In a former chapter I have attempted to show the manner in which we have
suffered in the past from the effects of an unwarranted prejudice
against us, due not so much to our color as to our condition, and from
the mistakes we have made in mapping out the course best suited for us
to follow. We are a peculiar people, hitherto unknown to the laws of the
United States. We have been made citizens by these laws, but are still
regarded as a distinct people. In this chapter I shall try to give my
views as to the best course for us, as a class, to pursue in order to
succeed in the race of life as newly made citizens, and this advice is
intended wholly for the Colored people.
Above every other consideration we must get money, and to do that, we
must engage in business of some kind, however small, and then support it
with our undivided patronage. By so doing we shall not only build up
business houses, but create places for our boys and girls when they
leave the schools, fitted for higher callings than the mudhod or the
washtub. We can do this without any sacrifice, as we are compelled to
spend a large portion of our earnings for the necessaries of life any
way, and when it comes to the question as to whether we shall spend it
with a white or a Colored tradesman, other things being equal, the
question itself ought to suggest the answer.
We would do well, in my opinion, to take a few lessons from the Hebrews
in this country, as to the way in which to accumulate money, for they
have been sorely pressed by all Christian nations for centuries, and
notwithstanding have steadily, and in the face of great prejudice,
accumulated vast wealth. By turning their attention entirely to trade,
they have been enabled to command respect by reason of their money
solely, so that to-day, especially in this country, they have a very
high standing in the commercial business of the country, and are
gradually increasing it each year, so that it is only a matter of time,
when they will be able to control such business. They give their
children a common school course, then a business course, and then put
them to work as salesmen, rarely ever sending them to college.
We are the real producers of the wealth of the country, especially of
the southern portion, and have that advantage over the Hebrews, who
never produce anything at any time, and yet they strive to control the
business of the entire country. As an evidence of the fact that we are
the real producers, note the large number of mercantile failures when
there is a shortage in the crop. Now then, since we are the producers of
the wealth, why not spend it in a way to benefit ourselves? So long as
the merchant can get our trade without recognition, he will not give
employment to our young men and women, in consideration of that class of
trade, and is sometimes bold enough to say so.
As a case in point, I will state this: A few years ago, a certain
merchant on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C., who had and still
has a large trade with the Colored people, especially the better class,
including the families of clerks in the several departments and school
teachers, there being over three hundred of them, was applied to by a
delegation of Colored citizens for a position for a respectable and
well-educated girl, wanting employment. They called his attention to the
fact that he had a very large Colored patronage and that he had
employees representing nearly every other class of people, and that it
would be nothing more than fair to give employment to one Colored
saleswoman. He refused. They gave him to understand that an effort would
be made to withdraw the Colored trade from him, since he would not
recognize it in a substantial way. His reply was: “Gentlemen, you may
make all the efforts you please, but you cannot do it; good day”.
Are we prepared to say that this merchant did not state the fact? I
think not, because he knew our disorganized condition, our inability to
concentrate our strength in a way to make it effective, and therefore
felt free to tell the delegation to their faces, “You cannot do it.” He
spoke the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, because
they could not do it then, and cannot do it now, and never will until
the Colored people are educated to it by force of self-defence.
As parents we are partly responsible for the idleness and unemployed
condition of our young men and women, after they have reached maturity
and left the schools, by neglecting to utilize the means in our hands
for the benefit of our children. After having given them an education
which fits them for higher callings than mere ordinary laborers, we fail
to create these higher places for them, and the children, as a matter of
fact, have been injured rather than benefited by our misdirected
kindness and parental love. To a very large extent this accounts for
the great number of young men and women marching the streets in
idleness, for which we are directly and morally responsible. We have no
just cause for censuring the white people for their conduct toward us in
refusing us recognition. They have done no wrong; they have only taken
advantage of the opportunities we have given them and nothing more. They
know that we are a disorganized people, and while in that condition are
certainly not in a position to strike back when pressed, and therefore
they press us with impunity.
It is not enough to say that the prejudice against us is due to color;
while in part that might be true, there is another and a greater cause,
which in my opinion, fans and keeps alive that hydra-headed monster, and
that is our penniless condition. We are a class of people who represent,
comparatively speaking, nothing, and in the business world absolutely
nothing, although we are the producers of the wealth in several States,
as has already been stated, we have no voice in the barter and sale of
it.
The laws are made by and for the business men of all countries and not
in the interest of the laboring classes. The business men are the
law-makers in this Country and of course shape the laws to suit their
own interests. My candid belief is, that more respect will be shown us,
when we are represented in the business world, and I think we should
make an effort to be represented in the various lines of business as
other Americans. We have tried various plans, looking to success, and
have not attained it to a very satisfactory degree, and I think the time
has come for us to try something new. If we were a distinct race, as
some writers who have not given the subject much thought assert, the
advice to make an effort would be superfluous, because being a race we
would necessarily be a united people, aiding one another in efforts to
rise. Circumstances compel us to be a distinct class of Americans,
without regard to shades of color; because we have many among us who are
as white as any Caucasian, but when the fact is known that they have in
their veins the slight admixture of African blood, whether they are of
light or dark hue, they are all classed as Colored people, treated as
such, and might as well mingle as such, allowing character only to be
the dividing line. The fact is this, we are all Colored people and must
hold together as such, if we expect to succeed, remembering that in
union there is strength, and the old adage which is a good one, that it
is better to be a king among dogs than a dog among kings.
I have thus far tried to show some of the causes operating against our
progress and the part we have acted or taken against our own best
interests, in our blind efforts to succeed. And now as to the remedy.
Our ministers see the necessity of our being more closely united in a
business way. They picture the good results that will follow such
action, and like Rev. Dr. Seaton, of Georgetown, D. C., heartily approve
such a course, and at the same time lay the blame for non-action at the
doors of our political leaders, by saying that they should have been
advising, urging and educating our people, up to this essential
necessity long ago. Our political leaders also see the necessity of such
action on our part, and have advised us, whenever they had a chance to
be heard, to be more closely united, but they insist that little good
can be accomplished until our ministers become interested in the
matter. Here it is seen that both classes of leaders see the need of and
admit the necessity for such action, and yet both remain comparatively
inactive. Not being a minister or a political leader, I feel myself
competent to decide this question without prejudice and therefore state
that, in my opinion, it is the failure of our spiritual advisers to
discharge their whole duty towards their congregations, and I will
mention some of my reasons for making this assertion. In the first place
our ministers wield a greater influence over the people than any other
class of men, and can if they choose, lead them into almost any measure
they may wish them to adopt. They have led them to contribute of their
meagre earnings, the large sums of money invested in church property,
located in every State. It was raised by the untiring efforts of our
spiritual advisers, a little at a time; so that it is claimed that the
Colored people of the United States, own over two hundred million
dollars worth in church property, and support fifteen thousand
ministers, at an annual cost of seven and a half million dollars a
year.[A]
[A] The above figures are furnished by Rev. F. J. Grimke, of the
Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C., from which I
make the estimate of five hundred dollars as the average cost of each
minister, which I think very reasonable.
By the payment of such a large sum annually, without a murmur on our
part, it would seem quite reasonable that we are entitled to and should
have not only the spiritual, but the temporal advice as well, for we
need it badly. Again, our ministers are always in touch with their
congregations and see their needs, have their undivided attention
whenever desired, talk to them, selecting their own subjects every
week, about saving souls, and the course they should pursue to
accomplish that desirable result. All this is very good, and they love
their pastors for showing them the way to eternal life, but it seems to
me that while the ministers have their ears, confidence and continued
attention, and knowing their divided and thereby weakened condition,
should, if they have any genuine pride in them, take advantage of their
position and give them some instruction as to the caring for the body,
as well as the soul. If they will do this, as though it were really a
religious duty, advising them mutually to aid one another with their
patronage, they will have rendered their people a lasting service.
There is hardly a doubt, that our ministers have an advantage over our
political leaders in this; they have the people before them every week,
and therefore have a better opportunity to advise and urge them towards
united action, than the political leader, who may not have a chance to
address his people more than once or twice in a year, and that at some
celebration. I am decidedly of the opinion that the various religious
bodies in this country, supported by us, should instruct their ministers
and see that they carry it out, to devote more time to the temporal care
of their congregations, by teaching and urging upon them the necessity
of being more closely united as a people; that in union there is
strength; that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Our
ministers can unite us, and they alone can. Will they make the effort?
Those among us who have accumulated wealth have done so single-handed
and alone, and against great odds, and in nearly every case by dealing
with white men, rarely with a majority of Colored customers. I cannot
recall a single instance where a Colored merchant, relying solely upon
the patronage of his own people, has succeeded. That old idea drilled
into them during slavery, that white people are better than Colored
people, is still in them, notwithstanding their denial of the fact, for
it is shown in their actions, in the purchase of what they need and in
the employment of skilled workmen. If the job is a small one, amounting
to a few dollars, we may give it to a colored workman, but if it is a
large one, we give it to a white man, who will then send, probably, the
Colored bidder to do the work, and we are satisfied. And as to our
purchases, we act as though the white man’s goods were better than those
of the Colored man. In this respect the upper as well as the lower
classes of Colored people need training badly, a fact which many of us,
who are now or have been in business will confirm.
When we are ripe for it, there will appear Colored men with means ready
to enter nearly every line of business, who are now afraid to do so,
because of the fact that they cannot rely upon their own people for
support.
We recognize three distinct grades among us; namely, the wealthy or
those who have acquired money, supporting their families in the style
that aristocratic Americans do; the working class including those
engaged in business, professors, tradesmen, and the daily laborers; the
third and last class includes the shiftless, worthless, and thoroughly
degraded. Many prejudiced white people affect to know but one grade, and
that the lowest always, and promptly charge all crimes committed by that
class to the Colored people generally, taking that class as a criterion
by which to judge the entire people, placing men like Frederick Douglass
on a par with this degraded class, in speaking to him about them as
“your people.” They know as well as they know anything, that Mr.
Douglass has no more dealings or association with that class of Colored
people, than Chauncey M. Depew has with the roughs and thugs of New
York. It really makes me feel hurt to hear white men who, I believe,
know better than to talk that way, men who will never reach Mr.
Douglass’s standing, if they live to be old as Methuselah.
It would be well for us to remember, that we cannot always be considered
as little helpless babes, and therefore objects of charity by the white
philanthropists of this country. They have been very liberal towards us
in their donations to establish institutions of learning, not only in
the common branches, but the higher as well, so that we have a large
number of colleges and universities sustained by donations from the
white people, regardless of politics. We own many million dollars worth
of school property, located in the South, which came to us by donation,
besides a large amount invested in church property, much of which came
in the same way. The charitably-disposed white people of this country
have been very good to us, but we are now nearly thirty-year old
children, and these philanthropists will find that out some day and
cease their liberality upon the ground, that we are old enough to take
care of ourselves. Can we dispute this fact? I think not. We will have
to meet the obstacles I have referred to at no distant day, and should
be paving the way to that end, so as to be prepared for them when the
time comes. If there is a better plan than the one I have suggested, one
more practical, let it not be only stated, but adopted and put into
active operation, for we cannot expect to succeed with so many
difficulties, as we are now forced to encounter, unless we unite
ourselves more closely.
In addition to present obligations as members of our several religious
creeds, we should have one obligation, pledging our support and
patronage to each other in preference to any other class. As already
stated, we are morally and religiously responsible for the conduct and
character assumed by our children in after life. If as parents, we have
discharged our whole duty towards them, and have complied with divine
instruction in accordance with Proverbs xxii. 6: “Train up a child in
the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it,” we
need have no fear as to our childrens’ success in after life.
One almost neglected field of labor in which our ministers should spend
more time and attention in their efforts for reform, and one which is in
the line of their special calling, is this: A very large number of
supposed Christian people, members of churches, in most cases in good
standing, entertain and practice a false idea of the virtue of prayer,
believing honestly that it is the panacea for every evil, and cure for
ever wrong committed, even intentionally. They believe that any crime
committed against the law of the land, or any violation of the laws of
God, can be atoned for by prayer; or in other words, they believe that
they can steal the goods and chattels of another, and without making
restitution go to the Lord in prayer, and that he will forgive them and
allow them to retain the stolen goods. Among the illiterate class of
Colored people, this false idea or misconception of divine law is
practiced entirely too much. Our ministers should turn their attention
to the eradication of this evil practice or false conception of the word
of God. In a large degree, in my opinion, this accounts for the great
number of church members, in good standing, before the police and other
courts, charged with petty larceny.
There is another evil practice which is closely allied to the one above
described, and needs the attention of our teachers and preachers badly.
It is this, religion without morality. We have too many immoral
religionists in our churches. There are members of our churches
apparently filled with religion, as it were, and at the same time
totally devoid of morality. I can conceive of a moral man without
religion, but I cannot conceive of a religious man devoid of morality.
Among the illiterate and also the shiftless class of Colored people
these seeming incongruities exist, and herein lies work for our educated
ministers and our Christian teachers to show the right. We want pure men
and women, honest, upright, reliable, and trustworthy in every station,
and to obtain them we must raise up our children correctly, or in other
words, we must raise them up to be truthful and self-respecting. The
young man or young woman possessing these qualities will succeed even in
adversity, for these traits of character will be of incalculable benefit
to them in obtaining and filling responsible positions.
With the aid of our ministers, the reforms I have mentioned can be
obtained, and our ministers will have made themselves our leaders in
fact, and we will have been placed under renewed obligation to them, and
will also be placed in a better condition to respond to their support
than we have been in the past. Will they undertake this great reform,
and continue to persevere until their efforts shall be crowned with
success? I hope and pray they will.
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