Twenty-Five Years in the Black Belt Part 10

The 200,000 Negro soldiers who are now at the front and in the camps have gone with as brave hearts as any American citizen. They say, "Silver and gold, have I but little, but I give my life to Uncle Sam, it is all that I can do."

The Negro is not only furnis.h.i.+ng men to the National Army, but he is doing his part to support the boys at the front. He has bought Liberty Bonds to the fullest extent. Many of his business organizations, societies and lodges have bought large blocks of these bonds.

On Sunday morning, June 14th, Dr. Cortland L. Myers of Tremont Temple, Boston, in his sermon told of an incident of an old colored woman who had worked hard and saved up three hundred dollars in order that she might not at the end be buried in the paupers' field, but when she read that the United States wanted money, took all she had and carried it to the bank to the agent. When the agent gave her the Liberty Bond and told her that she would get four per cent on her money, she was utterly surprised and said, "Lord, Boss, I thought I was giving this money to Uncle Sam." This woman had only three hundred dollars, but she gave all.

You remember what Christ said about those who were contributing to a great cause on one occasion. Many made large gifts, but one poor woman came up and gave a penny which was all she had. Christ on commenting on this to his Disciples said that she had given more than all, because she had given all she had. Many incidents of this kind may be cited as proof of the Negroes' loyalty in this struggle.

Not only in the Liberty Loan drive, but in the Red Cross and War Savings Stamp drives, the Negro is doing his part. There are Negro agents all over the South who are educating our people up to what the Government at Was.h.i.+ngton wants. Such schools as Snow Hill, Laurinburg, Denmark, Utica, Okalona and Calhoun and many others are serving as bureaus of information for this war work among the Negroes.

Nor is this all. The Negro is doing his part in the various industries of the country. I have heard of many strikes and walk-outs since we entered the war, but not once have a group of Negroes struck. In some places where a few are working with the unions, the unions have forced them out at the risk of their lives, but where he is free, nowhere in this country has the Negro struck during the war.

He is doing his bit on the farm. Everywhere the Negro farmers, man, woman and child, believe that they can help win the war by making a good crop and they are at work on the farm trying to do this, so you see that the Negro in every way is in the war to a finish.

These are answers to questions asked me by the white man both North and South as to the att.i.tude of the Negro toward this world's war.

But on the other hand the Negro soldiers and civilians are not asleep and they too are asking such questions as these:--

"Are we to share in the democracy for which we are giving our lives?

When the world is made safe for democracy, will the entire country be made safe for it?

Will my father, mother, sister and brother be allowed to share in this democracy?

Will lynchings and burnings at the stake cease?

Will the white man who makes the laws allow these laws to take their course?

Will they allow us or give us a fair trial before their courts, which have only white men as jurors?

Will they cease taxing us without representation?

Will they give us an equal part of the money spent for education? (In many places in the Black Belt the Negro child receives thirty cents a year for education, while the white child receives fifteen dollars.) Will the Negro be given any work that he is capable of doing and not be denied it on account of his color?

Will it be possible for a Negro travelling from Alabama to California or Ma.s.sachusetts, to find a place to sleep at night?

Will the baggage masters and the conductors of the South ever treat the Negro pa.s.sengers with courtesy and respect and finally will the white man in the South after making the laws for the qualifications of voters, allow a Negro to vote if he measures up to these qualifications?"

The Negro does not care what these qualifications may be. He only wants a fair chance in case he measures up to them.

The Negro only seeks equal rights and justice before all the courts of the land. He expects this because of his teachings. He was brought to this country against his will, even against his protest. He has been given the white man's language, his history, his literature, his Bible and even his G.o.d. His aspirations, inspirations and desires have been brought about as a result of these and if they are wrong, the white man is to blame. The Negro has been taught to believe that G.o.d is no respecter of persons and therefore his subjects should not be. He thought that if he did what other men did he would obtain the same results.

Now evidently the Negro is a man. He loves as other men do, he lives as others do, he dies as others die, he has joy and sorrow as others do, even hates as others do, laughs and cries as others. He must therefore, be a man as man is the only being which possesses these faculties. Then he asks for a man's chance and the world will never be right until this is given him. The world will never be safe for democracy until all the races of the earth are allowed to share in it.

In answer to all of the foregoing questions asked me by both the white and black, I have said that things will be better for the Negro after the war. I have said that it was impossible for the world to be made safe for democracy unless every county in the South is made safe for it.

I have gone as far as to cite a recent occurrence in Camden, Wilc.o.x County, Alabama, where more than one hundred and forty Negroes were sent to the cantonments and I was asked to be one of the speakers on the occasion. The white people there gave the Negroes a great banquet and in my remarks after thanking them for their hospitality, I said "That it would be foolish and cowardly on my part to stand here in your presence and say that as a race we have no grievances, for we have them, but this is no time to air them. When the house is on fire it is no time for family quarrels, but the thing to do is to put the fire out and then we can adjust the quarrels after.

"Today our National house is on fire and it is the duty of every man, both white and black, rich and poor, great and small, to rise in his might and put the fire out and when the fire is out, we will see you about these grievances."

I went a step further and told that "already the war had brought some good results as this was the most democratic day that this little city had ever seen." Before the war, two expressions were commonly used by the white man and the Negro. The Negro's expression was this:--"I haven't any country," and the white man's expression was:--"This is a white man's country." Now both of these cla.s.ses are saying, "This is our country." I further said that "we should win this war, because democracy was right and autocracy is wrong, and if we lose, and G.o.d forbid that we should, the fault will not be in democracy, but it will be due to the fact that we are not practicing what we preach."

At the close of my remarks many of the white citizens, including the judge, the sheriff, lawyers and other prominent men came forward and congratulated me on what I had said and some said that the white people of Camden needed more of such plain talk. I took these signs to mean that better things were coming for the Negro of the South after the war, but I must admit that when I read in the evening papers of June 27th that Senator John Sharp Williams of Mississippi had practically defeated the bill for women suffrage, because he said that he favored the vote for white women only and that the bill in its present form would not be allowed in his state--I must confess that this action almost took away all of my hopes especially after there was no one to rise and rebut his argument. There was no one in the United States Senate to speak for democracy for all the people. Now I think that just such spirit as this exhibited by that great Senator from Mississippi is at the foundation of this world's war and until that spirit is crushed, I fear that this war will continue. For of a truth, "G.o.d is no respecter of persons."

Now I have given my answers to both the Negro and the white man. What is the answer of the white man?

Are we fighting for democracy for all the people, or are we fighting for democracy for the white man only?

This question has never been answered by the white man, but it must be answered after this great war.

APPENDIX

_Address Delivered by Mr. Edwards on the Twentieth Anniversary of His Graduation from Tuskegee._

"Two decades ago, twenty members const.i.tuting the cla.s.s of '93, received their commission from the ill.u.s.trious Princ.i.p.al of this great inst.i.tution on yonder hill, to go ye into all parts of the South and teach and preach Tuskegee's gospel. This gospel was then as it is now, a gospel of service. Now after the lapse of twenty years we have a.s.sembled here to review the efforts of past years. Although twenty years are not long enough in which to record the life's work of a cla.s.s, it is sufficiently long to indicate the direction in which this work is tending.

"So we come today, not so much to tell what we have accomplished as to tell what we are doing to renew our allegiance to our Alma Mater, and to a.s.sure its Princ.i.p.al and members of the Faculty that our motto, "Deeds Not Words," is still our guiding star. Four of our number have pa.s.sed to the great beyond. We must therefore wait a later and greater day to hear their record read or told. Of the remaining sixteen, we have lost all communication with two, and it would be mere speculation for us to say what these two are doing. We can only hope, and do most fervently pray, that wherever they are they have with them the deep and abiding spirit of Tuskegee, and this we believe they have. This leaves then only fourteen live, vigorous and active members with which we are concerned.

All of these, except one, have been engaged more or less in teaching.

They are located as follows:

"Two in Normal School at Snow Hill, Alabama; one at the head of a large Industrial School at Topeka, Kansas; three in Birmingham, Alabama; one teaching in Miles Memorial College; one in Government Service; one doing settlement work; two are in Asheville, N. C., where they are engaged in teaching and doing settlement work respectively; another teaching in Dothan, Alabama; two in Montgomery, one of these teaching and the other doing settlement work; one in Selma, Alabama, farming and doing extension work; one at the head of a prosperous Industrial School at China, Alabama, and one teaching in Georgia. All have been remarkably successful and they have touched and made better the lives of more than five thousand souls. While losing their lives for others, they have saved their own somewhat, materially.

"Having been out on the tempestuous sea of life for twenty years amidst both storms and calms, it may not be out of place for us to speak a word of warning or make a few suggestions to those who are to set sail today, and to those who hope to go to sea at a later date. This, then, is our message. First of all, it is necessary for you to know where the work of the world is to be done.

"On one occasion during Christ's sojourn on earth, He took a few of His disciples with Him upon the mountain and there transfigured Himself. He clothed Himself in heavenly beauty and splendor; He arrayed Himself in His G.o.dlike power. These men were so overjoyed at this manifestation of His glory and power, that old Peter, impulsive as he was, spoke out and said: 'Lord, it is good for us to be here, if it be Thy will, let us build here three tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.' The place was so glorious that they wanted to abide there. But at the same time the mult.i.tude was waiting at the foot of the mountain, hungering and desiring to be fed; naked and desiring to be clothed; sick, and desiring to be healed. The work of Jesus Christ and His disciples was not on the transfigured mountain, but at the foot among the ma.s.ses. So as they came down from the mountain, there met Him a man whose son was a lunatic, desiring that the Master might heal him.

"So on occasions like this when Dr. Was.h.i.+ngton takes us upon the mountain and reveals to us Tuskegee in all of her beauty and splendor, we are likely, in such a state of ecstasy, to cry out saying, Princ.i.p.al Was.h.i.+ngton, it is good for us to be here, and let us build three tabernacles; one for thee, one for Armstrong, and one for Douglas. But my friends, we cannot abide here. We must go down to the foot of the mountain among the ma.s.ses. We must go out into the rural districts for there it is that the people are a hungry and thirsty crowd, and there it is that the harvest is great, but the laborers are few, and there it is the work of the world must be done.

"Another suggestion is, that as you go out to work, you will find that for the most part Negro society is built upon a false basis. Instead of being built upon the sound basis of merit and character, it is built upon display; instead of being built upon substance, it is built upon shadow.

"We need young men and women who have confidence in themselves; confidence in the race, and abiding faith in G.o.d. We need young men and women who are more interested in the opportunity to make a dollar than in the privilege to spend one. We need young men and women who are imbued with the spirit of sacrifice and service, whose mission is, 'Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.' We need young men and women with a purpose.

"To ill.u.s.trate what we mean by a purpose, we take the action of Grant during the late Civil War. When Winfield Scott and McClellan had practically failed with the army of the Potomac and things were looking very dark for the Union forces, Lieutenant U. S. Grant was placed in command of all the Union forces. From the date of his command, his purpose was: 'On to Richmond.' Day after day his command was: 'On to Richmond.' When they had rivers to ford and mountains to climb, his command was: 'On to Richmond.' At times thousands were laid low by the ravage of disease, but his command was: 'On to Richmond.' When the cannon of his enemy roared like thunder and bullets like lightning struck his men down by the tens of thousands, his command was: 'On to Richmond.' He received letters and telegrams by the thousands saying: 'My G.o.d, General, are you going to kill all of our husbands, all of our sons, our brothers? Are you going to make all of the North a land of widows and orphans?' His reply was: 'On to Richmond.' When rivers of blood were before him, flames of fire swept over his forces, his command was: 'On to Richmond.' And the command never ceased until Lee surrendered his sword to Grant at Appomattox Court House. We repeat, that for the work that lies before us, we need young men and women with a purpose.

"A third warning is, that we must not mistake the aim and end of education. You will find somewhere in the Bible a sentence like this: 'And the word was made flesh and it dwelled among us.' The word had been spoken by Abraham; Moses thundered it from Mt. Sinai's ragged brow; Ezekiel preached it; David sang it; Solomon proclaimed it; Jeremiah prophesied it; Elijah saw it in the whirlwind; Moses saw it in the burning bush, and Isaiah saw it and in amazement cried: 'Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bazroh? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?'

But my friends, none of this would do. Speaking the word would not atone; hearing it would not redeem; and seeing it would not save. The word had to be made flesh and blood in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, and then come down on earth and live, move, and dwell among us.

"As with the word, so with education. You have been here a number of years trying to obtain it. You have heard education from your teachers; you have heard it in the cla.s.s-rooms; you have heard it from the platform; you have heard it in the Sunday-School; you have gleaned it from your text-books; you have sung it; you have prayed it; you have spoken it; you have walked it; you have a.s.sumed it. But none of these will suffice. Education, in order to be real, must be applied; in order to be effective, it must be digested and a.s.similated. It must become a part of your flesh and blood; it must transform you into a new creature and then go out and move, live and dwell among us.

"And now a final word for the cla.s.s of '93. What of its loyalty to Tuskegee, our Alma Mater? It is true that at times our purposes and aims have been misunderstood and misconstructed; at times your att.i.tude towards us has been misinterpreted, but not once have we doubted your love. We hope that you have never mistrusted ours.

"It is true that at times we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in dispair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. Through all of this, our love and loyalty to dear old Tuskegee has never wavered, and now as a token of this love and loyalty, I hand to Dr. Was.h.i.+ngton as a Memorial Scholars.h.i.+p for the cla.s.s of '93, a check for one thousand dollars."

I think that this act pleased Dr. Was.h.i.+ngton more than anything that had ever been done by the cla.s.s of '93. We all were proud of this because we wanted Dr. Was.h.i.+ngton to see that we had not forgotten what he had done for us. We wanted to do this during his lifetime, and this we succeeded in doing.

An address before the Alabama State Teachers' a.s.sociation, held in Montgomery, Ala., the subject being: