OCR HEROES OF DESTINY DEDICATION HOW many people know that there are Negroes who are paying more than $100,000 a year income tax? Or that a Negro is among the foremost American critics of current verse ? Or that a Colored man won the first scholarship granted an American composer of music by the French School of Musical Studies in Paris ? Or that Chicago's first settler wasji_Negro _? Or that a regiment of Colored soldiers in the late war won more decorations for bravery than any other American unit ? America has failed to understand a loyal and dependable group consisting of 12,000,000 of her own citizens. Frederick Douglass, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Cole- ridge-Taylor are names unknown to the millions of her school children. To them this book is dedicated, that they may read and learn, and thus come to a wholesome understanding and appreciation of what has been accomplished in spite of the handicap. ROBERT RUSSIA MOTON. Successor to Booker T. Washington as Principal of Tuskegee Institute. !C> C. M. Bnttey. INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW EDITION No race in such a limited period and under such trying circumstances has ever made more progress than has been made by the Negro in the United States of America. Instead of being discouraged over the conditions over which he had no control, the Negro has simply faced the situation, forged ahead, and written on the pages of his- tory a record which has challenged the attention and respect of the entire civilized world. It is significant that just at this time a great deal of at- tention is being given to the matter of not merely record- ing the stories of Negro progress, but also placing them before the public. I am certain that such printed records will serve to inspire the future generations of the Negro as well as to enlighten the children of other races as to the history of colored people, thereby giving them a larger and more sympathetic view of all human problems. It is for that reason that I believe that the revised edition of the "Progress of a Race," which the publishers^ are pre- paring, will fill a much needed want. Divided into three great major topics, Education,. Business and Religion, this story of Negro progress should commend itself to the American reading public, and I bespeak for this volume a most cordial and favorable consideration. ROBERT R. MOTON. TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, ALABAMA. March 30, 1920. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER. . PAGE. INTRODUCTION, IIY ROBERT RUSSIA MOTON 5 I. HISTORY OF THK RACE 13-32 II. SLAVERY 33-59 "III. NEGRO IN THE REVOLUTION 61-72 IV. ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION 73-88 V. FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS 89-105 VI. THE NEGRO IN THE CIVIL \\"AR. 107-129 VII. THE NEGRO IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. .. .131-144 "VIII. THE NEGRO IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR 147-166 IX. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF NEGRO MIGRATION 167-175 -K. X. CLUB MOVEMENT AMONG NEGRO WOMEN 177-209 XI. NATIONAL NEGRO BUSINESS LEAGUE 211-229 XII. PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES AND FINANCIAL GROWTH. 23 1-271 ~~XIII. EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT 273-303 XIV. RELIGION AND THE NEGRO. 305-328 XV. WHO'S WHO IN THE NEGRO RACE 329-460 XVI. PLANTATION MELODIES 461-474 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Abbott, Robert S Allen, B. D A. M. E. Church, Atlanta Anderson, Madam M. B.. Atlanta Baptist Seminary. Atlanta University Atwell, E. T Ballard Drug Store Banks, Charles Banks, W. R Baptizing Negro Soldiers. Battle Scenes 159 Benedict College Bethel A. M. E. Church.. Bethune, Mary M Binga, Jesse Bold Stroke for Freedom, A Bond, Scott Boston Massacre Bowen, John W Bowles, Eva D Boyd Building Boyd, R. H Braithwaite, William S... Brawley, Benjamin Brooks, W. H Brown, Charlotte H Brown, John Bruce, Mrs. J. B Bruneau, P. Burleigh, H. T Calhoun, Mrs. C. M Camphor, A. P PACE PAGE 130 Capturing Slaves 4 1 272 Carney, Wm. H 1 18 327 Carter, James G 30 207 Centerville Industrial In- 350 stitute 291 303 Chestnut, Charles W 358 168 Clinton, George W 312 250 Clinton A. M. E. Church. 315 256 Coleridge-Taylor, H 174 272 Collins, Cleoto J 183 161 Cotter, Joseph S., Jr 353 -163 Crogman, Wm. H 358 301 Croix de Guerre 152 317 Davidson, Henry 272 194 Davis, B. J 361 230 Daytona Normal Institute 287-290 98 Delegates to Republican 334 Convention, 1920 21, 145 60 Desperate Conflict, A 94 334 Dogan, M. W 358 194 Douglass, Frederick 226 240 DuBois, W. E. B 367 334 Dudley, J. B 358 340 Emma Brick Works 304 340. Europe, Jimmie 157 340 Fierce Encounter with 191 Bloodhounds 123 88 Fifteenth, The Old 154 191 Fisk University 292 180 Gale, George W 21 340 Garrett, Thomas 91 281 Garrison, Wm. Lloyd 75 334 General Grant 1 1 1 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Gilbert, John W 377 Gilliam, C. W 263 Grandchildren of Slaves . . 56 Green, John P 377 Greene, B. A 221 Greene, S. M 377 Hampton Institute 293 Harmon, J. H 377 Harrison, Wm 377 Hawkins, Mason A 388 Hayes, Roland W 170 Hayward, Col. Wm. ... 151-154 Holsey, Albon L 210 Hope, John 388 Hubbard, W. M 272 Hudson, Henry C 388 Jackson, R. R 397 James & Allen Drug Co.. 249 Jason, W. C 397 Johnson, General Ed 127 Johnson, James W 391 Jones, Edward P 323 Jones, Judge Scipio A 361 Josenberger, Mrs. M. S... 207 Kemp, Wm. Paul 397 Kenney, John A 397 Knox, George L 397 Lane College 288 Lewis, Wm. H 388 Lincoln, Abraham 106 Logan, Warren 168 Malone, Annie M 201 Masonic Temple, Jackson- ville 213 Melden, Charles M 305 Miller, J. E 272 Minton, Henry M 417 Montgomery, Isaiah T.2I, 256 Moore, L. B 409 Morris Brown College 297 Morris, E. C 417 Moton, Robert R Frontispiece Mound Bayou Cotton Gin 221 Mound Bayou Cotton Co. 254 Mound Bayou Oil Mill... 252 Mound Bayou State Bank 254 Myrtilla Miner Normal... 283 National Baptist Publish- ing House 320 Nelson, Alice M. Dunbar. 415 New Orleans University. . 298 Odd Fellow Block, Atlanta 216 Officers' Training Camp.. 149 Okalona Industrial School 274 On Picket Duty 115 Pace, Henry H 238 Palmer Memorial Institute 286 Penn, I. G 417 Perry, Herman E 417 Phillips, C. H 311 Phillips, Wendell 78 Pickens, Wm 238 Piney Woods School 295 Poro College 203 Powell, A. C 421 Proctor, H. H 421 Pythian Temple, Louisville 216 Pythian Temple, New Orleans 213 Red Cross Nurses 155 Republican Convention Delegates 21 Resurrection of Henry Box Brown 99 Revels, Hiram R 31 Roberts, Eugene P 421 Roberts, James T 263 Robert Hungerford Nor- mal . . 281 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 11 Rodgers, M. M 421 Roman, Charles V 437 Rosenwald, Julius 168 Roosevelt 168 Ruffin, Mrs. J. St. P 180 Rust College 286-464 Scott, Bishop I. B 308 Scott, Emmett J 168-428 Slave, An Ex- 35-36-38 Slaves, Capturing 41 Slave Traders 32-38 Smith, Robert L 437 Still, Charity 101 Still, William 96 Stringing Wire on the Marne 148 Stowe, Harriet Beecher ... 83 Sumner, Charles 81 St. Luke Penny Savings Bank 205 Smith Memorial College.. 277 Talbert, Mrs. Mary 180 Tenth Cavalry 148 Terrell, Marv Church .... 191 Texas College 298 Tulane, Victor Hugo 437 Tuskegee Institute 278-279 Valentine, Win. R 437 Vincent, Dr. V. Conrad.. 146 Virginia Union University 293-300 Walker, Madam C. J 207 Washington, Mrs. B. T... 176 Washington, Booker T. . . 191 White, Clarence C 172 Williams, A. Wilberforce. 451 Williams, Bert 131 Williams, R. A 451 Williams, W. T 451 Williams, Mrs. S. F 191 Wilson, Henry 86 Wood, Charles W 451 Work, Monroe N 451 Wounded Heroes 157 Wright, A. Wilberforce.. 457 Yates, Mrs. J. Salone 180 Young, Col. Charles 459 WE ARE RISING. BY REV. GEORGE C. ROWE. Among the sayings of our race. Suggestive and surpi ising, That fill a most exalted place, Is, "Tell them we are rising!" The question asked for right and truth, What to the North your greeting? The answer from a Negro youth "Tell them we are rising!" Within Atlanta's classic halls, This youth, self-sacrificing, Wrote high his name upon her walls, His motto: "We are rising!" Out in the world he makes his mark, Danger and fear despising, E'er soaring upward like the lark. My brethren: "We are rising!" He meets the foe with voice and pen. With eloquence surprising! Give us a chance, for we are menl Most surely we are rising! Rising to take our place beside The noble, the aspiring; With energy and conscious pride, To the best things, we're rising! Within the class-room is his place, Greek, Latin, criticising, To raise the youthful of his race, And show the world we're rising! Go forth, my friend, upon your way, Each obstacle despising, Prove by your efforts every day To all that we are arising! In farming, trade and literature, A people enterprising! Our churches, schools, and home life pure, Tell to the world we're rising! NOTE. About a score of years since. Gen. O. O. Howard, then con- nected with the Freedman's Bureau, on visiting one of the colored schools in Georgia, asked the children: "What message shall I take from j ou to the people of the North?" An intelligent boy answered promptly: ''Tell them we are rising!" The boy was Richard Wright, of Augusta, Ga, who has since graduated from Atlanta University, ably filled the editorial chair, and is now President of the State Normal School, of College, Georgia. 13 CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE RACE. Unity of the Race. Attempts have been made in the past to prove that the Negro is not a human being. Jn this age of the world such a preposterous idea does not receive countenance. The remarkable progress of the Negro and the rapid disappearing of race 'malice and prejudice, have made this theory so absurd that to-day no one can be found to advocate it. It is, how- ever, to be noted that as late as 1868 a minister of the South advocated this theory. Arguing from this stand- point he says, "Half an eye tells us the fate of the Negro on this continent is fixed, his doom is irrevocably sealed, he is out of his natural condition to which he aspires. If he is separated from man he sinks speedily to savage cannibalism. Men cannot refute the fixed decree of Omnipotence ; nothing but the power of God can save the Negro from extinction. Four millions of blacks are doomed to extinction. The history of the Negro proves that he does not, never did possess, a self- directing, independent mind. The white man regards him as a natural, lawful slave, the Negro admits the fact and instinctively seeks the condition of slavery to man." Of One Blood. Why should we here refer to this theory so absurd and contradictory to all history? Not that we place any confidence in any of the argu- ments, nor that we will refute the arguments, they need no refutation ; but that the young man of to-day, who is an American citizen, may know something of the tendency of the times when slavery existed. 13 14 PROGRESS OF A RACE. To-day 'the universal belief is that God "Created of one blood all nations of man to dwell on the face of the earth." The unity of the race is demonstrated with emphasis in the possible and actual assimilation of all the races in the one man, and is distinctly shown in the personalities and careers of men like Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, and Alexander Dumas. No Inferior Races. God did not create an inferior race ; there are races with inferior conditions, and these may be black or white, but, says Dr. Blyden, "There is no absolute or essential superiority on the one side, i/or absolute or essential inferiority on the other. Man is a unity in the plan of salvation. No man is too inferior to be saved. In all the wondrous work of creation the making of man is God's crowning act, and whoever has His image has infallible credentials of his high origin and sonship. Man is our universal repre- sentative head and from him all peoples sprung. God never made a superior race nor an inferior one ; and there is nothing in the heavens above, nor in the earth beneath, that can substantiate any such doctrine, "For God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the face of the earth. ' ' The Curse Theory. Failing to establish the theory that the Negro is not a human being, we find an attempt on the part of those who would have held* the Negro in perpetual slavery to show that he belongs to an inferior race. That against him an irrevocable curse has been pronounced. But the remarkable advancement of the race in all lines of activity has dispelled even the doubts of those who "hoped against hope" that this might be the case, and has scattered the mists of unbelief that rose above the horizon of a few of the Anglo-Saxon race. HISTORY OF THE RACE. 15 Base of Arguments. Such arguments are based upon passages of the scripture in which Noah cursed Canaan in these words: "Cursed be Canaan, a ser- vant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shein, and Canaan shall be his. servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell " in the tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant." If this were a prophecy then the argument might have some weight, but it is considered a prophecy only by a very few writers, and these are those who would sub* stantiate preconceived opinions thereby. The best evidence of a prophecy is its fulfillment. This state- ment was never fulfilled either in the case of Canaan, whose descendants have often conquered and been among the powerful nations of olden times, nor of Shem and Japheth, whose descendants were frequently enslaved. The Hebrews were in bondage in Egypt for centuries, they were the descendants of Shem; Egypt was peopled by the Children of Ham. The Proper Interpretation. We have neither incli- nation nor time to spend on extended argument against this theory so contradictory to all facts revealed by the light of true history and now no longer a question of debate, and yet a statement is necessary for the information of the youth who knows nothing of slavery, and the arguments and the attempts to hold in per- petual bondage a race destined to play an important part in the civilization and Christianization of the world. Noah was once a preacher of righteousness, but he afterward became drunk on the wine that he made. The exposure to which he was subjected by his drunken condition caused him in his irritable and self- defensive mood to utter these words, which cannot in any sense be prophetic. The best argument against 1Q PROGRESS OF A hACE. . this theory is the remarkable progress of the race and the moral and intellectual condition of the best of the race in these closing years of the nineteenth century. Josephus says: "The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria to Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus, seizing upon all the maritime ports and keep- ing them as their own. Of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Cush, for the Ethiopians over whom he reigned are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Cushites. " Herodotus. Herodotus states that Cambyses at- tempted to conquer Ethiopia but failed. He succeeded in conquering Egypt, but he found the Ethiopian equal to the Egyptian in refinement and intelligence and superior in military skill. Cambyses attempted, by means of spies and by means of various designs, to entrap and enslave the Ethiopian, but was forced to return to Egypt with but a remnant of his army. The Case Stated. Rev. Norman Wood puts it thus . "Whereas, Noah got drunk and cursed Canaan, an innocent party; and whereas, this curse was never fulfilled; therefore, all to whom these presents may come, greeting: Pagan, infidel, or pirate, are hereby empowered to kidnap and to enslave all the sable Africans who are descendants from Cush. We are here reminded of the statement of Liliuokalani, the recent dethroned queen of Hawaii, that the best blood of the English flowed in her veins, because her grandfather devoured Captain Cook." The Color Theory. Another argument in support of the curse of Noah is the color of the African. This argument also fails utterly when we take into account tne climatic influence. Climate, and climate alone, is *he sole canse. The predominant color of the inhabit- HISTORY OF THE RACE. 17 ants of the tropical regions of Asia and Africa is black, while the whites are found in the temperate and cold regions. We see and admit the change which a few years produce in the complexion of a Caucasian going from our northern latitude into the tropics. If a few years make such great changes why shall we hesitate to recognize the changes of centuries and ages? Plants and Animals. There is perhaps no better evidence of the influence of climate upon man than to witness its effects upon plants and animals. The flowers of the north are almost invariably white, while the arctic rabbit is spotless white, and the fox and polar bear are either white or pale yellow. The lack of color in the northern regions of animals which possess color in more temperate regions can be attrib'.: f ed only to change of climate. The common bear is differently colored in different regions. The dog lo ;s its coat in Africa, and has a smooth skin. Gradations of Color. Let us survey the gradations of color on the continent of Africa itself. The inhabit- ants of the north are whitest; and, as we advance southwards towards the line, we find in those coun cries in which the sun's rays fall more perpendicularly, the complexion gradually assumes a darker shade. And the same men whose color has been rendered black by the powerful influence of the sun. if they remove to the north, gradually become white (I mean their pos- terity), and eventually lose their dark color. Caucasians. The Portuguese, who planted them- selves on the coast of Africa a few centuries ago, have been succeeded by descendants blacker than many Africans. On the coast of Malabar there are two colonies of Jews, the old colony and the new, separated 2 Aug. 23 18 PROGRESS OF A RACE. by color and known as the "black Jews" and the "white Jews." The old colony are the black Jews, and have been longer subjected to the influence of the climate. The hair of the black Jews is curly, showing a resemblance to the Negro. The white Jews are as dark as the Gypsies, and each generation is growing darker. Dr. Livingstone say; "I was struck with the appearance of the people in Londa and the neighbor- hood; they seemed more slender in form and their color a lighter olive than any we had hitherto met. ' ' Lower down the Zambesi, the same writer says: "Most of the men are muscular, and have large, ploughman hands. Their color is the same admixture, from very dark to light olive, that we saw in Londa. ' ' Equator to Polar Circles. Under the equator we have the deep black of the Negro, then the copper or olive of the Moors of northern Africa; then the Span- iards and Italian, swarthy compared with other Euro- peans ; the French, still darker than the English, while r.he fair and florid complexion of England and Germany passes more northerly into the bleached Scandinavian white. From Inland to Coast. As we go westward we ob- serve the light color predominating over the dark ; and then, again, when we come within the influence of the dampness from the sea air, we find the shade deepened into the general blackness of the coast population. ' ' If these opinions, given by the best authorities, mean anything, and if we shall credit them as having any value, then the color line can be drawn only where there is deep-seated prejudice. Black, a Mark of Reproach. Prof. Johnson, in his school history, justly says: "Black is no mark of re- HISTORY OF THE RACE. 19 proach to people who do not worship white. The West Indians in the interior represent the devil as white. The American Indians make fun of the 'pale face' and so does the native African. People in this country have been educated to believe in white because all that is good has been ascribed to the white race, both in pic- tures and words. God, the angels and all the prophets are pictured white, and the devil is represented as black." Ideals of Negro. The ideals of the Negro are the ideals of the white man. The two races are both edu- cated to one standard, that is, the white man's standard. While the white man would have the Negro adopt his standard, at the same time there are those who would repel him ; somewhat like putting on steam and throttling the valve. True manhood knows no color. While the ideals are the same, the standards the same, let all, black and white, aim to attain to a virtuous manhood that would impress itself upon mankind and make men more and more to see the ideals shine out in the lives of all true leaders. God Knows Best. George Williams says: "It is safe to say that when God dispersed the sons of Noah he fixed the 'bounds of their habitation,' and that from the earth and sky the various races have secured their civilization. He sent the different nations into separate parts of the earth. He gave to each its racial peculiarities and adaptability for the climate into which it went. He gave color, language, and civilization; and, when by wisdom we fail to interpret his inscrutable ways, it is pleasant to know that 'he work- eth all things after the counsel of his own mind.' " Antiquity. It is difficult to find a writer on ethnol- ogy or Egyptology who doubts the antiquity of the 20 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Negroes as a distinct people from the dawn of history down to the present time. They are known as dis- tinctly as any of the other families of men. Negroes are represented in Egyptian, paintings. They formed the strength of the army of the King of Egypt. They came against the King of Rehoboam as well as the armies of Sesostris and Xerxes. John P. Jefferis, who is not friendly to the Negro, in his criticism nevertheless makes this statement: "Every rational mind must readily conclude that the African race has been in existence as a distinct people over four thousand two hundred years, and how long before that period is a matter of conjecture only there being no reliable data on which to predict a reliable opinion. ' ' Further Evidence. Further evidence in favor of the antiquity of the Negro is found in Japan and East- ern Asia. In these large, magnificent temples, hoary with age, are found idols that are exact representations of woolly-headed Negroes; other inhabitants of the country have straight hair. But why accumulate evi- dence, when monuments, temples and pyramids rise up to declare the antiquity of the Negro race? The Word Negro. The word Negro is a name given to a considerable branch of the human family possess- ing certain physical characteristics which distinguish it in a very marked degree from the other branches or varieties of mankind. "It is not wise," says George Williams, "for intelligent Negroes in America to seek to drop the word 'Negro.' It is a good, strong and healthy word, and ought to live. It should be covered with glory ; let Negroes do it. ' ' The Term Negro. The term, Negro, is properly applied to the races inhabiting that part of Africa lying B 3 , < -^ O Ok S.|5 , n o 22 PROGRESS OF A RACE. between latitude 10 degrees north and 20 degrees south and to their descendants in the old and new world. It does not include the Egyptians, Berbers, Abyssinians, Hottentots, Nubians, etc., although in some writings it comprises these and other dark- skinned nations. One characteristic, however, the crisp hair, belongs only to the true Negro. Africa for the Negroes. Centuries of effort and centuries of corresponding failure have fully demon- strated that the white man cannot colonize the largest part of the great continent of Africa. It seems that, in the providence of God, this great and glorious conti- nent is chiefly for the colored races, and especially for the Negro. Is it not possible that this great continent with its millions of Negroes occupying the most fertile portions, and in all more than one-half of the conti- nent, is to be enlightened, civilized and Christianized by the American Negro? Deportation. Let it not be understood that the pre - ceding paragraph argues in favor of deportation of the American Negro to Africa. This is impossible, but that the American Negro has a part in the elevation of the black brother of the dark continent is as true as that the Caucasian of America has a part in the Chris- tianization of the white race in other parts of the world. The Negro is better adapted to the climate and can endure the hardships of mission work in Africa much better than the Caucasian. Not Well Considered. Booker T. Washington says : 4 ' I recall that a few months ago, when, on the occasion of six hundred deluded colored people sailing from Savannah for Liberia, some of the newspapers and not a few of the magazines gravely announced to an expectant people that the race problem was in process HISTORY OF THE RACE. 23 of solving itself. These newspapers and magazine writers did not take into consideration the important fact that perhaps before breakfast that same morning six hundred colored babies were born. I have a friend down in Georgia whose unfailing solution of the race problem is, that the Negro should be cooped up in some place, surrounded by a high fence, and kept separate from the whites. That would riot even reach the dig- nity of touching the question, since it would be utterly impossible to keep the blacks inside the fence to say nothing of the impossible task of keeping the whites outside of it. If the Negroes were fenced in Africa the white men would break in at the first cry that gold existed in the inhabited territory. Besides, the Negro has never yet been able to exile himself to any place the white man would not follow him and break in." Separation would Not Relieve. "Talks for the Times" says: "If such a .separation were even pos- sible, are we simple enough to believe that that would relieve us of the presence of the white man? He who is scouring the seas, dredging the oceans, tunneling the mountains, boring his way into the frozen regions of the North, parceling out the continent of Africa, and giving civilization and laws to its tribes it is not likely, I say, that this restless, energetic white brother will respect the boundary line of a state or territory at home ; he has not done so in reference to the Indian ; he would never do so in reference to us. Were it possible for us to go off to-morrow to some territory by our- selves, within a week the Connecticut Yankee would be there peddling his wooden nutmegs. The patent medi- cine man would be there selling his nostrums. The Georgia Cracker and the Kentucky horse-trader would 24 PROGRESS OF A RACE. be there with their horses and mules. The Soatnern white man would especially be there, for he has been so accustomed to us from his childhood that he does not feel at home without us, although sometimes, in the heat of political excitement, he wishes we were in Africa or a warmer place. ' ' Not Possible. Judge Gunby says: "The favorite remedy for the race problem with some has come to be the deportation of the Negroes. I am prepared to say with the utmost confidence that this remedy does not meet with general approval, although it is fair to con- cede that it has many able advocates. The Negroes do not desire to leave and the great majority of the whites do not want them to go. The enforced removal of the Negroes would be unnatural and unjust; cruel, bitter cruel, would be the task of tearing Negroes from their genial Southern homes, their Southern friends, their churches, their graveyards, and the haunts they love so well. Sadder than the melancholy processions that moved to the shore from Goldsmith's 'Deserted Vil- lage,' sadder than the doomed band of Acadian farm- ers that looked for the last time on their burning homes in Grand Pre, would be the final movement of the Negroes from the South. It would be worse than slav- ery ; for the Negroes in a colony of their own would degenerate and speedily loce the civilization they have derived from contact with the whites. Such a crime would never be forgiven. It would raise a protest from whites and blacks alike and from an indignant world. The very stones would rise up and cry against it. Deportation is not conceivable ; because, although a few might be transported to Africa or scattered elsewhere, yet reproduction will increase their number in spite of such trifling methods, and our only way to get rid of HISTORY OF THE RACE. 25 their presence in the country; is to kill them which would be difficult, for many of them already have guns. ' ' Points of Superiority. A certain writer says that the Negro has less nervous sensibility than the white, and is not subject to nervous afflictions. He is com- paratively insensible to pain, bearing severe surgical operations well; he seldom has a fetid breath, but transpires much excrementious matter by means of glands of the skin, whose odorous secretion is well known. His skin is soft, and his silky hair, though called wool, does not present the characteristics of wool, and differs but little from that of other races except in color and in its curly and twisted form. He flourishes under the fiercest heat and unhealthy dampness of the tropics where the white man soon dies. Physical Characteristics. The physical characteris- tics of the black, or Negro, race are: A large and strong skeleton, long and thick skull, projecting jaws, skin from dark brown to black, woolly hair, thick lips, flat nose and wide nostrils. The typical color of the race is not coal black but the dark brown of a horse- chestnut. Observation shows that the darkest speci- mens are found on the borders where Negroes have been in contact with lighter races, while in the popu- lation of the Congo basin, which has been almost com- pletely free from mixture, the dark-brown type pre- vails. It should, however, be understood, that there is as great a difference among Negroes as among Caucasians. Distinguishing Traits. The Africans, as a race, are passionately fond of music and have many ingeniously contrived musical instruments. While some of their inventions may have been borrowed from other people, 26 PROuRESS OF A RACE. it is a well established fact that they are the inventors of an ingenious musical instrument. They have a keen sense of the ridiculous and are of a cheerful disposi- tion. They are naturally kind hearted and hospitable to strangers and are generally ready to receive instruc- tion and to profit by it. They are quick to perceive the beauty of goodness and hence they generally appreciate the services of missionaries in their behalf, and, but for the curse of intoxicating drinks brought upon them by unscrupulous white traders, the dark continent would shine more brightly with the light of Him who is the light of the world. Fidelity of the Negro. During the Civil war the fidelity of the negro was tested to a most remarkable degree; and he stood the test. Nearly all able-bodied men of the South were in the Confederate army. Only helpless women and children, and old or disabled men were left with the slaves to care for the plantation houses. While the white-faced "Copperhead" of the North was aiding the South, the black-faced slave was caring for the helpless ones in Southern houses. Strange as it may seem, these same colored men knew that victory for the Union meant freedom for them- selves. General Sherman, in describing his first day's experience on his famous " March to the Sea," says: "The negroes were simply frantic with joy. When- ever they heard my name, they clustered about my horse, shouting and praying in their peculiar style, which had a natural eloquence that would move a stone. I have witnessed hundreds, if not thousands, of such scenes. * * ^ "We made our bivouac, and 1 walked up to a plan- tation house close by, where were assembled many negroes, among them an old, gray-haired man, of as HISTORY OF THE RACE. 27 fine a head as I ever saw. I asked him if he under- stood about the war and its progress. He said he did ; that he had been looking for the 'angel of the Lord' ever since he was knee-high, and, though we profess to be fighting for the Union, he supposed that slavery was the cause, and that our success was to be his free- dom. I asked him if all the negro slaves compre- hended this fact, and he said they surely did. ' ' Every Union soldier escaping from Confederate prison-pen, knew that it was safe to make himself known to a colored man. No Union soldier ever asked in vain for help from his dusky brother. Drink Traffic. The drink traffic carried on by civil- ized nations in Africa is the curse of millions. The same ship that carries missionaries to its shores carries thousands of gallons of rum that does more to degrade the helpless and ignorant Negro than many mission- aries through a lifetime can succeed in winning to a better life. Let it be known that the Christian (?) nations, Great Britain and the United States, are lead- ers in this degrading and soul destroying business. This can be permitted only where dollars and the greed of gain surpass in estimation the worth of true man- hood and of immortal souls. Ingenuity. The African Negroes display consider- able ingenuity in the manufacture of weapons, in the working of iron, in the weaving of mats, cloth and baskets from dyed grasses, in the dressing of the skins of animals, in the structure of their huts and household utensils and in the various implements and objects of use in a barbarous state of society. In Other Continents. In addition to Africa, Negroes are found in the United States, Brazil, West Indies, Peru, Arabia and the Cape Verd Islands. They are 28 PROGRESS OF A RACE. rare in Europe and the islands of the Pacific. Africa is, however, the native home of the Negro. Whenever he is found outside of this great continent it is because he has been carried away and subjected to slavery. Unknown to Hebrews. Negroes were almost un- known to Hebrews. They were unknown to the Greeks until the seventh century B. C. About twenty- three hundred years B. C. the Egyptians became acquainted with the Negroes, who helped them on their monuments as early as 1,600 years B. C. Liberia. Liberia is a Negro republic of western Africa, on the upper coast of Upper Guinea. It was founded by the American Colonization Company. The first expedition of eighty-six emigrants was sent out in February, 1820. It was organized as a home for the Negro of the United States. The suffering that slavery brought upon the Negro aroused his friends, and, fol- lowing the plan of Wilberforce and other Englishmen, Liberia was founded as a refuge for the colored men who would avail themselves of its blessings. The constitution of Liberia, like that of the United States, establishes an entire separation of the church from the state, but all citizens of the republic must belong to the Negro race. The constitution has recently been changed and this point has been modified. Its present constitution was adopted in 1847 and is similar to that of the Constitution of the United States. The article on slavery reads thus: "There shall be no slav- ery within the republic, nor shall any citizen of this republic, or any person residing therein, deal in slaves either within or without the republic. ' ' The first years witnessed the struggle of a noble band of colored people who were seeking a new home on the edge of a continent given over to idolatry. Immigra- HISTORY OF THE RACE. 29 tion went forward slowly, but the republic continued establishing and extending itself until it now numbers more than two million inhabitants. Already in 1853 Bishop Scott, of the M. E. ChurcK, stated that the gov- ernment of Liberia was extremely well administered. In his visit of several months he saw no intoxicated colonists and did not hear a profane word, the Sab- bath was kept in a singularly strict manner and the church crowded with worshipers. Agriculture is carried on with increasing success. Sugar was formerly the principal article of produce and of manufacture, but through the efforts of Mr. Morris, coffee has become the principal article. Rice, arrowroot and cocoa are also cultivated ; trade is rap- idly extending. Although the circumstances that led to the founding of this republic passed away when the shackles were torn from the Negroes of the South, yet it had done a vast amount of good before the days of the great rebellion, and to-day stands as a beacon light penetrating the darkness and gloom of Africa. May we not hope that through the ages to come the light of this Christian republic will reach the dark, trackless regions of African Paganism and bring millions to the brightness of its shining? DR. JAMES C. CARTER, UNITED STATES CONSUL TO MADAGASCAR. f this man's life is too well known to be repeated here. After laboring for many years and succeeding in aiding the cause of anti-slavery in many ways, he attacked Harper's Ferry in 1859 and, with a number of associates was made a prisoner. It is vain to under-rate either the man or his work. With firmness of will and a purpose unconquerable, he labored for the cause so dear to him and to which he had given most of his years. After the fight at Har- per's Ferry he said: "I never intended plunder or treason or the destruction of property, or to excite the slaves to rebellion ; I labored only to free the slaves. ' ' South Carolina, Missouri and Kentucky each sent a rope to hang him, but Kentucky's, proving the strong- est, was selected and used. His last letter, written before his death to Mrs. George L. Stearns, Boston, Mass., follows: "CHARLESTON, JEFFERSON Co., 2gih Nov., 1859. "MRS. GEORGE L. STEARNS, Boston, Mass. ' ' My Dear Friend : No letter I have received since my imprisonment here has given me more satisfaction or comfort than yours of the 8th inst. I am quite cheerful and never more happy. Have only time to write you a word. May God forever reward you and all yours. "My love to ALL who love their neighbors. I have asked to be spared from having any mock or hypocrit- ical prayers made over me when I am publicly mur- 88 PROGRESS OF A RACE. dered ; and that my only religious attendants be pool little, dirty, ragged, bare-headed and bare-footed slave boys and girls led by some old gray-headed slave mother. Farewell. Farewell, "Your friend, , "JOHN BROWN." John Brown gave slavery its death wound and his immortal name will be pronounced . with blessings in all lands and bv all people till the end of time. JOHN BROWN. THE ABOLITIONIST. CHAPTER V. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SYSTEM SLAVE POPULATION. Fugitive Slave Laws. Very severe and stringent laws were passed to prevent anyone from aiding the slaves in attempting to escape to the North. These laws permitted owners to follow slaves and legally claim them in other states. Any one suspected of showing even an act of kindness tc a fugitive slave was liable to be flogged, fined or imprisoned. The greater the agitation of the question the more severe were these laws. Calvin Fairbanks. Many respected citizens were imprisoned and fined for aiding slaves. Calvin Fair- banks spent nearly eighteen years in a Kentucky peni- tentiary for the crime of aiding poor slaves in gaining freedom. It is said that during 'this time he received 35,000 stripes on his bare body. Early in life he had heard of the sufferings and miseries endured by slaves and had resolved then to do all in his power to right the wrongs suffered by the race. He was one of the first in the Underground Railway work along the Ohio. A number of times he was arrested in the act of giving assistance to slaves and committed to prison, where he suffered untold cruelties from the hands of his keeper. "I was flogged sometimes bowed over a chair or some other object, often receiving seventy lashes four times a day, and at one time received 107 blows at one time, particles of flesh being thrown upon the wall several feet away." All this was endured by a white man in order to free the Negro. 89 J)O KROGKESS OP A RACE. Rev. John Rankin, of Ohio, was fined $1,000, besides serving 1 a term in prison. W. L. Chaplin aided two young slaves of Georgia to escape. Caught in the act, he was imprisoned for five months and released on a bail of $25,000. His friends, knowing that he would be convicted and sent to the penitentiary for a number of years, and perhaps for life, resolved to pay his bail. All his property was sacrificed, and through the liberality of that princely man, Garrett Smith, the sum was raised. Thomas Garrett, a Quak er of Delaware, one of the most successful agents of the Underground Railway, assisted nearly 3,000 slaves to escape from bondage ; he was at last convicted and fined so heavily that he lost all his property When the auctioneer had knocked off his last piece of property to pay the fine he said : "I hope you will never be guilty of doing the like again." Garrett, although penniless at the age of sixty, replied: "Friend, I have not a dollar in the world, but if thee knows a fugitive slave who needs a breakfast send him to me." It is with pleasure we learn Mr. Garrett lived to see the day when the slaves obtained their freedom. Levi Coffin. This man of high social position, a Quaker of Cincinnati, was frequently called the presi- dent of the Underground Railway. He succeeded in aiding about 25,000 slaves in gaining their freedom. Captain Jonathan Walker. Mr. Walker took aeon- tract to build a railroad in Florida and for this purpose employed a number of Negroes. By kind treatment he gained the confidence of these slaves who afterwards persuaded him to aid them in gaining their liberty. They attempted to escape in a boat to an island not far away Captain Walker was taken violently sick, and THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. 91 the Negroes, not understanding how to manage the boat, were taken up by another vessel and taken to Key West. Captain Walker was tried in the United States Court and was sentenced to be branded on the right hand with the capital letters "S. S. " (slave stealer), and to pay as many fines as there were slaves ; to suffer THOMAS GARRETT. Prom " Underground Railroad," by permission of Author. as many terms imprisonment; and to pay the costs and stand committed until the fines were paid. The initials of the words ' ' slave stealer ' ' were branded upon his hand and he was imprisoned, but his friends succeeded in raising money to pay his fines and he was released in 1845. The following lines by Whittier gave quite another meaning to the brand "S. S.," 92 PROGRESS OF A RACE. making it a badge of honor, signifying the heroism and self-sacrifice in spirit of these forerunners of liberty. " Then lift that manly right hand, bold plowman of the wave, Its branded palm shall prophesy Salvation to the Slave ; Hold up its fire-wrought language, that whoso reads may feel His heart swell strong within him, his sinews change to steel ; Hold it up before our sunshine, up against our Northern air. Ho! men of Massachusetts, for the love of God, look there! Take it henceforth for your standard, like the Bruce's heart of yore; In the dark strife closing round ye let that hand be seen before." Underground Railroad. By this term we designate the many methods and systems by which fugitive slaves from the Southern States were aided in es- caping to the North or Canada. After slavery was abolished in the North slaves frequently ran away from their masters and attempted to reach the free states of the North, or better still, Canada, where they were beyond the reach of their former masters. These so-called railroads were most useful auxiliar- ies in giving aid to the Negro. Fugitive slave laws gave masters the right to pursue the slaves into an- other state and bring them back. The men interested in these railways were men who felt they should fear God rather than man, that the fugitive slave laws were unjust and that they should not be obeyed. They were composed of a chain of good men who stretched themselves across the land from the borders of the slave states all the way to Canada. Many fu- gitive slaves were thus permitted to escape. They were carried by night to a place of safety and then turned over to another conductor who very often THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. 93 would load up and convey the fugitives in a covered wagon to the next station. Thus they were carried on from one place to another. As soon as leaders rose among the slaves who refused to endure hard- ship, the fugitive then came north. George Williams says: "Had they remained, the direful scenes of St. Domingo would have been re-enacted, and the hot vengeful breath of massacre would have swept the South as a tornado and blanched the cheek of 1 the civilized world. ' ' Different Branches. It would be very difficult to name all the branches of the ' ' Underground Railroad. ' ' They extended all the way from New Jersey to Illi- nois. Probably those on which the greatest number was rescued extended through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Many local branches existed in different parts of the country. William Still. One of the most active workers in freeing slaves was William Still. He was chairman and secretary of the eastern branch of the road. It is won- derful what work such men as Mr. Still did in those days when opposition was so great. A part of the work that he has done is recorded in ' ' Underground Railroad." In the preface of this work Mr. Still says : "In these records will be found interesting nar- ratives of the escapes of men, women and children from the present House of Bondage ; from cities and plantations ; from rice swamps and cotton fields ; from kitchens and mechanic shops ; from border states and gulf states; from cruel masters and mild masters; some guided by the north star alone, penniless, brav- ing the perils of land and sea, eluding the keen scent of the bloodhound as well as the more dangerous pur- suit of the savage slave-hunter; some from secluded -mm. r =- u. X u a H THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. 95 dens and caves of the earth, where for months and years they had been hidden away awaiting the chance to escape ; from mountains and swamps, where inde- scribable sufferings and other privations had patiently been endured. Occasionally fugitives came in boxes and chests, and not infrequently some were secreted in steamers and vessels, and in some instances jour- neyed hundreds of miles in skiffs. Men disguised in female attire and women dressed in the garb of men have under very trying circumstances triumphed in thus making their way to freedom. And here and there, when all other modes of escape seemed cut off, some, whose fair complexions have rendered them indistinguishable from their Anglo-Saxon brethren, feeling that they could endure the yoke no longer, with assumed airs of importance, such as they had been accustomed to see their masters show when trav- eling, have taken the usual modes of conveyance and have even braved the most scrutinizing inspection of slave-holders, slave-catchers, and car conductors, who were ever on the alert to catch those who were con- sidered base and white enough to practice such decep- tion. ' ' Mr. Still says that the passengers on the Un- derground Railroad were generally above the average order of slaves. Agents. As the branches of the railroad were nu- merous it would be impossible to name any consider- able number of the agents of the road. Some of these nobly periled their all for the freedom of the op- pressed. Seth Concklin lost his life while endeavoring to rescue from Alabama slavery the wife and children of Peter Still. Samuel D. Burris, whose faithful and heroic service in connection with the underground railway cost him imprisonment and inhuman treat- PROGRESS OF A RACE. ment, at last lost his freedom by being sold from the auction block. WILLIAM STILL. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. 97 Indeed, prudence often dictated that the recipients of favors should not know the names of their helpers and vice versa, they did not desire to know others. The slave and his friends could only meet in private to transact the business of the road. All others were outsiders. The right hand was not to know what the left hand was doing". The safety of all concerned called for still tongues. For a long time no narratives were written. Probably the best and most authentic of these thrilling accounts of the struggle for liberty are found in ' ' Underground Railroad. ' ' Methods Pursued. Different methods were pursued to aid fugitive slaves; some availed themselves of steamboats, railroads, stage coaches, but more fre- quently a more private method was resorted to, so as to escape detection. A number of cases are reported where colored men were boxed up and shipped by express across the line. William Jones, from Baltimore, succeeded in having his friends box him up and ship him by express to Philadelphia ; for seventeen hours he was enclosed in the box, but friends at the Philadelphia underground station succeeded in getting the box safely, and after a time in sending the slave to Canada. Mr. Pratt, in his sketches of the underground railway, gives a number of interesting accounts of escapes, among which are a mother and daughter who escaped in a box from Washington to Warsaw, New York. With the aid of a friend they secured a box, put in it straw, quilts, plenty of provisions and water, and their friend carried the box in a spring wagon to the North. This friend, in order to succeed in his efforts, passed himself off as a Yankee clock peddler, and as he drove a wagon and good team, no questions were asked. 7 PROGRESS OF A RACE. When out of sight of settlements he would open the box and give the inmates an opportunity to walk in the night for exercise. The master heard of their whereabouts and sent slave-hunters to recapture them, A BOLD STROKE FOR FREEDOM. From "Underground Railroad," by permission of Author." but the sentiment against slavery was so strong that they were not permitted to take them back. Henry Box Brown. The marvelous escape of Henry Box Brown was published widely in papers when the anti-slavery agitation was being carried on. In point of interest his case is no more remarkable than any other ; indeed, he did not suffer near as much as many. He was a piece of property in the city of Richmond. He seemed to be a man of inventive mind, and knew that it was no small task to escape the vigilance of Virginia slave hunters, or the wrath of an enraged master, for attempting to escape to a land of liberty. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. W The ordinary modes of travel, he concluded, might prove disastrous to his hopes, he therefore hit upon a new invention, which was to have himself boxed up and forwarded to Philadelphia by express. Size of box was 2 feet wide, 2 feet 8 inches deep and 3 feet long. His food consisted of a few small biscuits. He had a large gimlet which he intended to use for fresh air if necessary. Satisfied that this would be far better than to remain in slavery, he entered the box. It was RESURRECTION OF HENRY BOX BROWN. Prom " Underground Railroad," by permission of Author. safely nailed up and hooped with five hickory hoops, and addressed by his friend, James A. Smith, a shoe dealer, to Wm. Johnson, Arch street, Philadelphia, marked "This side up, with care." It was twenty-six hours from the time he left Richmond until he arrived in Philadelphia. The notice, "This side up," did not avail , for the box was often roughly handled. For a while the box was upside down and he was on his head for miles. The members of the vigilance com 100 PROGRESS OF A RACE. mittee of Philadelphia had been informed that he would be started. One of the committee went to the depot at half past two o'clock in the morning to look after the box, but did not find it. The same afternoon he received a telegram from Richmond, "Your case of goods is shipped and will arrive to-morrow morning. " Mr. McKim, who had been engineering this under- taking, found it necessary to change the program, for it would not be safe to have the express bring it directly to the anti-slavery office. He went to a friend who was extensively engaged in mercantile business who was ready to aid him. This friend, Mr. Davis, knew all the Adams Express drivers, and it was left to him to pay a trusty man $5 in gold to go next morn- ing and bring the box directly to the anti-slavery office. Those present to behold the resurrection were J. M. McKim, Professor C. D. Cleveland, Lewis Thompson, and Wm. Still. The box was taken into the office. When the door had been safely locked, Mr. McKim rapped quietly on the lid of the box and called out "All right." Instantly came the answer from within, "All right, sir. ' ' Saw and hatchet soon removed the five hickory hoops and raised the lid of the box. Rising up in his box, Brown reached out his hand, saying, "How do you do, gentlemen. " He was about as wet as if he had come up out of the Delaware. He first sang the psalm beginning with these words : "I waited patiently for the Lord, and he heard my prayer. ' ' At the home of Lucretia Mott he received a cordial reception, and was entertained for some time, when he went to Boston. The success of this undertaking encouraged Smith, who had nailed him up in the box, to render similar service to two other young bondmen. But, unfortun- ately, in this attempt the undertaking proved a failure. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. 101 The young men, after being duly expressed and some distance on the road, were, through the agency of the telegraph, betrayed, and the heroic young fugitives were taken from the box and dragged back to helpless bondage. Smith was arrested and imprisoned for seven years in a Richmond penitentiary. He lost all CHARITY STILL, Who Twice Escaped from Slavery. his property, was refused witnesses on his trial, and for five long months, in hot weather, he was kept heavily chained in a cell 4x8 feet in dimensions. Mr. Smith had, by his efforts, aided many to gain their liberty. He received five stabs aimed at his heart by a bribed assassin. But all these things did not move him from his purpose. After his release he went North and was united in marriage at Philadelphia to a lady who had remained faithful to him through all his sufferings. Amanda Smith, in her autobiography, tells how her 102 PROGRESS OF A RACE. father assisted runaway slaves. ' ' Our house, ' ' she says v "was one of the main stations of the underground railway. My father took the Baltimore Weekly Sun newspaper, that always had advertisements of runaway slaves. These would be directed by their friends to our house and we would assist them on their way to liberty; Excitement ran very high, and we had to be very discreet in order not to attract suspicion. My father was watched closely, as he was suspected of aiding slaves. After working all day in the harvest field he would come home at night, sleep about two hours, then start at midnight and walk fifteen or twenty miles and carry a poor slave to a place of security, sometimes a mother and child, sometimes a man and wife, then get home just before day. Thus he many times baffled suspicion, and never but once was there a poor slave taken from my father's hands, and if that man had told the truth he would have been saved. ' ' One week the papers were full of notices of a slave who had run away. A heavy reward was offered, a number of men in our neighborhood deterimned to get the reward if possible. They suspected our home as a place of safety for the poor slave. We had concealed the poor fellow for about two weeks, as there was no possible chance for father or anyone else to get him away, so closely were we watched. One day four men came on horseback. As father saw them he called to mother that four men were coming. He met them and they demanded of him to know whether he had a nigger there. Father said, 'If I tell you I have not you won't believe me, if I tell you I have it will not satisfy you, so search for yourself. ' Mother had in the meantime concealed him between the cords and the straw tick. The men searched the house, looked under THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS. 103 the bed, and satisfied themselves that he was not there ; thus we succeeded in saving him from slavery. ' ' William and Ellen Craft were slaves in the state of Georgia. The desire to become free became so strong that they commenced planning to escape. Ellen, being fair, would pass for a white man, and was to act the part of master, while William was to be the servant. She dressed in a fashionable suit of male attire, and was to pass as a young planter. But Ellen was beardless. After mature reflection her face was muffled up as though the young planter was suffering from a face or toothache. In order to prevent the method of register- ing at hotels, Ellen put her right arm in a sling, put on green spectacles, and pretended to be very hard of hearing and dependent upon the faithful servant. Ellen, disguised as a young planter, was to have nothing to do but to hold herself subject to her ail- ments and put on the air of superiority. - CHAPTER VII. THE NEGRO SOLDIER IN THE CUBAN INSURRECTION AND SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. Written expressly for this book by Prof. W. H. Crogman, A. M. The persistent efforts of Spain to retain under her cruel, corrupt, and inefficient government the fertile island of Cuba have again, in these closing years of the nineteenth century, brought to light the splendid qual- ities of the Negro soldier. Of limited education, poorly armed, poorly clad, and poorly fed, he has shared the toils, the perils, the privations of his white compatriots, and has exhibited such fortitude and loyalty, such unswerving devotion to the cause of Cuban liberty as to win unstinted praise even from those cherishing strong prejudice against his race. Whatever may be the future of Cuba, impartial history will ascribe to the Negro no small part of the sacrifice made for her de- liverance. Both as a slave and as a freedman his sym- pathies were with the insurgents. In the first revolu- tion, beginning October 10, 1868, and lasting ten years, there were thousands of blacks under the insurgent standard. It is reasonable to believe, that in this first uprising they imbibed the martial spirit, and acquired that training and discipline which made them so effi- cient in the last struggle to throw off the Spanish yoke. It has been officially stated that of the thirty thousand Cubans recently under arms two-fifths were Negroes, commonly so called. 131 132 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Leadership. Not only soldiers, however, but Negro leaders of conspicuous ability were brought to light by the recent Cuban insurrection. Prominent among these may be mentioned Flor Crombet, a dashing lead- er, a stubborn fighter, unflinching in his loyalty to Cuba as he was unrelenting in his hostility to Spain. Equally brave, and more of a military genius, per- haps, was Quintin Bandera, a Negro of unmixed blood. Indeed, there is much of romance in the life of this man. Hon. Amos J. Cummings, one of the five con- gressmen invited by the New York Journal to visit Cuba, and report the state of things there, had this to say about Quintin Bandera, in his speech before Con- gress, Friday, April, 29, 1898: "Quintin Bandera means 'fifteen flags.' The appel- lation was given to Bandera because he had captured fifteen Spanish ensigns. He is a coal-black Negro, of remarkable military ability. He was a slave of Que- sada. With others of Maceo's staff, he was sent to prison at Ceuta. While in prison the daughter of a Spanish officer fell in love with him. Through her aid, he escaped in a boat to Gibraltar, where he became a British subject and married his preserver. She is of Spanish and Moorish blood, and is said to be a lady of education and refinement. She taught her husband to read and write, and takes great pride in his achieve- ments. " Antonio Maceo. Of all the leaders produced by the Cuban war the most colossal and imposing figure is Antonio Maceo. Says Mr. Cummings of him : "He was as swift on the march as either Sheridan or Stonewall Jackson, and equally as prudent and wary. He had flashes of military genius when a crisis arose. It was to his sudden inspiration that Martinez Campos NEGRO SOLDIER IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 133 owed his final defeat at Coliseo, giving the patriots the opportunity to overrun the richest of the western provinces and to carry the war to the very gates of Havana." GEN. ANTONIO MACEO. Speaking of his attachment to the cause of Cuban liberty, the same author says: " No one has ever questioned his patriotism. Money could not buy him ; promises could not deceive him. 134 PROGRESS OF A RACE. His devotion to Cuban freedom was like the devotion of a father to his family. All his energies, physical and intellectual, were given freely to his country." It is well known that of all the men arrayed against them the Spaniards dreaded Maceo most. Through emissaries they made repeated efforts to have him poisoned ; but without success. When finally the news reached them of his fall by Spanish bullets, their joy was indescribable and their hope of success corre- spondingly raised. The greatness of this man as a leader, however, ap- parent as it was in his life, became even more so in his death. His fall sent a shock throughout the civilized world. Men felt instinctively that the Cuban cause had lost its mightiest chieftain, its loftiest source of inspiration. It is doubtful, indeed, whether the death of any man within the century produced a sorrow more general and profound. So sincere was the regret that for weeks, nay, almost months, people would not be- lieve that the daring leader was gone. They said it was only a ruse he was practicing on the Spaniards, and at some moment when they least expected him he would strike like a thunderbolt. Alas ! that moment was never to come. His death, however, won uni- versal sympathy for the Cuban cause. So far, then, as he was personally concerned, it was as well for him to die when he did as to die later. He had shown to the world what was in his heart and brain ; he had written his name high upon the scroll of the world's heroes; he had done this, too, not for vain-glory, not for self aggrandizement, not for the purpose of crushing and humiliating his fellow-men; but for the purpose of rescuing a suffering people from a hideous and op- pressive tyranny. NEGRO SOLDIER IN THE SPANISH- AMERICAN WAR. 135 The Negro Soldier in the Spanish-American War. It is an historic fact that reflects no little credit on the Negro, that on the very verge of hostilities with Spain the first regiment ordered to the front was the Twenty- fourth United States regulars. This colored regiment, like all the regiments of its kind, had, in time of peace, maintained in the West a splendid record, not only for soldierly efficiency, but for manly and respectful con- duct. Wherever quartered in that section of country the Negro regiments were liked, and in more than one instance did the citizens petition for their retention when they were about to be moved, preferring their presence to that of white troops. It is safe to say, per- haps, that the best behaved men in times of peace are the best and most reliable men in times of war. Char- acter always tells. The ruffian and the rowdy are brave under favorable conditions, when the odds are on their side. It requires courageous men to face coolly all sorts of dangers and difficulties. The short war with Spain has shown Negroes to be just such men. From no service have the black soldiers shrunk. At no time did they show the white feather. With far less to inspire them they have shown themselves on every occasion not one whit inferior to their white comrades in arms. Nay, some are inclined to give them the palm for bravery displayed in the recent war around Santiago and at other stubbornly-disputed points. A correspondent of the New York Sun a paper quick, by the way, to recognize the merits of the black troops describing the scenes on that fatal Friday at Santiago, said : "While the proportion of colored men wounded has been large, by their courage and supreme cheerfulness they have really carried off the palm for heroism." NEGRO SOLDIER IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 137 Here is what one of the wounded Rough Riders, Ken- neth Robinson, has to say about the black soldiers. Robinson is lying in one of the tents here suffering from a shot through his chest. A pair of underdraws and one sock, the costume in which he arrived from the front, is all that he has to his name at present. On the next cot to him lies an immense Negro, who has been simply riddled with bullets, but is still able to crack a smile and even to hum a tune occasionally. Between him and the Calumet man there has sprung up a friendship. Til tell you what it is,' said Robin- son this morning, 'Without any disregard to my own regiment I want to say that the whitest men in this fight have been the black ones. At all events they have been the best friends that the Rough Riders have had, and every one of us, from Colonel Roosevelt down, appreciates it. When our men were being mown down to right and left in that charge up the hill it was the black cavalry men who were the first to carry our wounded away, and during that awful day and night that I lay in the field hospital, waiting for a chance to get down here, it was two big colored men, badly wounded themselves, who kept my spirits up. Why, in camp every night before the fight the colored soldiers used to come over and serenade Colonels Wood and Roosevelt; and weren't they just tickled to death about it ' The last night before I was wounded a whole lot of them came over, and when Colonel Roose- velt made a little speech thanking them for their songs, one big sergeant got up and said: 'It's all right, col- onel, we'se all rough riders now.' " From another source we take the following : "I was standing near Captain Capron and Hamilton " said the corporal to the Associated Press corre- 138 PROGRESS OF A RACE. spondent tonight, "and saw them shot down. They were with the Rough Riders and ran into an ambush, though they had been warned of the danger. Captain Capron and Fish were shot while leading a charge. If it had not been for the Negro cavalry, the Rough Riders would have been exterminated. I am not a Negro lover. My father fought with Mosby's rangers, and I was born in the South, but the Negroes saved thaffight, and the day will come when General Shafter will give them credit for their bravery. ' ' A correspondent of the Atlanta Evening Journal, July 30, 1898, has this to say: ' ' I have been asked repeatedly since my return about what kind of soldiers the Negroes make. The Negroes make fine soldiers. Physically the colored troops are the best men in the army, especially the men in the Ninth and Tenth cavalry. Every man of them is a giant. The Negroes in the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth infan- try, too, are all big fellows. These colored regiments fought as well, according to General Sumner, in whose command they were, as the white regiments. What I saw of them in battle confirmed what General Sumner said. The Negroes seemed to be absolutely without fear, and certainly no troops advanced more promptly when the order was given than they. ' ' In the course of the war, however, there came to the colored troops a severer test than that of facing Mauser bullets. A yellow fever hospital was to be cleansed and yellow fever sufferers were to be nursed. An order went forth from General Miles that a regiment be detailed for such service. "In response to this order," said Mr. Robert B. Cramer in the Atlanta Constitution, Tuesday, August 16, 1898, "the Twenty- fourth infantry, made up entirely of colored men, left NEGRO SOLDIER IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 139 their trenches at night, and at dawn the next morning they had reported to Dr. LaGarde. An hour later they were put at work, and before sunset again the lines of their tents were straightened out, the debris of the burned buildings was cleared away, the waterworks were put in operation, and the entire camp became a place in which a sick man stood at least a fighting chance of getting well. ' ' "It was peculiarly appropriate," continues Mr. Cramer, "that the Twenty- fourth should be selected for that place, because it was one of unquestionable honor, and at that time .there was nothing that could be done for the colored troops in paying tribute to their work as soldiers that ought not to have been done. In all the disputes that historians will indulge in as to who did and who did not do their duty at the siege of Santi- ago no one will ever question the service of the dark- skinned regulars, who from the time the Tenth fought with the Rough Riders in the first day's fight, until the Twenty-fifth infantry participated in the actual surrender, did their whole duty as soldiers. All that can be said in praise of any regiment that participated in the campaign can be said of those regiments which were made up of colored troops, and I am glad to quote General Wheeler as saying: 'The only thing necessary in handling a colored regiment is to have officers over them who are equally courageous. Give them the moral influence of good leadership and they are as fine soldiers as exist any- where in the world. Put them where you want them, point out what you want them to shoot at and they will keep on shooting until either their officers tell them to stop or they are stopped by the enemy. ' ' ' Such testimony from a hard-fighting ex-Confederate 140 PROGRESS OF A RACE. general ought to be sufficient to establish the merits of the Negro as a soldier ; but it may be well, as there is evidence varied and abundant, and from high author- ity to hear from others. Mr. George Kennan of Sibe- rian prison fame, special correspondent for the Outlook, wrote in the issue of August 13: "I have not, as yet, the information necessary to do anything like justice to the regiments that particularly distinguished themselves in Friday's battle; but upon the basis of the information I already have, I do not hesitate to call especial attention to the splendid behavior of the colored troops. It is the testimony of all who saw them under fire, that they fought with the utmost courage, coolness, and determination, and Col- onel Roosevelt said to a squad of them in the trenches, in my presence, that he never expected to have, and could not ask to have better men beside him in a hard fight. If soldiers come up to Colonel Roosevelt's standard of courage, their friends have no reason to feel ashamed of them. His commendation is equiva- lent to a medal of honor for conspicuous gallantry, because, in the slang of the camp, he himself is 'a fighter from 'way back. ' I can testify, furthermore, from my own personal observation in the field hospital of the Fifth army corps Saturday and Sunday night that the colored regulars who were brought in there displayed extraordinary fortitude and self control. There were a great many of them, but I can not re- member to have heard a groan or a complaint from a single man." His Patriotism. At the outbreak of the war with Spain, there were not wanting those who questioned the patriotism of the Negro. To all such skeptics we commend the following extract from the organ of the American Missionary Association : 142 PROGRESS OF A RACE. "Never can the students of Talladega college forget the commencement of 1898, when so many brave men left their cherished plans to engage in the war with Spain. Those laughter-loving boys, earnest in study, but full of fun and careless sometimes, as boys will be one hardly knew them when the war spirit rose and they stood in line with the new, steady light of resolu- tion shining in their dark eyes. In 1860 young men of Anglo-Saxon blood left that same building to fight against the Union. One of those young men, now governor of the state, thirty-eight years later, tele- graphs to the same school asking Negroes to defend the same government, and they cheerfully respond. Is not this a revolution of the wheel of time? The governor's telegram came Wednesday, almost two weeks before commencement. All volunteers were prompt, having completed satisfactorily the work of the year with the exception of the closing exercises. Thirty in all volunteered, three or four of whom were not students, a third of this number being unable to pass the severe physical test. A farewell meeting was held in the chapel, and the young soldiers told in stirring words the motives that led them to offer their lives to their country; their resolve to fight for the freedom of bleeding Cuba, their love of the Stars and Stripes in spite of the wrongs they themselves had suffered, their strong desire to show that Negroes could not only live and work, but die, like men. Many earnest appeals were made for prayers, that they might never turn their backs to their enemies, nor yield to the temptations of camp life. At last a qrlcc little woman with an earnest face arose and told in trem- bling tones her determination to go as nurse, if she could find an opportunity. She was called to the plat- NEGRO SOLDIER IN THE SPANISH- AMERICAN WAR. 143 form and it was beautiful to see the reverence with which the tall, young fellows gathered about her. Talladega college had reason to be proud of her sons as they marched to the station with a flag and a band, and went off with a ringing cheer. Nor were her daughters wanting ; their hearts were aching, but their faces dressed in smiles as they sent their brothers away as patriotically as those of fairer hue. The Talladega students have not been permitted to meet any Spaniards in battle, but their record in camp at Mobile has been true to their promises. They have shown to every one the advantage of education. Their officers prize them highly, and the rough, ignorant men who are their comrades, have felt their influence, so that the governor has publicly commended their behavior. ' ' Commenting on the above, the writer says : "Probably no institution in the East sent as large a percentage of student soldiers to bear the flag of our common country to victory as did our missionary schools. Our students have not been taught that war is glory. It was conscience with them. They went as deliverers from oppression and saw their opportunity to prove their devotion and gratitude to the country for their own deliverance. They have made their record. ' ' Surely this is very refreshing, especially just now when a certain class of persons are endeavoring to deprecate Negro education, or at least to confine it to manual training, as best suited to the sphere in which he is to move, a proposition, we may add, as absurd as any that could be propounded by enlightened men living under a republican form of government. Von Moltke attributed his success at Sadowa to the 144 PROGRESS OF A RACE. influence of the Prussian schoolmaster, and Wellington thought that the battle of Waterloo was first won on the cricket field at Rugby. Evidently a machine is a good thing, but a thinking machine is better. What the Negro needs is thought power, and that kind of education which will develop this power in him will fit him not only for the best mechanic, but for the best soldier and most efficient citizen. In closing this chapter we would add that we have by no means exhausted the evidence in favor of the Negro soldier; but have presented enough to show that he has won universal admiration and respect, and is entitled to the generous consideration and gratitude of the whole country. TRUCK TRAIN OF THE 365TH INFANTRY UNLOADING TROOPS AT BRUYERES, VOSGES, FRANCE. DR. V. CONRAD VINCENT-SURGEON, WHO HAS RECENTLY MADE VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS IN HIS CHOSEN FIELD. (C) C. M. Battey. CHAPTER VIII. THE SUPREME TEST OF THE NEGRO IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR. No history of the Negro could be complete without some word regarding his record in the European War. A Wonderful Heritage. Starting with the Boston Massacre, there is Lake Erie, Lexington, Fort Wagner, Milliken Bend, Port Hudson, Santiago, Carrizil and countless others all through the list. With such a record to fall back on, is it any wonder that the world waited confidently for the race to meet the supreme test? Has a Negro ever been convicted of disloyalty, sedition, or conspiracy with the enemy? The Slate Is Clean. Prejudice, discrimination, unfair- ness, even brutality there has been in dealing with the Negro both in peace and in war. But in spite of the handicap, the American Negro has as much right to be proud of his showing on the battlefields of the world as any other nation or people on earth. A Brief Outline. It is not our purpose or desire to render a detailed account of Negroes' war work. We will try merely to present some of the most important facts and figures in their relationship to the entire con- flict. In the Same Way we shall endeavor to pass over the unalterable fact that our boys gave their all to make the world safe for democracy, even when the fundamental rights of democracy were denied them in their own land. We Can Never Forget the organized propaganda of prejudice against us, the unfair segregation of both officers and men, the dirty, underhanded methods of dis- 147 THE FAMOUS FIGHTING TENTH CAVALRY IN MARCHING ORDER. A PART OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES IN MEXICO. 325TH FIELD SIGNAL BATTALION STRINGING WIRE ON THE MARNE. I7TH PROVISIONAL RESERVE OFFICERS TRAINING REGIMENT, FORT DES MOINES, IOWA, JULY 28, IQI7, COL. C. C. BALLOU COMMANDING. 150 PROGRESS OF A RACE. crimination, or the lies about us. We do not forget, but we would far rather remember that France welcomed us as men and equals, that we did our plain duty as we saw it, and that the whole world honors us for it. The Black Colonials. Germany was whipped at the first battle of the Marne and beaten by Negroes. Two hundred and eighty thousand black Senegalese volunteers blocked the passing of the Marne and the Ourcq. Then there were over 30,000 blacks from the Congo in the Belgian army, and at least 20,000 West Indians with the British. German Africa was taken by thousands of black warriors. But We Are More interested in the American Negro. Two hundred thousand of them went overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces. Stevedores. Of this number about 150,000 were stevedores or laborers, carrying on in the S. O. S. under unbelievable circumstances. They were Jim Crowed as to food, clothing and housing ; worked like dogs, insulted, even beaten; they built roads, hewed logs, worked as section hands, moved freight, often twelve to fifteen hours per day. Think of a body of men working honestly and faith- fully under these trying conditions and you will know what manner of men they were. Even the Y. M. C. A.'s were subject to Jim Crow regulations to avoid fraterniz- ing between black and white. NEGRO OFFICERS. The 1 7th Provisional R. O. T. C. was organized at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, in June, 1917, with 1,200 edu- cated Negroes drawn from every section of the country. Of this number 639 were given commissions and assigned to train the colored men in the draft. There were 106 THE NEGRO IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR. 153 captains, 329 first lieutenants and 204 second lieutenants. The rank of captain was the highest given. The Color Question. Naturally the status of colored officers came up, but in most cases they were received on a basis of complete equality commensurate with their rank. White or Colored Officers. There seems to be little doubt but that the colored troops fought best under the leadership of Negro officers. We cite the case of the 3/oth Inf. under Negro officers, the 37ist under white officers, and the 3/2d and 369th under both black and white. The record of the 37oth Inf. stands out more conspicuously than any of the others. Colonel Charles Young. Here was a Negro officer worthy of leading an entire division of his own troops. One of the three colored graduates of West Point, he was denied the opportunity of participating in the World War for democracy. At the beginning of the war he was put on the inactive list, despite the fact that he rode over five hundred miles on horseback from Ohio to Washington in an effort to convince the War Department of his fitness for military duty. NEGRO COMBAT TROOPS. The 92d. In the spring of 1918 when the German drive menaced Paris and the whole world waited in an agony of suspense for America to prepare, the call came from Pershing for the 92d Division. No one could doubt its readiness. They went through embarkation, de- barkation, training areas, quiet sectors, and never had a real chance until the end of the war. In spite of every conceivable difficulty in France, no other American division has a better record. COL. WILLIAM HAYWARD COMMANDING 36OTH INFANTRY. SENDING A MESSAGE BY CARRR1ER PIGEON. THE OLD I5TH NEW YORK, ONLY COLORED REGIMENT ON THE SKIRMISH LINE. 156 PROGRESS OF A RACE. The 93d Division. This division never functioned as a complete unit, but was for the most part brigaded with the French. The men fought splendidly in the Cham- pagne and Argonne, and were highly praised by the French. For instance, the 37oth Regiment received more citations for bravery than any other American regiment on the field of battle ; this, mind you, under leadership of colored officers. SUPPLEMENTARY WAR WORKS. Negro Women in the War. An entire book could be written about the Negro woman's enthusiastic service in the emergency of war, how she overcame the race problem by sheer patriotism, how the colored hostess_ Jioujes_and rest room^were established. ^ that she duTTar more^fhan heFshare in Red Cross arid Y. M. C. A. work, Liberty Loan Drives and important work in war industries. She shuFher eyes to past wrongs and present discomforts, and did her best to make the world a better place to live in. The Y. M. C. A. It was not until a colored man was put in charge of Negro Y. M. C. A. work that this organization ever did anything for the Negro troops. Even then sufficient secretaries and materials were not furnished to make the work effective. The color line was strongly drawn by all white secretaries, and colored troops were refused the privileges of the huts. The Knights of Columbus. Take, on the other hand, the Knights of Columbus, while they did maintain sep- arate huts in various camps, never raised the color ques- tion. This organization was highly spoken of for its work, both at home and abroad, by members of Negro units. COLORED SOLDIERS WHO HAVE BEEN WOUNDED AND ARE NOW CON- VALESCING AT BASE HOSPITAL NO. 3, NEW YORK CITY. THE LATE LJEUT. "jIMMIE" EUROPE AND HIS FAMOUS "l5TH" JAZZ BAND SNAPPED ON THEIR TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO NEW YORK. 158 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Here is the Record in Black and White: Number of Negroes registered 2,290,527 Number of Negroes examined 458,838 Number of Negroes inducted 367,710 Number of Negroes accepted for full military service 342,277 Number of Negro soldiers mobilized in- cluding regular army units 380,000 Number of combat troops overseas v 4-'.One aim of the colored club^women. JS-tQjLeach_raca^ pride, race independence; and the purchase of this home, soTbng occupied by our great leader, Mj\_Dpug- lass, ajid i* g ppT-marifnt maintenance, is a great step in achieving_thij^endj and if our national president does., not accomplish anything else, she has done enough by this one effort to put every other woman in the race in her debt all the years' that are to come. 182 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Mrs. Rosetta Sprague. the only daughter of Mr. Doug- lass" during her life was a leading spirit in the club work in the__city_J3f Washington, and it was the love and gratitude which the women held for Mrs. Sprague, as well as that they were anxious to show their regard for her father, that made them respond in this practical manner toward this memorial. Works Through Departments. The national as- sociation does its work through departments, and these carry on the work through individual clubs. The lead- ing departments are: Woman Suffrage, Patriotism, Education, Conditions in Rural Life, Music, Literature and Art, Gainful Occupation and Business, Better Rail- road Conditions, Mothers' Meetings and Night Schools, Health Conditions, Child Welfare and Public Speaking, etc. The School Question. How many people realize that even today in many parts of the country the school term for the colored child is not more than four months in a year ? H^o_wjriaj].y_pejQple-iiL42iaking up their opinion as to the colored woman and__h_er people stop_to_cpnsider in ^their comparison that the children with whom the stitch- is made are in schooLoftenJien months irMihejrear, and that such conditions are unfair and un-American, and '^sboner'or later colored children, not being given a square deal for growth and all around citizenship, will becormTa jnenace anff^~hurderi^to the community in which they jive? No question today~Ts of so viral affniterest to the colored woman's club as this one which deals with the schools and the general educational advantages for their children and those of their sister club workers. The Department of Education has been the one most thoroughly organized because it is that upon which all others are obliged to depend for growth. Our pioneer MISS CLEOTA J. COLLINS, NOTED LYRIC SOPRANO OF COLUMBUS, OHIO. 184 1'KOGKESS 01-' A RACK. women were amongst the chosen of the earth, and at the head stand the following: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Mary A. Shadd, Fanny Jackson Coppm and T^harlotte Fortem Grimke. long since numbered with those who have passed into the beyond. They will always be remembered as pioneers in the education of the children of their own race. Mrs. Harper visited every Southern State, speaking in colleges, schools, churches, and even going from home to home, on the subject of Education, Temperance. Homemaking, Honesty, Morality, and all that werifT to make up an intelligent citizenship. She was most deeply interested in her women and held many meetings ex- clusively for them. . Mjs<_ Harper was^ the first superintendent of colored workers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She was one of the directors of the Women's Congress of the United States, and so was doubly fitted to help her own women in the higher ideals of living. The following lines indicate the faith Mrs. Harper had in the future of the success of her race: '; "There is light beyond the darkness, Joy beyond the present pain ; There is hope in God's great justice And the Negro's rising brain. Tho' the morning seems to linger O'er the hilltops far away, Yet the shadows bear the promise Of a brighter coming day." Jffirs.JFanny Jackson Goppin was a native of the Dis- trict of Columbia. She received her training at Oberlin. Ohio. Immediately after her graduation she went to Philadelphia, Pa., and organized what is now known as the Cheyney Training School for Teachers, which in- stitute was presided over by her for nearly thirty years. CLUB WORK AMONG NEGRO WOMEN. 185 and was then known as the Institute for Colored Youth. Mrs. Coppin wa& an early advocate of industrial edu- cation, and made it an important item in building up that institution. No woman in any race has been a greater credit to its standards of education than has Mrs. Coppin to her race. Her executive ability was recognized by both^men and women of prominence as being far above the ordi- nary 'and hundreds of young colored men and women all over the country, South as well as North, call her blessed because she inspired them for an education and to higher ideals of living. Dorothy H. Greene. In these later days one does not as often find women willing to consecrate themselves so absolutely to the great cause of education as the three mentioned above, but here, in our midst recently, I came upon a woman who can certainly be classed with the most devoted of teachers, Dorothy H. Greene she is called ; ajrraduate_pf Selma University^ Miss Greene is a great lover of children, the smaller the better, the poorer the more she loves them. The first year after her graduation she was employed at her Alma Mater. This in itself is an indication of her superiority as a young woman. Miss Greene was not long in discovering that at the university she was helping and teaching only the children of the well to do, and at the end of the first year she gave up the comforts at the university and went into a most neglected district of alarge Southern city, a neigh- borhood''^ here mother^were so poor that tbey^jwere obliged to leave their little ones daily and go out to either help make the bread they ate, or to make it entirely. There can be no more inspiring sight than to see this 186 PROGRESS OF A RACE. good woman, still young, giving up herself absolutely to the care, not only of the minds of these children undei her care, but to their bodies also. They have little or no other care except as she gives it. Tribute to White Club Workers. Dorothy Greene attributes much of her success to the kindness of two helpfully sympathetic white club women of the city in which she works ; and here let us pay our gratitude to many white club women all over the country who stand ready to co-operate with us in every good cause of our educational advancement. The following shows in what esteem one well known white person, at least, holds our work : "Of all the con- ventions that have met in the country this summer, there is none that has taken hold of the business in hand with more good sense and judgment than the National Federa- tionof Colored \yomen's Clubs now assembled in this city (Chicago). The subjects brought up, the matter of their treatment, and the decisions reached exhibit wide and appreciative knowledge of problems confronting the colored people," and so makes it possible for us to take courage and to press forward as women having our own cause to fight not entirely alone. Many women in the South, with their friends, and often in the North, are inclined to mistrust the interests, of their Northern club sisters, but there are many whose efforts cannot be doubted for one moment, for from the very beginning of our career asjjrganized club workers, which was really begun by a Northern woman and aided largely for years by others, certain Northern women have stood always bravely in the front. Miss Maria Baldwin, Miss Lucy K_Motpn, M^* ^-lizabfrtVjjgl^J^j^ Mary Jackson, and a host of others who have had great oppor- tunity for education and leadership, have never tired of CLUB WORK AMONG NEGRO WOMEN. 187 Avorking to bring our cause before the country and to insist upon the recognition of other colored women less fortunate than themselves. "Master" Baldwin. Miss Baldwin was born and educated in Cambridge, Mass. In 1882 she was given a position as grade teacher in the public schools of her home city. For seven years she did her duty as a teacher faithfully and well, and was then made principal, and for nearly thirty-five years Miss Baldwin's position as prin- cipal of one of the largest and most influential schools in Cambridge has been unquestioned. Four years ago the Agassiz was torn down and a building costing in the neighborhood of $60,000 was put in its place. Miss Baldwin still held her position, and was then known as "Master Baldwin." There is one other woman master in the Cambridge schools. This is a position of more than ordinary distinction. Her school is attended by children of the most advanced families of Cambridge, including those of Harvard professors. Twelve teachers worked under Principal Baldwjn, and more than four hundred boys and girls attended daily up to the time of her sudden death on January 9, 1922. The Massachusetts school's principal did her work so well that it has led the authorities in that State, and in other Northern States, to appoint many colored^women in the schoQls_of_the North and to give them the recogni- tion their training deserves. Miss Baldwin was a lecturer also of no mean ability. She was the first woman of any race to give the annual Washington's Birthday memorial address before the Brooklyn, N. Y., Institute. Her subject was "The Life and Service of the late Harriet Beecher Stowe." The Brooklyn Eagle commented in the following manner upon the address : "She is a type quite as ex- 18e> PROGRESS OF A RACE. traordinary in one way as Booker T Washington is in another. Her English is pure and felicitous, her manner reposeful, and her thoughts and sympathies strong and deep, etc." E. Carter, of New Bedford, Mass., has for years been the only colored teacher in the public schools of that city, and has been one of the most honored of teachers. The past year she resigned her position to take up Y. W. C. A. work in the city of Washington, D. C. Miss Carter was for years the recording secretary of thenaflonaTassociation, and to her credit is now a very accurate statement of work done by the organization and its individual clubs. Miss Carter early organized the women in the north- eastern """dTstricts, and so well has she led the women throughout that part of the country that, although for the past two years she has been living in the District of Columbia doing Y. W. C. A. work, they have borne her expenses back and forth to New Bedford, Mass., once every month, so that they might still have her counsel and the inspiration which comes from her presence. In her part of the country Miss Carter took a deep interest in the large number of women and their hus- bands and children who went up from the South two or three years ago to seek better living conditions. The club jaoatnen jinder her leadership went in person to officials everywhere ajnd_jecured better homes for thesg_ for their children. Miss Carter iJTtEeorganizer and head of one of the best equipped and well conducted old folks' homes now represented in the < National Association of Clubs. She was for four years the president of the associa- tion, and during her administration the women of the CLUB WORK AMONG NEGRO WOMEN. 189 North and South were cemented as never before. We all came to feel that our cause was not sectional, but one big, strong fight of an undivided citizenship. Lucy H. Moten. -In the early years of our work Miss Lucy H. Moten was making her, home in the city of Washington, D. C. Mrs. Cook of that city had many years before carried on work for and with women. There was a chain of a dozen or more clubs which did much of the charitable work of the district. Miss Moten was working in this chain as an individual much of the time. She had by force of character and effort graduated from the Normal School at Salem, Mass. Soon after returning to Washington from school she was made principal of what was known as the Miner Normal School. Miss Moten assumed the position in the face of the opposition of her own friends. This school is the outgrowth of a work begun before the war by a young white woman who gave up social life and worked continuously through the war times and even afterwards so that we might have the advantages of training, and finally take our place in the world's affairs. The Miner Normal School has, under Miss Moten, added to its course of study, has grown from two teachers to twelve or fifteen. The enrollment when Miss Moten began the work was the unlucky number thirteen. It is now nearly two hundred. Hundreds of young women all over the country owe their success as teachers to the strong determination of Miss Moten, to make the courses for teachers in her school just as efficient and broad as those in the very best schools of the country. Tribute to the " Friends. "Here we want to pay tribute to the consecrated efforts of a white woman in the interest of her sisters in black, and particularly to the people called "Friends" scattered throughout the North, 190 PROGRESS OF A RACE. who were amongst the very first white people of the country to give of their money, their strength, and even their very lives toward helping thejcolored people_put of the darkness into the light. They stand even today at the head of the list in sympathetic interest and co-oper- ation in all that makes for the highest and best develop- ment of a race behind in the race of life because of its late starting. Mrs. Lucy Thurman. The Woman's ChngUajaJTeni^ perance Union was the early_light for us. Mrs. Lucv Thurman, of Jackson, Mich.^was appointed by Frances Willard as the sgcond colored_ woman in charge of the department for colored work in the W. C. T. U., and for twenty yearsMrs._Thurman was^held in the jiighest esteem by Miss Willard and her associates because of her good sense and tact in handling a situation often delicate and difficult. ^Mrs. Thurman_ lived in Jackson, Mich., but there is scarcely a hamlet anywhere in the South where she is not now remembered, even though she has passed into the beyond. The women in her city were organized under her inspiration. _She was a platform speaker of great personality andfprce, not only when she spoke on "the exciting question ^riemperance, but also when^she advised organization, gettin^^togetherj^standing^firmly togedTef for HorneT liTeTjor church life, for school, and hnally for ~bur position as women_to__be_j;eckoned with nrThe" great advance _which women everywhere are making! Mrs. Thurman was at one time our national president, serving one term only, but she drew all women to her, and it often appeared as she stood pleading our cause that she was saying as the Master Himself said : "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." MARY CHURCH TERRELL. CHARLOTTE HAWKINS BROWN. MRS. SYLVANIA F. WILLIAMS. MRS. JOSEPHINE B. BRUCE. 102 PROGRESS OF A RACK. Mrs. Thurman was .a_jnost_religious \vojnaji, and we who stood by her side and worked with her were often put to shame by her faith in the final justice of man and in the everlasting condemnation by the Father of us all, for the man farthest up who would discredit the one farthest down. Associated with Mrs. Thurman in her work through- out the country were Mrs. Helen Cook, of Washington, D. C, and Mrs. Elizabeth McCoy, of Detroit, Mich. . /IMrs. McCoy was jhef ounder of the Detroit Old_Folks' ]/ yTHpirie and was for many years the president of thlr Society of ^Willing Workers. _This club was the pioneer club of the colored women_pf thp .State nf Mjrhjgari. and perhaps nowhere have we as women found a cleaner atmospHeft;- fur advancement tfian in thehome Stateof "Mrs. l'hurman,largely_because~~of her^fine_and noble spirit, her lack of bitterness and jier^jtrong Christian sjnriF oTliope, and her abiding faith_in one man and jwoman toward other men and women. The National' Association. Out of these beginnings came our National Association of Colored Women's ^Clubs, which is to us what the general federation of white women's clubs is to them. The names were the same at first, but people got us mixed so often that we finally decided to call our federation an association. A large group of women stand out in the forefront in no small way as leaders in this forward and progressive Afield, of the .colored woman's organized efforts in her own behalf Mrs. Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, of Boston. Mass., who called the first national gathering of colored jvomen; Mrs^Mary Church TejxeU. of Washington, D. C. ; the late Mrs._J_. Siloame^Yates^. of Kansas City, Mo. ; ^Miss Elizabeth Carter^nf New Bedford^ Mass^j the late Mrs. Lucy Thurman, of Jackson, Mich; Mrs. Mary~B. CLUB WORK AMONG NEGRO WOMEN. 193 JTalbert of Buffalo, N. Y., our present leader; Mrs. Nettie Langston Napier, of Nashville, Tenn. ; Mrs. Mary E. Steward, of Louisville, Ky. ; Mrs. Mary Josenberger, of Fort Smith, Ark. ; Mrs. Mary Bethune, of Daytona, Fla. ; and hundreds of others whose names cannot be mentioned in a short article of this nature. Six of these women have held the position of presid- ing officers, and to them and to their followers belong the honor of our present standing and success in club circles. // jColored women's clubs do their work through depart- /mentsTbecausewe feeHhat irrthi^way~rmlcl7more effec- ; / tive work may be done. Our various interest^ are / expressed in the_DegaTtments_of Suffrage, Anti-Lynch- jng. Mothers' Meetings, Education, Railroad Travel, the I Country Woman's Position, Health, Business, Literature and Art, Night Schools, etc. We work in co-operation with all other movements of both men and women of the race : the National Asso- ciation for the^Adyancement of Colored People,, the Urban League, the Negr6~Business Men's League, and we lay our plans along the general lines of advance as those of the General Federation of White Women's Clubs, leaving out, of course, their, .highly social side andjpaying immediate "attention to the more practical and needful things of our homes and civic life as cir- cumstances in our country force upon us. Suffrage. JColored women, quite as much as colored men, realize that if there is ever to be equal justice and fair play in the protection in the courts everywhere for all races, then there must be an equal chance for all women as well as men to express their preference through their votes. There are certain things so sure to come our way that time in arguing them is not well spent. It is u CLUB WORK AMONG NEGRO WOMEN. 195 simply the cause of right which in the end always con- quers, no matter how_fierce the opposition. Efitsonally, woman suffrage has never kept me jiwajce at night, but I "arrT sure Beforejyijscountry is able to take its place amongst the great democraticfriations of the earth it has got to come to the place where it is willing to trusFltT citizens, black as well as white, women as well as men, to be loyal to their Government, to be willing to leave the carrying out of governmental offices to the intelligent part of the citizenship. Our Department of Suffrage conducts training classes in the Constitution of the coun- try, and has given time to the study of all governmental affairs, so that women may be prepared to handle the vote intelligentlyand wisely when it comes to thetn. Thousands of our women vote in the Ijorthern States where they live, and in no instance have they shown any disposition to assume control of affairs, nor have they presumed anything more than a desire to be counted as a citizen of a country where they are giving the best of themselves in building better homes, better schools, better churches, and finally better citizenship.^^ "Anti Lynching." -pur club women work inces- santly to help mould sentiment against lynching, and although it is a slow process, there is a strong and grow- ing feeling against this form of punishment for any cause whatsoever. The Georgia State Federation of White Women's Clubs in their last convention came out strongly in favor of law and order as against mob violence and lynching. When the Women's State Federation of other Southern States take a stand against this evil, the men in authority in these States will see that lynching is put down and not until then will it be done. It is woman's work now as always. 196 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Not long after these women took this position a lead- ing judge in that State gave to the jury this charge: "He who arrogates to himself the authority to enforce the law without the sanction of the law is an enemy to the law and to civilization. Any set of men who take upon themselves to punish a human being, whether they should be meted out the punishment which the outraged law would impose upon them, or whether they escape on account of a false public sentiment, will bear throughout their lives the mark of Cain upon their brows." What a charge to a Georgia jury ! The leading paper in that State, and one of the leading papers in the entire South, follows this charge in the following terms of warn- ing : "If the evil of jnob law is not stamped out by the law-abiding element of our population, the time is in- evitably coming when the strong arm of the Federal Government will do what the State either fails or refuses to do by the exercise of its own power and jurisdiction." Lynching must cease in a State where there is a strong public sentiment against it, and women need only to keep up thejight. Public sentiment for law and order, for decent living, is kept before the race by various devices of the clubs: Welfare Work, Traveler's Aid Work, Practical Mission, Protective League, Y. M. C. A. organizations, reform schools, rescue homes, and by small private schools. Our clubs realize that to eyery^guestion therejsjnore / than one side. andjJTgt we rrmsj^advncatq a spntirngnt amongst our own people for the sacredness of woman- _hood. for decent living and for regard for law and order in the smallest_dtaiU_and so through our various de- partments we_co-operate with alTwomen toward bringing about that sentiment which will make us all happiqr and / more useful to the community we CLUB WORK AMONG NEGRO WOMEN. 19? Mrs. John Hope, of Atlanta, Ga., has been able in her club work to show that with the proper training in the homes, men's ideals will change. She has conducted ^^4 for years a club where women are taught how to direct the education of their boys and girls. The white women in Atlanta have been of great service to Mrs. Hope in all of her work. Mrs._Harris Barrett, now the president of the State Federation of yirginia, stands as the organizer and head of one of the finest pieces of club work done by any_ colored woman. A farm of a hundred acres of land for $5,200 was purchased more than ten years ago. So well and so unselfishly have Mrs. Barrett and her followers given themselves to the cause of the untrained, wayward and unfortunate girls of Virginia that the State at large, especially the white citizens, both men and women, have given every assistance in money, in time, and in practical sympathy and advice to these colored club women. Here is a real home, and a real school, girls learning to care for a home, and going through the first four or eight grades required in the ordinary public schools of the State. Two years ago these thirty girls raised thirty bushels of peas, sixty-five bushels of potatoes, fifty bushels of corn, whitewashed the trees on the place, the corn cribs, shells, barns, etc., built one hundred and fifty feet of walkway, one-fourth of a mile of roadway and graveled it, cleared forty acres of land of brush, put in posts for two hundred feet of fence, built five gates, cut ten cords of wood, put in flooring in a shed, built a hen house, and at the same time carried on their regular studies and did their daily tasks of homekeeping and homemaking. 198 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Who can doubt that the majority of these young girls will be fully developed, trained and sustained to be wives and mothers of a wise and Christian type, who will give back to the State of Virginia, not in dollars and cents, but in real substantial character and living, every dollar spent upon them, and who will in the years of the future take the place of usefulness now held by Mrs. Barrett qnd her club followers. The Mt. Meigs, Ala., Reformatory for Colored Boys is within a stone's throw of the capitol of the State. Fifteen years ago it was founded and carried for years by the women of the .Alabama State Federation of. Colored Women. There were forty or fifty small boys, now there are in the neighborhood of three hundred young boys, ranging from seven to sixteen years of age. Four women stand out prominently in this work, Miss Cornelia Bowen, who for more than twelve years was the president of the federation, Mrs. Lillian Dungee. Chairman of the Building Committee, Mrs. Agnes Jen- kins Lewis, the corresponding secretary, and Mrs. Irene Hudson, the present secretary. Just now the Alabama Federation of Colored Women's .Clubs is erecting a rescue home for small girls of the State. The foundation has been dug, the material has been laid down, and three thousand dollars to complete the building of it is in the bank. White people in Alabama, both men and women in all the walks of life, from the highest State official, have helped in a)} this work, and are still co-operating with it in the finest spirit possible. These are real schools for the children and not merely workhouses and houses of correction. The course of study for the Reformatory for Boys is made out by the State Superintendent of Education, and Alabama de- CLUB WORK AMONG NEGRO WOMEN. 199 serves the credit and honor which its colored citizens give it for the interest which it takes in developing that part of its youthful citizens most neglected through lack of parental care. lub work amongst colored women has developed the women themselves and has led them into fields of use- f illness which they would never have dared enter. Mrs^Mary Bethune is now the president of the in Florida. More than twelve years ago she went through the public schools of South Carolina, graduating from Scotia Seminary in North Carolina, and attended the Moody Bible Institute. She began a small work at Day- tona, Fla., with only five small girls and not many more dollars. She now controls more than twenty acres of land. There is just completed an auditorium costing $40,000. Mrs. Bethune has also been able to fit her school into the life of its community in a very definite way. More than a thousand patients have been cared for in her small but finely equipped hospital. Mrs. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, one of the secre- taries of the national association, came into the State of North Carolina and located at a little town ten miles from Greensboro Sedalia, they call it. The people were in debt, their homes were neglected. and the women were discouraged. This little woman went to work with the women of Sedalia. They caught her spirit and soon the entire community was made over carefully dressed children entered the schoolroom ; men and women begun to lift the burden of debt they had carried so long. The little community with its new school, its Sunday school, its church, etc., has taken on new life. Mrs. Brown a few months ago was invited to speak before the most cultured white women's clubs in Greens- boro, N. C. 200 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Cornelia Bowen, of Waugh, Ala., JMJss Georgia Washington, of Mt. Meigs, Ala., MissjJannie Burroughs, of Lincoln Heights, Washington, D. C, all owe their dis- tinction to their long and useful affiliation with the cjiib movement of their own women. yy.Mis_ Vvjional Burroughs organized and conducts the only vocar \ ional school for colored women in the world. She writes and speaks with about the same force and eloquence as she conducts her remarkable school. Miss Burroughs originated the Negro Picture Calendar, a collection of pictures of homes and incidents in the lives of her people. Truly, it can be said of her, still a young woman, she has come from the bottom of the ladder, and with the spirit of our motto, "Lifting as she climbs," she is still going up. - Other fields than that of teaching, social uplift and welfare have been enteredjxy_pur club women. - ^ Othe \welfare S TOTrs. Addie N. Dickerspn, of Philadelphia, in charge of our Department of Law, is a notary public, and her sign hangs just below that of her husband, who is one of Philadelphia's best known lawyers. All of the law business of our association has been handled by Mrs. Dickerson. The State Federation of Pennsylvania, of which Mrs. Ruth Bennett is president, holds Mrs. Dicker- son in high regard. Miss CarlotteRaywas a graduate of Harvard Uni- versity, and was the first colored woman lawy_er\ As early as j822,Miss Ray had completed her course m law, giving to her sisters of lesser opportunity the advantages of her experience and training. She was with the associa- tion in all of its interests. The business career of women, although not very large, has been developed through their contact with club life. ANNIE M. POPE MALONE, WHO OWNS AND OPERATES A $50,OOO FAC- TORY AT ST. LOUIS, MO. 202 PROGRESS OF A RACE. A half dozen, perhaps, of our women have done re- markably well in certain lines of business. The late Mrs. J>arah Walker, of Indianapolis and New York, Mrs. Annie Pope JMa-l ne > of St. Louis, Mo., Mrs. Maggie WaJ&er, of Richmond,, Va., and Mrs. Mary Josenberger. of Ft. Smith, Ark., are amongst the list. Madame Walker, as she was known to her club friends, was, at her death, which occurred only a few months ago, worth a million dollars. She began her business, that of a beauty specialist, fourteen or fifteen years ago, with no capital worth speaking of. In fact, the first earnings with which to begin her work were made at the most ordinary work. Club women everywhere_rallied to her. and she with her indomitable wiHand faith in herself wentupthe ladder by bounds. Her real estate is valued at more than eight hundred thousand dollars, besides stocks and bonds. Her factory and laboratory at Indianapolis is said to be the most complete of its kind in the United States. ^Madame Walker traveled in every State in the Union, also in Cuba Panama and the West Indies. She carried the spirit of the club wherever she went. She was always a conspicuous personage at the national gatherings, and gave liberally to the work of the association. She led jn_the contributions for the purchase of the .Douglass home. She was truly a product of the club .work. Madame Walker established a school in Africa and provided for its upkeep. No woman loved her own race more than she did, and no one had such abiding faith in the final triumph of the womanhood of her race through its organized efforts. _jVErjL-Ma1cme is also a beauty specialist. She has her fifty thousand dollar factory in one of the best localities 204 PROGRESS OF A RACE. of the great city of St. Louis. There are under her con- trol in the factory more than a hundred women and girls. The treatment of the scalp, manicuring, chiropody, mak- ing of wigs, dyeing hair, manufacturing hair, making switches, all go to show the wonderful business sense of this woman, and yet she is a most unassuming person. She is greatly interested in the Y. W. C. A. of St. Louis. She remembers the needy. The club has found many a woman who would otherwise not have found herself. Mrs. Maggie Walker was first a school teacher, a worker for women and an agent for the Women's Union. then secretary-treasurer of a secret order, which posi- tion had been held by a man. There were few members, less than a thousand, and little or no money. At the beginning of her career in this organization there was less than fifty dollars belonging to the treasury, with liabilities amounting to $400, and a paid up mem- bership of less than a thousand members. In less than fifteen years the total assets of the order were $116,000, all debts paid off, 5,694 death claims amounting to $564,134. This organization has a paid up capital of over $50,000. There is now a membership of men, women and children of nearly 50,000. There are nearly ten thousand children in financial standing in the Juvenile Department of this order. The order had no assets; at present its assets are $150,750. Mrs. Walker is now the president of the St. Luke Bank. She is president of the CounciLflf Colored Women, a leading spirit in the Virginia State__Fdration. She is a trustee of the Girls' Home at Peake, Va., and in every way possible she lends a strong hand to the woman and girl waiting to be shown the way. Mrs. Walker was for years the head of the Business Department of our association. 206 I'ROGKKSS OK A KACK. ,Mrs. Josenberger, for many years a successful teacher in Ft. Smith, Ark., is a graduate of Fisk University. She is now easily worth $40,000, being an undertaker of no small ability. She owns and controls two large build- ings in which she carries on her business. Mrs. Josenberger leads in the club life throughout the entire State of Arkansas. She is their vice-president ; she is now chairman of the Peace Committee of the national association, and is now conducting our business department. Mrs. Josenberger gives her association with club work as the impetus to all the steps of progress she has ever made. Mother's Meetings. The writer of this article has -conducted her mother's meetings_fflrjwenty years in the .village nea tesL-hec. The first day of the class there were five women, today there are more than a thousand, and few are able to read or write their names, but all are wise enough to realize that better mothers are an absolute necessity for better girls and boys of the future. ^Proper food and jress for the child, orderly and separate sleeping quarters for girls and boys, beUei^athjingJfacilities for the family ^jfor the decent conduct and health of the^ household. Rights ot children for recreation and play, mother's posi- tion in the home, relation of mother and father in the home, are all subjects which the women discuss with as much eagerness and intelligence as the average woman. From these simple lessons have come women who per- sisted until they learned to read, and to understand the daily lessons which the children bring home from school at night. Women who have been able by continuous effort to encourage their husbands to purchase property, and to I. MRS. M. S. JOSENBERGER, A. B. 2. MADAM C. J. WAt,THR. 3. MADAM MARTHA B. ANDERSON, B. M. 208 PROGRESS OF A RACE. regard his own hearthstone not so lightly as he once did, and to bring about more wholesome conditions in every phase of their life and living. One club in a certain Southern State organized and has maintained for eighteen years a night school for the women and girls, and men, too, who are not able to at- tend any school in the day. During these years women and girls have had lessons in cooking, sewing and the general care of their homes, in addition to their lessons in their books. A Y. M. C. A. goes along with this night school ; books for the young are distributed and kept in circulation.and women with their families have long Since taken an upward trend~Qward a higher~^nd^mnre \yliolcsonK- civic and moral life. This club owns its own rooms and furnishings, and has recently raised nearly a thousand dollars for a home for girls, supplied literature on health subjects to hun- dreds of country women, held boys' clinics, directed bet- ter baby campaigns, held country fairs, and in many ways been able to give cheer and inspiration to thousands of women who otherwise would have drifted away from all that is good and pure. A modest little woman, Mrs.^^jDjnah Pace, has for many years taken all the children, boys and girls in her neighborhood, who were orphans. They live on a large farm in the summer and do much work, which makes it possible for the family to get through the winters. .Mrs. T^ace also looks after the mothers in her community who need sympathy and p nrn " ra g f>mpnf i an< ^ so- has come to r J 6e~lTgreat inspiration to other club women, who, like herself, have had advantages and opportunities above their_.fellQw sisters, andyet hayje-notZEJcl the courage to mak^_thje_^ter^outside^ of their own doors and circle to lend a helping hand in this great work of uplift. CLUB WORK AMONG NEGRO WOMEN. 209 f Our club has made an effort to develop public speakers /so ^hat^pur cause might be brought more clearly .and definitely before "'trie~~country . Mrs. Mary B. Talbert, of Buffalo, N. Y., Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, of Wash- ington, D. C, the late Mrs. J. Siloame Yates, of Kansas City, Mo., Mrs. Josephine Bruce, of Washington, D. C., Miss Nannie Burroughs, of Washington, D. C., Miss Lucy Laney, of Augusta, Ga., are all women who stand out as the equal of any club women who are in the public eyg__today. Nj^thing has so changed_the whole life and personnel of the colored woman and so surely brought her into her own as has the club life to which she has lent herself, inspired bylhe national association which has..-o.r its aim the development of its women, mentajhy^_morally anc[ indiistrially^as well as along civic lines, and whose motto is, "Lifting as we climb." "All swift the cry comes down the world: Take task and take caress, But, by our living spirits, we Have other ways to bless. Now let us teach the thing we've learned In labor and loneliness. We strive with none. We fold man home by The power of a great new word. We who have long been dead are alive. We, too, are thy people, Lord!" 14 ALBON L. HOI.SEY, SECRETARY TO THE PRINCIPAL, TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE. EDITOR OF "THE TUSKEGEE STUDENT." CHAPTER XI. THE NATIONAL NEGRO BUSINESS LEAGUE. Written Expressly for This Work by Albon L. Holsey. Secretary to the Principal of Tuskegee Institute. Introduction. To see the beginnings of the National Negro Business League in a true perspective, it is neces- sary to set them against the conditions that existed dur- ing the earlier development of Negro business enterprises. When it is recalled that the Negro has come so recently rom slavery into the light of civilization, it is expected that he should be slow in assuming a firm place in the shifting and uncertain business world. The great masses of the Negroes were deprived by the very conditions of slavery of every opportunity to learn the art of business. They were taught, as one of the conditions of slavery, to distrust one another, and the lesson was all too well learned. With this blighting feel- ing of distrust naturally followed the two "bed-fellows," envy and jealousy ; so that with freedom the seeds sprang up and increased wonderfully and constituted for a long time the weeds and thorns in the pathway of the Negro's success in business. In view of these facts it is no wonder that more prog- ress was made in education and culture, in the acquisition of land, real estate and churches, than in the economic world of business. Then, too, they were face to face with competition of the most efficient kind. Those who would succeed in business had to meet the competition of the white man, with his superior capital and training, and also the distrust and jealousy of many of his own race. Thus he had foes to fight from within and from without. Yet, in the face of these adverse conditions, a 211 212 PROGRESS OF A RACE. very creditable beginning had been made at the time when the National Negro Business League was under consideration. In 1899, in a very valuable contribution to the study of the Negro in business, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois reported that the capital invested in the various Negro enterprises was approximately nine millions of dollars. The great bulk of these investments, seventy-nine per cent, was in sums less than $2,500, which showed how widely the business interests of the race were distributed and how many Negro men and women were actively engaged in them. While the sum invested in the various enterprises seems small in comparison with the vast investments of the country, or even with the investments of certain Negro enterprises of today, yet when one considers that the Negro had been out of slavery only thirty-five years at the time the league was formed, and that he had started with nothing, the progress seems almost phenomenal. Dr. Booker T. Washington, in his travels through widely separated regions of the country found so many Negroes engaged in profitable commercial pursuits, came to the conclusion that the time had come to put the Negro business men and women on terms of mutual acquaintanceship and mutual helpfulness. Then with that rare insight which characterized the man's really in- disputable genius, he sent out the following appeal, which resulted in a big convention, where the Negro business world should take to itself a voice that must at once impress the white man and encourage the black man. "After careful consideration and consultation with prominent colored people throughout the country, it has been decided to organize what will be known as the National Negro Business League. PROGRESS OF A RACE. "The need of an organization that will bring the colored people who are engaged in business together for consultation and to secure information and in- spiration from each other has long been felt. Out of this national organization it is expected will grow local business leagues that will tend to improve the Negro as a business factor. "Boston has been selected as the place of meeting because of its historic importance, its cool summer climate and generally favorable conditions. It is felt that the rest, recreation and new ideas which busi- ness men and women will secure from a trip to Boston will more than repay them for time and money spent. "The date of the meeting will be Thursday and Friday, August 23d and 24th, because it is felt that this is the season when business can be left with least loss. Then, too, nearly all the steamship lines and railroads have reduced their rates to Boston at that time to one fare for the round trip for the entire summer. "Every individual engaged in business will be entitled to membership, but as far as possible the colored people in all the cities and towns of the country should take steps at once to organize local business leagues, where no such organization already exists, and should see that these organizations send one or more delegates to represent them. "It is very important that every line of business that any Negro man or woman is engaged in be rep- resented. This meeting will represent a great op- portunity for us to show to the world what progress we have made in business lines since our freedom. "This organization is not in opposition to any THE NATIONAL NEGRO BUSINESS LEAGUE. 215 other now in existence, but is expected to do a dis- tinct work that no other organization now in exis- tence can do as well. "Another circular, giving further information as to program and other details of the meeting, will be issued within a few weeks. All persons, whether men or women, interested in the movement are in- vited to correspond with, "Yours very truly, "BOOKER T. WASHINGTON." First Meeting of the League. The meeting in Bos- ton was held on August 23d-25th. Day and evening sessions were held the first two days. The delegates as- sembled in the large hall of the Parker Memorial Build- ing, which was beautifully and appropriately decorated. The use of the hall was donated by one of the philan- thropists of Boston, and the decorations were put up by a business man of our race, Mr. B. F. Washington. On August 25th, which was Saturday, the delegates were given an excursion on a steamer down Boston Harbor by the city government. This was one of the most pleasant features of the week, and the courtesy was thoroughly appreciated by the visitors. Not only in this excursion, but in many other ways were the delegates made welcome. Hon. Thomas W. Hart, the mayor of Boston, himself an eminently successful business man, was present at one of the sessions and made an address which gave the delegates inspiration and encouragement. The people of Boston were unremitting in their efforts to help the visitors in their city to get all of the pleasure and profit out of their stay. The arrangements for the meeting in Boston were made by a local committee of Dr. S. B. Courtney; P. J. THE NATIONAL NEGRO BUSINESS LEAGUE. 217 Smith; Louis F. Baldwin, real estate; J. R. Hamm, news- dealer and stationer ; Rev. W. H. Tomas ; Virgil Richard- son, gents' furnishings ; Captain Charles L. Mitchell ; William L. Reed, tobacconist; J. H. Lewis, tailor; Gilbert C. Harris, manufacturer of and dealer in hair goods. On the morning of August 230!, Dr. S. E. Courtney, the chairman of the local committee, called the meeting to order and read the call of the meeting. Prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Montague, of Boston. Mr. Louis F. Baldwin, a real estate dealer in Cambridge, was made temporary chairman, and Mr. E. E. Cooper, the publisher of The Colored American of Washington, was made tem- porary secretary. These temporary positions were sub- sequently made permanent, and the success of this first meeting was in no small measure due to the able and interested manner in which these two gentlemen per- formed their duties. An address of welcome was made by Hon. John J. Smith, of Boston. There were ap- pointed to serve as a committee of resolutions Mr. W. R. Pettiford, a banker of Birmingham, Alabama ; Mr. C. K. Johnson, a real estate dealer of Virginia ; Mr. Daniel W. Lucas, a barber of Kansas City, Missouri ; and Mr. M. M. Lewey, an editor and publisher of Pensacola, Florida. The permanent organization, effected later, con- sisted of Dr. Booker T. Washington, president. Vice- presidents, Giles B. Jackson, Richmond; Mrs. A. M. Smith, Chicago. Treasurer, Gilbert C. Harris, Boston. Secretary, Edward E. Cooper, Washington. Compiler, Edward A. Johnson, Raleigh, North Carolina. Executive Committee : T. Thomas Fortune, New York ; T. W. Jones, Chicago; Isaiah T. Montgomery, Mound Bayou, Missis- sippi; Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee, Alabama; George C. Jones, Little Rock, Arkansas; Gilbert C. Harris and Louis F. Baldwin, Boston. 218 PROGRESS OF A RACK. The names given show the widely representative char- acter of the league from the very first, both as regards the territory from which the delegates came, and also the industries represented. The wide scope of this meeting is best shown in the program which occupied the two days' session. The papers and addresses were short, compact, and to the point. Some of them may have lacked the polish of the rhetorician, but they told a story in every case of what the speaker had accomplished and all present under- stood. It was not the plan to have formal addresses, but instead to have a person who had succeeded in some business tell how he had accomplished his achievements ; to tell what obstacles he had met and just how he had overcome them that others, hearing him, might get in- formation and encouragement which would help them succeed in the things they were doing. Space will not permit the mentioning of all who spoke at this wonderful convention, but only a few with their topics and a paragraph here and there. Mr. Andrew F. Hillyer, of Washington, D. C, spoke upon "The Colored American in Business." He gave an interesting account of this phase of Negro life and some very valuable data derived from the Government record of 1890. Mr. Giles B. Jackson, a real estate dealer of Richmond, Virginia, spoke on "The Negro as a Real Estate Dealer." Mr. Jackson showed by the data derived from the report of the auditor of Virginia that the Negroes of that State owned one twenty-sixth of all the land in the State, and one-sixteenth of all the land east of the Blue Ridge. He showed further that they owned one-tenth of all the land in twenty-five of the one hundred counties of the State ; one-seventh of the land in Middlesex County, one-sixth of the land in Hanover County, and that in Charles City THE NATIONAL NEGRO BUSINESS LEAGUE. 219 they owned one-third of all the land. He told how, in the year of 1893, when the city of Richmond needed to borrow money to pay school expenses, the True Re- formers Bank, a race enterprise, loaned the city $100,000. Mr. J. E. Shepard, of Enfield, North Carolina, also spoke upon "The Negro in Real Estate." Mr. M. M. Lewey, of Pensacola, Florida, spoke of the Negro business enterprises in his city. He said that half the population of Pensacola were Negroes, and no less than fifty business enterprises were owned and operated by Negroes. The Negroes were engaged in all forms of business. Mr. J. W. Pullen, of Enfield, North Carolina, spoke of the business enterprises of this city. Mr. R. B. Fitz- gerald, of Durham, North Carolina, was present and made a brief address. As Doctor Washington said, "The mere presence of this man and his wife at the meeting was eloquent with encouragement. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald began the manufacture of bricks in North Carolina several years ago, with unbounded energy and determina- tion, but with so little capital that at first Mrs. Fitzgerald was obliged to wheel away and pile up to dry the bricks that her husband was making. Now they own an estab- lishment that turns out 3,000,000 bricks every year, own much real estate in addition, and Mrs. Fitzgerald runs a drug store." Dr. A. J. Love, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, spoke for the colored people of his city, and reported that one hundred homes were owned by Negroes and that $243,000 were invested. Mr. Dungee, of Montgomery, Alabama, spoke as the representative of the Citizens' Commercial Union of that city. Mr. R. B. Hudson, of Selma, Alabama, spoke for the business men of that city. He was followed by Dr. 220 PROGRESS OF A RACE. L. L. Burwell, a druggist of the same city. The latter spoke of the need in the South of competent druggists. The discussion was continued by Dr. E. E. Elbert, of Wilmington, Delaware, and Dr. A. M. Brown, of Bir- mingham, Alabama. Mr. Gilbert C. Harris, of Boston, spoke upon "Work in Hair." Mr. Harris came as a young man to Boston from the South, with practically no business knowledge. He secured work in a store where hair goods were sold and learned the trade very thoroughly. Some years later, when the business was up for sale, he bought it. An excellent address was made by Mrs. A. A. Ches- neau, of Boston. Mr. W. R. Pettiford, president of a colored bank in Birmingham, Alabama, spoke upon "The Negro Savings Bank." He emphasized the importance of the colored people having saving banks of their own and the great incentive these would be for the saving of money and the buying of homes. Mr. Isaiah T. Montgomery, the mayor of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, spoke very interestingly and instruc- tively upon "The Building of a Negro Town." Mr. Montgomery was a slave of Jefferson Davis, and as a house servant employed about the library and office of Mr. Davis and his brother had an unusual opportunity to acquire an education. In 1887 he made arrangements with a large railroad company to colonize a tract of wild land in the Yazoo Delta. The town of Mound Bayou is the result, a purely Negro community, having churches, a good school, a tributary agricultural popula- tion of 2,000, a number of cotton gins and saw mills and several stores, the latter doing a business every year of over $30,000. Mr. T. W. Walker, of Birmingham, Alabama, spoke on MONTGOMERY COTTON GIN, MOUND BAYOU, MISS. OFFICE OF B. A. GREENE, ATTORNEY AT LAW. Mr. Greene was the first person born in the city of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. 22% PROGRESS OF A RACE. "A Negro Coal Mining Company." Mr. J. C. Leftwich. of Klondike, Alabama, spoke upon "The Negro of the South and What He Must Do to Be Saved." Mr. W. O. Emery, of Macon, Georgia, spoke upon "Negro Business Enterprises." Mr. J. A. Williams, of Omaha, spoke for the colored people of that city. One of the best addresses was that made by Mr. J. H. Lewis, a tailor, of Boston. Born a slave, he began work for himself with nothing. His tailoring establish- ment in Boston not only occupied one of the best stores in the business section of the city, but was one of the finest establishments in the city. He employed a number of men, while the rent of the store was nearly $10,000 a year. Mr. R. T. Palmer, a tailor and men's furnisher in Columbia, South Carolina, spoke on the business condi- tions in his part of the country. Mrs. A. M. Smith, of Chicago, spoke upon "Women's Development in Business." Mr. Theodore W. Jones, of Chicago, spoke upon the topic "Go Into Business." Mr. Davis B. Allen, of New- port, Rhode Island, spoke upon "Catering," and Mr. H. C. Smiley, of Chicago, read an excellent paper upon "The Afro-American as a Caterer." Mr. T. Thomas Fortune, at that time the editor of the New York Age, spoke upon "The Negro Publisher." Mr. T. H. Thomas, of Galveston, Texas, had a subject "Barbering." Mr. George E. Jones, of Little Rock, Arkansas, spoke upon "Undertaking." Mr. J. K. Groves, of Kansas City, spoke upon "Potato Growing." Mr. A. F. Crawford, of Meriden, Connecticut, had for a topic "The Negro Florist." Mr. E. B. Johnson, of New Bed- ford, Massachusetts, spoke upon the business conditions of his city. Mr. D. J. Cunningham, a successful grocer THE NATIONAL NEGRO BUSINESS LEAGUE. 223 of Pensacola, Florida, spoke upon general merchandising there, which subject was continued by E. P. Booze, of Clarkesdale, Mississippi. Mr. J. P. Fowlkes, of Eving- ton, Virginia, explained how co-operative stores were established in his State. Mr. F. G. Steadman, a founder and manufacturer of East Hampton, Connecticut, spoke upon "Bell Making," and presented a beautiful souvenir bell to the league. Mr. J. N. Vandevall, of East Orange, New Jersey, described the business of steam cleaning high grade rugs and carpets. It is interesting to note that from the beginning one of the most inspiring and helpful features of the league has been the inclusion of colored business women as well as men in the membership. Some of the most helpful and encouraging addresses at all the meetings from the very first at Boston have been made by women, just as some of the most creditable work of the race in business lines has been done by them. Dr. Booker T. Washington, in his address to the con- vention, said among many other things : "We must not in any part of our country become discouraged, notwithstanding the way often seems dark and desolate; we must maintain faith in our- selves and in our country. No race ever got upon its feet without a struggle, trial and discouragement. The very struggles through which we often pass give us strength and experience that in the end will prove helpful. Every individual and every race that has succeeded has had to pay the price which nature demands from all. We cannot get something for nothing. Every member of the race who succeeds in business, however humble and simple that busi- ness may be, because he has learned the important lessons of cleanliness, promptness, system, honesty and progressiveness, is contributing his share in smoothing the pathway for this and succeeding PROGRESS OF A RACE. generations. For the sake of emphasis, I repeat that no one can long succeed unless we keep in mind the important elements of cleanliness, promptness, sys- tem, honesty and progressiveness." Another interesting and helpful feature of this meet- ing was the press reports which appeared in the daily papers at that time. Mr. Henry J. Barrymore, writing in the Boston Transcript, August 25, 1900, said of his visit to the convention : "It pleased me to see how brave the Negro could be and how patient. I waited for outbreaks of protests against white oppression and especially against recent white cruelty. I heard none. No one 'cried baby.' The spirit of the whole occasion was distinctly hopeful. Regarding material advancement as a basis of every other sort of progress, the con- vention listened eagerly to accounts of Negroes, once poor, who had now built houses, bought land, opened places of independent business, and established solid bank accounts. Repeatedly it was pointed out that men born slaves had actually become rich ; also that the total material progress of the race had been ac- complished in only thirty-five years a happy augury for the future! Such utterances called out tumul- tuous cheers, mingles with the shrill 'rebel yell' of the Southerners. Yet there was scarcely any ten- dency to indulge in racial self-laudation. More than once the speakers insisted that the commercial su- periority of the white man must be frankly recog- nized and that the Negro must learn to copy the white man's methods. In general, the convention deprecated the Negro's desire to flatter the Negro. 'Far from that, let us look the conditions honestly and courageously in the face. Let us say the things that will help our people, whether those things are pleasant or otherwise. To be sure, a good many of those beneficial deliverances were sheer platitudes, but the Negro race is in need of platitudes. It is BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. Founder and First President of the League. 226 PROGRESS OF A RACE. fortunately developing a relish for platitudes. It has reached the stage of moral and intellectual evolu- tion where it has come to realize the vital importance of plain, homespun, brown-colored truth. It is lav- ing the basis for its social philosophy by making sure of its axioms.' " AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS. Each year witnesses the tendency to form new groups or organizations affiliated with the National Negro Busi- ness League. This, of itself, is evidence of the inspira- tional value and creative power of the parent body. The National Bankers' Association was the first outgrowth and the first offspring of the business league. Likewise, year by year, there came into existence the National Funeral Directors' Association, the National Negro Press Association, the National Negro Bar Association; the National Association of Negro Insurance Men, the Na- tional Retail Merchants' Association, the National Asso- ciation of Real Estate Dealers. These branch organiza- tions meet each year with the national league and, in addition to special discussions of interest to each group, they conduct highly interesting and instructive sym- posiums in the main convention of the league. NATIONAL NEGRO HEALTH WEEK. One of the most helpful and far reaching efforts of the national league was the instituting of the National Negro Health Week, which started March 2ist to the 27th, 1915. This movement was suggested by the presi- dent of the league, and had the endorsement of the executive committee. The machinery of the secretary's office was taken advantage of to circulate the idea and keep the country at large in touch with the movement. Circulars based upon the following figures, compiled by THE NATIONAL NEGRO BUSINESS LEAGUE. 227 Mr. Monroe N. Work of the Division of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, were sent out. The facts as gathered by Mr. Work are as follows : Four hundred and fifty thousand Negroes in the South alone are seriously ill all the time ; the annual cost of sickness of these 450,000 Negroes is $75,- 000,000. One hundred and twelve thousand Negro workers in the South are sick all the time ; their annual loss in earnings is $45,000,000 ; 45 per cent of the deaths among Negroes are preventable. Two hundred and twenty-five thousand Negro workers in the South alone die annually; 100,000 of these deaths could be prevented. The annual funeral expenses of the Negroes of the South alone amount to $15,000,000; $6,500,000 of this amount could be saved. Sickness and death cost Negroes of the South alone $100,000,000; $50,000,000 of this amount could be saved. Some of the special things emphasized in connection with the Negro health organization were : The organiza- tion of clean-up committees, special health sermons by colored ministers, health lectures by physicians and other competent persons ; the thorough cleaning of premises, including dwelling yards, outbuildings, and making sani- tary springs and wells. The movement was supported by State and city boards of health, State departments of education, county superintendents of schools, white women's clubs, the Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, and ministers and other uplift organizations among the people generally. No agency at work under the general direction of the National Business League has accomplished so much 22S PROGRESS OF A RACE. good in so short a time as this National Negro Health Week Movement. GAINS MADE BY THE RACE. While there is no disposition on the part of anyone to claim that the National Negro Business League is directly responsible for all of the material progress which has been made by members of the Negro race since its or- ganization in 1900, yet the significant fact remains that the past decades since its foundation have witnessed a more varied and greater amount of economic develop- ment than at any other time in its history. In 1900, when the National Negro Business League was organized, there were about 20,000 Negro business enterprises in America; now there are over 50,000. In 1900 there were two Negro banks; now there are 72. In 1900 Negroes were conducting 250 drug stores ; now they have 695. In 1900 there were 450 undertaking establishments operated by Negroes; now there are over 1,000. In 1900 there were 149 Negro merchants engaged in whole- sale business; now there are over 240. In 1900 there were 10,000 retail merchants; now there are over 25,000. In the twenty years since the National Negro Business League was organized, the total farm property owned by Negroes has shown a remarkable increase. From 1900 to 1910 the value of domestic animals owned by Negro farmers increased from $85,216,337 to $177,273,785, or 107 per cent; poultry from $3,788,792 to $5,113,756, or 36 per cent ; implements and machinery from $18,586,225 to $36,861,418, or 98 per cent; land and buildings from $69,636,420 to $273,501,665, or 293 per cent. In the ten years the total value of farm property owned by Negroes increased from $177,404,688 to $492,892,218, or 117 per cent. THE NATIONAL NEGRO BUSINESS LEAGUE. 229 CONCLUSION. While the business league has a distinct purpose (that of promoting the commercial and financial development of the Negro), and does not attempt to prescribe for every racial ill or cover every phase of racial endeavor, yet it is a significant fact that, through the instrumentality of the national body and its six hundred branches or local leagues scattered throughout the country, a very large part of the progress that has been made by the Negro race in the direction of home and farm ownership, banking, insurance, manufacturing and mercantile enter- prise, has been achieved since the organization of the National Negro Business League in Boston just twenty years ago. For the wise inception and launching of that movement by Doctor Washington, its founder and life- long president, its continuation by the second president, Hon. J. C. Napier, and Dr. Robert R. Moton, the third president, cannot be too highly praised. For its growth and maintenance as well as its wholesome and wide- spread influence, primarily Dr. Emmet J. Scott, the effi- cient secretary of the league, together with the executive staff, the members, the press, and other loyal supporters, cannot be too warmly commended. May the league ever live and grow and be the helping hand of the Negro race. IESSE BINGA, WEALTHY CHICAGO BAVKER. CHAPTER XII. PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. FARMS, HOMES AND BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. By ALBON L. HOLSEY, Secretary to the Principal of Tuskegee Institute. Progress in Industries. When we remember that fifty-five years ago the Negro was in slavery it is cer- tainly remarkable to note the progress made in all lines of industry. Keeping in mind some of the difficulties the Negro has had to strive against the progress made in industries is commendable. All throughout the South are found men who stand at the head in the various lines of business. Be it said to the credit of the colored peo- ple, and greatly to their benefit, that the race has in its possession a sound means of displaying its progress. United Efforts. While much has been done in all lines of business, yet very much more remains to be done before the Negro holds that place in business to which he is entitled. In order to accomplish what should be done in this respect, it is necessary that there be united efforts on the part of the race to assist one an- other in every business enterprise. Wherever men of the Negro race attempt to increase the advantages of the race there should be found those who stand by them and support them. With the full confidence and patron- age of the people the Negro race will have rich merchants and capitalists carrying on rich business enterprises in every section of the country that will demand the respect arid recognition of the world. Fifty Years of Progress in Business. The following 231 232 PROGRESS OF A RACE. statistics compiled by Mr. Monroe N. Work, director of the Division of Records and Research at Tuskegee In- stitute, are interesting and also appropriate: Stock Raising 202 Jewelry 206 Dairying and Farming 208 Ice Dealers 208 Saw and Planing Mill Proprietors 219 Wholesale Merchants and Dealers 241 Dry Goods, Fancy Goods and Notions 280 Manufacturers and Proprietors of Clothing Fac- tories 310 Fruit Growers 316 Livery Stable Keepers 323 Buyers and Shippers of Grain, Live Stock, etc. ... 357 Candy and Confectionery 384 Proprietors of Transfer Companies 632 Saloonkeepers 652 Drugs and Medicines 695 General Stores 736 Produce and Provisions ,756 Real Estate Dealers 762 Junk Dealers 794 Billiard and Pool Room Keepers 875 Undertakers 953 Hotel Keepers and Managers 973 Coal and Wood Dealers I I 55 Butchers and Meat Dealers 2 -957 Builders and Contractors 3^07 Hucksters and Peddlers 3434 Truck Gardeners 4,466 Grocers 5>55o Restaurant, Cafe and Lunch Room Keepers 6,369 PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 233 Landmarks in Negro Business Enterprise: 1868 The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution adopted. Legalized the right of Negroe.s, any- where in the country, to engage in any occupa- tion in which other persons are engaged. 1873 The Freedmen's Saving Bank and Trust Com- pany fails. The loss thereby of many millions of dollars greatly retards the development of Negro enterprises. 1880-85 About this time the operating of Negro beneficial societies developed into a regular business. The operating of industrial insurance companies by Negroes becomes a regular business. 1888-90 First Negro banks organize. 1888, the Capital Savings Bank of Washington begins business. 1889, the True Reformers Bank of Richmond and the Mutual Bank and Trust Company of Chattanooga begin business. 1890, the Penny Savings Bank of Birmingham begins business. 1900 The National Negro Business League organizes. 1912 First old legal reserve (old line) insurance among Negroes, the Standard Life of Atlanta, Georgia, organizes with a paid in capital of $100,000. Thomas Hudson, Valdosta, Georgia. Thomas Hud- son owns and successfully operates three grocery stores. When Mr. Hudson was requested to tell how he had been able to build up his successful business enterprises, he replied : "We handle nothing but the best and most reliable merchandise, and when the merchandise fails to 234 PROGRESS OF A RACE. make good, we make good. My main store acts as a jobbing house and we buy very largely directly from the manufacturer and supply our other two stores at whole- sale prices. All credit accounts are handled from the main store. We have worked out our own plan for selecting locations for our branch stores based upon the actual living conditions of our people in that locality." Sam Charles, Pensacola, Florida. Sam Charles owns two successful shoe stores. Mr. Charles has been in business for twenty-eight years and his main store is located on the main street in Pensacola, where he employs ten or twelve persons. His business yields him an income of approximately $7,000 a year. His store is patronized by both white and colored people, and in addition to a large mercantile division he also carries a splendid line of shoes. His store is well appointed and would be a credit to any community. J. W. Wright, Deland, Florida. Mr. Wright tells the story of his success in his own words : "I was born and raised in Florida, going to Deland when fifteen years of age, twenty-five years ago, with $1.50 in my pocket, which was all the money that I had in the world. I began work for 75 cents per day, but in a short while was raised to $1.00 per day. For four years I saved nothing. Then I got married without a dollar, without a home, and with a $50 debt for furniture, etc. Since that time I have put twenty years into citrus growing, having bought the first five acres twenty years ago. A short while after Florida had been practically wiped out by the freeze of 1894-5, I bought this piece of land for $300, $50 down and $50 a year, with interest. I suc- ceeded in paying more than a hundred a year, at which time I was working for $5 per week. My wife was earning a little and we put our mites together. The PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 335 place was paid for in less than three years and cared for. I got my trees started, budding them by lantern light at night and doing whatever other work I could do at night. This grove was frozen or killed by the frost three successive winters. Finally I decided to save the trees in spite of the frost. I invited a half dozen or more men to come out and help me bank trees and have dinner with me. We banked those trees with sand, cover- ing up the whole tree. Where the tree was too high we bent it over and covered it anyway. I went home feeling that I had "made safe," but to my complete surprise, when winter was gone and I began to uncover, I found that all of my trees were dead, for they died for want of air. However, I never weakened. Men of my race who doubted the wisdom of my continuing in the citrus fruit growing business would come to me and say: 'The white men who have all the money cannot raise an orange grove ; how do you expect to raise oranges, you being nothing but a poor colored man.' Then I was more than ever determined to raise oranges, but decided that my acreage was too much. I ordered lumber and built a wall twenty-five feet high around one hundred trees and a wall through the center the same height, making fifty trees to the lot. This was very expensive for one getting only $28 per month. These hundred trees were fired with pine wood whenever cold enough. At the same time I kept up the trees on the outside of the wall by firing. But after a few years, experience proved to me that Nature must take its course. My trees needed more air and more light, so down went the shed. In reply to the kind suggestion of some of my friends who thought I would never succeed in this business, let me say that I sold the five acre orange grove in question, about eighteen months ago, for $4,000 and reserved the crop, for which 236 PROGRESS OF A RACE. I received $1,800. As soon as I began to realize a small profit on this grove, I began to buy more, purchasing a seven acre grove next, and so on from year to year until I now own two hundred and fifty acres of land, sixty acres of which are devoted to citrus fruit growing. These sixty acres of citrus fruit trees consist of forty-five acres of bearing trees and fifteen acres of trees newly set ; or, in other words, I have 3,150 bearing trees and 1,050 young trees." Mr. J. R. Barreau, New Bedford, Mass. Twenty- eight years ago when I was a boy, fourteen, and living in New Haven, Conn., I tried to learn the photographer's business, but could not get an opportunity, even though I offered to work for nothing, but being one of two chil- dren of a widowed mother, I had to get some work and finally got a job in a wholesale and retail store where window shades, curtains, rugs, oil cloth, etc., were sold. My first work was nailing caps on shade rollers. I worked about three-quarters of the day at that, and hav- ing filled the place where the boss told me to put them, I asked him where I should put more. He told me he never had a boy to fill that place before, and would give me other work to do. Well, in a little while they found out my ability to hang curtains tastefully, and put me to work making and hanging curtains. When I was nine- teen the foreman whom I worked under was discharged, and the boss asked me if I thought I could hold the job down. I told him I would try, and he said he would give me a chance. I worked for him seven years, until he went out of the retail business, then for nine months ran a little work shop of my own, until I got a job as foreman of the drapery department by convincing the owner of "The Thompson Shop" which was then a wall paper store PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 237 that he should specialize in draperies and rugs as an "Interior Decorator," which term was just then coming into use. I worked for him three years, and then accepted a position offered me in New Bedford as foreman of workroom in a large house furnishing store. I remained with them fifteen years, part of the time as foreman, and the last few years, as buyer and manager of their drapery department. At the end of that time my present partner, who is a white man, and I, both thought we would like to try doing business on our own account, so we entered into partnership and for three and a half years have done business for the best families in our town as "The Decorative Shop," and have specialized in wall papers, curtains, rugs, furniture, upholstering, aesthetic novelties and in interior decorating. Mr. J. L. Whitlow, Farmer, Tuskegee, Alabama. I started in life very small, had no one but myself to help me; was born and raised in Alabama. I worked for a white man at the start, plowing three days and hoeing three days, and going to church on Sunday, for I believe in worshiping God who gives us everything we have, who gives us strength to work, and if we lean on Him in business He will hold us up and we will prosper. I married early in life, worked hard to make a living, and am the father of fourteen children. I paid $800 for the first land I bought, which was soon after President Lincoln freed the slaves, and all my friends thought I was foolish to start in buying land, for it was said at that time that every slave that was freed would soon be given forty acres and a mule, but I paid no attention to it and went on and bought my land, pay- ing part cash and the balance on time. My wife worked right along with me and shared my hardships, stuck by me through thick and thin, and we not only bought and PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 239 paid for that land, but since then we have been adding on to what we had and today I own 1,537 acres of land near Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, raising mostly corn and cotton; have my own steam gin where I gin my own cotton as well as for other cotton raisers; own my own sawmill, and have built my own house for my family and myself to live in, which is comfortable, and we are getting along pretty well. Standard Life Insurance Company. Concerning the organization of the Standard life Insurance Company, Mr. Harry H. Pace, Secretary-Treasurer, says : The first attempt to organize this company was made over five years ago when Heman E. Perry, born on a Texas ranch, where his vision became great by necessity ; who had eagerly read every word that had ever fallen beneath his eyes that was written about life insurance ; who at spare time had sold life insurance for the Mutual Reserve, the Fidelity Mutual and Equitable; who had drifted to New York and had studied life insurance at first hand in the offices of these companies as an em- ploye ; who had formed the acquaintance of actuaries of national reputation and distinction ; and who had dreamed of an institution of insurance owned and operated by Negroes, came down to Atlanta, on the red hills of Georgia, and told a group of business men gathered at the Y. M. C. A., that he purported to start a hundred thousand ($100,000) dollar life insurance company. Some of those who were present sat up and gasped. Surely this young man was crazy, they thought. Some of them did not hesitate to even say so. When he outlined to them his plans, told them his dream in a simple, straight- forward, earnest way, and explained to them that the least amount with which they could begin would be $100,000 paid-in capital, which must be invested in bonds BOYD BUILDING. NASHVILLE. TENN. PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 241 and deposited with the State treasurer for the protection of the policy holders of the company, they could hardly believe their ears. These men who had been in business and in the professions in Atlanta for many years, many of whom had grown wealthy in the one usual way (through investment in real estate), who had been ac- customed to seeing big things done in their own little wonderful city of Atlanta, by white men, were not pre- pared to see a Negro with an idea as big as this. They began to ask questions ; they did not understand the mean- ing of those words "paid-up" and "$100,000." They really wondered if he didn't make a mistake and meant $10,000 instead, and when they finally became convinced that this serious, sober, earnest young man meant every word he said, some of them went home to think the matter over. Some few of them never came back, but the talk of that one meeting and what had been said was destined to live. Little by little the idea grew, and men and women in every walk of life became interested in what this stranger was trying to do. Finally, when the subscription list opened, there were many who subscribed in good faith; who made the first payment, and gave their notes for the balance. There were some others of our folk, and we have a good number of them among us, who are professional subscribers, who put their names to every- thing that comes along, and who never really intended paying. All of them, however, saw the possibilities of an organization backed by a capital of $100,000, and operated along conservative insurance lines, but they didn't believe that that much money could ever be raised by and among colored people, except at a rally to build a church. Finally a charter of incorporation was secured, in 16 ^4V PROGRESS OF A RACE. January, 1909. Then began the real struggle. Up and down the length and breadth of the entire Southland, through every State from Virginia to Texas, Mr. Perry traveled at his own expense during the two years that immediately followed, "selling stock," as he used to say, in the "Standard Life Insurance Company." Tireless and unceasing, he endured all of the hardships of South- ern Jim Crow travel, obsessed by his dream, and the idea that he could succeed in raising $100,000 to establish an old line legal reserve insurance company among Negroes There was a provision in the subscription blank which we offered to every subscriber, that not one penny of the money paid in should be used for the expenses of the organization ; that if the company was not launched every dollar received with four per cent interest should be re- turned to the subscriber. Berry 'Kelly, Merchant, Method, North Carolina. 1 will endeavor to state in a few words what I have been attempting to do and what I have accomplished along the line of wholesale merchandising. In order that you may have some idea of the character of merchandise handled, let me say that I am a wholesale dealer in groceries and general merchandise, including flour, hay, corn, oats, cotton-seed meal, hulls, dairy feed, etc., main- taining a warehouse on the Southern Railroad. The president, in introducing me, stated that I was from Raleigh, North Carolina, but really my place of business is three miles from Raleigh. I was born in Chapel Hill not far from that place; I am now located at Method, North Carolina. I began business with five dollars. First I was an orphan boy, being deprived of both father and mother early in life, and went to live with my kind-hearted aunt who raised me ; it is to her I owe a great deal in shaping PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. -'! :> > my career. Before going into business I went to work for $5 a month. Sometime later on I was persuaded to change my employment and was hired by a railroad, where I worked for fifty cents a day as "water toter." I went there but did not stay there long because condi- tions were such I could not stay there ; I did not like that kind of life, so I went back to the same lady and con- tinued working for her at the handsome salary of $5 a month. Of course I was young then and at first my aunty got all the money I made, all I made was hers, but later on, as I grew older, I made $5 of my own money and though I kept on working for only $5 a month, by denying myself I managed to save something each month, if only a little, until I had saved up one hundred ($100) dollars, which was a LONG TIME. After I got $100 saved up there was a man, Mr. C. H. Woods, a liveryman who lived and his business was located very close by. One time he was sick and he asked my aunty to let me stay there with him, which she did. He soon became attached to me and finding out that T had $100 he induced me to become a partner of his. I bought half interest in his business, paying the $100 cash down and the balance on credit. Afterward I went into the grocery business by myself, and I found that in order to succeed in the grocery business was to give the people the same value for their money as any other groceryman was able to give. After making up my mind and determining to follow that method, I found no trouble in getting people to deal with me. My only trouble was to get money enough to buy what they wanted in order that they might deal with me. I merely mention this because I have heard some colored business men complain that their race don't patronize them, when they themselves have not taken the proper steps to win 244 PROGRESS OF A RACE. or deserve their trade. Today my business is prospering, my customers are colored as well as white, and to many of them I ship in carload lots. Negro Business Progress in Kansas. At a tecent meeting of the National Negro Business League the following facts regarding Negro progress in Kansas were presented : Mr. John Salem, of Hill City, Kansas, has founded a large Negro colony out there and the colony is called Nicodemus ; it is one of the oldest Negro colonies in this country; I know that because they went there by night, or some night after Nicodemus went there. He reports that he is sixty-nine years of age ; was born in Kentucky, and, by the way, when you look up the records, you will find that a very large number, if not the majority, of the inhabitants of Kansas were born in other States. Kansas is distinguished by the fact that it is settled by men from all parts of the country who evidently found there better opportunities to live and prosper than were available in their own native States. Kansas, as you know, is further famous for being the great initial battleground between Freedom and Slavery in the time of John Brown, the immortal hero of Ossawatomie. This man was born sixty-nine years ago in Kentucky, where he got a good wife and came out to Kansas in 1884, with a family of nine children ; he has been a practical farmer for thirty- four years, and among the difficulties he had to overcome were seven years of drouth, so that he had to live on corn meal, broom corn coffee and in a dugout (which is a hole in the ground covered with trees and mud to keep out the wind and weather ; he reports that he holds property amounting to $10,000 in land, money and live stock, in addition to drawing a pension from the Govern- ment. PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 245 Green Keith, of Lawrence, Kansas, reports that he is sixty-five years of age; born in Alabama; he came to Kansas in 1871 came from Alabama to Kansas and got rich. He worked for thirty-eight years, and now has a general income of $1,400 a year; total wealth $18,000 in land, dwelling, produce and live stock; made it all by hard work. Mack Henry, of Speed, Kansas (that's out in Nico- demus district), is fifty years of age; born in Pennsyl- vania; came to Kansas in 1871; took up a homestead and grew up with the country ; he has accumulated since, in forty-one years, an estate valued at $50,000, and has a general income of $3,000 with expense account $600, his wealth being in land, money and stock. W. E. Ross, of Logansport (out there in western Kansas where it doesn't rain much) ; he reports that he is thirty-eight years of age ; born in Topeka, Kansas ; has an income of $800 a year ; his wealth consists of land valued at $10,000, made by working land. Wesley Page, of Estey, Kansas, is fifty years of age ; born in Tennessee; came to Kansas in 1880; worked fifteen years as a farmer ; now has a yearly income of $3,000; expense account $1,800; his total wealth amounts to $15,000 amassed by hard work, toiling in the land. J. Beverly, of Speed, Kansas, reports that he is sixty- nine years of age ; born in Virginia ; has ten ( 10) children barring other wealth; came to Kansas in 1876, worked twenty years; has about $20,000, made by farming and stock raising. George W. Kerfoot, of Atchison, Kansas, is fifty-two years of age; born in Kentucky; came to Kansas in 1879 looking for health; having failed in business because of sickness he came to Kansas from Kentucky, mark you, and found health and prosperity; his general wealth is 246 PROGRESS OF A RACE. $28,000 ; yearly income $2,800 ; in Kansas he accumulated $15,000 in three years' time, being in the quarry business at Atchison, Kansas. W. L. Sayres, Hill City, Kansas (that's out in Nico- demus district, too), is forty-one years of age; born in Nebraska; came to Kansas in 1887 and commenced teaching; later he was elected clerk of the District Court at the age of twenty-two; assistant county attorney at the age of twenty-eight; county attorney at the age of forty, and at the end of his present term will have been county attorney for four years ; he is county attorney of Graham County. His father died when he was only twelve years of age, since which time he has not only taken care of himself, but helped to take care of the family ; he has a general income of $3,000 a year ; total wealth of $15,000, represented in land and other property, with some money invested in mercantile business, and he enjoys a very good law practice. James M. Wright is one of the most interesting char- acters in Kansas ; he is forty-six years of age ; was born in Oregon ; came to Kansas in 1870, and his answer to the question, "What special difficulties have you over- come?" was this: "I learned to hold my job any- where." He has a yearly income of over $2,000 ; total wealth $8,000, represented in farming land, other real estate and stock in a fraternal insurance com- pany. Mr. J. M. Wright states that what he has is the result of systematic saving, and that is a valuable lesson for all of us to learn ; his career is similar to that of Mr. Sayres, of whom I spoke a while ago; in 1892 Mr. Wright taught school, since which time he has held the following positions: Clerk, U. S. postoffice at Topeka; deputy county treasurer of Shawnee County, head- quarters at Topeka, for eight years; city treasurer of PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 247 Topeka for two years he occupied that position when 1 went to Kansas ; at present he is deputy county clerk of Shawnee County ; he was raised on a farm ; received a high school education, a business education, and spe- cialized in accountancy ; he is also the founder and presi- dent of one of the leading fraternal insurance companies of our State. Mr. Wright has also recently established in the city of Topeka a fine moving picture theatre that is meeting with abundant success ; it is one of the cleanest and best places of amusement in that city. Mr. W. V. Smith, a bachelor, came to Kansas from Mattoon, Illinois, many years ago ; worked for fifty years as a farmer, and has a yearly income of $2,000 as the result of knowing the value of manure and the best fertilizer; though an unlettered man, he is said to be worth over $30,000 in farming land, live stock, and other property which he accumulated by "knowing how to manage." A. C. Howard, Shoe Polish Manufacturer, Phila- delphia, Pa. As a railroad porter I had saved up some- thing like $180; with that $180 I started in business. I began by selling my blacking to railroad porters, and I had a host of friends among the fellows I used to work with ; that was why I placed my photograph upon all of the boxes, tins and cartons containing my blacking and polish, because I was very well known among the rail- road fraternity, and in that way a number of them recognized my goods. Of course some of my friends did not think that a black man could get any farther along in life than a railroad man or a Pullman car porter, but it seems that other people made demands for A. C. Howard's Shoe Polish and Leather Dressings. My first output was only one dozen boxes, which I delivered with my own hands. I used to thank shoe dealers and 248 PROGRESS OF A RACE. proprietors of bootblack stands very profusely for even giving my goods a place on their shelves, but now there is a widespread demand for all the shoe polish, leather dressings and dyes, and bootblack supplies that my fac- tory can produce. The A. C. Howard Shoe Polish Com- pany has a plant at 349 Fourth Street here in Phila- delphia that is fitted up with the latest improved filling machinery, and we have demonstrated our ability to prepare as good an article as "Whittemore," or any of the oldest and best known blackings make. I started preparing my goods in a woodshed, which was on the alley back of my home. I used to use an old tin box for mixing purposes ; now we have a factory well equipped, and in all the big department stores of Chi- cago, Philadelphia and New York Howard shoe polish has won its place with the standard stock. We are sell- ing our polish in large orders to the United States Gov- ernment ; it is being used at Fortress Monroe, Fort Todd and Fort Hamilton. I sold in Philadelphia one order alone amounting to $2.500. We were awarded first prize at the Paris Exposition in 1900, and also the first prize at the Jamestown Exposition in 1907. Henry Kelley, Successful Farmer. My first expe- rience in working land or on a farm was, when I was a boy, about ten or eleven years old. In 1886 I married and bought a farm for myself. My farm had about 520 acres of land in it ; there were about thirty-five acres of that land in a state of cultivation at the date I bought it ; after which I thought it would pay us well if we would begin and clear it up. I began to cut down the trees, got a plenty of logs and built houses for a year or two, and in 1889 I bought my first steam gin to gin cotton for ourselves and the general public. Jonas W. Thomas, Farmer and Merchant. I bought PROGRESS IX INDUSTRIES. 251 an old horse for $45.75, rented a small farm of thirty acres for 1,800 pounds of loaned cotton, thus starting out on the farm sea of life. I continued in this way for four years before I was able to clear enough money to buy a mule. At the expiration of four years I became able to buy a mule for $69, then I increased my farm seven acres, making thirty-seven acres in cultivation this increase was rented land, of course. After farming five years I rented another farm, and after managing two farms successfully the next year I increased it one more, and continued to increase as I saw that I was able to get means and labor. Along with my farming I began to run a commissary, or as some people call it, a "grab." From a rented one-horse farm twenty-two years ago, 1 am today running fifty-two plows with a good many running on my own places ; and from a "grab" I am now running a store and carrying regularly a stock of goods valued at $4,500. These goods are in my store, of course ; one built at a cost of $8,520. Windham Brothers, Contractors and Builders, Birm- ingham, Alabama. Mr. B. L. Windham: We employ, on the average, one hundred (100) men all the year round. Sometimes more and sometimes a little less ; seldom less. Our payrolls average two thousand dollars ($2,000) a week. Our yearly contracts amount to from $250,000 to $300,000 per year. We have commercial credit in the banks of Birmingham. We can procure the necessary funds and finance our work to the extent of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) without any real estate security. Mound Bayou, Mississippi, a Negro Town. Mound Bayou was founded by Isaiah T. Montgomery and Ben- jamin T. Green in 1887. From a few settlers on a few MOUND BAYOU OIL MILL, MOUND BAYOU, MISS. INTERIOR VIEW MOUND BAYOU OIL MILL. PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 253 hundred acres it has grown to an agricultural community of 30,000 acres, a rural population of six or seven thou- sand and a town of 1,500 or more. It struggled along as a small railway stop and no business connections or stores of consequence until the opening of the Bank of Mound Bayou in 1904. Since that time it has steadily grown in importance as a commercial factor in the busi- ness life of the county. It has now an A. M. E. church edifice costing $25,000, First Baptist Church costing $17,000, an Episcopal Church, Christian Church and M. E. Church. It has a Carnegie Library, one public school and two Normal schools, operated and under the auspices of the Baptist and A. M. E. respectively. The Y. & M. V. R. R. employs all Negroes here, the agent, R. J. Gardner, a graduate of Walden University, Nashville, having two Negro girls as his assistants, one porter and night watchman. The receipts of this office were $9,000 for the month of October. Mound Bayou ranks sixth in the county as a cotton shipping point, handling upwards of 6,000 bales. The express office is handled -by a Negro, L. E. Jones, who has one assistant. The Cumberland Telephone Company maintains an exchange, employing all Negro girls and has nearly a hundred subscribers. The postoffice is a presi- dential office. Mrs. M. C. Booze, a graduate of Straight University, is postmistress, and employs three assistants. C. F. Bolton is president of the bank, and D. A. Carr, a graduate of the State School at Alcorn, is cashier. F. H. Miller, a successful farmer, is vice-president. The bank had aggregate resources of $259,681.30 on October 3ist. B. H. Creswell, manager of the Mound Bayou Supply Company, a store composed of one hundred farmers, is mayor ; R. L. Clegg is marshal ; J. W. Francis, S. A. Allen, E. O. Powell, J. L. Lee and L. E. Jones compose MOUND BAYOU STATE BANK. OFFICE MOUND BAYOU COTTON COMPANY. PROGRESS IX INDUSTRIES. 255 the board of aldermen. Jake Parker, United States Government demonstrative agent, is treasurer. B. A. Green is city attorney, as well as the only attor- ney of the community, and enjoys a good and growing practice. He is a graduate from the law school of Harvard. Drs. W. P. Kyle, J. A! Banks and W. H. Broomfield are the physicians. The town and community have recently voted a bond issue of $100,000, and will erect a $70,000 school building for a consolidated school district, build teacher's home and purchase truck or car to be used in transporting children to and from school who live too far to walk. The Mound Bayou Oil Mill was completed in 1912, the late Dr. Booker T. Washington and Mr. C. P. J. Mooney, editor of the Commercial Appeal, being the speakers on the occasion of the opening. The plant is considered by competent authorities as one of the best in the State, and is the only one owned by Negroes in the United States, and perhaps the world. It is engaged in the manufacture of cotton-seed oil and by-products, and would cost today to build over $250,000. The mill was designed by a Negro, Thomas Cook, using all Negro labor and financed by a Negro, Charles Banks. The manufactured output per day is around five to seven thousand dollars. The Farmers Mercantile Company is the leading store of the town, managed by E. P. Booze. The principal stockholders are I. T. and M. R. Montgomery, Charles Banks and E. P. Booze. Rev. A. A. Cosey, pastor of the First Baptist Church, is the leading minister, having lived here for several years and has contributed largely to the substantial growth of the town and community. Other prominent ministers are F. R. C. Burden and S. P. Felder. The consolidated school is under the man- ISAIAH T. MONTGOMERY. STANDING; CHARLES BANKS, SITTING. PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 257 agement of Prof. J. H. Mosley, of Alcorn. Mound Bayou has three newspapers the News-Digest, W. N. Lott, editor; the Advance-Dispatch, Dr. A. A. Cosey, editor; the Gazette, Prof. R. M. McCorkle, editor. Mound Bayou has many beautiful residences that will compare favorably with similar neighboring towns. Has two moving picture shows, the Casino, F. H. Miller, proprietor, having a seating capacity of nearly one thou- sand. It has recently let contract for concrete sidewalks and now receiving gravel for its principal streets. It has electric lights, supplied by a near-by town, Shelby, and has pure water from a flowing artesian well of 160 gallons per minute, several auto repair shops, pressing shops, billiard rooms, drug stores, and one manufacturer of hair and face preparations. Most of the cotton firms maintain colored representa- tives here as buyers, Charles Banks being the only Negro cotton broker, who also employs a Negro buyer. These buyers are all experts in their line, and their classifica- cations of grades and staples of cotton pass satisfactorily with Eastern spinners. There are four cotton ginneries, one each owned by I. T. Montgomery and R. M. Mc- Carty ; the Farmers Gin Company, J. A. Powell, manager ; and the Christmas Gin Company, O. J. Christmas, man- ager. The relations between the Negroes of Mound Bayou and their white neighbors are pleasant and friendly. There has never been a clash or disturbance between them, and in all their efforts in self-help the whites have manifested a helping "hand. Perhaps the one white man standing out above all others who has done more for Mound Bayou than any other white man, and con- tributed most largely to the harmonious working and relations between the races, not only in Mound Bayou, 17 258 PROGRESS OF A RACE. but the entire county, was the late Hon. Thos. S. Owens, a resident of the county seat, Cleveland. Mr. Owens died during the flu epidemic in 1918, and so dearly was he esteemed by the Negroes of Mound Bayou that the floral design by them was considered by some the most beautiful one to rest upon his bier. Charles Banks, Financier, Mound Bayou, Missis- sippi. Charles Banks who born in Clarksdale, Coahoma County, Mississippi, in 1873. He was educated in the public schools of the county and Rust University, Holly Springs, Mississippi. \\hile Charles Banks has shown exceptional ability as a business man by the organization of practically all of the enterprises of Mound Bayou, yet the thing that stands out paramount, which marks him as a genius in this respect, is shown by his successful efforts in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Mound Bayou State Bank and the Mound Bayou Oil Mill and Manu- facturing Company, both of which went out of business by reason of the general depression at the outbreak of the war in 1914. Being the foundef of the first bank at Mound Bayou, when it failed in 1914, undismayed or discouraged, he set about establishing a new bank, and in less than eighteen months he had raised eleven-twelfths (11/12) of the entire capital necessary to start a new bank, opening its doors for business October I, 1915, which today is one of the strongest institutions in the county. His rehabilitating the oil mill is even more marvelous. This plant, which is valued today something like a quarter of a million dollars, had been thrown into the hands of a receiver because of the financial embarrass- ment of the lessee. Mr. Banks succeeded in disposing of the receivership, arranged to satisfy and pay off the bonds held by Mr. Julius Rosenwald, the head of Messrs. PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 259 Sears, Roebuck & Company, who, out of his goodness of heart, had carried them for years without pressing the payment, helping the Negroes to hold the plant until they could get it on a firm foundation. After negotia- tions and several trips to Chicago, Mr. Banks arranged a basis of settlement with Mr. Ros'enwald, paid him the money required and then arranged for the operation of the plant, formed with one of the strongest connections in the Delta, which from present indications assures a successful operation of the plant, and removing all pos- sibility for loss to the stockholders in the future. The plant now is running night and day, giving employment to a large number of people. Mr. Banks organized the Mound Bayou Supply Company a little over a year ago with one hundred of the substantial farmers, the purpose of which is to take care of advances to farmers by the year, which is now largely done by merchants in nearby towns. He has recently purchased something over two thousand acres of fertile land in the St. Francis Basin in Arkansas, and is now developing it into a magnificent plantation. He also was largely instrumental in starting another Negro colony south of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, under J. A. Patterson, having secured around 40,000 acres for this project. He owns considerable real estate in Clarksdale and Memphis, as well as considerable farm lands in and around Mound Bayou. He subdivided and platted two principal subdivisions of the town, known as Banks Addition, and Banks and Francis Addition. He was a delegate-at-large to the republican national conven- tion in 1908-12, and is today the leading factor in repub- lican politics among the Negroes in the. State. He is a trustee of Campbell College, which owns one thousand acres near Mound Bayou, being their rental agent, and has collected this year $8,000. 260 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Boley, Oklahoma. The exclusively Negro town of Boley is located on the Fort Smith and Western Rail- road, in the heart of one of the most fertile sections of Oklahoma. It was founded in 1904 by Mr. T. M. Haynes, a sturdy Negro pioneer. There are from ten to fifteen thousand people around Boley. In the township proper there are three thousand. The town is incor- porated and has its own electric light plant and water- works. Many substantially built and attractive residences, principally frame structures, reflect credit upon the home life of their Negro owners. Boley has one bank with a capital stock of $20,000; three cotton gins; a telephone outfit ; eighty-two business concerns ; a city hall ; a cham- ber of commerce; a splendid two-story brick, stone trimmed high school, built at a cost of $15,000; several good churches ; a Masonic Temple for the State of Okla- homa, worth $35,000; a public recreation park; cement sidewalks; a Negro mayor, a Negro postmaster, Negro lawyers, Negro doctors, Negro school teachers, a Negro ticket agent and telegraph operator, etc. Boley is, in many respects a substantial evidence of the ambition, thrift and ability of the Negro to look out for himself if given a fair chance. Its citizens have shown rare pluck and "stick-to-it-iveness." Blessed with such a citizenry, with railroad facilities, productive soil, etc., it is bound to grow and attract to itself thousands of other Negro inhabitants who would themselves enjoy and give to their children unlimited chances for develop- ment. T. J. Elliot, Merchant, Muskogee, Oklahoma. Mr. T. J. Elliot is owner of three successful stores which carry a full line of men and women's clothing, shoes and furnishings. His main store is located in Muskogee and is situated on the main business street, and is handsomely PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 61 decorated with modern equipment of every kind. He carries a full line of up-to-date and stylish merchandise. His other two stores are located in Tulsa and Okmulgee, Oklahoma. S. S. Favor, Fanner, Shiloh, Oklahoma. I claim that it is only the exceptional man who can raise cotton year after year at anything like a satisfactory profit, because among other things there are seventeen (17) different varieties of cotton and seventeen (17) different kinds of insects and enemies to destroy your cotton while it is growing and maturing. It doesn't pay to depend wholly on cotton or any one kind of crop for your success as a farmer. I claim that no farm is complete unless you have on it some hogs, some cattle, a few mules, some chickens and some calves, and unless you are able to raise feed for your live stock and a nice kitchen garden for your own use. I have made farming pay on two hundred (200) acres of land; on this land I raise alfalfa, clover, corn and other grain feed, together with from 50 to 75 head of cattle, 20 to 50 mules, from 100 to 150 head of hogs, and I don't feel like I have done anything unless I sell upwards of $3,000 worth of live stock every year. We keep close to the market on hogs, and sell them when the market suits us best. As a farmer I find no prejudice against our hogs, for we go to market with the best. Mr. C. P. Combs, Practical Farmer, Oak Grove, Louisiana. Although I never worked at the carpenter's trade, I can build a frame house valued anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000, and I can paint the same three coats and give satisfaction in every particular. Instead of twenty-five acres I now own two hundred and forty (240) acres of land. I raise plenty of corn for my stock. about 40 to 50 bushels and sometimes 60 bushels to the acre ; we have a fine farming country down there around 262 PROGRESS OF A RACK. Oak Grove, Louisiana. Farm land sells now for about $50 an acre; it is kind of hilly land, a good deal of it, but the soil is very deep and rich and black. I have a pretty good house, built it myself, and painted it myself ; it cost me about $2,000 to build. Mr. H. P. Ewing, Truck Farmer, Kansas City, Mis- souri. I am a truck farmer and have been following that business for a good many years. We have a com- bination of Negro truck farmers in Kaw Valley, the region round about Kansas City, where we have banded together for mutual benefit. We have 25 acres of pota- toes to dig this year; 5 acres of cabbage heading up; 5 acres in onions, 2 acres of onion sets, 2 acres in carrots, besides a number of other things actually growing and maturing each day, and we have actually paid to mem- bers of our own race, mostly school boys and girls, $1,166.65 f r labor performed; this was paid to them in cash money. Farmers near by have depended largely for labor upon people who go to the country, work on the farm during the day and come back to the city every night. We furnish work for the colored boys and girls who attend the city schools and work for us during their vacation and at odd times, thus helping along as many as we can accommodate. We keep two men and five boys on the farm regularly, and our tomato crop this year will bring us in something like $2,000. Mr. C. W. Gilliam, Merchant, Okolona, Mississippi. Mr. Gilliam has had a most interesting career, starting in as a bell boy at a hotel in Memphis at $15.00 per month. This was in 1886, when he left his home in Okolona to make "his fortune." After working at the hotel for a considerable period, he returned to his home with $65.00, and later purchased a small stock of groceries from Mr. T. W. Gregory and started business on the 264 I'ROGRESS OF A RACE. main street. Mr. Gilliam says concerning his business : "I soon put in a small line of drygoods and that fall I went to Memphis, Tennessee, to market with Mr. P. Mclntosh, who introduced me. I wish to say that Mr. Mclntosh is supposed to be the oldest Negro merchant in the State of Mississippi and one of the most successful in this country. I bought $2,000 worth of dry goods, clothing and notions, bought $500 worth or more of shoes from a St. Louis shoe firm. My business continued to grow. In 1900 Mr. P. Mclntosh and I formed a co- partnership ; the first year we did about $38,000 or $40,- 000 worth of business. Being a little ambitious, I thought 1 could do better by myself, so Mr. Mclntosh and I dis- solved partnership on perfectly friendly terms and remain strong friends to this day." He is said to be rated in the Dun and Bradstreet agency as a good credit risk up to $20,000. J. T. Roberts, Furniture Dealer, Evansville, Indiana. I started my third year's business with a stock of $500 with a splendid outlook for an increased business over the previous year. Having calls for cheap articles of hardware, etc., I decided to add to my business a five- and-ten-cent counter, which paid me well, and at the end of 1911 I had done $6,188.84 worth of business. I started my fourth year with a stock of $650 and ended the year 1912 with $7,399.00 worth of business, with larger quarters, a well-stocked warehouse, two horses and wagons, increased hired help and a second-hand clothing department annexed. I started my fifth year's business with a $1,000 stock, purchasing a larger store and ware- house at No. i Lincoln Avenue, Evansville, Indiana, in which to conduct our main business and using the old site as a "New and Second-hand Clothing Store" and extra warehouse. The five-and-ten-cent counter had PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 265 grown so I decided to open a five-and-ten-cent store adjoining the furniture store. In it we have ice cream, a soda water fountain, cigars, tobaccos, stationery, hard- ware, tinware and almost any small article our customers want. We did $10,425.66 worth of business in 1913, and now the sign on the building reads : "We Trust the Peo- ple." Robert L. Smith, Banker, Waco, Texas, says con- cerning the Negro banks and banking institutions in the country for Negroes: To my way of thinking, the his- tory of our Negro banking institutions reveals more than any other business or profession, the great and wonderful progress our race has made since the war. The very idea that men and women who were chattels about fifty years ago, or whose mothers and fathers were denied an education and were owned and sold as slaves, without previous apprenticeship or experience in banking, have been able to establish and conduct successfully nearly sixty (60) Negro banking institutions now operating in this country I say such a record of progress has no parallel in the annals of human history. Instead of being put up for a loan or sold as a chattel, like horses, cattle and hogs, they have made good use of their liberty by engaging in almost every line of industry and practically every kind of business enterprise in which white men their former owners are now engaged, including even the complex and intricate business of banking. They have taken advantage of educational opportunities, and instead of the Negro race being almost wholly ignorant and illiterate, they have become for the most part intelligent and, according to official figures, the great majority of them can read and write ; instead of being put up for a loan and being sold themselves, as chattels, they are lend- ing money, making deposits, owning and selling stocks HON. FREDERICK. DOU(iLAS3. PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 267 and chattels and dealing in bonds and many other forms of securities. From former slaves or sons of slaves, some of them have become presidents of banks which are owned, operated and sustained by Negroes and Negro capital. That is the biggest change that has come, the most wonderful miracle that in my opinion has been wrought among the Negroes of the United States. It shows or reflects more clearly than anything else the wonderful progress we have made in but fifty years of opportunity, and we give God credit not only for our emancipation, but also for this most wonderful miracle which he has subsequently performed. David Chiles, Farmer, Topeka, Kansas. I started when I was about eight years old ; I was raised on the farm ; I worked for a man for wages for a while until I wanted to start out by myself ; when I went to the man I was working for to get some horses he never said "No," and when I started in to buy a piece of land, the man I bought from didn't even take mortgage on that land, and I paid him every cent I owed him within a year's time. That was in 1868 at Nashville, Tennessee, just out from the city. The next year I had a little better sense, and made up my mind to buy a little more land. And then I started increasing from year to year, some- times I would rent land and raise a crop until I was able to buy it. I would raise different kinds of truck or vegetables and would hire the little boys and girls of my neighbors to pick my crops until I got so I was paying out to them alone as high as $25 a day for picking and gathering in the stuff. I had no trouble in selling all I raised. When I first started out land was worth $15 an acre, and now you'll have to pay $200 an acre for the same kind of land. Finally I made up my mind to move out West, so I 268 PROGRESS OF A RACE. come out to Kansas; sold out what I had in Tennessee and moved out to Topeka, where I bought land on the Kaw River. The first year I raised twenty-eight carloads of as fine a watermelon as you ever tasted and sold them all at something like $150 a carload. Mr. George W. Cox, Manager, Negro Insurance Com- pany, Indianola, Mississippi. The Mississippi Beneficial Life Insurance Company, of Indianola, Mississippi, of which I am the assistant "general manager, of which the late W. W. Cox was the founder and financial supporter, has hammered and continued to hammer away on these things until today it can say more than any other com- pany can say whether owned and operated by white or black, doing business absolutely on the lives of our peo- ple, that is, in Mississippi alone it has upon its books over 70,000 paying policy holders, all satisfied, represent- ing an actual premium income of $100,000 a year. Upon its books is $1,000,000 worth of business in force, all of this upon the lives of Negroes. Our company carries two separate departments, "The Sick and Accident." and the regular "Old Line Legal Reserve Department," which enables us to hang our policies upon the walls of every Negro home, however humble, for we write from five cents to five thousand dollars. Sometimes when our peo- ple are located on the plantations of the whites, they object to Negro agents coming on their farms, but we fix this all right without a hitch. We give employment to over 500 men and women in our State. We paid them last year in commissions and salaries over $35,000. We enabled the sick to secure the best medical treatment to the sum of $30,000 last year. We paid the undertakers of the State something like $5,000 for taking care of the dead. That's good, but the best of all is the most remarkable mortality PROGRESS IN INDUSTRIES. 269 \ that existed among our risk last year, and including this year to date. Mr. N. C. Bruce, Winner of World's Corn Prize at the Panama Exposition. Mr. Bruce is principal of the Bartlett Agricultural School. He tells in his own words how he won the world's corn prize at the Panama Ex- position : In 1912, by deep plowing-in of green crops, cowpeas, red top clover and other legumes in the fall, by re-break- ing disc harrowing, smooth harrowing and careful check row planting in the spring, after getting pure bred Boone County white seed corn, and by frequent cultivations in 1913, our school won the highest contest yield premium of $400, producing 108 bushels to the acre. This was at the Missouri Corn Grower's Show where there were over two thousand (2,000) small and large white farmers competing at the Missouri University in January, 1914. This 1914 top-notch record yield made it necessary that His Excellency, our governor, Elliott W. Major, appoint us as Missouri's Top-Notch Competitor to meet the world's corn champions by States at the Panama- Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco in 1915. Mindful of the previous year's experience, our school set to work early with barnyard manure, cowpeas and red clover, with our muscles and brawn to beat our 1914 yield. At times our work ceased not by day or night. The result was that from our sixty-two (62) acre field we pushed the yield on some acres to 114 bushels and exceeded 100 bushels on many acres, and among the world's corn growers at San Francisco we won the WORLD'S GRAND CHAMPION MEDAL and have secured since over three thousand dollars ($3,000) in cash premiums, together with the praise and applause of our governor and of very eminent people. 2 TO PROGRESS OF A RACE. ELIMINATING THE COLOR LINE. The Progress of the American Negro in the industrial field is significantly reflected in the action taken by the American Federation of Labor at its Montreal conven- tion in June 1920. A resolution was adopted instructing all affiliated organizations to eliminate the color line and to admit the Negro worker to membership on the same basis as the white worker. Two Factors have contributed to this policy of human justice first, the increasing efficiency of the Negro as an industrial worker; second, the fact that under the disabil- ities of the color line the Negro was too readily available as a strike breaker. The first factor was strongly re- enforced by the second. THE NEGRO AND THE THEATRE. In spite of the bitterest opposition, the progress of The Race on the stage has not been without its cheering aspects. The Negro was not wanted in legitimate drama, and everything possible was done to keep him out of it. Nevertheless the career of the distinguished actor. Ira Aldridge (1810-1867), ranked him as the greatest tragedian of his time. He played before kings, princes and potentates throughout Europe and was showered with honors and decorations wherever he went. Other Celebrities. There have been man} other Negroes on the stage, both as performers, playwrights, and composers, among them Robert Cole (1868-1911), Bert Williams (see biographical sketch, page 449), and Ernest Hogan, but their efforts were necessarily limited to minstrelsy, light musical comedy, and vaudeville. In the motion picture field Noble M. Johnson has starred PROGRESS IX IXDUSTRIES. 271 in such films as "Intolerance," "The Death War- rant," etc. True Negro Drama. Thus an honest presentation of Negro character has been somewhat of a dream a dream nevertheless that must some day come true. Evidences of its coming are seen in "Granny Maumee" and other plays by Ridgely Torrence, produced in New York City by a company of colored players, also in "The Exile, ' "The Star of Ethiopia" and other Negro plays produced by Negro actors with remarkable success. Charles Gilpin, as "Emperor Jones," in Eugene O'Neill's play of the same name, stirred the country by his magnificent acting, his imagination, and his im- personation. The play was first produced by the Prov- incetown players (white) in Greenwich Village and later moved to an uptown theatre in New York, where it ran with packed houses for many months. Mr. Gilpin proved in a startling way that a Negro can act, and he proved the fact for all time to come. The Shuffle Along Company was another of the for- ward steps of 1921. This company of players had phenomenal success wherever they went. A Chain of Negro Theatres. Barney Oldfield once gave Clarence Bennett of New Orleans a diamond ring. Early in 1919 Bennett hocked this ring for $1,000.00, bought the Lyric Theatre there, and opened it as a play- house exclusively for Negroes. Out of this venture has grown what is known as the Theatre Owners' Booking Association, which controls over fifty theaters through- out the country, catering to ten million Negroes, and representing an investment of over $5,000,000.00. It has inspired and encouraged the development of an immense amount of astonishingly good talent in the Race that was never before suspected. HENRY D. DAVIDSON, Principal Centerville Industrial Institute. W. M. HUBBARD, Principal Forsyth Normal and Industrial School. W. R. BANKS, President Texas College, Tyler, Tex. J. E. MILLER, President Baptist Normal and Industrial Institute. B. F. ALLEN, President Turner College. CHAPTER Xm. EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. In spite of most severe restrictions against teaching the Colored people in the South to read and write every effort was made on their part to secure an education by stealth a desire to learn has been, from the beginning, one of their outstanding characteristics. Today we see the results in an intelligent, useful, truly American citizenship. During the Civil War under the Freedmen's Bureau there sprang up hundreds of schools all over the South devoted to the training of the Negro population. The teachers came from the North with truly altruistic motives and the progress was remarkable. Almost immediately normal schools and academies for higher education came into existence. Atlanta University, Fisk University, Straight University, Howard University, and Hampton Institute are among the nationally known institutions which came about through these missionary efforts. Incidentally there evolved the Peabody, Slater, Hand, Jeanes funds and others to aid and maintain the already high standard of education. The common schools of the South came into existence through the political power of the Negro vote in the re- construction of the new state governments after the Civil War. Expenditure of time and money on Negro schools has been hopelessly inadequate when compared with the white schools, but the following statistics indicate a de- cided change for the better. In 1890, 39 per cent of the Negro population was illiterate. In 1900 the rate dropped to 30 per cent and according to the latest government 18 273 V pq O 'S EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. 275 figures the illiterates now number only 18 per cent of the entire Negro race in America. The records of Phi Beta Kappa show that at least 36 Negro students have been honored with membership in this exclusively honorary or- ganization in competition with white students in our higher educational institutions. The total number of Negro col- lege graduates is now over 7000. RECENT PROGRESS IN NEGRO EDUCATION. The Past Year has witnessed considerable progress in the field of Negro education, despite adverse conditions brought about by the war. Probably the most significant event of the year was the appointment in Texas of a state supervisor of rural Negro schools, whose salary and ex- penses are paid entirely by the state. Short terms, poor schoolhouses, and low salaries continue to hamper the work of the public schools, but the problem of Negro education has been called to 'the attention of the white South by the recent exodus of Negroes from that section, and some improvement has already been made. While there has been a considerable increase in the actual amounts appropriated by the Southern states for salaries of Colored teachers, the Negro still receives no greater proportion of the sums expended for teachers' salaries. The official reports of State superintendents of public in- struction show that these officials are trying to increase the school facilities for Negroes and are calling the attention of the public to the matter. Jeanes Industrial Teachers. The number of Jeanes industrial teachers has increased, and their work has been so effective that one state superintendent recommends in his official report that similar supervisors be employed for white schools. The cooperation of the General Education 276 PROGRESS OF A RACE. Board has enabled these teachers to organize home makers' clubs during the summer months. In doing this home club work the teachers give demon- strations of cooking, canning, and preserving. The Gen- eral Education Board has also cooperated with the states in maintaining supervisors of rural schools and in furnishing equipment for county training schools. The county train- ing schools, supported by the counties with the aid of the Slater fund, have passed the experimental stage, and only the high cost of labor and materials prevented the building of additional schools during the year. The Rosenwald fund has made possible the erection of a number of rural schoolhouses. The Phelps-Stokes fund, which financed the investigation of Negro education, continues to cooper- ate with the Bureau of Education. Its work has been the maintenance of an information bureau, giving expert advice to schools and keeping before the public the edu- cational needs of the Negro. The table here given shows the extent of the work done by the Jeanes fund and how it is financed : NEGRO RURAL SCHOOL FUND, JEANES FOUNDATION, 1918-19. States Number of Number of Paid by Paid by Teachers Counties Jeanes Fund Public Fund Alabama 24 23 $5,223.00 $3.806.83 Arkansas 20 ia 2,928.75 7,750.00 Florida 4 4 1,055.00 612.00 Georgia 24 24 3,810.00 3,060.00 Kentucky 9 9 1,995.00 1,065.00 Louisiana 15 14 4,185.00 2,848.00 Mississippi 26 25 4,110.00 6,535.00 North Carolina.. 39 39 5,815.00 7,665.00 South Carolina.. 14 14 3,465.00 1,708.00 Tennessee 20 21 3,557.50 5,110.00 Texas 6 6 1,540.00 1,300.00 Virginia 16 18 2,973.00 3,132.00 Total 217 216 $40,657.25 $44,591.83 State Supervisors. At present 10 states, with the as- sistance of the General Education Board, maintain 280 PROGRESS OF A RACE. supervisors of Negro rural schools. Oklahoma and Florida are the only states with a considerable proportion of Negroes that have no special supervisor. In Texas the supervisor is paid entirely by the state. The work of the state supervisors may be briefly sum- marized under four heads: (i) The improvement of school facilities, by urging county superintendents and boards of education to extend school terms, pay better salaries and provide better houses. (2) The development of county training schools, maintained by the counties with the help of the Slater fund. The first object of these schools is to train teachers for the rural schools. In offer- ing some high-school work and industrial training, these schools are rendering a large service. (3) The improve- ment of teachers in service by conducting county institutes, and cooperating with State normal schools and summer schools conducted by private institutions. (4) The pro- motion of home-makers' clubs. In North Carolina and Mississippi the state supervisor has a Colored man to as- sist him in his work. In North Carolina the salary of this assistant is paid by the State Colored Teachers' Associ- ation ; in Mississippi it is paid by the state. The work of these assistants has been of great value. County Training Schools. At present there are 77 of these institutions and several others will be erected as soon as the abnormal price conditions of war times have passed. They are divided among the states as follows : Alabama, ii ; Arkansas, 5; Florida, i; Georgia, 5; Kentucky, 2\ Maryland, i ; Louisiana, 4 ; Mississippi, 3 ; North Carolina. 14 ; South Carolina, 6 ; Tennessee, 6 ; Texas, 5 ; Virginia, 8. These schools are built and maintained by the combined efforts of the public-school authorities, the Slater Fund, the Colored people of the country and the local white friends of Negro education. 'o H c a race. Hampton and its students have done more to pre- serve Negro melodies than any other agency. The following are a few of the many songs that might be given. Most of them are taken from the Hampton collection, 461 462 PROGRESS OF A RACE. THE ANGELS DONE CHANGED MY NAME. " I went to the hillside, I went to pray; I know the angels done changed my name Done changed my name for the coming day; I knew the angels done changed my name. " I looked at my hands, my hands was new, I Knew the angels done changed my name; I looked at my feet, and my feet was, too Thank God the angels done changed my name. ' ' While the Negro brought out from bondage no liter- ature and no theology, yet he did bring with him the plantation songs which show in Christian song that the doctrines of Christianity were held by these people in the days of slavery. We cannot expect to find the same modes of expression now that prevailed among them while in slavery, but that they held to the funda- mental truths of religion must be recognized by all who study these songs. That they believed in Christ as a Savior from sin and in the Atonement is beautifully illustrated in the refrain " I've been redeemed! I've been redeemed! Been washed in de blood ob de lamb." The Divinity of Christ is shown in " Jus" stan" right still and steady yo'self : I know that my Redeemer lives. Oh, jus' let me tell yo' about God hisself : I know that my Redeemer lives." At Tougaloo, Mississippi, they sing a hymn which especially emphasizes the personality of Satan, which, it seems, they never doubted ' Ole Satan he wears de hypocrite shoe ; If yo' don' rain' he slip it on yo'." Frederick Douglass says that " Run to Jesus, shun the danger, I don't expect to stay much longer here." PLANTATION MfcLODlfcS. ETC. 463 sung on the plantation where he was a slave, first sug- gested to him the thought of escaping from slaver}-, or, as he put it, '* Praying with his feet. " While their lives were full of misery on account of the oppressions of their masters, their songs do not show anywhere a revengeful spirit. They looked for- ward with confidence, expecting to be relieved in the land of the redeemed " Shine, shine, I'll meet you in that morning, Oh, my soul's gom' to shine, to shine: I'm goin' to sit down to a welcome table- - Shine, shine, my soul's goin' to shine." SWING LOW. SWEET CHARIOT. Oh, de good ole chariot swing so low. Good ole chariot swing so low, Oh, de good ole chariot swing so low, I don't want to leave me behind. Chorus. Oh, swing low, sweet chariot. Swing low, sweet chariot, Swing low, sweet chariot^ 1 don't want to leave me behind. Oh, de good ole chariot will take us all home, I don't want to leave me behind. Cho. Oh, swing low, sweet, etc. \ THE DANVILLE CHARIOT. Chorus. Oh, swing low, sweet chariot, Pray let me enter in, I don't want to stay here no longer. I done been to heaven, an' I done been tired, I been to the water, an' I been baptized I don't want to stay no longer. O, down to the water I was led, My soul got fed with heav'nly bread I don't want to stay here no longer. Cho. Oh, swing low, sweet chariot, etc. PLANTATION MELODIES, ETC. 465 I had a little book, an* I read it through, I got my Jesus as well as you; Oh, I got a mother in the promised land. 1 hope my mother will feed clem lambs I don't want to stay here no longer. Cho. Oh, swing low, sweet chariot, etc. Oh, some go to church for to holler an' shout, Before six months they're all turned out I don't want to stay here no longer. Oh, some go to church for to laugh an' talk, but dey knows nothin' 'bout dat Christian walk I don't want to stay here no longer. Cho. Oh, swing low, sweet chariot, etc. Oh, shout, shout, de deb'l is about; Oh, shut your do' an* keep him out I don't want to stay here no longer. For he is so much-a like-a snaky in de grass, Et you don' mind he will get you at las' I don't want to stay here no longe' Cho. Oh, swing low, sweet chariot, etr VIEW DE LAND. I'm born of God, 1 know I am View de land, view de land 1 And you deny it if you can Go view de heav'nly land. I want to go to heaven when I die View de land, view de land! To shout salvation as I fly Go view de heav'nly land. Chorus. Oh, 'way over Jordan View de land, view de land! 'Way over Jordan Go view de heavenly land. ; What kind of shoes is dem-a you wear? View de land, etc. Dat you can walk upon the air? Go view, etc. Dem shoes I wear are de Gospel shoes View the land, etc. An' you can wear dem ef-a you choose Go view, etc. Cho. Der* is a tree in paradise View the land, etc. De Christian he call it de tree ob life Go view, etc. I spects to eat de fruit right off o' dat tree View de land, etc. Ef busy old Satan will let-a me be Go view, etc. Cho. You say yer Jesus set-a you free View de land, etc. Why don't you let-a your neighbor be? Go view, etc. 30 466 PROGRESS OK A KACE. You say you're aiming for de skies View de land, etc. Why don't you stop-a your telling lies? Go view, etc. Cho. OH, YES. Ef eber I land on de oder she' Oh, yes ! I'll neber come here for to sing no more Oh, yes! A golden band all round my waist, An' de palms of victory in my hand, An' de golden slippers on to my feet Gwine to walk up an" down o' dem golden street Chorus. Oh, wait till I put on my robe Wait till I put on my robe. Oh, yes! Oh,, yes'- An', my lobely bretherin, dat ain't all Oh, yes I'm not done a-talkin' about my Lord. An' a golden crown a-placed on-a my head, An' my long white robe a-come a-dazzlin' down ; Now wait till I get on my Gospel shoes, Gwine to walk about de heaven an' a-carry de news. Cho. I'm anchored in Christ, Christ anchored in me Oh, yes! All de debils in hell can't a-pluck me out; An* I wonder what Satan's grumbling about He's bound into hell, an' he can't git out, But he shall be loose and hab his sway Yea, at de great resurrection day. Cho. I went down de hillside to make a-one prayer Oh, yes ! An' when I got dere Ole Satan was dere Oh, yes I An' what do you t'ink he said to me? Oh, yes! Said, "Off from here you'd better be." Oh, yes! And what for to do I did not know Oh, yes! But I fell on my knees and I cried 'Oh, Lord!' Oh, yes! Now, my Jesus bein' so good an' kind, Yea, to the with-er-ed, halt, and blind My Jesus lowered His mercy down. An' snatch-a me from a-dera doors ob hell. He a-snatch-a me from dem doors ob hell, An' took-a me in a-wid him to dwell. Cho. I was in de church an' prayin' loud. An' on my knees to Jesus bowed ; Ole Satan tole me to my face PLANTATION MELODIES, ETC. 467 " I'll git you when-a you leave dis place." Oh, brother, dat scare me to my heart, I was 'fraid to walk-a when it was dark. Cho. I started home, but I did pray. An' I met ole Satan on de way ; Ole Satan made a-one grab at me, But he missed my soul an' I went free. My sins went a-lumberin' down to nell, An' my soul went a-leaping up Zion's hill. I tell ye what, bretherin, you'd better not laugh, Ole Satan'll run you down his path ; If he runs you as he run me You'll be glad t<)..k is DUE on the last date stamped below. -(//?/ I H8TD LD-URH JflN2* FEB 41983 CIRC. DEPT. URL 24139 51987 JUN 5 1987 R S L JAN 2 5 '91 LOURL tHIB SEP 3 W91 DEC 02 199? K5'5 1B-URI QLOCT16 1995 DEC 5 1996 3 1158005163703