Twenty-Five Years in the Black Belt Part 6

JOHN W. BRISTER, who established a prize at Snow Hill Inst.i.tute.

REV. EMMANUEL M. BROWN of Street Manual Training School, Richmond, Alabama.

WAVERLEY TURNER CARMICHAEL, Poet of Snow Hill.]

I had been deeply impressed with the poems which he had been writing for several years, but as I was no judge of poems, I thought I would give him a chance to bring his poems before those who could judge, so I received for him a free scholars.h.i.+p at the Summer School at Harvard. He read his poems to the cla.s.s on several occasions and I had the opportunity of hearing him several times. They had a deep impression upon the cla.s.s, so much so that his professor wrote the introduction to his book in the following words:--

"When Waverley Carmichael, as a student in my summer cla.s.s at Harvard, brought me one day a modest sheaf of his poems, I felt that in him a race had become or at least was becoming articulate. We have had, it is true, sympathetic portrayals of Negro life and feeling from without; we have had also the poems of Dunbar, significant of the high capabilities of the Negro as he advances far along the way of civilization and culture. The note which is sounded in this little volume is of another sort. These humble and often imperfect utterances have sprung up spontaneously from the soul of a primitive and untutored folk. The rich emotion, the individual humor, the simple wisdom, the naive faith which are its birthright, have here for the first time found voice. It is sufficient to say of Waverley Carmichael that he is a full blooded southern Negro, that until last summer he has never been away from his native Alabama, that he has had but the most limited advantages of education, and that he has shared the portion of his race in hards.h.i.+p, poverty and toil. He does not know why he wrote these poems. It is an amazing thing that he should have done so--a freak, we may call it, of the wind of genius, which bloweth where it listeth and singles out one in ten thousand to find a fitting speech for the dumb thought and feeling of the rest.

But we need not base the claim of Carmichael to the attention of the public merely on considerations of this sort. His work speaks for itself. It is original and sincere. It follows no traditions and suffers no affectation. It is artless, yet it reaches the goal of art. The rhythms, especially of some of the religious pieces, are of a kind which is beyond the reach of effort. He has rightly called them melodies.

Occasionally there is, it seems to me, a touch of something higher, as in the haunting refrain of the lyric "Winter is Coming."

De yaller leafs are falling fas'

Fur summer days is been and pas'

The air is blowin' mighty cold, Like it done in days of old.

But this is rare. Oftenest the characteristic note is humor, or tender melancholy relieved by a philosophy of cheer and courage, and the poetic virtue is that of simple truth. We are reminded of no poet so strongly as of Burns.

What Waverley Carmichael may accomplish in the future I do not know. But certainly in this volume he has ent.i.tled himself to the grat.i.tude of his own race and to the sympathetic appreciation of all who have its interests and those of true poetry at heart."

JAMES HOLLY HANFORD.

Mr. William Stanley Braithwaite speaking of his poems had the following to say:

"Many have claimed the mantle of Paul Laurence Dunbar, but only upon the shoulders of Waverley Turner Carmichael has it fallen, and he wears it with becoming grace and fitness. For this poet, a veritable child of Negro folk, gives expression to its spirit in need and language more akin to the ante-bellum 'spirituel' than any writer I know. Like those 'black and unknown bards' he sings because he must, with all their fervid imaginativeness, symbolizations, poignant strains of pathos and philosophic humor."

Mr. Braithwaite is the best known Negro critic of poetry in the world today.

As for me who has always lived in the South and know the Southern Negro through and through, I feel and believe that Carmichael has interpreted Negro life as never before.

We hope and pray that Carmichael will live through this great ordeal and come back to us and continue his work of interpreting Negro life.

There are hundreds of other graduates and ex-students who have won distinction in other fields and are doing equally as well as those who have been mentioned here. We have their record at the school, and any one can have them for the asking. I only wish to mention in a brief way two other graduates because they have established a first and second prize at Snow Hill. They are John W. Brister and Edmond J. O'Neal.

Several years ago the late Misses Collins (Ellen and Marguerite) of New York, two of the most sainted women whom I ever met, established an annual prize at the school known as the Sumner Peace Prize, of $15.00.

But at their death this prize would have stopped unless some one had taken it up. Both Mr. Brister and Mr. O'Neal had won these prizes several times while they were in school. So at the death of the Misses Collins they came forward and said that they would be responsible for the prize each year on condition that the school make a first and second prize instead of one, Mr. Brister giving $10.00 in gold for the first prize and Mr. O'Neal giving $5.00 in gold for the second. This they have done for several years, and they constantly a.s.sure me that it will be kept up during their lifetime. This shows that our graduates are carrying with them the spirit of Christ, "Freely receive, freely give."

CHAPTER 13.

THE SOLUTION OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM.

All prophecies pertaining thus far to the solution of the Negro Problem have failed. Men in all parts of the country are becoming alarmed over the situation and are asking, "whither are we drifting?" And yet although everyone admits that there is a Negro problem, few are agreed as to the exact nature of the problem, and still fewer are agreed as to what the final answer should be.

Generally speaking, the Negro problem consists of twelve millions of people of African descent living in this country, mostly in the Southern states, and forming one-third of the population of this section and one-eighth of the entire population of the United States.

Notwithstanding the fact that we are far from an agreement as to the answer to this problem, we are all agreed that the solution must be sought in the answers to the following questions: What is to be the economic, the political, the civil, and the social status of the Negro in this country?

It is true that there are criminals in the Negro race for whom no legal form of punishment is too severe. It is also true that the better and best cla.s.ses of Negroes are daily being insulted in the streets, on the street-cars, on the railroads, at the ticket offices, at the baggage rooms, the express offices, and in fact, in all places pertaining to public travel. They are persecuted, despised, rejected, and discriminated against before every court in the South. Since the Negro is now being lynched as readily for his sins of omission as he is for his sins of commission, it is quite necessary for him when traveling in the South, to keep constantly in telegraphic communication with the agent at the station ahead as to the movement of the mob. In addition to this, the Negro is subjected to many other forms of persecution and discrimination in almost every walk of life. These things go to make up what we call the Negro problem.

_The White Man's Solution._

A large majority of the white men in the South believe that this problem is to be solved by the Negro "learning his place" and keeping in it.

Though they do not say just what this place is, they purpose to teach it to the Negro by disfranchis.e.m.e.nt, by limiting his education, by discrimination on the streets and on the railroads, by barring him from public parks, public libraries, and public amus.e.m.e.nts of any kind, by insulting replies to courteous questions, by conviction for trivial offences, and, finally, by judge lynch and the shot gun. This cla.s.s is called the rabble.

There is another cla.s.s of white men in the South, though fewer in number, who deprecate all such views and actions (as advanced by this first cla.s.s). They believe that the Negro should have equal legal rights, but that he should be denied equal political and educational rights. They believe the Bible to be the panacea for all the ills of the Negro. To bear out their contention, they often revert to the time when, they say, there was no race problem. This, they say, was during slavery, when the master taught his slaves the beneficent influence of the Holy Bible. They are now appealing to the white men of the South to return to this practice. In this cla.s.s would fall a large number of politicians, statesmen, educators, and ministers. This is called the conservative cla.s.s.

There is still a third cla.s.s of white men in the South, who believe that the Negro is a man, nothing more and nothing less. They believe that under similar circ.u.mstances the Negro will act as other races do. They contend that the Negro should have equal rights in every respect; they believe that worthy Negroes like worthy white men, should vote, and that ignorant and vicious Negroes like ignorant and vicious white men, should not; that the school money should be divided equally among the children of the state regardless of race, color or previous conditions; that the Negro should be given justice in all of the courts; that the criminal and lawless Negro, like the criminal and lawless white man, should be punished to the full extent of the law. They believe that a strict adherence to this view will result in the final solution of the problem.

There are, however, so few who feel in this way, and they are so widely scattered, that they can hardly be called a cla.s.s. The other cla.s.ses of white people consider them insane and accuse them of advocating social equality. They are given no voice in the government and their wishes are disregarded as readily as those of the Negro. They are sometimes persecuted, ostracised, and harmed in every conceivable way. This cla.s.s is increasing and the two other cla.s.ses decreasing.

_The Negro's Method of Solution._

There are three cla.s.ses of Negroes in the South, but only one desires a solution of the problem and that is cla.s.s number two, of those I shall mention. Cla.s.s number one is composed chiefly of the illiterate and superst.i.tious Negroes. They usually work on the railroads, on the steamboats, in the large saw-mills, and on the farms for wages. They have no homes and do not want any; but float from place to place. This cla.s.s is contented to be let alone, but is quick to resent an insult, and will shoot almost as readily as the white man, and make no attempt to choose their victims. Among this cla.s.s are to be found the whiskey seller, the drunkard, the gambler, and the criminal of the lowest type.

It is the low, degraded and depraved criminals of this cla.s.s who stir up and incite race hatred, which always results in race riots. They do not attend church or any other religious meeting. The better cla.s.s of Negroes are as anxious to get rid of these as the white man.

The second cla.s.s is composed of the renters of farms, the owners of farms, of homes, of preachers, teachers, students, professional and business men. They believe that the Negro should be educated in the trades as well as in the professions; that they should own homes, pay their taxes and perform their civic duties like all other citizens and that they should possess all of the rights and privileges that are delegated to them by the Const.i.tution of the United States. They believe in the purity of the state and in the sanct.i.ty of the home. They are enduring, self-sacrificing, patient, and long suffering, and desire the good of all. It is this cla.s.s that always a.s.sists in quelling race riots and is constantly seeking the co-operation of the best cla.s.s of white people in order that the relation between the races may be of the most cordial nature. It is this cla.s.s also who do not lose their heads though innocent members of the race be murdered by the mob. Though this cla.s.s is rapidly increasing, it is still far inferior in number to the first cla.s.s.

The third cla.s.s is composed chiefly of the ante-bellum Negroes. They are well advanced in age and are contented with their present lot. Many of them have waited for years for the forty acres and mule and having been disappointed in their expectation, they have lost all hopes. They are fast losing sight on the things of this world and gaining sight on the things of the world to come. Ofttimes, they sing, "You may have all this world, but give me Jesus." They are perfectly harmless and have no earthly ambition. This is what the white man here calls a good Negro; for him they act as pall-bearers when he dies and for him they weep when he is gone. In many instances they erect monuments to his memory.

_Fallacy of the Master and the Bible Remedy._

Since the recent riots that have occurred in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and other Southern States, many white ministers and other prominent citizens of the South have been advocating a return to the master and Bible theory of slavery days, when, they say, there was no race problem. But every student of history knows that at the same time the master was carrying the Bible to his slaves this country was struggling with one of the greatest race problems that the world has ever witnessed and the slavery phase of this problem was settled by one of the bloodiest wars in the annals of history. Furthermore, the student of history knows that the master carried the lash more often to the slave's back than the Bible to the slave's heart; that the lash kept the slave in subjection.

If the relation between the races now seems most strained and the solution of the problem seems farther away than ever, we must be candid and seek the cause of failure in the methods that we have been using. In the past, the white man's idea of the solution has been contrary to the Negro's idea. The white man has been trying to circ.u.mscribe the Negro's sphere, at the same time, the Negro has been trying to know the truth which would make him free; yet, both claim to be trying to solve the same problem. Before a satisfactory solution of the problem can be had, it will be necessary for the best white people and the best cla.s.s of Negroes to get together and agree as to what the solution must be. Is it to consist of the Negro knowing his place and staying in it, or is it to consist of the Negro knowing the truth and being free? Which shall it be? Unless they can agree as to the answer there can be no satisfactory solution.

In a democratic form of government having one language, one history, one literature, one religion, one Bible, and one G.o.d, there can be only one man who is the sum total of these, only one man who is the typically good democratic citizen, and this man will be known by his accomplishments and not by the color of his skin. If we should have two types, two men, then we must have two governments, two languages, two histories, two literatures, two religions, two Bibles, and two G.o.ds.

If the s.h.i.+ftless, ignorant, superst.i.tious, and criminal cla.s.s of Negroes is increasing, it is because the ruling cla.s.s of white men have been limiting his education, disfranchising him, and in other ways trying to doom him to serfdom. The great race riot in Atlanta was simply the culmination of the ten months' campaigning of race hatred. Men who are now writing resolutions and sound and sane editorials, were then rivaling each other in their abuse of the Negro. The nominee for governor seemingly, was to be given to the one who could prove himself the greatest enemy of the Negro. It is a divine and immutable law that if we sow the wind we will reap the whirlwind.

_Only One Road to the Solution._

Lynchings and mobs will not solve the problem, for it has been proven that such actions beget crimes. Depriving him of educational advantages and disfranchising him, will not suffice, for on the one hand this method produces ignorant Negroes, and on the other hand it increases in the white man the belief that the Negro has no rights which a white man is bound to respect. These two states of mind in the last a.n.a.lysis will always produce crime. The master and Bible theory will not solve it, because the criminal and lawless Negro does not attend church. There is but one true solution and that lies in compulsory education for all the children of the state with religious, moral and industrial training. If the South is sincere in its efforts to help the Negro, or even if the ministers and other citizens who are now filling the daily press with suggestions as to the practical solution of this problem are sincere, they will advocate the enacting of compulsory educational laws and see to it that all children between the ages of six and fourteen are kept in school. They will also advocate a more equitable division of the school fund between the races. The great factor in the solution of this problem is education and the Negro schools are the hope of the race.

_The Att.i.tude of the North Towards This Problem._

Just now, the att.i.tude of the North towards this problem is that of an onlooker and well wisher. For a number of years the South has been saying to the North, "Hands off, we understand the Negro and we can solve our own problem." The North, seemingly, has heeded this injunction and the press and politicians of the North, barring a few, have been inclined to take sides with the so-called conservative cla.s.s of white men of the South.

The philanthropist of the North, however, while being a friend to the white South has been none the less a friend to the black South, and has kept constantly aiding Negro education and it is the schools thus supported that are doing the most effective work in the uplifting of the race. It was the wise guidance, judicious and calm leaders.h.i.+p of the men in these schools that saved the day at Atlanta. All of these schools have the record of their graduates and ex-students opened to the public for inspection. And an impartial inspection of these records will show that these students and graduates have made since leaving school, according to their circ.u.mstances, as creditable a mark as the graduates and ex-students from any of our Northern schools. These schools do not give college training.

In these perilous times when the race is pa.s.sing through such trying ordeals, and when the souls of men are being tried, I trust that our friends will not forsake us. Our industrial schools and colleges and the better element of the race, need their sympathy, encouragement, and a.s.sistance now as never before. My prayer is for a double portion of their spirit and an increased amount of their a.s.sistance.