,^/ -^.^ ■• ' ^ 0° / ■ 1-. _ "■•^-o. ^-- i^ » - 0^ • ■' V o' ^ °x. V « ■/ ■"t. "^;> f / 0^ . > • ■~' o , A • « * _.?' V '^H. .V ^\ .V 'f^ 'V, .ct. ^-^/ -.^m^^s .v^ ^ A^ *> ?^^ 1^ V-^^ -S^. t >5°x Jo .0^ * « ' ,^0 yVJ a * V .<^ , o « o A^ /.-F$?^< ^^o O N C ^ ^ C .^^ o -^ ^^^^ ^..V^' /^ ^^ t^.o^ V .-. '^<-^ ^^ ^^ ^u -y^wS'^ 0^ '^^ A* A o. .■;> N •^' -^ "^ ■:i - a?0 ■^-s^" A^^-^-- '^. r^' ' .0 _.. <*. '••'\^^^ ^^^^^ -^ .^^ v^. '>*^ A ^ ' . . s ' \V/k-„ -^^ A^ -f ^ >- 4 ^ < /.c:^."^ .A o « o *' '^^"•^.^ \^BS .<^^^~\ ^^^^iV^/ '^^ -" A- uonBAJasaJd "The Missing Link" and The Howard Theatre BY J. ARTHUR DAVIS. A. B. Former Theatre Manager WASHINGTON, D. C. Price 15 Cents. 4 ;-3 Do Not Remove 71-49 (rev 6/93) "The Missing Link" and The Howard Theatre BY J. ARTHUR DAVIS, A. B. Former Theatre Manager WASHINGTON, D. C. 1911 MURRAY BROS. PRESS Washington; D. C. \ aV The bequesi: of Daniel Murray, Washington, D. C. 1925. ■ ^1/ A 1 FOREWORD Cub Motto: "Thiv End Justifies the Means." flE co-existence of the Americo-Anglo-Saxon and the Afro-American presents an aspect at once tragic and unparalleled. This Americo- Anglo-Saxon sprang from the loins of the com- monwealths of England and Germany, of France and Spain — in short from the Caucasion race whose history reputes it to have been a globe-trotting gambler : *' Whose game was empire And whose stakes were thrones, Whose table the earth, Whose dice were human bones." From the branches of this race the American-Anglo-Saxon has been moulded into a most hardy and virile type of man — into a highly complex civilization. Pitted against him is the Afro-American evolved from the lowest tribes of West Africa; and moulded into what? Into the arts and devices of oppression mastered by the Americo-Anglo- Saxon ; and into the dire strategem of those leading Negroes ap- pointed by Americo-Anglo-Saxon public sentiment. The Afro- American forms what? An invisible world. In it the average Afro-American builds a veneered civilization. So long had the Afro-American those slave masters who se- lected his habitat, his food, his raiment, his family life, that his volition, nay, his every sensibility, was impaired, and the average A fro- American walks in this invisible world only semi-conscious of things about him — rather careless, happy, singing and laughing his occasional troubles away and forming a spiral development. He seems to regard the Americo-Anglo-Saxon government as an inexorable natural order of things which man did not help to construct ; and which he should not attempt to impeach. r^r\ TTe frets and fumes awhile, but this is hke the action of the farmer who grows sullen behind the plow because of excessive heat or rain, and who is just as likely to pray as to swear; he finally consoles himself that this weather is God's business, His natural laws, and that he has no right to interfere, and so he moves on. Accordingly, we see the average Afro-American suffering the Americo-Anglo-Saxon to throw into this invisible world every humiliation — he endures every pollution, every rapacity, every in- adequacy, every inefficiency — in fact, anything, rather tlian bravely dare the responsibilities of freedom ! The purpose of. "The Secret Boycotting and Equitable Club'" is to espouse the cause of the oppressed. It is in the interest of this new school movement that this booklet has been written. The Author. The Missing Link and The Howard Theatre By J. ARTHUR DAVIS, A. B. There are only two fundamental necessities, namely: That which protects mankind from heat and cold, and that which satis- fies hunger and thirst. The essential ingredient and charm of man's endeavor beyond the securing of actual necessities is luxury and achievement. If the climate which man inhabits does not naturally furnish his ne- cessities, he must develop the economic fitness to produce them. The ambition merely to secure necessities is often true as well of a given people as of individuals. This difference of ambition largely accounts for a variation of development ; for to the extent that man realizes his own personality, puts forth all his powers and potencies and unfolds the flower of his being, he develops certain traits, both mental and tempermental, newer methods and systems to utilize production and to foster transportation and communication. Thus he expands himself to wider influences and newer social conditions, both as to each individual to the other, also to society and surrounding peoples. Anent such expansion two instincts, which fundamentally char- acterize mankind in his complex relation to society, grow one or the other, more or less pertinent, to wit : The instinct to control and the instinct to submit. These instincts are noticeably true of children on playgrounds where one, or more, assume or affect to assume, the lerylership in plays, or more particularly among men in their daily contact where the fittest control. But the greatest exhibition of these instincts occurs between races, more or less, and is an appalling aspect in our state — country, as observed be- tween the Anglo-Saxon especially, and the Negro, we may add, wherever these two peoples largely intermingle in physical contact. Born of a climate which forces them to acquire a great economic and social efficiency, the whites have developed preparedness to exercise very keenly, even despotically, the sense of control, while the Negro, born of opposite climate, making his condition neces- sarily one of comparative submission, has often and philosophic- ally exercised the instinct of submission. Some writers consider this quality of the Negro evidence of an inherent inferiority. WilHam Benjamin Smith, author of "The Color Line," in an academic and sentimental outburst exclaims : "Has it just happened that, in all quarters of the world and under all climatic and topographic conditions East and West, North and South, Iieneath the tropics and within the frozen circles, by the sea and amid the mountains, in snow, in sand, in forest — that everywhere and everywhen the Caucasian has manifested the same all-conquering, over-mastering qualities — not always good or kind or just, hut always strong, always striving, always victorious? And never and nowhere and under no circumstances, has the black man displayed any such capacities as could bring him for a moment into consideration as the white man's equal?" . . . "The race is what its life is and has been" . . . "Accordingly, the Negro being concededly inferior to the white, there is no hope of raising him to the white level by education or civilization.". . . "This question is: what has the future in store for the Negro? If social equality must be resolutely denied him forever, if he is to be treated as an outcast and a pariah, because of his race and the weight of inheritance which he can never shake off from his shoulders, what hope remains? Where are the blessings of freedom? Is their emancipation but an apple of Sodoni turning to ashes on his lips?" It is interesting as well as remarkable, or rather painful, to observe the many devices the whites have contrived from time to time to exercise control over the Negro. The first was physical or chattel slavery. This Western civilization was growing too complex to longer tolerate, hence other or kindred forms of op- pression were invoked ; these are : (a) Seduction of courts to humiliate and crucify Negroes, (b) Lynching bees, mobs and burning at the stake. (c) Disfranchisement, (d) Peonage, chain-gangs and fraudulent contracts, (e) "Jim Crowism," "Optional Jim Crowism," (/) Sensational Journalism. (g) Industrialism. (h) Christianity (used as an excuse to teach obedience). (i) Etc., etc., etc. To summarize : If chattel slavery were mostly ph3'sical, these kindred forms of oppression effect in the Negro an intellectual slavery. It was this chain of circumstances which made neces- sary, if he be neccssarv. a Booker T. Washington, a man of many proportions and at times a very ugly spectacle ; but a perfect mirror of Afro-Americans. In him is found perfected their diplo- matic or philosophic nature and disposition which this chain of circumstances demands and to which Afro-Americans have ada])ted themselves in order to exist side by side with the white American. Although the acute soviTcign spirit and better manhood of Afro-Anierioans died ore Harriet Beeoher Stowe wrote, or John Brown wept, or even before Lincohi issued from the womb of tune, white sentiment has held forth this man as a mediator between tlie two races as if to watch over the Negro and to impeach his aims as a man, by using wrongfully a needed factor, the industrial regime to espouse this cause. As if industrialism were more hoalthy in serfdom than intellectualism. Accorrlingly, industrial- ism being pitted against serfdom at the South and unionism at the North, it has reacted to impress the masses of Negroes to under- rate themselves, to retrace their steps, as it were, from matters highl}' intellectual and of state to keep quiet and demand less than average Americans. This man has had no more impress upon their thrift and industry than a thunderbolt has upon the change of seasons. The further result nationally has been prac- tically to reduce the Negro, North and South, to the same civil level and to an insignificant quantity in politics. As the great upheavel of the Civil War severed States asunder, gave the Negro legislative power and executive authority, brought forth altruistic and philanthropic friends, and as the causes of this ui)heaval were removed, the States coalesced, Negroes lost gradu- ally their power, influence and friends, even so will the surging tide of industrialism subside as the latent causes expire which produced them ; which causes were to reduce nationally the Negro to a given and fixed humiliated level. Thus will end three dis- tinct epochs of the Negro's history — slavery, enfranchisement, and the making of him a half-man. The death of Mr. Washington and his work will be coincident. Five years after this event will be amply sufficient, despite law and order, for his State to turn Tuskegee over to the white youths, r.ut for all this, he is blameless and well-intentional in his de- meanor; his race bore and nurtured him; Africa made his race; God made all. Fix the responsibility ! Like Blind Tom, he is a monstrosity. To Blind Tom every sound was music and he could reproduce it. To Mr. Washington everything inter-racial is peace and harmony, and all matter needs industrializing. Could he command the tail of the comet, he would hang it over Tuskegee. Lynch him! Breathe a new life into his being, even then with the courtesy of an "After-you-my-dear-Gaston," he would ex- claim. "All is peace and order." 'Tn things social we can be as separate as the fingers, but in things industrial, we can be one aa the hand !" Prominent men always embody certain traits of their people, and their conduct and achievement are dependent upon the social efficiency of that people. The social efficiency of ditTerent peoples often makes vast dilTerences in their men. When the International Suntlay School convention offered memliership to President Diaz of Mexico, he is said to have re- marked : ■■\\ hen a people like the Americans draw th.e cokir line on hiack people and 1 accept membership, with my republic full of black men, who are manning our railroads, army and national industries, 1 would be unfit to make laws for any people. The black man has rights and privileges in Mexico that the world must respect and 1 will not wash my hands by accepting a membership in an association which seeks to enslave my fcllowman." _ "J trust the American Xegro will not weaken, Init will fight for his rights until the judgment day, when we shall all meet Him face to face." ]\lr. Washington accepted this membership with the deepest graditude. It is noteworthy that race sentiment and volition must produce men capable of leadershi}) and correct their attitude; must eli'ect moral evolutions. In this essential Afro-Americans have been very inert. It is grievous to observe their pacific nature and en- durance of humiliation. Neither oppression nor current events have had much effect upon this disposition. The Revolt of San Domingo Blacks, which brought their free- dom, precipitated freedom in Venzuela, Brazil, Jamaica, and com- pelled Napoleon to exclaim: "Tf a handful of Negroes in San Domingo can destroy my legions, I could not hold Louisiana in case of war. I will .sell at once." This, we say, failed to inspire Afro-Americans. Nor did they give John Brown a passing notice, and, nay, shamefully remained hjyal and enslaved after the North had clashed with the South, till they were asked and sought to shoulder arms, thus paving their way to a probable endless oppres- sion upon American soil. The assasin's dart or the power of an explosive, thev know not. nor have they volunteered one drop of blood during all their dis- franchisement. It would seem that, if Anglo-Saxons arc masters of the art to control, Afro-Americans are masters of the art to submit. To further demonstrate racial relation, it seems sufficient to ex- pound chiefly two devices, namely: (1) "Jim Crowism," and, incidcntly, Separatencss. (2) Optional "Jim Crowism." "Jim Crowism" is a peculiar device of the artful Anglo-Saxon. Tt arises from a sense of bh^od superiority that causes a hostile pubHc opinion which cHscriminates in influencing courts to render ■ liscriminatory decisions, or legislators to pass segregating laws. "Jim Crowism" does not assume that the Negro is inferior, it asserts it, and proceeds to authorize him to act accordingly. Such signals, "This Car for \Miites Only," "This Entrance for Col- ored," "Xo dogs, cats or Negroes allowed in here," are pertinent reminders of this sense of blood superiority. It is an incentive to whites to form greater race volition, and administers a sort of hypnotic state of mind into the weaker Negro, effecting his belief that probably he is a little inferior to whites. He proceeds to minimize his sense of rights and unconsciously responds by conduct to that feeling. "Jim Crowism" aims squarely at the mind. Tt is a dangerous and curious hypnotic. "Jim Crowism" and the misconstrued con- ceptions of industrialism have had as sordid an effect upon the Negro as the opium habit upon Chinese. It is difficult for the average mind to tell where "Jim Crowism" begins or ends. Herein lies the ensnaring force and occult power. "Jim Crowism" must be distinguished from separateness and optional "Jim Crowism." Separateness is an outgrowth of race integrity and race volition to maintain self-respect and manliness against discrimination, and to develop an individual species and racial projection to the exclusion of any alien relation likely to propagate spurious ties and bonds, or humiliation. It is the posi- tive act of a oeople voluntarily to accommodate themselves to supply their ov>'n demands and thereby save racial pride. The most noteworthy incident of separateness sprang from the Japanese troul)le on the Pacific Slope. After the Russo-Japanese \\^ar the expanding energies of the Flowery Kingdom resulted in considerable immigration to this country, precipitating agitation for the exclusion of Japanese laborers and the Jim-Crowing of Japanese children in the public schools of San Francisco. As an alternative to accepting "Jim Crowism," or sending the United States an ultimatum as a causa belli. Japan adopted the following policy of Separateness, to mention : That Japan herself be esteemed the privilege and accorded the confidence to regulate and restrict her own laborers or immigration in accordance with her dignity and honor. This conceded, she did thus and followed that step quietly by the policy, "Asia for the Asiatics, and Japan for the Queen of Asia." To-flay the hand of the Mikado directly directs, but quietly and secretly, the policy of the Orient. ll is further ir.entionabic that the A. M. E. Chui\-h and .VegTi- llaptist Churches are exam|)les of Negro Separateness. (2) Optional "Jim Crowisni" arises from the mercenary -in- stinct anil sagacity of whites to make monetary profits from supplying the demarids of weaker Negroes wherever that demand arises from "jim-Cruwing " Negroes from a particular place or places of amusements or where there is possibility of social intermingling. Optional "Jim Crowism" is more economic than racial. Self-respect, manliness, sufficient to refuse to patronize such enterprises, and investments to establish enterprises similar to those which white mercenaries establish to accommodate Negroes, are expedient and indispensable. l>eing socially o*^tracized it is but a policy of separateness to foster such enterprises. This practically aiuotmts to a boycott, and is a sure panacea for op- tional "Jim Crowism." i>ul the remedy for blotting out "Jim Crowism" remains undi>- covered. It is rather too late, or seems so, for the Negro to blot it out. To do so now would require more manhood than the Negro has hitherto possessed, much money, and possibly the sheddir.g of much blood. To approach practical cases and review the.se "Isms." as found in W ashington, D. C. Mere is an enornious field for Negro energy along aesthetic and constructive lines. Where there is a demand there must be a supph*. As the aesthetic tendency of a people grows proper amusement must be fostered. As to shows, anent such demand a few energetic Negroes established four motion picture and vaudeville houses : Alaceo, Minnehaha. The Ford Dabney. and Hiawatha, all in the "vicinity of the True Reformers' Hall, They were w^ell patronized at first, but did not supply the demand of one hundred thovisand Negroes. This economic fact and the kindred and social fact that in this city large first-class tlieaters bar Negro show^s and "Jim Crow" Negro patronage, the further fact that all white moti(/n j)icture houses either "Jim Crow" Negroes, or peremptorily demand no Negro patronage 'at all. gives occasion to white mer- cenaries to make even a stampede at establishing optional "Jim- Crow" theaters for Negroes. Enough to prick the heart of an Ajax ! This depravity is, when whites "Jim Crow" Negroes either in or from every available and respectable amusement place, or in cases of common carriage, thus driving them upon their own resources for pleasure as a last resort; and then when the white mercenaries invade that last resort to build optional "Jim Crow" 10 tlicalcrs. or other i)lai.-i.s of arnusenients, to accommodate Xcgrocs to the practical exchision of whites is just as humiliating and damaging as any established contlitions of "■Jim Crovvism.'" Jt is notewiirtin dial, ( 1 ) The owners employ, as a designation of these sliows. names generally t)f heroic whiles whi) have liisloric re])Utation for achievement in l)ehalf of Negroes and to \\h .in Negroes more or less feel gratefvd. Such names are: "The Lincoln," and "'TIk' Moward." I ly this Uiey intend a sym])atin-. though maudlin, a-^ an incaicemeni. Note their reser\ation of self-respect and l(*yalt\' to iheir own I'ace. They do not name a;iy after notefl Negroes. ( ■<; ) They gcnerallv use Xegroes to n.ianage. more espec'ally to o])eraie, >\hh shows. '1 he fact that they direct such shows through Negroes neither lessens their blighting eli'ect nor in any way ameliorates the gravity of the situation, it is simply an imposing compromise tor patronage. Think of it ! Some mercenaries were so auda- cious as to invade the comnmnity of True Reformers' Mall and t;) establish an optional "jim-Crow" theater and to name it "The Howard!' Think of the community and think of the presuni])- tion. Here is a community which, in religious and educational athantages. in culture and relinement, in mmistrv and churches, is the peer of any in all America! The presumj)tioii was, that neither wealth, nor culture, nor science, nor art, nor moralit}-. nor religioif — not even Christianit}- itself — can teach the Xegrcj self-respect, manliness and the love of rights. It is quite generally known that this conimunitv boycotted this theater and that therefore its doors were never opened b\- white mercenaries. It was olitained b}- colored men and le-named "Minnehaha." r.ut how far could the boycott extend? CouM the success of this boycott stimulate and ins])ire Xegro Washington to make a bo}Cott as universal as is o])tional "Jim Crowism"? Not hardlv. Some urge that it w-as a boycott; it was not a bo\'cott, that since this theater was surrounded by three others, it was doomed, as an economic failure, in the minds of the>e mercenaries. Xot so: the self-res])ect of this communit}-, and the fact that their demand for this kind of amusement was being supplied by nearby shows, owned and' operated by X'^egroes, easily stimulated the boycott to success. Mr. Keys, manager of "lliawatha," ve- hemenlK ;isks, "lias the Xegro ever been known so grossK- to 11 /r/ resent intrusions upon his inanliDod and selt-rcspect as to make ft l)0}'COtt ?'" The boycott ceased here; but the animus of mercenaries has held on with undaunted courage. We observe that mercenaries from I'.altimore have estabhshed \Aith a jiffy an optional "Jim Crow." large, high-class theater on T Street." between vSixth and Seventh Streets, X. \V. They name it "The Howard," too. What a coincidence! What a sponge on this name! Can it be boy- cotted? Should it be? Let us sec. It is very logically and cen- trally located from a strategic point for local patronage. A white theatrical manager remarks to me : "This theater is located in a community of a different class of Negroes from those of the True Reformers' Community. As a whole, they have less self-respect and are not as comfortably situated. l' think this theater will take." It has a full sweep at the ra1)ble element of our race down Seventh Street. Northeast of it has the Le Droit Park com- munity ; that, though for the most is the social equal of the com- jnunity about True Reformers" Hall, has decidedly not the csf'rif ■ dc corps which essentially makes and asserts self-consciousness, manliness, and racial integrity. To the east lies a community very decidedly middle class, largely mixed with rabble elements. Thus the average tendency is an average Negro communitv, \\'ere these mercenaries sagacious? Did they know that this city is the Capital of the Union ? That the average Negro has equal opportunities for education, for general uplift, in line, for general civilization ? 1 fence, did they know whether the average Negro's self-respect would forbid such voluntary hmniliation of himself to patronize this show? Some things it is certain they knew. They knew that the average Negroes are supporting at least five optional "Jim-Crow" theaters running j^racticallv for their ex- clusive patronage. They knew there is a shameful incident where the management of the theater separates Negroes from whites l)y a partition about six feet high, like a stall in a stable, and that the Negroes virtually swarm this place. They knew, too, of another theater where the management separates the foul Negroes from the clean, and the clean Negroes from the whites. Tliey perhaps knew that in down-town first-class theaters the manage- ment cannc^t pull the Negro out of theaters, either bv his ears. or his toes. They certainly did not know, however, th;it there is ncjt a ])recedcnt in this country where a one-hundrcd-thousand-dollar enterprise was based rather exclusively upon a siii(jlc iicccssitx of 12 ihe Xcgro. unless U were rcliguuis. sirk nv (KatlT iK'iiclits, \vliich are liis fundanieiital. unax-oidahlc iineslnuiils. I lence, it w ill likely fail economically, if not boycotted. Should it be boycotted? .■Ibsolittcix s<>. I'.ecause (1) such in- vasions are an enormous calamity, being a solvent upon the Negro's efforts at enterprise and racial organization, and make for a serious crisis. For only such an effort can possibly save the Negro in this complex, industrial and harsh civilization. The average and industrious elements of a people are the bulwark of its future. Jf they are allured and dissolved what hoi)e remains v" Certainly none. It is well to mention that the Lincoln Memorial P.uilding Com- pany, of Negroes, planned a four-hundred-thousand-doUar enter- l)ris'e, the purpose of which was to furnish one h.rst-class theater, fifty store-rooms, a convention hall, and many other accommoda- tions. A wise plan! Ikit did nut this tloward invasion react largelv as a solvent u])on the theater feature of it? Did it not react likewise upon the P'ord Dabney, Hiawatha, Minnehaha and !Maceo? and even enormously disturb Church organization and welfare? The two latter theaters finally failed. ( 2 ) He who owns and operates a theater becomes as much a power and lever of influence t(_) mold the moral character of a community as a minister of the gospel. Unfortunately, as in New York, large theaters which use much female talent have catered to female slave traffic, thus destroying many daughters of good names. Only when shows are under the ownership and direction of Negroes can they ever be benefactors to Negroes. By reason of their social exclusiveness, whites alienate their sympathetic ties for high moral usefulness to Negroes which such business status re((uires. So much is this true that the same kind of show, owned and operated by Negroes, for Negroes, will have a diff'erent moral effect, if owned and operated by whites, for Negroes, or owned by whites and operated through Negroes, for Negroes. Not only in amusements, but where have whites ever added nobility to Negro morality ? Their moral supervision stingeth as an adder and is as blighting as the scourging footsteps of an Attila. It reacts as a sofvent upon Negro family life, the bond of marriage is loosened, posterity is degenerated, society rushed headlong, a wdiole com- luunitv falls wounded to its deadly clutches, nay, what floodgates of licentiousness does it not unlock and what a mighty hand it nuist be that can close them again? I'.ad. indeed, that Negroes 13 Imve 11. >( pn.pfrh grasped this inexorable iialural law uf Iiiiinan nature. {'■U A theater is an echteator. To control the education of a people is to rule that people, hallut to the contrary notwithstand- ing. It is to controvert the aims, the purposes, antl the energies of a people. The w hites no longer depend upon military prowess, ••r physical tact, to achieve dominant sway. In their luxury of achievement they are willing to match gray matter against gray matter. com])etitor against competitor under slight adverse con- ditions of the other fellow. Control the juind of a man or a people, the liml)s and body will follow. There is England in colonization granting minor privileges to petit heathen Kings as bribery, giving the stubborn Dinizulla a few thousand dollars annually, and two pianos and six wives, and l^ranting the little King of L'gandi eighteen thousand annually, and attempts to pacify restless India by placing a native East Indian in high Council. She fostered most vigorously the opium traffic in China ; and the United States sends missionaries to the l'hilip])ines to carry Christianity, using it as an excuse to teach •jljedience. while mercenaries sell intoxicants instinctively sub- ♦luing Philippinos by inspiring their inefficency. White public sentiment tolerates ^fr. Washington to ride un- molested, as no other Xegro can, in rirst-class sleeping cars any- nhere in the South, thus militating against undoing "Jim Crow- jsm." and helping to make him a victim rather than an advocate of industrialism. To bend one people's mind to suit another's fancies is no new scheme. This deteriorating fact is significant even of chattel slavery. It so suppressed the sensibilities of Afro-Americans as to impair their imagination and originality. Hence, even our present day leaders are seldom foimd projecting themselves into the future to promulgate any great cause. They ratlier fall into rank after white dictation and leadership, thus becoming grapha- plvjuic orators. If their assignee! cause has been developed, they may be seen to linger around it as stutted aninTal's of prey loiter around the bones of a carcass, too sloven t(> seek a new tield. iiven the energ)'^ to ])rol)e FocaT conditions anrf to seek their remedy is essentiall}' imi)arrefL The fact of the X'egro hving surrounded bv ever\- AnuTican institution is ]x)und iv assimilate him largely and to unmake him oi himself. Xaturally. then, devices ma\- occasfonalh- entrap even the best muuls of the race, inlluencing them to endor>e, without second 14 / lliought, schemes which arc decidedly injurious lu this race. Thus, ]^-of. Kelly Miller, an authunty on race issues, passes unohserxed the liuniiliation of tl)e Howard Theater. lie writes: Mr. J. A. Davls^ Arvcrne, L. I» My clear Sir : — ■ hi response to youf favnf I l)i.'<4 leave to sa\ that from present indica- tions, it seems Uu4t the Howard Theatre will he well patronized. As I understand it, this is not a "Jim Crow" theatre, but one in which colored Americans will not be discriminated against, as they are in every other playhouse in the city. Yours truly, Kelly Miller. Washington, D. C, Aug. 13, 1010. This is a remarkahle letter, not only as intlicative of the man. but in that it illustrates the peculiar impulse excited in Afro- Americans hy advertisement — the white man's most uniciue edu- cator. It is characteristic of this man that lacking invitation to institute agitation he hecomes an academic philosopher and re- solves ag-itation into a classic. In the storm of agitation he is a polished hero and classic demagogue ; but as the storm subsides he grows as calm as a crocodile basking in an African sunlight. Here is the premier status he fails to appreciate. In Washing- ton two conditions face theater manasfers or owners : (1) That legally the Negro in Washington has equal social nrivilcge. without this, that any theater, hotel, or restaurant, has the right to segregate him, but must meanw hile give equal service otherwise. (2) Sociall}-, the physical law, that two bodies — in other words, tlie white man and the Negro — cannot occupy the same space at the same time, is practical and enforced. Hence these theatrical mercenaries evidently ascertained that this social ostracism demanded three distinct classes of theaters in order to pay : {a) A theater must cater exclusively to white tra in boycottirg the First Howard, they would use niueh di])l,,macv t(> advertise the Howard, far and near, as a theater without discrimination. Why (Hscriminate "in any part" when it is built for Xegroes? If it 'be built for Xegroes.'is it not discrimination inherent in the enterprise itself, inherent in the social conditions of the two races, and inherent in the social conditions of this com- munity and city wlien social conditi.jns demand that a Xegro theater be built to itself? To say it is exclusively for Negroes is practically true. A few whites, such as Greeks. Jews and Dagoes, will inter- mingle here with Xegroes. which circumstance is largely induced by this social opportunity to excite lower passion between the races. A Jew remarks to me that: "This theater will be built for the best class of colored people and the prices and management will be regidated to kee]) the lower classes away." Why should the best blood of the Negro race be intermingled w ith. and polluted by, these deteriorated descendants of Isaac and Jacob. Demos- thenes and Aristotle, Qesar and Cicero? This grade of social equality, which is so common at the X'orth, excites no better than the lower passions. This relation, is it moral or immoral? Jt is neither. It is positivelv non-mofal. It is more pitiful than strange that a peculiar social environment, the press and so-called white friends, can educate our leaders to regard as wholesome such stigma of e([ualit\-. What grapha- phones thev be ! Hon. I\. H. Terrell, judge of tlie .Municipal Court, also over- looks, but more grossly, these inherent social conditions, and seems solely afflicted with tlie (Hi)Ioniatic advertisements of white mercenaries. He writes in scr\ility: Mr. J. Arthur Davis, Dear vSir: hi answer tn your c|mrv T have tn say Uiat the Howard is not to be a house exc'iisively for colored people. Everybody will he welcomed aiul there will he no discrimination at all in any part of the theatre hecanse of color. It is unfortunate that because colored people are to be treated as they should be at the Howard that the impression is yetting- abroad that it is to be for colored iieojjle oidy. The better class of Xegroes here would resent such ;iu enterprise bittcrlv-. li. We hope the day will never come when we shall draw the line against anv people on account of their color. \'onrs trulv. k. H. Tl.KKKLL. His closing sentence would suggest that the judge is a student nf Mars and entirel}- unfamiliar with this ])lanet. Has not the line been drawn against the Xegro from the ver\- day he hrst landed as a slave at Jamestown? Investigation among the aver- age Negroes seems to reveal two elements: (-)ne extorts, "1 can't see discrimination in it." This is the dumb element. Another, "Our men who have money will not build us a big theater." This is the inconsistent element. A white policeman, discussing theaters, remarks: "T think Xegroes are fools for not building a large theater for themselves." Aly black countrymen, say. think, do what you may. it were not the purpo.se of civilization. Christian, or pagan, to nourish a people giviiig themselves willingly to humiliation, it rather extermin- ates, sweeps from the very face of the earth such drones. Evolu- tionists have long exhausted their patience to discover "The ]\Iissing Link." Stupid fellows they were ! For that phenome- non is easily formed in the person or persons who regularly, knowingly, premeditatingly, and willingly submit themselves to attend optional "Jim Crow" enterprises. If you persistently surrender yourselves as "The Missing Link." was not the Civil War fought in vain ? Was not the franchise an imposition upon the State? And was not the work of philanthropists an idle dream or distorted emphasis? Why appeal to legislators or courts for action against "J'm Crowism," if you yourselves persistently and willingly support optional "Jim Crowism," or tolerate your weaker brother to support the same, which is just as humiliating as "Jim Crowism"? Do you think legislators, judges, or jurors are aslee]:) and unmindful ot vom- conduct? If vou take to optional "Jim Crowism" as natur- ally as birds take to the air and fishes to the sea, could they not justly and reasonably conclude that class legislation is in accord- ance with vour nature, that submission to. whites is a law of vour action and therefore as inexoral)le as an^■ organic law of nature? If you accept a given humiliating status and willingly make it a part of your life. }-our very nature, why blame courts or legislatures for afterwards stamping it as a correct status for vou to occupy, by their official action and sanction? As if the inherent qualities, the development from within, do not determine a people's social and political status. As if any people were not 17 arbitrators of their own future. Can legislatures leg^islate. or courts prescribe, one people equal to another, or can they reduce any people inferii)r? Jnfleed, neither can they do. These f jun- tanis (It justice may occasionallv assist or inconvenience a people. that's all. 11 "jiin Crow" cars and tlisfranchiseinent represent an humble, submissive spirit or nature, and poor economic fitness in the pvoi)le that permanently endure them, not solelv cheap class legis- lation as generally ])r()claimed. \\ hy should any Xegro community of this city support optional ■■jim Crowism"? They have little complaint against equal pro- tection of law. for etjual opptjrtunities for livelihood, have their churches and Sunday schools, public schools and university fa- cilities, in tine, they are in ample touch with civilization and breathe (lirect the very atmosphere from the dome of the Capitol of the Nation. Should not these things make anv communitv noble, manly, self-respecting? Does the work of civilization not flo for them what it does for other ])eoples? What shall we expect of our fellows in the swamps of Alabama or ]^Iississippi. or in the jungles of Zululand? This situation involves the interest of all Afro-Americans. To I)e disfranchised or to ride in a ""Jim Crow'' car may be a temporarv legal compulsion, and to be peoned or Ivnched may be teniporarily unavoidal)le, though even these things are not neces- sarily so; but to indulge in optional ■"Jim Crowism" is at once preventable and an exhibition of shameful weakness. Nay, can such people so careless of themselves be trulv elevated, substan- tially protected by the Stater If these "Jsms" administer a certain hypnotic state of mind to weaker Negroes causing certain partial loss of self-consciousness, there axe certain antiseptics w hich can revive them. Discover these, whatever they be ; use them at any cost. Whatever be your future to unfetter yourselves from oppres- sion's many horrors, it is absolutely certain that you must first develo]) sullicient ])ublic sentiment within the race to coerce first till- weaker members to shun discrimination before you can coerce the opposite race to abandon discrimination. If you would blot out Jim Crowism. which is authorized In- state and I*Vderal authorities, you must first have energy ancl courage enough to boycott optional "Jim Crowism" which is not any constituted authority at all. but iinreh- re])i-(,'vc'nts some alert mercenaries offering allurement^ .iiid iridiicement?<. 18 "]\m Crowism" sa3's to you: "Vou are an inferior^ I i\u) the iron-clad hand of authority, State and I^ederal. This is ymir place ; get into it, under penalty of law." Optional "Jim Crowism" says: "Oh, well, vou know you arc 'The Missing Link,' but that is all right; let's be triends. 1 have a place for you. You need a little recreation and 1 need the money ; won't you come in ?" Oh, you self-appointed mercenary humanitarians, maudlin sym- pathizers and pseudo-Negrophilists, what nerve ! What ])resum])- tion you entertain of this people ! But you, my black countrymen, owe it to yourselves to boy- cott optional "Jim Crow" enterprises. Why not mould the character of your own sons and daughters? They are not only born of you, but of all your ancestry ; to them your other pos- terity will be born. Theaters are benefactors ; but to be such requires more discre- tion and guardianship than the alien sympathy of whites will allow them to exercise for Negroes. The infusion of immoral animus is an inducement, especially in the traffic of females. If the white man has ever guarded and protected Negro woman- hood, such event has not yet reached written history. We await the arrival of such behavior in him just as laboriously as we await light travelling from some distant star since creation which has not yet reached the earth. You complain that "it takes time to accomplish this or that." We hear too much of the time element in history ; what is it ? When will it be ? Shall we conjecture it will be when spiders grow bigger than elephants, or when women lose their pride, or when orang outangs play mumble peg in Dahomey ? There runs the white man with the wealth and culture «.)f the ages — all he has vaulted since before oracles sang at Delphi ; and since he left the swamps of Germany. He runs and the ca- pacity of his lungs enlarges as the square of the distance in- creases from the starting point. There are you running after him with what wealth ? The burden of your own weight, whisper- ing in panting breath that in the fulness of time and in the ripen- ing of the occasion, you will spring from the trite of this pace as if out of a panoramic box and force a halt on the white man. Fellow residents, why extenuate your condition? Why equivo- cate, as if your education were at fault ? You are the best educa- ted Negro aggregation in all the earth ; as if your religion interfered ; the religion which Christ taught, encourages the 19 ]>ractico of nuinliiK's<. self-rosi)ect and love of riglits. I lave you tliat religion'-' ]f not, then your religion interferes with your freedom. If a religion interferes with your freedom, fetter tluit rrliijion and yet freedom. Where is your individuality and the moral and coercive force of your churches? Ciod. Ill}' people, look here ! Is it possible that you are really by instinct charmed and \ictimized h}- Caucasian discriminatory and humiliating devices? i'hilosophers tell me that instinct is non-progressive and unchangeable; and that from instinct the mocking bird sings the same notes to-day that it sang a thousand years ago; and llic eagle has not ad\anced ouc iota in skill since Xoah built his Ark, either in nestling her voung or in encircling the mountains. If yours be instinct, ah, then, black men; oh, your fate ! There is a hereafter to wliich we all go. but what torment is worse than endless oppression? What a pang of mind! What a misery of soul ! What a Naming conscience ! I'ut you only sleep ; arouse, summon your strength, harass, tor- ment "The Missing Link." boycott all optional "Jim Crowism" ; nav. eliminate all discriminatory "Isms"; may long live self- respect, manliness, rmd the Spirit of Freedom. 2(> H2 3 -.-., -> ,^ ,\ ■sV^O^ -> 4.^ .U ■^~ V. •J • ^ A * ^e V o ' . -.^ " ■'-^Cr.,^' 'W^. ^" ' * ". 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