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diff --git a/59286-0.txt b/59286-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..73e9d5d --- /dev/null +++ b/59286-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1491 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59286 *** + + + + + + + + + ++-------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's note: | +| | +|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | +| | ++-------------------------------------------------+ + + +THE DISADVANTAGES AND OPPORTUNITIES + --OF THE-- +Colored Youth, + --BY-- +REV. R. C. RANSOM, B. D. + +CLEVELAND, OHIO. +THOMAS & MATTILL, Printers. +1894. + + + + +Preface. + + +The first four chapters of this booklet comprise a series of Sunday +evening lecture sermons delivered in St. John's A. M. E. Church, +Cleveland, Ohio, in the month of April, 1894. They are published at +the urgent request of scores of persons who heard them delivered. +They were delivered extemporaneously, as all my sermons are, and +appear here as they were taken down by the stenographers. No revision +has been attempted. The intelligent reader will readily detect many +imperfections both in matter and style. They were not given with a +view to exhaustive treatment or literary excellence, but for the +encouragement and inspiration of the young people of my congregation. +If, appearing in this form, these lectures reach a larger audience +and strengthen the faith of any who are loosing confidence in the +future progress of my race, I shall be abundantly repaid for the small +labor they have cost me. The last chapter of this book, entitled "The +Fifteenth Amendment," was delivered in response to a toast at the +Lincoln Banquet, held at Columbus, Ohio, February 14, 1893, under the +auspices of The Ohio Republican League. It is given here because it +harmonizes with the subject which gives title to this book. We have not +sought in these pages to give a solution to the "race problem," for +after all attempts at solution it remains the great unsettled question +of our times. But we believe that our youth, by "taking advantage of +their disadvantages," and improving the opportunities at hand, can do +much to overcome the impediments by which our pathway has been so long +beset. + +R. C. R. + + + + +Race Soil. + + "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy + nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises + of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous + light." + + _1 Peter 2:9._ + + +I begin this evening a series of Sunday evening lecture sermons, with a +definite purpose in view, which I hope to develop and make more clear, +as I shall proceed with their delivery. The subject to-night is "Race +Soil." As a basis or foundation upon which to stand, we call your +attention to the first epistle of Peter, second chapter and the ninth +verse: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy +nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him +who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." + +The history of races and nations proves that some peoples are +especially endowed for the germination and production of certain +great ideas. Viewed in this light, do the nations of the past possess +historic value and interest to succeeding generations of mankind. + +The value of an idea, the truth of a dogma, the greatness of an +achievement, do not receive their permanent value by the estimate +which the present places upon them. Proud and boastful nations have +proclaimed by the trumpet's blast, by columns of marble, by the poet's +song and the painter's brush, deeds that they thought to be immortal, +but the trumpet's blast has been unable to reach posterity, the poets +muse is found to have been uninspired, men smile at the sculptured and +painted dreams whose spectered faces look upon a new born time. + +Let no man, or race or nation fear that posterity will fail to place +the proper estimate upon the greatness and value of their achievements. + +The final verdict of history cannot be bought, posterity cannot be +bribed, neither predjudice, jealousy nor envy can hide from future ages +a truth or an achievement that is worthy to survive; nor can wealth or +power or boasting pride give immortality to that which is unable to +survive. + +The verdict of the ages is the high court from which men and nations +cannot appeal; it is also the court to which those who are not time +servers, but who act as though conscious that the eternities will +review their lives, may confidently appeal. + +We have said that the history of races proves that some peoples are +especially endowed for the germination and production of certain great +ideas. This truth will be more clearly seen by taking a passing glance +at the contributions which the historic nations of antiquity have made +to the civilization and progress of mankind. + + +THE JEWS. + +God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and established him as a +foundation upon which to build a nation. He chose him because of all +the men then upon the earth, he as an inspired religious thinker was +best fitted to restore faith in the world and the worship of the one +God, because Abraham possessed within him that soil most congenial +to the development and growth of the spiritual idea--Abraham is the +spiritual father of the Jews, and they are the spiritual progenitors +of all those nations, tribes and peoples who now acknowledge "A +personal God, supreme and eternal in the universe which He created." +In what does the greatness of the Jew consist? What great and lasting +contribution has the Israelitish nation made to the development and +progress of mankind? "The greatness of the Jew does not consist +of political ascendancy, not in great attainments in the arts and +sciences, nor in cities and fortresses and chariots and horses, nor in +that outward splendor which will attract the gaze of the world, and +thus provoke conquests and political combination and grand alliances +and colonial settlements by which the capitol on Zion's hill would +become another Rome or Tyre or Carthage or Athens or Alexandria, but +quite another kind of greatness. It was to be moral and spiritual." +This was the grand destiny of the Jewish race. + + +THE GREEKS. + +The Greeks gave us culture. God placed them in their little strip of +island home, where the sky over head spoke to them both by night and by +day of beauty--theirs was a land of widely extended coast line, having +islands scattered like seeds in the midst of the Ægean sea, along the +shores of which her poets mused while listening to the "multitudinous +laughter of the sea." They had a landscape of mountain and valley, +of river and sea and numberless bays--some "narrow enough for the +butterflies to cross and yet navigable for the largest vessels." Wooed +by the beauty of their landscape and clime, the Greeks gave to the +world the highest expression of what culture could do for a people. + + +THE ROMANS. + +The Romans developed the idea of law and physical greatness. The +world had never before had such masters as the Romans--her genius for +government and ruling power has never been surpassed. Even in this new +born time the laws that were nurtured are matured "upon the banks of +the Tiber" still rule in the affairs of men. "It is for others to work +brass into breathing shape. Others may be more eloquent or describe the +circling movements of the heavens and tell the rising of the stars. Thy +work, O Roman, is to rule the nations; these be thine acts, to impose +the conditions of the world's peace, to show mercy to the fallen and to +crush the proud." + +Races like individuals are differently endowed--we are accustomed +to say that all men are equal, but we know they are not, they never +were, nor never will be. No more are all races equal. What is true of +individuals in the matter of endowment is also true of races. Some +races, as we have seen have large spiritual endowment; some great +intellectual endowment while others are great in physical power. While +in these respects, there are races of mankind whose endowments seem +to be very small. Those of you who have read books touching upon the +endowment or capacity of races, will recall that when the races of +men noted for capacity have been chronicled, the Negro race has ever +been placed at the foot of the column. Indeed the time is not so far +distant when our intellectual endowment was considered so small that +it was questioned whether the Negro was of one blood with the other +races of mankind. We speak of race soil to-night; _races like the +soil differ in degree of productiveness_, some soil you may plough, +and sow, and reap, receiving in return very little for your labor and +your pains; while others for the toil bestowed yield rich and abundant +harvests. There are some races also that are very unproductive, and +among them the Negro is not the least. It is not my purpose to cast +any reflection upon the Indian, but to me he seems to have a very +unproductive soil. Some races seem to be small in natural capacity +and power; who from the beginning seem to have produced nothing which +was worthy to survive. Of the Negro it will be remembered that Henry +Ward Beecher once said, "You could sink the whole continent of Africa +into the middle of the Atlantic ocean, and the bubbles that came up +would amount to as much as the people that went down." The statement +of Mr. Beecher will bear investigation. John Ruskin in the Stones of +Venice, Vol. I, speaking of the contribution the different +branches of the human family have made to architecture says; "Ham, the +servant of the others furnished the sustaining or bearing member, the +shaft: Japheth, the arch: Shem the spiritualization of both." On this +authority it transpires that the day the Negro is sunk in mid-ocean, +the sustaining or bearing member of architecture goes down with him. As +that which the soil will produce is modified by the climate, so that +which a race may be capable of producing is modified by the moral, +social and intellectual atmosphere which surrounds it. We know that +what the soil will produce is modified by the climate; we do not have +orange groves along our lake shore, nor do we cultivate the banana here +in our Northern gardens; when we desire these fruits, we must go to a +more congenial climate; here only the hardy vegetables and fruits can +survive. The contribution which the Negro has made to civilization must +be viewed in the light of the moral, social and intellectual atmosphere +by which he has been surrounded. A race that is surrounded by a +heavy, black and poisonous moral atmosphere, can give out but small +contributions of moral power. When the moral atmosphere is poisonous +it will kill out the production and growth of everything in the moral +realm that makes for virtue and healthy growth. Whenever the social +atmosphere is depressed and stagnant, it breeds disease and death. It +is in the light of these things, our race should be viewed and judged. +What has been the moral atmosphere that has surrounded our race in this +land for more than two centuries? Not even one of our enemies will +maintain that it has been conducive to a healthy moral growth. Our +virtue has been outraged by public sentiment, despoiled by law, the +canker of slavery has gnawed at its heart, and religion created for +it a standard which must not rise higher than the will of a master; +whose will set over against the will of God, declared itself to be +its highest law. But these withering blasts, prolonged through the +centuries, could not destroy the hardy virtues of our people, and yet +the very men who were the perpetrators or aiders or abettors of moral +outrage against the Negro, who sought to kill or dwarf his virtues, +are the loudest to prate about the immorality of the colored race. It +is said that the Negro is very religious, but that his morals are very +bad. This comes with bad grace from those who sought for centuries +to rid him of his virtue. Even under the changed conditions of the +last few years, the moral atmosphere which surrounds the Negro is not +congenial to a healthy growth. The moral degradation of the Negro is +still threatened in large sections of this country, by every device +which wealth, position and legal enactment can command. For the colored +boy and girl of America the doors that lead to moral degradation stand +open wide; yea: they are even invited to enter. The colored youth +finds few, if any, obstacles in the path which leads to degradation, +but when he seeks to enter the doors that lead to the exercise of +manly strength and virtue, he finds that they are for the most slammed +in his face. What has been the social atmosphere that has surrounded +us? The social atmosphere has been rendered heavy and oppressive, +because freighted with "Jim Crow" legislation, inadequate educational +facilities, political and industrial degradation. In any section of +this country wherever he may be, I care not, the Negro is a marked man, +wherever a colored woman goes she is a marked woman. Our aspiring boys +and girls find this to be true to their sorrow and humiliation, when +they seek positions above that of a menial in bank or store, in factory +or mill. Our self-respecting men and women find it to be true when +they seek entertainment or accommodation on railroads and at hotels. +Our people up here along the Lake Shore who do not go far from home, +have not learned to appreciate the bitterness of this treatment. Even +in the professional life the Negro discovers that he is a marked man; +a black man and a white man graduate from the same medical college, +from the same class, receive the same degree, but after graduation, +the one becomes a doctor and the other a _colored_ doctor. If a Negro +have exceptional ability, he is a smart darky or a smart Negro as the +case may be. Other men of exceptional ability are smart men. Some go +so far as to say that God himself has marked the Negro as an inferior +being, but these slanders of God are daily being put to silence by +superior men and women of the race who are demonstrating their ability. +What has been the intellectual atmosphere that has surrounded our race +until within the last 25 or 30 years. It was a crime for us to know +letters. Every means at the command of a great and powerful nation was +used to keep intellectual darkness around the Negro of this land; but +the fountains of the mind, though unfed, were not dried up; on the +contrary, the intellectual appetite of the Negro was sharpened and set +on edge to enter in and master the whole domain of knowledge as soon as +the opportunity arrived. + +The intellectual atmosphere, moral and social, surrounding our race, +has been so uncongenial that some of our people have been trying to +get out of it, and go over to the enemy, and from the ranks of the +white race view in silence our moral, intellectual and social woes. +I call them _hot house Negroes_. Let me say to those members of our +race who are trying to escape the ills that afflict us by flight, that +they cannot escape, you have but to carry your yellow face across +the border and they will put you where they put the blackest Negro. +As the productiveness of the soil is increased by cultivation, so +is the productiveness of races increased by the cultivation of head +and heart. By cultivation alone can the productiveness of races be +increased. The mind is strengthened by being continually fed upon the +best and noblest thoughts; the ideas thus received become transformed +by the subtle alchemy of thought, are ever transformed into new and +nobler products. The heart is enriched and strengthened, and the moral +nature is feed upon the purest and noblest sentiments. So, however, +unproductive we may have been in the past if we will faithfully +cultivate head and heart, the historian will soon place us among the +productive races of mankind. Good soil will count for nothing unless +good seed is sown; the good seed to be sown in the human soil are +moral, spiritual and intellectual truths. None of the inferior kind +will do, the very best must be sought and from the highest sources. +Too many of these kind of seeds cannot be sown. The boy or girl that +has moral, spiritual and intellectual truths planted in mind and heart +will stand like some mighty tree of the forest, deep rooted, strong +against life's storm, wide branching, a shelter, a protection, a cool +refreshing shade, high towering, looming up, being forever in the +presence of the loftiest thoughts and sentiments of the soul. But good +seed cannot have a prosperous growth if weeds are permitted in their +midst. They will choke out and forever hinder the healthiest growth. + +The weeds of the mind and heart are ignorance, superstition and vice. +I appeal to my young friends, let not these rank and poisonous weeds +choke and forever destroy the development and growth of the good seed +which by parents, preceptors and ministers are being sown in your +minds. When considering your future, first resolve to be virtuous, +next resolve to be educated, then as to what part you shall play in +the world, trust God, and if you persevere, he will open the door. It +has been true in the past that races much cultivated have like the +overworked soils worn out, at least they have ceased to be productive. +The Jew in four thousand years has borne us nothing but the spiritual +idea. Egypt gave us life and like her mummies and pyramads laid down to +sleep in the silence of the centuries. Greece gave us culture, but the +traveler along the shore of time finds only her immortal literature and +the broken remains of those creations which once spoke to the world, +"in forms of love and awe." The Rome of the Cæsars has left her throne +of power, which form her seven hills once ruled the world; but the plow +shear of civilization is just entering the Negro race, it is indeed +in the language of Bishop Turner, "the boy race of the world." What, +under proper cultivation, this race will produce, the historian of the +future must record, but we believe with his natural musical talent, the +Negro will cause sweeter harmonies and prettier melodies to vibrate +on the air than ever enraptured the human soul. Eloquent of speech, +he will plead the cause of God and the welfare of mankind with such +tones of power that neither the Rostrum nor the Forum ever heard. His +deep emotional nature will be the foe of tyranny and oppression, and +as a vehicle of religious truth will carry the triumphs of the King of +Kings into the seats of pride and power, and over the dark and barren +regions of the globe. The morning stars are paling, because the moral, +intellectual, and spiritual night of the Negro is passing away. + + + "Out of the shadow of night, + The world moves into light, + It's day break every where." + + + + +"Are We Able to Go Up and Possess the Land?" + + "Ye shall go over and shall possess that good land."--_Deut. 4. + 22._ + + +To-night I come to you with an interrogation: "Are we able to go up and +possess the land?" I have taken a text which you will find in the 22nd +verse of the 4th chapter of Deuteronomy: "Ye shall go over and shall +possess that good land." + +These are the words of the Law-giver of Israel to the people of Israel. +We have simply taken this as a foundation or as a basis upon which +to stand, while pointing you to the things we have brought for your +consideration to-night. While visiting among my people some weeks ago, +I found in one of their homes a little picture or series of pictures: +in fact, a very beautiful calendar, issued by a medical firm in New +York. It was the most interesting thing I had seen for many a day. It +interested me because of its beauty, but it interested me more because +of the story it told. On that calendar were the pictures of perhaps +six or eight beautiful babies, suspended from a beam in old-fashioned +scales, with which we used to weigh, and on the beam over the head of +each baby some object was placed which was a symbol of what the child +was to become. Over one of the babies there was a plug hat and a pair +of gloves; I suppose he was to become a minister, because there are +some who think that is all it takes to make a minister. Over another +was an inkstand and a pen; I suppose this meant to tell me that this +baby was to be a literary man, and over another baby's head was a +bag with a million dollars written across it. He was going to be a +millionaire. Over the head of another there was a crown; that was to +proclaim that this baby was going to be a statesman or a ruler, and +betwixt the one with the crown over its head and the one with the +million-dollar bag over its head was a BEAUTIFUL LITTLE COLORED +BABY, over whose head was a great interrogation-point, WHAT? --? + +This was the most impressive lecture on the race problem that I ever +heard. There was a confession, and a profound one. Here was a boy from +the home of a railroad king; that child will be a millionaire. We can +predict his course. Another child has a literary career open to him. +There was another child born to political honors: if he was not born to +them, there are no impediments in his way to prevent him from obtaining +them; but this little colored baby, we can't tell about him yet. He +might be a millionaire, but questionable; he might be a literary man, +but questionable; he might be a statesman, but questionable -- -- --? +If you will take a map of Europe and look upon it, giving your +imagination a little play, it would reveal to you nations that have +had an illustrious past, a glorious present, and who have now dreams +of future glory; great historic people that have figured largely in +the destiny and recreation of the world. It would reveal to you the +nations that are now managing and carrying on the business of the +world, upon the land and upon great waters. That map would reveal to +you people who every day and every night have dreams of future glory. +But if you were to take a map of Africa and study that part of it which +is inhabited by the race from which we are descended, it would reveal +to you a people, the greatness of whose past is shrouded in the dim +centuries, who in the present play no important part in the affairs +of men so far as their individual energies are concerned, what their +future destiny will be only one with the inspiration of heaven knows. +The map of Central Africa a few years ago had scarcely any rivers upon +it, and few lakes were to be found; of its physical features little +was known, but since that time explorers have found lakes and rivers +down there, and a country of almost inexhaustible riches, inhabited by +people highly susceptible to the influences of civilization. Let the +old question come, What will the African become? What will the Negro in +America do? What will he become? This is the question which my artist, +of whom I have spoken to-night, found too difficult for solution. The +nations of the earth, and this country in particular, have placed an +interrogation-point upon the Negro in America, in Africa, and in the +islands of the sea. What will he do? What will he become? But the +question which the hopes and fears of the people have been putting to +the destiny and future of the race in Africa, America, and elsewhere, +will be answered; and the Negro problem, if problem there be, will be +solved: solved by the Negro himself, and all nations will give to his +solution their unqualified applause and endorsement. So strong is my +confidence in the future of the race. I appreciate it enough to say +that if I had had the knowledge that I have to-day, and if such a thing +had been possible when I was preparing to burst open the gates of life +to make my entrance into this world and an angel had come down from the +bosom of God Almighty and said, "I am going to give you your choice; in +_what variety_ of the human race shall I incarnate your soul? Here is +the old English stock; she has produced her Shakespears, her Cromwells, +Miltons and Gladstones, and if it suit you, I will incarnate or graft +you to the Anglo-Saxon stock;" or, if the angel had said to me, "The +French have produced Racines, Molliers, Hugos and Napoleons, and if +you choose, I will make you a Frenchman; or, here is the good German +stock; this race has had her Fredericks, Goethes, and her Bismarks; I +will incarnate your soul in the German race," after he had finished +his speech, feeling as I do to-night, and as I have felt a thousand +times, if he had said to me, "There is yet another people who have been +scattered and peeled, hated and despised; these that I have presented +to you are great historic nations, prominent in the affairs of the +world, and they have written some of the best pages in the history of +the world's progress; but there is another people who have yet to enact +their part upon the stage of history, to whom all the great fields of +human endeavor stand out, unexplored as the American continent did +to Columbus, fields of endeavor in agriculture, in philosophy, in +business, in the professions, everywhere; they have yet to demonstrate +to the world what they will do, and what part they will play, and +what is to be contained in the chapters which they will write in the +history of the world's progress; choose well; your choice is brief, but +endless," I would have said to the angel: "Make me a Negro." The Negro +is told that he has no past--at least none worthy of record. You know +how you feel when somebody comes to Cleveland who knew you before you +soared so high, and says, "I know her; they were poor and lived in an +old cabin; why, I remember them when they hardly had corn-bread." That +is no disgrace; but the past sometimes makes people's "feathers fall." + +But we are told that we have no past. Some of our historians try to +make you believe that you have no past that counts for anything, that +you never amounted to anything, that your origin was insignificant, and +that you never will be anything. But we have a present and a future, +and whatever we were in the past, _we are here now_, clothed with +citizenship and in our right mind. Not only are we told that we have +no past, but this country especially tries to make us believe that +we have no future. I mean as men, and that is the reason I am taking +God's precious time to speak these words. I have two boys, and if for +them and our descendants among the people of this planet there is no +future, let God blot us out of His book. We are told we have no future +as men, and the prophets are trying to make their prophecies come true. +Every discrimination and every barrier against you and your boy or your +girl is to keep that boy and that girl from having a future. Is it not +true? Every "Jim Crow" car says that we shall not have a future, but +unjust discrimination can not prevent the race from moving on. + +There are some of our people that believe just what some of our enemies +are trying to make come true--that the Negro has no future as a man in +America or elsewhere. Some of our people have believed this lie, and +men have left their race because they do not believe in it. They do not +believe in its future, they do not believe in its destiny, they do not +believe in its power to come to anything. They have knocked at every +door to get out of it, this you know. It is true that some have left +it, but they had to take their Negro blood along; they could not get +away from themselves. + +"O God! if I was only white. O God! if I had just enough white blood +in me and my hair was straight so I could leave Cleveland, or leave +Virginia and come to Cleveland, and none should suspect that I had +a strain of Negro blood in my veins, and then if I could not get +back into the white race, I would get a pack of 'Mongrels' and form +a 'BLUE VEIN SOCIETY.'" This wail has gone up from many a +traitorous heart. But, my friends, there is a land of promise, there +is a door of hope, there is a door of entrance to the point of highest +vantage. There are some fields before us which we have not conquered, +but this or coming generations will. Yea, thousands of boys and girls +are in our schools who have sworn that they will enter these fields. I +am only going to name a few of them. + +The field of _literature_. What is literature? It is the embalmed +treasure of the mind, treasured up and sent down to a life beyond. +David and Job, Plato and Shakespeare have come down to us as +representatives of historic people, to whom they belong. Every nation +that has had literature has drawn for posterity an exact picture of +itself. The American people may say what they are, but their literature +will tell to posterity how little and how great they were. The history +of nations tells what they were. These fields our boys and girls +are going to enter. God knows what they will be, for we have some +aspirations. The Bible is full of the aspirations of the people that +lived in the ages that have been. Three thousand years that have passed +away stand in the light a realization of what to David was a dream and +to Job was mingled with doubt. So we have aspirations, and not only +these, but noble thoughts, and they will yet find expression in what I +believe will be among the world's noblest literature. The other people +have been busy, and we are waiting for them to get through. This is +their hour. You know some people do that; they sit back and wait until +the other fellow gets through. But the white boy and girl must not halt +or wait: write the very best poems you can; get your histories into +shape; form your thoughts along the highest line, for there are about +five million black boys and girls coming. If your ears were good enough +you could hear them coming down the corridors of time. They will be +here by and by. They have some songs to sing, some histories to write, +some aspirations and some thoughts to give to the world. + +There is another field, _the field of business_. My friends, let +me tell you what you all should know. We have yet to possess that +territory, the field of business. Do you not know there is no +trouble about a black man getting work just so long as he is not the +controlling mind? You are all right to work until you get to be the +director or the controlling mind, and there the trouble begins--right +there. Did I not hear no longer than last Summer this wail from a +white mechanic: "To think that I should ever come to this, that I +should have to work under a 'Nigger' boss!" As long as you are not +the controlling mind, there is peace; but of course there are some +instances in which we are. There are other fields that must be entered; +but we must not forget that while we are seeking other fields, in the +fields of business, agriculture, commerce and manufacture, there is +room. I tell you, my friends, that in all of these fields of endeavor +there is room for us. We have been told that we shall go over and sit +down under the tree of life, but I would like some shade-trees down +here. Some of us want to go over there where the land is flowing with +milk and honey, but I advise you also to get a little place down here +and make it flow with milk and honey. Many of you know that in this +country they are crowding to the wall and keeping down millions of +our people. We must get to the place that we can enter these fields +and to some extent control them. Do not ignore the inviting field of +commerce. We can trade. You could not get along in this world without +trade. This man produces something, that another cannot. I tell you, my +friends, that a good way to get into business is to create it? That is +what the Jew does; he makes business and sticks to it. When the Italian +comes over to this country, all he requires is enough money to buy a +bunch of bananas, and he goes out on the street-corner and holloas, +"Bana, tena centa doza," and thousands of us march up, pay our money +and take the goods. A man has no time to prepare after the opportunity +arrives. He must be ready when the opportunity comes. The education +of our children must not be one-sided. We want some manufacturers, we +want some mechanical draughtsmen. We must train for business. We have +typewriters, stenographers and book-keepers, but we need more. We are +entering the field of professional life and filling respectable places +there, and that, too, with great acceptance. I think the time is coming +when six or eight or ten million people will not be sitting around on +benches or in the shade some place, waiting for a white man to come and +hire them. These boys that are coming up are not going to do it. You +must get ready, boys, by laying a good foundation. And now, friends, a +few things more. There is another field of which I wish to speak. There +is another land you have yet to enter and possess--that of government +and statesmanship. These are the questions the centuries have not +answered. Who shall rule? Shall it be a king, an emperor or the people? +That has been the question, Who shall rule? The other question has +been, How shall we rule and be ruled? These have been the questions +that have come down through all the ages, and they are perfectly +proper. We have decided in this country that all the people shall rule, +and on this side of the sea that they shall rule and be ruled with +every man equal under the law. I was talking with a white man recently, +who said, "Your people are getting along finely in this country. Look +what they have done in so short a time. You are a preacher, and you +know the Bible says that if God did create of one blood all nations, +that He set the bounds of their habitation, and this is not your +country." I thought that argument had been hung up or buried long ago. +I have a book, "An Appeal to Pharaoh," written by a prominent man in +this country and the great question he discusses is that the Negro +is an alien race, and that it is felt everywhere, and God Almighty +has marked him with a black skin. He is marked socially, marked +politically, marked as he knocks at every door of entrance an alien +race. God Almighty has not fixed the bounds of any man's habitation. He +is not that kind of a God. He was not born in Georgia; the bounds of +no race's habitation are fixed. The facts prove that the English get +along all right in Africa, the Africans get along pretty well in this +country, we have kept up with the phases of modern civilization right +well. Now I have simply to say that we have just as much right here as +anybody. You are a man and a citizen, and, being a man and a citizen +you have a right to rule and be ruled. Let any question involving +citizenship come up south of Mason and Dixon line and then see what +politics has to do with it. They settle it. My friends, especially my +younger friends, if it was in my power I would take you up and give you +a glimpse of that land that lies beyond. I would show you those fields +rich with great rewards. I believe that boys and girls with aspirations +and inspirations born within them will come with ready hands to batter +down these doors of predjudice and enter those fields, and build up all +these avenues making for themselves a place and a name, just as other +races have done, _I speak with a hope_. But we want to be men and women +here, with one hand in God's hand and the other one down here, so with +one upon the earth and the other one in heaven we will bring heaven +down to earth and take the best of earth up to the skies. + +[Illustration: Decoration] + + + + +Lions by the Way. + + The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled + for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens + with ravin. _Nahum 2, 12._ + + +In speaking to you, under the general topic for two weeks past, "The +disadvantage and opportunities of the colored youth," my purpose has +been to give inspiration and courage. We talked to you first from the +topic under this head, "Race Soil." Last Sunday night we spoke to you +from the topic, "Shall we be able to go up and possess the land?" +To-night we come before you to talk of "Lions by the way." Permit me +to say that in all I have said or may say, I have had no purpose and +take no pleasure in showing up, or attempting to show the defects, the +weakness or shortcomings of my race. + +It is true we have been often flattered when the truth would have +been more profitable, and, I think it is not improper, that once in a +while we should step aside and take a look at ourselves and endeavor +to learn the truth concerning us; but while all that is true, I would +have my auditors understand that our enemies are always trying to get +something against us. It has not been my purpose or desire to stand +in this sacred place and furnish ammunition for the enemy. I have +spoken because I believe it will be profitable for us to turn our eyes +more directly upon ourselves and some of the phases of the unhealthy +conditions by which we are environed. I want to speak the truth and +nothing but the truth, in speaking from this topic. As I have done +before, I shall have to use plain Anglo-Saxon, though I desire to say +nothing that would make a blush come to the cheeks of the most chaste +of maidens, nothing that would be out of keeping with this time or +sacred house. One thing further my belief about the pulpit is this, +that it ought not to be dumb, but vocal and articulate. + +Any topic that relates to the welfare of mankind is not out of place +here. This has been my endeavor and shall be to the end. I said to my +church when I first came to this city that I would speak plain words +in this pulpit, and it would be my purpose to know nothing but Jesus +Christ and Him crucified. Last Sunday night our topic was "shall we be +able to go up and possess the land?" We meant by that, the fields of +endeavor that are held from us. And now we come to tell you that there +are some lions by the way. By this we mean, the vices that are preying +upon and destroying our people, in common with thousands and tens of +thousands of others. Let me introduce this further, by saying to our +young men and women, that I know what temptation is. Let me say to our +boys and girls, let me say to our young men and women, that one thing +we can not afford to do, is to imitate the vices and follies of the +white boys and girls of this country. + +The reason we can not afford to do it is this, the white boys and girls +of this country have standing at their backs, centuries of glorious +achievements and if they stop to play a little by the way, or if they +stray from the way and give themselves to vices and follies, they +have a foot hold in the earth that you don't possess. They can afford +better than you, secret follies, they have power, you have not, your +father has not. As you walk out Euclid avenue and look at the mansions +there, or down town and look at the great banks and manufacturing +establishments, remember these belong to white men and will descend to +white men's sons. + +The colored boys of this country, in attempting to get what others +possess, have no time to stop by the road to get drunk, we are far +enough behind without that. We have no time to stop on our way to the +highest point of vantage, to take a game of cards with some fellow. +On the way to business, we have no time to be lured by the siren's +song onto the rocks of destruction, while attempting to get a foothold +among men. These are reasons and others can be given why we can not +afford to stop and imitate the vices and follies of those by whom we +are surrounded. In these talks I have so much to say, that I regret, I +have to say almost everything so poorly. I know there are a great many +of us who desire to be like other people. Some people tell us we should +strive to be like other people. Now what people would you desire to be +like, if you had your choice. Like the Greeks? Socrates and Plato and +Greece have passed away. You don't want to be like Greece--she fell. + +Do you want to be like the Romans? Cæsar, Cicero and Rome have passed +away. Something was wrong with that nation, she could not stand. Do +you want to be like the Jews, scattered far and near? Many know not +of the lions in the path of our progress. I place this one first. The +lion, you know, is called the king, the strongest of beasts. One of +the great roaring and devouring lions in our path is, _the lion of +intemperance_. You know he is devouring our boys and girls. My friends, +if time permitted me to-night, I could tell you much as to its terrible +ravages, and the inroads it is making among our people. Not only in +Cleveland but all over this country, the lion of intemperance is making +his way. I never saw but one building I wanted to curse and that was +the Y. M. C. A. building in the city of Springfield, O. Some of our +people were so foolish as to subscribe five and ten dollars a year to +support an institution our boys could not enter. I told them they ought +to change it's name and call it the white Y. M. C. A. + +There was a door across the street unlike the Y. M. C. A. door. The +door of the Y. M. C. A. swung in, but the door across the street pushed +both ways, everybody could go in there, it was a saloon. + +The fact of the matter is, my friends, if you want to take a header +down, the doors are all open and if you want to climb upward, many +doors are barred as the Y. M. C. A's. doors were. Intemperance is a +demon, it is one of the devouring lions in the way, destroying the +progress of our people. Say what you will, the lion of intemperance is +making us his prey. I implore you to shun it. I remember a temperance +lecture my mother once gave me: "My son beware of the intoxicating cup, +it has brought kings down from their thrones; it has brought statesmen +down from their seats of power, it has blighted the prospects of the +most brilliant men, it has come into the pulpit and dragged down the +servant of the living God. Beware!" It has done that and more, of such +an end beware. Young men keep out of these places of drink, we can not +afford to enter them. + +We of all people in this country, can least afford to spend our money +for drink. Taken from a financial standpoint. A man spends twenty or +thirty cents a day for drinks and in eight or ten years he spends +enough to buy a house and lot. From a financial standpoint we can not +afford to drink. I think that a man cannot afford to buy a piano for a +saloonkeeper's house, and finery for his children. We can not afford +to buy these things for saloonkeeper's daughters. You bought his wife +a carriage, but your wife and daughter has not one of these things. I +am sorry to say that too many of our people are doing this very thing. +It matters not what other people are doing in this respect, we can not +afford to do it. Any one that has been in Chicago on State street can +appreciate what I am talking about. On the corners you can see anywhere +from two hundred to three hundred colored boys, kingly looking fellows +throwing themselves away in these saloons and dens. God save the flower +of our youth from the lions den! I remember the time when you could +not get a colored woman to guzzle beer. And I can not for the life of +me understand why mothers send their children after it. This is the +destructive part of the business. No matter what excuse you frame for +a woman that sends her child to a saloon, I say there is something the +matter with the mother-heart in that woman. + +These are the destructive things and this is one of the lions that is +doing much to destroy us and keep us poor. + +In a little town in Kentucky, upon a hill where our people lived and +had homes, there was an Irish family who kept a grocery. The man worked +and his wife kept grocery. She had a little keg of whiskey under the +counter. She knew all the men by name, and would pat them on the back +and tell them they could have anything they wanted on credit. + +With the groceries they bought a little whiskey, and then she got them +to put their names to a piece of paper. It was not long before the +Irishman owned the house across the street and after a while nearly +all the houses on the hill, and they started on a few bars of soap +and a keg of whiskey. Scenes similar to this are going on in scores +of localities in this country, but we do not want to be engulfed by +the lion of drink. Another lion which is preying upon our pathway +is _the vice of gambling_. In destructive power I place it next to +intemperance, for it is just as fascinating when it gets a hold on a +man. I know gamblers that never touch a drink of whiskey. There are +scores of our boys and girls going down to destruction, through the +door of the gambling hell. There are some people who profess to think +there is no harm in a game of cards. + +I can't for the life of me see how any man or woman can apologize for +a deck of cards. I do not care whether there is any harm in it or not, +when a man is with a deck of cards, he is in bad company. + +When you get so you can play and play well, you desire to let somebody +know how well you can play, you do not intend to be a gambler. Your +friend has a quarter that says he can beat you. That's the way it +starts. You have a quarter which says he can not. There are men at +present in this city, dragging down their little children and wives in +gambling hells of this town. The ravages of this vice are terrible. It +has even affected some of our women. So infatuated are they that they +will go out and wash all day and take the money to buy lottery tickets. +These are some of the devouring lions by the way, that are helping to +destroy us, and I say to every young man, don't play a game of cards. I +know the temptations of young men and I know some of you have mothers +off in distant cities praying for you. A young man goes to work in some +hotel, after he waits his meals, he has no home to go to, and is at +a loss what to do. Don't spend your money on gambling machines, keep +it in your pocket; don't give it to those men down town, for I think +when a man spends his money he ought to get value for value. There is +another thing of which I wish to speak, that is _politics_. A great +many people think you can make men and women by legislation. You can't +put a law on the statute books which will create men and women, they +are not made that way. Our dependence on legislation and political +parties has been one of the barriers in our way. + +But my friends, salvation still comes through the church and that +way only, and no political party can bring it otherwise. We are very +important on election day. If you stay out on election day so many men +will be glad to see you, and when they want you to drink it is to serve +certain ends. So we finally wake up to the fact that our salvation +does not depend on any party. What have political parties done to help +us. They have done more to destroy us. + +I was shown into a saloon on election day, where I saw ten or fifteen +colored men (among them an old brother of my church.) They filled them +full of whiskey and loaded them into a wagon and voted them like sheep. +I do not say that you would do as those men did, but I do say that we +can't afford to be governed by these bad principles. + +Again, we are assailed by the lion of the white man's lust. I wonder +that white women are not afraid to meet a Negro, after reading in the +papers every day about "that burly Negro brute." I have no hesitation +in saying that the outrages that are alleged to be committed by colored +men upon white women, bear no comparison to those which the whites +commit with impunity upon colored women. + +We had recently an instance in this State of a Negro assaulting a +white woman. If he committed that crime, he deserved to die, and die +a terrible death, but he did not deserve to die at the hands of a +mob. The lions that are coming into the way devouring the life blood +and flower of our people, have their lair largely in the chivalric +southland, but some of them are abroad in the North. In the first place +there is no law for a colored woman south of Mason and Dixon's line. +If a white man seduces her under avowal of love or promise of marriage +she can not sue him, for it would be a penetentiary offense for him +to make her his wife. Therefore she has no law. In many of our States +the law gives license to the white man's lust to feed at will, upon +the defenceless women of our race. A bishop of the A. M. E. Church +is authority for the statement, that there is a school district in +Georgia where no colored woman can teach unless she consents to be the +kept woman of the county superintendent. Both North and South it is +notorious, that indecent proposals are sometimes made to our mothers, +wives and sisters, when they go to the stores to make purchases. You +put the white woman in the colored woman's place and give colored men +all the money and if they did as white men do I don't expect their +girls would be found to possess more moral strength than ours. If +when our young ladies go out in the streets, especially in the South, +there is a crowd of Southern gentlemen on the corner, they make any +kind of remark about them they choose and to resent it would mean to +precipitate "a race war." + +Our womanhood is being degraded and desecrated, and this is one of the +devouring lions. When you touch a man's home you are getting around the +heart strings of his life. In the North they don't do it in this way. +Here when a woman goes out she is followed. But the Northern villain +will not persist if she pursue the even tenor of her way. But there is +another side to this, we are saying these words not to injure, but to +help. Some of you want me to preach of the land of Beulah, you object +when the _living present_ is preached. And while we are up yonder +among the clouds, the devouring lions down here are despoiling us +of womanhood and virtue. The fault is not altogether with our white +brother, for there are women who belong to our race who surreptitiously +associate improperly with the opposite side and want to be the first +women among our people. I had an illustration of this a few years ago, +when I had the honor to respond to a toast at the Lincoln banquet +in Columbus, O. In conversation with one of the gentlemen present, +a State official, he asked me where I was located, when I told him, +he said, "I have a fine little colored girl in that city." He would +not have told me that if the wine had not been flowing so freely. He +called her name, and I was surprised to find she was high up in society +and a leading member of my church. Women of this class do more than +any other to call in question the integrity of the race. Recently a +lamentation has gone up from white mothers of the South, because their +sons marry so slowly. They prefer their colored concubines to the +honorable estate of matrimony. The lion has her whelps in the person +of degraded colored men and boys in hotels and elsewhere taking out +strangers to seduce and destroy colored girls. Now, my friends, in the +light of these statements it would be unjust for me to close without +saying that I believe our colored women are among the grandest women +under heaven. They have been loyal as mothers and sweethearts, in the +darkest night and dreariest days, with every incentive to turn them +from their course. As mothers they have been loyal to their children, +ever loyal; as wives they have been faithful. Some of our friends say +that "the colored people are very religious, but their morals are +bad." Read the papers and see whether the colored people have all the +bad morals or not. We don't have to go down to Kentucky and run for +Congress in order to advertise our morals. Not only have our women been +loyal as mothers, but they have been loyal as sweethearts. In the midst +of temptations, such as no other women in the land have ever faced, +thank God, they have not lost their moral integrity. I preach faith in +God. But to-night I preach, let us have faith in each other, faith in +ourselves, we can not be too loyal to each other. Loyal in business. +A store keeper when asked to give a colored girl a clerk ship in his +store said: "I can't put her in here, if I was to put a colored girl +in this store I would loose lots of trade among your people. Do you +know the reason? Some of your people when they came in and saw her +behind the counter would not buy because they would be unwilling for +her to know how much they paid for their dresses." That is the reason +he would not take her. Frank James, the brother of the notorious Jesse +James is clerk in a store where our people spend thousands of dollars, +but could not get the most menial position. From these lessons we are +admonished that our safety lies in loyalty to each other. Then let us +not turn away from God; we must not lay God down. Why, don't you know +some of our people are getting so progressive they actually spit on +their mother's graves. My brethren we must hold on to God--our hope. +Our mothers and fathers did not know much, but they knew God and they +knew Jesus Christ in the dark days that have passed and gone. Through +the long hours of the night have they gone and communed with Him, in +their cabins, and the wind as it whispered through the chincks in +the wall, spoke to them of the dawning of a brighter day. God has +overthrown one race and nation after another, if we turn from Him He +will overthrow us likewise. But if we hold on to God, He will lift us +up. Let us smother pride. Do not turn from God back into darkness from +which we are coming. God will lead us out of darkness into light and +give us the strength of Samson to slay and overcome the lions that are +by the way. + +[Illustration: Decoration] + + + + +Grapes from the Land of Canaan. + + And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence + a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two + upon a staff; and _they brought_ of the pomegranates, and of the + figs. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all + the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of + Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all + the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. _Num. + 13:23, 26._ + + +I come to you to-night my friends, to deliver the last of my series +of lecture sermons, under the general topic, "The Disadvantages and +Opportunities of the Colored Youth." Three of these talks many of you +have already heard. During the delivery of these lectures I have said +a great many things that have displeased some people, for which I am +very thankful, and I have said some things that have pleased others, +for which I am more thankful. I have said some things that some of +my friends have thought ought to have been left unsaid. That's a +difference of judgment. But I have endeavored to speak the truth, which +I hope to continue to do. I expect to displease a great many people as +my ministry is prolonged. Certainly I shall do so if I speak the truth. + +We come to-night to call your attention to the last topic which we +announced, which topic is "Grapes from the Land of Canaan," and as a +basis or a foundation for my remarks, your attention is invited to the +23rd and 26th verses of the 13th chapter of the Book of Numbers. "And +they went and came to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the congregation +of the children of Israel unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and +brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed +them the fruit of the land;" the 23rd verse reads as follows: "And +they came upon the brook of Eschol, and cut down from thence a branch +with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; +and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs." The children +of Israel were just from Egyptian bondage, from a bondage that had +lasted over 400 years. They were now in the wilderness, but in their +travels, they had come to the boarders of the Land of Canaan, and while +yet in the wilderness, but standing on the boarders of Canaan, they +sent spies, chief men in Israel, over into the Land of Canaan to spy +out the land, and as we have read to you, these men went as they were +sent into the land of Canaan, and they came back and reported that it +was a land literally flowing with milk and honey. And in order that +the people might believe their report, while they were in Eschol they +gathered some grapes, and brought back grapes from the Land of Canaan, +and showed them to the camp in Israel, so that the people would be +encouraged to go into that goodly land as they should have been, but +there were some people in the camp of the Israelites just like there +are to-day. They said, "We are told that it is a goodly country and +have seen some of the fruits of the land, but the Amelakites are over +there and the Jebusites are over there and the Hittites are over there +and we are afraid of these, and not only that, but the people over +there dwell in walled cities, and we don't believe we are able to take +them. But of all things, the thing we most fear, is the children of +Anak, they are over there and they are giants, every one of them. A +race of left-handed giants, and as we looked at our men, they were as +grass-hoppers, we are afraid they will devour us." And as they spake +the children of Israel got scared, and said, "We are not able to go +and possess it." We, the men of the colored race of America, are just +from bondage, out of the wilderness. We have had representatives +enter the rich fields of human endeavor which will be the possession +of the entire race, when they have the ability and courage to enter. +Some have already gone over to these fields of endeavor, and a great +many in our camp are just like the Israelites, they are afraid and +crying out we can't go over and possess it. By grapes from the Land +of Canaan, I mean _the Negro's demonstrated ability_. Just as these +spies from the camp of Israel went to Canaan and brought back grapes, +some of the representative men and women of this race have gone in to +the fair fields of human endeavor demonstrating our ability to enter +there, and the fruits or grapes of the land that they have entered, is +their demonstrated ability in the large fields of human endeavor, of +these things I wish to speak to you to-night. The first thing to which +I would call your attention is, _the Negro as a toiler_. Into that +realm of human endeavor we have entered and demonstrated our ability as +a toiler. The Negro's ability has brought rich fruits into this land, +coming into this country shortly after the Anglo-Saxon, the Negro as a +toiler has left his mark upon this Hemisphere, wherever he has turned +the soil. He has gone out into the wilderness, out into the thickets, +out into the back woods, out upon the frontier. He too has felled the +forests, he too has drained the swamps, he too has redeemed the marshes +and caused the wilderness to blossom as the rose. By the sea, on the +plains, in the primeval forests, everywhere, wherever he has gone he +has been a faithful toiler and has caused wealth to fall into the lap +of the nation. There is always hope for a man that is not afraid to +work; you can put that down, and as true as there is hope for a man +not afraid to work, there is hope for individuals wherever and whoever +that people may be. Wise men may smile at the Negro's ignorance, rich +men may mock at his poverty, but no man can call him lazy, because +from his industry and toil he has enriched this country, and has +contributed much to cause it to take its rank and place amongst the +foremost nations of the earth. This I call "Grapes from the Land of +Canaan." This is the age of the common man. There have been ages of +kings; there were ages when a king stood for all the world, but that +is past. There were ages of aristocracy and nobility, when their word +and authority swayed the land, in America, that day has passed. This +is the day and age of the workingman, this is the day when the toiler +is king. This is the day of the common man, and those of you who read +history are told to read the signs of the times. Read them in the light +of this declaration: that the common man, the toiler who produces all +the wealth of this fair world and is making it bloom and blossom, +shall enjoy the fruit of his toil. In this country there is hope. The +men who produce the wealth of this country, are no longer content to +produce and not enjoy. The men and women producing the wealth of this +country from the bosom of the earth and from the fields, are coming to +the place where they intend to enjoy the fruits which their industry +and toil have produced. Thank God, to-night, the Negro as a toiler has +never taken second rank, while in the fields of industry he has always +kept a place, he has filled it well. The common people are getting +their eyes open. It's time they were beginning to open them. Men are +learning that they produce wealth, and have a right to enjoy it. Men +are coming to the conclusion that they have no right to toil and the +results of their industry pour into the lap of some one man; the day is +not far distant when this must cease. Mr. Coxey has got a great many +people scared, but I have this to say about revolutions and upheavals; +God Almighty through the ages has written His will in blood. After +every sabre's flash, every field of carnage and of blood the common +people have come to larger liberty. It has been so from the beginning +of the world. God has written His will in the ashes of ecclesiastical +and political despotism and He will write it again in the ruins of +social despotism. We have demonstrated our ability as fighting men. +You know you must prove yourself everywhere, prove yourself in every +field of endeavor. Our ability as fighting men has been demonstrated. +A man that will not fight for country, honor and home is no man at +all. And as a defender of these things which men hold sacred, we have +demonstrated our ability in every test that has arisen. You never +heard of a Negro soldier running from any body. They don't fight that +way. You never heard of a troop of colored soldiers refusing to go +forward, no matter if the odds were against them. That kind of blood +does not run in their veins. And now that history is being written more +truthfully than it was a few years ago, it is seen that our fathers +were valorous and brave in the interest of the principles which are the +heritage of this great nation. + +I speak of this to-night because when I was a little boy I could read +nothing to make me know of their bravery. It helps a young man to be +true and loyal, to know the blood of brave men is in his veins. When a +white man speaks he says, "My father fought for this country and for +constitutional liberty." Our fathers fought for it as well, America's +glory is ours. When I used to study history in school no honorable +mention was made of us there, our boys and girls must write some +history. We were only mentioned in that book twice, and then we were +mentioned in pictures, one was the picture of a Negro boy butting Gen. +Prescott's door down. Then there was a large and pretty illustration of +Gen. Perry on Lake Erie, in this they had a Negro crouching in the bow +of a boat, while the white men fearlessly faced the enemy's guns. Those +of you who have read history know how valorous and brave the black man +was in this struggle, and this picture is a printed lie. Every time +I go down street and pass the Soldiers' Monument on the Square I feel +about an inch taller, some people don't like the bronze figure of the +negro there. It pleases me to see it, and I am glad that the time +has come that you cannot build a monument to the soldiers, and tell +the truth, without putting the black man there. That is demonstrated +ability in another field. Frederick Douglass says there are three +boxes the Negro must control: "the knowledge box, the money box and +the ballot box." But you need another box in order to take care of the +other three, it comes in very handy some times, it is the cartridge +box. Another field of endeavor where our ability has been demonstrated +is _the field of business_. We have brought grapes from that domain. We +have been busy trying to get a good foothold in business. + +One thing I wish to speak of in this connection is prejudice, +especially in the south land, it has been a great blessing to our +people. For example: as some of you know, there are few southern cities +where they will haul your dead body in the hearse that they use for +the whites. Not for love nor money would they do it, and the result +is, that our people are buying hearses and going into the undertaking +business. The money that flowed into the other people's pockets is +flowing into ours. Our people are also beginning to keep drug stores, +so you can see that prejudice has been a blessing to us, by forcing +us to go into business for ourselves. If they had laid aside this +prejudice we would not have made this advance, but God has helped us +and we are getting along right well. + +One of the greatest hindrances to our material advancement is +improvidence. We spend too much money for picnics and excursions. +When the sun shines we are too prone to forget that the frost will +ever fly again. I do not say a man ought never to do anything that he +cannot afford, but we ought to be more provident. If I was not afraid +I would make you angry, I would say: We all dress up fine and look +just as good as the people of the avenue, the only difference is, we +cannot afford it and they can. We have not learned as we should the +value of a dollar. I remember one time while I was spending a week with +a friend, one morning at the breakfast table his father said to him: +"My son, you have been to college and studied Greek, but you have not +learned the value of a dollar. I am going to give you a dollar, don't +spend it, take it out and look at it every day. Study the possibilities +of this dollar. There are horses, farms, factories and railroad stock +in this dollar, all that tends to wealth, study the value of it." We +can learn this lesson with profit. Another field of endeavor is that +of professions. The time has come when we must go out and gather more +fruits in this domain. In the line of professions we have been able to +take our stand and make a place; we can trust our cases with a colored +lawyer just as well as with a white one. We have shown that we are +able to make entrance and hold in that realm a place. We have lost +enough money on real estate in Ohio and Pennsylvania to make 3 or 4 +families rich, because we didn't have proper legal advice. But now with +qualified lawyers this cannot occur. We have learned at last that we +can trust our lives in the hands of colored physicians as well as in +the hands of anyone else, but must learn this more and more, so that +our men can take rank and standing among other men in this department. +In Europe and in this country we are beginning to take rank and place +among the foremost artists of the world. + +A young colored man recently painted a picture which has been accepted +by the Art Academy of Paris. They did not ask if the artist was +colored, but is he an artist of genius. In the domain of art color is +no bar. If you can equal or excel the masters the world will give you a +place in the temple of fame. + +We have been called a musical people. But thus far the talent has +remained crude and undeveloped. Talent without cultivation yields poor +results. A young friend of mine who had a good voice, had the right +kind of stuff in him. He had a good voice and he knew it, he did not +let success turn his head, he got all he could at home, went to New +York and spent a year there, then went to Boston, studied a year there, +now he is going to _Italy_. In all the higher fields we have so much to +learn that we can not be too studious. + +There is another realm in which we are gathering some fruits, and +that is the realm of literature. Here is a place, my friends, where +your color is no barrier to you. If you can write a poem equal to +Shakespeare's immortal Hamlet, or Dante's Inferno, or Milton's Paradise +Lost, they will give you the same place among the world's immortals. +When our opportunities are considered, our achievements in the domain +of letters can not be equalled by any other race. + +Aside from building and maintaining schools and colleges, our boys and +girls have repeatedly won the honors in all the departments of higher +education. A few years ago there was a colored boy who won the honors +at an eastern college, the people said he was an exception to his race, +and they tried to find out if he did not have white blood in his veins. +But be it remembered that the men whom he excelled were picked men from +the best families of the land. And a picked man from the colored race +excelled the picked men of the white race assembled there, that is all. + +To the young men and women of the race I say go forward along whatever +line your talent may lead. Many doors will be slammed in your face, +but if you continue to knock and are qualified you will find an +entrance. I would sooner help a man with a hungry brain than one with +a hungry stomach. In God's fair world there is enough food to satisfy +every growing and enquiring mind. Go forth and be filled. Giving back +in return to the world new and richer contributions to the world's +knowledge. Rich indeed are the fruits we have gathered from the fields +of human endeavor. Let us not fear to go forth and gather still richer +fruits. "Go forth to meet the future with a brave and manly heart." + +[Illustration: Decoration] + + + + +The Fifteenth Amendment. + + Before man made us citizens, great nature made us free.--_Lowell._ + + I must have liberty, withal as large a charter as the wind, to + blow on whom I please.--_As You Like It._ + + +_Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen_: + +Three great sea voyages have had greater influence upon the history and +progress of the human race than any event which has happened since the +birth of Christ. The history of these voyages and their consequences +is the history of our country. Columbus, the inspired mariner of +Genoa, with a sublime courage almost without a parallel in history, +set sail; himself sailing into immortality, his caravels opening a +pathway through the unknown seas, until guided by propitious stars and +favoring winds they anchored at the gateway of the greatest continent +of the earth. A country compared to which, "the promised land flowing +with milk and honey," is but a beggar's pittance. A country upon whose +shores the tides of two great oceans ebb and flow; a country whose +mountains are filled with silver and gold, with coal and with iron, and +whose fertile valleys are threaded by the grandest network of navigable +rivers on the globe; a country with almost every variety of climate, of +fruit and of flower; this is the gem which Columbus snatched from the +sea. + + NOT A WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY, + +But a country reserved for the representatives of every variety of +the human race. Old superstitions, old tyrannies and old despotisms +perished with the nations that they could not save. What though for +a few centuries the ghosts of these departing spirits did haunt our +shores, they could not stand before that advancing host of freemen, +every one of whom bore a scepter and wore a crown. + +But the best that the heart felt and the mind conceived in those +civilizations which flourished on the banks of the Euphrates and the +Nile, the shores of the Mediterranean, at Athens, and on the banks of +the Tiber, was embalmed and transmitted through the centuries to find +here the only soil in which it could have development and growth. + +Again the horizon is whitened by a sail. Not the caravels of Columbus, +but the Mayflower, bearing the Pilgrim Fathers and the germs of our +Republican institutions. Fleeing from oppression beyond the sea, coming +to dwell in the wilderness, with old Plymouth Rock for their cathedral, +their music the restless murmur of the sea, while the scene is lighted +by the lamps of heaven, the Pilgrim Fathers married Civil and Religious +Liberty to our country forever. + +This continent is the great family mansion which God has built and +furnished with unlimited supplies for the purpose of reassembling the +scattered members of the human family, to enjoy together the fruits +of liberty, fraternity and prosperity. The Indian was already here, +but he was not permitted to level the forests, navigate the rivers, +till away the fertility of the soil, or to rob the mountains of their +wealth of gold, silver, iron and stone, until the other members of the +family arrived. When the roll was called, the Englishman, the German, +the Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Indian, each answered to his name. +When the Negro's name was called there was silence, each looked at the +other. The Negro was not here. He had no ship. He could not come. In +which condition of affairs his white brother rigged out a vessel and +brought him over. Our third great voyage is ended, bearing momentous +issues, another ship comes in from the sea. It is the old Dutch +man-of-war with her cargo of twenty Negroes, which landed at Jamestown, +Va., in 1619. Ever since the landing of this vessel the Negro has +answered "present" whenever his country called. When called upon to +drain the swamps and till the fair plantations of the South, though +beaten, cursed and robbed, rewarded with the severance of the tenderest +ties of affection, he answered, "present," every day for two hundred +and fifty years. American Independence, like every good gift, has been +bought with blood. And the first blood shed in its behalf was that of +the Negro patriot, Crispus Attucks. When the Revolutionary heroes were +being overcome by the British at the battle of Bunker's Hill, it was +Peter Salem, a Negro, who shot Major Pitcairn and turned the tide of +battle there. + +Among all the nationalities and races of this country + + THE NEGRO IS THE ONLY INVITED GUEST. + +The others came of their own accord, he had a pressing invitation to be +present here. But since the world began did ever guest cause so much +commotion in a national household? The other members of the family have +been fighting and contending about him ever since he arrived. + +"Who is he?" As to his origin and identity scientists disagree, and +modern history is either silent or incoherent. + + "WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE NEGRO?" + +This question has divided churches and religious denominations; it +has sundered the fraternal ties of secret societies; it has perplexed +statesmen; it has divided parties; it has appealed to the highest +tribunal in the land for settlement, only to be more complicated by the +learned decisions of the courts; it has marshalled armies and nearly +caused "the government of the people by the people and for the people +to perish from the earth." + +This question, "What shall we do with the Negro?" presented itself for +solution when the foundations of our government were laid. One of our +statesmen has observed that, "The compromises on the Slavery question, +inserted in the Constitution, were among the essential conditions +upon which the federal government was organized. If the African slave +trade had not been permitted to continue for twenty years, if it had +not been conceded that three-fifths of the slaves should be counted in +the apportionment of representatives in congress, if it had not been +agreed that fugitives from service should be returned to their owners, +the thirteen States would not have been able in 1787 'to form a more +perfect union.'" + +Thus we see that the Negro has been in politics ever since the adoption +of the Constitution. + +But, throughout the long night of bondage, for three quarters of a +century, not a single act designed for the betterment or advantage of +the Negro can be found upon the statute books of any Southern State. +Even as late as '62 the Democratic State convention of Pennsylvania +said: "This government was established exclusively for the white +race." In every State the Negro was denied those primary rights which +centuries before had been wrested from King John at Runnymede and +recorded in Magna Charta. The immortal principles laid down in the +Declaration of Independence loosed not the fetters of a slave. The +South were let alone until they caused eleven stars to fall from our +glorious flag, and it took a million bayonets to pin them back to the +place from which they had wandered, there to remain as long as the +Republic shall endure. When secession and rebellion threatened the +overthrow of the constitution and the peril of our national life, it +was + + THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, + +the party of the most illustrious names, the party of the most immortal +deeds that adorn the pages of our history--this party it was that +joined battle with rebellion, willing, in the language of Mr. Lincoln, +if God so willed, "to continue the war until all the wealth piled by +the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil should be +sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash should be paid +with another drawn by the sword." + +Amid the cannon's roar the Republican party heard the voice of God, and +above the smoke of battle four million fetters towered like a monument +to heaven. To our country purged by fire and purified with blood, yea, +even with the blood of the slain and against the will of a united +Democracy the Republican party gave not only emancipation, but also +the highest dignity--a race clothed with the sacred right of elective +franchise. + +Failing to defeat the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, the +Democratic party have attempted to nullify it by murder, incineration, +intimidation and fraud. The political power which the Democratic party +lost on the battle-field they have sought to regain by committing a +rape on the ballot box more infamous than those widely published crimes +which that proverbial "burly negro fiend" is said at times to attempt +upon the purity of Southern homes. The South invests the Negro with the +_stripes_ of the flag it failed to destroy, but denies to him both the +promise and protection of its stars. + +The Afro-American has voted the Republican ticket because the +Democratic party has willfully, continually and maliciously opposed +every law designed to secure his freedom, his franchise and his +enjoyment of the blessings of liberty; while all such laws in his +behalf have been passed by Republican votes and signed by Republican +presidents. The Democratic party, which thirty years ago sought the +Nation's life through the dissolution of the Union, is to-day in +rebellion against the Constitution of the United States through its +open and flagrant violation of the Fifteenth Amendment. There has not +been a fair election in any Southern State for more than seventeen +years. If slavery had not been destroyed it would have destroyed the +Union. Even so, if we do not put an end to + + NULLIFICATION, + +Nullification will put an end to our government as it now exists. +This subversion of the Fifteenth amendment by the Democratic party in +the "new South" is undermining the very foundation of the Republic. +The Negro is not the only nor perhaps the greatest sufferer by this +violence. It breeds disrespect for the fundamental principles of our +government on the part of those who silently permit this outrage to +proceed, as well as on the part of those guilty of its commission. +This violation is sowing the seed of anarchy. It substitutes for the +rule of the majority the rule of an unscrupulous minority. Under the +old regime, in the apportionment of representatives to Congress, +three-fifths of the Negroes were counted. Now all the Negroes are +counted, but in no Southern State is their vote counted for the party +or the candidate of their choice. Districts overwhelmingly Republican +send Democratic representatives to Congress. These men who ride into +the National Capitol over the bones of murdered men or by means of +intimidation and fraud, actually have three times the political power +of a man who has been honestly elected in Ohio, Pennsylvania or New +York. + +In States overwhelmingly Republican the electoral vote is openly given +to the candidate of the opposing party. Thus a president of the United +States may be made to take his seat athwart the graves of murdered +citizens, and to seize the reins of government in defiance to the will +of the lawfully constituted majority. The person who attacks or rebukes +this high-handed treason is accused of "waving the bloody shirt" and of +"seeking to stir up sectional hatred." The South comes forward with its +old cry, "Let us alone; we can settle all our own difficulties;" which +they have done, the shot-gun and the Winchester rifle coming in for a +large share of the glory. + +The Republican press, Republican statesmen and Republican orators +have been too long silent. We have too easily abandoned the Southern +Republican to his fate on the grounds that the subversion of the +constitution cannot be stopped. But it is my deliberate judgment and +solemn belief that if Negroes were surrounding the ballot boxes with +shot-guns and keeping white men from the polls, we would find a way to +stop it. If Negroes were fraudulently seizing the representation in +scores of congressional districts and the electoral vote in a dozen +States, we would find a way to stop it. + +WHAT DOES THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLEAD IN EXTENUATION OF ITS CRIMES? + +We are told that if the Negro were given the free exercise of his +political powers he would ruin the industries of the South, that +Northern capital invested there would be sunk, and finally, that the +wealth and intelligence of the South will not submit to Negro rule. Too +many have been found ready to listen to this cunning apology for crime. +It is true that the Negro has registered no oath of allegiance to the +Democratic party, but to the best interests of his country his heart is +as true as the needle to the pole. Wise men may smile at his ignorance, +the rich may mock his poverty, fools may despise the color of his +skin; but an ignorant man, a poor man, a black man who is thoroughly +loyal, is a better and a safer voter than a rich man, an educated man, +and a white man who in his heart is disloyal to the Union and who +openly violates the Constitution and defies the laws. It is true that +conditions have changed and new issues have arisen, but the principles +of our government have not changed, nor have the rights guaranteed to +citizens by the Constitution been repealed. To the exclusion of almost +every other issue we have taken up + + THE TARIFF. + +And I rejoice in the blessings which, through the wise legislation +of the Republican party, this policy has brought to the Nation. But +what does a man care about the tariff whose birthright has been taken +away. The question as to how the revenue for the support of the +government shall be raised should be considered a secondary issue +while the constitutional rights of citizens are being denied by the +Democratic party in more than a dozen States. The protection of +American industries, of American workmen and American homes against the +competition of the cheap labor of other countries is not worthy of our +undivided attention until that other American industry--the lynching of +Republicans for the constitutional assertion of their Republicanism--is +stopped; until it is as safe for a Republican to vote in Mississippi or +South Carolina as it is for a Democrat to vote in Pennsylvania or Ohio. + +The Democrats claim that one of the chief causes contributing to their +overwhelming victory during the late unpleasantness, was the fact that +they kept prominent what they call + + "THE FORCE BILL + +Issue." And by this they mean that, in the South at least, the Negro +shall not be allowed to vote and have it honestly returned. In other +words, they appealed for votes on the ground that, if intrusted with +power, the nullification of the Fifteenth Amendment should be made +perpetual. + +The issue should be squarely met. The Republican party stood for the +enfranchisement of the Negro when his cause was unpopular, when it cost +tens of thousands of votes to do it. + +Perhaps it would cost tens of thousands now, but it would also call to +our ranks hundreds of thousands of liberty-loving, patriotic men. For +the American people have a conscience, and when it is properly appealed +to and thoroughly aroused, though they may seem slow in the formation +of their judgments, of this let all parties take note--_in the end the +American people will do right_. + +If this amendment cannot be enforced it should be repealed. But it +would be still better if the law were so amended that whenever a State +excludes the Negro from the right of suffrage, the Nation should have +power to exclude him from the basis of apportionment. For, as it is, +the Democrats have between forty and fifty congressmen and as many +electoral votes, fraudulently obtained, with which to start, and with +such a lead as this, it is difficult as parties are now divided for us +to win. But the Republican party has never taken a step backward. Her +history is the history of the most glorious days of the Republic. This +question may be often set aside and obscured by other issues from time +to time, but it will continue to come up and plead for settlement, as +throughout the Nation it breeds injustice in a thousand forms, it will +plead until its pleadings are heard. The American people are slow to +anger, and for this reason their indignation when aroused is all the +more terrible. + +The spirit which resisted George III., which put down rebellion and +treason and which gave citizenship to the slave, as well as that other +spirit which, with a magnanimity unparalleled, threw the protecting +mantle of the flag of the Republic about those who sought its +destruction; this spirit, I say, is still abroad in the land. The old +cry of + + "NEGRO DOMINATION" + +And "Negro rule" is a false alarm. History does not record a single +instance in which the Negro has attempted unlawfully or by force to +dominate this country or any section thereof. He has never plotted or +perpetrated treason against the Constitution or the laws. He has never +given his vote in support of any measure against the best interests +of his country and his countrymen. He has a keen appreciation of his +condition and his needs. The Church has more charms for him than +Congress; he is more anxious to go to school than to the Senate; and +now, thank God, under the changed conditions of these latter days, he +is striving with more diligence to provide a home for his wife and +children than he is to obtain a mansion in the skies. But, while this +is true, he is striving more zealously to wear a crown in the kingdom +of heaven than for the uncertainty of being a ruler in the kingdoms +of men. When the party of his choice has rewarded his devotion by +appointing him to an humble office, with the promise of better things +to come, he has been satisfied and remained as faithful as the old +woman who shouted every time she went to church. One day her pastor +asked her if she was happy every time she shouted. "Why, no, I'm not +happy every time I shout," she said. "Then why do you shout?" he +inquired, and she replied, "Why when I'm not happy I just shout off +the promises." Like her, the Negro is Republican in season and out +of season. Whatever others may do there are no factional quarrels +among the colored citizens. They are as incorruptible as any class of +citizens in the State. They do not sulk in their tents on election +day, nor at the polls do they conceal a razor in the Australian +blanket in order to cut any member on the ticket from the head to +the foot. Despite outrage and desertion and wrong, despite passion +and prejudice, as long as the banner of Republicanism bears upon it +such illustrious names as Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Garfield, Blaine, +McKinley and Foraker with the principles which these names suggest, as +long as gratitude is kindled by the memories of the past, and while the +achievements of the present can give confidence to patriotic hearts, as +long as the star of hope sheds its rays upon the pathway of the party +of progress, bearing inspiring prophecies of victories to come, the +colored citizens of the United States will be among the last to desert +its standards or to let its sacred folds trail in the dust of dishonor +or defeat. + +[Illustration: Decoration] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Disadvantages and Opportunities of +the Colored Youth, by R. C. Ransom + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59286 *** |