hand and opens its almshouses on the other." Such is the comment of a
writer who recently compared the relations in the North and South, as
regards their efforts to care for the poor, and especially the
distresses of the needy among the colored people. While the North has
an apparent balance in her favor in the matter of formal expenditures
for charity among the colored people, yet the South has the advantage
in true charity. It gives the helpless an opportunity to help
themselves. Charity is wisest in her ministrations when the object of
her beneficence is not deprived of the means of self-support and
independence. In the North nearly all departments of labor are
governed by trades unions, and the unfortunate Negroes, proscribed as
they nearly always are, are forced to become paupers. The South does
not bend the manacles of pauperism on his wrists, but instead opens to
him many lines of industrial activity, such as other sections of our
country do not afford. (American Baptist, Louisville, Ky.)
[Illustration: MRS. GEORGIA GORDON TAYLOR.
Nashville, Tenn.]
For seven successive years of almost continuous labor she was the
leader of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, of Nashville, Tenn., who
traveled extensively, both in America and Europe, giving popular
entertainment of a species of singing which originated among the
slaves of the South. She possesses a soprano voice of rare quality
that is always pleasing and in demand.
THREE GREAT NEGROES.
BY JOHN E. BRUCE, WASHINGTON, D. C.
The three greatest Negroes that the race has produced are dead. No
three living Negroes fill so much space in books or in men's thoughts
as Toussaint L'Overture, Richard Allen, and Frederick Douglass, and it
will be a long while before three Negroes of equal intelligence and
ability for leadership and organization will be able to take their
places. There are others, but these represent the real greatness of
the Negro on two continents, and each man's work stands out
conspicuously for itself. Hayti, the great African Methodist Church,
and Negro citizenship in the United States are the magnificent results
in part or in whole of the agitations begun by each of these men in
his appointed time. The monument to L'Overture's greatness,
generalship, courage, and organizing ability is the black republic
which he founded and consecrated with his blood.
Richard Allen's monument is the great African Methodist Church, with
its hundreds of thousands of worshipers, its schools of learning, and
its progressive and educated ministers, some of whom can hold a good
deal more book learning.
[Illustration: THE LATE HON. FREDERICK DOUGLASS.]
The monument to Frederick Douglass is the new citizen--the Negro
citizen, if you please--whose cause he eloquently pleaded in the
presence of the great and the powerful, in whose interests he made
thousands of sympathetic friends because the Almighty had given him an
eloquent tongue and a powerful voice. There are others, but these
three stand at the head of the list, and are better known to the world
at large than any other three Negroes on earth. What a triumvirate!
L'Overture, Allen, and Douglass--what a mighty combination! Courage,
piety, and eloquence. A bronze medallion with the heads of these great
Negroes worn near the heart of the young Negroes of this generation
might tend to fill their souls with loftier and nobler thoughts and
drive them nearer to the race which these men dignified. The
immortality of infamy is ours if we fail to produce a Negro in the
next generation who will not at least measure up to the standard to
which any one of these three immortals not only attained, but kept
unsullied and unspotted until the angel of death gathered them unto
their fathers, that they might sleep the sleep of the just.
POINTED PARAGRAPHS FROM RACE NEWSPAPERS.
Many of our young people might profit immensely by the careful and
proper employment of their time in the reading and consulting of good
books. (Woman's Messenger, Memphis, Tenn.)
* * * * *
Our girls and women can always render a great service to the race by
their ladylike deportment upon the public highways. (The Light,
Vicksburg, Miss.)
* * * * *
No race can rise above the morals of its women, and for that reason
the women of our race should be careful, and strive to do nothing that
will retard our progress. (The Informer, Louisville, Ky.)
* * * * *
We should endeavor to multiply the number of our white friends, in the
South especially, because it is to them and to ourselves that we must
look for our material advantage and practical welfare. (The Planet,
Richmond, Va.)
* * * * *
Our children should know the history of the race. It will instill a
spirit of race pride. They should know that the foundations of this
republic were made secure by the blood of our fathers as well as that
of the Anglo-Saxon race. (Clipper, Athens, Ga.)
[Illustration: CAESAR A. A. TAYLOR, OCALA, FLA.
Editor _Forum._]
* * * * *
The Negro is sadly in need of money. There can be no substitute for
it. When a Negro man spends money and becomes important from a
commercial point of view, the color of his skin and the fiber of his
hair are all lost in the mad rush of the Caucasian to his pocket and
its contents. (Texas Baptist Star.)
* * * * *
While man can boast of great physical strength, skill, and bulldog
courage, woman carries in her weak frame a moral courage very seldom
found among men. If our race is to be a great race in this great
nation of races, our women must be largely instrumental in making it
so. (American Baptist.)
* * * * *
There is a mistaken idea that "culture" means to paint a little, sing
a little, dance a little, put on haughty airs, and to quote passages
from popular books. It means nothing of the kind. Culture means
politeness, charity, fairness, good temper, and good conduct. Culture
is not a thing to make a display of; it is something to use so
moderately that people do not discover all at once that you have it.
(Colored American, Washington, D. C.)
* * * * *
One of the surest ways to make the average Anglo-Saxon respect you is
to have him know that your check will be cashed at the bank or that
your name is written in the tax book of the county wherein you have
your habitation. He has learned that money talks, so to speak, and he
is always ready to give it an audience. The records of the Southern
States show up wonderfully well in favor of the Afro-American, and yet
not as well as they might. There are arguments and arguments in favor
of recognition, and the money argument is one of them. (Southern Age,
Atlanta, Ga.)
* * * * *
The Columbian Exposition did not give the Negro a chance to
demonstrate to the nations what he could do, but at the Cotton States
Exposition he was given a trial, and so well did he succeed that he
comes in for another showing at the Tennessee Exposition. Let the
Negroes feel that it is important and necessary to make a fine
display, and, imbued with this hope, let them press forward to eclipse
all former efforts. (The Enterprise, Omaha, Neb.)
* * * * *
We cannot go to Africa and succeed with all our ignorance and poverty.
Let our big men set out to break down immorality among Negroes. Get
Negroes to have more refinement and race pride, use Negro books and
papers, hang Negro pictures on their walls, get up Negro industries,
and give deserving colored men and women employment; break down
superstition and mistrust. Get Negroes to act decently, both publicly
and privately. (Clipper, Athens, Ga.)
* * * * *
Every colored family should point with pride to the deeds of our great
men. The walls of our homes should be adorned with the pictures of
those of our own race who have proven that we are not deficient in men
of noble and towering deeds. The tables should bear books of history
and biography which would make our boys and girls acquainted with what
has been wrought for and by the race. If we do not look out for these
points, the next generation will not be what it should be. (Christian
Clipper.)
* * * * *
The colored people of the United States pay taxes on $330,000,000 real
property, $50,000,000 personal property, and have about $60,000,000 on
deposit in savings banks. These figures are from carefully prepared
statistics, and are a wonderful showing for a people the majority of
whom have been out of bondage less than half a century. In Alameda
County, of this state, colored people are on the assessment roll for
upward of $1,000,000. Who says that the race is retrograding? If only
one-tenth of this money could be put into manufacturing and commercial
enterprises, what a commotion the colored man would make in the
country! Talk about the Jew and the Chinaman; why, they would be at a
discount! Let us all undertake to infuse a little of our business
enterprise into the veins of the race. What do you say? (Elevator, San
Francisco, Cal.)
* * * * *
The world is full of young men who want to succeed, but who are too
lazy to put forth an effort in the right direction. He is truly an
unlucky mortal to whom an opportunity never comes; and remember, the
humblest employment is better than none. The man at work is infinitely
more likely to get something better than the idler is to fall into an
easy "snap." Do not growl at fate, but bear in mind that every one is
the architect of his own fortune. (The Bulletin, Balfour, N. C.)
* * * * *
Mrs. Annie E. Walker, a graduate of the New York Art School, who went
to Paris to further perfect herself in the art of painting, has
returned to her home in this city after a most successful course in
one of the highest art schools in all Europe. After Mrs. Walker had
studied in Paris only four months she painted a picture from life
which was accepted by the French Salon, where it was put on
exhibition. When it is remembered that an art student is considered
fortunate and proficient if she can get a pastel into the Salon after
she has studied for years, it is most remarkable that an American
lady, and that, too, identified with the depraved race, should have
gone to France and broken all previous records. The painting which was
readily accepted by the Salon is now at the residence of Mrs. Walker,
in this city, and fortunate is the lady or gentleman who shall have an
opportunity to see it, for it indeed has life in it, and evinces the
fact that the artist is a genius of the highest order. (Colored
American, Washington, D. C.)
* * * * *
If we are to have a literature peculiar to our necessities, then our
men and women are to produce it. If they are to produce it, then our
leaders are to encourage it. Kind words may go a long way, a little
assistance in the amassing of data will prove invaluable, and helping
to make a market for the literature will act as a stimulus. Let us
encourage our men and women to write, and in a few years we shall have
a literature of which we need not be ashamed. (Christian Index,
Jackson, Tenn.)
* * * * *
When contemplating the race as a mass it is usual to judge its members
by its worst representatives, a method both unjust and untrue. The
colored people of the South, as a class, should not be judged by the
criminals among them who become conspicuous in the newspapers from
evil deeds that are often visited with swift and terrible justice.
They should rather be judged from the honest, hard-working men and
women who, beginning with nothing, have in the course of one
generation accumulated an amount of property that forms no
inconspicuous portion even of our magnificent national wealth. (St.
Louis Christian Advocate.)
* * * * *
When we have a task to perform we should go about it with a cheerful
heart, with an eye single to doing our best. Then duty becomes a
pleasure. Let us aim to be first in the pursuit of our life's work. We
cannot reach the topmost round at once, and if we get there at all
there must be something in us worthy of the upper rounds. Can we ask
Him to be our guide who noticed the falling of a sparrow to the
ground? Do so; then we will not choose the wrong path, we will not
stumble in our darkest hours. We will not think solely of our slavery,
of our closing hour, or how we will spend the evening, but will put
our mind on our duties and resolve that they shall have the best that
is in us; and by and by we shall enjoy the reward which is laid up for
the finally faithful. (Woman's World, Rome, Ga.)
* * * * *
Every law-abiding, self-respecting, hard-working colored citizen of
the United States should denounce in unmeasured terms those young men
of the race who do not work, but loaf; who do nothing to elevate, but
everything to degrade, the race; who choose the sunny side of the
street corners in winter and the shady side in summer; who use all
kinds of vulgar and indecent language, insulting ladies as they pass.
It is this loafing, nomadic young class that drifts to crime, caused
by idleness, evil associations, and the fact that this class does not
know the value of a dollar or the enormity of a crime. These young men
are millstones welded by chains around the necks of those of us who
are trying to be something and do something in the world. There are no
palliating circumstances, no mitigating conditions--nothing on God's
green earth--that will even to the slightest degree excuse this
worthless class. (The Herald, Leavenworth, Kans.)
* * * * *
It is the "Item's" opinion that industrial schools for colored youths
are, in a great measure, useless institutions. They can never become
serviceable until there is a spirit among colored men to establish,
own, and operate great industrial enterprises, and in that case youths
can be given a practical training in the work, which is better than he
could ever get in a school. Put forward the same amount of energy to
build a factory of some kind that is put in endeavors to get
industrial schools in working order, and more young men can learn
trades and draw mechanics' salaries immediately after serving an
apprenticeship; the owners will be making a profit and the commercial
importance of the city, county, and state will be enhanced. We never
hear of an industrial school for whites, and yet their youths are
becoming artisans all the while. In the slavery days Negroes carried
on all the skilled labor of the South, and no industrial schools
existed; they applied themselves to the work, and were first-class
workmen in every branch. (The Item, Fort Worth, Tex.)
* * * * *
The Bible upon which Maj. McKinley took his oath of office as
President of the United States on March 4, 1897, was donated to him
for this purpose by the A. M. E. Church. It was printed in Cincinnati,
O., by the Methodist Book Concern. It was bound and lined, front and
back, with silk, with a suitable dedicatory inscription upon the
inside. On the outside was a gold plate in the form of a shield, on
which the name of the President, the date, the name of the donor,
etc., were engraved. The Bible was inclosed in a box made of native
Ohio wood and gold mounted. It cost eighty-six dollars. The honor of
presentation was conferred upon Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett, of
Wilberforce, O. (Christian Recorder, Philadelphia, Pa.)
* * * * *
[Illustration: MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES.
The Black Patti of the race.]
MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES.
The Black Patti of the Race.
The subject of this sketch was born in Providence, R. I. When quite a
wee child she proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, her fitness for
the stage as a race representative, and has, among other things,
maintained her ground, never weakening and giving down, but nourishing
a faith fit only for the righteous, which has led her gently into the
pleasant and peaceful paths of success.
Some say that greatness is sometimes thrust upon us; others, more
liberal, say it is inborn; others argue that it is acquired. We say
that this is an instance where classical musical ability reigned
uppermost, controlling and directing the possessor as the mainspring
of all her infantile life; but on becoming cognizant of this state of
affairs, she was advised by good Northern friends to turn her whole
attention to the pursuit for which her heart and mind thirsted. Hence,
after a few weeks with the classic masters, the whole Negro race was
applauded for the advent of one among us, and sufficiently black to
claim our identity, that was destined to move the world to tears. Year
after year our subject has won new conquests, and now she is termed
the "Black Patti." Is this an instance of acquired greatness, thrust
greatness, or inborn greatness? We are loath to say inborn or thrust.
For every achievement made by our race that seems to attract the
attention of the world we are caused to feel grateful to God. When
Negroes are smart, as a rule, a characteristic spirit seems to
predominate in them when very small. Her career, while brief, is
nevertheless full of bright successes. (Dr. M. A. Majors.)
Mme. Sissiretta Jones sang at the residence of Judge Andrews, on Fifth
Avenue, New York, before a party of thirty ladies, among whom were
Mrs. Lord, Mrs. Fields, Mrs. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Stephens, and Mrs.
Astor. The Chief Justice of India, who was present, presented the
singer with a valentine, which, when opened, contained a check for one
thousand dollars. She also received a solid silver basket filled with
choice flowers.
MISS HALLIE Q. BROWN.
BY F. S. DELANY.
Hallie Quinn Brown is a native of Pittsburg, Pa. When quite small her
parents moved to a farm near Chatham, West Ontario, Canada. At an
early age, in the year 1868, she was sent to Wilberforce College,
Ohio, to obtain an education the country schools of Canada could not
give, and where her parents subsequently moved, and now reside at
Homewood Cottage. She completed the classical scientific course in
1873, with the degree of B.S. in a class of six. One of her classmates
is the wife of Rev. B. F. Lee, D.D., ex-President of Wilberforce.
Realizing that a great field of labor lay in the South, Miss Brown,
with true missionary spirit, left her pleasant home and friends to
devote herself to the noble work she had chosen.
Her first school was on a plantation in South Carolina, where she
endured the rough life as best she could, and taught a large number of
children from neighboring plantations. She also taught a class of aged
people, and by this means gave to many the blessed privilege of
reading the Bible. She next took charge of a school on Sonora
Plantation, in Mississippi, where she found the effort to elevate the
minds of the people much hindered by the use of tobacco and
whisky--twin vices.
But as she is an indefatigable worker she accomplished much, and at
this place, as at all others where she is known, her influence for the
better is felt. Her plantation school had no windows, but it was well
ventilated; too much so, in fact, for daylight could be seen from all
sides, with no particular regularity, and the rain beat in fiercely.
Not being successful in getting the authorities to fix the
building--shed, we should have said--she secured the willing service
of two of her larger boys. She mounted one mule and the two boys
another, and thus they rode to the ginhouse. They got cotton seed,
returned, mixed it with earth, which formed a plastic mortar, and with
her own hands she pasted up the chinks, and ever after smiled at the
unavailing attacks of wind and weather.
[Illustration: MISS HALLIE Q. BROWN, WILBERFORCE, OHIO.]
Her fame as instructor spread, and her services were secured as
teacher at Yazoo City. On account of the unsettled state of affairs in
1874-75, she was compelled to return North. Thus the South lost one of
its most valuable missionaries. Miss Brown then taught in Dayton, O.,
for four years. Owing to ill health she gave up teaching. She was
persuaded to travel for her alma mater, Wilberforce, and started on a
lecturing tour, concluding at Hampton School, Virginia, where she was
received with a great welcome. After taking a course in elocution at
this place, she traveled again, having much greater success, and
received favorable criticism from the press.
For several years she has traveled with the Wilberforce Grand Concert
Company, an organization for the benefit of Wilberforce College. She
has read before hundreds of audiences and tens of thousands of people,
and has received nothing but the highest of praise from all. She
possesses a voice of wonderful magnetism and great compass, and seems
to have perfect control of the muscles of the throat, and can vary her
voice as successfully as a mocking bird. As a public reader, Miss
Brown delights and enthuses her audiences. In her humorous selections
she often causes "wave after wave" of laughter. In her pathetic pieces
she often moves her audience to tears. The following are a few of
thousands of compliments paid to her by the public press:
Miss Brown, the elocutionist, ranks as one of the finest in
the country. (Daily News, Urbana, O.)
Her style is pure and correct; her selections excellent.
(News, Long Branch, N. J.)
Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the elocutionist with the company, was
loudly applauded. Many credit Miss Brown with being one of
the best elocutionists before the public. (Indianapolis
Times.)
Miss Brown, the elocutionist, is a phenomenon, and deserves
the highest praise. She is a talented lady and deserves all
the encomiums that she receives. (Daily Sun, Vincennes,
Ind.)
The select reading of Miss Hallie Q. Brown was very fine.
From grave to gay, from tragic to comic, with a great
variation of themes and humors, she seemed to succeed in
all, and her renderings were the spice of the night's
performance. (Monitor, Marion, Ill.)
"The select readings of Miss Brown are done to perfection.
She has an excellent voice and good control of it. She makes
every piece sound as if it were the author speaking, and in
many of them doubtless she excels the one she imitates."
MISS HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS.
The Famous Elocutionist.
Miss Davis is native of Maryland, the state that has produced more
noted colored people than all the other states combined. Her
reputation is world-wide, and she stands to-day without a peer among
her people as an elocutionist. Her charming manner and modest demeanor
have endeared her to the hearts of thousands. She is not only
interested in the artistic development of her race, but in their
industrial advancement as well, and since her debut she has inspired
many of the young people to make something of their lives that shall
redound to the benefit of humanity.
INDORSEMENT.
I have many times been called upon to bear testimony to the
remarkable talents of Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis, and I
always do so with pleasure. In my judgment she is one of the
best dramatic readers in the country, and the best colored
reader that ever came before the American people. Her
personal appearance is strongly in her favor. She instantly
commands attention and sympathy, and when her deep, fine
voice is heard, her audience at once give themselves up to
the pleasure of hearing her. I am quite sure you will make
no mistake in having her read for you. (Frederick Douglass.)
This is to certify that Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis has been
known to me since childhood. She is in all respects a lady
of the first grade, spotless in character, polished in
manners, educated and finished in her profession. As a
dramatic reader she has no superiors, and should be
encouraged by all who favor the elevation of our race. I
commend her services to all ministers of the gospel, and to
the public in general. (Bishop H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.)
[Illustration: MISS HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS, WASHINGTON, D. C.]
Miss Davis is by far the most cultured and finished
elocutionist of the race. Her combination of catchy
recitations, replete with humor of an excellent quality,
continues from beginning to end to bring forth shouts of
laughter and rounds of applause. Her character-acting stamps
her at once as an artist. She is pretty, unassuming, and
full of common sense. (Star of Zion, Salisbury, N. C.)
I have heard Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis perform on various
occasions, and it is my candid judgment, reached after
mature deliberation, and a fair knowledge of the merits of
nearly all her set who essay to excel in the histrionic art,
that she has no superior in the race as a master of the
profession of her choice. (John C. Dancy, Wilmington, N. C.)