SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE "Requirements for the Moral Uplift of Colored People" Requirements for the Moral Uplift of Colored People. A certain myth which I read as a girl made a lasting impression upon me. Rarely does a day pass that I do not think of Sisyphus. It was his task, you will recall, to roll a huge stone up to a hill top, but when the steep was well-nigh gained, the rock, repulsed by some sudden force rushed headlong down to the plain. Again Sisyphus toiled at it while the sweat bathed his weary limbs, but all in vain. The task imposed upon Sisyphus was no more herculean and no more cruel than that which the Colored people of the United States are obliged to perform in their effort to uplift the masses of their race, despite the numerous forces set in motion by the Powers That Be to de grade and drag their weaker brothers down. There are few things more pathetic than the effort made by Colored mothers and fathers to rear their children properly all over this country in the face of temptations peculiarly alluring and strong and [2?] in the midst of surroundings which develop the taste and whet the appetite for the immoral and low [?] from which on account of their race and color they can not escape. Then to add to their pain and confusion these people who are asked to do the impossible are criticised and blamed because they fail to accomplish what it is not in the power of human beings to perform. No one who knows anything about the conditions under which Colored people are forced to live in nearly every city and town of the United States can doubt that special efforts should be made to improve them, so that all, particularly the poor and the lowly, may have a chance to lead decent, moral lives and not be forced into surroundings which throttle their better impulses and destroy the very desire to be pure and good. It is impossible for any race or group of people to rise high in the moral scale, when the powerful and rich combine to make thei r environment as degrading as possible. It would be a reflection upon the intelligence of this audienc e for me to take the time to prove what a powerful influence environment exerts on the character of an individual. The proper environment is one of the most important requirements for the moral uplift of any people - ? Oct 30 South Bend ? 1 Marion " 2 Youngstown 6 It is of the highest importance therefore that as colored women we do everything in our power to surround our young women by influences which make for purity & goodness. Washington D.C. June 2nd, 1911. My Dear June 14th is the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Every individual who has one drop of African blood in his veins should know something about the life of this great and good woman. For no author has done more with the pen to promote the cause of human liberty than did Mrs. Stowe. At present there is no short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life cheap enough for many to possess one who would like to inform themselves about this gifted and good woman's career. For this reason some of my friends have asked me to prepare a short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life and I have acted on their suggestion. This sketch has been printed on good paper, contains all the important facts in Mrs. Stowe's career, together with a tribute to her for the effective work she did in creating sentiment in behalf of the slave. The frontispiece is a fine portrait of Mrs. Stowe taken from a photo presented to me by Mrs. Stowe's sister. The booklet can be read in an hour and may be had for fifty cents. I am sending you copies. You will probably not care to sell the book yourself, but I shall be very grateful to you, if you will find some energetic, reliable young man or woman who may be trusted to dispose of these books. I shall give the individual who sells the books 20% or ten cents for each copy he sells. Please let me hear from you immediately, so that I may know what you will do. If you can find no one who will do to undertake the work of selling the booklets, please return them to me at my expense. Let me know also, if you wish any more copies, so that I may get them ready for you immediately. Hoping to receive an early and a favorable reply, I am Very truly yours, 2 Even those who have inherited sterling qualities from worthy parents, who have been blessed with the best moral training possible must possess great strength of character and determination of purpose to avoid being contaminated by debasing surroundings. And yet, in nearly every city of this country Colored people are forced to live in districts where vice is allowed to flaunt itself in their faces, practically protected by the municipalities in which they live. They are obliged to rear their children in localities actually set aside for traffic in the passions of the immoral and vile. On the principle On the principle that when vice is seen too often face to face, we first pity and then embrace, the boys and girls reared amid such immoral surroundings, who see and hear little except evil, become so accustomed to such an atmosphere of vice that they are uncomfortable and miserable anywhere else. They are doomed, therefore, at an early age to a life of evil because of the pernicious influences in the midst of which they are reared & from on account of their race and color it is impossible for them to escape. A short while ago a Commission composed of some of the best men in a large city shc were asked to investigate the social evil frankly admitted in the report they submitted that "invariably the larger vice districts were created in or near the settlements of Colored people,, in the past history of the city" they said, nearly every time a new vice district was created in a certain section, the Colored families were in the district, moving in just ahead of the lewd women. So whenever these immoral women, cadets or thugs were located among white people", continues the report, "and had to be moved for commercial or other reasons, they were driven to the undesirable parts of the city, the Colored residential sections. A former Chief of Police gave out a semi-official statement to the effect that so long as this degenerate group of persons confined their residence to the streets in which Colored people lived, they would not be apprehended. This part of the city", says the report, "is the largest residence section of Colored families, Their churches, Sunday Schools, and Washington D.C. June 2nd, 1911 My Dear June 14th is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Every individual who has one drop of African blood in his veins should know something about this life of this great and good woman. For no author has done more with the pen to promote the cause of human liberty than did Mrs. Stowe. At present there is no short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life cheap enough for many to possess one who would like to inform themselves about this gifted and good woman's career. For this reason some o my friends have asked me to prepare a short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life and I have acted on their suggestion. This sketch has been printed on good paper, contains all the important facts in Mrs. Stowe's career, together with a tribute to her for the effective work she did in creating sentiment in behalf of the slave. The frontispiece is a fine portrait of Mrs. Stowe taken from a photo presented to me by Mrs. Stowe's sister. The booklet can be read in an hour and may be had for fifty cents, I am sending you copies. You probably will not care to sell the book yourself, but I shall be very grateful to you, if you will find some energetic, reliable young man or woman who may be rusted to dispose of these books. I shall give the individual who sells the books 20 % or ten cents for each copy he sells. Please let me hear from you immediately, so that I may know what you will do. If you can find no one who will do to undertake the work of selling the booklets, please return them to me at my expense. Let me now also, if you wish any more copies, so that I may get them ready for you immediately. Hoping to receive an early and a favorable reply, I am Very truly yours, 3 societies are within these boundaries. Under these debasing and deplorable conditions hundreds of young Colored boys and girls are growing up in [this Western city] Chicago, doomed to lives of evil by those [*the city Fathers*] who actually force them into this [degrading] and vice-laden atmosphere, so heavily laden with vice from which on account of their race and color they are powerless to escape. [*Miss Frances Kellor*] And yet one constantly reads and hears about the evil tendencies which are said to be innate in Colored youth. They are vicious , we are told, and statistics showing the large number of our boys and girls who fill the penetentiaries and crowd the jails appal and dishearten us. But, side bys side with these facts and figures of crime, justice demands that we think of the miserable hovels from which these youthful criminals come and in which they are forced to live by circumstances over which they and their parents have absolutely no control. Next to [the] demoralizing and debasing environment that which is more responsible for the downfall and ruin of Colored youth than anything else is their inability to secure employment. In many sections of the United States it is practically impossible for Colored men to gain admittance to trades unions and [in some of the trades Colored youth are not able to learn at all because they can not enter as apprentices] even when they do, they seldome secure employment till all the white members have been given jobs. When those who formerly employed Colored people, but who refuse to do so now, are asked why they have established what is equivalent to a boycott against us, they invariably reply the Colored servants and workmen are now neither reliable nor skilled. While we know that in the majority of cases it is impossible for Colored people to secure employment because of the cruel, unreasonable prejudice which rages so violently againt them, rather than because of l ack of skill on their part, there is just enough truth in this charge of unreliability to make us wince, when it is preferred. And so we are urging our youth to make themselves thoroughly proficient in whatever occupation or profession they choose to engage. If there were sufficient time, however, I could cite case after case to prove that in this ever increasing prejudice against Colored people, skill frequently avails them nothing in their effort to earn a living. Washington D.C. June 2nd, 1911. My Dear June 14th is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Every individual who has one drop of African blood in his veins should know something about the life of this great and good woman. For no author has done with the pen to promote the cause of human liberty than did Mrs. Stowe. At present there is no short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life cheap enough for many to possess one who would like to inform themselves about this gifted and good woman's career. For this reason some of my friends have asked me to prepare a short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life and I have acted on their suggestion. This sketch has been printed on good paper, contains all the important facts in Mrs. Stowe's career, together with a tribute to her for the effective work she did in creating sentiment in behalf of the slave. The frontispiece is a fine portrait of Mrs. Stowe taken from a photo presented to me by Mrs. Stowe's sister. The booklet can be read in an hour and may be had for fifty cents. I am sending you copies. You probably will not care to sell the book yourself, but I shall be very grateful to you, if you will find some energetic, reliable young man or woman who may be trusted to dispose of these books. I shall give the individual who sells the books 20 % or ten cents for each copy he sells. Please let me hear from you immediately, so that I may know what you will do. If you can find no one who will do to undertake the work of selling the booklets, please return them to me at my expense. Let me know also, if you wish any more copies, so that I may get them ready for you immediately. Hoping to receive an early and a favorable reply, I am Very truly yours, 4 I am personally acquainted with young Colored men and women whose infusion of the fatal African admixture was so slight as not be noticed, who have secured good positions, which their employers admitted, [they] ha[d]ve been most acceptably filled. And yet, when these same employers have discovered that a single drop of Sfrican blood was lurking somewhere in their anatomy, they have promptly discharged their Colored employees for no reason whatsoever except that they were Colored. To be sure, this does not always happen, but it happens more frequently than the American public seems to be aware. A beautiful young woman had secured a position as clerk in the cloak department in one of the large stores in Washing ton and had given entire satisfaction. She had served an apprenticeship in New York and was highly recommended by her employer. Since her family lived in Washington, however, it was quite natural for her to wish to secure employment at home. She succeeded in getting a position in one of our best stores, one day she came to ask me to intercede with her employer in her behalf, She had been discharged, she stated, because her employer had discovered she was Colored. "When I went to ask for employment, I showed my New York references", she [said] told me and siad nothing about my race, hoping that if I gave entire satisfaction, Mr. L/ would be willing to retain me, when he discovered I was Colored, as I knew he soon would do." When I went to intercede in this beautiful young woman's behalf, I felt certain that the employer would tell me that the young lady had failed to give satisfaction. By a strange irony of fate the employer himself belongs to a race which has suffered much on account of the unreasonable and cruel prejudice of other races. But he was perfectly frank about the matter. "I did not discharge Miss B[,] because I wanted to", he said, but because I was obliged to do so. She is the best saleswoman in the cloak department, and I wish I could have kept her. She had been in the store but a few days, when I learned she was Colored. Then I did not believe it and denied it. A short while after the clerks came to me loaded with indisputable evidence that she was Colored and demanded that I discharge Miss B. I refused to do so. They threatened to resign. All right,", said I, "you,may resign. It will be an easy matter to fill your places. Washington D.C. June 2nd, 1911. My Dear June 14th is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Every individual who has one drop of African blood in his veins should know something about the life of this great and good woman. For no author has done more with the pen to promote the cause of human liberty than did Mrs. Stowe. At present there is no short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life cheap enough for many to posses one who would like to inform themselves about this gifted and good woman's career. For this reason some of my friends have asked me to prepare a short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life and II have acted on their suggestion. This sketch has been printed on good paper, contains all the important facts in Mrs. Stowe's career, together with a tribute to her for the effective work she did in creating sentiment in behalf of the slave. The frontispiece is a fine portrait of Mrs. Stowe taken from a photo presented to me by Mrs. Stowe's sister. The booklet can be read in an hour and may be had for fifty cents. I am sending you _________ copies. You probably will not care to sell the book yourself, but I shall be very grateful to you, if you will find some energetic, reliable young man or woman who may be trusted to dispose of these books. I shall give the individual who sells the books 20% or ten cents for each copy he sells. Please let me hear fro you immediately, so that I may know what you will do. If you can find no one who will do to undertake the work of selling the booklets, please return them to me at my expense. Let me know also, if you wish any more copies, so that I may get them ready for you immediately. Hoping to receive an early and a favorable reply, I am Very truly yours, 5 A few days after that delegations of my customers came demanding that I discharge Miss.B, and threatening to boycott my store, if I did not do so. Then it became a question of my bread and butter, and I had to let her go. When I taught in the High School for Colored youth in Washington, it was my custom to urge the pupils to secure as much education as they possibly could, arguing that it would not only make them stronger mentally, but it would increase their efficiency and enhance their value, so that they would stand a much better chance of getting good positions. More than once my heart was saddened, when some young woman or young man would say to me, why do you urge us to educate ourselves thoroughly? It will do us no good in this country- it will not help us to secure good paying positions. We cant all be doctors, lawyers, preachers and teachers, and there is nothing we can get to do except hold menial positions. This lack of incentive to put forth their best effort, because the future looms so dark and threatening before them, has such a depressing effect upon hundreds of Colored youth as it is not in my power to describe and impossible not only for the average American to comprehend but even for colored people themselves to comprehend. [*Over*] Explain the situation as one may, the fact remains that trades and occupations which formerly belonged almost exclusively to Colored people by common consent are now rapidly slipping from their grasp with the trades Unions increasingly hostile to them. If such a condition handicaps and wrecks the career of our boys, to the girls of the race, it frequently means destruction and ruin. There is no doubt whatever that the inability to secure employment has caused many a Colored girl to go astray by the rank & file. The report submitted by the Vice Commission of the large Western city to which reference has already been made states quite frankly that, owing to the prejudice against them of account of their color, many Colored girls are forced to accept positions as maids in houses of ill fame. "Employment agents do not hesitate to send Colored girls to these houses", the Comission states. "They make the astounding statement that the law does not allow them to send white girls" to these immoral places, but they will furnish Colored help. It is an appalling fact" [*A few years ago Miss Frances Keller investigated conditions affecting the domestics of the U.S. *] [*Now we might as well face the situation as it is so that we may realize the necessity more strongly than many of us do to encourage our youth to put forth the kind of effort they are capable of making in spite of the disheartening prospects impressing upon them how weak and cowardly it is for them to despair.*] Washington D.C. June 2nd, 1911. My Dear June 14th is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Every individual who has one drop of African blood in his veins should know something about the life of this great and good woman. For no author has done more with the pen to promote the cause of human liberty than did Mrs. Stowe. At present there is no short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life cheap enough for many to posses one who would like to inform themselves about this gifted and good woman's career. For this reason some of my friends have asked me to prepare a short sketch of Mrs. Stowe's life and II have acted on their suggestion. This sketch has been printed on good paper, contains all the important facts in Mrs. Stowe's career, together with a tribute to her for the effective work she did in creating sentiment in behalf of the slave. The frontispiece is a fine portrait of Mrs. Stowe taken from a photo presented to me by Mrs. Stowe's sister. The booklet can be read in an hour and may be had for fifty cents. I am sending you _________ copies. You probably will not care to sell the book yourself, but I shall be very grateful to you, if you will find some energetic, reliable young man or woman who may be trusted to dispose of these books. I shall give the individual who sells the books 20% or ten cents for each copy he sells. Please let me hear fro you immediately, so that I may know what you will do. If you can find no one who will do to undertake the work of selling the booklets, please return them to me at my expense. Let me know also, if you wish any more copies, so that I may get them ready for you immediately. Hoping to receive an early and a favorable reply, I am Very truly yours, 6 continues the report, "that practically all of the male and female servants connected with disreputable houses are Colored." [*A few years ago*] Surely there is need of a great and moral reform in this country which would prevent This flagrant discrimination against Colored youth, particularly the girls of the race, is I am sure, abhorrent to all fair-minded people. Surely , every mother and father of the dominant race, no matter how great may be their prejudice against Colored people will admit that Colored children should be afforded the same moral protection that white children receive. Surely there is not a white mother in the United States who does not deplore that prejudice against Colored girls, which makes it impossible for them to earn an honest living and which finally drives them to secure employment in houses of ill fame. [*Those who are interested in the moral welfare of Colored people.*] [*Over*] And yet, in spite of these conditions which are so conducive to immorality, in spite of the fateful heritage of slavery, and tho the safeguards usually thrown around maidenly youth and innocence are, in some sections entirely withheld from Colored girls, statistics compiled by men who would not falsify in favor of my race, show that immorality among Colored women in the United States is not so great as among women similarly situated in at least five foregn lands. In fact, on of the most convincing and encouraging signs at the Colored-American's development is the high moral standard in which thousand who have been blessed with educational and moral training religiously believe and to which in their daily lives they rigidly adhere. Among what is called the best class of Colored people a scandal rarely occurs. In a social circle of such people if a girl or woman transgressed the moral law, it would be practically impossible for her to retrieve her lost reputation or ever occupy the position in society which she formerly held. But, in spite of the fact that our progress along moral lines has been so marked in the past, the outlook for the future, swing to the increasing prejudice against the race is neither very promising nor very bright.This unjust and cruel discrimination against their children deeply affects the women of the race, As As As parents, teachers and guardians, we urge our children to improve their minds, to become skilled workmen, to be honest, industrious, [*So long as the womanhood of any race is sacrificed with impurity on the altar of prejudice passion & lust the womanhood of no race is secure*] Washington, D.C. June 2nd, 1911. My Dear June 14th is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Every individual who has one drop of African blood in his veins should know something about the life of this great and good woman. For no author has done more with the pen to promote the cause of human liberty than did Mrs. Stowe. At present there is no short sketch of Mrs. Stowe’s life cheap enough for many to possess one who would like to inform themselves about this gifted and good woman’s career. For this reason some of my friends have asked me to prepare a short sketch of Mrs. Stowe’s life and I have acted on their suggestion. This sketch has been printed on good paper, contains all the important facts in Mrs. Stowe’s career, together with a tribute to her for the effective work she did in creating sentiment in behalf of the slave. The frontispiece is a fine portrait of Mrs. Stowe taken from a photo presented to me by Mrs. Stowe’s sister. The booklet can be read in an hour and may be had for fifty cents. I am sending you copies. You probably will not care to sell the book yourself, but I shall be very grateful to you, if you will find some energetic, reliable young man or woman who may be trusted to dispose of these books. I shall give the individual who sells the books 20 % or ten cents for each copy he sells. Please let me hear from immediately, so that I may know what you will do. If you can find no one who will do to undertake the work of selling the booklets, please return them to me at my expense. Let me know also, if you wish any more copies, so that I may get them ready for you immediately. Hoping to receive an early and a favorable reply, I am Very truly yours, Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.