SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE A Colored Woman in a White World (1) col teachers should do everything in their power to preserve & increase the col childs self respect. ??shenn on every hand that he belongs to an inferior race. If he doest not hear them in so many words, the very [atmosphere] air which he breathes [?] bearing with it he subject in at every breath. Col people themselves teach it to him if he does not hear it anywhere else. There are no more unreasonable b?tter whether & [?] of [colored p] the race than are col people themselves. It is impossible to rear men & women who are upstanding, courageous & honest if [they] in their childhood they had not been taught to respect themselves. [col teachers] A great responsibility writing upon col teachers, preachers and parents of the race. They sh?? learn themselves teach the young what great & glorious achievements have been made by members of their race.- what our soldiers have done - We know too little about that themselves in the [?] do not teach it we must learn it for ourselves it is really worthwhile - A colored mother letters to her son We are living in the greatest period of human history the world has ever seen. We do not deserve any credit ourselves for that but we must all take cognizance of that fact nevertheless. We have just labored, [struggled] fought bled & died then the worlds war - a war which was the [?], barbarric, & [?] - brutal to an extent & a degree never witnessed before in the history of the world - the astounding shocking and unbelievable thing about it in which [?[[?] were used on which and in war that this was [not waged] planes threw powerful bombs upon the heads of old men women & children, yes even upon hospitals filled with people lying on beds of pain This [?] war in which [there?] most destruction & death [?] war which the brain of man could conceive & his hand construct was not [?] by savages but it was waged by the most Christian & highly civilized nations on earth - and now after all the carnage, upheaval of system and order everywhere, the erstwhile warring nations are now [groping] wading thru quagmires of difficulties, stumbling against obstacles of all kinds [almost] which at times it seems they can not surmount trying to find peace. We hear a great deal about adjustments these days. [The finances] There must be financial adjustments and adjustments of every other kind because of this great war the promises made before. Now the effort to restore peace begins in hand by the now victorious countries the actual results of this war should interest no one man than the dark races of the world dark races which should be interested in it none should study the cause effects promises made & broken & the actual conditions resulting therefrom more than the Col people of the U.S. All over again should interest nobody more than the dark races of the earth. And of all the Jokes belittling col people Deprive children of self respect makes them ashamed of their race. They begin to think that all black people are cowardly or steal. For that reason when the col man is made a butt of ridicule in one story, the col teacher who tells it should see to it that the next story is about an individual belonging to another race, who does practically the same thing as the col man people to whom every appeal for justice is considered an insult & an affront and he may lose his job, who knows but he will be [doing] proving himself a patriot nevertheless. Somewhere the man who is called an agitator by some is the best & purest patriot, after all-- Read Col Papers I hope no one will think that he can As you listen to this brief review which will be frankly honestly presented, I hope no one will believe he can anticipate the conclusion which I will finally reach. I have thus frankly stated the conditions of discouragement which present themselves to us to day because I believe that in spite of everything there is reason for us still to hope. [Much will depend upon ours] The main lesson taught by which the conditions confronting us to day is that we must obey the scriptures literally which [tell us] command. Put & we must depend upon ourselves. We will be more careful in [teaching] instilling into our children those principles & precepts which will make the race stronger better & more patriotic than it has ever been before. of system and order everywhere, the erstwhile warring nations are now [groping] wading thru quagmires of difficulties, stumbling against obstacles of all kinds [almost] which at times it seems they can not surmount trying to find peace. We hear a great deal about adjustments these days. [The finances] There must be financial adjustments and adjustments of every other kind because of this great war the promises made before. Now the effort to restore peace begins in hand by the now victorious countries the actual results of this war should interest no one man than the dark races of the world dark races which should be interested in it none should study the cause effects promises made & broken & the actual conditions resulting therefrom more than the Col people of the U.S. All over again should interest nobody more than the dark races of the earth. And of all the Jokes belittling col people Deprive children of self respect makes them ashamed of their race. They begin to think that all black people are cowardly or steal. For that reason when the col man is made a butt of ridicule in one story, the col teacher who tells it should see to it that the next story is about an individual belonging to another race, who does practically the same thing as the col man people to whom every appeal for justice is considered an insult & an affront and he may lose his job, who knows but he will be [doing] proving himself a patriot nevertheless. Somewhere the man who is called an agitator by some is the best & purest patriot, after all. Read Col Papers I hope no one will think that he can As you listen to this brief review which will be frankly honestly presented, I hope no one will believe he can anticipate the conclusion which I will finally reach. I have thus frankly stated the conditions of discouragement which present themselves to us to day because I believe that in spite of everything there is reason for us still to hope. [Much will depend upon ours] The main lesson taught by which the conditions confronting us to day is that we must obey the scriptures literally which [tell us] command. Put & we must depend upon ourselves. We will be more careful in [teaching] instilling into our children those principles & precepts which will make the race stronger better & more patriotic than it has ever been before. their high handed measures they are fitting the hearts of the victims of their injustice full of bitterness & resentment. It is because people do not understand the real meaning of patriotism that the powerful in any nation impose upon less favored groups who can not protect or defend themselves & thus cause them to blame their country for their ills. If the French King and the French Court had any known conception of [the] what patriotism meant there ought never have been the mad overturning of law & the wholesale slaughter of many innocent human beings called the French Revolution and so I insist that col teacher [can love his country and sit quietly by without making a protest when] trying to remedy conditions who sees the his race are being deprived of the proper educational facilities can justly claim to love his country, if he does not try to remove this evil & remedy such baleful conditions in every way he can. Perhaps he may be called an agitator by those stiff necked stony hearted individuals what col soldiers have done in the various wars. Marvellous talent in music-sculpture poets-painters-maran We should do all this not only for the sake of the children but for the sake of the country itself. As col people we think too little-too lightly about the patriotism, that is how best we can show our patriotism to this country in which our ancestors and ourselves were born we think too little about the way in which we as colored people can display patriotism in the highest & best meaning of that word. The true patriot is one who knows his countrys history from the very beginning studies its ideals & then tries with all his heart soul mind & strength to live up to them. There is no country in the world whose ideals are higher than those on which the United States of America was built. Equality of opportunity, equality before the law, life liberty for every & the pursuit of happiness are the principles upon which this greatest [?] on earth was built. And if any body is [?] group of human beings knows that they are being discriminated against by another group of any group of human being in truth knows that its [upon] representatives do not enjoy equality of opportunity are discriminated against in the courts of law and are deprived of their freedom, deprived of the liberty which others are allowed to enjoy. I say if any group of human beings in the U.S. know that they are the victims of injustice & do not protest against it in every legitimate way they can, they are traitors to this great Republic and have no conception of what a real genuine patriot should be. As col people we owe a great deal to this country. We certainly should be patriotic enough to do every thing in our power to make it live up to the ideals of liberty equality of opportunity & equality before the law upon which it was built & we should be patriotic enough to protest against the high handed measures & practices of those who show by their actions that they are doing everything in our powers to convert this country into a for the sake of the race but because we believe in the real bona fide patriotism [which] that is bigger love of country which is not confined to any one race but the kind of patriotism which embraces all the races & colors & classes which make up the U.S. If it were possible to teach people of this or any other [*nation*] country the highest & best meaning of patriotism, we should have very few difficult problems to solve. For they [*those in power*] would understand that they did not know the meaning of patriotism, they deliberately and cruelly deprived any [portion,or any] group of people of opportunities & advantages which they themselves & other favored groups enjoyed, how could our group loved his country when [he knows] it does everything in its power to make less favored people suffer [*he is doing everything in its power to cause any other group*] in it, when it fills less favored people with resentment on account of the treatment they receive. No group of people can justly claim he loves a country when [they are] by passing unjust laws discriminating on account of race & color they But it is our duty to do this in the right way and we must be activated by motives higher than those [pertaining it] seeking to promote the welfare of our our particular racial group - We must agitate for justice, equality of oportunity to earn a living, equality of educational facilities provided for our children, equality before the law, not because we are deprived of them & want [would like to] our race to enjoy them, but because we are patriots in the highest & best meaning of that word. We must protect against injustice of all kinds of which we are the victims, not simply because we love our race, but because we love our country, because we love this Republic in which we live too ardently & too sincerely to see it degenerate into an aritocracy based upon the color of the skin - It is our duty to protect against all forms of injustice & misrepresentation not because we want to remove them solely despotism, instead of a Democracy as it was intended to be - No true patriot whether he be black or white can see the laws of his country trampled in the dust without trying conscientiously to prevent it - No true patriot can see the children of any racial group discriminated against without trying to right this great wrong. As the true patriot sees that the schools [will try to secure jus equitable] of our racial group are inferior in every way to those of a richer more enlightened group because they have it in their power to deprive the poorer, more helpless of the educational facilities the children more favored race enjoy, if a man sees that the schools provided for one group of children are illy ventilated, dark, unsightly unsanitary & inadequate in every way and does not call attention to this injustice, if he does not try to remedy this condition he is Not a true patriot, no matter what he may say. If a man knows that the teachers of one group are paid starvation wages, so that it is impossible to enjoy the necessities & comforts of life to [have the leisure to read] buy good literature to see uplifting plays to travel a little now & then all of which contribute so much to the and it is especially necessary for our col teachers to be paid a salary sufficient for them to buy books because in a large section of our country they are shut out from the public libraries where it is possible to read free of charge the current magazines, the books which will enlighten & instruct them in their special work. The patriotism which teaches that we shall love our own country to the exclusion of all others is materially famously false To this narrow idea of patriotism may be directly traced the cause of the world wide war. The Christianity which practices [?] if it does not preach that one shall promote the welfare only of his own [family] race and allow others to suffer for the lack of privileges & opportunities while its own is [?] is not the Christian [a living wage when we] It is our duty to protest against the flagrant injustice perpetrated upon colored teachers who are paid much less than the teachers of other racial groups altho as a rule the colored teachers work harder and longer than [is much harder than that done by] do teachers of other racial groups. [For reasons which you all know and which I have not the time to enumerate to night the col teacher] Owing to the conditions of the homes from which they come a good col teacher must be father, & mother as [brother] well as instructor to many of her pupils forms the very nature of the case. It is our duty to protest against the ugly, unsightly, unsanitary school buildings which our children are forced to attend. It is the duty of every citizen to protest against the small sum expended on the education of col children as compared with that spent on the education of children of other racial groups. It is our duty to show that all these flagrant discriminations against the children & the adults of the race are contrary to the principles upon which this govt was built [founded contrary to the spirit] respect., in the US there are many things which are designed to deprive the col child of self respect. [for years. This is a short-sighted policy of course for the] By laws, traditions & customs to deprive any group of human beings of self respect is a short sighted policy for the masters of the situation to pursue. But for the victims of such a pernicious system equally to submit to it and not do everything in their power to [remedy] ward off such an assault upon the [spir] finer ambition & the spirit of their group is a species of suicide. When people quietly submit to any system which crushes the manhood & womanhood of the race by deny [opportunities to] its [representatives] children opportunities for education, for proper which they shd enjoy and rush development along lines which children of other racial groups are allowed to enjoy, it is a great reflection upon them and it wd really seem to prove that they had received their just deserts. There are many ways If the State were denied opportunity this could not possibly be a when you insist upon Opportunity for col children you not only exist yourself to secure justice for their race but you are doing some thing to promote the welfare of the country as a whole - This cannot possibly be a Rep form of government & set aside any group as serfs or even slaves by withholding from them opportunities to reach the same heights to which others attain. It is our duty to call attention to injustice which manifests itself in as flagrantly and impudently that everybody can see & feel it. Some people say they do not believe in agitation but if there had been a few people who loved justice and & hated wrong in the past the world would be a much worse place to live in to day than it is & it is bad enough as it is. In all ages there have been wrongs to right and evils to remedy & remove. Agitation There are many people who feel it is their duty to protest against injustice but who shrank from being called agitators. We walk lightly with a merry twinkle in our eye What's in a name but then is often a great deal in a name 1 3 4 2 5 6 7 8 9 [There is a good reason for this] The reason that the average agitator does not bear as good a reputation as he might is because he thinks only of improving the condition of himself as an individual or of the racial group to which he belongs In other words, he is agitating because of a selfish motive. As colored people we must climb upon a higher plane-when we appeal for justice to our children for instance, when we call attention to the dark, dusty, dirty, dismal school rooms provided for them When we protest against having our children forced to acquire an education such degrading surroundings, when we [call] show that the colored teachers are paid promulgated by Jesus Christ-- As colored people we must think for ourselves Because our struggle for existence is so desperate and because we have so many obstacles which we have to surmount solely because of our color and our race it is natural for us [a great temptation to think only about our own racial] to confine our thoughts to ourselves. But that makes us narrow & selfish whereas we want to be big & broad We are our own worst enemies if we allow any condition, any circumstance to limit our thoughts to our own particular race-- We should broaden out read history, see what has [is] happened [happening] in the past in other countries & what is going on in other countries. In this way we shall not [learn] read many things to encourage & comfort us but [we will learn what] comparing the various methods used by people similarly situated we shall learn what is the best course to pursue. A teacher who fails to instill into colored children the lesson of self respect is recreant to his trust & a traitor to his race. No human being can reach the height it is possible for him to attain [m??? wh] if he is lacking in self Tell my wife they have arrested me, Dan, and [Tom Mass] John Lee, and be sure to do it right away, so she'll know why I cant come [home] to see her to night. It was quite late in the afternoon so Dan hurried off to deliver the message to the wife of his friend. Through the long night the wretched woman wept and prayed that the awful weight which had fallen on her heart when Daniel Lee had brought the news of her husband's arrest might not be the [beginning] forerunner of some great catastrophe which was about to overtake them. It the care of her aged mother she left her three so little children next day and started to the [?] for her. Between the fear that she might be denied the privilege of saying a word to her husband and the humiliation that she [was forced to] would see him locked in a cell behind grated bars like a common felon, her lip faltered more than once. Now and then she brushed away a tear which she had been unable to force back. Now my dear said Tom when after the awful ordeal of facing the jail official was over [official] and after the long wait, she was in the cell, you must bear up like a brave little woman. We've done nothing [for which we should] to be punished, and as soon as our trial comes off we'll be cleared. It all happened in a twinkling of an eye. I had just come from the post office and on my way home I stopped by the store as usual to see how business had prospered that day. The sales had been very large the clerk said and even then the store was full of country people who were making their purchases before going home. There were several white men in the store, and as I think of the affair now, each had an ugly look on his face. Suddenly there was a great commotion, I did not know how it started, for my back was turned to the men who were engaged in the quarrel. Before I understood the nature of the disturbance of what happened or why, one of the white men who had been hanging around the store for quite a while, I've since learned, slapped me on the shoulder and told me to consider myself under arrest. But John what had you done to be arrested for, asked his wife. [with] I had done nothing, Alice said John in a straight forward manly way except be in the store. But why if you had done nothing why did you not go at once with the policeman who placed you under arrest? Because little woman, as the man who had placed me under arrest was dressed in citizens clothes and failed to show his officer's badge, I refused to go with him. Ever since our cooperative store has been drawing away the trade of the colored farmers and country people from the store kept by that white man directly across the way, he and his friends have desired to destroy our store and murder the colored men who established it. It never occurred to me they would attempt to carry out their threat in such a high handed way - As it happened, Bob Marshall and Andrew Jones, who own a great deal of stock in the were also in the store & [who lounged] who afterward declared themselves to be officers of the law began to taunt & insult them in various ways. Finally they went as far as to interfere with the clerk so that he could not serve the customers. When Marshall and Jones remonstrated with them and asked them to leave the store, they grew violent and declared they would arrest every body connected with the cooperative for disturbing the peace. "What a pity John said his wife that you ever had any words with these men" [I know] You were only protecting your own property to be sure but you know how [every thing] the courts & judges are all against colored men down here. Oh, my dear, the whole thing was a conspiracy from beginning to end. What happened no one could foresee, and surely we three men who were in our own store attending to our own affairs did not dream that we would have to pay a [such] heavy penalty for [achieving success] attending to our business. But let me tell you why I am here in jail for the first time in my life. Here his voice broke for the first time during the interview with his wife and he had to stop a moment to recover himself. Words grew louder [and] the store, and the men who had lounged around all the afternoon grew more violent, and they insisted that Bob, Andrew and I must go under ourselves under arrest and march straight off to jail. While we were asking them by what authority they had come into our store created a disturbance then demanded our arrested they rushed to the door, and in a minute a great crowd of their accomplices rushed in upon us without a moment's warning. Who fired the first shot, I do not know but I am certain that not a single man they have in jail did, for we were all unarmed. Several shots rang out in quick succession. The store was filled with an angry mob [and I was knocked unconscious for a few minutes]. Some one struck me a severe blow. When I found myself again I was handcuffed on my way to jail. Oh John, sobbed Alice, as she laid her head on his breast, although I am sure you have done nothing and are perfectly innocent, I have a[n awful] dread presentiment that something awful will be the result of this unfortunate affair. As I came to the jail, I saw small bands of savage looking men standing together and I heard one of them say the nigger ought to be lynched. Surely they wouldn't, but she could go no father and her whole frame shook with sobs which she tried in vain to suppress. Never fear, little woman said John shaking his head. I am above reproach three little children- And when he was angrily told that neither his entreaties for mercy nor his protestation of innocence would avail him anything and that he must surely die,he asked it as said to have his face turned toward the West- that [in his death] he might have the world looking toward his dear ones at home. Upon the pity of Pensis the curse still rests. The long rows of interconnected homes left vacant by the terror stricken blacks, [many of them intelligent & well to do] who fled from the place are stooped in silent reproach upon the power by so many witnesses of the The crime against civilization was condemned by the best citizens whose pocket as well as their consciences were touched by the exodus which is evidently the post office and on my way home I stopped by the store as usual to see how business had prospered that day. The sales had been very large the clerk said and even then the store was full of country people who were making their purchases before going home. There were several white men in the store, and as I think of the affair now, each had an ugly look on his face. Suddenly there was a great commotion, I did not know how it started, for my back was turned to the men who were engaged in the quarrel. Before I understood the nature of the disturbance of what happened or why, one of the white men who had been hanging around the store for quite a while, I've since learned, slapped me on the shoulder and told me to consider myself under arrest. But John what had you done to be arrested for, asked his wife. [with] I had done nothing, Alice said John in a straight forward manly way except be in the store. But why if you had done nothing why did you not go at once with the policeman who placed you under arrest? Because little woman, as the man who had placed me under arrest was dressed in citizens clothes and failed to show his officer's badge, I refused to go with him. Ever since our cooperative store has been drawing away the trade of the colored farmers and country people from the store kept by that white man directly across the way, he and his friends have desired to destroy our store and murder the colored men who established it. It never occurred to me they would attempt to carry out their threat in such a high handed way - As it happened, Bob Marshall and Andrew Jones, who own a great deal of stock in the were also in the store & [who lounged] who afterward declared themselves to be officers of the law began to taunt & insult them in various ways. Finally they went as far as to interfere with the clerk so that he could not serve the customers. When Marshall and Jones remonstrated with them and asked them to leave the store, they grew violent and declared they would arrest every body connected with the cooperative for disturbing the peace. "What a pity John said his wife that you ever had any words with these men" [I know] You were only protecting your own property to be sure but you know how [every thing] the courts & judges are all against colored men down here. Oh, my dear, the whole thing was a conspiracy from beginning to end. What happened no one could foresee, and surely we three men who were in our own store attending to our own affairs did not dream that we would have to pay a [such] heavy penalty for [achieving success] attending to our business. But let me tell you why I am here in jail for the first time in my life. Here his voice broke for the first time during the interview with his wife and he had to stop a moment to recover himself. Words grew louder [and] the store, and the men who had lounged around all the afternoon grew more violent, and they insisted that Bob, Andrew and I must go under ourselves under arrest and march straight off to jail. While we were asking them by what authority they had come into our store created a disturbance then demanded our arrested they rushed to the door, and in a minute a great crowd of their accomplices rushed in upon us without a moment's warning. Who fired the first shot, I do not know but I am certain that not a single man they have in jail did, for we were all unarmed. Several shots rang out in quick succession. The store was filled with an angry mob [and I was knocked unconscious for a few minutes]. Some one struck me a severe blow. When I found myself again I was handcuffed on my way to jail. Oh John, sobbed Alice, as she laid her head on his breast, although I am sure you have done nothing and are perfectly innocent, I have a[n awful] dread presentiment that something awful will be the result of this unfortunate affair. As I came to the jail, I saw small bands of savage looking men standing together and I heard one of them say the nigger ought to be lynched. Surely they wouldn't, but she could go no father and her whole frame shook with sobs which she tried in vain to suppress. Never fear, little woman said John shaking his head. I am above reproach in this community. Some of the most influential citizens of Pensis are my staunchest friends. Times up said the jailer. And the last words which John Lee spoke to his wife that afternoon were such as would comfort and reassure her. I'll be home in a day or two little woman he said. Raising his hand to her. Never fear. Dan Lee was one of the finest specimens of negro manhood which this country has ever produced. He was tall and sinewy of form. His complexion was brown [when] & his features which were clear cut & regular that in repose he looked like a bronze figure. Ever since his early youth he had lived an exemplary life -- He had attended the public schools and had assisted in the support of his mother at the same. His record was so good that he had little difficulty in securing an appointment as letter carrier - and he told his wife some of the past representatives of Southern aristocracy had urged his appointment on the force and had rendered him every possible assistance to secure it. After he purchased a neat little house he married Alice Calloway who was a graduate of one of the southern college established by the A.M.A. for the education of the freedmen of the south. By thrift and industry John Lee had the creature of flesh and blood can not penetrate, that makes her to see so often what the future has in store. Between the hours of two and three in the morning a rumbling and a loud knocking at the gates of the jail sent terror to the hearts of every black man who was locked within its four walls. [It was the work of but a few [angry mob] number demanded admittance to the jail overpowered the jailer took his keys from him and secured the three men whom they were determined to murder. The next morning when the light. To the three men who had committed no crime and who were paying the penalty of business success this [menace] oaths of the angry mob was as ominous as they were to those whose hands were stained with their brother's blood.] In the prison of Pensa's no black man's life was secure when a mob had grievances against him. Like animals that had just tasted human blood after being for a long time deprived of it, these enraged men came rushing on eager to lay hands upon the victims of their wrath. Before the cell in which Dan Lee was imprisoned they stopped. The [?] leader quickly turned the lock, and the prisoner but a moment before been aroused from his peaceful slumber who had stood terrified before them. Like an animal at bay he looked. He had heard of mobs before. He knew his doom was sealed. As well might the prostrate [hunter] creature under a lions paw [expect] expect mercy from an [hungry] infuriated beast as Dan Lee hope [for] that his pleading for life could soften the hearts of their mob. Hardly had he come to a realizing sense of the awful fate which awaited him before he was roughly seized by the murderous band and his to the cell of his companions in war. The locks were quickly turned and in at once, Dan Lee Bob Marshall and Andrew Jones were bound hand and foot to be[ing] driven to their death. The papers next morning announced that the three Negro[es] store keepers who had maliciously shot Dink Wells at the curve had been lynched by a party of masked men, all of whom were unknown. That nothing could be learned except that the negroes had been taken a mile out of town suspended to telegraph poles and shot to death. The papers stated also that the negroes were desperate characters and were a constant grievance to the public peace. But although it was first announced at first [by the daily papers of Pensas] that [no details of the lynching] nothing definite concerning the lynching could be learned since no[ne] [of] one knew who the lynchers were [known] but the second morning after the[se] negroes had been murdered, [the] sickening details of the awful occurrence were given. It was known somehow that Bob Marshall scorned to plead for mercy but had boldly affirmed his innocence and declared he was not afraid to die; that while he was being shot to death scarcely uttered a groan. The community knew that Andrew Jones pleaded for his life and prayed for the slayers like [that] the man who years ago begged his father to forgive them because they knew not what they did. Dan Lee, it was said begged pitiously that he might live, not for his own sake, he said, but for the sake of his aged mother for the sake of his wife and his soon forget- Upon the city of Pensis night threw the sable cloak. The Father of water glided swiftly and smoothly along. The silence peculiar to darkness brooded over all. The hearts of the three men who had been arrested were sad because the separation from their families was a hardship and their arrest they considered a disgrace. But conscious of being perfectly innocent of offense, they were not haunted by fear. Mama said the eldest of Dan Lee's children, when will Papa be home again? You told us last night that he would be here to night. Yes dear, said Alice Lee, as a lump arose in her throat, Mama did think Papa would be home to night, but he couldn't get here, it seems. I want my Papa to him home, said the second child, and [?tried] [to?] [?] the pride of her mother's heart. My papa never stay away so long before, Mama. Never mind,dear, said the mother, Papa will be [with] in [all] tomorow night, I hope, and then we'll all be happy again. But the boy could not be comforted by his Mama's and he sobbed himself to sleep. Alice Lee's heart was too full of grief and a dread apprehension which she could neither explain nor drive away to pray audibly for her husband's release, but she buried her head in her hands and [lifted] unburdened her burdened soul in silence to God. But even as she prayed, woe comes stalking on. At twelve with eyes red from weeping, and with a dread foreboding evil, which was out of all proportion to the gravity of the charge preferred against her husband. Alice tried to sleep. But slumber refused to come. What connection is there between the material world in which a woman dwells and the immaterial which comes succeeded in laying by a [?sung] little sum. Together with several of his friends he had decided to establish a cooperative store on the outskirts of the city at the particular locality which was known as the Curve. The men had decided upon this site as the best, because they were sure to catch the trade of the farmers and other country people who bought their supplies in the city. This cooperative store which had been established by colored men had prospered beyond the hopes of the sanguine founders. The concern was conducted according to principles of the strictest honesty and the confidence of the patrons became so great that its fame spread like wild fire. The result was that the grocery across the way was losing steadily in patronage and the receipts were growing smaller day by day. The owner, Sam Hall, who belonged to the class known as the poor whites in the South vowed vengeance on the Niggers who had the audacity to establish a store so near his own which had taken almost all his colored trade. I've been [growing rich] making money [on] off 'em the Niggers for years he said and I wont 'low nobody white or black to interfere with my trade now. Sam Hall had tried more than once to create a disturbance with his colored rivals across the way. But like Dan Lee both Bob Marshall and Andrew Jones the three stock holders who had been selected by [to the Jackson Miss] the stores special supervision were all intelligent law abiding citizens and as they knew what Sam Hall was attemptng to do, they took special pains to avoid an open rupture with him. Nobody knew Marshall, Jones and Lee knew full well that the odds would all be against them in [a court of law in Pensis,] if it should ever become necessary to settle any difficulty between the heads of the two has business concerns in a court of law. But as wary as the three men were they could not escape the trap which Hall had set for them. He had called to his aid a few officers of the law and it [was] through them that he was able to utterly destroy his business rivals of a darker hue. [Between] Hall and his [official] police confederates [it was] decided to create a disturbance in the colored men's store at the first favorable opportunity. The Deputy Sheriff who had doubtless been promised amply reward for their services were to go to the cooperative store [be] in citizens clothes and see to it they placed the colored men under arrest. If they resisted, they were to suffer the full consequences of their act. It all happened exactly as it had been planned. [On the afternoon] Dan Lee Bob Marshall and Andrew Jones were placed under arrest, After they had been taunted and insulted in their little cooperative store until they were forced to resist in self defense they were placed under arrest by what seemed to them the band of toughs who had provoked the trouble. When they resisted the authority, the so called deputy sheriffs failed to show their badge but insisted upon putting the struggling men out of the store. This brot the friends of the colored men [came] to their rescue. At this juncture the so called deputy Sheriffs rushed to the door and called in the confederates which had been stationed there for that purpose Seeing the reinforcement coming savagely upon them brandishing pistols in their hands, the col storekeepers and their friends were terrified. Several shots rang out and after the disturbance was quelled by the arrival of policemen it was discovered that one white man three colored men had been wounded how seriously no one knew. Although neither Marshall or Lee nor Jones had fired a shot, they were placed under arrest by the deputy Sheriffs and carried off to jail charged for disturbing the peace, resisting an[d] officer and assault and battery with attempt to kill. Both Marshall and Jones had received flesh wounds, which were not considered serious. The one white man who had been shot during the general mele died the morning after the disturbance occurred. The news that Dink Wells who had been shot at the Curve was dead spread like wild fire. Sam Hall was busy as a bee among the men of the class who frequented his store. About noon small groups of the poor whites of Pensis could be seen here and here in close conference with each other. Those who passed near enough might have heard the distant rumblings of an approaching storm. We dont want niggers settin up stores down here and gettin rich no how. When a nigger makes money he thinks hisself just as just as us. Taint no use of talkin, the dark[ey]ies must be kep in their place. There aint no better time than now to show em that we wont stand their puttin on airs. Yes said one of the ringleaders, Dink Wells is dead. What better excuse could we want to get rid of these high toned darkies who thinks they have a right to set up a store opposite a white man and take his trade away. No better time than now, I tell ye to learn em the niggers of Pensis a lesson they wont 11 this child to suffer" - I really believe twenty new gray hairs poped out, when I saw Regia while out of the room completely anesthetized into the room where the operation was to be performed. Down stairs into the bed which had been reserved for her Regia was carried followed closely by Mrs Villard. During the she the forenoon and afternoon While the child was recovering from the effect of the anesthetic Mrs. Villard sat by her bed side. The first [one she] person R saw when she opened her eyes was her wealthy benefactor and friend. Thru out the afternoon she read to her helping the nurse to minister to the little patient during the sick spells caused by the anesthetic. About five in the evening Mrs Villard took her guest in a closed carriage to her home. It is not necessary for the child to remain in the hospital all night said the doctor and she may just as well go home. There is nothing any body can do for her now but see that she gargles her throat with listerine 3 parts water to one of listerine three or four times a day and give her a liquid diet for a day. Mrs Villard had followed the same course with her own Winnifred so she felt perfectly competent to handle the care. Great was Winnifreds rejoicing when her little guest returned, but 12 she was not allowed to sit with her long after she was securely tucked into bed in the most beautiful room Regia had ever seen_ The next day was quietly spent by the two girls who either played with dolls and games or listened to Mrs Villard read aloud. Regia did not cough and declared she had not felt so well in a long time. But wont Mother be happy exclaimed Regia Wont you let me phone her and tell her I arent cough any more. But that was not Mrs V's plan. We want Mr. Wright and yourself to spend the Sunday evening with us read the invitation which Mrs V sent to Regia's parents. What in the world has become of your cough. Regia, inquired Amazement sat on my brow [?] [?] insisted upon falling open altho I tried hard to keep it closed [shut]. My eyes nearly [almost] jumped from their sockets at the almost revolutionary spectacle before them. [But there she stood a flesh and blood reality not [*means*] a vision, with a full face [soft chocolate brown complexion] in which both strength and [?] were blended and very [?] alleved. [Then women] [All of her pupils] [who carried]] It seemed too good to be true and yet I was sure it was neither an optical delusion nor a dream. I have travelled not a little in my day. There are few States in this Union whose soil I have not tread and most of the countries of interest to travel. I have visited across the sea. But the sight which fixed my gaze and filled me with astonishment a short while ago in a [?] was our [?] [?] never beheld before- [Be] great was my surprise my joy and pride were greater. That I should live to see a colored woman in this prejudice country [filled with ap] filled with its wicked unreasonable prejudice teaching in a white school seemed too good to be true. But there she stood with a chocolate brown in complexion so that she could not be mistaken for an Indian, a Chinaman or a Japanese [with a] In her face for nobody but herself in fact [?] is & in which strength and character were displayed and [?]neatly attired. The [?] [?] of joy to which reference [??????] not arise simply because a colored woman was teaching colored children, but because of the hope it gave for the future of my race. It is natural to infer that if a colored woman can so far conquer prejudice against her race in one enlightened State town and [*be appointed*] receive position to [on her own] which her education and training fit her, she may eventually overcome obstacles [all over the] elsewhere and then come into the heritage of equal opportunity [and for] living with others which is hers by right. [Altho the] For years colored teachers have taught in the white schools in the North. Altho not many to be sure I have known this to be a fact it has [I have] never been my good fortune to [[?] such] see this [never visited] triumph [of a] over prejudice myself never went to New Bedford Mass. Intently I watched the white children taught by this colored teacher before me to see if I could detect the slightest dislike to her or [unwillingness] restiveness under her instructions but I failed to observe the faintest suspicion [of] in the conduct of a single [most] child which even remotely resembled a [?Commission] on their part that their teacher was different in complexion from themselves. sty [?push] so he was promptly requested to remain standing by his seat. And this spoiled white child [belonging to the] obeyed his brown teacher as quickly as he would have one as white as snow. In short there was nothing in this school of white children taught by a colored teacher whose complexion [was proof positive that] showed by her complexion that she was unmistakenly a member of the [nan] so called inferior race. proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that she belonged to the swarthy inferior race which wod never be observed in a white school whose teacher was white. With my interest whetted by what I myself had seen I began to make inquiries about other schools [the pub] whose teachers were colored and whose pupils are white.[????????] facts were obtained. In Cleveland, Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, New York as well as in many other cities and towns of the East and West colored teachers work testify cheerfully to their efficiency. A short while ago somebody wrote to the superintendent of the public schools of Cleveland,O and inquired how many colored teachers were employed. He replied [*name*] he knew and rated his teachers -ing to their efficiency and [was not acquain] he did not know them as colored or white. [So marked] In Cleveland one of the colored teachers there achieved such a fine reputation as a disciplinarian that when the pupils of any [a] school are very unruly indeed, this colored woman is sent to civilize and subdue them and she has never met her Waterloo yet. One of the colored teachers in the public schools of New York told me that a parent from the South took the time and pains to visit the Supt. so as to request him not to assign a particular child to a school taught by a col. teacher. [He] The Supt told her [?] positively that he would examine her child, [see what grade] ascertain the grade in wh he belonged and send him to a certain building without reference to the complexion of the particular teacher in charge. The experiences of one of the colored teachers from whom I obtained much valuable information were delightful. Coming to school she says, her children hang around her, so that she can scarcely walk. Returning home [-ted] by her the same same way, but by another gallant company if they can succeed in routing the Matin band. At Easter she is laden with fruit and flowers and at Christmas her presents pour in thick and fast. A short while ago there were so many pupils in her room that it became ruinous to divide and distribute them -( [when she] One morning as she passed the Supt [*3*] office) (a few [*2*] days after the dinner had been made) he called her in and told her that she must make room for four children (all were white) [who looked wretched and woe beyond enough as they] looked at her appealingly) because they tormented him so to be allowed to return to her they gave him no peace. Some of the children whose brothers and sisters have been pupils of this colored teacher, tell her several years before they [lock her room] are ready for her grade how eager they are to come to her room. [An irate mother] In the course of human events one day an irate mother [mother] called to see the supt about [the] [what she considered bad] if th a difference between one of the teachers and her child, and she declared as she swept out of the office unappeased and wrathy that there was only one real lady in the building any way and that was Mrs D- calling the C teacher by name. Determined to force a confession from out of the teachers with whom I talked [Doubting Thomas like] I insisted that all could not be smooth sailing for a col teacher in a white school. Nothing could shake their oft repeated[statement] declaration that it was their complexion did not militate against her (as far as she was able to see) at all - Among the colored teachers in the white schools are daughters of some of the best known and most useful men in the race. In Cleveland Helen Chestnutt daughter of the novelist and graduate of Smith college teaches in the H School, In Brooklyn one of the teachers Miss Jessie Fortune, daughter T.T. Fortune author of repute and for many years editor of the N. Y. Age, one of the best weeklies ever published by Col people in the U. S - Downing - deeply interested in something else and Theodona belonged to this class. When the bright little girl had finished with the praise of her teaching ringing in her ears, [the class was again] those who could continue the recitation were again asked to raise their hands Mrs. Kelway caught T's eye just in the nick of time and T raised her hand. The teacher called upon and T began. With only a halt or two the portion of the lesson that fell to her lap was read. When she had finished, she looked in her front for a minute. [Throughout the classes recitations some of the other pupils in Class B who were supposed to be diligently reciting were doing various stunts, more or less reprehensible in their nature] Whether the rest of the lesson was correctly or incorrectly read it would have been impossible for T to tell. [And it was evident that she] That she was greatly relieved that her ordeal The ordeal of reading [*Save This*] They [prefixed] addressed her with the same deference and politeness they would show a white teacher and showed her the same respect. When she wanted a bit of trash removed and asked who wd get the dust pan and brush for her, every hand went up and the boy who was permitted to render this service for her was the happiest child in the room. Before section opened a little fair haired girl with blue eyes had brought her teacher a very pretty [piece] sprig of pine and laid it affectionately on her teacher desk. The colored teacher on her part showed the deepest interest in and affection for her fair skinned children The strap on one girls apron was slipping off her shoulder so the teacher deftly & kindly pinned that in the right place. Service pins or re fastening trousers were also [needed] adjusted[ing] with neatness and dispatch. [and what was kindly & skilfully done] Neither There was never anything in the conduct of the colored teacher which showed that she was conscious of belonging to a race different from that of the children whom she taught. [There was a] One boy an only child and the son of well to do parents was not allowed to stand with the class while they were reading at the board, because he would insist upon [giving] disturbing the equilibrium of his neighbor by giving him a fall from a tree, persisted Mazie, there was a slight pause before Mrs. Marshall replied. I was evident that a struggling was taking place in her mind [and she was not a] Perhaps she was debating whether [to] it would not be better resort to fiction in order to make the proper impression upon her little daughter minds than to tell the truth and there by embolden her to scale the forbidden tree, because the risk had been safely taken by so many others in the past. But Mazie was determined to know the result of mother's actual observation on [knowledge] the subject Mama - Did you ever see a little girl or a little boy fall out of a tree she persisted - I can not remember everything I've seen Mazie replied her mother in a tone well calculated to discourage any further interrogations on this subject. And this tone [I might as] the truth compels me to state was fortified by a look which as child can always feel better she can describe But, Mama, if you had ever seen a little girl fall out of a tree I doubt you think you could ever forget it? The questioner [There was a slight panic in] made a slight pause as if expecting a reply but none came. If I should see anybody tumble out of a tree I dont believe I could ever forget it. I am sure Id never forget seeing anybody fall out of a tree,even if I was as old as you are Mama. Mazie said Mrs. Marshall one should never do anything that might injure her. But the other day said Mary who did not seem either deeply impressed or convinced when Mrs Mitchell[s] [mother] told Bessie Martell's mother, she ought not let her daughter climb trees, because she might tumble out and get hurt. Mrs. Marshall said that if she kept Bessie from doing everything that might hurt her she wouldn't let Bessie do a [sp?] thing - Mrs. Martell said Bessie might get hurt just walking down the street, cause a horse might run away and trample on her or somebody might throw a ball and hit her and Mrs. Marshall said once she turned her foot & sprained her ankle awful just walking across the floor. And Mrs Martell said when she was a little girl, she climbed trees, and played tag and jumped on bobsleds and did lots of [every] [many] other things and she never sprained her ankle again or hurt herself at all. and Mrs. Martell said--Don't tell me anything else Mrs. Martell said, Mazie interposed Mrs Marshall sternly The next time you hear anybody talking like that I hope you will walk right away. Such [things] conversation does little girls no good for it puts naughty notions in their heads [and] makes them overbold. But Mama continued, Mazie When you were a little girl didn't you feel bad when your mother wouldn't let you do what other little girls did? If I [told] did I never wanted to do what my mother objected to having me. And now Mazie said her mother rising [it is time for you to take your] let's talk no more about this you cannot climb trees no matter how big and low the branches are and no matter how many little girls climb down without being hurt. It is time for you to take your afternoon nap. [Of course if] As Mazie lay in her darkened room, [she] the could hear the gleeful shrieks of her little playmates as they romped about over the lawn.[playing hide] Once Mazie arose and peeped at them through the blinds but her mother happened unexpectedly to enter the room and sent her forthwith to bed. Don't you know It is wicked for little girls to deceive their mother said Mrs. Marshall reproachfull. But Mama, sobbed the child, I can't sleep in the afternoon, and it is so lonesome lying here when I can hear the other girls are at play. [Never mind] If how lonesome it is was the reply. I know what's best for my little girl and I shall do it whether she wants me to or not. Perfect neatness was one of Mrs. Marshall's habits. Cleanliness is next to Godliness was her creed in every possible way she instilled into Mazie that a spot on her frock was a cardinal sin. More than once when Mazie [discovered] had accidentally discovered a speck [of dirt] [or two of] on her dress at school she had run to the house of a good natured woman who lived near by who [always] quickly removed it for her, so that she could present herself spotless to her mother when she reached home. The request to go barefooted and paddle in the stream was bad enough to be sure. But Mrs. Marshall did not [consider that] regard that seriously. It [was a] indicated no fall from grace, it was not evidence of [moral] a loosening of her daughters [grasp upon the] either verities or the moralities. She viewed Mazies desire to climb the tree other girls ascended & descended without injury to life & limb in the same charitable light. But the day Mrs Marshall discovered Mazie [playing stones] making mud pies she was startled & shocked as terrible fear got hold upon her. This was [real] a genuine perceptible fall from the lofty ideals which she fondly hoped and confidently believed she had irrevocably instilled into Mazie. There was a woful plethora of evidence of Mazie's apostasy from the doctrine of spotless cleanliness. For were there not patches, small to be sure, but patches never the less; patches of mud at that [the mud] there on the frock that had been immaculate when Mazie had come from under her mothers careful hands. Mazie's face was polka dotted with mud and her hands, well they were nothing less than a sight to behold - the sight of her immaculate mother brot Mazie to her senses. The sound of the voice quivering with emotion aroused Mazie to a sense of her sin and she simply flew to her room. [Mrs. Marshall was too overcome when] [after] Controlling her feeling Mrs. Marshall walked with a dignified stately bearing to her room - Having reached it she was too much overcome to express to her barred be specked daughter how keenly disappointed she was in her and how deeply she deplored the weakness of character which made it possible for her to yield to the temptation to make mud pies. From the nature of the case mud pies if an infant knew that therefore a girl 9 yrs old That Mazie should indulge in any sport that called make make no mistake about the essence and nature of mud would necessitate soiling her garments proved not only that she had departed from the precepts she had been taught and up to that time had religiously followed. Dejected Mazie patiently tho the sentence which she knew would be pronounced. A whipping such as other girls told her they sometimes received for being naughty and disobedient would have been had with joy. Mazie had no hope that it would be swift and easy way of expiating good fortune to her crime in such a swift and easy way. Her mother's silence was ominous and she feared the worst. Go to bed, Mazie said Mrs. Marshall in her softest saddest tone. I shall bring your dinner to you but I want you to have time to reflect upon your disobedience - But Mama said Mazie tearfully you never told me I could not make mud pies. The girls were playing store and one of them said I ought to have pies to sell and another girl it would be easy to get pies for we could make them out of mud. And then we all ran and got some water and made mud pies - I don't think you'd care at all. The flood of tears drowned whatever [other words] other words Mazie might have intended or desired to utter. [But] It shouldn't be necessary to tell a little girl 9 yrs old that it is wrong to play in dirt, wrong to soil her clothes. A little girl your age should have more pride than to soil her clothes [and desire her hands] to say nothing of besmirching her hands and face with mud. How many times have I told you that clean linen is next to godliness child. Mrs Marshalls tones were by no means devoid of tenderness and this earnestness was inure and marked. In the few days that followed Mazie was very circumspect indeed. Her mothers grief and displeasure incident to this manifestation of mud pies touched and sobered her considerably so that she held aloof from the girls as much as she could. It was quite evident that she was making a desperate effort to [But if] Even in an adult the spirit is frequently willing but an adult. While the flesh is woefully weak. How much more [likely] natural that this distressing human frailty should manifest itself in a little girl just 9 yrs old. What you going to do this morning, Mazie, call Bessie Mitchell alluringly as Mazie sat gazing wistfully into space. Nothing was the response why don't you come and walk around the yard with us, [Mary] said Bessie in her most cordial tones. Mrs. Marshall happened not to be on the spot so there was nobody of whom Mazie cd ask permission. And Mazie knew [felt certain that] she had frequently walked decorously around the grounds with the girls with her mother's fullest approval. [That] In fact that was about the only part in which Mazie knew her Mother was perfectly willing for her to indulge. So Mazie quite naturally and correctly accepted the invitation. Why not? There are certain things which we do [which remain one should predict a week before hand] be human or which in a diff time perhaps the average do sometimes the human reason for which he himself can not possibly [remain in my story till my] account. An hour beforehand if a skeptic should predict that under any circumstances if for any reason whatsoever he should do this self something he should tell [him] the prophet quite plainly he had softening of the brain. How it happened remained a mystery to Mazie till the end of her days. How she dared to do it, however, she generated sufficient courage for the adventure she never could tell. When she realized the enormity of the case her mother stood horrified and speechless before her. There was no way to conceal her guilt if she had deserved to do so and there was no place to run. There she stood, guilty disobedient child that she was actually barefooted paddling in that same brook at most several metres deep at worst when she knew that [she had been forbidden to] next to making mud pies and climbing the big tree her mother hated this sport the most. No explanation could explain such disobedience. Mazie knew there was no use to try. She was quite as much shocked and overcome at her audacious conduct as was her mother. Guilty she pleaded immediately [and the culprit was] [So repent] So devoured by remorse and [softened] repentant [contrite she longed] it would have been a relief to her throbbing heart and distracted head if [judgment] [?] punishment had been meted out to her on the spot. So bright and early the next morning her trunks were packed and mother & daughter took the first train for home. Martyrdom for which will help any men of the race they can reach. That sounds rather [indefinite] vague [and so I shall] it is easy enough to be explicit & concrete. The Nat. Asso. intends to establish Kindergarten Day Nurseries, Schools and of Domestic Science. It is determined to save the children from vice & ignorance as far as in it lies. We are calling the attention of our sex and to the alarming rapidity with which the N is losing ground in the world of labor, hoping that when the facts are presented to them they may exert themselves and the men to discharge their duties acceptably & well. [It is our] We are not only urging [all] our wage earning women to become skilled themselves in whatever work they may engage but we appeal to them to instill in their children this desire to excel & the youth who come under them. In other words, the women of the Nation Ass are trying to do what they can to solve the labor question. How stolid and cold must be the man or woman whose heart does not beat more rapidly & loudly when he thinks of the significance of this day. Once a year [does] the nation pauses for a few hours to honor the dead who gave their lives that it might be preserved. [Those whose graves we decorate [*cover with*] have flowers on Decoration Day have done all that] Once a year we cover with garlands the last resting place of men who [gave up] sacrificed [*poem written by [?]*] themselves on the altar of liberty who as they shouldered their musket said better death or & marched away destruction & ruin. It seems a small thing myself than that the country should [be [?] & town] [?honor] every one of the men [black &] who fought during the Civil War to save the Nations life, to perpetuate the principles upon which it [*the government*] was founded & to preserve its honor was a hero. [Nothing that can be done to honor] The least those who of impossible to do too honor nothing calculated who commemorated enjoy the fruits of their [of their] deeds of valor is to inspire with gratitude those [the infinite] who enjoy the fruits of their heroism nor to honor their memory of [those] them to whom we owe a debt of gratitude which it is beyond the power of mortal man to say. [The mere] War at its best is [full] [of] [and that] horror & woe that soldiers evidence who pass[ed] through the [agonies &] physical [?] the mental anguish incident to battle [and the heart aches] it is impossible for human lips to describe - The great the sacrifice [and their sacrifice is great] which may make for the salvation of [to let their gratitude] [?] came for which they pass through the valley & shadow of death the more abounding should be our gratitude & [unceasing] the more unceasing our praise and the more determined [inspired] we should be to hold dear to their hearts and safe from harm the priceless gift which their heroism bought. Such is purely the sentiment which we feel toward the departed heroes of our own race whose valor we sing to day. The conditions of warfare which confronted them were peculiarly discouraging & hard, but they fought for a great prize. Liberty was at stake and [?] the day the any national organization of colored men, the Masons & Odd fellows excepted which has reached the grand old age of five years - It was in the [city of Was] capital of the nation 5 yrs ago the National Ass. of Col Women was formed by the union of two large organizations which decided to clasp hands & merge their identity into - There was considerable difference of opinion then as to the wisdom of such a course but the Committee on Union which consisted of 14 women settled that [point] question and [*decided that*] agreed on certain conditions there are few women to day who are dissatisfied with the result. But I must not forget the [questions] queries concerning the [?] plans of the National Association The women who belong to it [?] to engage in every good work influence for good. The NA realized the necessity of purifying the social atmosphere and our women saw that this can be affected more swiftly & surely by recognizing a standard of morals which shall apply to no men as well as women. [We believe that] the NA is striving to deal a death blow to the old dispensation which teaches that we must turn a cold shoulder whom a fallen sister but greet her destroyer with open arms & a gracious smile. All this is simply the one beautiful vision of what you want to do & intend to accomplish says thee of little faith & much exasperation but if we have something tangible for mercy sake. What good thing has the Asso actually done in its five years of its existence? By the Nat Association one means of course the various clubs of which this organization is composed. Well then, one of the clubs, in Memphis Tenn has already purchased a large tract of land on which they intend to build an Old Folks Home. Even if you apply the test of the almighty dollar in this case, this member of the association [hold its head] can stand it without flinching. Every cent of the money [paid for the [?]] which bought this ground was raised Where is the Conscience of the North? At the close of the war, if an abolotionist [one had told] or a Union soldier had be told that in less than forty years much of the work which it had cost millions of treasure and rivers of blood to accomplish would be practically undone in the majority of the southern states, he would have [branded such a] dismissed the statement as [the bold fancy] too wildly impossible to discuss. And yet, that is exactly what has happened. [In all the souther] For many years the Negro was practically disfranchised in violation of law in every state of the South. The law had put the ballot into his hands but corruption and injustice found it easy enough to outwit the law. In explaining why Mississippi had finally decided to enact [invent] a law whereby the blacks of that State would be disfranchised. I heard a sweet faced little woman from that state say not long since- Mississippi grew so tired of voting dead men and trees [so] [to] that [?] the white vote would outnumber the black that our men finally concluded it would be better to devise legal some way whereby we should be able to [make] secure white domination legally. The southerner does not conceal his intentions. He is so bold in stating that the white South intends to keep the Negro in his place and will never [recognize] accord him his rights as an [man] American citizen no matter what his qualifications may be [that] Southerners courage in openly defying the Constitution of the US. would be admirable, if the consequences of this [harsh measur] drastic means resorted to by him were not so [tragic and] fatal to the best interests of the weaker race. Perhaps it [could] is too much to be expected that in so short a time a people who had held a race in bondage could learn or would be willing to learn to respect its representatives as citizens and men. I am willing to grant then that the South's treatment of the Negro is perfectly natural, and, if natural the exslaveholders [dominant] and their descendants should not be held too strictly to account for the [injustice] conduct [and barbarities] But what of the North? What of that section of the country which was willing to pour forth [give its lives] the blood of its sons like water, that this should be in deed as it is in name recreant to his trust. The thousands of colored men and women who are intelligent and thrifty and conscientious in their efforts to [best meas] measure up to the highest standard possible are living proof of the [gender] tremendous prodigious progress the race has made by promoting the dignity of labor and [emphasizing] and and how [the merits of] knowing how much depends upon the skill with which the laborer does his work. The National Association is not forgetting the home. We are [?] impressed with the mental & moral fact elevation of the home should be our first consideration & care. If our women [a woman lovs] miss the her opportunity of [doing good in the home] wielding an influence for good in the home, there is little reason to hope that they [work in public] will be a powerful factor in the elevation of the race anywhere else. To those [narrow] who believe the idea that a public spirited woman who desires apart a certain portion of her time for the On the other hand when [the N.A. lives on] woman declares that she has no time to work for neglected children the needy, sick or the helpless poor the Na A warns them that such narrrow minded selfish individuals do not exert in their homes the most positive try in vain to suppress a smile about their lips. [The mere mention of the name] To such National Associations seems to amuse them is like Artemus Wards. They cannot take it seriously. Some wax sarcastic as they sling forth their queries about the [?] in a tone which [clearly] says plenty. Now answer this if you can, but of course we don't expect you to, simply because you can't. There are many species of this particular genus but these samples [of those afflicted] will suffice. It is impossible to name or classify all of them. [any If the National Association of Colored Women had done nothing else except show our women [that prove] [that demonstrate] that they can successfully maintain a national [with an] organization it would have been] Yes, the National Association of Colored Women is actually doing good. If it did nothing but show how women that they[are capable] can of founding and successfully maintain a National organization, this would not have been created in vain. The Association has shown our women how much more [potential is a] they can do if they unite their forces than if each individual, [struggles] or each organization, struggles along by itself to accomplish some [attain the particular object] particular kind of work. In other words our National Association has opened the eyes of Colored Women wisdom comes working their energies to the power of organization. If the Association had done no more but this in five years, its would not have lived in vain. This is an age of organization. The laborers had woes & [?] without number until he decided to get together, so to speak, and his lot has been much easier ever since. The labor unions have made many mistakes and they have transgressed the law, [no doubt] No right thinking person can commend their course entirely but we must all concede that the first effectual blow for liberty which the the laborer struck was when he effected an organization composed [of his kind] of men whose interests were identical. [I am begin] One of the weaknesses of the American Negro [is his [ignorance of the] indifference to failure to grasp the] could realize how much stronger a weak man is when he is reinforced by the combined strength of many others whose goal is the same and whose needs & dangers are identical with his, he would be a much more important personage in the country today than he is. The men of the race have tried to combine their forces for years with varying degrees of success. They have political,literary & other combinations good bold & indifferent. I am not aware however that there is black soldiers wore the uniform of Uncle Sam until he laid down his arms, clothed in the dignity of American citizenship, no stain of dishonor [?] tarnished his name. The finger of scorn was ever pointed at the black soldier becaue he either shirked his duty or feared to discharge it. For the black soldier, the battles which he fought meant it was liberty or death. [He knew that] If captured by the enemy he knew that his [end] doom was sealed. The question is frequently asked what good is the National A of Colored Women doing. What are its aims & plans? Has it a definite object, if so what is it? Some who ask this and similar questions are really thirsting for information and wont be happy till they get it [an an answer]. Others have a merry principle [about] in the [?] as the [?] to so many [if our] a [ch??] with me to the state of N. O. and in the city [?] I shall you a monument to the indigent the charity and the self sacrifice of a hand full of colored women. It is a sanitarium with a boarding school for nurses which was founded so that colored patients might have comfortable apartments in their illness [and colored doctors] which could not be secured by them in any hospital in the city - In Memphis Tenn you will see a large plot of ground which has been purchased every dollar paid by the women of that city who hope [are] to build an Old Folks Home - In St Louis Mo. you will see the colored women [bending their energies] industriously working to raise money enough to found a children's home. In Chicago - [I will show] you will behold some of our women engaged in works of reform among their unfortunate sisters whose poverty or vicious environment has dragged into the mere [?] among the needy whom their generosity & charity relieve, among illiterate parents of our school children who are urged to inculcate in the home the lessons that are taught in the school. In these & various other activities our women are engaging because they [?ling] more & more a sense of responsibility of the ill [?] and unfortunate of their race - And what aroused their interest has so stirred their hearts [& fired their zeal to work?] Those who have seen [Can anyone doubt] the glowing eye and the eager enthusiasm of the women who have attended our meetings in the past as they listened to their sisters [dwell] [upon] discuss our needs and suggest ways & means to meet them, will have little doubt [not hesitate] as to the source from which [all] this [springs] ever increasing zeal springs. It is plainly our duty therefore to cherish the N. A. as the apple of our eye. the attacks of malice [envy & [?]] [?] it. Between the Scylla of criticism and the Charybdis of scorn we must steer it straight to the [ha??] of progress toward which we have already sailed so far. X Those of you to whom are interested in the management of affairs will often be wounded in spirit and grieved at heart to hear that the organization which you love and for which you have built high hopes is simply a vehicle [refuge upon the ambitious among in who think] which the schemes of the ambitious among us are carried to their goal - But let not your hearts be troubled at this. To the pure all things are pure while to the evil [& [?]] all things are base. No human being from the creation of Adam right on down to the present [time] moment has [ever] worked unselfishly for the public good without being misunderstood by it at some time. The martyrs and innumerable benefactors of our kind [attest it as] who have been [the] victims of the ignorant or [ungrateful] ingratitude of the public [attest this fact]. What the N.A. of C W needs above everything else to make it the power of good which it is destined to be is a corps of [office] progressive women to administer its affairs and [no doubt that] hundreds of intelligent earnest women who will support them and who are willing to be lead. It is charged against the [race] Negroes that we have no respect for each other that negroes can not be successfully controlled by leaders of their own race - For this reason we are told that it is bad policy to appoint colored officers in the army over colored troops. Let the women of the N.A. prove the falsity of this charge by being loyal to the officers in the future as they have thus far been in the past. All can not be leading and it is a [?] of the [or there will be no] [?] intelligence and the most perfectly bounded character to be willing to follow. I bespeak therefore for the officers of the future the same loyalty & support which you have given those of the past - It will be unavoidable perhaps that differences of opinion may [exist] arise among us - but so long as we are intent upon the good for which we are banded together and keep our object in view, there need be no fear that we shall be torn asunder by dissensions & strife. It is possible the government the society whose members are [willing] nice and honest to bow to the will of the majority may stand as firm and grow as old as the rock ribbed & ancient hills, but woe betide the organization which members in its fold [those lawless & highhanded spirits] individuals who know no law [who are spirit] but their own [desire] will verify they have a mill stone tied to their necks which [in the time of storm and argument] when they speak of depression and difference, runs high will drag them to the bottom of the sea. As long as the all wise creator has made his creatures to differ one from the other so that no two are alike physically it is folly and and this dissonance extends to the mental structures as well expect perfect unanimity of opinion among even [?] individuals - It is well that this is so, for if we all thought all the same in the world we should find ourselves in a monotonous calm of stagnation instead of sailing rapidly on and on in the stiff breeze is progress. Difference of opinion in organizations is only a sign of healthful development & growth [therefore ] if the members are amenable to law and are broad enough to credit others who do not subscribe to their views with our history the N.A. has been blessed with the great majority of its members have exhibited this spirit of tolerance with those who differed with them. As long as this is true, we need never fear that our beloved association will be [?????] because we can not all think alike. But its death knell is sounded the day when the minority shall attempt to coerce the majority into [acceding] adopting their plans. [When] If ever the reproach is hurled at the organization that there is bickering and dissatisfaction in its ranks, then [as no] because [its members] in using their god given power of reason [and] the [true?] members fail to reach each one the same conclusion, arrived at by others and disagree as to the wisdom of certain plans proposed, let [us] not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid, [if] so long as the members of the association as a whole are amenable to law. In parting with you to night [and] as your president, I feel that I can congratulate our organization upon the harmony which has existed from the first in its ranks. If There has been a ripple or two upon the surface of an[d] otherwise placid stream of our existence but these little eddies [ripples] have [been so harmless in their effects] simply had the effect [object] & have been perfectly harmless and have left no trace, when they had spent their feeble force. We have been active & effective in the past we must redouble our energy in order to do the which it is possible for us to accomplish. Our uinderstand has been broadminded and our wisdom has been increased on account of experience which we have had during the past five years. During the five to come The world had a right to expect far greater achievements than we have Many are the things which The constitution has not yet received sufficient [the] attention [which it deserves and it contains imperfections] We have unwittingly been the sin of both of omission & commission has been against it and we must give it the careful & prayerful consideration which it deserves. [There] Danger lurks in one or two of the provisions we have adopted would that the other [?] which lies before Five years ago this month the N.A.C.W. was only an experiment, Tonight it is a magnificent success-- In July 1896 the N.A.C.W. was considered a possibility perhaps, and only probability at best- Tonight it is a living breathing, beautiful, reality. Five years ago our most sanguine friends had a sigh in the heart & a tear in the voice [as they] and an awesome solemnity about them as they expressed the hope that the patrons we chastened in Washington under the [?] of the N. A. C. W. might live and thrive -- To our trained nurses & the doctors who make a speciality of children's will [all] tell you that [that] our baby has passed through the dangerous period [and] in an infants life and has deloped into a vigorous, active, healthy child. Those prophets of Evil who predicted in July 1896 that the association would soon give up the ghost and die a natural death, that it would even have the pleasure of wasting away gradually by lingering disease, but now be carried off speedily by police [than] torrent that wou[ld] do its deadly work of annihilation quickly [?] [by galloping] but these prophets of evil who expected to see the veneration of C.W. whisked off this mundane sphere by galloping consumption must acknowledge to night that their power of divination failed them for once and that this child whose early demise had been fivetold is the liveliest corpse they ever saw. For this growth & development of the N A all who are interested in the welfare of the race must be devoutly thankful [nothing] as the future of the race is pondered & scanned No sign is so hopeful as the interest in all good work exhibited the earnest intelligence [which is being done by our women]. The more our organization advances [it is being more] & the more clearly is it demonstrated that women by their influence & example make or mar the home which is simply another way of saying that the moral [status] tone of [the] a people nation depends to a [is keyed by] large extent upon its women since the policies & principles of this Nation are but a reflection of [the home] the [principles] practices & precepts of the home. The responsibility resting upon all women therefore is serious & great. From the very nature of the [but upon none] dour duty calls for [the obligation] more loudly for restive service & cheerful sacrifice than upon [the] colored women of this country. [As the conditions of the race with which they are [?]] The greater the poverty, the [graver?] the ignorance & the more the degradation of the masses of a race, the [more] greater is the imperative responsibility which rests upon the more favored portion [of that race]. It is therefore occasion both for congratulation and hope that the women of the most ill favored race [which takes] in this country [under such prodigious burdens [?]] are keenly alive to the[ir] duties & obligations which rest upon them. As as exponent of the earnestness & effectiveness of colored women this is not only a refutation of the charge that as a race we are doing nothing to help ourselves but it is also a solid foundation upon which to build bright hope [for more energetic efforts] but more [success] brilliant statements in the future. Considering the obstacles which the N.A. has had overcome in order to establish itself and accomplish some of the work which it had planned to do there is every reason why we should put away fear [be disgusted by fear] [predict success] nor [agitated by a thought] defy failure. Having arrived at the stars five years ago, the [ascent we have made] height to which we have already [ascent] climbed seem insignificant & slight [indeed] [but] yet we are only on the brow of a low lying hill but before judgment [the efforts we have made] is past upon the progress made [*the ascent*], the efforts required to reach the position occupied must be taken into consideration. [In order to ascend] Greater exertion, more redoubtable courage are necessary [reach one] to climb only halfway up the steep & rugged side of some mountains [hills then] to scale the summit of others [some mountains] without [It would be impossible asce] attempting to approximate just how much more might have been accomplished by the N.A. if it had not been handicapped & hindered in so many ways it is safe to presume that the efforts put forth by some of our [most] active members would have [*been crowned*] brought forth with [*victory*] greater success if conditions peculiar to our race had not deprived them of so much power. Not only has the N.A. been obliged to overcome of the inertia of some of our braniest and slaving but women who though they saw how much could be done by a national organization had so little or no hope that such a [union] cooperation & union could be effected, that they could scarcely be induced to support it but it has had to [withstand the storm of criticism] surmount obstacles which sent forth by [people] bitter [tongues] critics whose eyes [obstacles] are beholden so that all new organizations find in their path until the millenium comes theren will always be those the good that is one they can not see and whose tongues wag only in blame and never in peace. That the N.A. has been able to arouse our women [????????????] women [through] to whose [to a sense of their responsibility and shake off the] After all now what do you women propose to do has been [a question asked with] often asked in a tone which clearly implied that the inquirer [believed] expected that question to bring the flush of shame & confusion to the cheek. x It has been difficult to convince even those who [*were open to conviction*] wished us well that women with [so] little experience & less means could accomplish much good either for the race as a whole or for themselves in particular. [*Cold Nothing is more likely to discourage women uttered by learned philosophers*] Logic and sound reason or what will be the inevitable [*effect*] outcome of such & such cause to the [?] has of this [?] which [believed] proved conclusively that earnest effort counted for more to do good works with the small means at hand than argument or abstract [?] They have insisted from the first that if the N.A. did nothing but awaken in our women a longing to help themselves, its mission would be more than richly fulfilled. Once open the eyes of the women of the race to the dangers which lurk in some of the practices & habits peculiar to people whose conditions are similar to our own and the battle against their faults & vices is already half won. By what method can the women of the race be so quickly and so effectively reached as through an organization like to reach the position occupied must [?] consideration. Greater exertion [To them][Before the] To the masses women of our race the power [of] lying in organization forever has been until recently a sealed book. Here & there a few [whose [advantages have been superior][eyes were] with a clearer vision than that to those [Big] their less [for them] illumined sisters have seen the [possibilities] weak advantage of a unification of forces and have [a] we are as individuals & how strong we might be dear and united [united] as one to effect the much needed union. The [As] earnest and unremitting as were their efforts it was not until the N. A was organized [f]that women awoke to the necessity of banding themselves together all over the country to accomplish what the[?] {?] to dawn upon them it was their duty to do. Through the instrumentality of the association we women have learned that -- individuals -- are weak but that a conbination of individuals is strong. [If you ask me what special work] Upon this [one] lesson of union of strength, and firmness of purpose [and [significantly] continual]] hangs [so] for us as women and as a race all the law & the prophets. Isolated from each other, divided by thought, [and] separated in purpose, we are & ever shall remain a sounding brass & a tinkling cymbal. In community of interests & solidarity of plan all things are possible. As colored women we should learn a lesson and take fresh courage from that [the] great organization of women [through] to whom [agitation] increasing and prodigious efforts every woman in the country is largely indebted. Can those who aspire to the highest culture and those who [is] are obliged aspirants to the highest culture to support themselves believe that [their] such enlarged opportunities [for improvement] in self or for earning a livelihood would be their rich inheritance, had it not been for the continual agitation the unremitting [efforts] zeal the heroic self sacrifice of a few women who until less than 60 yrs ago their forces to {wrest] improve the conditions the disabilities [from] of their sex? While [as colored women] we too enforce many of the privileges which these pioneers in the consideration as colored women we are [deformed] debarred from so many arenas deprived professions our more favored sisters that [there] it is just as [much of] necessary for us to contend against injustice and wrong to day as it was for our sisters of the dominant race to struggle against their disabilities 60 ys ago. By their deeds ye shall know them I hear a Doubting Thomas say. On general principles what has been said of union is good, but have you anything sufficiently tangible which has been effected by the combined efforts colored women in the past, upon which to build hopes for the future? Come with me to the West, the East, the North & the South and I will give you ocular demonstrations of what is actually done who conduct you so that you may answer to meetings held by our women are bending all their energy to improve the mental & moral condition of those with whom they are exercises [home]. [They are discussing with each] See the eager enthusiasm with [the quic] which they discuss questions of [pertaining to the home.] Some of them are mothers whose hearts are being with burdens rolled there by the prejudice & proscription which shuts the door of employment in the face of their children. How shall we [save them] rear them what shall we teach them in order to make them self made men & women? [*In spite of*] With the cruel mandate of the trades unions which in driving our boys away from work [?] [?] drives them either to poverty or cruel, how shall we prepare them to support themselves and save them from lives of shame? How shall we protect our girls? How we phall we [make our homes the abode of virtues] best instill in our children [orinciples] habits of thrift and inculcate the lessons of virtue? These and other questions are being asked by our mothers & teachers with an intensity of soul and earnestness as though their [*lives were staked upon the*] hope of future happiness depended. And then mothers meetings which through the instrumentality of the disonation have [because the sources] have opened the eyes of our women to their duties in the home, and [which have] thus become At 118 M St S.W. is a little house [One needs] It is necessary A very short walk through some of the blind alleys dour canals of Washington will convince any one who keeps his eyes open that there is urgent need of a restoration of social settlements in our midst. [Under] with the from all [It is admitted by all who have studied the subject that] the correct way for those to [help those who] raise the ideals correct bad habits & check the vice of people whose environment is vicious unfortunate is to live among them associate [with them] and then [resort them to how] an object lesson so as come in any contact with them study their needs an effort so as to render [has been made] the most effective service. An effort to do work of this kind for the colored people of Washington has started in a little way the [?[ [?] canal that in [?] North & the South and I will give you ocular demonstrations of what is actually done who conduct you so that you may answer to meetings held by our women are bending all their energy to improve the mental & moral condition of those with whom they are exercises [home]. [They are discussing with each] See the eager enthusiasm with [the quic] which they discuss questions of [pertaining to the home.] Some of them are mothers whose hearts are being with burdens rolled there by the prejudice & proscription which shuts the door of employment in the face of their children. How shall we [save them] rear them what shall we teach them in order to make them self made men & women? [*In spite of*] With the cruel mandate of the trades unions which in driving our boys away from work [?] [?] drives them either to poverty or cruel, how shall we prepare them to support themselves and save them from lives of shame? How shall we protect our girls? How we phall we [make our homes the abode of virtues] best instill in our children [orinciples] habits of thrift and inculcate the lessons of virtue? These and other questions are being asked by our mothers & teachers with an intensity of soul and earnestness as though their [*lives were staked upon the*] hope of future happiness depended. And then mothers meetings which through the instrumentality of the disonation have [because the sources] have opened the eyes of our women to their duties in the home, and [which have] thus become At 118 M St S.W. is a little house [One needs] It is necessary A very short walk through some of the blind alleys dour canals of Washington will convince any one who keeps his eyes open that there is urgent need of a restoration of social settlements in our midst. [Under] with the from all [It is admitted by all who have studied the subject that] the correct way for those to [help those who] raise the ideals correct bad habits & check the vice of people whose environment is vicious unfortunate is to live among them associate [with them] and then [resort them to how] an object lesson so as come in any contact with them study their needs an effort so as to render [has been made] the most effective service. An effort to do work of this kind for the colored people of Washington has started in a little way the [?[ [?] canal that in [?] home in south west section of the city The aim of those who [have undertaken] are trying to [?] the social settlement is to establish a home in close proximity to the alleys, the motives & order of which will be an object lesson and imperatives at the same time. [an effort was] [clubs for boys have already] [The effort has also been made to form classes & a Sewing club. An effort will also be made to form Classes will be formed and clubs organized for old and young, for the purpose of giving instruction in the] the persecutions which have filled our eyes with [burning] scalding tears & our hearts - with unspeakable bitter woe will [must] [may] work a revolution [in out & even through] [actions] which long years of a false peace & prosperity could never have effected. [Injustice & prejudice have already induced colored people of the south to establish [grocers] business houses which prosper because of the liberal support of [the] members of their own race. Numerous incidents of the success of such busiiness enterprises might be cited.] In his own way the all wiser all powerful Father [in his ominpotent goodness] will deliver the [oppressed from of the parents] of the oppressed. The persecution of [as times women whose] a people to whom all [been] mercy & justice are denied has done more to overthrow the power of tyranny than it has effected in destroying the manhood & dignity of the persecuted [The inhumanit] [It sounds the [?] in which sounds the] It is an evil, from which good comfort & the ugly dispensation from which only bitterness & woe can [?] injured from which curses bow to the tyrant - [It will] Other negroes of america in clarion towns in proclaims result in a unity of plan & purpose the necessity of concerted action of a combination of forces - the warning voice is even now heeded. who will dare claim The burnings should inflame our hearts with a desire to lift the whole race upon a higher plane The hangings should choke out of minds & hearts the jealousy & envy toward each other which have so impeded our progress. Each shots of the pistol which hurls violently our brother into eternity are coarse, hollow voices [which] awaken[ing] us from the criminal lethargy which has paralyzed our minds, & [hushed] [?] of our senses. Once aroused to the necessity of wisdom of concerted action & combined forces to call a halt on the [barbarians] battallions of [the] civilized barbarians who [not only] not satisfied with having starved our minds & crushed the spirit bare now fiendish the body and our future prosperity is assured. There is no reason for discouragement. The pessimist us that unity among the negroes of this country is an impossibility. They claim at the close of the war there was more unity than there has ever been since. The more education the negro has been educated, the more strife & dissension have been stirred up among them, until at present there are as may factions as families. [*the seeming truth of the specious argument*] The reason for this apparently true charge against the negroes capacity for unity is not difficult to find. He was emancipated ignorant & poor. Unaccustomed to think for himself, he was glad to flock around the standards of leaders who would think for & protect him. His white friends whose own interests were furthered by espousing his cause have impressed him with the fact that [his] allegiance to them was his only salvation. Self preservation dictated obedience to the precepts of the white friends who [lost nothing by] were from the nature of the case so much better fitted to lead becoming the leaders of the blacks. Naturally the thot of unifying together as a had not dawned upon the blacks so long as their cause was advanced by alliance with the whites. The time drew on apace when the Those who had been lead wished themselves to lead. Here [there] was the first great conflict of interests which resulted in enactments & social attitudes disastrous to the progress & prosperity of the blacks. The farsighted members of the race for the first time began to perceive the wisdom of [unity] combination coherence of forces & began to exhort their brothers to cooperation & union. The [great] southern leaders of the race will bear testimony to the fruit borne by this advice. The high positions to which two of our colored leaders from the South have attained are the result of the union loyalty & their colored constituents cruel, systematic oppression under which they groan - with our cause [in a] first supposes inflexible, a will [determined] indomitable a strength & endurance common to men [struggling] for right & life all things are possible. In other countries races have warred against each other, and have finally settled their differences amicably - This is a fact of history not the [vision] fancy or suggestion of a theory - [?] & Macaulay "In our country has enmity of race been carried farther than in Eng. In no country has that enmity been more completely effaced - There is no reason why the same disideratum should not obtain in this country - Once let negroes as a practical illustration of their strength & the faith that is in them by uniting their forces physically mentally & morally & the object lesson will be fruitfil his future prosperity is assured in its results. Let the negro [has failed to] give an exhibition of this dignity & manhood as a race and the respect due him cannot long be withheld - The curse which & wisdom in the past has not dictated the fiendish atrocities in the South & the [universal] various prejudice of the whole country drove us to adopt by his own brothers. In moments of discouragement it has occurred to me that our hands have been raised against each other instead of extended to proffer assistance - Envy has seemed to [opresses] fill our hearts which should be filled unspeakable yearnings & a dauntless purpose to lift up the hands which fall down & the feeble knees "should possess us - A few preachers & teachers have exhorted this to support each other but apparently to no avail & with little success. Unwittingly & surely unwillingly the whites have determined upon a plan which tho a disgrace to themselves & a blight upon the boasted civilization can only result in uniting us together. They burn, torture, flay hand & riddle us with bullets. The courts of [justice] law have been metamorphased into haunts of inquisition & corruption wherever the negro is concerned- The former master is deaf to appeals for mercy. His every [word] & deed is a menace to our safety & the death knell of prosperity & progress. Whither can we flee for refuge Even though tho we would lick the hand that smites we can not do so. There is only one plan to be adopted only one [conclusion] course to be pursued. Banded together into a great homogeneous whole there is strength enough of intellect & purpose to affect a change in the present condition of affairs. The determination to work out our own salvation born of the desperation & inspiration of an oppressed people is a mighty force which not even tyranny itself can resist. We have [slumbered] dwelt so to speak as peacefully as infants in the very midst of dangers & demons. We have stumbled occassionally over pitfalls & have received [painful] cruel blows They have [been] forgotten & forgiven [both] again & over again. But note there must be a fight for life itself & struggle for existence what unjust laws, tyrannical customs have failed to accomplish an attack upon life itself will effect. God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform and the finite way question in vain the propriety & efficacy of infinite plans & purposes. [The] It is clear to any mind that the burnings & hangings are a dreadful means to a glorious end- unity & [cooperation] harmony among the black population of this great republic whose government is now a great travesty of justice. [We have] The race has been divided against [ourselves] itself . Little has been accomplished. Our erstwhile friends have grown discouraged because they say we have done so little for ourselves. Honesty compels us to acknowledge that there is some truth in the statement, and [why] we have we done so little for ourselves because we have neither seen nor acted upon the necessity of uniting our strength to further the great ends of justice or progress. What may we not accomplish when bound together by the ties of affinity & brotherly love. What us as a race [confer] reason together. Let us as one man demand our rights. Let us call together [a back] assembly of our [best men] most profound thinkers & loyal representatives who shall formulate some plan of deliverance to be adopted by the race. [Who shall say] What may not be accomplished by the concerted action of a people determined to secure justice & desperate because of the The Blessing of being Black How Negroes Became White. I had been going around all day with a hung down head and an aching heart, as my dear old grandmother used to say. What's the use of trying to be any or do anything, anyhow was the refrain that my restless soul sang every time. I attempted to prove that there is. [things would come our way after while all.] I am black, you see, thats the trouble and the [awful curse] great misfortune of many such a complexion in this country covered me like a pall. The Wilmington riot, the disfranchisement of the black throughout the South, the determined effort to curtail their educational advantages made by certain sections proposing to and by using only such money for Negro schools as had been contributed by the negroes themselves and the thought that [?] all the rest of the misfortunes and disabilities that overtake[you] a body if you are so impolitic and so shortsighted as to be black surged like [?] [?] billows upon me and paralyzed my energy flowing about the morning But suddenly a little voice from somewhere intensifies & out you know, you simpleton that it is a great blessing to be black? This is what a little voice whispered in my ear,[one day] once, when I had been Oh yes said I to [the voice] my friend it's a great blessing to be black, no doubt. There was a much resentment & sarcasm in my voice with all the sarcasm and the resentment that that it sounded like a challenge. A timid person smaller than myself would have backed off [pretty lively] unless he was willing to fight.That was rely a mental challenge but if [he had] words had been [*spoken aloud*], uttered aloud a timid voiced would have backed off pretty lively, unless he was willing to fight. You are some sort of a modern Mark & right away after said I, with a real brown [mental] frown . [But were you ever black yourself?] [Don't talk to me about the blessing of being black unless you've tried to get along anywhere in this country with a black face.] Nobody who has tried to get along in this country, with an ebony profile will be hypocritical or insane enough to talk about the pleasure of being black. Well there may be some disagreeable features about carrying around a[n ebony said the race] sable physiognomy admitted the friend, but you are relieved of one thing that would worry me mightily if I were white . When you are black you are black that's all there is to it and there is no mistake about it. Even you know it for a fact and so does everybody else. But as things are going now, if you think you are white in this country, you may be really be black. That's the trouble. I know a whole lot of white people right in this very city who are sailing under false colors by passing as white, [when] But they are [unmistakenly] black, on the generally accepted principle that a single drop of African blood precludes the possibility of being white. Now if [you] I am white said [the] my [voice friend with all the prejudices entertained by the average white man against the Negro and [any]everybody related to him however remotely, if you believed as implicitly in the black man's inferiority as the average white American does, just think how you would be disturbed by the fear that you yourself might have a fatal drop lurking some where in your [blue veins] anatomy or that you dearest [might be associating with] friend might be so [?] animated or worst of all that your wife or your husband might have a fatal drop [tainted] and your dear children tainted [likewise] in cause It is enough to make every white man & woman in the country wince. Better said I that is a contingency so remote and a fear as groundless that I should not lie awake nights borrowing trouble over that I assure you. [*turn gray with terror I were white and knew as much as I do now how easy it is for a bleached out mulatto to palm himself off for white. I should land in the lunatic asylum in such a fate.*] It doesn't happen once in a life time that any man or woman who is in any way [*has ever been identified*] with the Negro can lose that identity sufficiently to break into the ranks of the Whites and force the public to accept him as a bona fide white man. That is a [?] of how black rarely if ever happens here. I'll stake my life on that said I. The true believers the two races are too rigidly drawn. The world is small, you know and if have been black in one part of the U.S. and try to be white in another, there are surely chances in a hundred that some old friend or acquaintance and will run upon you unexpectedly some day. and [shock your high] expose you. [Were] Now if I I were white I should I should be willing to run the risk, [and] if I were white, But persisted the Voice, I'll prove it to you. You know [*I should not going around worrying because I might have a fatal black blood drop hidden somewhere in my anatomy. The whole thing is too preposterous & any more than I should be on the anxious seat if I were Olive oil*] but there was in no [white?] [B] water in my composition. Water and oil mix as readily as the two races presently in this country*] Daphne Dill don't you. Well, you know as well as I that she is a colored woman whom the world considers white. [Nothing could] She went to school with you, didn't she? She was colored then--Well, she's white now, isn't she? She is so unquestionably, unmistakably white that her son is the captain of a white military company in a southern school. True said I. Well how did that occur? You remember Beryl Burke in X Minn don't you, and Samuel Slick of George, and etc a host of other folks who had the fatal drop but who suddenly decided to be white and straightaway became white. Then my mind called to mind so many of my friends, colored people with whom had passed on the other side that I had to admit he was right. Then I put on my thinking cap and found that the voice was right -- [So many] as one metamorphosed [colored] sons of Ham after another passed in review before me [that] I began to wonder whether there were any real bona fide union pure [colored] white folks in the United States at all. First there was Daphne Dill, [whose case was quite remarkable.] [We] She and I had grown up colored together at school. Both our parents were colored. She was not strikingly beautiful [at all] but [she] was very attractive. Her complexion was olive and [was olive] she had a wealth of hair that simply covered her when it was allowed to flow loose. She had married a man who like herself might pass in a crowd for a dark skinned foreigner. Their children blessed their union, then the father of [the] family deserted his wife and children to flee the town with a white woman. Left the sole support of her children the little mother struggld desperately to feed & clothe them. As a colored woman she found it next to impossible to secure employment. It occurred to her that if she were white, the way would be comparatively easy. For a long time her great intimate friends lost track of her. The city [was] is large, and though the world is quite small, still it is possible to keep oneself out of the way of friends in a great sized modern metropolis. When [the little woman] Widow Daphne emerged from seclusion both she & her children were white, and as has already been remarked one of her sons is so completely white that he is captain of the military company in his school. Then I thought of another case quite similar to [their] Widow Dill's the scene of which is laid in South Carolina. [In telling me the story the ] A colored woman went into a shoe store to buy a pair of shoes. The only [the] clerk who was at leisure seemed rather reluctant to come forward to serve her. But as the other clerks were busy cd he was finally forced to [wait upon the colored customer] [When the young man finally made up his mind] to come [to her] to ask what she wanted, [the colored] woman [looked up] discovered when he drew near she discovered that he was the son of one of the best friends of her girlhood.* The mother of the young [clerk] ]She had married a fair skinned colored man leaving her with a large family of children. [*[The] She story of this woman is more remarkable than that of Daphne Dill since The metamorphous took place in the same town in which she who had grew up and married as a colored woman and that town is in S.C.] After some time had elapsed, the widow [jumped?] town married a white man, and she and her children from that day forth were white. *[*It remained but a minute for her to take in the situation (Being a clerk in that particular store meant that the boy must be white. For a minute she eyed him closely until she was sure that it could be none other than the child of her old schoolmate & friend--the situation dawned upon her in a minute*]* When you go home, young man, said the colored customer, you tell your mother that you were impolite to Mary Marlow, and see what she says, *Mary Marlow warned = This mother there cd dare were now white.* *Being a clerk in the store [When I went] Mary Marlow went into the store many times after that, [but she resolved to] rebuke him and no one was more eager to serve her than the young son of her [metamorphosed] friend. *[but she resolved to] rebuke him She would not expose him, but she would rebuke him forever. *The temptation to expose him was resisted, if it ever came out & she resolved to rebuke him.* The colored mother, who had undergone the metamorphosis married a fair skinned man of her own race. He died leaving her. The Voice was right, said I. You are right, said I. It is easier to get white than I thought. But you know many more such cases said the Voice, dont stop. Dont you consider the case of Richard Moore even more remarkable? [This would] His case though reverted to this young man. It was quite true for Richard was particularly yellow and his hair was not altogether free from kink. But one of the funniest cases Whatsoever came to my knowledge was that of Roger Jones. Did you ever hear about that. Well he [wants to] went up colored with me played with us boys when a little fellow & went to school with us. He took a notion to leave home to seek his fortune and it struck him after he left that it would be money in his pocket to be white. There was no reason why he shouldn't be. He was [as] fairer than the average Caucasian and so were his mother & father before him, and so were his sisters & brothers around him. Well, he succeeded as a white man in [the] a certain city in Missouri and married one of the belles of the place. She was the daughter of one of the exslave holders who had not lost his fortune during the war, and the family had as much blue blood in to the square inch as anyone of which the South can boast. Well, Grandma Jones who keeps a colored boarding house in her own town by the way, went to Tennessee to pay her son a visit, on the dansé wife and the children were delighted with grandma of course. One day a discussion arose as to what college the grandsons should attend. Don't you know grandma said James, the elder, that Roger wants to go to the University of Virginia while I want to go To Ann Arbor. But why do you suppose Roger [wants to go to] objects to Ann Arbor. He says he wants to go to the University of Virginia, because niggers cant go there, [both] and he wont go to Ann Arbor, because he might have to sit in the same Class with one. Nobody knows what Grandma replied. But that was not the most thrilling experience Grandma had by a long jump. I tell you. The father of the interesting & [?] family died and the widow thought she would give Grandma Jones a pleasant surprise by paying her a visit. One day the Grandma Jones doorbell rung and when it was answered instead of finding a colored boarder [who wanted] before the the dear old lady saw her daughter in law & her children. Instead of fainting or screaming Grandma Jones just slipped on her bonnet & shawl and bundled her white daughter in law and the grandchildren off to a white hotel as fast as the horses legs could carry them. Grandma Jones boarding house was located in a distinctive colored section of the city so it is to be presumed that her daughter in law and the grandchildren were kept away religiously [under] under one pretext [and then] or another. [How] Come to think of it there is our mutual friend Bob Walker said I. Oh yes he turned White in a single night said my friend. He was one of the finest writers [men] on the Philadelphia Bugle you know. But there came a time when in the natural and usual order of events he should receive a promotion. He presented himself to the proprietor of the Bugle and urged his claims. Now the proprietor was one of the [most justest] best [on the] and most generous men you ever knew. [He had no more prejudice] The Progress of Colored Women [*New statistics prevous on presentations powers of evil more aggressive & blatant*} It is difficult [for colored people] to understand why many intelligent white people who are deeply interested in their dark brothers & sisters know so little about the progress & the prowess [of] [From] [private] Conversations with intelligent white people who are deeply interested in their brothers & sisters in black convinces me that the progress and prowess of the latter are The progress & prowess of intelligent, aspiring colored people are [many] to many related about to many well informed white people in this country even though to they are who are deeply interested in their brothers & sisters in black. [Private conversations] This will be hardly questioned by anybody who keeps in close touch with the best & highest representatives of the American Negro and [converses with white bo?] knows the extent of the information concerning them possessed by the average white man. In other words the more things in Heaven & earth the black Americans than ever dreamt [the] in the philosohy of their brothers & sisters in white. [although] This lack of information, [tive concerning dark men] perhaps it is better say this vagueness concerning the work & worth of colored is not difficult difficult to explain. It is more [less] difficult to obtain statistics concerning them, Even those who are bent on [investigations] securing facts & figures about [ing] [on] many phases of the American Negro's life, afraid it almost impossible to obtain them. [Comparatively few books preference] These it is easy enough to lay hold of books filled with theories, and opinions concerning the Negros volumes discussing the problems in its victory which are in number [to] like unto the sands of the easy. It is far easier to find a learned treatise proving the inferiority of he Negro, than it is to get one giving the exact number of [intelligent] colored people who are good citizens own their own homes and who are a power for good in the communities in which live. [*The Negro is really only 40 yrs old*] The American Negro is so new, as a race, [and that had even a short time in] that the book makes have hardly had [which have to accomplish anything time [in which] to record what he has done. [Forty years] In order to keep abreast with the American Negro, one therefore must [have a running] be constantly reading a running commentary on his life and works. Newspapers from all over the country, N,E,S,W must be brot into requisition, if one wishes to be correctly informed [in order to learn] get information concerning an adequate idea of the Negro struggles & his triumphs In order to appreciate his success, it is necessary to know how great are the obstacles he is obliged to overcome. To the lack of books, of the scarcity of reference material statistics concerning the Negro simply be attributed [*concerning*] the ignorance which generally prevails. There is another reason why he is frequently misunderstood and why many who are interested in & would like to think well of him [abo] [under so many discussions concerning him] underestimate or scorn him. The essences of the Negro circulate industriously false reports about certain tendencies and traits so as the prejudice those who [have little] would otherwise be his friend about him against them. [Starting in the] The most bitter enemy the Negro has [claims to] works so insidiously and cleverly against him that it is difficult to discredit or defeat him in his nefarious work. The most bitter [?] in those who might suspect him of hatred or malice by declaring he is the black man's best friend. No matter what the white enemy does, he always explains to himself and as his belief in the satisfaction of attempts by postulating that he is the black man's best friend. When he shackled the black mans limbs dwarfed his mind crushed his spirit and broke his heart, he raised his eyes aloft to heaven & called to witness that he was the Negro's best friend. When [the] in [Negro mans [?]] guise one knocked at the Negro's [cabin] door at a [?] and shot the unprotected innocent victim when he [answered as to a friend,] opined it all [to] this [to] he did to the world unasked because the bullet that freed this black man was the Negros best friend. Thousands of black men have been lynched, some of then [f]are] [no offence] innocent of crime as an infant, but, the intelligent & humane they are asked to believe were hurled into eternity [resistiveness?} by priest & untried by law by this their best friend. In certain sections of the country [Those which the lyncher has mercifully spared have been deprived of their citizenship in the courts--& also by th[is]e same best friends who have never been free [showing] of showering such benefits--and pouring forth with gifts.] Trust by intimidation by [Negros] it and finally by unjust laws the Negros asking likes of citizenship has Men invested in notions from the Negro by the same very best friend. Laws have been framed & in some instances enacted to make it indiffrent or possible for the negro to secure an education by his very best friend. By [dont] with money to save and weary tormented [the] by hunger & thirst the Negro may with by the hour trying [the heart of his best] in trying in vain to find shelter or food in hope of public rain. but all in vain [even] in the land of his best friend. Let one of the [despaired] despised race have the wisdom of Socrates the wealth of Galliard facts and figures, I initially reply, and that is all I can do! Now if there were a number of intelligent and refined women like yourself, my white friends frequently say, the problem would be virtually solved and [when I tell them], say The woods is full of them, it is impossible, I say, But for [the individual] my sister or brother in white to suppress as a look or tone of incredulity. [Although colored people themselves find] It is difficult for colored people to understand why [well intentioned] broad minded intelligent white people who labor under so many misapprehensions concerning their race. Nothing is more certainly explained than the meagreness of information about the better class of colored people which so generally [where] prevails. There are so few facts in the newspapers and magazines to the achievements of the colored people [along lines] in the higher walks of life. Now and then an usually gifted negro [reaches] achieves a brilliant success and his name & fame are heralded abroad of [?] [?] For instance, a few years ago in Chicago a large number of young men of the dominant race and only colored girl competed for a scholarship scholarship entitling the successful competitor to an entire course through the Chicago University, or a result of the examination which was held, the only colored girl among them stood first and thus captured this great prize. Such a remarkable achievement [exhibition of the party ] & triumph on the part of a colored girl is duly chronicled by the press of course [It is no] Everybody who is at all interested in the subject can read of this bright colored girl - But the papers do not keep a record of the great army of [intelligent] colored girls who year after year graduate from the best colleges, universities, high & normal schools in the land - It is not the business of the press to gather & point these statistics. While it is possible to procure them from other sources, it involves time and trouble to do so, hence the average man or woman is unwilling to expend further - The result is that the majority of white people in the country who are deeply interested in the negro know little about the number of colored youth who acquit themselves credit in the best [instituions of the country] universities. [There is necessity a] In the various college or university of any repute in the country to which women are [received] admitted, from which colored girls have not graduated with honors. [From] In Oberlin, whose name will always be loved and whose praise will ever be sung as the 1st institutions in the country which was just, broad & generous enough to extend a special invitation to the Negro & to open the doors to women on an equal footing with men, from Ann Arbor, Cornell, Wellesley Vassar & Smith colored girls have achieved signal success as students & have thus forever stilled the question of their capacity & worth . The earnestness & eagerness with which colored women have devoted themselves to the acquisition of knowledge is only exceeded by their earnestness [with] which they [need] applied it to elevation of their race. Cultivating a colored woman's brain unless to broaden & mellow her heart so that [?] rarely to see those who have received a thorough education in whom the missionary spirit not highly developed. When the [sooner had] colored women availed themselves of the educational advantages which they could receive than they began to dispense it to the unfortunate of their race - [as teachers of colored youth] colored women. [have wrought a wonderful amount of good] Of the colored teachers engaged in instructing our youth, it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that fully 90 are colored - In the backwood on the plantation visiting with ignorance colored women may be found battling with those evils which such conditions always entail. Many a dusky heroine of whom the world will never hear has thus sacrificed her life to her race amid surroundings & in the face of privation such as martyrs alone can endure. More than one [*benediction*] school in the South today stands as a monument to the earnestness and energy of a colored woman. Perhaps no better example could be cited than the Woodward & Lothrop 10th-11th F and G STS. N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. Name Mrs. R,H, Terrell Address 326- Tea Wrapper 12 WE DESIRE TO NOTIFY OUR CUSTOMERS THAT WE DO NOT HOLD OURSELVES RESPONSIBLE FOR PACKAGES LEFT AT DEPOTS OR WHARVES OR AT ANY PLACE WHERE RECEIPTS ARE REFUSED. The Progress of Colored Women [[Should] If any one should ask me what special phase of the Negro's development makes me most hopeful of his ultimate triumphs over future obstacles, I should answer interestingly, it is the magnificent work the women are doing to regenerate and uplift the race.] No race need ever despair whose women are fully aroused to the duties resting upon them and are willing to [assume] shoulder responsibilites which they alone can successfully assume. [For years either banding them] There are many things which discourage & dishearten the Negro, [there are some things] she has some [?] for which to be thankful. Not the least of these is the progress of the women in everything which makes for the culture of the individual and the elevation of the race. [From the day the] Only 40 yrs ago the majority of colored women groaned in bondage shackles fell from the colored womans limbs to the present time she has subjected to hardship which neither human nor home law seemed able to soften & surrounded by influences wh put a premium upon immorality & made chastity an impossibility. But from the [?] their fetters. But [?] [?]en a?sailed Universities alter [?????] Miss Lucy Lanly. Mother Washington Nun Bowen. Yates mine W Sig trainer Williams. Surprise is expressed that there so many educated colored women. [of] Not long ago a [company] few of colored women who occasionally [deliver] addresses [before organizations] white audiences of white] Most live there in a small company and began to compare notes. [concerning] It is amazing, said one, how little the most enlightened white people knew about colored people, after all. [They were to] [possess little enough information concerning] Their knowledge of the progress & processes of the men [of the ] men of this race is not what might be expected but when it comes to the women, it is astonishing how meager their information is. On several occasions, [with ple] I have [been invited to] spoken of the work [our] colored women are doing, I [became] saw] [of people] men [who] the audience have come to me and [it pierced] confessed that the greatest surprise that there so many colored women & that they were So earnessthy & actively engaged in work for their race. That is exactly my experience said [another] one. [Some] I have seen often asked [bef] of some whether it is possible [many] statements concerning the number of well educated colored women, and the Family of enterprises [and] within which they engage, sometimes both for their own individual had fit and [for the all] again as for the good of the race as a whole. [I usually answer such a] I have given you names and dates the heart of a servant, the face of an angel he is [hardly] forced to ride in a stuffy apartment on a railway train called the Jim Crow car. 4 [?] of & herself in comfort. There was comparatively little poverty in the town near Chicago in which she had been from & reared and she had thot little about the poverty & distress arising therefrom. As she read file after file [slip after another] giving the military history of the soldiers setting forth the disabilities of those [soldiers] who had returned from the war she realized suddenly what [a butterfly] she had been & how these men had suffered. On the slip which Daphne had filled out [The file containing one soldiers record show that] she had to ascertain 1st where the soldier was discharged, the date, How he was discharged, whether by demobilization or by an S.C.D. as the surgeons certificate of disability [an S.C.D as it is always] usually abbreviated in the files section Then [the] she tried to see whether the diagnosis made by the army doctors was given on the soldiers Hon discharge or was on the certificate of dis & this fact had to be recorded on the slip. If the [*slip had to show whether*] abstract from the government had been received or not. Sometimes the file contained only the Discharge & not the abstract. If it had been [*If neither*] received she had to write the word Requested so that the A. Generals office would supply the medical section with the necessary facts. Her slip had to show whether there was a medical report in file, if so when what If neither appeared in the files, [the] those request [*were nothing to indicate*] for the medical history of the If [neither appeared] in the files, and no such figures in the back of the files indicated that the Adj. G. O had already been requested. If the diagnosis made by the Army [doctors] appeared on neither the S.C.D. nor [or] the copy of the soldiers Hon Discharge, [it was had] Burke to attach a printed request to the Ad Gen to forward as soon as possible the medical history of the man. The ship had also to show whether there was a medical report, whether the [soldier] disabled soldier had already been sent to a hospital [either] supported either by the Gov. or the State. If he had been [been the name of the place] sent to a Govt Hospital the name of the city would be sufficient. For instance opposite the word where Houston would be written of the disabled soldier lived in OK La or Tex. [or Boston if he lived.] Then the diagnosis made by the Hospital had to be recorded. The percent of the disability [?] opposite the word Remarks & any important statement [with] made by the examining physician with reference to the patient had to be recorded. In order to secure all these facts it was necessary to read all the papers in the files very carefully indeed. [[And so it happened] Even if Burke had not cared to that the pathetic letters written by the men or their families some frequently] [Even if Burke had not cared to read about the terrible diseases in which the soldiers were afflicted or the wounds they received if she secured she could not stop in this painful task.] Even if Burke had not cared to wade thru this harrowing record of the diseases with which the soldiers were afflicted and the terrible wounds the had received in order to secure the necessary information she cd not shirk this painful task. [[One day in going thru] The file of a certain young soldier she had been very much impressed with the doctors description of the patient which read as follows- John Doe is dull] The patient is dull [read one the] was the doctors description of one young man only 24 yrs in a western hospital. He is - How glad I am that no one near & dear to me has such a pitiable mental affliction as this young [she] said as she handed the bill to the clerk whose duty it was to examine it correct the work [if it were necessary] This is the last one on my desk, she continued - Have you anything else for me to do? Just to be obeying, take these and the woman addressed by her [pushe?] opened the 3rd file - she grew pale, placed both her hands against her desk & A stater Mrs. M Moseley 643 R. St falsehood. He would prove that he did not have a drop of colored blood in his veins. He admitted that he had been reared in C____ S.C. by a colored W one who he declared interestingly that was not his mother but his Mammy. [[The file] After a certain length of time he] After this went with her fiancés father he went to New York [presented his fiancées father with a certificate] [but] when he returned he bore with a certificate signed by a certain Catholic priest who claimed to have baptized him & that Brandons mother was a white woman and have placed him in the care of the colored woman who[m] was thot by Brandon [supposed] to be his mother. Well you may be mistaken, said I. [Suppose] Might that not have been true. Not a word of truth in it . Brandon was not the only child. These sisters & brothers were as fair as he was, and several were even fairer. But he was the living image of his mother. If his mother had been alive and he had denied her [before a judge] and she asked for a trial by Jury to settle the case Brandon would have lost if he had ever stood beside his mother. Then [What] the [resemblance] Jury could see them together. But the question is where did the priest get the certificate. Intelligent Colored women are learning more and more every day the [advantage] benefits to be derived from joining clubs & [composed of] coming in contact with women whose advantages have been superior to those they themselves have enjoyed. [Wherever it is possible] [But colored women they join their own organization as a rule feeling even though that is] [But] In many cities & towns of the North East & West, there are so few colored people that it is not possible to form a colored [woman's] club. It would [clearly] work great hardship [& be a cruel [?]] to these [few] isolated colored women [in these innumerable towns] who are seeking to improve & [for light and are] anxious to cultivate themselves if they were debarred from clubs of white women in the North East & West who are perfectly willing to receive them but who are forced to shut them out simply because [other] white women miles away have so ordered [dearth] There was not a particle of prejudice about him, but when Don Walter asked [for] to be promoted, he simply told him that it was impossible to give a colored man such a prominent and conspicuous position as that for which he asked. From that day forth, Bob was white. [He was] We wondered [what might] [his] how he succeeded, for he was none too fair of complexion to begin and his hair was far from straight. In fact he was what we boys used to call a colored Strawberry blonde. But he passed for white all right. He left his friends & went nobody knew where [And so] Before the conversation ended my friend and I had counted more than fifty colored people with whom we were personally acquainted who had transferred themselves to bag and baggage to the dominant race. Some had gone for one reason and school, you know. White and black boys [were interested] sat in the same classes together side by side & resided together. [Nobody] Dave was not stupid but nobody [ever] predicted that he would ever set the world afire by any stray heated generated in his [own] brain. But the great thout occurred later on, which taken in the flood led to fortune certainly and fame of a certain Kind. I happened one day to be in Judson Gordon's Office, Gordon is a real estate dealer you know, when my old friend and college mate stopped in. Hello Dave, said I. Hello Jack said he, laid a paper on Gordon's desk & went out. [Do] Why do you know that man said [the] my colored [customer] client in who s [happened] interest I had gone to Gordon's office. Yes sir I replied I think I do. We used to room together--we were college chums when we attended the University of South Carolina Oh you must be mistaken he said my client, David Brandon is not a colored man. I think I ought to know I answered. I have visited at his home I know his father & mother better than I do you. Youre as edgy as a March Hare, said Gordon, the white real estate man. That man isn't colored. He has married Mr. D's daughter, who is an heir in his own right. Then it dawned upon me for the first time that my old friend Brandon had really passed over the line, and I had revealed a secret known to very few. The next time I saw Dave Brandon, he did not speak to me, and I felt woe that Gordon had repeated what I said, Then I investigated his case and I discovered [that he] something really sensational. Just after he was engaged [before he married his] to rich wife, he rang the bell one night at her door, and was admitted by her father. I do not wish you to call upon my daughter any more said the father. I have learned that you are colored. Of course brandon was paralyzed on the spot, and when he recovered himself he denied the allegation in & as an absurd and a much [offers?] for another. Some had deliberately chosen what they decided to be the wiser & better part in the very city in which they had lived for [[presided?]] a longer or shorter period as colored. Others had moved with their families into some remote region and had settled down in their new home as white. When this happens it means that the colored relations & friends from whom they have forever separated themselves [?] [?] [?] In such case it rarely happened that their whereabouts [are] were known to the colored relatives & friends from where they have separated themselves forever. [The [?] one thinks what a small] The world is but a small ball after all and it seems strange that it is possible for people to burn the racial bridge behind them as completely and successfully as have colored people who have made up their minds to to be white. The very boldness [of] & audacity of the scheme seem to be a safeguard & shield against detection. If these chamelonic colored people ever suffer because because of the suspicions that are whispered or the rumors that float [Nobody] It has have never reached my ears. Success has [?] upon them [sober] every [?] myself have any personal case of which I [have] [?] knowledge. It is one of those truths which are known to be stranger than fiction. The conversation had begun so amicably and had proceeded so peaceably and near [?] disastrously however. My friend insists that it is perfectly right & proper for individuals who are handicapped, humiliated & even hounded because they are identified with a despised race to leave it, whenever it is possible, if by so doing they can better their condition. Would you, said he, have men & women who really [belong more to the] have more whites blood than African in their veins, remain with the Blacks of this country to their own detriment and hurt. Charity begins at home my friend. It could serve no good purpose to have colored people who can pass for white remain with the Negro. I don't see that [he said] the race as a whole would be elevated or helped thereby while the individuals [themselves are] who pass over the line are [?] benefitted vastly for they can make careers as white men which would be impossible to them as colored. [It never] [Finding me uncon] I could not be convinced that is I can not see it as you do said I, but I grateful to you for one thing at least. [*You have shown me*] I feel now that it is a veritable blessing to be black. A certainty is so much better than an uncertainty. [What the po] Haunted by the fear that I myself, or my best friend or my nearest relative might have a single drop of black blood coursing throug the veins, which would [then] be sufficient [make] to make me black, how wretched I should be, if I were white. But take the case of Jim Brandon. That's about as remarkable as any on record I didn't know Jim Brandon and I said so. Missed half your life, if you didn't know Jim said my friend. Well we were boys together in the University of South Carolina. Right after the war that was mixed Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.