"Social equality" is a political scare crow, as there is no such thing,
in _fact_. It is to the illiterate class of whites what _putting
the Negroes back into slavery_ was to the ignorant class of colored
people. Those who talk most about it know the least about it. The
cultivated southerner is not disturbed about social equality. There has
never been, and there will never be, among the same race, nor between
different races, any such thing as social equality. Freedom does not
mean "social equality" nor manhood. It means only the opportunity to
be a man. Freedom _per se_ brings nothing but abstract principles, but
it opens the avenue for all that is grand and noble in this life and
in the great hereafter. Freedom, legislative enactments and judicial
adjudications cannot make men socially equal. The merit must be in
the individual himself, and find a corresponding merit in some other
individual. But I shall not attempt to follow out this line of thought
here. I shall speak upon social contact or mixture (if I am allowed
to use the word) of the races, improperly called "social equality" by
some. They mean combination of races, I suppose, if they mean anything.
I use mixture and combination in their broadest sense, preferring the
chemical definitions. I am opposed to combination of the races in the
least degree, and I see no necessity for mixture outside of business
relations. I oppose it for more than one reason, which I cannot discuss
here. Keep the Negro race separate and distinct, if it is desired to
perpetuate its identity. The lines can not be too tightly drawn, for
such lines guarantee the protection of the virtue of the colored girls
of the South. The desire to mix with the whites--to marry and associate
with that race--is a concession, on the part of those who have that
desire, which is cringing and craven, and puts a libel upon the boast
that the "Negro blood is equal to any other race". If it is so grand
and noble a race, why seek combination and mixture with any other race?
But I do not put this question to you. It must be answered by those who
advocate such nonsensical doctrine. We can find in our own race ample
scope for the exercise of our social ambition. However, I am willing
to make the following contract with the white race of the South: "We,
the Negroes, agree on our part, to hang by the neck until dead, every
colored man who violates the seventh commandment with a white woman, if
you, the white people, will agree to punish _according to law_ every
white man who violates the seventh commandment with a colored woman. So
help us God." There is not a sensible colored man in the whole South
who will not sign the contract, and I know the better class of whites,
those who say least of "social equality," will sign it for their race.
Separation of the races does not mean depreciation of the merits or
talents of either of them, any more than the division of States by
geographical lines, or the continents, teeming in varied natural
wealth, divided by the great oceans, signify the underestimation of the
worth of one or the other. In his famous speech upon Mars Hill, St.
Paul beautifully and eloquently said: "God * * * giveth to all life,
and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of
men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the
times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." Whether
these bounds appointed by God be physical distinctions in the races, or
whether they consist of deep oceans or towering, craggy mountains, they
must be observed.
There will never be even a mixture of the races, to say nothing of
combination, in this country, to any appreciable degree, even if there
were an inclination on the part of both in that direction, until the
condition of the Negro is changed, and I claim, paradoxical as it may
appear, that when the Negro's condition is changed by the cultivation
of virtue, there will be even a less desire than now to mix and combine
with the white race. In nine cases out of every ten the mixing and
combining is the substratum of both races. I can not pursue this
subject further at this time.