,0 :) 4* /^ '^ s^ .^' \^ o -^ > V .^V'.-l'^ c J to V. i' .r. .^ - 0^ .0 ^^ ^. -N'^' ^^, //^] A-'"-^ V -x^ > ^ » ■■•v . O o /. k\ \ • . . ^ .'5v , " c ^ <;> c 0' c V^ .<^ -^^^ O K ^1 <..''■"/>€-* c ^^^^ : A u c o .-) o , ^ .'^ V "-^^ ^ V \^' -r o '^ 3 « O ^ <■ ^ ''^ r.^ / A ^^ ^0 . • " -» o c^ *' •♦ o •^ ' :> ■ ■p .^ . "-.. W o -X ^ .> I o ^ ■ • ♦ ^^/. ^ £> :o^ .^ \ o ; '^.^ *< V \^' .^ ^ \^' '>- r^ V' r^ ''i^^ i3 . 1 ^^'^^ ^ ^ V • o^ . s •.« . . ■^'-. A^' ^ ■7 7 * ~> .^ .0 ^- ^-<. c L ' S f o "2. -. O » A A^ ;■ -^^^ <^' O N O ^ ^^ 9 I ^ A> The Evolution of A Bootblack RUFUS • B- TOBEY T, 'i7. i-.o:;h X FINISHED PRODUCTS Returning from an extended Euro pean trip on an ocean steamer, I made the acquaintance of a fellow passenger, the head of the book de- partment of a leading New York publishing house. In "talking shop** with him, I found he was interested in The Boston Floating Hospital, which I founded. But he was more interested in other lines of my work of nearly a quarter of a century. He told me the question had been asked many times whether formative or reformative work permanently suc- ceeded. Using his own expression **Are there any finished products?'* After I had given him several in- stances, he urged me to write up enough to make a book and send the manuscript to him. I have not as yet found time to comply with his request, but for present purposes will give ''The Evolution of a Bootblack.'* 3 THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK BORN of a slave mother, Nathan McGill knows the day and month and place of his birth, but not the year. But he also knows that as a pickaninny he was hungry for an education. The first steady money he earned was as a bootblack in a barber ,'shop. Next he learned the trade of barber, ac- quiring knowledge at irregular intervals until it became possible for him to matricu- late as a regular student in a Methodist Episcopal Academy at Jacksonville, Fla., whose principal secured for him a chance to run a barber shop at Monument Beach during the summer vacation. It was at this seaside resort, where I was convalescing from double pneumonia, that I made the acquaintance of McGill. He had then taken the entrance examinations at Boston University Law School. Knowing he would have a hard financial struggle to take the full course, I invited him to hunt me up in Boston whenever his jfinances should fail. That day came and I learned that he was 5 ■WIW»WIWBWB! aiUlllLJlUIUlllW II IIMIII«WI IIWHWWW^ IUI I I ! ! ! l! ! l! !a Bra»Hll'fll THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK living on one meal a day and that a scanty one. I assumed charge of his legal educa- tion, he in the meantime working at odd jobs to do his bit. I kept tabs on him, es- pecially to assure me that he would keep faith with me in his solemn compact to return to Jacksonville and devote his life to assisting his people. Even before gradua- tion the temptation came in the shape of an offer to locate North, a temptation repeat- edly offered down to the present hour. McGill's success at the bar was almost by leaps and bounds. Twice defeated in the lower courts, he having qualified in the State Supreme Court, won out on an appeal, the opposing lawyer being an ex -Attorney- General of the State. Perhaps the attitude of the whites of Florida can be inferred from the fact that after the victory had been well knov/n, the Legislature being in session, the lov/er house without even referring the matter to a committee, voted to prohibit negroes from practising in the higher courts of the State, but the State Senate voted down the measure. (Already on .the Statute book of Florida is a law making it a penal THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK offense for a white person to teach colored pupils.) Though I had expended about $5,000.00 on McGill's legal education to enable him to keep his head above water financially, I was not satisfied until he qualified to prac- tise before the United States Supreme Court. The exodus of negroes from Florida called McGill to Chicago for a brief season, and while there he qualified to practise before all the Courts of Illinois, so that now he can practise before the Courts of every State in the Union, as well as before the U. S. Su- preme Court. The Florida negro soldiers are making good ''over there," and a large part of Mc- Gill's practise is to protect their little property, and that of the men who have gone North, but who are gradually returning. White men with their prejudices and negroes who have accumulated surplus mioney have now a chance to foreclose mortgages and buy tax titles by legal processes. McGill is standing them off like wolves at bay until the owners can get clear title to their own. To make assurance double sure, I wrote THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK a letter to Judge Brandeis, to whom I intro- duced McGill when he was admitted to the Bar and asked his advice about the latter "holding the fort." Judge Brandeis was emphatic in his advice to stick. Then I wrote to McGill's pastor to learn if he, too, thought the game was worth the candle, and a copy of his reply is enclosed. Several Southern State laws need to be tested before the U. S. Supreme Court. McGill stands ready to argue their uncon- stitutionality for bare expenses. Knowing the situation, I feel sure that a fund of $5,000.00 (about the sum I have personally secured and contributed myself) will tide him over the crises. McGill writes, "The cases I am chiefly anxious to take to the U. S. Supreme Court are the laws of the State which prohibit white persons teaching negro children, and the exclusion of colored men from serving on juries where colored men are tried." Regarding his home work he says "I have had several cases in the Supreme Court and a large number in the local courts and have been very successful with them THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK all." But he adds ''I have handled many of these free because I felt it my duty though I am hard pressed for money. Per con- tra, I have received a letter today from a wealthy lawyer in Chicago offering me an opening, and have had several other offers from different parts of the country. One of these is from an ex-Assistant State At- torney in Chicago, but in the face of con- trasted conditions I feel God wants me here and can best use me, even though my expenses exceed my income." What a temptation! MR. NATHAN K. McGILL WAS Graduated from Cookman Institute, Jack- sonville, Fla., May, 1909. Graduated from the Boston University Law School, Boston, Mass., June, 1912. Admitted to Supreme Court of Florida, January, 1913. Admitted to Supreme Court of United States, January, 1917. Admitted to Illinois Supreme Court, April, 1918. A THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK Letter from McGilVs Pastor 431 West Ashley St., Jacksonville, Fla. May 26, 1918 MR. RUFUS B. TOBEY, 201 Devonshire St., Boston, Mass. Dear Sir — Your letter was handed to me yesterday requesting the pastor of Ebenezer M. E. Church to write you in regards to Nathan K. McGill remaining in Jacksonville, Fla. I have just comie to Jacksonville this Conference year, however, I was born in the South (Tennessee), I am acquainted wdth the conditions, etc. I have discovered that Mr. McGill is a young man thoroughly prepared both by natural endowments and broad and deep education to lead our people — especially along the lines of the profession of Law. If there is any race in any section of our country who need legal advice along so many lines — it is our people here in the South. We have mien and women who know how to transact business, Ministers of the Gospel who are doing a splendid work in their field, and many physicians who are a benediction to our people. But the sad thing — we do not have m.any consecrated Christian lawyers THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK who have had the advantage of the best law schools of the country to come among us and do for us what a young man so well prepared as Mr. McGill is — would be able to do as the years come and go. I know a young man of Mr. McGill's ability will be offered many positions in fields far more lucrative than could be found here in the South. But my honest convic- tion is, that, there is no greater field than here in the South — where he could exercise the gifts and graces which God has given him. I know that for some timie to come this field of labor must on the account of the conditions be to a large extent missionary — but as the people are educated and brought into a fuller realization of appreciation — Mr. McGill will begin to receive a recom- pense for his service. I would advise, therefore, that by all means, Mr. McGill ought to remain here in Jacksonville and fight it out "If It Takes All Summer" or even the rest of his Life. I am very truly yours, W. R. STEPHENS, Pastor of Ebenezer M. E. Church. U THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK May 9, 1918. HON. LOUIS D. BRANDEIS, U. S. Supreme Court, Washington, D. C. My dear Judge Brandeis— One of the most pathetic utterances I have ever met is the lament, "I have trodden the winepress alone," and yet this is practically being forced from the lips of the young colored lawyer to whom you said some up- lifting words when he was admitted to prac- tice before your court. "N^fTien I asked your opinion about McGill remaining in Jackson- ville, it was to hearten him a bit. When I first met him he asked no favors of me, but I felt after getting a little of his history that he would be a good investment, provided he would enter into an agreement to do what might be called missionary work among his people. He told me at the outset that if he would agree to study for the ministry, persons stood ready to pay his expenses. But this was no temptation. A base offer presented itself to him whereby he could secure means for his legal education. But I found we agreed that there was the greatest possible need for a lawyer who would stand for principle in Florida, especially in Jack- sonville, where he had lived, and he turned down offers of advancement and increasing 12 THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK income North to make the experiment which was uppermost in our minds. He made a reputation for character and ability very speedily. This has been in the main a handicap. I know as a matter of fact that if he had done a dirty piece of business for the son of a wealthy negro in Jacksonville, it would have given him a large fee and opened up more of this sort of business. This man believing that every man has his price could not understand why a lawyer who had just won a case in the State Su- preme Court against an ex-attomey-General, and who needed money badly could refuse a handsome fee. But McGill stuck to principle and thereby lost a friend and made a life-long enemy. In Florida courts the attorney who is assigned by the Judge to defend a criminal without counsel receives nothing for his services. A fellow alumnus at Amherst, one of the leading white lawyers in Jacksonville, told me that despite Mc- Gill's prestige and unquestioned ability, on the one hand, a negro with an important case had more confidence in an inferior white lawyer, and I could see from my in- vestigations on several trips to Jacksonville that Judge and jurors favor a white lawyer as against a colored one. Now in spite of everything "Looking to the right as God gives us to see the right" 13 THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK why should McGill surrender? It means a financial burden to me so that he may make both ends meet, a burden which I find it heavy to shoulder. But I cannot resist the conviction that for McGill to exchange to a lucrative field will make bad matters worse. I will not say that we have come to the parting of the ways, but your kind opinion as to McGill' s duty, and I may say mine, will settle the question. May I hear from you soon about this matter? Sincerely, RUFUS B. TOBEY. ?B ?,04 1^ THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK Hon. Moorfield Storey is President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. McGill is local attorney for this Association, which has not sufficient funds to pay even McGill's expenses to Washington to argue these two probable un- c onstitutional laws of Florida: First, the law forbidding white teachers instructing colored children; second, the refusal to permit colored men to sit as jurors in cases where colored men are being tried. Ml . Storey writes me his approval of this movement. As a boy I knew fugitive slaves who told me of the brutality inflicted upon them by their masters, which made me an abolition- ist. Largely because the negro was given the suffrage prematurely many became de- generate, so that not a few old time aboli- tionists lost their interest in the negro . But the present war is giving him an op- portunity. Over 1250 negroes are in the next call and are to be sent in training im- mediately for service. You must have read the story of the two heroic negro fighters, Johnson and Roberts. There were 15 THE EVOLUTION OF A BOOTBLACK members of the first American colored unit at the front. *'To put to flight a dozen Germans is a tale of epic proportions. " Their Captain believes that they frus- trated a well developed plan to attack an important point. No wonder they got the French Cross for their gallantry. They should have at once every honor America can give them." McGill is helping to create a new at- mosphere into which such men can return. He is also caring 'for their homes and families. But he must relinquish all such work unless he is sustained where he is. 16 O ° " ° -9 <^ . .0 ,^ ..' ^^ o V ■) o ■? -7 '^ .-^ 0' c'^ / L ' S .0 y • o ^^■:■. ^ A^ ,-^ ,^ r^-o-^ .0 o °^ ;o' ^ a, o ^ /)i 1 o v.aV -< v^ ^^^. ^ -^ 4 '^ N ^^ -<^ \ ^-^- o o \^ ,!^ 9^ * .S^ o A ^ ^ V o V. -JS '<:> ^ o *o *>;tr/fe,% ■/^ \^ V > A-' *, ^^ DOBBS BROS. . />7'7 V * -^- i i vr. LIBRARY BINDING C^ / ST.MJGUSTINE FLA. .0 "'^^ .> LIBRARY OF CONGRESS