to-day 2,912,912 Negro children of school age in the United States. Of
these 1,511,618 are enrolled in the public schools and the average
attendance is sixty-seven per cent of the enrollment. In addition to
the 1,511,618 who are enrolled in the public schools 50,000 more are
attending schools under the care and maintenance of the church. In
this work all the leading denominations of the country are
represented. The Freedmen's Aid and Southern Educational Society of
the Methodist Episcopal Church among the first, if not the very first
to engage in this work, has under its care forty-seven institutions of
Christian learning, twenty of which are mainly for the education of
the colored people. These institutions are scattered all over the
sixteen former slave states and have possibly sent out more graduates
as teachers, preachers, physicians, dentists, pharmacists and
industrial workers than any other institution or set of institutions
doing work in the South. In addition to the work of the Freedmen's Aid
and Southern Educational Society there are the American Missionary
Association, under Congregational auspices, the Baptist Home
Missionary Society, the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society, the
Lutheran Evangelical Society--all of which support institutions for
Christian learning for the education of the colored people throughout
the South. These schools are mainly for the higher and secondary
education of the Negro and have accomplished untold good. There are
to-day nearly 30,000 Negro teachers in the United States and a careful
estimate will show that these church schools have sent out over
20,000 of them. And these teachers, prepared by these church schools,
commonly so called, were the first to take their places in the public
schools as rapidly as they were opened and these, in the very nature
of the case, represent a very large per cent of the teaching force
even at the present time.
Again distinctively Negro bodies of churchmen, especially Baptists and
Methodists, are also carrying forward a commendable work of Christian
education among their own people. Some schools of excellent standing
in the African Methodist Episcopal, the African Methodist Episcopal
Zion and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Churches are doing most
effective work and the results are being felt in all directions.
The work of industrial education is steadily growing in all sections
of the South, and is destined more and more to occupy a prominent
place in the education of our people. The emphasis placed upon this
line of education at Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va., Claflin
University at Orangeburg, S. C., and Tuskegee Institute at Tuskegee,
Ala., is having its effect in many other places. New Orleans,
Louisiana, Wilmington, Delaware, Nashville, Tennessee, and several
other cities have adopted some lines of industrial education in their
public schools, and in some places it is compulsory. Consequently,
industrial education, which, a few years ago, was mainly confined to a
few institutions, has been, in some form or other, adopted in a large
number of cities both in the North and in the South. The results of
this line of work are already seen. Hundreds of industrial artisans
and trained mechanics are scattered here and there all over the South,
and are practically and effectively solving the problem.
In addition to the work of general education, Negroes have entered all
the learned professions, and are succeeding beyond the most sanguine
expectations of their friends. This is especially true in medicine,
pharmacy and dentistry. The Negro lawyer has done well. He has had a
difficult field, and the fact that some have acquired sufficient
ability and influence to practice before the Supreme Court of the
United States, speaks well for the race in this difficult field. But,
the success of the Negro physician is perhaps the most remarkable in
any line of professional work to which he has aspired. From the
results of careful study made by an eminent statistician, it was found
that the average salary of white physicians in the United States is
about $700, and the average salary of Negro physicians is $1,444 per
annum. The encouraging feature about this whole matter is that as
physicians among us increase, the greater is the increase in the
average salary. While dentists and pharmacists have not succeeded
quite so well, yet the success of the physician has directly opened an
avenue for the pharmacists, and has indirectly helped the dentist.
Consequently, in nearly every town of any considerable size in the
South to-day, there are four or five prosperous Negro physicians, with
two or three drug stores, where Negro pharmacists carefully compound
their prescriptions, and have the confidence and respect of the entire
community.
The Negro is progressing morally. From whatever standpoint you view
him he is getting away from the past and wiping the reproach of Egypt
from him. Any careful observer will see at once that in the field of
ethics and morals a veritable revolution has taken place among the
Negroes during the present generation. There is still, however, much
room for improvement, and to this perhaps, more than to any one thing,
the race must now turn its attention. Some questions regarding his
inability to learn have all been settled by the remarkable
achievements which he has made in all lines of intellectual endeavor,
but it must still be confessed that in the field of morals and
manners, the charge is still made, and that not without some semblance
of truth, that evidences of the essential qualities of sturdy and
manly character are not as clearly manifest among us as they should
be.
Here the problem comes home and the Negro, as ever, is the most
important factor. The pertinent question is not what shall be done
with the Negro, but rather what will the Negro do with himself. This
is the question, and the answer he gives to it will largely depend, in
no small degree, whether he shall continue to be an insignificant
element in this Nation or become more a living factor in its growth
and development. Here I repeat it, is the question and this is the
problem. Intellectual ability is good, but individual purity is
better. Rights and privileges are in themselves good, but to make
ourselves worthy of them is infinitely better. It is encouraging and
gratifying to know that so many are getting a correct interpretation
of life's deeper meanings and are daily coming into possession of
higher and purer ideals. Who can say that the Negro has not made
progress commensurate with his opportunities?
FIFTH PAPER.
DID THE AMERICAN NEGRO MAKE, IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, ACHIEVEMENTS
ALONG THE LINES OF WEALTH, MORALITY, EDUCATION, ETC., COMMENSURATE
WITH HIS OPPORTUNITIES? IF SO, WHAT ACHIEVEMENTS DID HE MAKE?
BY REV. D. WEBSTER DAVIS.
[Illustration: Rev. D. Webster Davis]
REV. DANIEL WEBSTER DAVIS.
Randall and Charlotte Davis, who were valued servants on a
Caroline County farm, found themselves, March 25, 1862, the
parents of a little black boy, who brought gladness and
sorrow to their hearts. Gladness, because the Lord had sent
them a boy, and he was their boy, bone of their bone, flesh
of their flesh, blood of their blood. Sorrow, because, while
he was their child, he was "_Marster's_" child too; he
belonged to "_Marster_" more than he did to them.
War was raging. The Negro cabins knew little else but
muffled prayers, stifled songs, unuttered sermons--all for
deliverance. From the cabin to the broad fields of tobacco
these emotions and utterances were carried daily. Father
preached, mother prayed. Singing was but the opening of the
oppressed heart. Those were troublous years, heart-aching
years. Years of consecration, fixed and unceasing, to the
God of Freedom. In such an atmosphere the boy was nurtured
and reared.
The war was over. The boy over whom mother and father had
prayed had changed from a chattel, a thing of barter, to a
free child, belonging only to mother and father. What a
change!
Entering the public schools of Richmond, step by step, grade
by grade was passed with honor and public commendation,
until June, 1878, when D. Webster Davis graduated from the
Richmond High and Normal School, receiving at the same time
the Essayist Medal.
In 1880 the subject of our sketch commenced to teach in the
public schools of Richmond and has taught therein
continuously ever since, and is to-day rated as one of the
best and most progressive in the system.
September 8, 1893, Mr. Davis married Miss Lizzie Smith, a
teacher in the Richmond public schools. From this happy
union three children have been born.
In October, 1895, feeling that the time had come for him to
be about his Father's business he was ordained to the
ministry.
From a child he babbled in verse, and the poetic muse
brought in 1896, "Idle Moments" and in 1898, "Weh Down
Souf." These two books established the name of Rev. Mr.
Davis as a poet and have given him front rank with his
contemporaries in verse-making.
Guadaloupe College, Seguin, Texas, recognizing the
meritorious work of Rev. Davis bestowed upon him the degree
of A. M. in 1898.
Rev. Mr. Davis is at present pastor of the Second Baptist
Church of Manchester, where he has an ideal growing church
of young folks, which work he began in 1895.
In the winter of 1900, the Central Lyceum Bureau of
Rochester, N. Y., engaged the services of Rev. Davis for a
four-weeks' reading tour, reading selections from his own
works. The whole tour was an ovation, showing that texture
of hair and color of skin cannot destroy that aristocracy of
intellect, that charmed inner circle wherein "a man is a man
for a' that."
The Lord has been good to Rev. Daniel Webster Davis,
blessing him with intellectual force, blessing him with
poetic utterance, blessing him with oratorical ability,
blessing him in domestic felicity. Not yet in his prime, yet
so richly endowed in the gifts which make men strong and
powerful, it is hoped that he may be spared many years to
work in the Master's vineyard, and many years to labor for
the uplift of his race, oppressed and downtrodden.
May he expand and grow greater, remembering that he is God's
servant, endowed for the benefit of his race, blessed, so
that he may bless his people made strong, so that he may
reach down and lift his people up, growing brighter and
better unto the present day.
To the superficial observer, it would sometimes appear that the
American Negro did not make achievements commensurate with his
opportunities, during the nineteenth century. Yet, on taking a more
comprehensive view, the student of history and sociology must decide
in the affirmative.
In deciding upon the comparative progress of a race, along the lines
of a higher civilization, care must be taken as to the standard by
which he is to be measured, and what has been his real opportunities.
Civilization is a plant of slow growth, as evidenced by the history of
all Nations that have accomplished great things in the past. There is
a difference, as wide as the heavens, between the refined and cultured
Englishman of to-day, and the rough, uncouth Norseman of the ninth
century; but more than a thousand years were required to bring about
that transformation. A difference, as wide as the poles, exists
between the ancient Gauls, who were conquered by the Franks in the
tenth century, and the Chesterfieldian Frenchman of to-day; yet the
same time elapsed between these two periods. There is just as marked a
difference, in many respects, between those twenty uncouth savages,
brought to the shores of Virginia in 1620, and the best specimens of
the American Negro of to-day, and yet only 287 years lie between the
former and the latter.
The next question that naturally rises is, "What have been the real
opportunities of the American Negro?" Brought here a savage from his
native wilds, and thrown into abject, and, in many cases, cruel
slavery, he yet received from this iniquitous institution something of
God. As Dr. Booker T. Washington so well says: "He went into slavery,
practically, without a language, and came out speaking the beautiful
English, the finest language to convey thought, ever devised by the
mind of man. He went in without a God, and came out with the Christian
religion." These are powerful agencies for civilization, and yet, the
debasing influence of slavery has done much to hinder, while it has
done something to help him. Only a comparatively few Negroes came into
direct contact with the best side of American civilization, during
slavery. The housemaids, coachmen, body-servants and, in many cases,
the cooks came in direct contact with the civilization of the "Great
House," and their superiority, and, in many cases, that of their
ancestry, is still apparent. The "corn field Negro" (and they
outnumbered the others 200 to 1) received none of the influences of
this civilization, and none of the opportunities accorded the more
favored servants around the "Great House."
When we take into consideration all of these circumstances, coupled
with the fact that when "cut loose" from slavery in 1865, it was a
matter of "root hog or die" with him for many years; and that only
thirty-six years have passed away since this happy event, his
achievements have been marvelous.
Optimist, as I try to be, I am not one of those who believe that the
Negro has reached the delectable mountain, and that he is as good as
anybody else. He is far from perfection, far from comparison with the
more favored Anglo-Saxon, in wealth and culture, yet he has made
progress commensurate with his opportunities.
It is a well-known philosophical axiom, that "action is equal to
reaction, and in a contrary direction." The American Negro is now
meeting the reaction consequent upon his violent action in the
direction of civilization and culture; but, this reaction is only
temporary, and, even the realization of his condition by the leading
thinkers of his race, is a sign of hope, and an evidence of
substantial progress that must tell for good.
Now, what achievements did he make? First, as to wealth: According to
the census of 1900 he has forty million dollars in church property,
and twelve millions in school property. He has 140,000 farms, worth
$750,000,000, and 170 million dollars in personal property. This is
the result of thirty-six years of freedom. One noticeable feature is
that the great bulk of his wealth has been accumulated in the South,
where the large majority of the American Negroes live. No one fact is
more startling in history, than that a people, once held as slaves,
have been able to live and thrive among the very people by whom they
were held. This accentuates the fact that, after all, nowhere has the
Negro better friends than can be found among the white people of the
Southland. His property aggregates $75 per capita for every man, woman
and child in this country, which is certainly no mean showing for
thirty-six years of freedom.
As to education, he has reduced his illiteracy forty-five per cent,
he has written more than 500 books, publishes 300 newspapers, three
of them dailies; he has produced 2,000 lawyers, a still larger number
of doctors and 32,000 teachers. He supports several colleges,
seventeen academies, fifty high schools, five law schools, five
medical schools and twenty-five theological seminaries. It is true
that all of the education he is obtaining is not practical; and also
true that many so-called educated ones are shiftless and trifling; but
this is no more than was to be expected under the circumstances.
He has built 29,000 churches, and this must mean something. It is true
that in the past, his ministers have in many cases appealed to the
passions, rather than to the intellect; and yet, under these old
preachers, many of them honest, earnest and Godly men, the Negro has
made gigantic strides in morality. He is yet far, very far below what
we would like to see him, but he is coming. The new gospel of work is
striking a responsive chord in the American Negro's heart, and he is
beginning to see that he must be able to _do_ something if he would
_be_ something.
Happily for him he learned to work, during the dark days of the past,
it only remained for him to learn to put brains in his work. This he
is fast learning under the apostles of industrial training. Since the
fiat went forth, amid the groves of Eden, when man lost his first
estate, "by the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," God has never
reversed his edict. Work must be his salvation, as it has been the
salvation of all other races. To put into poetry the words of an old
friend:
I ain't got no edikashun,
But dis, kno', is true:
Dat raisin' gals too good to wuch
Ain't nebber gwine to do;
Dese boys, dat look good nuf to eat,
But too good to saw de logs,
Am cay'in us, ez, fas' ez smok'
To lan' us at de dogs.
These great achievements have not been accomplished alone. The great
American Home Mission Society, the American Missionary Association the
Freedmen's Bureau, and the various churches and societies of the North
and South have contributed liberally of their time and means to aid us
in an upward struggle. The South itself has contributed its millions
to the aid of their former slaves; they have given for his schools,
they have aided him in building his churches, and there is scarcely a
single home among us, humble or palatial, that has not been erected
largely by the aid of Southern capital. But for the friendly aid of
these people among whom the great bulk of the American Negroes live,
we could never have climbed as far as we have on the ladder of
progress. The Negro is fast learning that, if he would be free he,
himself, must strike the blow, and he is teaching his children the
gospel of self-help.
The heights are still beyond, but he is slowly rising, and day by day
hope grows brighter. May God continue this progress until he shall
stand shoulder to shoulder with the highest civilization and culture
of the world.
TOPIC II.
WILL IT BE POSSIBLE FOR THE NEGRO TO ATTAIN, IN THIS COUNTRY, UNTO THE
AMERICAN TYPE OF CIVILIZATION?
BY BISHOP H. M. TURNER, D. D., LL. D., D. C. L.
[Illustration: Bishop H. M. Turner.]
BISHOP H. M. TURNER, D. D., LL. D.
Bishop H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., D. C. L., was born near
Newbury Court House, South Carolina, February 1, 1833 or
1834. His mother's maiden name was Sarah Greer, the youngest
daughter of David Greer, who was brought to this country
when a boy and sold in Charleston, S. C. Greer was the son
of an African king. His father, the African king, sent seven
African slaves for the return of his son, but the captain of
the slave ship dying before he returned, the son received
his freedom when South Carolina was still under British
rule, upon the ground that Royal blood could not be
enslaved. Henry McNeal Turner was the oldest son of Hardy
Turner and Sarah Greer Turner. Henry grew up on the cotton
fields of South Carolina, and when eight or nine years old
he dreamed he was on a high mountain and millions of people
were looking up at him for instruction, white and colored.
He then procured a spelling book and commenced to learn to
read and write, to prepare to give that vast multitude
instruction. He got a white boy to teach him his alphabet
and how to spell to three syllables. By this time he was
large enough to wait in a law office at Abbeville Court
House, S. C. The young lawyers took great pleasure in giving
him instruction in their leisure moments for pastime. He
gained a respectable knowledge of history, arithmetic,
geography, astronomy and some other branches, but would not
study grammar, as he thought he could talk well enough
without a knowledge of grammar.
He made such remarkably rapid progress that by the time he
was fifteen years old he had read the Bible through five
times, and by the aid of Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary and
the young white lawyers he became a good reader, and read
Watson's Apology for the Bible, Buck's Theological
Dictionary and very largely in Dr. Adam Clark's Commentary
and other books. He became acquainted with the African M. E.
Church, joined the same, leaving the M. E. Church South, met
the Conference in St. Louis, Mo., and was admitted after an
examination. Bishop D. A. Payne, D. D., LL. D., appointed
him to a mission in Baltimore city. While he served his
appointment he studied English Grammar, Latin, Greek, German
and the Hebrew languages, and became what was regarded as an
excellent scholar. He studied the rules of elocution under
Dr. Cummings of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and was
regarded as quite an orator. He was appointed in charge of
Israel Church, Washington, D. C., and his fame became so
notable that President Lincoln appointed him Chaplain, the
first colored man that was ever made a commissioned officer
in the United States Army. He served his regiment so
faithfully and gained such a reputation that President
Johnson commissioned him a Chaplain in the regular service
of the United States Army. He resigned in a short time and
commenced the organization of the A. M. E. Church in
Georgia, and was so abundantly successful that the General
Conference elected him manager of the Publication Department
in 1876. He served there four years with headquarters in
Philadelphia, and in 1880 the General Conference sitting in
St. Louis, Mo., elected him Bishop, and on the 20th of May
he was consecrated to that holy office. Bishop Turner has
worked up territory enough as an organiser of the A. M. E.
Church to demand five conferences. He has organized four
conferences in Africa, making eleven conferences that he is
the founder of.
Dr. Turner was for many years superintendent in the church
for the whole State of Georgia and was the first Bishop of
Africa, which position he held for eight years, while having
his regular conferences in the United States. He says he has
received over forty-three thousand on probation in the
African M. E. Church. He has been a member of the Georgia
Legislature twice, a member of the Constitutional
Convention, Postmaster, Inspector of Customs and held other
minor positions, and was at one time regarded one of the
greatest orators of his race in the United States.
This interrogatory appears to presuppose that the seventeen or more
millions of colored people in North and South America are not a part
of the American population, and do not constitute a part of its
civilization. But the term "this country" evidently refers to the
United States of America, for this being the largest and the most
powerful government on the American continent, not unfrequently, is
made to represent the entire continent. So the Negro is regarded as a
foreign and segregated race. The American people, therefore, who grade
the type of American civilization are made up of white people, for the
Indian, Chinamen, and the few Mexicans are not taken in account any
more than the Negro is, by reason of the live numbers, and not because
they are regarded wanting in intellectual capacity, as the Negro is.
The above is an interrogatory that can be easily answered if the term
"American" is to include the United States and the powers that enact
its laws and proclaim its judicial decisions, as we have no
civilization in the aggregate. Civilization contemplates that
fraternity, civil and political equality between man and man, that
makes his rights, privileges and immunities inviolable and sacred in
the eyes and hearts of his fellows, whatever may be his nationality,
language, color, hair texture, or anything else that may make an
external variation.