to be repeated. Individuals and races have their opportunity which if neglected never comes again. If the Negro race cannot see and seize this one, the increasing competition of urban life, the ever-augmenting complexity of our civilization, will find him unprepared, and the outlook for him is dark indeed. He will remain a helot, not bound by the material shackles that bound his limbs in slavery times, but as much a slave as though those fetters remained."6

"Dr. Booker Washington is right, emphasize the opportunities, and what opportunities! Would to God the rural labourer of my own race in my native land had such a chance. Imagine it a land of sunshine, not too hot nor too cold, abundant rainfall distributed through the year, timber for all purposes, firewood at the door, and streams of clear water running through the land. I shall show elsewhere how the Negro may get a home of his own in this land, meantime I ask my readers to take my word for it that any able-bodied, intelligent, industrious, thrifty Negro may have a home of his own in these surroundings, and what a home he could make! Seeing the opportunity standing out so clearly— even I, just a visitor, felt my fingers itch to grasp axe and spade and make a beginning. . . ."7

"Has the race the insight to see the great opportunity and the concentrated force of purpose to seize it? For there is a great opportunity open to the mass of the Negro people, such as is offered to few of the backward races of the world." 8

Another Englishman, Sir Harry H. Johnston, says that "nowhere in the world-certainly not in Africa-has the Negro been given such a chance of mental and physical development as in the United States."

Black and White in the Southern States, p. 259.

'Ibid., p. 110.

• Ibid., p. 248.

The Negro in the New World, p. 478.

CHAPTER 72

FAITH IN ACHIEVEMENT

Paths of Hope in the Direction of Revivification of the Negro's Religion-The Development of His Natural Esthetic Aptitudes-The Complexity and Multiplicity of the Difficulties of the Negro Problem-Likelihood of Compensating Advantages to Both Races If Each Faces the Problem with Soldierly Courage and Faith in Human Destiny

T

`HERE are large possibilities in the direction of revivifying the Negro's religious life. The religious impulse is very strong in the Negro race, and there is no reason why this impulse should not be turned in a direction which would lead to a profound transformation in the moral vigor of the race.

There is need of a higher type of man in the Negro ministry, and, as a prerequisite to meeting this need, there must be a reconstruction of Negro theological schools. At present there are too many Negro theological schools, their scholastic standards are too low, and their curricula are too unrelated to the ethical aspects of life. In the task of consolidating these schools, and of introducing higher standards and more social science, there are splendid openings for distinguished leadership.

Also, no less inviting opportunities for leadership lie in the direction of developing the Negro's æsthetic aptitudes. It is well known to all students of the Negro race that the æsthetic propensities and talents of the race are very strong. Gobineau stated it as his opinion that the Negro is the most æsthetic of all races. Now, there is no telling what wonderful strides the Negro might make in securing a better economic footing, and in elevating his moral status through the development of æsthetic crafts and products. In woven work, wood work, metal work, and pottery, and in all kinds of decorative art, there are open doors for the Negro, to say nothing of music, the art in which the Negro has shown the most conspicuous talent. From New York to Florida, Negro musicians used to be employed exclusively for the dances and other social functions of the white people; but their places are now taken by white musicians, not because of race prejudice

but because white musicians have learned to play by note and furnish better music. The wonderful musical aptitudes of the Negro have remained undeveloped and, for the most part, have gone to waste largely because the leaders of the race have been too exclusively absorbed in theology and politics.

The foregoing suggestions of opportunities for the betterment of the Negro race are not intended as offering a solution to the Negro problem, but only as setting forth the present paths of hope. No matter what program may be followed by the white people or by the Negroes, the Negro problem will not be solved as long as the Negro is a part of our population. But the impossibility of a solution is no reason for pessimism, or for relaxing our efforts in behalf of promoting the welfare of the two races. Much can certainly be done in the line of eliminating useless and hurtful conflicts. The very difficulties, perplexities, and sufferings which the Negro and the white man have had to face, and will have to face in the future, as a result of their coming in contact, may result in a blessing to both. In the case of races, as in the case of individuals, the highest mental and moral culture is never attained except under conditions which necessitate surmounting catastrophe, misfortune, and broken hopes. It is the ability to suffer and triumph over adversities that develops the manly man, and also the exalted race. Disasters and handicaps of every kind are only demoralizing to an individual or race when they are overwhelming or when the individual or race lacks the faith and courage to cope with them.

It is possible for the white man in the South to rise to a higher plane of culture than otherwise would be possible to him, if he but measure up to his full responsibilities. And, also, it is possible for the Negro to rise to a higher plane than otherwise would be possible to him, as a consequence of his handicaps in the way of degrading servitude, and economic and social proscriptions, if he but measure up to his full responsibilities. The Jews, who have suffered more than any other race on account of misfortune, persecution, and prejudice, have learned to make a virtue of every adversity, and to-day are second to no race in mental and moral achievements.

The field is broad enough in the United States for both the Negro and the Caucasian to make their respective contributions to the world's progress, and for each to help the other where the pathway is steep and stony.

Above all, it is incumbent upon us to have faith that our endeavors

will achieve results outrunning our present knowledge and vision. In the great undertakings of a race, nation, or individual, achievement always goes beyond the mark aimed at when accompanied by earnest striving and faith. Our initiative and our courage are apt to take a wrong tack and falter, if not sustained by the feeling that somehow, in the eternal and universal unfolding, better things will come to pass than we can foresee.

The main thing to do in reference to the Negro problem is not to formulate a program or policy with the conviction that we have at last discovered some solution, but to be ever pressing forward, courageously striving in the direction of our higher hopes and standards. We should ever sail toward the stars but at the same time keep a sharp eye for the rocks.

A reason why we cannot formulate a general program or policy covering the whole Negro problem is that the problem differs in each state, in each county of the several states and in each separate community of each county. For instance there are counties in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama which have fewer Negroes than some counties in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, or Rhode Island. In Lowndes County, Alabama, there are over 30,000 Negroes, and in Winston County, Alabama, only seven The people in our Northern states who are finding the Negro problem difficult should realize how much more difficult it is in the South. All we have done toward a solution is to make a first step. What is the next? Our business is to watch it. While the problem is a puzzle to the intellect, it is a challenge to the heart! It is not given to man to look far into the future. The greatest advances of civilization have come about without any one's having had the vision to foresee or predict them. They have been made possible only by the strenuous endeavor of millions of men pressing toward a goal whose outlines were dim and indefinable.

"The truth is," says Cooley, "that it is often one of the requisites of progress that we trust to the vague, the instinctive, the emotional, rather than to what is ascertained and intellectual. The spirit takes on form and clarity only under the stress of experience; its newer outreachings are bound to be somewhat obscure and inarticulate. . . . The opinion sometimes expressed that social science should set forth a definite, tangible criterion of progress is also, I think, based on a false conception of the matter, derived, perhaps, from mechanical theories of evolution. Until man himself is a mechanism the lines of his higher

destiny can never be precisely foreseen. It is our part to form ideals and try to realize them, and these ideals give us a working test of progress, but there can be nothing certain or final about them." 1

The attainment of a solution of the Negro problem is like the attainment of a state of liberty, in behalf of which we have been throwing up our hats, and towards which we have been struggling, for several thousand years, a thing forever indefinable and impossible, as long as human life and its conditions are susceptible of improvement. Life is a process of growth, ever requiring infinite renewals and readjustments, and we must ever struggle upward toward an ideal which can never be realized.

No two races could possibly offer more striking contrasts than the Anglo-American and the Negro. The one has self-reliance, sequestration, Puritan rigor, and an inclination to morbid introspection. The other has a childish spontaneity and nonchalance, and a disposition to lean upon any one of strong will and self-assertion. The Negro loves the street life, the crowd, and the spectacular. He is loquacious, fond of worldly amusements, and knows how to enjoy himself wholeheartedly and without restraint. The Anglo-American crosses bridges before he gets to them, and his evil forebodings always cloud his pathway to an extent which his actual experiences rarely justify. And, when adversity, in fact, overtakes him, he is often sour or downhearted for the rest of his life. The Negro always looks forward optimistically to a better day, he sees the rainbow in the storm, and when bowed down under the most crushing misfortune, he displays a healthy aptitude for recovery, and his tears of sorrow are quickly transformed into sparkles of mirth. The morbidness of the white man has been undoubtedly meliorated by the humor and rollicking disposition of the Negro, and the excessive emotionalism of the Negro has been meliorated by the introspective and inhibitory traits of the white man. May we not hope that the conflict of these two opposite races will work out a compensating advantage to both, and that the final outcome will justify all that the conflict has cost?

LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL SOURCES USED IN THE

PREPARATION OF THE TEXT

Adams, Charles Francis, "Light Reflected from Africa," Century Magazine,

Vol. 72, n. s. Vol. 50.

Allen, James Lane, Two Gentlemen from Kentucky.

'The Social Process, p. 406.