Journal of freedom. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1865-186?, 1865-10-14

Ia the very ne8rG OF ECHlOPAo,
1t a time when all Europe houndered IN
the debts ofignorance and barbarlsm.-
dwelt on the grandeur, magnlhcence
and stupendous dimensions of Egyptla
architecture and held up the fact now
generally admitted that that race was
of mechanical forces of which the
generations of men are Ignorant.
We pointed to the nautical skill, COM
enterprise and military proWess
Of Carthage, and have justly claimed re-
lationship with those great nations OF
antiquity. We are q dark people-so
were they. They stood between us and
the Europeans In point of complexion as
we'll as in point of geography. We nave
contended-and not illogically-that II
the fact of COLOR was no barrier to civil
cation in their case, it cannot be in ours.
Our second answer has been drawn
from modern examples. These have not
| confess, been very numerous or striking,
but enough to demonstrate the presence
ofhighly progressive and clvlllzlng ele-
ments In the colored race. We find them
in Africa-we find them written down IN
the interesting travels:ofB arth, Living
stone and Wilson. We find them In
Hayti and we find them in our "
country. Our third answer has been the
unfavorable influences under which OF
race has been placed by Christendom
during the last three centuries. Where
under the whole heavens was there ever q
race SO blasted and withered so shorn and
bereft ofall opportunities for development
as, ourselves. It would seem that the
whole Christian world had combined for
the destruction of our race, and had UNI
moned heaven and hell, philosophy and
revelation, to assist in the work. Our
history has been but a track of blood
Gaunt and hungry sharks have followed
us on slave ships by sea, and the hungrier
and greedier slave drivers have followed
us during all these years with the bloody
slave whip on land. The question forced
upon as at every moment OF u genera
tions has not been, as with other races OF
men, how shall we adorn, beautifully,
exalt and ennoble life but how shall We
retain life itself. The struggle with US
was not to do, but to be-. Mankind lost
our human nature in the idea of our being
property, and the whole machinery OF so
ciety was planned, directed and operated
to the making us a stupid, spiritless .igno-
rant, besotted, bruti6ed and utterly de-
graded race of men.
Thus far we have derived little advan-
tage from any apologies we have made or
from any explanations we have patiently
given. Our relationship to the ancient
Egyptians has been denied the prog
ress made by the emancipated people of
the West Indies is not believed, and men
still insist that the fault of our ignor-
ance is not in slavery, but in ourselves.
So stood the question concerning US up
to the second year of the fierce and SAN
culinary rebellion new s~ubsiding. Since
then the cclored man has come before the
country in a new light. He has illus
trated the highest qualities of a patriot
and a soldier. He has ranged himself
on. the side of the government and coun-
try and maintained both against rebels
and traitors on the perilouS edge of bat
tie. They are now, many of them, sleep
ing side by side in bloody graves with
the bravest and best of all our loyal
white soldiers, and many of those who
remain alive are Scared and battered
veterans-mere stumps of men-armless,
legless, MANNED and mutilated ones are
met with in the streets of every city
The veriest enemies of our race must
now admit that we have at least one ele-
ment of civilization. It is settled. that
we have manly courage, that we love oul
country, and that we will fight for an
idea. Both governments-the Rebel as
well as the Federal-admittsd the ener.
Fgy that slumbered in the black mans
arm, and both, at the last, ~endeavored tc
render that energy useful. But the
charge still remains. Now, what are
those elemental and original powers O.
civilization about which men speak and
write so earnestly, anG which white mer
claim for themselves and deny to the ne.
gre? I answer that they are simply
consciousness of wants and ability t.
crafty them. Here the whole machine
ry of civilization, whether moral, intel.
lectual or physical, is set in motion.
Man is distinguished from all othel
animals, butt in nothing is he distinguish.
ed more than in this, namely, resistance
active and constant resistance to thu
forces of physical nature. All other an
finals submit to the same conditions anc
limitationsfrom generation to generation
The bear to-day is as he was a thousand
years ago. Nature provides him with
feod, clething and shelter, and he is nei
Their wiser nor better because of the .ex.
perience of his bearish ancestors. Ne
so with man. He learns from the past
improves upon the past, logks back upor
the past, and hands down his knowledo,
of the past to after coming generation