The Young Men’s Christian Association among Colored Americans presents
an illustration of the growth of the religious spirit in addition to
that exhibited by the churches, but of course, affiliated with them to a
greater or less degree. From the first student association at the Howard
University, organized in 1869, there are now six International
Secretaries, 96 associations organized in Colored American educational
institutions, with an enrollment of 15,000 male students, and forty-five
city associations scattered over 23 States. The Colored women of the
United States began organizing Y. W. C. A. work in 1896, and there are
now 37 associations affiliated with the national organization, with 12
city associations for Colored women.
In connection with church or religious matters, the work of the Colored
Women’s Christian Temperance Union should not be forgotten. This great
national association makes for morals, sobriety, good citizenship and
education.
With all these remarkably large and numerous opportunities, the young
Colored American should be able to find an opening for his desired
ambition to be an apostle among his fellow men.
The spirit is working and inspires the race with noble ambitions, and
all the human virtues possible to inculcate in this world.
It may be said, in passing, that to lead the souls of men to eternal
bliss in the world beyond is the noblest and highest attainable
profession or calling. In preparing men for a future home beyond the
skies, he is converted into an advanced man of morals and good qualities
on this earth to fit him for the next world.
Men and nations have sometimes forgotten God, but their end has always
been untimely.
_LEADERS OF AMERICA WHOSE EARS ARE CLOSE TO THE GROUND_
_Americans, Regardless of Color, Who are Leading the People out of the
Wilderness and Teaching the Brotherhood of Man._
We have at the present time in the United States certain persons
regarded as eminent in progress and advanced thought, who must be
reckoned with when it comes to human improvement, and the removal of
obstacles to man’s intellectual life and physical welfare.
There have been numberless proofs in the years gone by, in fact, we have
only to survey the pages of all history, to learn that it is a law of
human nature, that there is no distinction between color and race, and
that brains, intellect, soul, are and always will be the test, the
criterion, the standard of human excellence.
To review the past would be to open the door to endless pages of
history, and require pages of illustrious names that have shone like
stars in the human firmament.
Those who are engaged in the development of the human family, and
apparently unconsciously working out the designs of God in their
persistent advocacy of human betterment, the destruction of inefficient
environments, and the promotion of peace and good will, as well as the
preservation of health, are numerous. Strikingly prominent are many of
our Americans who seem to be blessed with an almost prophetic insight,
and the ability to bring about changes in unpleasant conditions.