The South and the Negro
An Address delivered at the Seventh Annual
Conference for Education in the South,
Birmingham, Ala., April 26th, 1904.
BY
THE REV. BISHOP CHARLES B. GALLOWAY
OF THE
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH
rkw york
Published by the Southern Education Board
1904
The South and the Negro
An Address delivered at the Seventh Annual
Conference for Education in the South,
Birmingham, Ala., April 26th, 1904.
BY
THE REV. BISHOP CHARLES B. GALLOWAY
OF THE
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH
NEW YORK
Published by the Southern Education Board
1904
SOUTHERN EDUCATION BOARD
Executive Board oj the Conference for Education in the South
President ..... Robert C. Ogden
Executive Secretary . . . Edgar Gardner Murphy
Treasurer .... George Foster Peabody
The
Robert C. Ogden
George Foster Peabody
Chas. D. Mclver
Wallace Buttrick
Edwin A. Alderman
H. B. Frissell
Board
Chas. W. Dabney
H. H. Hanna
Walter H. Page
William H. Baldwin, Jr.
Albert Shaw.
Edgar Gardner Murphy
B. Hill
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
By Bishop Charles B. Galloway
The subject of this hour's discussion is not of my selection.
With the honored invitation to accept a place on the pro¬
gramme of this great convention came also the request that I
should speak on "The South and the Negro." The dis¬
tinguished honor of this request was accorded, not because I
have capacity to speak on this subject by the authority of fuller
and more accurate knowledge than others, hut rather because
I live in the South and am a friend of the negro.
Some acquaintance with this section and its citizenship I
ought to have gained from life-long residence and eager ob¬
servation and unwavering devotion. From my birth to this
good hour I have lived in Mississippi—the most intensely
Southern of all Southern States—and where, because of their
immense numbers, the so-called "problem" of the negroes is
most acute. It is, therefore, not for want of opportunity, if I
lack information, or am possessed of misinformation.
I shall speak to-night with perfect candor, if not with ap¬
proved wisdom. And I appear not as the partisan of an idea,
but as an ambassador of the truth and a lover of my country.
In offering some thoughts on the subject assigned I shall
not review ancient history, but consider present conditions. It
is time for us to cease discussing who is most responsible for
American slavery. Present duty has been neglected in an
acrimonious wrangle over history. For, after all, the only dif¬
ference between the South and the North on the slavery ques¬
tion is the difference between father and grandfather. My
father was connected with slavery, and so was their grandfather.
6
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
Our memories are only a little more vivid because somewhat
shorter.
I would not presume to speak dogmatically as to the mind
of God with reference to the future status of the negro. Into
that infinite and holy realm I have neither capacity nor temerity
to enter. On what specific lines the race will move through
the coming centuries, I dare not attempt to prophesy. But I
do know that all our dealings with these people should be in
the spirit, and according to the ethics, of the Man of Galilee.
What is best for them now should be the measure of present
duty, leaving the future to His hands who knows the end from
the beginning. And we must insist that the negro have equal
opportunity with every American citizen to fulfil in himself
the highest purposes of an all-wise and beneficent Providence.
Whatever the cause or causes, there is no disguising the
fact that there is great unrest and growing discontent among
the negroes of the South. They are beginning to feel friend¬
less and hopeless. The frequent lynchings that disgrace our
civilization, the advocacy by some of limiting to the minimum
the school advantages provided for them, and the widening
gulf of separation between the younger generations of both
races, have produced a measure of despair.
There are few negroes in my native State of Mississippi, the
owners of property, who would not sell out at a fair valuation.
Many of the thriftiest and most conservative feel, whether
justly or not, that sentiment is so hostile to their race as to
make all their values insecure. And as opportunity offers they
are quietly leaving the sections in which they have long lived
and labored.
We need not close our eyes to the inevitable. We are soon
to face industrial disaster unless conditions are radically
changed. Our cotton lands will lie fallow and our fertile fields
cease to yield their valuable staples. Already the scarcity of
labor is the despair of large landowners.
To improve or remove these strained relations is the duty
of every Southern patriot who believes in the industrial and
commercial future of these parallels.
Unfortunately for this question, and for the best interests
of both races, it has not been eliminated from local and na-
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
7
tional politics. So long as it furnishes an easy and exciting
issue for contending partisans, there will be little opportunity
for constructive statesmanship to deal wisely with the stupen¬
dous problem.
It requires but little ability to excite the fears and inflame
the prejudices of a people. Any street urchin can shout
"Fire!" and stampede an audience, even when there is no
danger. And if there be some occasion for alarm, the panic
becomes wild and uncontrollable. Then it is men refuse calm
counsel and wise suggestion. So it is with the social and
political issues that may be used to play upon the fears of
the masses.
The old cry that "white supremacy" may be imperilled is
a travesty on Anglo-Saxon chivalry. With every executive,
judicial and legislative office of the State in the hands of white
people and with suffrage qualifications that have practically
eliminated the negro from political affairs, the old slogan is
the emptiest cant.
This is no question for small politicians, but for broad,
patriotic statesmen. It is not for non-resident theorists, but
for practical publicists; not for academic sentimentalists, but
for clear-visioned humanitarians. On a subject of such vital
concern to State and nation, passionate declamation and par¬
tisan denunciation are to be deplored. Oh, that some patriot
may arise, with the prescience of a statesman and the vision
of a prophet and the soul of an apostle, who will point out the
path of national duty and guide our people to a wise and
heaven-approved solution of this mighty problem!
But for some of the acute phases of this question the South
can be acquitted of blame. The once beautiful and pathetic
attachments of the older people of both races were rudely
severed, not alone by the shock of war, but by the fanatical
unwisdom of certain boasted benefactors.
Mistakes that have become a tragedy were made by some
misguided persons who came South after the war to be the
political teachers and leaders of the negroes. Bepresenting
themselves as the only friends of the recently emancipated
race, they made denunciation of former slave-owners an apology
for their presence, and a part of the negro's education. That
8
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
policy only complicated the difficult problem. It poisoned
the spirit of one race and aroused the fierce antagonism of the
other. Hate was planted in hearts where the seeds of love
should have been sown, and races that ought to dwell together
in unity were separated by bitter hostility. The times of such
folly are gone, but their tragic results are our mournful
heritage.
In the study of this momentous question some things may
be considered as definitely and finally settled:
First.—In the South there will never be any social mingling
of the races. Whether it be prejudice or pride of race, there is
a middle wall of partition which will not be broken down.
Second.—They will worship in separate churches and be
educated in separate schools. This is desired alike by both
races, and is for the good of each.
Third.—The political power of this section will remain in
present hands. Here, as elsewhere, intelligence and wealth
will and should control the administration of governmental
affairs.
- Fourth.—The great body of the negroes are here to stay.
Their coerced colonization would be a crime, and their depor¬
tation a physical impossibility. And the white people are less
anxious for them to go than the negroes are to leave. They are
natives and not intruders.
Now let us consider some of the duties we owe these people,
committed to us as a trust.
First.—They must be guaranteed the equal protection of
the law. To do less would forfeit plighted faith and disrupt
the very foundations of social order. All the resources of
government should be exhausted in protecting innocence and
punishing guilt. There should be no aristocracy in crime. A
white fiend is as much to be feared as a "black brute." The
racial line has no place in courts of justice. Offenders against
the peace and dignity of the State should have the same fair
trial and the same just punishment, whatever their crime or
color of skin.
And the majesty of law must he enthroned and sustained.
When its sanctions are disregarded and its mandates are not
respected, the very foundations of government become in-
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
9
secure. If confidence is destroyed in the decisions of courts
there is no protection for life and property. We have reason
for real alarm at the phenomenal growth of the spirit of law¬
lessness. And it is not confined to any one section of our
great country. I give it as my deliberate judgment that there
is never an occasion when the resort to lynch law can be jus¬
tified. However dark and dreadful the crime, punishment
should be inflicted by due process of law. Every lyncher be¬
comes a law despiser, and every law despiser is a betrayer of his
country. The lynching spirit, unrestrained, increases in
geometrical progression.
But there are indications of a better day. After our night
of sorrow, there is promise of a more hopeful morning. Our
best citizens are becoming alarmed and public sentiment is
being aroused. A camp of Confederate veterans in Mississippi,
composed of heroic men, who feared not the wild shock of
battle in contending for what they believed to be right, recently
passed some vigorous resolutions against this spirit of lawless¬
ness, in which occur these strong words: "Mob violence is
antagonistic to liberty, and ultimately leads to anarchy, desola¬
tion and ruin." And in this ringing utterance they voice at
once the deep conviction and profound humiliation of our
best citizenship. We have a good people in out State, loving
justice, hating wrong and despising unfairness. They are ready
to uphold the majesty of the law when demands are made upon
them.
Second.—The right education of the negro is at once a
duty and a necessity. All the resources of the school should
be exhausted in elevating his character, improving his con¬
dition and increasing his capacity as a«citizen. The policy of
an enforced ignorance is illogical, un-American and un-Chris-
tian. It is possible in a despotism, but perilous in a republic.
It is indefensible on any grounds of social or political wisdom,
and is not supported by any standards of ethics or justice. If
one fact is more clearly demonstrated by the logic of history
than another, it is that education is an indispensable condition
of wealth and prosperity. This is a universal law, without
exemption or exception. Ignorance is a cure for nothing.
"It is strange, indeed," says Mr. Murphy, "if education—a
10
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
policy of God long oefore it was a policy of man, a policy of
the universe long befoiit was a policy of society—were to
find its first defeat at the negro's hands."
Of course, educational methods may be unwise and inade¬
quate, and educational auspices may be unfortunate and un¬
wholesome. In such event the proper course is not to close
the school, but to change the methods—not to stop the teach¬
ing, but to improve the teachers. "The repression of it will
result, not in its extinction, but in its perversion." That re¬
sults have been disappointing, there is no room to doubt. Even
the most sanguine and sentimental must admit that a good
deal of prophecy has not been fulfilled. Yet progress has
been made, and we have much to inspire hope and encourage
effort.
Several years ago, when standing before a great audience
in Tremont Temple, Boston, it gave me pardonable and patriotic
pride to utter these words: "I come from a State where liberal
and equal provision is made for the education of our colored
children in the common schools. And there is practically no
sentiment in favor of withholding from them the best possible
scholastic advantages. Whatever doubts some may entertain,
all are united and fixed in the purpose to test the virtue and
potential force of education in solving the gravest question
that has ever been presented to the people. It is written in
the organic law of the State, and has become the settled policy
of our people."
I deeply regret, Mr. President, that it is impossible for me
to repeat so emphatically those words this evening. Some of
our good people—not a majority, I am glad to say—have be¬
come so disappointed over educational results that they have
almost reached the point of despair. Impatient in their desire
to see larger returns from well-meant efforts and liberal ap¬
propriations, they have raised the question as to the wisdom
of a radical change of policy. I am sure, however, that the
facts do not justify their honest fears.
But what would be the effect of a policy of suppression?
Suppose we close the thirty thousand negro schools of the
South, what would be the result ? Let Dr. Curry tell us: "Ig¬
norance more dense, pauperism more general and severe, crime,
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
11
superstition and immorality rampant." We would not survive
such a policy. The boasted strength of our governmental in¬
stitutions could not endure the strain. We cannot have a
democracy for one class of our population, and a despotism for
the other. We cannot elevate and subjugate at the same time.
And, above everything, let us be just. I am jealous for my
people, that they be not amenable to the charge of injustice.
We must keep our covenants. The utterance of a distinguished
political leader of my State I make my own:
"There is nothing so unprofitable as injustice. There is
nothing which will react with such deadly effect upon the
character of any people as the practice of wrong and oppression
upon the weak and helpless. The denial of opportunities for
education to the negro can be justified upon no good grounds.
It ignores the teachings of Jesus. It is contrary to the genius
and spirit of Christianity. It proposes a solution of the problem
which is at variance with the fundamentals of our religion.
Nothing could ever justify it, even to our consciences."
And that view is held by the greatest leaders of the South.
No man who ever represented my native State of Mississippi
in the highest councils of the nation more correctly inter¬
preted her truest thought on all great issues than did L. Q. C.
Lamar. And no man among us ever had a more enthusiastic
following. His great deliverances became the accepted doc¬
trines of his people. A profound political philosopher who
never contented himself with a surface view of any subject, and
who had unconcealed contempt for mere partisan harangue, he
gave to every question which concerned the welfare of the
State and Nation the sincerest and most patriotic consideration.
When a measure was pending in the Senate proposing na¬
tional aid to education, Mississippi's distinguished Senator gave
expression to matured views that commanded the applause of
the entire State. A few sentences from that great speech may
be reproduced with profit. Northern Senators had intimated
lack of confidence in the State's educational authorities to dis¬
tribute the fund equitably, and suggested amendments to the
bill. Senator Lamar said:
"I say with entire confidence that this distrust is not de¬
served; that Senators are mistaken as to the state of feeling
12
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
in the South with reference to the education of the negro. The
people of the South find that the most precious interests of
their society and civilization are hound up in the question of
his education—of his elevation out of his present state of bar¬
barism. I shall enter into no argument upon that subject. I
intended to read some authorities on it, but my friend from
South Carolina (Mr. Hampton) has anticipated me."
After quoting from Dr. Mayo, Professor Smart and other
Northern educators, who had been South and had applauded
the heroic efforts of the Southern people to educate both races
alike, Senator Lamar further said:
"The problem of race, in a large part, is a problem of
illiteracy. Most of the evils, most of the difficulties, which
have grown up out of that problem have arisen from a con¬
dition of ignorance, prejudice and superstition. Remove these,
and the simpler elements of the question will come into play
with a more enlightened understanding and a more tolerant
disposition. I will go with those who will go furthest in
this matter."
In educational statesmanship, no voice has been more
potential in America during the past quarter of a century
than that peerless Southern leader, the late Dr. J. L. M. Curry.
The echoes of his marvellously musical voice will continue to
thrill the hearts of American patriotism like the inspiring
notes of a bugle. Alas! that he is not a conspicuous figure
in this convention to-night. In a masterly address before the
constitutional convention of Louisiana, a few years ago, he
spoke these grandly eloquent words:
"The negroes, unlike alien immigrants, are here not of
their own choosing, and their civil and political equality is
the outcome of our subjugation. Neither their presence nor
their civil equality is likely to be changed in our day. The
negroes will remain a constituent portion of the Southern popu¬
lation and citizenship. What are to be our relations to them ?
Are they to be lifted up, or left in the condition of discontent,
ignorance, poverty, crime, barbarism? Shall one race have
every encouragement and opportunity for development for
higher civilization, and the other be handicapped and environed
with insurmountable obstacles to progress? Are friction,
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
13
strife, hatred, less likely with the negro under stereotyped con¬
ditions of inferiority than by the recognition and stimulation of
whatever capacities for progress he may possess? Shall we
learn nothing from history? Do Ireland and Poland furnish
us no lessons?"
Wise words and wisely spoken. By these principles, so
eloquently enunciated by our great leaders, the country will
unfalteringly stand. Whatever the discouragements and seem¬
ing failures, the policy inspired by Christianity and vindicated
by history will not be reversed. And in all the coming years
that which will be spoken of most to the honor of the South
was that, out of the wreck and ruin of war, with little left
but the charred and scarred remains of fire and tempest, she
gave with an almost lavish hand to the education of the negroes.
Every line on that page of her brilliant history will be glorious
with the unstinted praise of the civilized world.
From the declaration that education has made the negro
more immoral and criminal, I am constrained to dissent.
There are no data or figures on which to base such an indict¬
ment or justify such an assertion. On the contrary, indis¬
putable facts attest the statement that education and its at¬
tendant influences have elevated the standard and tone of
morals among the negroes of the South. The horrid crimes,
which furnish an apology for the too frequent expressions of
mob violence in these parallels, are committed, almost without
exception, by the most ignorant and brutal of the race. I
have been at not a little pains to ascertain from representatives
of various institutions the post-collegiate history of their
students, and I am profoundly gratified at the record. I be¬
lieve it perfectly safe to say that not a single case of criminal
assault has ever been charged on a student of a mission school
for negroes founded and sustained by a great Christian de¬
nomination.
"To school the negro," says a certain editor, "is to increase
his criminality. Official statistics do not lie, and they tell us
that the negroes who can read and write are more criminal
than the illiterate. The more money for negro education, the
more crime. This is the unmistakable showing of the United
States census."
14
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
Now, I do not hesitate to affirm that the United States
census shows unmistakably exactly the opposite—that educa¬
tion has decreased crime. A careful study of the exact figures
will show that the proportion of negro criminals from the
illiterate class has been 40 per cent larger than from the class
which has had school training. And when we consider further
that it is naturally and notoriously easier to convict a poor
negro of any crime than a white man who has influential
friends and well paid counsel, the strength of the statement
is irresistible and unanswerable.
Joel Chandler Harris, the distinguished author and political
philosopher, and whose interpretation of the Southern negro
has given him world-wide and immortal fame, in a recent
article in the Saturday Evening Post, gives this emphatic testi¬
mony:
"The idle and criminal classes among them make a great
show in the police court records, but right here in Atlanta the
reputable and decent negroes far outnumber those who are on
the lists of the police as new or old offenders. I am bound
to conclude, from what I see about me and from what I know
of the race elsewhere, that the negro, notwithstanding the late
start he has made in civilization and enlightenment, is capable
of making himself a useful member of the community in which
he lives and moves, and that he is becoming more and more
desirous of conforming to all the laws that have been enacted
for the protection of society."
The Hon. W. M. Cox, of Mississippi, prominent in the
political councils of his State, for years a leading figure in
our state legislature, and a scholar, has given his judgment on
this question, which perfectly accords with my own observa¬
tions. He .says:
"When I consider all the circumstances of the case, the
negro's weakness, his utter lack of preparation for freedom and
citizenship, and the multitudinous temptations to disorder and
wrongdoing which have assailed him, the wonder to me is,
not that he has done so ill, but that he has done so well. No
other race in the world would have borne itself with so much
patience, docility and submissiveness. It is true that many
grave crimes have been committed by negroes, and these havq
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
15
sorely taxed the patience of the white people of the South. I
do not blink at their enormity, and I know that they must be
sternly repressed and terribly avenged. But I insist that the
entire race is not chargeable with these exceptional crimes, and
that the overwhelming majority of the race are peaceable,
inoffensive and submissive to whatever the superior race sees
fit to put upon them. Their crimes are not the fruit of the
little learning their schools afford them. They are the results
of brutish instincts and propensities which they have not been
taught to regulate and restrain."
And in this scheme for their education a constructive states¬
manship suggests that proper training be provided for those
who may become the teachers and wise leaders of their people.
The true theory of negro education in the South has been
admirably stated in these words: "The rudiments of an educa¬
tion for all, industrial training for the many, and a college
course for the talented few." The thirty thousand negro pub¬
lic schools of the South, on which $7,500,000 are expended an¬
nually, and for which we have spent $125,000,000 since 1870,
must be supplied with competent teachers of that race.
To every man among them with the evident qualities of
leadership, we should lend our Christian sympathy and a helping
hand. President Tucker, of Dartmouth College, was entirely
correct when he said: "I believe with a growing conviction
that the salvation of the negro in this country lies with the
exceptional men of that race." And those, who have studied
the philosophy of Christian missions and the progress of civili¬
zation, will tell you that the same is true of all the peoples
of the earth. We train and Christianize the exceptional men
who are to be the real redeemers of their race, whether in
China, Japan, India or Africa.
Professor Max Muller gives authoritative '
testimony on this momentous matter: "The int^llectu^, ?yjdA
moral character of a nation is formed in schools anil-jjmivm*-
sities, and those who educate a people have alFgys oeen
real masters, though they may go by a more mod^t^rf£Kng.^?.^^^,
When Professor Tholuck reached the fiftieth anniversary—
of his great career as teacher of theology at Halle, he received
hearty and grateful congratulations from pupils and friends in
16
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO
all parts of the German empire. The Emperor sent him the
decoration of the Order of the Black Eagle. Students, with
torches, marched in procession past his windows, singing one
of Luther's immortal hymns. What a significant and appro¬
priate tribute to one of the mightiest forces in the empire!
The man who was fitting teachers and preachers to mould the
moral and religious thought of the nation, might well receive
recognition and honor from the throne itself. For without
the security given the empire in the ethical and religious in¬
struction of the church and school, the throne itself would
become unsteady, and the crown would rest uneasily on the
Emperor's anxious head. And if for an empire, how much
more important for a republic in which every citizen is a
sovereign and peer of the realm!
Other phases of this problem of the nation I have not time
to consider. Already I have trespassed too long upon your
patience.
My message is to the younger people of the South. Into
their strong hands the country is soon to be committed. The
facts of history eloquently confirm the wise observation of
Goethe, that "the destiny of a nation at any given time depends
upon the opinions of its young men who are under twenty-five
years of age." Upon them must devolve the solution of this
problem. It requires great wisdom and long patience. But
God rules, and right the day must win.
Young men of my country, in everything dare to do right.
Have faith in God and the future. Stand by the underlying
principles of our great republic, and the coming years will
vindicate your manly independence and uncorrupted patriotism.
Kepler, the great astronomer, whoi won for himself the title
of "legislator of the skies," rejoiced more in truth than in
titles, in honor than in honors. When his work, "The Har¬
monies of the World," was first published, he safd: "I can
afford to wait a century for a reader, since God Himself waited
six thousand years for an observer." And so every man who
is dominated by honest convictions and is inspired by a
righteous ambition to promote the best interests of his country
can well afford to abide the certain and triumphant vindication
of the future.