press has been filled with arguments pro and con as to the necessity
for eliminating the Negro from politics or abridging his right to
vote. There has been going on for years a seething cauldron, with the
Negro as the burning impulse; but evidence is gradually accumulating
to warrant the belief that a healthier atmosphere is coming out of the
storm. Passions cool after full vent is given, and the sober second
thought of races and nations invariably makes for peace, for law and
for justice. Upon this established principle of metaphysics the Negro
must base his hope for happier results in the near future. The South
has awakened to its vast opportunities, and there seems to be a
well-defined and determined effort on the part of the intelligence,
the culture, and the wealth of that section to make the most of its
bountiful resources. The commercial era opening in the South,
gradually bringing into control the conservers of Christianity, of
peace and of civil equity, will develop better conditions for the
Negro; for among the aristocracy--among the landowners and moneyed
classes--the black man has always found his best friends and most
ardent sympathizers. They understand the Negro more thoroughly than
many Negroes understand themselves, and the facts will bear me out in
saying that when our people have needed advice, or have appealed for
aid for churches, schools and for industrial opportunities, the
high-grade white classes of the South have never turned a deaf ear.
They have never been wanting in their approval of the self-respecting,
thrifty and law-abiding Negro, and have always been ready to
encourage him in the acquirement of a home, a farm or other real
property--frequently lending the money for the first large payment.
Many times they have exerted their influence to guarantee fair play
for such Negroes in the courts--even when their causes were laid
against a white man, or where white men had accused them of crime. It
cannot be denied that injustice has been practiced against us in all
sections of the South, and it is also true that the Negro's ignorance
and credulity have made him an easy prey to the unscrupulous; but
ignorant whites have suffered likewise, for he that knoweth little, no
matter what his race, is the natural victim of the sharper. With the
keenest of sleuths in our detective departments of the North, and with
courts and juries of unimpeachable integrity, crime stalks boldly in
its greatest cities, and arrogant corruption goes unwhipt of justice.
So, in the Southland, there are crimes and criminals and the law will
be powerless to bring them to book until a nobler sentiment is created
by the supremacy of the better classes, and the relegation of the
riotous element, through the vigorous and constant efforts of the
rightful rulers of the South--the educated and peace-loving citizenry.
In no case has any outrage against Negroes been given the approval of
any responsible officer of the law. Violations of the letter and
spirit of the statutes are committed over the protest of the
authorities, and those who desire the aggressive execution of all the
laws in the future must exercise more care in the selection of men
intrusted with the power of administration. More attention must be
paid to the character and personal fitness of candidates standing for
office. The Negro can and will help to do this. The regeneration of
existing conditions among the whites must come from an enlightened
public spirit and a broader culture, such as are being bred through
the public schools and through the introduction of improved methods in
business and social life. First-class white men must take hold of the
reins of government throughout the Southland. The Negro is an
imitative creature, and he takes on the color of his environment. If
it be charged that he is frequently immoral, dishonest and shiftless,
the dissolute whites with whom he has been closely identified have
furnished a model that he has copied only too faithfully. Let the
Christian element become a more prominent factor in state affairs, and
the Negro will at once grow in character and address by virtue of the
inspiring example thus set for him.
This phase of the "Negro problem" carried to its logical conclusion
becomes the "white man's problem." Will the Southern American rise in
his majesty, dismiss his prejudice and prove equal to the lofty duty
allotted to him? Will he give the Negro a man's chance in the battle
of life, and depend upon his own natural gifts of mind and heart for
his supremacy?
The political phase of the race problem I shall touch but briefly.
There is no call for the Negro "to get _out of politics_;" as the term
is popularly used. The fact is the Negro should begin "to _get into
politics_" in the truest sense of the word--that is, to begin at the a
b c of political power and come up by the usual processes of
individual development. The suffrage is a privilege conferred by the
state. States make certain restrictions for their own protection as
sovereign commonwealths. Although it is unfortunately a fact that the
restrictions are enforced more rigidly against black illiterates and
black non-property-holders than against the whites, of similar
deficiencies, the conditions are there and can only be fought down by
intelligently meeting the requirements, whatever they may be. No
educated Negro is refused the right of suffrage by any constitutional
enactment. No property-owner is made to feel himself outlawed by
virtue of suffrage restrictions.
The moral is plain. Get education. Be thrifty and economical. Get
lands and money. Get character and personal culture. These qualities,
united, pass as good coin in any state North or South. They go far to
minimize the disadvantages of color everywhere. Without them no race
is strong anywhere. They are potent in allaying the race feeling
aggravated by too many of us, through voting under the leadership of
scheming politicians who are opposed to the best interests of the
masters of the Southern soil, and who have no use for black men except
on election day. In the matter of suffrage, I would suggest that the
black voter place himself in touch with his white neighbors. The
interests of each are identical. It is of far greater importance to
the Negro to have the friendship, respect and confidence of his
next-door neighbor than who shall be President of the United States.
It is of more moment to him who shall be sheriff or member of the
state legislature and city council than who shall go to Congress. This
suggests that the Negro use clear judgment in casting his ballot, and
that he use that instrument to identify himself with the law-abiding
and progressive forces about him. The Negro's natural home will ever
be in the South. The careful exercise of suffrage in promoting the
interests of that section, eliminating partisan bitterness and
vengeful spirit, will be one of the most powerful agencies in
maintaining and strengthening friendly relations between the races
there.
Further, let the Negro make for himself a place in the business world.
Let him develop hotels, groceries, stores and shops of all kinds, thus
affording employment to our competent young men and women. Let him
perfect himself in the useful arts; till the soil, and become an
indispensable factor in the uplift of the community which he calls
home. The farmer, the artisan, and industrious wage-earner form the
backbone of racial progress, for they support the church, are patrons
of the schools, and are steady conservers of public morals. From this
firm center, a lever is furnished which holds up the house of the
minister, the editor, the teacher, physician, the artist, the lawyer,
and all of the so-called "polite" professions. Let the Negro build up
his own social circle, and strive to perfect it through an exemplary
home life. While a part of the general social system the Negro people
can be to the Whites, as Booker T. Washington so well puts it,
"separate as the fingers" in social contact, but "one as the hand" in
all that tends to sustain and improve the State and Nation.
In short, let the white man be just, if he cannot be generous. Let him
give the Negro what is due him. Weigh him honestly as to character and
manly worth. Let the Negro be patient, persevering, philosophical,
thrifty, self-respecting and far-seeing. Brains and energy will
eventually win their legitimate place in the equation of civic virtue,
and the forces of right will gravitate, the one towards the other,
just as the flowering plant turns to the sunlight. In peaceful
conditions, nurtured by mutual sympathy, mutual suffering and mutual
triumphs, will be forged a bond that shall in due season draw the best
in each of the great races of the South in closer and more friendly
communion. Our beloved America shall throw off the shameful shackles
of racial prejudice. Progress towards a sweeter civilization will be
the watchword for all. Then, there shall be, indeed and in truth, for
every class, color, condition and section in this land, "One God, one
country, and one flag." There is hope ahead.
SECOND PAPER.
HOW CAN THE FRIENDLY RELATIONS NOW EXISTING BETWEEN THE TWO RACES IN
THE SOUTH BE STRENGTHENED AND MAINTAINED?
BY REV. W. D. CHAPPELLE, D. D.
[Illustration: W. D. Chappelle, D. D.]
WILLIAM D. CHAPPELLE.
Rev. William D. Chappelle was born in Fairfield County,
South Carolina, November 16, 1857. At twelve years of age,
he was sent to the common schools of Winnsboro, S. C., to
Northern teachers. So eager was he to learn that he cut
light wood up at night and carried it to town on his head,
using the money thus obtained to buy his first book. After
finishing the common schools, he entered Fairfield Normal
Institute, and there prepared himself for a teacher, which
vocation he pursued for several years. After his conversion
he felt called to the ministry. Accordingly, he joined the
Columbia Annual Conference in 1881, and feeling his
inability to effectually preach the Gospel of Christ, he
entered Allen University, there taking a collegiate course,
at the same time serving missions near Columbia.
With a wife and one child, he found that the mission work
was inadequate for his support, having very often to cease
his studies in school and go out and teach for two or three
months to relieve the wants of his family. This was very
discouraging to him, but he courageously worked on until
Bishop Dickerson relieved him of some of his
responsibilities by giving him a room in his back yard. This
he gladly accepted that he might earn some money with which
to buy books and thus sustain himself in his struggle for an
education.
I know of my own personal knowledge that he had very often
to walk sixteen miles on Sundays and preach twice, getting
back home at 11 or 12 o'clock at night to be enabled to make
recitations on Monday. Nevertheless, he struggled on and
graduated at the head of his class in 1887.
He was ordained deacon in Bethel A. M. E. Church, Columbia,
S. C., March, 1883, by Bishop Dickerson, and ordained elder
by Bishop James A. Shorter at Greenville, S. C., in 1885. He
graduated from Allen University in 1887, in a class with six
other young men--four preachers and two lawyers. In 1887 he
was elected a delegate to the General Conference which met
in Indianapolis, Ind., and he has been elected to each
successive General Conference ever since. He served eight
years as a pastor, holding three appointments, and ten years
as a presiding elder. He was appointed to the Manning
District in 1889, and after serving there four years he was
appointed, by Bishop Salter, to the Orangeburg District, the
largest district in the State, and served there five years.
Bishop A. Grant appointed him to the Sumter District in
1898, which district he served until the General Conference
met in Columbus, Ohio, 1900, where he was elected
Corresponding Secretary and Editor of the Sunday School
periodicals of the A. M. E. Church.
Dr. Chappelle also served two years as President of Allen
University, his alma mater, being elected just ten years
after his graduation from that institution.
He has had a successful career as teacher, as preacher and,
now, as business manager and editor. He ranks, also, as one
of the leaders of his race, as a scholar and writer of no
mean ability. He is an able debater, having few superiors as
an extemporaneous speaker. Acute in thought and incisive in
speech, he is a fluent talker.
Unlike most men of a literary turn of mind, he combines fine
business acumen with his intellectual ability, and has
accumulated property, real and personal, to the amount of
ten thousand dollars, situated in Columbia, S. C., and
Nashville, Tenn.
The subject above assigned me is a momentous one and involves an issue
which is not settled, nor will it be settled until the relation which
now exists between the two races is based upon that moral "ought"
growing out of the ethical rule given by God for the government of
man. For it must be conceded that all friendly relations are based
upon ethical treatment. A relation upon any other basis is forced,
and, therefore, not genuine. The so-called Negro problem which is
being agitated by the public press is forced upon us by fictitious
sentiment, conceived in prejudice, and watered by opportunity, and a
disregard for law, and truthfulness of statements made concerning the
Negro as a citizen.
When a relation is fixed by such undue advantages, that relation is
NOT, for it is ex-parte, and the party having the public ear creates
the sentiment, and thus forces the party which is _not_ heard to
terms, whether those terms be satisfactory or not. Then, it can be
plainly seen that such relations are not real, for they are not based
upon that law under which all men are created and governed.
Now, I lay down the following as a general proposition which I think
will stand the test of critics, whether they be of the North or South.
It is the rule of international law to have a friendly relation
between nations, states and individuals, and that relation is made by
representatives of all the parties concerned. The agreement must be
mutual and that mutuality must be based upon righteousness--that
righteousness which makes sacred the rights of all the contending
parties.
If the friendly relationship existing between the two races in the
South is mutual, then the development of the Negro will fasten and
rivet such a relation. But if it is not mutual, and undue advantages
have been taken of him, his development will make it impossible for
such relations to be strengthened and maintained.
To perpetuate a relationship, it must first be based upon the
principles of right, guaranteed by the force of all competent power,
that power being common to all parties concerned. This is the sum
maximum of all ethical science and is complete. To add to it, or take
from it, would change the rule. Then, the solution to all ills must
be measured by that sense of conscience unimpaired, emanating from
that innate rule of human duty based upon moral obligation.
Now, there must be a standard of righteousness, not fixed by man, but
by a superior power; for it is not man's will which he must obey, but
the will of his Maker. This will can be shown in two ways only. First,
by revelation, and, second, by example, both of which have been
verified and demonstrated in the sacrifice made by Christ for the
world of mankind. This relationship can and will be sustained, because
Christ sought to know the nature and power of the second party. He
enters into a covenant fixing that relationship forever, between the
two. Now, if the so-called superior race, with the boasted power of
all the heavy centuries of the past, has given to the inferior race in
its undeveloped condition, that consideration which is necessary to
sustain and maintain the relationship which now exists, then, the
relationship is real and the education and development of the Negro
along economic and commercial lines will but make this relationship
stronger. And the future of the two races in the South, under such
conditions, must be bright and glorious.
But, I fear we have been hasty in our conclusions when we measure the
relationship which now exists in the South, by constitutional rights
and enactments. The Constitution of these United States makes the
people a compact, and therefore equals in immunities, privileges and
rights, with a common flag as the symbol of our common protection.
Every citizen, then, of these United States--let him be of any race
variety--owes to that flag its protection, and, in return, that flag
is to protect him. So that the relationship of all the citizens of the
United States to the flag is the same; being the same to the flag,
they are the same to each other from a civic point of view.
I agree that there is such a thing as "State rights," but such rights
must be local and subsidiary and must in no case conflict with, or
counteract, the rights of a citizen growing out of a common
Constitution whose jurisdiction holds the sisterhood of states
together. To sustain and maintain such a sisterhood the compilers of
the Constitution gave the general government the right to summons such
states to protect her in the discharge of her duty. So that it is seen
that the government is exercising a power that was given it by the
sovereign people, acknowledging equal rights to all and special
privileges to none. Among these are life, liberty and the peaceful
pursuit of happiness. These are the rights which are guaranteed by the
Constitution.
Now, an agreement entered into by the people of any part of these
United States which does not conform to the stipulated rights
mentioned above, is not a contract and can not be considered binding
under the law. Therefore, a relationship based upon privileges of one
and the denied rights of the other, cannot be friendly and must,
sooner or later, be dissolved. I, for one, cannot concede that the
relationship between the races in the South is friendly. It is, for
the most part, peaceful, but that peace grows out of a fear of the law
in the hands of an unfriendly and prejudiced people who feel that the
Negro race has no rights which they are bound to respect. Accepting
this position, the Negro quietly moves on, trying to make for himself
and family a living, but he feels keenly the class legislation which
proscribes him to the "Jim Crow" cars, to the rear seats in street
cars, behind the doors in public restaurants, and a hundred other
indignities heaped upon him. He is also denied the right to vote,
which is the greatest evil done him and the only protection that the
Constitution gives him.
Now, I ask, "Can there be friendly relations with such environments,
and, if they are friendly, can they be sustained and maintained?" I
assert that the infringement of any right is an unfriendly act,
whether the one whose rights are infringed upon is conscious of the
unfriendly act or not. If he is unconscious of it, it is all the more
unfriendly. I assert further, that whenever existing conditions make
it necessary for one race to suppress another, the suppression affects
both races alike. The stronger race ceases to develop that strength
which is necessary for the growth of a nation, and to prepare it to
meet the great problems which are indispensable in the fostering of a
government such as ours. And the weaker race is deprived of the
opportunities which are necessary to cultivate those innate powers
which are intended by God to be developed in the rounding out of good
citizenship. In fact, the denial of freedom to any race, along any of
the walks of life, has a tendency to teach that race irresponsibility;
for responsibility must rest with the volition of the human family.
"The Nashville American," in a recent issue, admits that the Southern
white people have made no progress in the great world of thought,
because they had everything their way. The solid South practically
destroyed its opportunities to develop thinkers in the political
world, and the prejudice they entertain and foster by mere sentiment
was not conducive to the production of strong men, or the development
of great thinkers or leaders of distinguished constructive ability. In
some sense the South has for some time lived in an eddy. There has not
been that broad sweep of the current of thought which once made it
strong and powerful. And the reason for this is assigned in their
surroundings, their highest ambition being to suppress the Negro in
the civil walks of life.
Now, we are confronted with a condition--call it a relation, if you
please--in which the interest of the entire Southland is involved, and
we, as the Negro race, are called upon to express ourselves as to the
basis of this relationship and the perpetuity of the same. The facts
above stated make it extremely difficult for one to conscientiously
concede, first that the relations are friendly; and, second, that they
can be sustained and maintained. As a matter of fact, the subject
assigned me can be easily answered by saying that the friendly
relations which now exist can be sustained and maintained by
destroying the system of public instruction; by making no protest
against the encroachments upon our liberty; by destroying the medium
of the Christian religion, pulling down our altars, demolishing our
churches and hanging crape on the door-knobs of all places of public
instruction. This we are unwilling to do, and, as God gives us
strength and light to see our plain duty, we shall work, watch and
wait for that surrounding which shall be congenial to a healthful
development of a Christian manhood, when the sphinx of this age shall
have passed into the oblivious past; and mankind, transformed from
brutish prejudice to that lordly prince, divested of all racial
prejudice, shall stand upon that plain of reason where all are equals.
We must see that our rights under the Constitution are one thing and
the enjoyment of those rights quite another thing.
Now, then, shall we, because these rights are denied us, fail to teach
our children that these rights are ours? And can it not be seen that
for us to concede that the relationship, now existing between the two
races in the South, is friendly, is an admission of the righteousness
upon which such relation is based? And even this very book will be
brought in evidence against us.
A friendly relation grows out of real friendship, so that it is
necessary here to explain friendship. Mr. Webster gives the meaning of
friendship as a state of being friends; a friendly relation or
attachment, to a person, or between persons; affection arising from
mutual esteem and good will; friendliness; amity; good will.
"There is little friendship in the world," says Bacon. There can be no
friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.
Dryden says, "Aptness to unite; conformity; affinity; harmony and
correspondence are the signs of friendship." These grow out of that
soil and are the forerunners of that friendship out of which a
relation must be had to be called friendly.
Now let us analyze this term "friendship." "Amity"--from the Latin,
amare to love, or friendship in a general way between individuals,
societies or nations. "Goodwill"--I wish you well, peace and
prosperity. "Integrity"--moral soundness; completeness; honesty;
rectitude.
We have given some of the terms which Mr. Webster used in the
explanation of the word friendship. Our purpose for so doing is to see
if it is possible to base the relationship which now exists between
the two races in the South, upon all the synonyms or any one of them.
I confess with candor that I cannot see (nor can any lover of liberty
who holds sacred the rights of the human family, regardless of race,
color or previous condition of servitude) even a semblance of amity in
the treatment which the Negro gets at the hands of the dominant race,
in fact, it is just the opposite, the relationship is forced and also
one sided.
The seemingly friendly relation is forced from the Negro; that is, he
must show up friendly or be lynched by the first angry mob who becomes
thirsty for Negro blood.
If we sustain a friendly relation based upon the integrity of the
Southern whites, there could be no lynching; the friendship of the
white man would cause it to cease at once.
Would to God that they would interpret our actions in the light in
which they are rendered and not make us suffer for what somebody else
has done, simply because we are weak and unable to protect ourselves
against the insanity of the prejudice.
The Southern white people, in their haste, are making an unenviable
history at which they will blush in the years to come.