ofttMim
LUX GENTIS
NIGRAE.
DEDICATION :
To Bishop H. M. Turnkr, D. D.,L. L. D., and others
who in the main forsee only darkness,
degradation and death,
for the race in
America.
introduction-
booker T. Washington
PHILADELPHIA
A. M. E. BOOK CONCERN
631 PINE STREET
CONTENTS.
I
Race Infancy and What Implied
7
2
Opposed but not Friendless
9
3
Negro Suffrage Justified
X I
4
Problem more National than Racial
13
5
Nation's Proper Theory and Mission
14
6
Why the Race Here
18
7
Problem Grasped only by a Few
2 I
8
Scope of Faith Under Ordeals
23
9
Suggestions of History
25
IO
Reassuring Reflections
27
11
Bareless Charges Answered
28
12
Truth and Time Effectual Healers
29
INTRODUCTION.
The Bright Side of the Race Picture! A
fitting subject, it seems to me, for this splen¬
did little volume Dr. Johnson has so admira¬
bly written. I beleive in optimism. During
the many long years in which the Negro has
been subject to oppression and injustice of
one kind and another, the one thing that has
helped him most in his struggle for a higher,
nobler and better manhood, has been the
hopeful, optimistic spirit with which he has
borne his troubles. Adversities many and
painful has he suffered in his onward struggle,
and by it all, he has been more helped than
the unthinking would suppose. During it all
the Negro has been hopeful; has looked ahead
for the brighter day.
To me the future seems full of hope and
promise for the race. True it is that many
trials and discouragements lie ahead, but we
are making indisputable, tangible progress—
progress that means success. Coming out of
serfdom penniless, uneducated and with no
property, the Negro has made more rapid
strides toward the higher civilization than has
been true of any other race under similar cir¬
cumstances and conditions. He is acquiring
property, he is becoming educated in a way
that makes him a useful law-abiding citizen—
attainments and tendencies that make his fu¬
ture hopeful in the extreme.
Happy is Dr. Johnson in giving this refresh¬
ing little volume, every page of which is red¬
olent with words of encouragement and hope,
to the public at this time, when the Race
Question is demanding the thought and atten¬
tion of thinking, earnest people in all walks of
life. These discussions at times cause many
to look to the future with despair, for too often
the tendency is to judge the race by its worst
element, by its shiftless class. And so it is
that The Bright Side of the Race Picture,
dealing with the promising phase of the ques¬
tion, as it does, has an especial mission to
perform, and if, by its encouragement and
hope, it contributes toward the end of making
the race stand on its own feet and develope
its own resources, if it throws light upon the
solution of an all-important problem, its mis¬
sion will be performed.
Booker T. Washington.
Tuskegee, Alabama.
Oct. 7th, 1903.
LUX GENTIS NIGRAE
RACE INFANCY AND WHAT IMPLIED.
Every man is the architect of his own
fortune. This truism applies with equal
force to peoples of the same race-type no
less than to individuals. No greater harm
can be done the youth who has not tried
his own powers than to furnish him help
he does not need or pamper his hopes with
props that can yield no support in the try¬
ing days. Sympathy and instruction
should not be withheld, but help should
be withheld to the same wise extent it is
withdrawn from the child who may get
along without it. Aside from picking up
the little one at intervals and setting it to
rights again, the sensible mother spends
no idle time lamenting over the misfor¬
tune of the child's falls and cries or in
bottling up its tears. Full well she knows
8
Ltix Gentis Nigrae
that the ups and downs of childhood are
necessary stages to sure-footed manhood.
Its ills may be somewhat humored with
outlays of sweetmeats and caresses at
times, but its falls arid heartbreaking out¬
cries are looked upon as lung-tests and
chest-protectors or aids to its bodily
growth and vigor. From the child's
standpoint, the estimate of these cross-
grained experiences is quite different as
a matter of course. But what it takes as
serious outside of cramps, colics and such
like ills, is disposed of as already sug¬
gested. Little ones who are nursed as
hot-house plants rarely amount to much,
while those who make the port of credit
are usually the ones whom the combined
forces of adversity stormed against in
vain. Frederic Douglass in childhood
bereft of a name and shorne of a mother's
care, with Booker T. Washington, both
tried metal bearing the stamp of the same
mine and mint, are striking examples of
what their people must pass through in
Lux (Mentis Nigrae 9
their infancy ere the sun shall crown their
later life and service. Not to man¬
hood nor success nor greatness is there
any royal road. The shining outstretched
prize is visible only to the eye of faith, it
is open only to the heart of courage, and
can be plucked only by the aspiring-, all-
endeavoring hand linked to and led by the
Hand unseen.
OPPOSED BUT NOT FRIENDLESS.
The complaint is often heard that the
Negro's friends are not as numerous as
formerly and that those disposed to help
him are becoming few and far between.
The murmur, though by no means
groundless, is not an impeachment of our
former friends, nor in the least indicative
that those interested in our welfare are
growing less numerous. True it is that
outward signs of sympathy are not favor¬
able to the race as in times past. Time
there was when the hand of philanthrophy
was outstretched and the voice of friend¬
ship cheered the new-born race from
io Lux Gentis Nigrae
every direction. Christianity plead its
Macedonian cry and missionaries flocked
from their northern homes to cheer and
uplift the struggling millions in their
southern quarters. Christianity bore to
these needy millions the word of God and
tender instructors to expound the same.
It built churches and schools and fur¬
nished books to the illiterate and teachers
without cost. This it did in the face of
ridicule and scorn from boastful superiors,
and without a sense of condescension
toward those it would upraise.
In this noble service of redeeming a
people long neglected and wronged,
Christianity found a noble ally in philan¬
thropy and benevolence of the purest
type. Was the Negro's citizenship after
his enfranchisement imperilled ? The
truest statesmanship of the day stood
ready with armoured shield and sharp¬
ened lance to rush to his defense. On
the shining arena of knight errantry in the
halls of Congress in his behalf were such
Lux Gentis Nigrae ii
heroes as Charles Sumner, Thaddeus
Stevens, General Butler, Roscoe Conkling
and others whose names will flourish in
undying- glory. They and men of kind¬
red spirit and statesmanship made it pos¬
sible for black men to wield the ballot
weapon in 'their own defense. Their in¬
tercession and support gave the right of
way to every office seat from local Cor¬
oner to Congressional honors. The
broad-guaged statesmanship of the times
welcomed colored men into the highest
political councils of the state and nation.
It greeted the advent of ex-slaves into the
Senate chamber and accorded the Speak¬
er's gavel to B. K. Bruce, who
shed greater lustre on his country
than his predecessor, the far-famed Jeff.
Davis, the Confederate chieftain, who re¬
signed its honors and sought its cleavage,
or his present day successor, Senator
Money.
NEGRO SUFFRAGE JUSTIFIED.
Those who raise the foolish outcry
i 2 Lux Gentis Nigrae
against the black man's use of the ballot
too soon forget the splendid service to
which he put this weapon when first he
plied it. But for his patriotism at the
ballot-box as on the battle-field the dis¬
membered nation and seceeded States
never would have been restored. No bet¬
ter use could he make of the ballot than
with it demonstrate his knowledge of and
love for what was best for his country's
welfare. His loyal ballot not only brought
back into the Union the disloyal States,
but laid the foundation for a bulwark and
temple that would tower and shine to the
credit and safety of generations untold.
The public school system of the South¬
land to-day, whatever its shortcomings
with regard to the quality or quantity of
the mental ration it doles the children of
color throughout that section, was voted
into life by the ancestors of these chil¬
dren. It was in their power to
abuse or tamper with this prerogative
by legislating mixed schools for the races,
Lux Gentis Nigrae 13
as in the North, but this was not done.
The failure to do so is but another link
in the chain of evidence as to the con¬
sideration of the race for its haughty,
domineering- neighbor, even when power¬
less to help itself.
THE PROBLEM MORE NATIONAL THAN
RACIAL.
All countries have problems which rack
the brains of their wisest statesmen and
ablest philosophers. The history of mon¬
archies and republics alike have ever
offered such problems to mankind and
will continue so to do until the light of
the millenium gilds and girdles our error-
smitten and sin-burdened earth. As na¬
tions like individuals have missions and
a destiny to fulfill, it is possible to obscure
but not ignore the divine or ethical ele¬
ment which demands more than their ac¬
tivities. No man can repudiate the
claims of the moral code in his career
with impunity, and history with phil¬
osophy establishes the .same truth in con-
14 Lux Gentis Nigrae
nection with governments. Whether
their operations be on the lowest plane of
despotism or in a limited monarchy or
in the sphere of democracy where the con¬
sent of the governed is actually or theoret¬
ically sought as in our own land, certain
standards and regulations are acknowl¬
edged and applied in all administrations
of justice or manipulation of the machin¬
ery of law and exercise of national policy.
As to whether a nation survive a thous¬
and years or a decade depends largely
upon the display of wisdom on the part
of its founders in the adoption of certain
fundamental standards in its constitution,
wise or otherwise, and the consideration
with which their successors regard the
trust.
nation's correct theory and mission.
The skeleton fingers of overthrown
governments lift their g-hastly warning
against the danger of divorcing the Al¬
mighty from a nation's organic life or
activities, Happily for the nation and
Lux Gentis Nigrae 15
government of ours, their framers were
true to the teachings of the past and
responsive to the impulse of the truest
philosophy and the best religion. The
highest wisdom was displayed when the
Bible was adopted as the chart of the
ship of state for the newly united colonies
and belief in the God of the Universe pro¬
fessed as the compass and sheet-
anchor of the infant nation's welfare.
Than our Declaration of Independence
no nobler instrument, barring the Deca¬
logue, was ever drawn. Its inimitable
preamble in world-embracing scope aptly
answers to Paul's proclamation in evi¬
dence of the common origin and oneness
of the human species. This prime plank
in the nation's platform affords a terra
fir ma footing on which every comer to
our shores may securely trust his weight,
the enemy to American laws and' institu¬
tions alone excepted. While the red-
handed anarchist is excluded from the
hand of American fellowship by character
16 Lux Gentis Nigrae
and creed, the same exclusion is also held
for the sable citizen by partisan skeptics
and sectional colorphobists whose title
to full-fledged citizenship has never been
half as clearly established as that of his
disputed Brother in Black. The denial of
application of the phrase "all men are
created free and equal" to the colored
man had its answer in the philosophy of
the situation as it obtained when the Con¬
stitution was promulgated as well as in
the logic of succeeding events. The divin¬
ity of bondage and racial inferiority were
dangerous dogmas to be held by a peo¬
ple struggling for release from foreign
oppression and its assumption of royal
sovereignty. The effort to enjoy the sub¬
stance of freedom for themselves and tor¬
ment others with the notes and sound of
liberty after the Old Bell had "proclaimed
liberty throughout the land to all the in¬
habitants thereof" was like "running with
the hare and holding >vith the hounds"
on the part of the American people and
Lux Gentis Nigrae 17
it was inevitable that they soon tire of
the chase. The logic of events fulfilled
the philosophic statement of Mr. Lincoln
that a nation can not exist part slave and
part free, while it also suggests the truth
of the couplet—
"All men are equal in God's sight.
There is no black, there is no white."
In favor of the certain recognition of
the colored man's rights in common with
those of other citizens are the nation's
cosmopolitan dogma of universal equality
and the slowr and gradual dissipation of
the clouds which have stubbornly en¬
veloped this question. But had the na¬
tion adopted 110 world-embracing creed,
or had its congenial shores offered no
inviting asylum, for the refuge-seeking
pilgrims of other lands, the divine ele¬
ment in the problem would yet have re¬
mained to be reckoned with. While among
the early settlers were those in quest of
religious liberty there were those also
who sought the glory and spoils of states-
18 Lux Gentis Nigrae
craft or who looked for the main chance
in slave traffic or in commercial adven¬
ture. Whoever they were and from what¬
ever clime, these emigrants came no hide¬
bound iron-clad enactment decreed their
fate in the new western land of promise.
WHY THE RACE HERE.
All but one of the various branches of
the human family represented intheevent-
ful hegira to the American paradise came
by invitation or journeyed hither of their
own accord. Far different was it the case
with the child of bondage and adversity
of sable hue ordained to cut such an
important figure in the life and destiny
strange and forbidding environments.
Abraham was called of the Almighty to
of the virgin nation. Others have been
called of Heaven to try their fortunes amid
divorce himself from the ties of country
and kinship. While not knowing whither
he was to go, the hardship of emigration
was greatly neutralized by the certainty
of the call of Heaven on the one hand anc}
Lux Gentis Nigrae 19
the promise of an overwhelming reward
on the other. Only the dark and penal
side of the picture seemed visible in
the black man's divorcement from his na¬
tive land. A providence 'there was in the
cruel fate which tore him from tribe and
parental ties in Africa for the slave traffic
as it did his offsprings through centuries
of slavery in America, but this provi¬
dence seemed at the time by far more per¬
missive than directive. In proof of the
latter claim arguments were specious
and ample on the part of those who saw
only the humane side of the traffic in
human flesh and who held that the sys¬
tem was anything but the "sum of vil¬
lainy," as Mr. Wesley, the founder of
Methodism, charged. The silver lining
to the cloud drapery above his head, if
any there was, was left rather for his
distant descendant with the radiant torch
of history and faith to descern rather than
for himself with an environment, heredity
and adversity fettering- his vision with
three-fold blindness, to discover.
2o Lux Gentis Nigrae
The sale of Joseph by his brothers into
slavery furnishes a more striking- coun¬
terpart of the Negro's case than any in¬
stance covered by ancient or modern his¬
tory. Think of the tender son of Jacob
kidnapped by his brothers, thrust into a
pit and left for dead; then recall the tragic
story of the motley-colored coat soaked
in gore lending strength to the gruejime
tale of its wearer's doom from ravenous
beasts; let the plot thicken as the child
of destiny is lifted from the pit and bar¬
tered to a band of traders, who dispose
of their tender prize to an Egyptian
buyer, and the story can but sugg-est a pre¬
face and prophecy to the history of Ham's
descendents in America. The sequel of
the Negro's history has not yet been writ¬
ten, but the story of Jacob's son in Egypt
more than likely has its opening key of
analogy. In the land to winch Joseph
was sold a ranger he wrought out a
royal career step by step. The pathway
of his upward journey lay through the
Lux Gentis Nigrae 21
fires of adversity, but he came forth like
purified gold bearing-the assayer's stamp.
It is useless to quarrel with Providence
for allowing our forefathers to- be torn
from their native continent. The Al¬
mighty hand that rescued them and theirs
from the horrible pit of slavery has an
equally royal goal in reservation for us
and ours if only we quit ourselves like
men, enter in and occupy the alloted
heritage.
PROBLEM GRASPED ONLY BY THE FEW.
Perhaps it is only with the more ser¬
ious and reflecting minds among our peo¬
ple that the race question takes on dark
and difficult phases. It is not likely that
the masses are much disturbed about the
things that perplex the minds and depress
the spirit of the more intelligent members
of the race. To be sure, the rank and file
of the masses cannot be indifferent to the
wrongs, and outrageous treatment they are
called upon to endure day by day. Their
sense of justice must naturally move them
22 Lux Gentis Nigrae
at least to silently and perhaps sullenly
protest against the countless unkind and
outlandish things they suffer. T01 assume
that any one of the multitudinous number
referred to in the South or elsewhere ac¬
cepts the grinding situation of servile sub¬
jection to the domineering race without
in inner resentment to say the least, is
to assume such an individual to be de¬
void of the instinct common to the animal
world. Not less sensible are the masses
of the type in question to the monstrous
wrongs they bear than were their pro¬
genitors insensible to the grievous out¬
rage of slavery. The latter was endured
not so much because of the abject in¬
ability or indisposition of the victims to
rid themselves of the oppressor's yoke, as
because of their instinctive trust in the
Providence that shapes all things right in
the end and because of the exercise of
that wisdom which cometh from above,
which is peaceful and gentle and leads to
hope always for the best.
Lux Gentis Nigrae 23
THE SCOPE OF FAITH UNDER ORDEALS.
It is to this ever-active inner-working
providence that the leaders and thought¬
ful clement of the race must now and
henceforth look if we will escape the
meshes of the wilderness and enter the
promised land of Canaan. The murmur-
ings of those who quarrel with Provi¬
dence for leading us into the desert out
of Egypt must be stopped. The plenti¬
ful onions and leeks supplied by Pharaoh
were good, also quite refreshing were the
Egyptian streams which bubbled in
copious fullness, but these provisions of
their bondage state were as far-
surpassed by the delectable diet of
Heaven's orderings as a Delmonico bill-
of-fare puts to blush the contents of an
ordinary lunch counter. The hue and
cry so often heard that it has never been
so hopeless with the race as now and that
our salvation as a people hinges more
upon going to Africa than upon making
the most of where we are and of the
24
Lux Gentis Nigrae
situations about us, is but a repetition of
the rebellious behaviour of ungrateful
Israel of old and must be cured if it takes
biting- serpents and fiery judgments to do
so. There is no serious danger of the
masses provoking the Almighty to anger
from the sin of rebellion half so much as
from the sin of forgetfulness and down¬
right spiritual blindness. It is they who
should be eyes to the sightless multitude
who delay if not imperil their highest wel¬
fare at the hands of an unerring and
ever-gracious Providence.
Two more-thoughts of vital bearing
upon the subject and the conclusion of
these pertinent reflections is reached.
The pilgrimage traversed and obstacles
by the wayside have been disposed of in
a referential if not exhaustive way. It is
good for the race to glance backwards
and mark the milestones of its progress.
It is also stimulating" to its future strides
to be able to review the difficulties al¬
ready dispersed. The race can do both of
Lux Gentis Nigrae
25
the suggested duties with alacrity and
wholesome returns. What of the future
and what of the foe, are the thoughts
which remain to be reckoned with.
As to the adversaries of the race, the
habit of capitalizing them is too often in¬
dulged. . It is to be feared that more time
is lost in exercising concern over this bar¬
rier to our advancement than the royal
end to be attained doth warrant. Why
should one's foe be made so important as
to become formidable and retard rather
than aid in the onward march of the
struggle upward?
SUGGESTIONS OF HISTORY.
Moses and Pharaoh should serve as
perpetual studies to all race leaders of
doubtful courage and waning faith. One
had but a pitiable rod, the other was
armed with a monarch's sceptre. But in
the eye of God's chosen one the sceptre
was no more than a fragile stick, while
the shepherd's rod objectified a wonder¬
working wand. So was David's sling in
2 6 Lux Gentis Nigrae
contrast with Goliath's spear, and Gid¬
eon's pitchers with armies of the Am-
alekites. The fearful spies were unfit to
conduct the march to Canaan for they
feared the. sons of Anak. God's present
day leaders are not to be trusted with a
following if they can not muster courage
to urge their people to go forward in spite
of wicked men and bristling demons.
But what of the end and will it be
morning or noonday ? are questions which
will not down at reason's fiat or retre in
silence at the decree of faith. We want
to know will the Negro race ultimately
survive and gain ascendancy. His is the
only race that has looked the daring, dom¬
inant brother of ashen hue in the face and
lived. The Red man contested strength
with him and soon read his doom in the
setting sun. The Yellow man reared
towering walls of civilization that mocked
his dreams for countless centuries, but
those Chinese walls have bowed to the
white man's masterly tread and to-day he
Lux Gentis Nigrae
27
is virtually monarch of the Flowery
Realm. The Brown man has turned from
the gauntlet thrown down and contents
himself with what he is allowed to have,
ever suing for peace in the reminder to
Jap'het, "We are brethren."
REASSURING REFLECTIONS.
How comes it, and with what assump¬
tion does the black man, the youngest
child of the human family, dare aspire to
a place by his imperious white brother
and former master ? Intolerable gall they
say that black necks once under the heels
of white mastery should seek the orna¬
mentation of official trusts and govern¬
mental authority. Alas that the claims of
humanity and the teachings of history
should be forgotten or ignored. The
black man (represented by the aspiring
type) has never reached the ignoble depth
in which the ancestral white man reveled
for ages. It was never said of him, at
least as was said of the white man of the
past, that he is too inferior to measure up
2 8 Lux Gentis Nigrae
to the dignity of slavery. Suppose that
great Caesar's reproach of the white man
had been accepted as a standard by him
or his descendants. The most resplend¬
ent eras of the world's history would
than have been substituted by eons of bar¬
barism or the gray dawn of centuries of
semi-enlightenment for the race.
BASELESS CHARGES ANSWERED.
The cheap talk of "Negro inferiority,"
"Negro place" and "white man's country"
so current in certain parts of the land is
veriest bosh and rot of the driest kind.
Negro inferior! Shades of Epictetus,
the philosopher; Aesop, the moralist;
Hannibal and L'Overture, the world's
generals; Attucks, the patriot; Allen, re¬
ligious revolutionist and organizer;
Euclid and Banneker, mathematician and
astronomer; Wheatley and Dunbar, race
poets—all of whom were Negroes devoid
of the taint of blood admixture with the
much boasted superior white man.
The Almighty Ruler gave the white
Lux Gentis Nigrae
29
man temporary sway, but never perpetual
right of empire over the realms of mind
and mother earth. Hence all talk of em¬
igration, separation or deportation as
solvents of the so-called race unharmony
is the rankest sort of balderdash. The
"white man's country" forsooth! To his
rapacious, omnivorous, ungodly grasp-
ings that means a ruthless stampede
across the divinely staked-off regions set
apart for cycles to the dark or red or
olive colored race-varieties. If he has
gained the ascendancy by might he will re¬
tain it only by righteousness. The earth
is the Lord's and the meek shall inherit it
rather than proud and haughty nations.
TIME AND TRUTH FINAL HEALERS.
Old Father Time, aided by the sover¬
eign element of Almighty grace, has
wrought wonders in the human family
and will prove an irresistable leveller of
barriers against this Negro branch, the
youngest member. Let us recall the past
and the accounts must even now be bal-
3° Lux Gentis Nigrae
anced mightily in our favor. Our achieve¬
ments have been marvellous and our
status as decreed by God and fixed by the
sovereign powers ordained by Him is ir¬
revocable and lofty. The surgings of the
sea of human passion may threaten to
engulf or strand the bark on which we
journey, but all faithful reckonings by
sun or chart or by stars or compass will
show that our course i,s onward, for the
ocean's Master, who mapped out our
trackless . voyage knows how to conduct
the craft amid unseen rock and treacher¬
ous elements and bring us all in the end to
the glorious port of victory. Ever and
anon the sun may mantle His visage, but
He shines on behind the clouds. "At
evening there shall be light" is the sure
word of prophecy and always fulfilled in
the darkest hours of those who trust in
Heaven's guidance.