instructed." The work of this society in America +ceased in 1783. The Methodists report the following members:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="30%" summary="Methodist Members"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="30%">1786</td> + <td class="tdr" width="70%">1,890</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1790</td> + <td class="tdr">11,682</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1791</td> + <td class="tdr">12,884</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1796</td> + <td class="tdr">12,215</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>Nearly all were in the North and the border states. Georgia had only +148. The Baptists had 18,000 Negro members in 1793. As to the +Episcopalians, the single state of Virginia where more was done than +elsewhere will illustrate the result:</p> + +<p>"The Church Commission for Work among the Colored People at a late +meeting decided to request the various rectors of parishes throughout +the South to institute Sunday-schools and special services for the +colored population 'such as were frequently found in the South before +the war.' The commission hope for 'real advance' among the colored +people in so doing. We do not agree with the commission with respect +to either the wisdom or the efficiency of the plan suggested. In the +first place, this 'before the war' plan was a complete failure so far +as church extension was concerned, in the past when white churchmen +had complete bodily control of their slaves....</p> + +<p>"The Journals of Virginia will verify the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>contention, that during the +'before the war' period, while the bishops and a large number of the +clergy were always interested in the religious training of the slaves, +yet as a matter of fact there was general apathy and indifference upon +the part of the laity with respect to this matter.</p> + +<p>"At various intervals resolutions were presented in the Annual +Conventions with the avowed purpose of stimulating an interest in the +religious welfare of the slaves. But despite all these efforts the +Journals fail to record any great achievements along that line.... So +faithful had been the work under such conditions that as late as 1879 +there were less than 200 colored communicants reported in the whole +state of Virginia." (<i>Church Advocate.</i>)</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 22</h4> + +<p>Charles C. Jones: "The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the +United <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>States," Savannah, 1842. Cf. Atlanta University Publication, +No. 8, passim.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 23</h4> + +<p>Cf. Hart, <i>supra.</i> Note too the decrease in the proportion of free +Negroes.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 24</h4> + +<p>Note Dr. Cartwright's articles; DeBow's "Review," Vol. II, pp. 29, +184, 331 and 504. Cf. Fitzhugh, "Cannibals All."</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 25</h4> + +<p>Cf. Weeks, "Southern Quakers and Slavery," Balt. 1896; Ballagh, +"Slavery in Virginia."</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 26</h4> + +<p>There has been in the North a generously conceived campaign in the +last ten years to emphasize the good in the South and minimize the +evil. Consequently many people have come to believe that men like +Fleming and Murphy represent either the dominant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>Southern sentiment +or that of a strong minority. On the contrary the brave utterances of +such men represent a very small and very weak minority—a minority +which is growing very slowly and which can only hope for success by +means of moral support from the outside. Such moral support has not +been generally given; it is Tillman, Vardaman and Dixon who get the +largest hearing in the land and they represent the dominant public +opinion in the South. The mass of public opinion there while it +hesitates at the extreme brutality of these spokesmen is nearer to +them than to Bassett or Fleming or Alderman.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 27</h4> + +<p>Cf. "The Negro Church," Atlanta University Publication, No. 8. 212 pp. +1903.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Note 28</h4> + +<p>Twenty good references on the ethical and religious aspect of slavery +and the Negro problem are:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>C.C. Jones, "The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United +States," Savannah, 1842. 277 pp. 12mo.</p> + +<p>R.F. Campbell, "Some Aspects of the Race Problem in the South," +Pamphlet, 1899. Asheville, N.C. 31 pp. 8vo.</p> + +<p>R.L. Dabney, "Defence of Virginia, and Through Her of the South," New +York, 1867. 356 pp. 12mo.</p> + +<p>Nehemiah Adams, "A South Side View of Slavery," Boston, 1854. viii, +7-214 pp. 16mo.</p> + +<p>Richard Allen, First Bishop of the A.M.E. Church. "The life, +experience and gospel labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen." Written +by himself. Phila., 1793. 69 pp. 8vo.</p> + +<p>Matthew Anderson, "Presbyterianism and Its Relation to the Negro," +Phila., 1897.</p> + +<p>Geo. S. Merriam, "The Negro and the Nation," N.Y., 1906. 436 pp. +12mo.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>M.S. Locke, "Anti-Slavery in America," 255 pp. 1901.</p> + +<p>W.A. Sinclair, "The Aftermath of Slavery," etc., with an introduction +by T.W. Higginson, Boston, 1905. 358 pp.</p> + +<p>N.S. Shaler, "The Neighbor: The Natural History of Human Contrasts" +(The problem of the African), Boston, 1904. vii, 342 pp. 12mo.</p> + +<p>Atlanta University Publications:</p> + +<div class="block"><p>Number 6, "The Negro Common School," 120 pp. 1901.</p> + +<p>Number 8, "The Negro Church," 212 pp. 1903.</p> + +<p>Number 9, "Notes on Negro Crime," 76 pp. 1904.</p></div> + +<p>E.H. Abbott, "Religious life in America," A record of personal +observation. N.Y.: <i>The Outlook</i>, 1902. xii, 730 pp. 8vo.</p> + +<p>W.E.B. DuBois, "The Souls of Black Folk," Chicago, 1903.</p> + +<p>Friends, "A Brief Testimony of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>Progress of the Friends Against +Slavery and the Slave-Trade," 1671-1787. Phila., 1843.</p> + +<p>J.W. Hood, "One Hundred Years of the A.M.E. Zion Church."</p> + +<p>S.M. Janney, "History of the Religious Society of Friends," Phila., +1859-1867.</p> + +<p>D.A. Payne, "History of the A.M.E. Church," Nashville, 1891.</p> + +<p>S.B. Weeks, "Anti-Slavery Sentiment in the South," Washington, D.C., +1898. "Southern Quakers and Slavery," Baltimore, 1896.</p> + +<p>White, "The African Preacher."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 162: 'My I add that' replaced with 'May I add that'<br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Negro in the South, by +Booker T. Washington and W. E. 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Burghardt DuBois + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Negro in the South + His Economic Progress in Relation to his Moral and Religious Development + +Author: Booker T. Washington + W. E. Burghardt DuBois + +Release Date: February 25, 2011 [EBook #35399] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + The Negro in the South + + _His Economic Progress in Relation to + His Moral and Religious Development_ + + Being the William Levi Bull + Lectures for the Year 1907 + + By + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON + _Of the Tuskeegee Normal and Industrial Institute_ + + and + + W.E. BURGHARDT DuBOIS + _Of the Atlanta University_ + + [Illustration] + + PHILADELPHIA + GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + + + + Copyright, 1907, by + GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY + _Published, June, 1907_ + + + _All rights reserved_ + Printed in U.S.A. + + + + +The Letter Establishing the Lectureship + + +Bishop Whitaker presented the Letter of Endowment of the Lectureship +on Christian Sociology from Rev. William L. Bull as follows: + +For many years it has been my earnest desire to found a Lectureship on +Christian Sociology, meaning thereby the application of Christian +principles to the Social, Industrial, and Economic problems of the +time, in my Alma Mater, the Philadelphia Divinity School. My object in +founding this Lectureship is to secure the free, frank, and full +consideration of these subjects, with special reference to the +Christian aspects of the question involved, which have heretofore, in +my opinion, been too much neglected in such discussion. It would seem +that the time is now ripe and the moment an auspicious one for the +establishment of this Lectureship, at least tentatively. + +After a trial of three years, I again make the offer, as in my letter +of January 1, 1901, to continue these Lectures for a period of three +years, with the hope that they may excite such an interest, +particularly among the undergraduates of the Divinity School, that I +shall be justified, with the approval of the authorities of the +Divinity School, in placing the Lectureship on a more permanent +foundation. + +I herewith pledge myself to contribute the sum of six hundred dollars +annually, for a period of three years, to the payment of a lecturer on +Christian Sociology, whose duty it shall be to deliver a course of not +less than four lectures to the students of the Divinity School, +either at the school or elsewhere, as may be deemed most advisable, on +the application of Christian principles to the Social, Industrial, and +Economic problems and needs of the times; the said lecturer to be +appointed annually by a committee of five members: the Bishop of the +Diocese of Pennsylvania; the Dean of the Divinity School; a member of +the Board of Overseers, who shall at the same time be an Alumnus; and +two others, one of whom shall be myself and the other chosen by the +preceding four members of the committee. + +Furthermore, if it shall be deemed desirable that the Lectures shall +be published, I pledge myself to the additional payment of from one to +two hundred dollars for such purpose. + +To secure a full, frank, and free consideration of the questions +involved, it is my desire that the opportunity shall be given from +time to time to the representatives of each school of economic thought +to express their views in these Lectures. + +The only restriction I wish placed on the lecturer is that he shall be +a believer in the moral teachings and principles of the Christian +Religion as the true solvent of our Social, Industrial, and Economic +problems. Of course, it is my intention that a new lecturer shall be +appointed by the committee each year, who shall deliver the course of +Lectures for the ensuing year. + + WILLIAM LEVI BULL. + + + + +Contents + + + I. THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE IN SLAVERY 7 + _By Booker T. Washington_ + + II. THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE SINCE ITS + EMANCIPATION 43 + _By Booker T. Washington_ + + III. THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH 77 + _By W.E. Burghardt DuBois_ + + IV. RELIGION IN THE SOUTH 123 + _By W.E. Burghardt DuBois_ + + NOTES TO CHAPTERS III AND IV 193 + + + + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER I + +THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE IN SLAVERY + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE IN SLAVERY + + +We are now, I think, far enough removed from the period of slavery to +be able to study the influence of that institution objectively rather +than subjectively. Surely if any Negro who was a part of the +institution itself can do so, the remaining portion of the American +people ought to be able to do so, whether they live at the North or at +the South. + +My subject naturally leads me to a discussion of the Negro as he was +in slavery. We must all acknowledge, whatever else resulted from +slavery that, first of all, it was the economic element involved that +brought the Negro to America, and it was largely this consideration +that held the race in slavery for a period of about 245 years. But, +in this discussion, I am not to consider the economic value of the +Negro as a slave, as such, but only the influence of his industrial +training while in slavery in the development of his moral and +religious life. + +In my opinion, it requires no little effort on the part of a man who +was once himself a slave to be able to admit this. If any Negro who +was a part of the institution of slavery itself can so far rid himself +of the prejudices of the same, it seems to me other people, living in +whatever section, should be able to do so. + +I have been a slave once in my life--a slave in body. But I long since +resolved that no inducement and no influence would ever make me a +slave in soul, in my love for humanity, and in my search for truth. + +At the same time slaves were being brought to the shores of Virginia +from their native land, Africa, the woods of Virginia were swarming +with thousands of another dark-skinned race. The question naturally +arises: Why did the importers of Negro slaves go to the trouble and +expense of going thousands of miles for a dark-skinned people to hew +wood and draw water for the whites, when they had right among them a +people of another race who could have answered the purpose? The answer +is that the Indian was tried and found wanting in the commercial +qualities which the Negro seemed to possess. The Indian, as a race, +would not submit to slavery and in those instances where he was tried, +as a slave, his labor was not profitable and he was found unable to +stand the physical strain of slavery. As a slave, the Indian died in +large numbers. This was true in San Domingo and in other parts of the +American continent. + +The two races, the Indian and the Negro, have been often compared to +the disadvantage of the Negro. It is often said of the Negro that he +is an imitative race. That, in a large degree, is true. That element +has its disadvantages and it also has its advantages. Very often the +Negro imitates the worst element in the white man; on the other hand I +believe that the masses of our people imitate the best they find in +the white man. + +I have said more than once that one of the unfortunate conditions of +the Negro in the North is that,--because of the large proportion of +our people who are in menial service, their duties bring them in +contact with the worst. They, for example, are waiters in clubs and in +various organizations, and being engaged in that capacity makes it +necessary for them to touch the white man at his weakest point. In the +city of Philadelphia, there are hundreds, I do not suppose I should +exaggerate if I were to say thousands, who are serving the white man +as a waiter in some club or similar organization. When that white man +was at work in his factory, in his counting-room, in his bank, he was +far removed from him. When he was at his best the Negro did not come +into touch with him. In the evening when he lays aside the working +dress, takes matters easy, and gets his cigar and perhaps champagne, +the Negro comes into contact with him, not to an advantage, but at his +weakest point rather than at his strongest. + +In the South, as in most parts of America, during slavery and after, +the Negro has gotten something from the white man that has made him +more valuable as a citizen. In most cases he imitates the best rather +than the worst. For example, you never see a Negro braiding his hair +in the same way as a Chinaman braids his, but he cuts his like the +white man. The Negro is seeking out the highest and best as to +quality. + +It has been more than once stated that the Indian proved himself the +superior race in not submitting to slavery. We shall see about this. +In this respect it may be that the Indian secured a temporary +advantage in so far as race feeling or prejudice is concerned; I mean +by this that he escaped the badge of servitude which has fastened +itself upon the Negro,--not only upon the Negro in America, but upon +that race wherever found, for the known commercial value of the Negro +has made him a subject of traffic in other portions of the globe +during many centuries. + +The Indian refused to submit to bondage and to learn the white man's +ways. The result is that the greater portion of the American Indians +have disappeared, the greater portion of those who remain are not +civilized. The Negro, wiser and more enduring than the Indian, +patiently endured slavery; and contact with the white man has given +him a civilization vastly superior to that of the Indian. + +The Indian and the Negro met on the American continent for the first +time at Jamestown, in 1619. Both were in the darkest barbarism. There +were twenty Negroes and thousands of Indians. At the present time +there are between nine and ten million Negroes and two hundred and +eighty-four thousand and seventy-nine Indians. The annual tax upon the +Government on account of the Indian is $14,236,078.71 (1905); the cost +from 1789 to 1902, inclusive, reached the sum of $389,282,361.00. The +one in this case not only decreased in numbers and failed to add +anything to the economic value of his country, but has actually proven +a charge upon the state. + +The Negro seems to be about the only race that has been able to look +the white man in the face during the long period of years and +live--not only live, but multiply. The Negro has not only done this, +but he has had the good sense to get something from the white man at +every point where he has touched him--something that has made him a +stronger and a better race. + +Let me say in the beginning that nothing which I shall say should be +taken as an endorsement of the enslavement of my race. The experience +of the world's civilization teaches that the final and net result of +slavery is bad--bad for the enslaved, and perhaps worse for the +enslaver. If permitted a choice, I think I should prefer being the +first to being the last. But in the case of the Negro in America no +one, willing to be frank and fair, can fail to see that the Negro did +get certain benefits out of slavery; at the same time he was, as I +have stated, harmed. But in this connection we must deal with the +facts and not with prejudice, either for or against the race. + +Let me make this statement with which you may or may not agree: In my +opinion, there cannot be found in the civilized or uncivilized world +ten millions of Negroes whose economic, educational, moral and +religious life is so advanced as that of the ten millions of Negroes +within the United States. If this statement be true, let us find the +cause thereof, especially as regards the Negro's moral and Christian +growth. In doing so, let credit be given wherever it is due, whether +to the Northern white man, the Southern white man, or the Negro +himself. If, as stated, the ten millions of black people in the United +States have excelled all the other groups of their race-type in moral +and Christian growth, let us trace the cause, and in doing so we may +get some light and information that will be of value in dealing with +the Negro race in America and elsewhere, and in elevating and +Christianizing other races. + +In order to determine the influence of economic or industrial training +upon the moral and Christian life of the Negro, we must begin with +slavery and trace the development of the black man, noticing in a +brief manner his development through slavery to freedom, and to the +present time. + +This involves, then, the period of slavery, and the period of +freedom. To begin with, let me repeat that at first, at least, the +underlying object of slavery was an economic, and an industrial one. +The climatic and other new conditions required that the slave should +wear clothing, a thing, for the most part, new to him. It has perhaps +already occurred to you that one of the conditions requisite for the +Christian life is clothing. So far as I know, Christianity is the only +religion that makes the wearing of clothes one of its conditions. A +naked Christian is impossible--and I may add that I have little faith +in a hungry Christian. + +Some years ago we were holding the Tuskeegee Annual Negro Conference, +and I remember on several occasions there was one old fellow who tried +to get the floor without success. He tried continually to get +recognition from the chair, and, finally, was recognized. He said: +"Mr. Washington, we's making great progress in our community. It is +not the same as it used to be. We's making great progress. We's +getting to the point where nearly all the people in my community owns +their own pigs." I asked him why he was so much interested in his +neighbors owning their own pigs. He said: "I feel that when all my +neighbors own their own pigs, I can always sleep better every night." +There is a good deal of philosophy underlying that remark. + +The economic element not only made it necessary that the Negro slave +should be clothed for the sake of decency and in order to preserve his +health, but the same considerations made it necessary that he be +housed and taught the comforts to be found in a home. Within a few +months, then, after the arrival of the Negro in America, he was +wearing clothes and living in a house--no inconsiderable step in the +direction of morality and Christianity. True, the Negro slave had worn +some kind of garment and occupied some kind of hut before he was +brought to America, but he had made little progress in the improvement +of his garments or in the kind of hut he inhabited. As we shall +perhaps see later, his introduction into American slavery was the +beginning of real growth in the two directions under consideration. + +There is another important element. In his native country, owing to +climatic conditions, and also because of his few simple and crude +wants, the Negro, before coming to America, had little necessity to +labor. You have, perhaps, read the story, that it is said might be +true in certain portions of Africa, of how the native simply lies down +on his back under a banana-tree and falls asleep with his mouth open. +The banana falls into his mouth while he is asleep and when he wakes +up he finds that all he has to do is to chew it--he has his meal +already served. + +Notwithstanding the fact that, in most cases, the element of +compulsion entered into the labor of the slave, and the main object +sought was the enrichment of the owner, the American Negro had, under +the regime of slavery, his first lesson in anything like continuous, +progressive, systematic labor. I have said that two of the signs of +Christianity are clothes and houses, and now I add a third, "work." + +In the early days of slavery the labor performed by the slave was +naturally of a crude and primitive kind. With the growth of +civilization came a demand for a higher kind of labor, hence the Negro +slave was soon demanded as a skilled laborer, as well as for ordinary +farm and common labor. It soon became evident that from an economic +point of view it paid to give the Negro just as high a degree of skill +as possible--the more skill, the more dollars. When an ordinary slave +sold for, say seven hundred dollars, a skilled mechanic would easily +bring on the auction block from fourteen hundred to two thousand +dollars. It is strangely true that when a black man would bring two +thousand dollars a white man would not bring fifty cents. + +As the slave grew in the direction of skilled labor, he was given an +increased amount of freedom. This was practiced by some owners to such +an extent that the skilled mechanic was permitted to "hire" his own +time, working where and for whom he pleased, and for what wage, on +condition that he pay his owner so much per month or year, as agreed +upon. Not a few masters found that this policy paid better than the +one of close personal supervision; many female slaves were trained not +only in ordinary house duties, but on every large plantation there was +at least one high class seamstress. + +I have made a search but have not yet been able to find a single case +of abuse of confidence, and the policy to which I have referred was +practiced very largely in Virginia and especially in West +Virginia--the policy of permitting those slaves who were skilled +laborers to work for whom they pleased, on condition that they pay +their masters a fixed sum each month or each year. I have never yet +heard of a single case of failure at the end of the month or at the +end of the year to bring and place in his master's hands the +stipulated sum of money. + +A discussion of this subject calls to mind one of those curious +changes in public opinion and custom with regard to races which often +occur in the United States. At the period to which I am now referring, +a great number of the Negroes in the South were compelled to follow a +trade, and they seem to have no difficulty in pursuing trades there +to-day. In the North where the agitation for the Negro's freedom +began, it is in most cases difficult, and often impossible, for a +black man to find an opportunity to work at any kind of skilled labor. +I sometimes wonder which man is the greater sinner,--the man who by +force compels the Negro to work without pay, or the man who by +physical force and through the force of public sentiment prevents the +Negro from working for him, when he is ready, willing, and fit to do +so. + +I do not overstate the matter when I say that I am quite sure that in +one county in the South during the days of slavery there were more +colored youths being taught trades than there are members of my race +now being taught trades in any of the larger cities of the North. + +Before I go further, I ought, in justice, to add that as slavery +spread and the owners came to know their slaves better, there appeared +in nearly every section of the South, especially in Virginia and South +Carolina, a considerable number of slave-holders who rose above the +mere idea of economic and selfish gain; and thus, through the medium +of slavery, the opportunity to train the Negro in morality and +Christianity presented itself in many sections of the South. During +the days of slavery regular religious services were provided for the +slaves, the same minister who served the white congregation preached +to the blacks. In some of the most aristocratic families, the Negro +children were taught in the Sunday-school; this was true of the Lees +and Jacksons of Virginia, and of the family of Bishop Capers and other +men of that type in South Carolina. + +At the end of the period of slavery, about two hundred and fifty +years, the Negro race as a whole had learned, as I have stated, to +wear clothes, to live in a home, to work with a reasonable degree of +regularity and system, and a few had learned to work with a high +degree of skill. Not only this, the race had reached the point where, +from speaking scores of dialects, it had learned to speak +intelligently the English language. It had also a fair knowledge of +American civilization and had changed from a pagan into a Christian +race. Further, at the beginning of his freedom, the Negro found +himself in possession of--in fact had a monopoly of--the common and +skilled labor throughout the South; not only this, but, by reason of +the contact of whites and blacks during slavery, the Negro found +business and commercial careers open to him at the beginning of his +freedom. + +Such conditions were unusual in the case of a race that had been +occupying so low a place in the civilization of another people. They +resulted from the fact that in slavery when the master wanted a pair +of shoes made, he went to the Negro shoemaker for those shoes; when he +wanted a suit of clothes, he went to the Negro tailor for those +clothes; and when he wanted a house built, he consulted the Negro +carpenter and mason about the plans and cost--thus the two races +learned to do business with each other. It was an easy step from this +to a higher plane of business, hence immediately after the war the +Negro found that he could become a dry goods merchant, a grocery +merchant, start a bank, go into real estate dealing, and secure the +trade not only of his own people, but also of the white man, who was +glad to do business with him and thought nothing of it. + +In my own town of Tuskeegee there is a colored merchant who, not +excepting any other merchant, has the largest trade in that county in +retail groceries, and in a recent conversation with him he said that +for thirty-five years his customers had been among the best white +families of the county. More than a dozen times have I met the man who +owned this Negro in the days of slavery and he expressed himself as +more than pleased that his former slave had attained the honor of +being the most successful grocery dealer in the town of Tuskeegee. + +You would be surprised, if you were to inquire into the facts, to +know how the Negro has grown in this direction. In the Southern states +there are one hundred and fifteen drug stores owned by Negroes. In +Anniston, Alabama, there are two large drug stores owned by black +people, and in one section a wholesale drug store owned and operated +successfully by a black man. The Negro who to-day owns and operates +that large wholesale drug store, selling drugs to the white as well as +colored retail druggists, was a slave, I think, until he was twelve or +fifteen years of age. It is interesting to know that more banks have +been organized in the last three years in the state of Mississippi +than ever before. There have been ten banks organized since Vardaman +became governor of the state. + +For the reasons I have mentioned, the Negro in the South has not only +found a practically free field in the commercial world, but in the +world of skilled labor. Such a field is not open to him in such a +degree in any other part of the United States, or perhaps in the +world, as is open in the South. All of this has had a tremendously +strong bearing in developing the Negro's moral and Christian life. + +In proportion to their numbers, I question whether so large a +proportion of any other race are members of some Christian Church as +is true of the American Negro. In many cases their practical ideas of +Christianity are crude, and their daily practice of religion is far +from satisfactory; still the foundation is laid, upon which can be +builded a rational, practical and helpful Christian life. + +Let me illustrate the value of the economic and industrial training of +the Negro: If one chooses, let him try this plan which I have tried on +a good many occasions. Go into any village or town, North or South, +enter their Baptist and Methodist churches--for the most part they +belong to the Baptist Church--and ask their pastors to point out to +you the most reliable, progressive and leading colored man in the +community, the man who is most given to putting his religious +teachings into practice in his daily life, and in a majority of cases +one will have pointed out to him a Negro who learned a trade or got +some special economic training during the days of slavery,--in all +probability an individual who has become the owner of a little piece +of land, who lives in his own house. + +Now what lessons for the work that is before us can you and I learn +from what I have attempted to say? The lesson suggested in the +elevation of the black race in America will apply with equal force, in +my opinion, to the inculcating of moral and Christian principles into +_any_ race, regardless of color, that is in the same relative stage of +civilization. Here let me add that in all my advocacy of the value of +industrial training I have never done so because my people are black; +I would advocate the same kind of training for any race that is on +the same plane of civilization as our people are found on at the +present time. + +But as to the lesson which may prove of direct interest, so far as you +are concerned. In the old days, the method of converting the heathen +to Christianity was very largely abstract. The Bible was, in most +cases, the only argument. In the conversion of the heathen to +Christianity or in raising the standard of moral and Christian living +for any people, I argue that in the use of the economic element and +the teaching of the industries we should be guided by the same rules +that are now used in the most advanced methods of ordinary +school-teaching--that is, to begin with the known and gradually +advance to the unknown; we should advance from the concrete to the +abstract. In doing this, industrial education, it seems to me, +furnishes a tremendously good opportunity. + +Let me illustrate: Not long ago a missionary who was going into a +foreign field very kindly asked of me advice as to how he should +proceed to convert the people to Christianity. I asked him, first, +upon what the people depended mostly for a living in the country where +he was to labor; he replied that for the most part they were engaged +in sheep raising. I said to him at once that if I were going into that +country as a missionary, I should begin my efforts by teaching the +people to raise more sheep and better sheep. If he could convince them +that Christianity could raise more sheep and better sheep than +paganism, he would at once get a hold upon their sympathy and +confidence in a way he could not do by following more abstract methods +of converting them. + +The average man can discern more quickly the difference between good +sheep and bad sheep, than he can the difference between Unitarianism +and Trinitarianism. + +If the Christian missionary can gradually teach the heathen how to +build a better house than he has used, how to make better clothes, how +to grow, prepare and secure better food for his daily meals, the +missionary will have gone a long way, may I repeat, toward securing +the confidence of the heathen and will have laid the foundation in +this concrete manner for interesting the pagan in a higher moral life +and in getting him to appreciate the difference between the heathen +life and the Christian life. In teaching the child to read we use the +objective method; in converting the heathen we should employ the same +method--and this means the economic or industrial method. + +Some six years ago a group of Tuskeegee graduates and former students +went to Africa for the purpose of giving the natives in a certain +territory of West Africa training in methods of raising American +cotton. They did not go there primarily as missionaries, nor was their +chief end the conversion of these pagans to Christianity. Naturally, +they began their work by training the natives how to cultivate their +land differently, how and when to plant the crop, and when to harvest +it, and gradually taught them how to use a small hand gin in getting +the cotton ready for market. + +Largely through the leadership of this group of Tuskeegee students, +there is shipped from this section of Africa to the Berlin market each +year many bales of cotton. The natives have learned through the +teaching of these men to grow more cotton and better cotton. They have +learned to use their time, have learned that by working systematically +and regularly they can increase their income and thus add to their +independence and supply their wants. Not only this, but in order that +these people might be fitted for continuous and regular service in the +cotton field, their houses have been improved and the natives have +been taught how to take better care of their bodies. In a word, +during the years that these Tuskeegee people have been in the +community they have improved the entire economic, industrial, and +physical life of the people in this immediate territory. + +The result is, as one of the men stated on his last visit to +Tuskeegee, there is little difficulty now in getting the children of +these people to attend Sunday-school and the older people to attend +church; in fact, in a natural, logical manner they seem to have been +converted to the idea that the religion practiced by these Tuskeegee +men is superior to their own. They believe this firmly, because they +have seen that better results have been produced through the Christian +influence of these Tuskeegee men than has been produced when they had +no such leadership. If these Tuskeegee people had gone there as +missionaries of the old type and had confined themselves to abstract +teachings of the Bible alone, it would have required many years to +have brought about the results which have been attained within a few +years. + +Some time ago in Montgomery, Alabama, there was a church, attended by +members of my race, which happened to be located not very far from the +residence of a white family. The cook who served in this white family +attended this church to which I refer. The members of the church made +considerable noise in their singing, shouting, and praying, and after +a while the white family grew rather exasperated because of this +noise. One Sunday the church services were prolonged until an unusual +hour and there was more noise than usual; so the next morning when the +cook came, the lady of the house called her into the sitting-room, and +said: "Jane, why in the world do you make so much noise in your +worship, in your singing, praying, and shouting? Why don't you be +orderly, quiet, and systematic in your worship? Why, Jane, in the +Bible we read that in the building of Solomon's Temple, no noise +pervaded the silence of the builders. Why can you not worship in the +same way?" The old colored woman looked at her mistress for a few +moments and said: "Lordy, missus, you don't know what we's doing; +Lordy, missus, you don't know what we's striving at; we's just +blasting out de stone for de foundation ob de Temple." So, my friends, +when you hear us laying so much emphasis upon the moral and economic +training, upon home-getting and all those things, remember we are +simply trying to teach our people to blast out the foundation of the +temple in which we are to grow and be useful. + +Says the Psalmist: "O Lord, how manifold are Thy works; in wisdom hast +Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches." I believe that a +wise Providence means that we shall use all the material riches of the +earth: soil, wood, minerals, stones, water, air, and what not, as a +means through which to reach God and glorify Him. + +I have thus briefly dealt with the problem of slavery in its relations +to the economic and moral growth of my people. Each one of these +periods has presented a problem of tremendous importance and +seriousness to your race and to my race. + +If more attention had been given to the economic and industrial +development of Liberia in the early stages of the history of that +republic, Liberia would be far in advance of its present condition +both in morals and religion, to say nothing of commercial prosperity. +In Liberia there is an immense territory rich with resources. +Notwithstanding this, there are no improved or advanced methods of +agriculture; the soil is scarcely stirred; there are no carts, wagons +or other wheeled vehicles, practically no public roads, no bridges, no +railroads; the mineral wealth and the timber wealth remain almost +untouched; and I am told on good authority that, in spite of all this +wealth right at the very door of these people, even school-teachers +and ministers wear clothing manufactured in the United States or in +Europe, and eat canned goods that come from Chicago or Germany. + +It requires no argument to impress the fact that the most practical +missionary work would have been in the direction of teaching these +people how to cultivate the soil in the best manner with the very best +implements, how to get the wealth out of their forests and water and +mines, how to build roads, decent bridges and decent houses; in a +word, how to take hold of the material riches with which Providence +has blessed the land and turn these riches into moral and religious +growth. This, in my opinion, would have represented the very highest +kind of missionary work. + +I do not grow discouraged or despondent by reason of great and serious +problems. On the contrary, I deem it a privilege to be permitted to +live in an age when great, serious, and perplexing problems are to be +met and solved. I would not care to live in a period when there was no +weak part of the human family to be helped up and no wrongs to be +righted. It is only through struggle and the surmounting of +difficulties that races, like individuals, are made strong, powerful, +and useful. + +This is the road the Negro should travel; this is the road, in my +opinion, the Negro will travel. I sometimes fear that in our great +anxiety to push forward we lay too much stress upon our former +condition. We should think less of our former growth and more of the +present and of the things which go to retard or hinder that growth. In +one of his letters to the Galatians, St. Paul says: "But the fruit of +the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, +faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law." + +I believe that it is possible for a race, as it is for an individual, +to learn to live up in such a high atmosphere that there is no human +law that can prevail against it. There is no man who can pass a law to +affect the Negro in relation to his singing, his peace, and his +self-control. Wherever I go I would enter St. Paul's atmosphere and, +living through and in that spirit, we will grow and make progress and, +notwithstanding discouragements and mistakes, we will become an +increasingly strong part of the Christian citizenship of this +republic. + + + + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER II + +THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE SINCE ITS EMANCIPATION + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO RACE SINCE ITS EMANCIPATION + + +In the preceding chapter, I referred to some of the things which the +Negro brought with him out of slavery into his life of freedom that he +used to his advantage. I shall now discuss those things that were to +his disadvantage. + +We must bear in mind that one of the influences of slavery was to +impress upon both master and slave the fact that labor with the hand +was not dignified, was disgraceful, that labor of this character was +something to be escaped, to be gotten rid of just as soon as possible. +Hence, it was very natural that the Negro race looked forward to the +day of freedom as being that period when it would be delivered from +all necessity of laboring with the hand. It was natural that a large +proportion of the race, immediately after its freedom, should make the +mistake of confusing freedom with license. Under the circumstances, +any other race would have acted in the same manner. + +One of the first and most important lessons, then, to be taught the +Negro when he became free was the one that labor with the hand or with +the head, so far from being something to be dreaded and shunned, was +something that was dignified and something that should be sought, +loved, and appreciated. Here began the function of the industrial +school for the education of the Negro. This was the uppermost idea of +General Armstrong, the father of industrial education of the Negro. +And permit me to say right here, that, in my opinion, General +Armstrong, more than any other single individual, is the father of +industrial education not only for the Negro, but in a large measure +for the entire United States. For you must always bear in mind that, +prior to the establishment of such institutions as the Hampton +Institute, there was practically no systematic industrial training +given for either black or white people, either North or South. At the +present time more attention is being paid to this kind of education +for white boys and girls than is being given to black boys and girls. + +It is an interesting thought that this kind of education, started +thirty-five years ago for the education of the Negro, has spread +throughout the United States, in the North and West, and has taken +hold upon the people who once enslaved the Negro in our Southern +states. + +When industrial schools were first established in the South for the +education of members of my race, stubborn objection was raised against +them on the part of black people. This was the experience of Hampton, +and this in later years was the experience of the Tuskeegee +Institute. + +I remember that for a number of years after the founding of the +Tuskeegee Institute, objection on the part of parents and on the part +of students poured in upon me from day to day. The parents said that +they wanted their children taught "the book," but they did not want +them taught anything concerning farming or household duties. It was +curious to note how most of the people worshiped "the book." The +parent did not care what was inside the book; the harder and the +longer the name of it, the better it satisfied the parent every time, +and the more books you could require the child to purchase, the better +teacher you were. His reputation as a first-class pedagogue was added +to very largely in that section if the teacher required the child to +buy a long string of books each year and each month. I found some +white people who had the same idea. + +They reminded me further that the Negro for two hundred and fifty +years as a slave had been worked, and now that the race was free they +contended that their children ought not to be taught to work and +especially while in school. In answer to these objections I said to +them that it was true that the race had been worked in slavery, but +the great lesson which we wanted to learn in freedom was to work. I +explained to them that there was a vast difference between being +worked and working. I said to them that being worked meant +degradation, that working meant civilization. + +We have gone on at Tuskeegee from that day until this, emphasizing the +difference between being worked and working, until, I am glad to say, +every sign of opposition against any form of industrial education has +completely disappeared from among parents and students; and I but +state the truth when I say that industrial education, whether on the +farm or in the carpenter shop or in the cooking class, is even more +sought after at Tuskeegee than is training in purely academic +branches. It has been ten years since I have had a single application +for other than a form of industrial training. On the contrary, this +kind of training is so popular among them that we have many +applications from other students who live in other states who wish to +devote themselves wholly to the industrial side of education. + +From Hampton and Tuskeegee and other large educational centres the +idea of industrial education has spread throughout the South, and +there are now scores of institutions that are giving this kind of +training in a most effective and helpful manner; so that, in my +opinion, the greatest thing that we have accomplished for the Negro +race within the last twenty-five years has been to rid his mind of all +idea of labor's being degrading. This has been no inconsiderable +achievement. If I were asked to point out the greatest change +accomplished for the Negro race, I would say that it was not a +tangible, physical change, but a change of the spirit,--the new idea +of our people with respect to Negro labor. + +Industrial education has had another value wherever it has been put +into practice, that is in starting the Negro off in his new life in a +natural, logical, sensible manner instead of allowing him to be led +into temptation to begin life in an artificial atmosphere without any +real foundation. + +All races that have reached success and have influenced the world for +righteousness have laid their foundation at one stage of their career +in the intelligent and successful cultivation of the soil; that is, +have begun their free life by coming into contact with earth and wood +and stone and minerals. Any people that begins on a natural foundation +of this kind, rises slowly but naturally and gradually in the world. + +In my work at Tuskeegee and in what I have endeavored to accomplish in +writing and in speaking before the public, I have always found it +important to stick to nature as closely as possible, and the same +policy should be followed with a race. If you will excuse my making a +personal reference, just as often as I can when I am at home, I like +to get my hoe and dig in my garden, to come into contact with real +earth, or to touch my pigs and fowls. Whenever I want new material for +an address or a magazine article, I follow the plan of getting away +from the town with its artificial surroundings and getting back into +the country, where I can sleep in a log cabin and eat the food of the +farmer, go among the people at work on the plantations and hear them +tell their experiences. I have gotten more material in this way than I +have by reading books. + +Many of these seemingly ignorant people, while not educated in the way +that we consider education, have in reality a very high form of +education--that which they have gotten out of contact with nature. +Only a few days ago I heard one of these old farmers, who could +neither read nor write, give a lesson before a Farmers' Institute that +I shall never forget. The old man got up on the platform and began +with this remark: "I'se had no chance to study science, but I'se been +making some science for myself," and then he held up before the +audience a stalk of cotton with only two bolls on it. He said he began +his scientific work with that stalk. Then he held up a second stalk +and showed how the following year he had improved the soil so that the +stalk contained four bolls, and then he held up a third stalk and +showed how he had improved the soil and method of cultivation until +the stalk contained six bolls, and so he went through the whole +process until he had demonstrated to his fellow farmers how he had +made a single stalk of cotton produce twelve or fourteen bolls. At the +close of the old man's address somebody in the audience asked what his +name was. He replied, "When I didn't own no home and was in debt, +they used to call me old Jim Hill, but now that I own a home and am +out of debt, they call me 'Mr. James Hill.'" + +In the previous chapter I referred to the practical benefit that could +be achieved in foreign mission fields through economic and industrial +development. Now that industrial education is understood and +appreciated by the Negro in America, the question which has the most +practical value to you and to me is what effect has this kind of +development had upon the moral and religious life of the Negro right +here in America since the race became free. + +By reason of the difficulty in getting reliable and comprehensive +statistics, it is not easy to answer this question with satisfaction, +but I believe that enough facts can be given to show that economic and +industrial development has wonderfully improved the moral and +religious life of the Negro race in America, and that, just in +proportion as any race progresses in this same direction, its moral +and religious life will be strengthened and made more practical. + +Let me first emphasize the fact that in order for the moral and +religious life to be strengthened we must of necessity have industry, +but along with industry there must be intelligence and refinement. +Without these two elements combined, the moral and religious lives of +the people are not very much helped. + +A few months ago I was in a mining camp composed largely of members of +my race who were, for the most part, ignorant and uncultivated, who +had had little opportunities in the way of education, but they had +been taught to mine coal. The operators of this mine complained that, +notwithstanding the unusually high wages being paid during that +season, these miners could not be induced to work more than three or +four days out of six. The difficulty was right here; these miners +were so ignorant that they had few wants, and these were simple and +crude. Their wants could be satisfied by working a few days out of +each week, and when they had satisfied their wants they could not +understand why it was necessary to work any longer, and we must all +acknowledge that there is a good deal of human nature in this point of +view. + +In a case of this kind, what is needed is not only to have the +individual educated in industry but to have his hand so trained that +he will become ambitious; as one man put it not long ago, "He will +want more wants." We should get the man to the point where he will +want a house, where his wife will want carpet for the floor, pictures +for the walls, books, a newspaper and a substantial kind of furniture. +We should get the family to the point where it will want money to +educate its children, to support the minister and the church. Later, +we should get this family to the point where it will want to put +money in the bank and perhaps have the experience of placing a +mortgage on some property. When this stage of development has been +reached, there is no difficulty in getting individuals to work six +days during the week. + +I have in mind now an old colored man who lived some four miles from +the Institution. I first noticed him a number of years ago as I took +my daily exercise after my day's work. I found him and his wife living +in a little broken-down cabin and resolved to try an experiment on +them to see if I could not get them to realize that that kind of life +proved of no benefit. When I began, their wants were for the bare +necessities of life only. I gradually began to talk to his wife and +urge her to see the importance of living a different kind of life. +Without the old man's knowing it, I took pains to tell her of how some +of their neighbors were living and about some of the things her +neighbors were owning. Some had two-room houses, glass windows, new +furniture, and little pieces of carpet, and had whitewashed their +houses. Finally she became quite interested. + +When I began with the man he was working about three days in the week. +The old fellow grew interested and began to work a little longer, +until the last time I rode by that house the old man was working +nearly every day in the week, while they were living in a two-room +house and everything had changed. The hardest task I had was to get +him to put up a chimney for the second room, finally he put up one and +although it was a pretty rickety, crooked affair, yet it answered the +purpose and he felt proud of it. When I left this time he informed me +that by the time I came back he would try to have both of those rooms +whitewashed. I am not through with that family yet. I am going to work +on that woman until through her I will get the old man to work five +and six days out of the week. + +It should always be borne in mind that, for any person of any race, +literary education alone increases his want; and, if you increase +these wants without at the same time training the individual in a +manner to enable him to supply these increased wants, you have not +always strengthened his moral and religious basis. + +The same principle might be illustrated in connection with South +Africa. In that country there are six millions of Negroes. +Notwithstanding this fact, South Africa suffers to-day perhaps as +never before for lack of labor. The natives have never been educated +by contact with the white man in the same way as has been true of the +American Negro. They have never been educated in the day school nor in +the Sunday-school nor in the church, nor in the industrial school or +college; hence their ambitions have never been awakened, their wants +have not been increased, and they work perhaps two days out of the +week and are in idleness during the remaining portion of the time. +This view of the case I had confirmed in a conversation with a +gentleman who had large interests in South Africa. + +How different in the Southern part of the United States where we have +eight millions of black people! Ask any man who has had practical +experience in using the masses of these people as laborers and he will +tell you that in proportion to their progress in the civilization of +the world, it is difficult to find any set of men who will labor in a +more satisfactory way. True, these people have not by any means +reached perfection in this regard, but they have advanced on the whole +much beyond the condition of the South Africans. The trained American +Negro has learned to want the highest and best in our civilization, +and as we go on giving him more education, increasing his industrial +efficiency and his love of labor, he will soon get to the point where +he will work six days out of each week. + +But as to the results of industrial training. Following the example of +the modern pedagogue, let me begin with that which I know most about, +the Tuskeegee Institute. This institution employs one of its officers +who spends a large part of his time in keeping in close contact with +our graduates and former students. He visits them in their homes and +in their places of employment and not only sees for himself what they +are doing, but gets the testimony of their neighbors and employers, +and I can state positively that not ten per cent. of the men and women +who have graduated from the Tuskeegee Institute or who have been there +long enough to understand the spirit and methods of that institution +can be found to-day in idleness in any part of the country. They are +at work because they have learned the dignity and beauty and +civilizing influence and, I might add, Christianizing power of labor; +they have learned the degradation and demoralizing influence of +idleness; they have learned to love labor for its own sake and are +miserable unless they are at work. I consider labor one of the +greatest boons which our Creator has conferred upon human beings. + +Further, after making careful investigation, I am prepared to say that +there is not a single man or woman who holds a diploma from the +Tuskeegee Institute who can be found within the walls of any +penitentiary in the United States. + +I have learned that not more than a score of the graduates of the +fifteen oldest and largest colleges and industrial schools in the +entire South have been sent to prison since these institutions were +established. Those who are guilty of crime for the most part are +individuals who are without education, without a trade, who own no +land, who are not taxpayers, who have no bank account, and who have +made no progress in industrial and economic development. + +The following extracts from a letter written by a Southern white man +to the _Daily Advertiser_, of Montgomery, Alabama, contains most +valuable testimony. The letter refers to convicts in Alabama, most of +whom are colored: + + "I was conversing not long ago with the warden of one of our + mining prisons, containing about 500 convicts. The warden is a + practical man, who has been in charge of prisoners for more than + fifteen years, and has no theories of any kind to support. I + remarked to him that I wanted some information as to the effect + of manual training in preventing criminality, and asked him to + state what per cent. of the prisoners under his charge had + received any manual training, besides acquaintance with the + crudest agricultural labor. He replied: 'Perhaps about one per + cent.' He added: 'No, much less than that. We have here at + present only one mechanic; that is, there is one man who claims + to be a house painter.' + + "'Have you any shoemakers?' + + "'Never had a shoemaker.' + + "'Have you any tailors?' + + "'Never had a tailor.' + + "'Any printers?' + + "'Never had a printer.' + + "'Any carpenters?' + + "'Never had a carpenter. There is not a man in this prison that + could saw to a straight line.'" + +Now these facts seem to show that manual training is almost as good a +preventative of criminality as vaccination is of smallpox. + +The records of the South show that ninety per cent. of the colored +people in prisons are without knowledge of trades, and sixty-one per +cent. are illiterate. + +There are few higher authorities on the progress of the Negro than +Joel Chandler Harris, of the _Atlanta Constitution_, of "Uncle Remus" +fame. Mr. Harris had opportunity to know the Negro before the war, and +he has followed his progress closely in freedom. In a printed +statement made some time ago Mr. Harris says: + + "The point I desire to make is that the overwhelming majority of + the Negroes in all parts of the South, especially in the + agricultural regions, are leading sober and industrious lives. A + temperate race is bound to be industrious, and the Negroes are + temperate when compared with the whites. Even in the towns the + majority of them are sober and industrious." + +Dr. Frissell makes the same statement regarding Hampton Institute. Not +more than a score of the graduates have been sent to prison since +these institutions were established. The majority is among those who +are without training and who have made no progress in industrial and +economic development. The idle and criminal classes among them make a +great show in the police court records, but right here in Atlanta the +respectable and decent Negroes far outnumber those who are on the +lists of the police as old or new offenders. I am bound to conclude +from what I see all about me, and what I know of the race elsewhere, +that the Negro, notwithstanding the late start he has made in +civilization and enlightenment, is capable of making himself a useful +member in the communities in which he lives and moves, and that he is +become more and more desirous of conforming to all the laws that have +been enacted for the protection of society. + +Some time ago I sent out letters to representative Southern men, +covering each ex-slave state, asking them to state, judging by their +observation in their own communities, what effect industrial education +has upon the morals and religion of the Negro. To these questions I +received 136 replies as follows: + +Has education improved the morals of the black race? + +Answers--Yes, 97; No, 20; Unanswered, 19. + +Has it made his religion less emotional and more practical? + +Answers--Yes, 101; No, 16; Unanswered, 19. + +Is it, as a rule, the ignorant or the educated who commit crime? + +Answers--Ignorant, 115; Educated, 3; Unanswered, 18. + +Does crime grow less as education increases among the colored people? + +Answers--Yes, 102; No, 19; Unanswered, 15. + +Do not these figures speak for themselves? + +If possible I want to give you an idea of the progress of the Negro +race in a single county in one of the Southern States. For this +purpose I select Gloucester County, Virginia. I take this one for the +reason that I had the privilege of visiting it a number of years ago, +just about the time when interest in the education of the colored +people was beginning to be aroused, and for the further reason that +this is one of the counties in Virginia and the South that has been +longest under the influence of graduates of the Hampton Institute, or +of men and women trained in other centres of education. + +Gloucester County is the tide-water section of Eastern Virginia. +According to the census of 1890, Gloucester County contained a total +population of 12,832, a little over one-half being colored, and both +sets of schools are in session from five and a half to six months, and +the pay of the two sets of teachers is about the same. The majority of +the colored teachers in this county were trained at Hampton, and have +been teaching in this county a number of years. For the most part, the +teachers of Gloucester County are not mentally superior, but what they +lack in methods of teaching and mental alertness is more than made up +for by the moral earnestness and the example they set. Most of the +teachers are natives of the county, and, what is more important, most +of them own property in the county. + +Now, what is the economic or material result in one county where the +Negro has been given a reasonable chance to make progress? I say +"reasonable" because it must be kept in mind that the great body of +white people in America, with whom the Negro is constantly compared, +have schools that are in session from eight to nine months in the +year. Note especially what I am going to say now. According to the +public records, the total assessed value of the land in Gloucester +County is $666,132.33. Of the total value of the land, the colored +people own $87,953.55. The buildings in the county have an assessed +valuation of $466,127.05. The colored people pay taxes upon $79,387.00 +of this amount. To state it differently, the Negroes of Gloucester +County, beginning about forty years ago in poverty, have reached the +point where they now own and pay taxes upon one-sixth of the real +estate in this county. This property is very largely in the shape of +small farms, varying in size from ten to one hundred acres. A large +proportion of the farms contain about ten acres. + +It is interesting to note the influence of this material growth upon +the home life of the people. It is stated upon good authority that +about twenty-five years ago at least three-fourths of the colored +people lived in one-roomed cabins. Let a single illustration tell the +story of the growth. In a school where there were thirty pupils ten +testified that they lived in houses containing six rooms, and only one +said that he lived in a house containing but a single room. + +I repeat, I have always believed that in proportion as the industrial, +not omitting the intellectual, condition of my race is improved, in +the same degree would their moral and religious life improve. + +Some years ago, before the home life and economic condition of the +people had improved, bastardy was common in Gloucester County. In 1903 +there were only eight cases of bastardy reported in the whole county, +and two of those were among the white population. During the year 1904 +there was only one case of bastardy within a radius of ten miles of +the court house. Another gratifying evidence of progress is shown by +the fact that there is very little evidence of immoral relations +existing between the races. In the whole county, during the year 1903, +about twenty-five years after the work of education had gotten under +way, there were only thirty arrests for misdemeanors; of these sixteen +were white, fourteen colored. In 1904 there were fifteen such +arrests--fourteen white and one colored. In 1904 there were but seven +arrests for felonies; of these two were white and five were colored. + +In one point at least the colored people in Gloucester County have set +an example for the rest of the religious world that ought to receive +attention. It is in this regard: there is only one religious +denomination in all of this county, and that is the Baptist. No +over-multiplying, no over-lapping, no denominational wrangling and +wasting of money and energy. + +May I add that, out of my own observation and experience in the heart +of the South during the last twenty-five years, I have learned that +the man of my race who has some regular occupation, who owns his farm, +is a taxpayer and perhaps has a little money in the bank, is the most +reliable and helpful man in the Sunday-school, in the church, and in +all religious endeavor. The man who has gotten upon his feet in these +directions is almost never charged with crime, but is the one who has +the respect and the confidence of both races in his community. + +I can give you no better idea of the tremendous advance which the +Negro has made since he became free than to say that largely through +the influence of industrial education the race has acquired ownership +in land that is equal in area to the combined countries of Belgium and +Holland. This, for a race starting in poverty and ignorance forty +years ago, it seems to me is a pretty good record. + +I would not have you understand that I emphasize material possessions +as the chief thing in life or as an object within itself. I emphasize +economic growth because the civilization of the world teaches that the +possession of a certain amount of material wealth indicates the +ability of a race to exercise self-control, to plan to-day for +to-morrow, to do without to-day in order that it may possess +to-morrow. In other words, a race, like an individual, becomes highly +civilized and useful in proportion as it learns to use the good things +of this earth, not as an end, but as a means toward promoting its own +moral and religious growth and the prosperity and happiness of the +world. This is what I advocate for my race; it is what I would +advocate for any race. + +The average white man of America, in passing judgment upon the black +race, very often overlooks the fact that geographically and physically +the semi-barbarous Negro race has been thrown right down in the centre +of the highest civilization that the world knows anything about. +Consciously or unconsciously, you compare the Negro's progress with +your progress, forgetting, when you are doing it, that you are placing +a pretty severe test on the members of my race. If, for example, we +were compared with the civilization of the Oriental countries, the +test would not be so severe. But we have been placed in the midst of a +pushing, surging, restless, conquering, successful civilization, and +you must acknowledge that when the American white man wants to lead, +no other race can go far ahead. In fact, he would have the whole +field to himself. The progress of the Negro will be in proportion as +they learn to get the material things of this world, consecrate them, +and weave them into the service of our Heavenly Father. + +In conclusion, may I say that I hope the people of this country, North +and South, will learn to pray more and more; and, as they pray, to put +their hands upon their hearts and then ask God if they were placed in +the Negro's state, how, under the circumstances, would they like to be +treated by their fellows. Conscience will answer the question. + + + + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER III + +THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH + + +Two questions may be asked of any group of human beings: first, How do +they earn their living, and secondly, What is their attitude toward +life? The first relates to the economic history and condition of that +people; the second is a study of their religion. In these two essays I +am to treat the first of these questions under the subject: The +Economic Revolution in the South, and the second under the subject: +Christianity in the South. + +The last century was notable because of the great change in method and +organization of human work and we call the early part of the +nineteenth century the time of economic revolution in Europe and to +some extent in America. The southern United States, however, while +profoundly influenced by this revolution from the first, has not +until to-day actually felt its full effect. The new factory system of +the early nineteenth century is just to-day appearing in the South, +and yet its appearance in England and New England seventy-five years +ago made the South a part of the world industrial organization by +making it the seat of cotton culture (see Note [1]). + +Two diverse developments resulted: In England and the North came a +change from household industry to social industry, a step forward +which led to an era of machinery, to a curious concentration of +individuals and wealth and the necessities of living in certain great +centres. That very concentration led to a wonderful contact of man +with man which sharpened mind and sharpened thought and in the long +run made the Europe of to-day. On the other hand, the southern United +States, though really a part of this great system through its work of +furnishing raw cotton, did not come into the whirl of the new +industry because she had an industrial system which forbade machinery, +discouraged human contact, and shackled thought. + +Why did this system of slavery persist so long in the South as to be +caught in the vortex of the new industrial movement and rendered +almost inextricable? + +If the South had been a place of intelligent farmers on small farms, +we could imagine a development which would have been the wonder of the +world; but because the fathers of the United States were so busy with +large questions that they forgot larger ones, so busy settling matters +of commerce and representation and politics that they forgot matters +of work and justice and human rights--because of this we have in the +South one of those curious back eddies of human progress that twist +and puzzle advance and thought. + +The very forward forces of industry that fastened slavery on the South +were weaving a social system which made the enslavement of laborers +impossible and unprofitable. Consequently at the very time when the +South ought to have been increasing in intelligence, law and order, +the use of machinery, industrial concentration, and the intensive +culture of land with the rest of the world, she lost a half century in +a development backward toward a dispersing of population, extensive +rather than intensive land culture, increased and compulsory ignorance +of the laboring class, and the rearing of a complete system of caste +and aristocracy (see Note 2). + +Evils there were to be sure in the new factory system of Europe and +the North, evils which southern leaders did not fail to note and gloat +over, but they were evils of another and newer industrial era, which +did not stop progress, but gave it added incentive. + +The industrial back-set of the South meant of course but one thing: +the discovery of the paradox of slavery, the turning from the +mistake, and the adoption of remedial measures which should usher into +the South the same industrial revolution in methods of work which +Europe saw begin a century ago. This is exactly what has happened, and +to-day the Industrial Revolution is beginning south of Mason and +Dixon's line. The forecast of change was apparent by 1850. Slavery +still paid then--was still an economic success, but only under +conditions which became more and more impossible of realization +because of the factory system and the new industrial conditions in the +rest of the world (see Note 3). + +It was, in other words, an attempt at an industrial system with the +lowest wages, the most oppressive labor laws, and the best natural +advantages. Such a system at such a time carried its own sentence of +death: fertile land was becoming scarce in the forties, the horrors of +the slave trade had shocked even the eighteenth century, and southern +labor laws which made knowledge a crime and migration of laborers a +capital offense, simply could not be enforced. It was in vain that the +solidly united capitalistic classes of the South threw themselves +bodily into the fray--raped Mexico, filibustered in Cuba and Central +America, encouraged slave-smuggling (see Note 4), and bullied the +hesitating North; their economic doom was written even if militant +Abolitionism had not appeared. + +The economic student could have foretold and did foretell easily in +the forties and fifties that slavery in the South was doomed (see Note +5): even if all available territory had been thrown wide to the slave +system, slavery could not possibly have stayed in Kansas and Utah, in +New Mexico or in Arizona; it could have stayed only temporarily in +Missouri and in Texas. It had already reached its territorial limit, +it was bound to have evolved something different. It will always be an +interesting speculation as to how soon this economic necessity would +have been recognized; whether the South would have had the acumen +eventually to see the end, and what sort of gradual change could have +come about, had it not been for the political crisis precipitated in +1861. + +Then came the war--that disgraceful episode of civil strife when, +leaving the arguments of men, the nation appealed to the last resort +of dogs, murdering and ravishing each other for four long shameful +years (see Note 6). + +When this nightmare had passed there came, after the resulting period +of disorder, a new regime, a new problem of labor, a new industrial +order. Not only that, but gradually in the decade 1870-1880 there were +added to the South four new economic activities: first, the iron +industry; second, the manufacture of cotton cloth; third, the +transportation of these goods to, from, and through the South; and +fourth, the general exchange of goods in this growing Southern +industrial population--in other words, the Industrial Revolution was +beginning in the South. So that the South of the 80's was a different +South from the South of the 60's, not simply by reason of emancipation +but by reason of new economic possibilities. + +However, this change could not go on unhindered by the mistakes of the +past. With all that was new in the South, there was also much that was +old, and of these old things the most important were the Ideals which +slavery handed down--ideals of government, of labor, of caste. + +Consequently when the South tried to use its new freed labor on its +new industrial possibilities, it went to the problem full of the +ideals of slavery, and it made four separate attempts. In the first +place it was perfectly natural for a land which had said for +generations that free Negro labor was an impossibility, and free Negro +citizens unthinkable, to cherish a very distinct idea that the way to +get along with the emancipated Negro was to make him a slave in fact +if not in name. The idea that was back of the first apprentice laws +and the various labor codes passed directly after Lee's surrender was +that the labor of the blacks belonged to the former white owners by +right and could be directed only by force under a nominal wage system. +These labor codes therefore attempted to reestablish slavery without a +slave trade (see Note 7). + +These ill-advised attempts were frustrated by the Fifteenth Amendment +which made the freedmen voters. The Thirteenth Amendment did not +abolish slavery--it directed its abolition and the answer to it was +the labor codes. The Fourteenth Amendment gave the freedmen civil +rights and put a premium on granting them political rights, but the +premium was not accepted and the civil rights remained unenforced. The +Fifteenth Amendment went to the root of the matter by putting local +political power into the hands of the freedmen and their friends and +this made slavery and the slave system impossible. + +What the nation had before it then was not the nice academic question +as to whether it would be better to have as voters men of intelligence +or men of ignorance, whether it would be better to throw into the +electorate of a great modern country a mass of slaves or a mass of +college graduates--no such question came before the country; it was, +as we are fond of saying, a situation and not a theory that confronted +the country and that situation was this: here in the South we had +attempted to abolish slavery by act of legislature--it was not +abolished. The people who hitherto held power did not believe in its +real abolishment; a great and growing economic revolution fronted +them, cotton was still king. They were about to solve that problem--to +meet the Revolution--according to their former labor ideals. + +One could not expect any other outcome. One could not in justice ask +them voluntarily to accept free black labor; the only possible way to +insure the solving of that economic problem with labor really free was +to put in the South a political power which should make slavery in +fact or inference forever impossible. This truth the great Thaddeus +Stephens saw, and with a statesmanship far greater than Lincoln's he +forced Negro suffrage on the South. + +Although the new voters thus introduced in the South were crude and +ignorant, and in many ways ill-fitted to rule, nevertheless in the +fundamental postulates of American freedom and democracy they were +sane and sound. Some of them were silly, some were ignorant, and some +were venal, but they were not as silly as those who had fostered +slavery in the South, nor as ignorant as those who were determined to +perpetuate it, and the black voters of South Carolina never stole half +as much as the white voters of Pennsylvania are stealing to-day. + +The eternal monument to these maligned victims of a nation's wrong is +the fact that they began the abolition of slavery in fact and not +merely attack it in theory, they established free schools, and they +passed laws on all subjects under which the white South is still +content to live (see Note 8). If these men had been protected in their +legal rights by the strong arm of the government, they would have been +able to protect themselves in a generation or so. They would have +increased in intelligence, responsibility, and power, and this the +South was determined to prevent. The North wavered; having put its +hand to the plow it looked back, and gradually allowed the black +peasantry of the South to be almost completely disfranchised. What +happened? + +The time had passed for a reestablishment of slavery, but serfdom and +peonage were still possible and probable. When you have the leading +classes of a country with the ideal of slavery in their minds and the +laboring classes ignorant and without political power, there is but +one system that can ensue and that is serfdom, and through serfdom was +the second way in which the South strove to meet its great post-bellum +economic problem. + +Given these premises the economic answer of the South was, from a +business standpoint, perfectly sound. The men who, starting poor after +a miserable war, went into the development of the South, went in to +make money--to use the great American thesis, they were "not in +business for their health." They were going to grant to the laborer +just as little as they must; the laborer was unused to a system of +free labor, he was not a steady workman, he was not a skilled workman, +he had been for two or three hundred years driven to his work, he took +no pride in his work--how could he take pride in that which hitherto +had been the badge of his shame? + +Now it was not considered the business of the new Southern business +man to develop and train the working man. It was his business, as I +have said, from the American point of view, to make money. And the +consequence was that he evolved a peculiarly ingenious system of land +serfdom, which bears many likenesses to the serfdom that replaced +slavery in Europe. The land belonged to the landlord--it was rented +out to the serf; the serf was nominally free, but as a matter of fact +he was not free at all; he was held to his labor: he rose with the +morning work bell of slavery days, he was driven to his labor by +mounted riders, he was whipped for delinquencies, he received no +stipulated return, but on the contrary the owner of the land made the +contract, kept the accounts, and gave him enough once or twice a year +to make him not too dissatisfied. + +After a time this changed somewhat; instead of the land owner himself +undertaking the advancing of supplies, a third party, the merchant +with capital, came in. In order to enforce such a system it needed to +be backed by a peculiar law system--therefore the business men went +into politics in the South with the same result as when business men +go into politics in the North. Things were done quickly and quietly; +they were done not for the good of people who had no political voice, +but for the good of those who wielded the political power, _i.e._, the +business men and land owners. The laws were made to favor the landlord +and the merchant and to make it easy to exploit the tenant and +laborer. + +This system, which still is the rule of agricultural labor in the +black belt of the South, is not a system of free labor; it is simply +a form of peonage. The black peon is held down by perpetual debt or +petty criminal judgments; his rent rises with the price of cotton, his +chances to buy land are either non-existent or confined to infertile +regions. Judge and jury are in honor bound to hold him down; if by +accident or miracle he escapes and becomes a landholder, his property, +civil and political status are still at the mercy of the worst of the +white voters, and his very life at the whim of the mob. The power of +the individual white patron to protect colored men is still great and +is often exercised, but this is but another argument against the +system: it is undemocratic and un-American, and stamps on the serf +system its most damning criticism. + +Moreover, this second attempt to meet the economic revolution of the +South is failing, and its failure is shown by the scarcity of farm +labor, the migration of Negroes, and the increase of crime and +lawlessness. Serfdom like slavery demands ignorance and strict laws. +The decade of Negro voting and Northern benevolence had however given +the Negro schools and aspiration. + +What now has been the reaction of this group on the environment thrown +around it since slavery days? + +The slaves had their select classes in the house servants and the +artisans. After freedom came, the Negro made four distinct efforts to +reach economic safety. The first effort was by means of the select +house-servant class; the second, by means of competitive industry; the +third, by land-owning; and the fourth, by what I shall call the group +economy. + +First, let us look at the effort of the house servants. The one person +under the slave regime who came nearest to escaping from the toils of +slavery and the disabilities of caste was the favorite house servant. +This was because the house servant was brought into contact with the +culture of the master and the family, because he had often the +advantages of town and city life, was able to gain some smattering of +education, and also because he was usually a blood relative of the +master class. These house servants, therefore, became the natural +leaders of the emancipated race and the brunt of the burden of +reconstruction fell upon their shoulders. When the history of this +period is carefully written it will show that few men ever made a more +meritorious fight against overwhelming odds. + +Under free competition it would have been natural for this class of +house servants to enter the economic life of the nation directly. In +some cases this happened, especially in the case of the barber and the +caterer. For the most part, however, the black applicant was refused +admittance to the economic society of the nation. He held his own in +the semi-servile work of barber until he met the charge of color +discrimination in his own race, and the competition of foreigners. The +caterer was displaced by palatial hotels in which he could have no +part. + +On the whole, then, the mass of house servants soon found the doors in +their own lines closed in their faces. They could remain good servants +but they could not by this means often escape into higher walks of +life. The better tenth of them went gradually into professions and +thus found economic independence for themselves and their children. +The mass of them either remained house servants or turned toward +industry. + +The second attempt of the freedmen toward economic safety lay in +industry. It was a less ambitious effort than that of the house +servants, and included larger numbers of men. It was characterized by +a large migration to the towns. Here it was that the class of slave +artisans made themselves felt in freedom and they were joined by +numbers of unskilled workmen, such as steam railway hands, porters, +hostlers, etc. This class attracted considerable attention and bore +the brunt of the economic battle in competition with white working +men. It is a class that is growing and in the future it is going to +have a large development. At present, however, its fight is difficult. + +The third effort of economic elevation was by land owning. This was +the ideal toward which the great mass of black people looked. They at +first thought that the government was going to help them, and the +government did in a few instances, as when Sherman distributed land in +Georgia and the government sold South Carolina lands for taxes. For +the most part, however, the Negroes had to buy their own lands which +they did in some cases by means of their bounty money for serving in +the army or by means of special monies which they earned as workmen +during the war or by the help of the former masters. Some too, by the +share tenant system gained enough to buy land. In this way about +200,000 to-day own their farms and thus approximate economic +independence. + +The fourth and last effort, which I call the Group Economy, is of +great importance, but is not very well understood. It consists of a +cooperative arrangement of industry and service in a group which tends +to make the group a closed economic circle, largely independent of +surrounding whites. This development explains many anomalies in the +situation of the Negro. Many people think that the colored barber is +disappearing, yet there are more colored barbers in the United States +to-day than ever before, but a larger number than ever cater to only +colored trade. The Negro lawyer serves almost exclusively colored +clientage, so that his existence is half forgotten by the white world. +The new Negro business men are not successors of the old. There used +to be Negro business men in Northern cities and a few even in Southern +cities, but they catered to white trade; the Negro business man to-day +caters to colored trade. So far has this gone to-day that in every +city in the United States which has considerable Negro population, the +colored group is serving itself in religion, medical care, legal +advice and often educating its children. In growing degree also it is +serving itself in insurance, houses, books, amusements. + +So extraordinary has been this development that it forms a large and +growing part in the economy of perhaps half the Negroes of the United +States, and in the case of perhaps 100,000 town Negroes, representing +at least 300,000 persons, the group economy approaches a complete +system. To these we may add the bulk of 200,000 farmers who own their +farms. Thus we have a group of half a million who are reaching +economic safety by means of group economy (see Note 9). + +Here then are the two developments--a determined effort at an +established serfdom on the part of landholding capitalists, and a +determined effort on the part of freedmen and their sons to attain +economic independence. + +While both these movements were progressing the full change of the +industrial revolution, so long postponed, began to be felt all over +the South; the iron and steel industry developed in Alabama and +Tennessee, coal mining in Tennessee and West Virginia, and cotton +manufacture in Carolina and Georgia; railways were consolidated into +systems and extended, commerce was organized and concentrated. The +greatest single visible result of this was the growth of cities. Towns +of eight thousand and more had a tenth of the white Southerners in +1860; they held a seventh of a much larger population in 1900, while +a fifth were in cities and villages. Still more striking was the +movement of Negroes; only four per cent. were in cities before the +war, to-day a seventh are there. + +The reason for this is clear: the oppression and serfdom of the +country, the opportunities of the city. It was in the town and city +alone that the emerging classes, outside the landholders, were +successful, and even the landholders were helped by the earnings of +the city; the house servants with the upper class of barbers and +caterers, the artisans, the day laborers, the professional men, +including the best of the teachers, were in the cities, and the new +group economy was developed here. + +On the other hand one of the inevitable expedients for fastening +serfdom on the country Negro was enforced ignorance. + +The Negro school system established by the Negro reconstruction +governments reached its culmination in the decade 1870-1880. Since +then determined effort has been made in the country districts to make +the Negro schools less efficient. To-day these schools are worse than +they were twenty years ago; the nominal term is longer and the +enrolment larger, but the salaries are so small that only the poorest +local talent can teach. There is little supervision, there are few +appliances, few schoolhouses and no inspiration. On the other hand the +city schools have usually improved. It was natural that the Negro +should rush city-ward toward freedom, education, and decent wages. + +This migration resulted in two things: in the increase and +intensification of the problems of the city, and in redoubled effort +to keep the Negro laborer on the plantations. + +To take the latter efforts first, we find that the efforts of the +landlords to keep Negro labor varied from force to persuasion: force +was used by the landlords to the extent of actual peonage, by which +Negroes were held on plantations in large numbers; next to peonage for +crime came debt peonage, which used the indebtedness of the Negro +tenants to prevent their moving away; then came the system of labor +contracts and the laws making the breaking of a labor contract a crime +(see Note 10); after that came a crop of vagrancy laws aimed at the +idle Negroes in city and town and designed to compel them to work on +farms, going so far in several states as to reverse the common law +principle and force the person arrested for vagrancy to prove his +innocence (see Note 11). + +In order that the farm laborers should not be tempted away by higher +wages, penalties were laid on "enticing laborers away" and agents were +compelled to take out licenses which ran as high as $2,000 for each +county in some states (see Note 12). Such laws and their +administration required, of course, absolute control of the +government and courts. This was secured by manipulation and fraud, +while at the same time the landlords of the black belt usually opposed +the disfranchisement of Negroes lest such a measure reduce their +political influence which was based on the Negro population. + +All these measures were measures of force, while nothing was done to +attract laborers to the land. The only real attraction of the Negro to +the country was landowning. The Negroes had succeeded in buying land: +by government gift and bounty money they held about three million +acres in 1875, perhaps 8,000,000 in 1890, and 12,000,000 in 1900; but +distinct efforts appeared here and there to stop their buying land. + +There are still vast tracts of land in the South, that anybody, black +or white, can buy for little or nothing, simply because it is worth +little or nothing. Some time, of course, these lands will become +valuable but they are not valuable to-day. Now the Negro cannot invest +in this land as a speculation, for he is too poor to wait. He must +have land which he knows how to cultivate, which is near a market, and +which is so situated as to provide reasonable protection for his +family. There are only certain crops which he knows how to cultivate. +He cannot be expected to learn quickly to cultivate crops which he was +not taught to cultivate in the past. He must be within reach of a +market and he must have some community life with his own people and +some protection from other people. + +All these conditions are fulfilled chiefly in the black belt. That is +the cotton region, the crop which he knows best how to raise; from +certain parts of it he can get to the market and he has a great black +population for company and protection. But it is precisely here in the +black belt that it is most difficult to buy land. Capitalistic culture +of cotton, the high price of cotton, and the system of labor peonage +have made land high. Moreover in most of these regions it is +considered bad policy to sell Negroes land because, as has been said, +this "demoralizes" labor. Thus in the densest part of the black belt +in the South, the percentage of land holding is usually low among +Negroes. + +The concentration of land-owning on the other hand in the hands of the +single white proprietors has gone on to a much larger extent than the +country realizes. This is shown not simply in the increase of the +average size of farms in the last decade but it must also be +remembered that the farms do not belong to single owners but are owned +in groups of five, forty or fifty by single landed proprietors. There +are 140,000 owners who own from two to fifty farms in the South and +there are 50,000 owners who have over twenty farms apiece. + +It is not true then to-day that land-buying for the average colored +farmer in the South is an easy thing. The land which has been bought +has been bought by the exceptional men or by the men who have had +unusual opportunity, who have been helped by their former masters or +by some other patrons, who have been aided by members of their own +families in the North or in the cities, or who have escaped the +wretched crop system by some sudden rise in the price of cotton, which +did not enable the landlord to take the whole economic advantage. It +is therefore in spite of the land system and not because of it that +the Negroes to-day own 12,000,000 acres of land (see Note 13). + +The net result of the whole policy of serfdom was so to deplete the +ranks of laborers that a new solution of the labor problem must be +found. + +Here it was that the southern city came forward. The city had new +significance, especially new cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, and +Chattanooga as contrasted with Charleston and Savannah. They saw a +new industrial solution of the problem of Negro labor. It was a simple +program: Industry and disfranchisement; the separation of the masses +of the Negroes from all participation in government, and such +technical training as should fit them to become skilled working men. + +There was an _arriere pensee_ here too, born in the minds of northern +capitalists. The white southern working men were becoming unionized by +northern agitators; here was a chance to keep them down to reasonable +demands by black competition and the threat of more competition in the +future. Moreover working men without votes would be far more docile +and tractable. Politics had already spoiled the Negroes. Let the +whites rule and the blacks work. + +The plea was specious, it had the sanction of great names, of wealth +and social influence, and it convinced not only those who wanted to be +convinced but practically all Americans who were eager to be relieved +of troublesome questions and difficult public duties. + +All the more eagerly was this solution seized upon because of the +definite and distinct promises which it made. Disfranchise the Negro, +said the South, and the race problem is solved; there is no race +problem save the menace of an ignorant and venal vote;--relieve us +from this and the lion and the lamb will lie down together;--the Negro +will go peacefully and contentedly to work and the whites will wax +just and rich. We all remember with what confidence and absolute +certainty of conviction this program was announced when Mississippi +disfranchised her Negro voters seventeen years ago. It was repeated +twelve years ago in South Carolina, ten years ago in Louisiana, and +still more recently in North Carolina and Alabama. + +What has been the result? Is the race problem solved? Is the Negro out +of politics in the South? Has there been a single southern campaign +in the last twenty years in which the Negro has not figured as the +prime issue? Have the southern representatives in Congress any settled +convictions or policy save hatred of black men, and can they discuss +any other matter? Is it not the irony of fate that in the state that +first discovered the legal fraud of disfranchisement a hot political +battle is to-day waging on the old, old question: the right of black +men to vote? + +The reason for all this is not far to seek. In modern industrial +democracy disfranchisement is impossible. The fate, wishes, and +destiny of ten million human beings cannot be delivered, sealed and +bound into the keeping of Dixon, Tillman, Vardaman, and Nelson Page. +They are bound to vote even when disfranchised. + +Disfranchised and voiceless though I am in Georgia to-day by the +illegal White Primary system, there are still fifty congressmen in +Washington fraudulently representing me and my fellows in the +councils of the nation (see Note 14). + +It was promised that disfranchisement would lead to more careful +attention to the Negro's moral and economic advancement. It has on the +contrary stripped them naked to their enemies; discriminating laws of +all sorts have followed, the administration of other laws has become +harsher and more unfair, school funds have been curtailed and +education discouraged, and mobs and murder have gone on. + +If the new policy has been a farce politically and socially, how much +more has it failed as an economic cure-all! No sooner was it +proclaimed from the house-tops than the rift in the lute appeared. "We +do not want educated farmers," cried the landlords, "we want docile +laborers." "We do not want educated Negro artisans," cried the white +artisans, and they enforced their demands by their votes and by mob +violence. "We do not want to raise the Negro; we want to put him in +his place and keep him there," cried the dominant forces of the South. +Then those northerners who had lightly embraced the fair sounding +program of limited labor training and disfranchisement found +themselves grasping the air. + +Not only this, but the South itself faced a puzzling paradox. The +industrial revolution was demanding labor; it was demanding +intelligent labor, while the supposed political and social exigences +of the situation called for ignorance and subserviency. It was an +impossible contradiction and the South to-day knows it. + +What is it that makes a successful laboring force? It is laborers of +education and natural intelligence, reasonably satisfied with their +conditions, inspired with certain ideals of life, and with a growing +sense of self-respect and self-reliance. How is the caste system of +the South influencing the Negro laborer? It is systematically +restricting his development; it is restricting his education so that +the public common schools of the South except in a few cities are +worse this moment than they were twenty years ago; it is seeking to +kill self-respect by putting upon the accident of color every mark of +humiliation that it can invent; it is discouraging self-reliance by +treating a class of men as wards and children; it is killing ambition +by drawing a color line instead of a line of desert and +accomplishment; and finally, through these things, it is encouraging +crime, and by the unintelligent and brutal treatment of criminals, it +is developing more crime. + +This general attitude toward the main laboring class reflects itself +less glaringly but as certainly in the treatment even of white +laborers. So long as white labor must compete with black labor, it +must approximate black labor conditions--long hours, small wages, +child labor, labor of women, and even peonage. Moreover it can raise +itself above black labor only by a legalized caste system which will +cut off competition and this is what the South is straining every +nerve to create. + +The last fatal campaign in Georgia which culminated in the Atlanta +Massacre was an attempt, fathered by conscienceless politicians, to +arouse the prejudices of the rank and file of white laborers and +farmers against the growing competition of black men, so that black +men by law could be forced back to subserviency and serfdom. It +succeeded so well that smouldering hate burst into flaming murder +before the politicians could curb it. + +There is, however, a limit to this sort of thing. The day when mobs +can successfully cow the Negro to willing slavery is past. The Atlanta +Negroes shot back and shot to kill, and that stopped the riot with a +certain suddenness (see Note 15). The South is realizing that +lawlessness and economic advance cannot coexist. If the wonderful +industrial revolution is to develop unhindered, the South must have +law and order and it must have intelligent workmen. + +It is only a question of time when white working men and black working +men will see their common cause against the aggressions of exploiting +capitalists. Already there are signs of this: white and black miners +are working as a unit in Alabama; white and black masons are in one +union in Atlanta (see Note 16). The economic strength of the Negro +cannot be beaten into weakness, and therefore it must be taken into +partnership, and this the Southern white working man, befuddled by +prejudice as he is, begins dimly to realize. + +It is this paradox that brings us to-day in the South to a fourth +solution of the problem: Immigration. The voice that calls foreign +immigrants southward to-day is not single but double. First, the +exploiter of common labor wishes to exploit this new labor just as +formerly he exploited Negro labor. On the other hand the far-sighted +ones know that the present freedom of labor exploitation must +pass--that some time or other the industrial system of the South must +be made to conform more and more to the growing sense of industrial +justice in the North and in the civilized world. Consequently the +second object of the immigration philosopher is to make sure that, +when the rights of the laborer come to be recognized in the South, +that laborer will be white, and just so far as possible the black +laborer will still be forced down below the white laborer until he +becomes thoroughly demoralized or extinct. + +The query is therefore: If immigration turns toward the South as it +undoubtedly will in time, what will become of the Negro? The view of +the white world is usually that there are two possibilities. First, +that the immigrants will crush the Negro utterly; or secondly, that by +competition there will come a sifting which will lead to the survival +of the best in both groups of laborers. + +Let us consider these possibilities. First it is certain that so far +as the Negroes are land holders, and so far as they belong to a +self-employing, self-supplying group economy, no possible competition +from without can disturb them. I have shown already how rapidly this +system is growing. Further than that, there is a large group of +Negroes who have already gained an assured place in the national +economy as artisans, servants, and laborers. The worst of these may be +supplanted, but the best could not be unless there came a sudden +unprecedented and improbable influx of skilled foreign labor. A slow +infiltration of foreigners cannot displace the better class of Negro +workers; simply because the growing labor demand of the South cannot +spare them. If then it is to be merely a matter of ability to work, +the result of immigration will on the whole be beneficial and will +differentiate the good Negro workman from the careless and +indifferent. + +But one element remains to be considered, and this is political power. +If the black workman is to remain disfranchised while the white native +and immigrant not only has the economic defense of the ballot, but the +power to use it so as to hem in the Negro competitor, cow and +humiliate him and force him to a lower plane, then the Negro will +suffer from immigration. + +It is becoming distinctly obvious to Negroes that to-day, in modern +economic organization, the one thing that is giving the workman a +chance is intelligence and political power, and that it is utterly +impossible for a moment to suppose that the Negro in the South is +going to hold his own in the new competition with immigrants if, on +the one hand, the immigrant has access to the best schools of the +community and has equal political power with other men to defend his +rights and to assert his wishes, while, on the other hand, his black +competitor is not only weighed down by past degradation, but has few +or no schools and is disfranchised. + +The question then as to what will happen in the South when immigration +comes, is a very simple question. If the Negro is kept disfranchised +and ignorant and if the new foreign immigrants are allowed access to +the schools and given votes as they undoubtedly will be, then there +can ensue only accentuated race hatred, the spread of poverty and +disease among Negroes, the increase of crime, and the gradual murder +of the eight millions of black men who live in the South except in so +far as they escape North and bring their problems there as thousands +will. + +If on the contrary, with the coming of the immigrants to the South, +there is given to the Negro equal educational opportunity and the +chance to cast his vote like a man and be counted as a man in the +councils of the county, city, state and nation, then there will ensue +that competition between men in the industrial world which, if it is +not altogether just, is at least better than slavery and serfdom. + +There of course could be strong argument that the nation owes the +Negro something better than harsh industrial competition just after +slavery, but the Negro does not ask the payment of debts that are +dead. He is perfectly willing to come into competition with immigrants +from any part of the world, to welcome them as human beings and as +fellows in the struggle for life, to struggle with them and for them +and for a greater South and a better nation. But the black man +certainly has a right to ask, when he starts into this race, that he +be allowed to start with hands untied and brain unclouded (see Note +17). + +Such in bare outline is the economic history of the South. It is the +story of an attempt to degrade working men. It failed in 1860, after +it had sought for centuries to reduce laborers to the level of +purchasable cattle; it failed in 1870, after a fearful catastrophe +while endeavoring to revive this system under another name; it has +failed since then satisfactorily to maintain the present rural serfdom +or to establish a disfranchised caste of artisans; and it will fail in +the future to keep the stubbornly up-struggling masses of black +laborers down, by shackling their souls and loading immigrants atop of +them. It will always fail unless indeed, as sometimes seems possible, +both Church and State in America shall refuse longer to listen to the +teaching of Jesus when He said: "Come unto Me all ye that labor and +are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. + +"Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in +heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls. + +"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." + + + + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER IV + +RELIGION IN THE SOUTH + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RELIGION IN THE SOUTH + + +It is often a nice question as to which is of greater importance among +a people--the way in which they earn their living, or their attitude +toward life. As a matter of fact these two things are but two sides of +the same problem, for nothing so reveals the attitude of a people +toward life as the manner in which they earn their living; and on the +other hand the earning of a living depends in the last analysis upon +one's estimate of what life really is. So that these two questions +that I am discussing with regard to the South are intimately bound up +with each other. + +If we have studied the economic development of the South carefully, +then we have already seen something of its attitude toward life; the +history of religion in the South means a study of these same facts +over which we have gone, from a different point of view. Moreover, as +the economic history of the South is in effect the economics of +slavery and the Negro problem, so the essence of a study of religion +in the South is a study of the ethics of slavery and emancipation. + +It is very difficult of course for one who has not seen the practical +difficulties that surround a people at any particular time in their +battle with the hard facts of this world, to interpret with sympathy +their ideals of life; and this is especially difficult when the +economic life of a nation has been expressed by such a discredited +word as slavery. If, then, we are to study the history of religion in +the South, we must first of all divest ourselves of prejudice, pro and +con; we must try to put ourselves in the place of those who are +seeking to read the riddle of life and grant to them about the same +general charity and the same general desire to do right that we find +in the average human being. On the other hand, we must not, in +striving to be charitable, be false to truth and right. Slavery in the +United States was an economic mistake and a moral crime. This we +cannot forget. Yet it had its excuses and mitigations. These we must +remember. + +When in the seventeenth century there grew up in the New World a +system of human slavery, it was not by any means a new thing. There +were slaves and slavery in Europe, not, to be sure, to a great extent, +but none the less real. The Christian religion, however, had come to +regard it as wrong and unjust that those who partook of the privileges +and hopes and aspirations of that religion should oppress each other +to the extent of actual enslavement. The idea of human brotherhood in +the seventeenth century was of a brotherhood of co-religionists. When +it came to the dealing of Christian with heathen, however, the +century saw nothing wrong in slavery; rather, theoretically, they saw +a chance for a great act of humanity and religion. The slaves were to +be brought from heathenism to Christianity, and through slavery the +benighted Indian and African were to find their passport into the +kingdom of God. This theory of human slavery was held by Spaniards, +French, and English. It was New England in the early days that put the +echo of it in her codes (see Note 18) and recognition of it can be +seen in most of the colonies. + +But no sooner had people adopted this theory than there came the +insistent and perplexing question as to what the status of the heathen +slave was to be after he was Christianized and baptized; and even more +pressing, what was to be the status of his children? + +It took a great deal of bitter heart searching for the conscientious +early slave-holders to settle this question. The obvious state of +things was that the new convert awoke immediately to the freedom of +Christ and became a freeman. But while this was the theoretical, +religious answer, and indeed the answer which was given in several +instances, the practice soon came into direct and perplexing conflict +with the grim facts of economic life. + +Here was a man who had invested his money and his labor in slaves; he +had done it with dependence on the institution of property. Could he +be deprived of his property simply because his slaves were baptized +afterward into a Christian church? Very soon such economic reasoning +swept away the theological dogma and it was expressly declared in +colony after colony that baptism did not free the slaves (see Note +19). This, of course, put an end to the old doctrine of the heathen +slave and it was necessary for the church to arrange for itself a new +theory by which it could ameliorate, if not excuse, the position of +the slave. The next question was naturally that of the children of +slaves born in Christianity and the church for a time hedged +unworthily on the subject by consigning to perpetual slavery the +children of heathen but not those born of Christian parents; this was +satisfactory for the first generation but it fell short of the logic +of slavery later, and a new adjustment was demanded. + +Here again this was not found difficult. In Virginia there had been +built up the beginnings of a feudal aristocracy. Men saw nothing wrong +or unthinkable in the situation as it began to develop, but rather +something familiar. At the head of the feudal manor was the lord, or +master, beneath him the under-lord or overseers and then the artisans, +retainers, the free working men and lastly the serfs, slaves or +servants as they were called. The servant was not free and yet he was +not theoretically exactly a slave, and the laws of Virginia were +rather careful to speak very little of slaves. + +Serfdom in America as in Europe was to be a matter of status or +position and not of race or blood, and the law of the South in the +seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries made little or no +distinction between black and white bondservants save in the time of +their service. The idea, felt rather than expressed, was that here in +America we were to have a new feudalism suited to the new country. At +the top was the governor of the colony representing the majesty of the +English king, at the bottom the serfs or slaves, some white, most of +them black. + +Slavery therefore was gradually transformed in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries into a social status out of which a man, even a +black man, could escape and did escape; and, no matter what his color +was, when he became free, he became free in the same sense that other +people were. Thus it was that there were free black voters in the +southern colonies (Virginia and the Carolinas) in the early days +concerning whose right to vote there was less question than there is +concerning my right to vote now in Georgia (see Note 20). + +The church recognized the situation and the Episcopal church +especially gave itself easily to this new conception. This church +recognized the social gradation of men; all souls were equal in the +sight of God, but there were differences in worldly consideration and +respect, and consequently it was perfectly natural that there should +be an aristocracy at the top and a group of serfs at the bottom. + +Meantime, however, America began to be stirred by a new democratic +ideal; there came the reign of that ruler of men, Andrew Jackson; +there came the spread of the democratic churches, Methodist and +Baptist, and the democratization of other churches. Now when America +became to be looked upon more and more as the dwelling place of free +and equal men and when the Methodist and, particularly, the Baptist +churches went down into the fields and proselyted among the slaves, a +thing which the more aristocratic Episcopal church had never done (see +Note 21), there came new questions and new heart-searchings among +those who wanted to explain the difficulties and to think and speak +clearly in the midst of their religious convictions. + +As such people began to look round them the condition of the slaves +appalled them. The Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina and Georgia +declared in 1833: "There are over two millions of human beings in the +condition of heathen and some of them in a worse condition. They may +be justly considered the heathen of this country, and will bear a +comparison with heathen in any country in the world. The Negroes are +destitute of the gospel, and ever will be under the present state of +things. In the vast field extending from an entire state beyond the +Potomac [_i.e._, Maryland] to the Sabine River [at the time our +southwestern boundary] and from the Atlantic to the Ohio, there are, +to the best of our knowledge, not twelve men exclusively devoted to +the religious instruction of the Negroes. In the present state of +feeling in the South, a ministry of their own color could neither be +obtained nor tolerated. + +"But do not the Negroes have access to the gospel through the stated +ministry of the whites? We answer, no. The Negroes have no regular and +efficient ministry; as a matter of course, no churches; neither is +there sufficient room in the white churches for their accommodation. +We know of but five churches in the slave-holding states built +expressly for their use. These are all in the state of Georgia. We may +now inquire whether they enjoy the privileges of the gospel in their +own houses, and on our plantations? Again we return a negative answer. +They have no Bibles to read by their own firesides. They have no +family altars; and when in affliction, sickness, or death, they have +no minister to address to them the consolations of the gospel, nor to +bury them with appropriate services." + +The same synod said in 1834: "The gospel, as things now are, can never +be preached to the two classes (whites and blacks) successfully in +conjunction. The galleries or back seats on the lower floor of white +churches are generally appropriated to the Negroes, when it can be +done without inconvenience to the whites. When it cannot be done +conveniently, the Negroes must catch the gospel as it escapes through +the doors and windows. If the master is pious, the house servants +alone attend family worship, and frequently few of them, while the +field hands have no attention at all. So far as masters are engaged in +the work [of religious instruction of slaves], an almost unbroken +silence reigns on this vast field." + +The Rev. C.C. Jones, a Georgian and ardent defender of slavery (see +Note 22) says of the period 1790-1820: "It is not too much to say that +the religious and physical condition of the Negroes were both improved +during this period. Their increase was natural and regular, ranging +every ten years between thirty-four and thirty-six per cent. As the +old stock from Africa died out of the country, the grosser customs, +ignorance, and paganism of Africa died with them. Their descendants, +the country-born, were better looking, more intelligent, more +civilized, more susceptible of religious impressions. + +"On the whole, however, but a minority of the Negroes, and that a +small one, attended regularly the house of God, and taking them as a +class, their religious instruction was extensively and most seriously +neglected." + +And of the decade 1830-40, he insists: "We cannot cry out against the +Papists for withholding the Scriptures from the common people and +keeping them in ignorance of the way of life, for we withhold the +Bible from our servants, and keep them in ignorance of it, while we +will not use the means to have it read and explained to them." + +Such condition stirred the more radical-minded toward abolition +sentiments and the more conservative toward renewed effort to +evangelize and better the condition of the slaves. This condition was +deplorable as Jones pictures it. "Persons live and die in the midst of +Negroes and know comparatively little of their real character. They +have not the immediate management of them. They have to do with them +in the ordinary discharge of their duty as servants, further than this +they institute no inquiries; they give themselves no trouble. + +"The Negroes are a distinct class in the community, and keep +themselves very much to themselves. They are one thing before the +whites and another before their own color. Deception before the former +is characteristic of them, whether bond or free, throughout the whole +United States. It is habit, a long established custom, which descends +from generation to generation. There is an upper and an under current. +Some are contented with the appearance on the surface; others dive +beneath. Hence the diversity of impressions and representations of the +moral and religious condition of the Negroes. Hence the disposition of +some to deny the darker pictures of their more searching and knowing +friends." + +He then enumerates the vice of the slaves: "The divine institution of +marriage depends for its perpetuity, sacredness, and value, largely +upon the protection given it by the law of the land. Negro marriages +are neither recognized nor protected by law. The Negroes receive no +instruction on the nature, sacredness, and perpetuity of the +institution; at any rate they are far from being duly impressed with +these things. They are not required to be married in any particular +form, nor by any particular persons." + +He continues: "Hence, as may well be imagined, the marriage relation +loses much of the sacredness and perpetuity of its character. It is a +contract of convenience, profit, or pleasure, that may be entered into +and dissolved at the will of the parties, and that without heinous +sin, or the injury of the property or interests of any one. That which +they possess in common is speedily divided, and the support of the +wife and children falls not upon the husband, but upon the master. +Protracted sickness, want of industrial habits, of congeniality of +disposition, or disparity of age, are sufficient grounds for a +separation." + +Under such circumstances, "polygamy is practiced both secretly and +openly." Un-cleanness, infanticide, theft, lying, quarreling, and +fighting are noted, and the words of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in +1829 are recalled: "There needs no stronger illustration of the +doctrine of human depravity than the state of morals on plantations in +general. Besides the mischievous tendency of bad example in parents +and elders, the little Negro is often taught by these natural +instructors that he may commit any vice that he can conceal from his +superiors, and thus falsehood and deception are among the earliest +lessons they imbibe. Their advance in years is but a progression to +the higher grades of iniquity. The violation of the Seventh +Commandment is viewed in a more venial light than in fashionable +European circles. Their depredations of rice have been estimated to +amount to twenty-five per cent. of the gross average of crops." + +John Randolph of Roanoke once visited a lady and "found her surrounded +with her seamstresses, making up a quantity of clothing. 'What work +have you in hand?' 'O sir, I am preparing this clothing to send to the +poor Greeks.' On taking leave at the steps of her mansion, he saw +some of her servants in need of the very clothing which their +tender-hearted mistress was sending abroad. He exclaimed, 'Madam, +madam, the Greeks are at your door!'" + +One natural solution of this difficulty was to train teachers and +preachers for the slaves from among their own number. The old Voodoo +priests were passing away and already here and there new spiritual +leaders of the Negroes began to arise. Accounts of several of these, +taken from "The Negro Church," will be given. + +Among the earliest was Harry Hosier who traveled with the Methodist +Bishop Asbury and often filled appointments for him. George Leile and +Andrew Bryan were preachers whose life history is of intense interest. +"George Leile or Lisle, sometimes called George Sharp, was born in +Virginia about 1750. His master (Mr. Sharp) some time before the +American war removed and settled in Burke County, Georgia. Mr. Sharp +was a Baptist and a deacon in a Baptist church, of which Rev. Matthew +Moore was pastor. George was converted and baptized under Mr. Moore's +ministry. The church gave him liberty to preach. + +"About nine months after George Leile left Georgia, Andrew, surnamed +Bryan, a man of good sense, great zeal, and some natural elocution, +began to exhort his black brethren and friends. He and his followers +were reprimanded and forbidden to engage further in religious +exercises. He would, however, pray, sing, and encourage his fellow +worshipers to seek the Lord. + +"Their persecution was carried to an inhuman extent. Their evening +assemblies were broken up and those found present were punished with +stripes. Andrew Bryan and Sampson, his brother, converted about a year +after him, were twice imprisoned, and they with about fifty others +were whipped. When publicly whipped, and bleeding under his wounds, +Andrew declared that he not only rejoiced to be whipped, but would +gladly suffer death for the cause of Jesus Christ, and that while he +had life and opportunity he would continue to preach Christ. He was +faithful to his vow and, by patient continuance in well-doing, he put +to silence and shamed his adversaries, and influential advocates and +patrons were raised up for him. Liberty was given Andrew by the civil +authority to continue his religious meetings under certain +regulations. His master gave him the use of his barn at Brampton, +three miles from Savannah, where he preached for two years with little +interruption." + +Lott Carey a free Virginia Negro "was evidently a man of superior +intellect and force of character, as is evidenced from the fact that +his reading took a wide range--from political economy, in Adam Smith's +'Wealth of Nations,' to the voyage of Captain Cook. That he was a +worker as well as a preacher is true, for when he decided to go to +Africa his employers offered to raise his salary from $800 to $1,000 a +year. Remember that this was over eighty years ago. Carey was not +seduced by such a flattering offer, for he was determined. + +"His last sermon in the old First Church in Richmond must have been +exceedingly powerful, for it was compared by an eye-witness, a +resident of another state, to the burning, eloquent appeals of George +Whitfield. Fancy him as he stands there in that historic building +ringing the changes on the word 'freely,' depicting the willingness +with which he was ready to give up his life for service in Africa. + +"He, as you may already know, was the leader of the pioneer colony to +Liberia, where he arrived even before the agent of the Colonization +Society. In his new home his abilities were recognized, for he was +made vice governor, and became governor in fact while Governor Ashmun +was absent from the colony in this country. Carey did not allow his +position to betray the cause of his people, for he did not hesitate to +expose the duplicity of the Colonization Society and even to defy +their authority, it would seem, in the interests of the people. + +"While casting cartridges to defend the colonists against the natives +in 1828, the accidental upsetting of a candle caused an explosion that +resulted in his death. + +"Carey is described as a typical Negro, six feet in height, of massive +and erect frame, with the sinews of a Titan. He had a square face, +keen eyes, and a grave countenance. His movements were measured; in +short, he had all the bearing and dignity of a prince of the blood." + +John Chavis was a full-blooded Negro, born in Granville County, N.C., +near Oxford, in 1763. He was born free and was sent to Princeton, +studying privately under Dr. Witherspoon, where he did well. He went +to Virginia to preach to Negroes. In 1802, in the county court, his +freedom and character were certified to and it was declared that he +had passed "through a regular course of academic studies" at what is +now Washington and Lee University. In 1805 he returned to North +Carolina, where in 1809 he was made a licentiate in the Presbyterian +Church and allowed to preach. His English was remarkably pure, his +manner impressive, his explanations clear and concise. + +For a long time he taught school and had the best whites as pupils--a +United States senator, the sons of a chief justice of North Carolina, +a governor of the state and many others. Some of his pupils boarded in +the family, and his school was regarded as the best in the State. "All +accounts agree that John Chavis was a gentleman," and he was received +socially among the best whites and asked to table. In 1830 he was +stopped from preaching by the law. Afterward he taught a school for +free Negroes in Raleigh. + +Henry Evans was a full-blooded Virginia free Negro, and was the +pioneer of Methodism in Fayetteville, N.C. He found the Negroes there, +about 1800, without any religious instruction. He began preaching and +the town council ordered him away; he continued and whites came to +hear him. Finally the white auditors outnumbered the blacks and sheds +were erected for Negroes at the side of the church. The gathering +became a regular Methodist Church, with a white and Negro membership, +but Evans continued to preach. He exhibited "rare self-control before +the most wretched of castes! Henry Evans did much good, but he would +have done more good had his spirit been untrammeled by this sense of +inferiority." + +His dying words uttered as he stood, aged and bent beside his pulpit, +are of singular pathos: "I have come to say my last word to you. It +is this: None but Christ. Three times have I had my life in jeopardy +for preaching the gospel to you. Three times I have broken ice on the +edge of the water and swam across the Cape Fear to preach the gospel +to you; and, if in my last hour I could trust to that, or anything but +Christ crucified, for my salvation, all should be lost and my soul +perish forever." + +Early in the nineteenth century Ralph Freeman was a slave in Anson +County, N.C. He was a full-blooded Negro, and was ordained and became +an able Baptist preacher. He baptized and administered communion, and +was greatly respected. When the Baptists split on the question of +missions he sided with the anti-mission side. Finally the law forbade +him to preach. + +Lunsford Lane was a Negro who bought his freedom in Raleigh, N.C., by +the manufacture of smoking tobacco. He later became a minister of the +gospel, and had the confidence of many of the best people. + +The story of Jack of Virginia is best told in the words of a Southern +writer: + +"Probably the most interesting case in the whole South is that of an +African preacher of Nottoway County, popularly known as 'Uncle Jack,' +whose services to white and black were so valuable that a +distinguished minister of the Southern Presbyterian Church felt called +upon to memorialize his work in a biography. + +"Kidnapped from his idolatrous parents in Africa, he was brought over +in one of the last cargoes of slaves admitted to Virginia and sold to +a remote and obscure planter in Nottoway County, a region at that time +in the backwoods and destitute particularly as to religious life and +instruction. He was converted under the occasional preaching of Rev. +Dr. John Blair Smith, president of Hampden-Sidney College, and of Dr. +William Hill and Dr. Archibald Alexander of Princeton, then young +theologues, and by hearing the Scriptures read. + +"Taught by his master's children to read, he became so full of the +spirit and knowledge of the Bible that he was recognized among the +whites as a powerful expounder of Christian doctrine, was licensed to +preach by the Baptist Church, and preached from plantation to +plantation within a radius of thirty miles, as he was invited by +overseers or masters. His freedom was purchased by a subscription of +whites, and he was given a home and tract of land for his support. He +organized a large and orderly Negro church, and exercised such a +wonderful controlling influence over the private morals of his flock +that masters, instead of punishing their slaves, often referred them +to the discipline of their pastor, which they dreaded far more. + +"He stopped a heresy among the Negroes of Southern Virginia, defeating +in open argument a famous fanatical Negro preacher named Campbell, who +advocated noise and 'the spirit' against the Bible, and winning over +Campbell's adherents in a body. For over forty years, and until he was +nearly a hundred years of age, he labored successfully in public and +private among black and whites, voluntarily giving up his preaching in +obedience to the law of 1832, the result of 'Old Nat's war.' + +"The most refined and aristocratic people paid tribute to him, and he +was instrumental in the conversion of many whites. Says his +biographer, Rev. Dr. William S. White: 'He was invited into their +houses, sat with their families, took part in their social worship, +sometimes leading the prayer at the family altar. Many of the most +intelligent people attended upon his ministry and listened to his +sermons with great delight. Indeed, previous to the year 1825, he was +considered by the best judges to be the best preacher in that county. +His opinions were respected, his advice followed, and yet he never +betrayed the least symptoms of arrogance or self-conceit. + +"'His dwelling was a rude log cabin, his apparel of the plainest and +coarsest materials.' This was because he wanted to be fully identified +with his class. He refused gifts of better clothing, saying 'These +clothes are a great deal better than are generally worn by people of +my color, and besides if I wear finer ones I find I shall be obliged +to think about them even at meeting.'" + +Thus slowly, surely, the slave, in the persons of such exceptional +men, appearing here and there at rare intervals, was persistently +stretching upward. The Negroes bade fair in time to have their +leaders. The new democratic evangelism began to encourage this, and +then came the difficulty--the inevitable ethical paradox. + +The good men of the South recognized the needs of the slaves. Here and +there Negro ministers were arising. What now should be the policy? On +the part of the best thinkers it seemed as if men might strive here, +in spite of slavery, after brotherhood; that the slaves should be +proselyted, taught religion, admitted to the churches, and, +notwithstanding their civil station, looked upon as the spiritual +brothers of the white communicants. Much was done to make this true. +The conditions improved in a great many respects, but no sooner was +there a systematic effort to teach the slaves, even though that +teaching was confined to elementary religion, than the various things +followed that must follow all intellectual awakenings. + +We have had the same thing in our day. A few Negroes of the South have +been taught, they consequently have begun to think, they have begun to +assert themselves, and suddenly men are face to face with the fact +that either one of two things must happen--either they must stop +teaching or these people are going to be men, not serfs or slaves. Not +only that, but to seek to put an awakening people back to sleep means +revolt. It meant revolt in the eighteenth century, when a series of +insurrections and disturbances frightened the South tremendously, not +so much by their actual extent as by the possibilities they suggested. +It was noticeable that many of these revolts were led by preachers. + +The revolution in Hayti greatly stirred the South and induced South +Carolina to declare in 1800: + +"It shall not be lawful for any number of slaves, free Negroes, +mulattoes, or mestizoes, even in company with white persons, to meet +together and assemble for the purpose of mental instruction or +religious worship either before the rising of the sun or after the +going down of the same. And all magistrates, sheriffs, militia +officers, etc., etc., are hereby vested with power, etc., for +dispersing such assemblies." + +On petition of the white churches the rigor of this law was slightly +abated in 1803 by a modification which forbade any person, before nine +o'clock in the evening, "to break into a place of meeting wherein +shall be assembled the members of any religious society in this State, +provided a majority of them shall be white persons, or otherwise to +disturb their devotions unless such persons, etc., so entering said +place (of worship) shall first have obtained from some magistrate, +etc., a warrant, etc., in case a magistrate shall be then actually +within a distance of three miles from such place of meeting; otherwise +the provisions, etc. (of the Act of 1800) to remain in full force." + +So, too, in Virginia the Haytian revolt and the attempted insurrection +under Gabriel in 1800 led to the Act of 1804, which forbade all +evening meetings of slaves. This was modified in 1805 so as to allow a +slave, in company with a white person, to listen to a white minister +in the evening. A master was "allowed" to employ a religious teacher +for his slaves. Mississippi passed similar restrictions. + +By 1822 the rigor of the South Carolina laws in regard to Negro +meetings had abated, especially in a city like Charleston, and one of +the results was the Vesey plot. + +"The sundry religious classes or congregations, with Negro leaders or +local preachers, into which were formed the Negro members of the +various churches of Charleston, furnished Vesey with the first +rudiments of an organization, and at the same time with a singularly +safe medium for conducting his underground agitation. It was +customary, at that time, for these Negro congregations to meet for +purposes of worship entirely free from the presence of whites. Such +meetings were afterward forbidden to be held except in the presence of +at least one representative of the dominant race, but during the three +or four years prior to the year 1822 they certainly offered Denmark +Vesey regular, easy, and safe opportunity for preaching his gospel of +liberty and hate. And we are left in no doubt whatever in regard to +the uses to which he put those gatherings of blacks. + +"Like many of his race, he possessed the gift of gab, as the silver in +the tongue and the gold in the full or thick-lipped mouth are +oftentimes contemptuously characterized. And, like many of his race, +he was a devoted student of the Bible, to whose interpretation he +brought, like many other Bible students not confined to the Negro +race, a good deal of imagination and not a little of superstition, +which, with some natures, is perhaps but another name for the desires +of the heart. + +"Thus equipped, it is no wonder that Vesey, as he pored over the Old +Testament scriptures, found many points of similitude in the history +of the Jews and that of the slaves in the United States. They were +both peculiar peoples. They were both Jehovah's peculiar peoples, one +in the past, the other in the present. And it seemed to him that as +Jehovah bent His ear, and bared His arm once in behalf of the one, so +would He do the same for the other. It was all vividly real to his +thought, I believe, for to his mind thus had said the Lord. + +"He ransacked the Bible for apposite and terrible texts whose commands +in the olden times, to the olden people, were no less imperative upon +the new times and the new people. This new people were also commanded +to arise and destroy their enemies and the city in which they dwelt, +'both man and woman, young and old, with the edge of the sword.' +Believing superstitiously as he did in the stern and Nemesis-like God +of the Old Testament he looked confidently for a day of vengeance and +retribution for the blacks. He felt, I doubt not, something peculiarly +applicable to his enterprise and intensely personal to himself in the +stern and exultant prophecy of Zachariah, fierce and sanguinary words, +which were constantly in his mouth: 'Then shall the Lord go forth and +fight against those nations as when He fought in the day of battle.' +According to Vesey's lurid exegesis 'those nations' in the text meant +beyond peradventure the cruel masters, and Jehovah was to go forth to +fight them for the poor slaves and on whichever side fought that day +the Almighty God on that side would assuredly rest victory and +deliverance. + +"It will not be denied that Vesey's plan contemplated the total +annihilation of the white population of Charleston. Nursing for many +dark years the bitter wrongs of himself and race had filled him +without doubt with a mad spirit of revenge and had given to him a +decided predilection for shedding the blood of his oppressors. But if +he intended to kill them to satisfy a desire for vengeance he intended +to do so also on broader ground. The conspirators, he argued, had no +choice in the matter, but were compelled to adopt a policy of +extermination by the necessity of their position. The liberty of the +blacks was in the balance of fate against the lives of the whites. He +could strike that balance in favor of the blacks only by the total +destruction of the whites. Therefore the whites, men, women, and +children, were doomed to death."[1] + +Vesey's plot was well laid, but the conspirators were betrayed. + +Less than ten years after this plot was discovered and Vesey and his +associates hanged, there broke out the Nat Turner insurrection in +Virginia. Turner was himself a preacher. + +"He was a Christian and a man. He was conscious that he was a Man and +not a 'thing'; therefore, driven by religious fanaticism, he undertook +a difficult and bloody task. Nathaniel Turner was born in Southampton +County, Virginia, October 2, 1800. His master was one Benjamin Turner, +a very wealthy and aristocratic man. He owned many slaves, and was a +cruel and exacting master. Young 'Nat' was born of slave parents, and +carried to his grave many of the superstitions and traits of his +father and mother. The former was a preacher, the latter a 'mother in +Israel.' Both were unlettered but, nevertheless, very pious people. + +"The mother began when Nat was quite young to teach him that he was +born, like Moses, to be the deliverer of his race. She would sing to +him snatches of wild, rapturous songs and repeat portions of prophecy +she had learned from the preachers of those times. Nat listened with +reverence and awe, and believed everything his mother said. He imbibed +the deep religious character of his parents, and soon manifested a +desire to preach. He was solemnly set apart to 'the gospel ministry' +by his father, the church, and visiting preachers. He was quite low in +stature, dark, and had the genuine African features. His eyes were +small but sharp, and gleamed like fire when he was talking about his +'mission' or preaching from some prophetic passage of scripture. It is +said that he never laughed. He was a dreamy sort of a man, and avoided +the crowd. + +"Like Moses he lived in the solitudes of the mountains and brooded +over the condition of his people. There was something grand to him in +the rugged scenery that nature had surrounded him with. He believed +that he was a prophet, a leader raised up by God to burst the bolts of +the prison-house and set the oppressed free. The thunder, the hail, +the storm-cloud, the air, the earth, the stars, at which he would sit +and gaze half the night all spake the language of the God of the +oppressed. He was seldom seen in a large company, and never drank a +drop of ardent spirits. Like John the Baptist, when he had delivered +his message, he would retire to the fastness of the mountain or seek +the desert, where he could meditate upon his great work." + +In the impression of the Richmond _Enquirer_ of the 30th of August, +1831, the first editorial or leader is under the caption of "The +Banditte." The editor says: + +"They remind one of a parcel of blood-thirsty wolves rushing down from +the Alps; or, rather, like a former incursion of the Indians upon the +white settlements. Nothing is spared; neither age nor sex +respected--the helplessness of women and children pleads in vain for +mercy.... The case of Nat Turner warns us. No black man ought to be +permitted to turn preacher through the country. The law must be +enforced, or the tragedy of Southampton appeals to us in vain." + +Mr. Gray, the man to whom Turner made his confession before dying, +said: + +"It has been said that he was ignorant and cowardly and that his +object was to murder and rob for the purpose of obtaining money to +make his escape. It is notorious that he was never known to have a +dollar in his life, to swear an oath, or drink a drop of spirits. As +to his ignorance, he certainly never had the advantages of an +education, but he can read and write, and for natural intelligence and +quickness of apprehension is surpassed by few men I have ever seen. As +to his being a coward, his reason as given for not resisting Mr. +Phipps, shows the decision of his character. When he saw Mr. Phipps +present his gun, he said he knew it was impossible for him to escape +as the woods were full of men. He, therefore, thought it was better +for him to surrender and trust to fortune for his escape. + +"He is a complete fanatic or plays his part most admirably. On other +subjects he possesses an uncommon share of intelligence, with a mind +capable of attaining anything, but warped and perverted by the +influence of early impressions. He is below the ordinary stature, +though strong and active, having the true Negro face, every feature of +which is strongly marked. + +"I shall not attempt to describe the effect of his narrative, as told +and commented on by himself, in the condemned hole of the prison; the +calm deliberate composure with which he spoke of his late deeds and +intentions; the expression of his fiend-like face when excited by +enthusiasm, still bearing the stains of the blood of the helpless +innocence about him, clothed with rags and covered with chains, yet +daring to raise his manacled hand to Heaven, with a spirit soaring +above the attributes of man. I looked on him and the blood curdled in +my veins."[2] + +The Turner insurrection is so connected with the economic revolution +which enthroned cotton that it marks an epoch in the history of the +slave. A wave of legislation passed over the South prohibiting the +slaves from learning to read and write, forbidding Negroes to preach, +and interfering with Negro religious meetings. + +Virginia declared, in 1831, that neither slaves nor free Negroes might +preach, nor could they attend religious service at night without +permission. In North Carolina slaves and free Negroes were forbidden +to preach, exhort or teach "in any prayer-meeting or other association +for worship where slaves of different families are collected together" +on penalty of not more than thirty-nine lashes. Maryland and Georgia +had similar laws. The Mississippi law of 1831 said: It is "unlawful +for any slave, free Negro, or mulatto to preach the gospel" upon pain +of receiving thirty-nine lashes upon the naked back of the +presumptuous preacher. If a Negro received written permission from his +master he might preach to the Negroes in his immediate neighborhood, +providing six respectable white men, owners of slaves, were present. +In Alabama the law of 1832 prohibited the assembling of more than five +male slaves at any place off the plantation to which they belonged, +but nothing in the act was to be considered as forbidding attendance +at places of public worship held by white persons. No slave or free +person of color was permitted to "preach, exhort, or harangue any +slave or slaves, or free persons of color, except in the presence of +five respectable slaveholders, or unless the person preaching was +licensed by some regular body of professing Christians in the +neighborhood, to whose society or church the Negroes addressed +properly belonged." + +In the District of Columbia the free Negroes began to leave white +churches in 1831 and to assemble in their own. + +Thus it was that through the fear of insurrection, the economic press +of the new slavery that was arising, and the new significance of +slavery in the economics of the South, the strife for spiritual +brotherhood was given up. Slavery became distinctly a matter of race +and not of status. Long years before, the white servants had been +freed and only black servants were left; now social condition came to +be not simply a matter of slavery but a matter of belonging to the +black race, so that even the free Negroes began to be disfranchised +and put into the caste system (see Note 23). + +A new adjustment of ethics and religion had to be made to meet this +new situation, and in the adjustment, no matter what might be said or +thought, the Negro and slavery had to be the central thing. + +In the adjustment of religion and ethics that was made for the new +slavery, under the cotton kingdom, there was in the first place a +distinct denial of human brotherhood. These black men were not men in +the sense that white men were men. They were different--different in +kind, different in origin; they had different diseases (see Note 24); +they had different feelings; they were not to be treated the same; +they were not looked upon as the same; they were altogether apart and, +while perhaps they had certain low sensibilities and aspirations, yet +so far as this world is concerned, there could be with them neither +human nor spiritual brotherhood. + +The only status that they could possibly occupy was the status of +slaves. They could not get along as freemen; they could not work as +freemen; it was utterly unthinkable that people should live with them +free. This was the philosophy that was worked out gradually, with +exceptions here and there, and that was thought through, written on, +preached from the pulpits and taught in the homes, until people in the +South believed it as they believed the rising and the setting of the +sun. + +As this became more and more the orthodox ethical opinion, heretics +appeared in the land as they always do. But intolerance and anathema +met them. In community after community there was a demand for +orthodoxy on this one burning question of the economic and religious +South, and the heretics were driven out. The Quakers left North +Carolina, the abolitionists either left Virginia or ceased to talk, +and throughout the South those people who dared to think otherwise +were left silent or dead (see Note 25). + +So long as slavery was an economic success this orthodoxy was all +powerful; when signs of economic distress appeared it became +intolerant and aggressive. A great moral battle was impending in the +South, but political turmoil and a development of northern thought so +rapid as to be unintelligible in the South stopped this development +forcibly. War came and the hatred and moral bluntness incident to war, +and men crystallized in their old thought. + +The matter now could no longer be argued and thought out, it became a +matter of tradition, of faith, of family and personal honor. There +grew up therefore after the war a new predicament; a new-old paradox. +Upon the whites hung the curse of the past; because they had not +settled their labor problem then, they must settle the problem now in +the face of upheaval and handicapped by the natural advance of the +world. + +So after the war and even to this day, the religious and ethical life +of the South bows beneath this burden. Shrinking from facing the +burning ethical questions that front it unrelentingly, the Southern +Church clings all the more closely to the letter of a worn out +orthodoxy, while its inner truer soul crouches before and fears to +answer the problem of eight million black neighbors. It therefore +assiduously "preaches Christ crucified," in prayer meeting _patois_, +and crucifies "Niggers" in unrelenting daily life. + +While the Church in the North, all too slowly but surely is struggling +up from the ashes of a childish faith in myth and miracle, and +beginning to preach a living gospel of civic virtue, peace and good +will and a crusade against lying, stealing and snobbery, the Southern +church for the most part is still murmuring of modes of "baptism," +"infant damnation" and the "divine plan of creation." + +Thus the post-bellum ethical paradox of the South is far more puzzling +than the economic paradox. To be sure there is leaven in the lump. +There are brave voices here and there, but they are easily drowned by +social tyranny in the South and by indifference and sensationalism in +the North (see Note 26). + +First of all the result of the war was the complete expulsion of +Negroes from white churches. Little has been said of this, but perhaps +it was in itself the most singular and tremendous result of slavery. +The Methodist Church South simply set its Negro members bodily out of +doors. They did it with some consideration for their feelings, with as +much kindliness as crass unkindliness can show, but they virtually +said to all their black members--to the black mammies whom they have +almost fulsomely praised and whom they remember in such astonishing +numbers to-day, to the polite and deferential old servant, to whose +character they build monuments--they said to them: "You cannot worship +God with us." There grew up, therefore, the Colored Methodist +Episcopal Church. + +Flagrantly unchristian as this course was, it was still in some ways +better than the absolute withdrawal of church fellowship on the part +of the Baptists, or the policy of Episcopalians, which was simply that +of studied neglect and discouragement which froze, harried, and well +nigh invited the black communicants to withdraw. + +From the North now came those Negro church bodies born of color +discrimination in Philadelphia and New York in the eighteenth century, +and thus a Christianity absolutely divided along the color line arose. +There may be in the South a black man belonging to a white church +to-day but if so, he must be very old and very feeble. This +anomaly--this utter denial of the very first principles of the ethics +of Jesus Christ--is to-day so deep seated and unquestionable a +principle of Southern Christianity that its essential heathenism is +scarcely thought of, and every revival of religion in this section +banks its spiritual riches solidly and unmovedly against the color +line, without conscious question. + +Among the Negroes the results are equally unhappy. They needed ethical +leadership, spiritual guidance, and religious instruction. If the +Negroes of the South are to any degree immoral, sexually unchaste, +criminally inclined, and religiously ignorant, what right has the +Christian South even to whisper reproach or accusation? How often have +they raised a finger to assume spiritual or religious guardianship +over those victims of their past system of economic and social life? + +Left thus unguided the Negroes, with some help from such Northern +white churches as dared, began their own religious upbuilding (see +Note 27). They faced tremendous difficulties--lack of ministers, +money, and experience. Their churches could not be simply centres of +religious life--because in the poverty of their organized efforts all +united striving tended to centre in this one social organ. The Negro +Church consequently became a great social institution with some +ethical ideas but with those ethical ideas warped and changed and +perverted by the whole history of the past; with memories, traditions, +and rites of heathen worship, of intense emotionalism, trance, and +weird singing. + +And above all, there brooded over and in the church the sense of all +their grievances. Whatsoever their own shortcomings might be, at least +they knew that they were not guilty of hypocrisy; they did not cry +"Whosoever will" and then brazenly ostracize half the world. They +knew that they opened their doors and hearts wide to all people that +really wanted to come in and they looked upon the white churches not +as examples but with a sort of silent contempt and a real inner +questioning of the genuineness of their Christianity. + +On the other hand, so far as the white post-bellum Christian church is +concerned, I can conceive no more pitiable paradox than that of the +young white Christian in the South to-day who really believes in the +ethics of Jesus Christ. What can he think when he hangs upon his +church doors the sign that I have often seen, "All are welcome." He +knows that half the population of his city would not dare to go inside +that church. Or if there was any fellowship between Christians, white +and black, it would be after the manner explained by a white +Mississippi clergyman in all seriousness: "The whites and Negroes +understand each other here perfectly, sir, perfectly; if they come to +my church they take a seat in the gallery. If I go to theirs, they +invite me to the front pew or the platform." + +Once in Atlanta a great revival was going on in a prominent white +church. The people were at fever heat, the minister was preaching and +calling "Come to Jesus." Up the aisle tottered an old black man--he +was an outcast, he had wandered in there aimlessly off the streets, +dimly he had comprehended this call and he came tottering and swaying +up the aisle. What was the result? It broke up the revival. There was +no disturbance; he was gently led out, but that sudden appearance of a +black face spoiled the whole spirit of the thing and the revival was +at an end. + +Who can doubt that if Christ came to Georgia to-day one of His first +deeds would be to sit down and take supper with black men, and who can +doubt the outcome if He did? + +It is this tremendous paradox of a Christianity that theoretically +opens the church to all men and yet closes it forcibly and insultingly +in the face of black men and that does this not simply in the visible +church but even more harshly in the spiritual fellowship of human +souls--it is this that makes the ethical and religious problem in the +South to-day of such tremendous importance, and that gives rise to the +one thing which it seems to me is the most difficult in the Southern +situation and that is, the tendency to deny the truth, the tendency to +lie when the real situation comes up because the truth is too hard to +face. This lying about the situation of the South has not been simply +a political subterfuge against the dangers of ignorance, but is a sort +of gasping inner revolt against acknowledging the real truth of the +ethical conviction which every true Southerner must feel, namely: that +the South is eternally and fundamentally wrong on the plain straight +question of the equality of souls before God--of the inalienable +rights of all men. + +Here are men--they are aspiring, they are struggling piteously +forward, they have frequent instances of ability, there is no doubt as +to the tremendous strides which certain classes of Negroes have +made--how shall they be treated? That they should be treated as men, +of course, the best class of Southerners know and sometimes +acknowledge. And yet they believe, and believe with fierce conviction, +that it is impossible to treat Negroes as men, and still live with +them. Right there is the paradox which they face daily and which is +daily stamping hypocrisy upon their religion and upon their land. + +Their irresistible impulse in this awful dilemma is to point to and +emphasize the Negro's degradation, even though they know that it is +not the degraded Negro whom they most fear, ostracize, and fight to +keep down, but rather the rising, ambitious Negro. + +If my own city of Atlanta had offered it to-day the choice between 500 +Negro college graduates--forceful, busy, ambitious men of property and +self-respect, and 500 black cringing vagrants and criminals, the +popular vote in favor of the criminals would be simply overwhelming. +Why? because they want Negro crime? No, not that they fear Negro crime +less, but that they fear Negro ambition and success more. They can +deal with crime by chain-gang and lynch law, or at least they think +they can, but the South can conceive neither machinery nor place for +the educated, self-reliant, self-assertive black man. + +Are a people pushed to such moral extremities, the ones whose +level-headed, unbiased statements of fact concerning the Negro can be +relied upon? Do they really know the Negro? Can the nation expect of +them the poise and patience necessary for the settling of a great +social problem? + +Not only is there then this initial falseness when the South excuses +its ethical paradox by pointing to the low condition of the Negro +masses, but there is also a strange blindness in failing to see that +every pound of evidence to prove the present degradation of black men +but adds to the crushing weight of indictment against their past +treatment of this race. + +A race is not made in a single generation. If they accuse Negro women +of lewdness and Negro men of monstrous crime, what are they doing but +advertising to the world the shameless lewdness of those Southern men +who brought millions of mulattoes into the world, and whose deeds +throughout the South and particularly in Virginia, the mother of +slavery, have left but few prominent families whose blood does not +to-day course in black veins? Suppose to-day Negroes do steal; who +was it that for centuries made stealing a virtue by stealing their +labor? Have not laziness and listlessness always been the followers of +slavery? If these ten millions are ignorant by whose past law and +mandate and present practice is this true? + +The truth then cannot be controverted. The present condition of the +Negro in America is better than the history of slavery proves we might +reasonably expect. With the help of his friends, North and South, and +despite the bitter opposition of his foes, South and North, he has +bought twelve million acres of land, swept away two-thirds of his +illiteracy, organized his church, and found leadership and articulate +voice. Yet despite this the South, Christian and unchristian, with +only here and there an exception, still stands like a rock wall and +says: Negroes are not men and must not be treated as men. + +When now the world faces such an absolute ethical contradiction, the +truth is nearer than it seems. + +It stands to-day perfectly clear and plain despite all sophistication +and false assumption: If the contention of the South is true--that +Negroes cannot by reason of hereditary inferiority take their places +in modern civilization beside white men, then the South owes it to the +world and to its better self to give the Negro every chance to prove +this. To make the assertion dogmatically and then resort to all means +which retard and restrict Negro development is not simply to stand +convicted of insincerity before the civilized world, but, far worse +than that, it is to make a nation of naturally generous, honest people +to sit humiliated before their own consciences. + +I believe that a straightforward, honorable treatment of black men +according to their desert and achievement, will soon settle the Negro +problem. If the South is right few will rise to a plane that will +make their social reception a matter worth consideration; few will +gain the sobriety and industry which will deserve the ballot; and few +will achieve such solid moral character as will give them welcome to +the fellowship of the church. If, on the other hand, Negroes with the +door of opportunity thrown wide do become men of industry and +achievement, of moral strength and even genius, then such rise will +silence the South with an eternal silence. + +The nation that enslaved the Negro owes him this trial; the section +that doggedly and unreasonably kept him in slavery owes him at least +this chance; and the church which professes to follow Jesus Christ and +does not insist on this elemental act of justice merits the denial of +the Master--"_I never knew you._" + +This, then, is the history of those mighty moral battles in the South +which have given us the Negro problem. And the last great battle is +not a battle of South or East, of black or white, but of all of us. +The path to racial peace is straight but narrow--its following to-day +means tremendous fight against inertia, prejudice, and intrenched +snobbery. But it is the duty of men, it is a duty of the church, to +face the problem. Not only is it their duty to face it--they _must_ +face it, it is impossible not to, the very attempt to ignore it is +assuming an attitude. It is a problem not simply of political +expediency, of economic success, but a problem above all of religious +and social life; and it carries with it not simply a demand for its +own solution, but beneath it lies the whole question of the real +intent of our civilization: Is the civilization of the United States +Christian? + +It is a matter of grave consideration what answer we ought to give to +that question. The precepts of Jesus Christ cannot but mean that +Christianity consists of an attitude of humility, of a desire for +peace, of a disposition to treat our brothers as we would have our +brothers treat us, of mercy and charity toward our fellow men, of +willingness to suffer persecution for right ideals and in general of +love not only toward our friends but even toward our enemies. + +Judged by this, it is absurd to call the practical religion of this +nation Christian. We are not humble, we are impudently proud; we are +not merciful, we are unmerciful toward friend and foe; we are not +peaceful nor peacefully inclined as our armies and battle-ships +declare; we do not want to be martyrs, we would much rather be thieves +and liars so long as we can be rich; we do not seek continuously, and +prayerfully inculcate, love and justice for our fellow men, but on the +contrary the treatment of the poor, the unfortunate, and the black +within our borders is almost a national crime. + +The problem that lies before Christians is tremendous (see Note 28), +and the answer must begin not by a slurring over of the one problem +where these different tests of Christianity are most flagrantly +disregarded, but it must begin by a girding of ourselves and a +determination to see that justice is done in this country to the +humblest and blackest as well as to the greatest and whitest of our +citizens. + +Now a word especially about the Episcopal church, whose position +toward its Negro communicants is peculiar. I appreciate this position +and speak of it specifically because I am one of those communicants. +For four generations my family has belonged to this church and I +belong to it, not by personal choice, not because I feel myself +welcome within its portals, but simply because I refuse to be read +outside of a church which is mine by inheritance and the service of my +fathers. When the Episcopal church comes, as it does come to-day, to +the Parting of the Ways, to the question as to whether its record in +the future is going to be, on the Negro problem, as disgraceful as it +has been in the past, I feel like appealing to all who are members of +that church to remember that after all it is a church of Jesus Christ. +Your creed and your duty enjoin upon you one, and only one, course of +procedure. + +In the real Christian church there is neither black nor white, rich +nor poor, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but all stand equal +before the face of the Master. If you find that you cannot treat your +Negro members as fellow Christians then do not deceive yourselves into +thinking that the differences that you make or are going to make in +their treatment are made for their good or for the service of the +world; do not entice them to ask for a separation which your +unchristian conduct forces them to prefer; do not pretend that the +distinctions which you make toward them are distinctions which are +made for the larger good of men, but simply confess in humility and +self-abasement that you are not able to live up to your Christian +vows; that you cannot treat these men as brothers and therefore you +are going to set them aside and let them go their half-tended way. + +I should be sorry, I should be grieved more than I can say, to see +that which happened in the Southern Methodist Church and that which is +practically happening in the Presbyterian Church, and that which will +come in other sects--namely, a segregation of Negro Christians, come +to be true among Episcopalians. It would be a sign of Christian +disunity far more distressing than sectarianism. I should therefore +deplore it; and yet I am also free to say that unless this church is +prepared to treat its Negro members with exactly the same +consideration that other members receive, with the same brotherhood +and fellowship, the same encouragement to aspiration, the same +privileges, similarly trained priests and similar preferment for them, +then I should a great deal rather see them set aside than to see a +continuation of present injustice. All I ask is that when you do this +you do it with an open and honest statement of the real reasons and +not with statements veiled by any hypocritical excuses. + +I am therefore above all desirous that the younger men and women who +are to-day taking up the leadership of this great group of men, who +wish the world better and work toward that end, should begin to see +the real significance of this step and of the great problem behind it. +It is not a problem simply of the South, not a problem simply of this +country, it is a problem of the world. + +As I have said elsewhere: "Most men are colored. A belief in humanity +is above all a belief in colored men." If you cannot get on with +colored men in America you cannot get on with the modern world; and if +you cannot work with the humanity of this world how shall your souls +ever tune with the myriad sided souls of worlds to come? + +It may be that the price of the black man's survival in America and in +the modern world, will be a long and shameful night of subjection to +caste and segregation. If so, he will pay it, doggedly, silently, +unfalteringly, for the sake of human liberty and the souls of his +children's children. But as he stoops he will remember the indignation +of that Jesus who cried, yonder behind heaving seas and years: "Woe +unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that strain out a gnat and +swallow a camel,"--as if God cared a whit whether His Sons are born of +maid, wife or widow so long as His church sits deaf to His own +calling: + +"Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and he that hath +no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without +money and without price!" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Grimke: "Right on the Scaffold." + +[2] "The Negro Church," Atlanta University Publications, No. 8. + + + + + * * * * * + +NOTES + +TO CHAPTERS III AND IV + + * * * * * + + + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER III + +NOTE 1 + + +"The history of slavery and the slave trade after 1820 must be read in +the light of the industrial revolution through which the civilized +world passed in the first half of the nineteenth century. Between the +years 1775 and 1825 occurred economic events and changes of the +highest importance and widest influence. Though all branches of the +industry felt the impulse of this new industrial life, yet, if we +consider single industries, cotton manufacture has, during the +nineteenth century, made the most magnificent and gigantic advances." + +This fact is easily explained by the remarkable series of inventions +that revolutionized this industry between 1738 and 1830, including +Arkwright's, Watt's, Compton's, and Cartwright's epoch making +contrivances. The effect which these inventions had on the manufacture +of cotton goods is best illustrated by the fact that in England, the +chief cotton market of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose +steadily from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in +1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860. Very early, therefore, came the query +whence the supply of raw cotton was to come. Tentative experiments on +the rich, broad fields of the Southern United States, together with +the indispensable invention of Whitney's cotton gin, soon answered +this question. A new economic future was opened up to this land, and +immediately the whole South began to extend its cotton culture, and +more and more to throw its whole energy into this one staple. + +Here it was that the fatal mistake of compromising with slavery in the +beginning, and of the policy of _laissez-faire_ pursued thereafter, +became painfully manifest; for, instead now of a healthy, normal, +economic development along proper industrial lines, we have the +abnormal and fatal rise of a slave-labor, large-farming system, which, +before it was realized, had so intertwined itself with and braced +itself upon the economic forces of an industrial age, that a vast and +terrible civil war was necessary to displace it. The tendencies to a +patriarchal serfdom, recognized in the age of Washington and +Jefferson, began slowly but surely to disappear; and in the second +quarter of the century Southern slavery was irresistibly changing from +a family institution to an industrial system. + +DuBois, "Suppression of the Slave Trade," p. 151. + +A list of the chief inventions most graphically illustrates the +above:-- + + 1738, John Jay, fly shuttle. + John Wyatt, spinning by rollers. + 1748, Lewis Paul, carding machine. + 1760, Robert Kay, drop box. + 1769, Richard Arkwright, water-frame and throstle. + James Watt, steam-engine. + 1772, James Lees, improvements on carding-machine. + 1775, Richard Arkwright, series of combinations. + 1779, Samuel Compton, mule. + 1785, Edmund Cartwright, power-loom. + 1803-4, Radcliffe and Johnson, dressing-machine. + 1817, Roberts, fly-frame. + 1818, William Eaton, self-acting frame. + 1825-30, Roberts, improvements on mule. + +Cf. Baines, "History of the Cotton Manufactures," pp. 116-23; +"Encyclopaedia Britannica," 9th ed., article "Cotton." + + +NOTE 2 + +In 1832, Alabama declared that "any person or persons who shall +attempt to teach any free person of color or slave to spell, read, or +write, shall, upon conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in a +sum not less than $250, nor more than $500." + +Georgia, in 1770, fined any person who taught a slave to read or write +twenty pounds. In 1829 the State enacted: + +"If any slave, Negro or free person of color, or any white person, +shall teach any other slave, Negro or free person of color to read or +write, either written or printed characters, the same free person of +color or slave shall be punished by fine and whipping, or fine or +whipping, at the discretion of the court; and if a white person so +offend, he, she or they shall be punished with a fine not exceeding +$500 and imprisonment in the common jail at the discretion of the +court." + +In 1833 this law was put into the penal code, with additional +penalties for using slaves in printing offices to set type. These laws +were violated sometimes by individual masters, and clandestine schools +were opened for Negroes in some of the cities before the war. In 1850 +and thereafter there was some agitation to repeal these laws and a +bill to that effect failed in the Senate of Georgia by two or three +votes. + +Louisiana, in 1830, declared that "All persons who shall teach or +permit or cause to be taught any slave to read or write shall be +imprisoned not less than one month nor more than twelve months." + +Missouri, in 1847, passed an act saying that "No person shall keep or +teach any school for the instruction of Negroes or mulattoes in +reading or writing in this state." + +North Carolina had schools supported by free Negroes up until 1835, +when they were abolished by law. + +South Carolina, in 1740, declared: "Whereas, the having of slaves +taught to write or suffering them to be employed in writing may be +attended with inconveniences, be it enacted, that all and every person +and persons whatsoever who shall hereafter teach or cause any slave +or slaves to be taught, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe +in any manner of writing whatever, hereafter taught to write, every +such person or persons shall for every such offense forfeit the sum of +L100 current money." + +In 1800 and 1833 the teaching of free Negroes was restricted: "And if +any free person of color or slave shall keep any school or other +places of instruction for teaching any slave or free person of color +to read or write, such free person of color or slave shall be liable +to the same fine, imprisonment and corporal punishment as by this act +are imposed and inflicted on free persons of color and slaves for +teaching slaves to write." Other sections prohibited white persons +from teaching slaves. Apparently whites might teach free Negroes to +some extent. + +Virginia, in 1819, forbade "all meetings or assemblages of slaves or +free Negroes or mulattoes mixing and associating with such slaves, +... at any school or schools for teaching them reading and writing, +either in the day or night." Nevertheless free Negroes kept schools +for themselves until the Nat Turner Insurrection, when it was enacted, +1831, that "all meetings of free Negroes or mulattoes at any +school-house, church, meeting-house or other place, for teaching them +reading and writing, either in the day or night, under whatsoever +pretext, shall be deemed and considered an unlawful assembly." This +law was carefully enforced. + +In the Northern States few actual prohibitory laws were enacted, but +in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and elsewhere, mob +violence frequently arose against Negro schools, and in Connecticut +the teaching of Negroes was restricted as follows in 1833: "No person +shall set up or establish in this state any school, academy or other +literary institution for the instruction or education of colored +persons who are not inhabitants of this State, or harbor or board, +for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed in any such +school, academy or literary institution any colored person who is not +an inhabitant of any town in this State, without the consent, in +writing, first obtained, of a majority of the civil authority, and +also of the select-men of the town in which each school, academy or +literary institution is situated." This was especially directed +against the famous Prudence Crandall school, and was repeated in 1838. + +Ohio decreed, in 1829, that "the attendance of black or mulatto +persons be specifically prohibited, but all taxes assessed upon the +property of colored persons for school purposes should be appropriated +to their instruction and no other purpose." This prohibition was +enforced, but the second clause was a dead letter for twenty years. +Cf. Atlanta University Publications, No. 6. + + +NOTE 3 + +Cf. Cairnes' "Slave Power." + + +NOTE 4 + +Stephen A. Douglas said "that there was not the shadow of doubt that +the slave-trade had been carried on quite extensively for a long time +back, and that there had been more slaves imported into the Southern +States, during the last year, than had ever been imported before in +any one year, even when the slave-trade was legal. It was his +confident belief, that over fifteen thousand slaves had been brought +into this country during the past year (1859). He had seen, with his +own eyes, three hundred of those recently-imported, miserable beings, +in a slave-pen in Vicksburg, Miss., and also large numbers at Memphis, +Tenn." It was currently reported that depots for these slaves existed +in over twenty large cities and towns in the South, and an interested +person boasted to a senator, about 1860, that "twelve vessels would +discharge their living freight upon our shores within ninety days from +the 1st of June last," and that between sixty and seventy cargoes had +been successfully introduced in the last eighteen months. (Cf. DuBois: +"Slave Trade," ch. xi.) + + +NOTE 5 + +Cf. Olmsted's "Journeys" and Helper's "Impending Crisis." + + +NOTE 6 + +Has not the time come for characterizing war plainly and ceasing to +envelope it in a haze of sentimental lies? We have near worshiped the +Civil War for a generation, when in truth it was a disgrace to +civilization and we know it. + + +NOTE 7 + +Cf. Blaine: "Twenty Years in Congress"; "American Political Science +Review," Vol. 1, pp. 44-61; _e.g._, "South Carolina, besides thus +minutely regulating the labor of Negroes under contract, prohibited +them from practicing the 'art, trade or business of an artisan, +mechanic, or shopkeeper,' or any other trade or business on their own +account without paying an annual license fee to the district judge. +And no Negro could obtain a license who had not served a term of +'apprenticeship' at the trade. Tennessee also required licenses; and +Mississippi required Negroes to have written evidence of their home +and employment. Mississippi also prohibited the renting or leasing of +any land to Negroes, except in incorporated towns and cities." +Louisiana had perhaps the most outrageous provisions. + + +NOTE 8 + +Albion W. Tourgee said: "They instituted a public school system in a +region where public schools had been unknown. They opened the +ballot-box and the jury-box to thousands of white men who had been +debarred from them by a lack of earthly possessions. They introduced +home rule in the South. They abolished the whipping-post, the +branding-iron, the stocks and other barbarous forms of punishment +which had up to that time prevailed. They reduced capital felonies +from about twenty to two or three. In an age of extravagance they were +extravagant in the sums appropriated for public works. In all that +time no man's rights of person were invaded under the forms of law." +Thomas E. Miller, a Negro member of the late Constitutional Convention +of South Carolina, said: "The gentleman from Edgefield (Mr. Tillman) +speaks of the piling of the State debt; of jobbery and peculation +during the period between 1869 and 1873 in South Carolina, but he has +not found voice eloquent enough nor pen exact enough to mention those +imperishable gifts bestowed upon South Carolina between 1873 and 1876 +by Negro legislators--the laws relative to finance, the building of +penal and charitable institutions, and, greatest of all, the +establishment of the public school system. Starting as infants in +legislation in 1869, many wise measures were not thought of, many +injudicious acts were passed. But in the administration of affairs for +the next four years, having learned by experience the result of bad +acts, we immediately passed reformatory laws touching every department +of state, county, municipal and town governments. These enactments are +to-day upon the statute books of South Carolina. They stand as living +witnesses of the Negro's fitness to vote and legislate upon the rights +of mankind." + +Cf. Love's "Disfranchisement of the Negro," p. 10. + + +NOTE 9 + +Cf. "The Economic Future of the Negro," in papers and proceedings of +the eighteenth Annual Meeting, American Economic Association, pp. +219-42. + + +NOTE 10 + +See Alabama Laws on Labor Contracts. + + +NOTE 11 + +See Laws of Alabama, 1906-1907. + + +NOTE 12 + +See Laws of South Carolina, 1906-1907. + + +NOTE 13 + +Cf. Bulletin Number 8, 12th United States Census. + + +NOTE 14 + +This statement when made was challenged by a Virginia rector. Let John +Sharp Williams, minority leader of the House of Representatives answer +him. + +"It is the physical presence of the Negro which constitutes the Negro +problem and the race issue. It is not the fact that the Negro can vote +in the South, because, as a matter of fact, he cannot and does not. +The Negro problem would be just as troublesome as it is to-day if the +fifteenth amendment were repealed. The fifteenth amendment touches it +only on its political or voting side, where the trouble is cured +already in the South. It is true that the Negro does vote in Ohio, +Illinois and New Jersey and various other places. But the people of +those states could to-morrow, if they wanted to, get rid of his vote, +just as we have got rid of it in Mississippi. The very fact that they +have not done it is proof of the fact that they do not want to do it, +and that very fact is the death-blow of the Vardaman agitation." + +Negroes are disfranchised by legal and illegal methods and by unfair +administration of the law. The "white" primary is a wide-spread +subterfuge: to the democratic primary election all white men are +admitted without question, and no Negro under any circumstances. The +verdict of the primary is then registered in a farce "election." In +Atlanta, _e.g._, at the "election" 700 votes are cast in a city of +100,000! The success of the "white" primary depends of course (_a_) on +the illegal power of the party chiefs to exclude any votes they choose +on any pretext and (_b_) on the absolute and unfair control of +election machinery and returns by one party and (_c_) on public +acquiescence in this travesty on popular government. + + +NOTE 15 + +The Atlanta riot had two distinct phases: first, Saturday, the killing +of innocent and surprised Negroes by a white mob; then a lull when +blacks rapidly armed themselves; finally the attempt to renew the +assault by a crowd mingled with county policemen, who were repulsed by +a fierce defense by Negroes; these Negroes were afterward acquitted of +murder by a southern jury. The number of white and black killed in +that encounter will never be known, but it stopped the riot. Cf. +"World To-Day," Nov. 1906. + + +NOTE 16 + +The executive officials of the miners in Alabama consist of four +whites and four Negroes. + + +NOTE 17 + +Ten good references on the economic history of the Negro and slavery +are: + +1. Kemble, Fanny, "A Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation," +N.Y., 1863. 337 pp. 12mo. + +2. Olmsted, F.L., "A Journey in the Sea Board Slave States," N.Y., +1856. 723 pp. 12mo. + +3. Cairnes, J.E., "The Slave Power: Its Character, Career, and +Probable Designs," London, 1862. 304 pp., 2d ed. N.Y. 410 pp. + +4. United States 12th Census, Bulletin No. 8: "Negroes in United +States," by W.F. Wilcox and W.E.B. DuBois, Wash., 1904, 333 pp. + +5. "The Philadelphia Negro" (Publications of the University of +Pennsylvania) 520 pp. Ginn. + +6. "The Suppression of the Slave Trade" (Harvard Historical +Monographs, No. 1) 335 pp. Longmans, 1896. + +7. Atlanta University Publications: + +No. 3, "Efforts for Social Betterment," 66 pp. 1898. + +No. 4, "The Negro in Business," 77 pp. 1899. + +No. 7, "The Negro Artisan," 192 pp. 1902. + +8. Bulletins of the United States Department of Labor. + +Nos. 10, 14, 22, 32, 35, 37, 38, 48. + +9. United States: Report of the Industrial Commission 1901-2, 19 vols. + +10. Proceedings of the American Economic Association, 1906. + + + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER IV + + +NOTE 18 + +See Atlanta University Publications, No. 8, Section 4. + + +NOTE 19 + +"Baptism doth not alter the condition of the person as to his bondage +or freedom, in order that diverse masters freed from this doubt may +more carefully endeavor the propagation of Christianity." (Williams I, +139.) + + +NOTE 20 + +Cf. Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart, "The Realities of Negro Suffrage," +Proceedings of the American Political Science Association, Vol. II, +1905. + + +NOTE 21 + +The Church of England through the "Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel" (incorporated 1701) sent several missionaries who worked +chiefly in the North. The history of the society goes on to say: "It +is a matter of commendation to the clergy that they have done thus +much in so great and difficult a work. But, alas! what is the +instruction of a few hundreds in several years with respect to the +many thousands uninstructed, unconverted, living, dying, utter pagans. +It must be confessed what hath been done is as nothing with regard to +what a true Christian would hope to see effected." After stating +several difficulties in respect to the religious instruction of the +Negroes, it is said: "But the greatest obstruction is the masters +themselves do not consider enough the obligation which lies upon them +to have their slaves instructed." The work of this society in America +ceased in 1783. The Methodists report the following members: + + 1786 1,890 + 1790 11,682 + 1791 12,884 + 1796 12,215 + +Nearly all were in the North and the border states. Georgia had only +148. The Baptists had 18,000 Negro members in 1793. As to the +Episcopalians, the single state of Virginia where more was done than +elsewhere will illustrate the result: + +"The Church Commission for Work among the Colored People at a late +meeting decided to request the various rectors of parishes throughout +the South to institute Sunday-schools and special services for the +colored population 'such as were frequently found in the South before +the war.' The commission hope for 'real advance' among the colored +people in so doing. We do not agree with the commission with respect +to either the wisdom or the efficiency of the plan suggested. In the +first place, this 'before the war' plan was a complete failure so far +as church extension was concerned, in the past when white churchmen +had complete bodily control of their slaves.... + +"The Journals of Virginia will verify the contention, that during the +'before the war' period, while the bishops and a large number of the +clergy were always interested in the religious training of the slaves, +yet as a matter of fact there was general apathy and indifference upon +the part of the laity with respect to this matter. + +"At various intervals resolutions were presented in the Annual +Conventions with the avowed purpose of stimulating an interest in the +religious welfare of the slaves. But despite all these efforts the +Journals fail to record any great achievements along that line.... So +faithful had been the work under such conditions that as late as 1879 +there were less than 200 colored communicants reported in the whole +state of Virginia." (_Church Advocate._) + + +NOTE 22 + +Charles C. Jones: "The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the +United States," Savannah, 1842. Cf. Atlanta University Publication, +No. 8, passim. + + +NOTE 23 + +Cf. Hart, _supra._ Note too the decrease in the proportion of free +Negroes. + + +NOTE 24 + +Note Dr. Cartwright's articles; DeBow's "Review," Vol. II, pp. 29, +184, 331 and 504. Cf. Fitzhugh, "Cannibals All." + + +NOTE 25 + +Cf. Weeks, "Southern Quakers and Slavery," Balt. 1896; Ballagh, +"Slavery in Virginia." + + +NOTE 26 + +There has been in the North a generously conceived campaign in the +last ten years to emphasize the good in the South and minimize the +evil. Consequently many people have come to believe that men like +Fleming and Murphy represent either the dominant Southern sentiment +or that of a strong minority. On the contrary the brave utterances of +such men represent a very small and very weak minority--a minority +which is growing very slowly and which can only hope for success by +means of moral support from the outside. Such moral support has not +been generally given; it is Tillman, Vardaman and Dixon who get the +largest hearing in the land and they represent the dominant public +opinion in the South. The mass of public opinion there while it +hesitates at the extreme brutality of these spokesmen is nearer to +them than to Bassett or Fleming or Alderman. + + +NOTE 27 + +Cf. "The Negro Church," Atlanta University Publication, No. 8. 212 pp. +1903. + + +NOTE 28 + +Twenty good references on the ethical and religious aspect of slavery +and the Negro problem are: + +C.C. Jones, "The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United +States," Savannah, 1842. 277 pp. 12mo. + +R.F. Campbell, "Some Aspects of the Race Problem in the South," +Pamphlet, 1899. Asheville, N.C. 31 pp. 8vo. + +R.L. Dabney, "Defence of Virginia, and Through Her of the South," New +York, 1867. 356 pp. 12mo. + +Nehemiah Adams, "A South Side View of Slavery," Boston, 1854. viii, +7-214 pp. 16mo. + +Richard Allen, First Bishop of the A.M.E. Church. "The life, +experience and gospel labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen." Written +by himself. Phila., 1793. 69 pp. 8vo. + +Matthew Anderson, "Presbyterianism and Its Relation to the Negro," +Phila., 1897. + +Geo. S. Merriam, "The Negro and the Nation," N.Y., 1906. 436 pp. +12mo. + +M.S. Locke, "Anti-Slavery in America," 255 pp. 1901. + +W.A. Sinclair, "The Aftermath of Slavery," etc., with an introduction +by T.W. Higginson, Boston, 1905. 358 pp. + +N.S. Shaler, "The Neighbor: The Natural History of Human Contrasts" +(The problem of the African), Boston, 1904. vii, 342 pp. 12mo. + +Atlanta University Publications: + + Number 6, "The Negro Common School," 120 pp. 1901. + + Number 8, "The Negro Church," 212 pp. 1903. + + Number 9, "Notes on Negro Crime," 76 pp. 1904. + +E.H. Abbott, "Religious life in America," A record of personal +observation. N.Y.: _The Outlook_, 1902. xii, 730 pp. 8vo. + +W.E.B. DuBois, "The Souls of Black Folk," Chicago, 1903. + +Friends, "A Brief Testimony of the Progress of the Friends Against +Slavery and the Slave-Trade," 1671-1787. Phila., 1843. + +J.W. Hood, "One Hundred Years of the A.M.E. Zion Church." + +S.M. Janney, "History of the Religious Society of Friends," Phila., +1859-1867. + +D.A. Payne, "History of the A.M.E. Church," Nashville, 1891. + +S.B. Weeks, "Anti-Slavery Sentiment in the South," Washington, D.C., +1898. "Southern Quakers and Slavery," Baltimore, 1896. + +White, "The African Preacher." + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 162: 'My I add that' replaced with 'May I add that' | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Negro in the South, by +Booker T. Washington and W. E. 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