the occasion of the unveiling of the Robert Gould Shaw Monument, Boston,
Mass., May 31, 1897.]
_Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens:_
In this presence, and on this sacred and memorable day, in the deeds and
death of our hero, we recall the old, old story, ever old yet ever new,
that when it was the will of the Father to lift humanity out of
wretchedness and bondage, the precious task was delegated to Him who,
among ten thousand, was altogether lovely, and was willing to make
himself of no reputation that he might save and lift up others.
If that heart could throb and if those lips could speak, what would be
the sentiment and words that Robert Gould Shaw would have us feel and
speak at this hour? He would not have us dwell long on the mistakes, the
injustice, the criticisms of the days
"Of storm and cloud, of doubt and fears,
Across the eternal sky must lower;
Before the glorious noon appears,"
he would have us bind up with his own undying fame and memory and retain
by the side of his monument, the name of John A. Andrews, who, with
prophetic vision and strong arm, helped to make the existence of the
54th Regiment possible; and that of George L. Stearns, who, with hidden
generosity and a great sweet heart, helped to turn the darkest hour into
day, and in doing so, freely gave service, fortune, and life itself to
the cause which this day commemorates. Nor would he have us forget those
brother officers, living and dead, who by their baptism in blood and
fire, in defense of union and freedom, gave us an example of the highest
and purest patriotism.
To you who fought so valiantly in the ranks, the scarred and scattered
remnant of the 54th Regiment, who, with empty sleeve and wanting leg,
have honored this occasion with your presence, to you, your commander is
not dead. Though Boston erected no monument and history recorded no
story, in you and the loyal race which you represent Robert Gould Shaw
would have a monument which time could not wear away.
But an occasion like this is too great, too sacred for mere individual
eulogy. The individual is the instrument, national virtue the end. That
which was 300 years being woven into the warp and woof of our democratic
institutions could not be effaced by a single battle, as magnificent as
was that battle; that which for three centuries had bound master and
slave, yea, North and South, to a body of death, could not be blotted
out by four years of war, could not be atoned for by shot and sword, nor
by blood and tears.
Not many days ago in the heart of the South, in a large gathering of
the people of my race, there were heard from many lips praises and
thanksgiving to God for His goodness in setting them free from physical
slavery. In the midst of that assembly there arose a Southern white man
the former owner of many slaves, gray of hair and with hands which
trembled, and from his quivering lips, there came the words; "My
friends, you forget in your rejoicing that, in setting you free, God was
also good to me and my race in setting us free." But there is a higher
and deeper sense in which both races must be free than that represented
by the bill of sale. The black man who cannot let love and sympathy go
out to the white man is but half free. The white man who would close the
shop or factory against a black man seeking an opportunity to earn an
honest living is but half free. The white man who retards his own
development by opposing a black man is but half free. The full measure
of the fruit of Fort Wagner and all that this monument stands for will
not be realized until every man covered with a black skin shall, by
patience and natural effort, grow to that height in industry, property,
intelligence, and moral responsibility, where no man in all our land
will be tempted to degrade himself by withholding from his black brother
any opportunity which he himself would possess.
Until that time comes this monument will stand for effort, not victory
complete. What these heroic souls of the 54th Regiment began, we must
complete. It must be completed not in malice, not in narrowness; nor
artificial progress, nor in efforts at mere temporary political gain,
nor in abuse of another section or race. Standing as I do to-day in the
home of Garrison and Phillips and Sumner, my heart goes out to those who
wore gray as well as to those clothed in blue; to those who returned
defeated, to destitute homes, to face blasted hopes and a shattered
political and industrial system. To them there can be no prouder reward
for defeat than by a supreme effort to place the Negro on that footing
where he will add material, intellectual, and civil strength to every
department of State.
This work must be completed in public school, industrial school, and
college. The most of it must be completed in the effort of the Negro
himself, in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to
exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real--the shadow
for the substance, to be great and yet small, in his effort to be
patient in the laying of a firm foundation, so to grow in skill and
knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his
intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of
opportunity, and all others fail. In this battle of peace the rich and
poor, the black and white, may have a part.
What lesson has this occasion for the future? What of hope, what of
encouragement, what of caution? "Watchman, tell us of the night; what
the signs of promise are." If through me, an humble representative,
nearly ten millions of my people might be permitted to send a message to
Massachusetts, to the survivors of the 54th Regiment, to the committee
whose untiring energy has made this memorial possible, to the family who
gave their only boy that we might have life more abundantly, that
message would be, "Tell them that the sacrifice was not in vain, that
up from the depth of ignorance and poverty, we are coming, and if we
come through oppression out of the struggle, we are gaining strength. By
the way of the school, the well-cultivated field, the skilled hand, the
Christian home, we are coming up; that we propose to invite all who will
to step up and occupy this position with us. Tell them that we are
learning that standing-ground for the race, as for the individual, must
be laid in intelligence, industry, thrift, and property, not as an end,
but as a means to the highest privileges; that we are learning that
neither the conqueror's bullet nor fiat of law could make an ignorant
voter an intelligent voter, could make a dependent man an independent
man, could give one citizen respect for another, a bank account, a foot
of land, or an enlightened fireside. Tell them that, as grateful as we
are to artist and patriotism for placing the figures of Shaw and his
comrades in physical form of beauty and magnificence, that after all,
the real monument, the greater monument, is being slowly but safely
builded among the lowly in the South, in the struggles and sacrifices of
a race to justify all that has been done and suffered for it."
One of the wishes that lay nearest Colonel Shaw's heart was, that his
black troops might be permitted to fight by the side of white soldiers.
Have we not lived to see that wish realized, and will it not be further
realized in the future? Not at Wagner, not with rifle and bayonet, but
on the field of peace, in the battle of industry, in the struggle for
good government, in the lifting up of the lowest to the fullest
opportunities. In this we shall fight by the side of white men, North
and South. And if this be true, as under God's guidance it will, that
old flag, that emblem of progress and security, which brave Sergeant
Carney never permitted to fall on the ground, will still be borne aloft
by Southern soldier and Northern soldier, and, in a more potent and
higher sense, we shall all realize that
"The slave's chain and the master's alike are broken;
The one curse of the race held both in tether;
They are rising, all are rising--
The black and the white together."
THE LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES OF THE NEGRO RACE[24]
By CHARLES W. ANDERSON, of New York
[Note 24: An address delivered before the Tennessee Centennial
Exposition, Nashville, Tenn., June 5, 1897.]
_Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:_
I sometimes feel that we, as a race, do not fully appreciate the
importance of industrial education. I feel that the day is near at hand
when the physical apparatus of civil education will play a larger part
in the progress of the world than it has hitherto done. In other words,
I firmly believe that the industrial victories are in the future and not
in the past. We have done much and wrought many miracles, but the
miracles are but evidences of possible powers rather than the high-tide
marks of development. In my mind the possibilities of physical and
scientific achievement are limitless, and beyond the compass of human
conception. Look at iron alone. See what has been done with it in the
last fifty years. See what you are able to do with it here in Tennessee.
From it are made things dainty and things dangerous, carriages and
cannon, spatula and spade, sword and pen, wheel, axle and rail, as well
as screw, file, and saw. It is bound around the hull of ships and lifted
into tower and steeple. It is drawn into wire, coiled into springs,
woven into gauze, twisted into rope, and sharpened into needles. It is
stretched into a web, finer by comparison than the gossamer of the
morning along the bed of the ocean, and made to tick out the yesterday
of Europe on the to-day of America. All of this variety of use has been
made out of the stubbornness of metals by the sovereign touch of
industrial and scientific education. There is inexhaustible promise in
this development. It has brought, and is still bringing, the two great
races closer together. These iron veins and arteries which interlock our
cities and confederate our States do much to familiarize each race with
the hopes and aspirations of the other, and to weave their histories
into one harmonious contexture, as telegraphic messages fly
instantaneously across them, and screaming trains rush back and forth
like shuttles upon a mighty loom. When our fullest expectations shall
have been fulfilled, both races will have the freest opportunity for the
development of their varied capabilities, and, through mutual bonds of
interest and affection and mutual bonds of sympathy and purpose, will
rise the unmatched harmonies of a united people to the imperial
accompaniment of two mighty oceans.
It is a peculiar fact that immediately after the abolition of human
slavery the country started upon an unparalleled career of prosperity.
The West, then almost unexplored, began to develop, and has continued to
do so until now it is studded with proud cities, teeming with throbbing
life, growing like the grass of the prairies in spring-time, advancing
like the steam-engine, baffling distance like the telegraph, and
spreading the pulsations of their mighty hearts to the uttermost parts
of the world. There they stand with their echoing marts of trade, their
stately spires of worship and their magnificent institutions of
learning, as free as the encircling air, as independent as the soaring
eagle, and more powerful than the Roman Empire when in the plenitude of
her power. All of this has been accomplished since the energies of men
were unfettered. Thus it may be said that both races started almost
simultaneously on their careers to fulfill the destiny of this great
country among the countries of the world. And as we started together
substantially, we must end together. We started with most unequal
equipment, to be sure, and under conditions as far apart as the sky from
this pavilion, but we have marched to the same music and in the same
direction ever since, with varying fortunes and unequal steps, but with
no steps backward, until to-day we are able to recognize in each other
and be recognized by all mankind as equals in our attachment to the
land, the laws, the institutions, and the flag of our common country.
The responsibility now rests upon you to improve each minute of your
lives in fitting yourselves for a wiser, better and worthier discharge
of the obligations of American citizenship. You may be constrained to
ask, "What shall we do?" or, with Archimedes of old, exclaim "Give me
where to stand and I will move the world." Let me advise you to stand
where you are. That's the place. Act well your part, and you shall have
accomplished all that is expected of you. My friends, a country like
ours is not governed by law, or courts of justice, or judges, however
wise or puissant. It is governed by public sentiment. Once poison it,
and courts are impotent and judges powerless. Therefore we are
responsible, each and all of us, according to our talents and influence,
for the public sentiment of the day. If it is healthy and just, it is we
who have made it so; if it is unhealthy and unjust, it is we who have
made it or permitted it to become so. And what is this all-powerful, but
imperceptible, entity, this potent influence which controls presidents,
cabinets, congresses, courts, judges, juries, the press and--I regret to
say it--the pulpit? What is public sentiment or public opinion? It is
the multiplied, accumulated opinion of all the people. Every word spoken
or written by man or woman goes to make up this great stream of public
opinion, just as every drop of dew or water goes to make up that mighty
river which divides this imperial continent and turns the spindles of
the ten thousand factories which hug its shores. Hence we are all
responsible for our contribution to the public opinion of the day,
whether our contribution be a raindrop or a Niagara. We are responsible
for what we say and what we leave unsaid, for what we do and what we
leave undone, for what we write and what is unwritten. We are
responsible for the errors we have committed and for those we have taken
no part in overthrowing. So, whether we realize it or not, we are
consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or unintentionally, directly
or indirectly, according to our opportunities and our influence,
responsible for the public sentiment which secures or deprives every
citizen of his rights and of the opportunity for the highest
intellectual and industrial development.
I know that it is sometimes said that we have done very little. Be that
as it may. Thirty years is but a brief time compared with the centuries
in which Norman, Saxon, and Dane have been fusing into the English race.
And yet, we have something to remember when great names are counted,
something to show when great deeds are told. At the same time I would
not have you sit supinely down and wait for the millennium. Far from it.
It is said that all things come to him who waits. That is in part true,
but it is only fifty per cent. of the whole truth. All things come to
him who waits, if he hustles while he waits.
You will need not only education and character, but you also need
level-headedness and accuracy of judgment. Acquire intellectuality, but
acquire practicality at the same time. Do not join that large and
constantly increasing class in this country to whom nothing is desirable
but the impossible. Do not indulge in the pastime of throwing stones at
the stars. Learn to be practical, and, whatever you attempt in life,
remember to think out a plan and a policy before you begin the work.
When you are called upon to go out and do battle, stop and reflect, and
see if there is a reasonable probability of your whipping anybody. If
the probability is not apparent, I would advise you to decline the glove
and reserve your lance for a more "convenient season." Martyrdom is very
attractive, especially attractive to vigorous young men, but it "butters
no parsnips." Therefore, cultivate prudence as well as valor, and study
men as well as books; for you will needs be prepared to meet the living
issues of the present; and if you are wise, you will anticipate the
possible exigencies of the future. To do this you will want both courage
and discretion. Learn the proper value of organization and union, and
never cease to remember that an army divided is an army defeated. You
will neither be able to help yourself nor hurt the enemy by firing paper
bullets. You must organize.
To make steam effective you must bind it up in an engine; to make water
serviceable, you must harness it in a mill; to make electricity
manageable, you must mask it in a battery; and to make men useful in
reformatory or remedial work, you must recruit them into an
organization.
And to those present who have not enjoyed the advantages of an
education, let me direct a few remarks. You must not believe that you
cannot assist in the work of building character for the race. Every man
or woman who plays his or her part according to the best lights, who
bears a respected name, or bears the proud title of a "good citizen,"
who is industrious, temperate, upright, law-abiding, and devoted to
whatever is lovely and of good report, is unconsciously pleading the
cause of the race before the great tribunal of the civilized world.
To all such we can only render the tribute which history accords to
those who fight as privates in the battles of human progress, with all
the more devotion and fidelity because their names will never be known.
Whenever a man earns the respect of the community in which he resides,
some part of that respect, some breath of that fragrance is reflected
upon the race of which he is a member.
As a race, we have done much, but we must not forget how much more there
is still to do. We have already demonstrated the possession of powers,
but we must now bring forth the fruits of sustained racial achievement.
To some extent we have been given opportunity, but we must not cease to
remember that no race can be given relative rank--it must win equality
of rating for itself. Hence, we must not only acquire education, but
character as well. It is not only necessary that we should speak well,
but it is more necessary that we should speak the truth. We must not
only acquire that culture which is the golden key that unlocks all doors
and unbars all gates, but we must cultivate that straightforwardness of
purpose and unconquerable determination which enables a people to face
conditions "without fear and without reproach."
And so the last suggestion comes which the hour presents. In the work of
race advancement, we need the service and assistance of all true men and
women. We must have the co-operation of all sections and all conditions.
The cotton-fields of Alabama, the sugar-plantations of Louisiana, and
the coal-mines of Tennessee; the great lakes of the North which winter
roofs with ice, and from which drips refreshing coolness through the hot
summer months, from the fisheries and the factories, from wheat-fields
and pine forests, from meadows billowed with golden grain and orchards
bending beneath their burdens of golden fruit, this advance movement
must receive support. The humble laborer following his plow afield must
do his part; the blacksmith at his forge, the lawyer at the bar, the
fisherman on the banks, the man of science putting nature to the
question, all, without distinction and without exception, must
contribute, according to his station and his opportunity, to the
hastening of the day when the Negro shall take his place by the side of
the other great race of men and form that grand spectacle which Tennyson
had in mind when he spoke of "the parliament of man, the federation of
the world."
THE PARTY OF FREEDOM AND THE FREEDMEN--A RECIPROCAL DUTY[25]
BY WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH, D.D., LL.D
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH, M. A., PH. D., LL.D., _President of
Wilberforce University, Ohio. Author of "First Lessons in Greek," the
first and only Greek book written by a Negro, largely used as text-book
in both white and Negro schools. Author of a large number of classical
interpretations, and philological pamphlets._
[Note 25: Address delivered at the Lincoln Day Banquet, Dayton,
Ohio, Feb. 11, 1899.]
Slavery has been well called the "perfected curse of the ages." Every
civilization, ancient and modern, has experienced its blighting,
withering effect, and it has cost thrones to learn the lesson that
"The laws of changeless justice blind
Oppressor and oppressed";
that
"Close as sin and suffering joined,"
these two
"March to Fate--abreast."
Since the world began, freedom has been at war with all that savored of
servitude. The sentiment of liberty is innate in every human breast.
Freedom of speech and of action--the right of every man to be his own
master--has ever been the inestimable privilege sought, the boon most
craved. For this guerdon men have fought; for this they have even gladly
died.
It was the unquenchable desire for liberty that brought the Pilgrim
Fathers to Plymouth Rock. They knew that all that is highest and noblest
in the human soul is fostered to its greatest development only under the
blazing sunlight of freedom. And it was the same flame burning in the
heart of the young nation planted on these Western shores that led to
the ratification of the sentiment placed by the hand of Thomas Jefferson
in the corner-stone of our American independence: "We hold these truths
to be self-evident--that all men are created free and equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among
them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Here was heralded
to the nation prophetic freedom for all mankind and for all generations.
However, the years of bondage for Africa's sons and daughters in this
fair land stretched on over a half century more before the issue was
raised. But at last the grasping arms of the gigantic octopus, that was
feeding at the nation's heart, reached out too far, and the combat with
the monster was begun. Then that laurelled champion and leader of
freedom's cause, Charles S. Sumner, laid his hand upon that Declaration
of Independence and declared that the nation was "dedicated to liberty
and the rights of human nature."
I count it the glory of that gifted humanitarian that he gave his
magnificent talents and energies to the organization of a party that
could add to its _amor patriae_ the larger, broader, nobler love of
freedom for all mankind; and I count it the glory of that party that it
stood for
"the voice of a people--uprisen, awake";
that it was "born to make men free."
No matter what name has been inscribed on its banner during its
existence of a full half century, the cause that the party of freedom
espoused has given its standard-bearer a right to claim that it, and it
alone, is the legitimate heir to power in this land where the
forefathers sought the liberty the Old World denied. Who dares dispute
the claim? Who dares challenge the assertion? Time and events have
sanctioned it; age has but strengthened it. And to-day, holding as
tenaciously the same principles of truth and justice, the party that,
among the parties of this Republic, alone stands as the synonym of
freedom is the Republican party.
None dare gainsay it. And, among the growing multitudes in this broad
land of ours, none know this better than ten millions of Afro-Americans
who but for its strong arm of power might still be suffering from "Man's
inhumanity to man."
Forget it? The mightiest draughts from Lethe's stream could not blot
from the remembrance of the race the deed of that Republican leader
enthroned upon the seat of government, the deed of the immortal Lincoln,
whose birth we commemorate here to-night, the deed of that second
Abraham who, true to his name as the "father of the faithful," struck
the chains from the Negro's limbs and bade him stand forever free.