Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-04-24

j have been anti-slavery IN my
views from my youth up, and /
honestly rejoiced in the emanci-
patton of the Southern negroes;
but / am now honestly convinc-
ed that emancipation has been
to them, in its results, a huge
disappointment. Their ideas as
to what freedom was to bring
to them were extremely crude
and grotesquely extrayagant.
They thought that they would
in some mysterious way be sud
denly lifted into the position Of
the white people. They thought
that the white people-not the
"po' white trash than whom the
negroes always thought them
selves better, but the better class
Of white people had nothing to
do but to ride about ON horses
and in carriages and enjoy eve
rything that heart could crave.
They thought that freedom"
was, somehow, to lift them up
into this position; that at least
they would have nothing to do
and plenty TO eat and wear. So,
when their ''freedom" was pro-
claimed to them in 1865, they
left the plantations and rushed
in crowds to the nearest military
post to look their emancipators
in the face, hoping that, i'll some
mysterious manner, their libe-
rators would confer upon them
their impossible ideal" Of what
freedom was to be to them. The
scenes in those days, the roads in
every direction lined with bands
Of negro men, women and chill
dren in their gayest and most
grOtesque dresses, going to see
their liberators and get from
them their "freedom," can never
be forgotten by any enc who wit
messed them. The negroes were
told to 60 back to the plantations
and work out the crops, and at
the end Of the year they should
be divided among them. In this
they were sadly disappointed,
but trained to obedience they
went back and worked as they
had been told to do. Soon the
hope sprung up among them that,
not only the crops, but the plan
tations and mules would be divi-
ded and distributed among them
at the end Of the year. In this
they were again disappointed,
But ''hope springs eternal in the
human breast" and the negro in
his deep ignorance is credulous
enough to believe anything told
him. They were now told that
President johnson and his party
were keeping them out Of their
rights, and even attempting to
bring them back into slavery,
and that they must now fell iii
with their friends and elect Gen.
Grant to the Presidency, and that
when elected he would give to
each one Of them "forty acres
Of land and mule" The hope
Of obtaining this boon held the
negroes to the cid plantation and
held them in the South. But
years went by and this hope was
not fulfilled, and gradually the
conviction began to creep
through their thick skulls that
they had been dcludcd, and as
this hope died cut negro emigra-
ton to the West began to set in.
They have been told that out
West the government owns
boundless acres Of lands, and
that out there, and especially in
Kansas, homes are to be had by
simply going and taking possess
ion Of them. Many Of them be-
lieve this and go West, still in
search Of the "forty acres and
a mule"
FREEDOM ONLY IN 4 FREE STATE.
They also have an idea that
.heir social condition will be I'M
proved in the free States. They
see they can never be lifted to
anything like social equality in
the South. They hope to inn
prove their social condition by
getting into the free States.
They realize the fact that their
emancipation in the South has
only lifted them from slavery to
seridom.
Behind all this stands the fact
that tie negro in the South is
systemat cdiy cheated out Of his
wages. This is done in this way
9The negro is ambitious to be a
| farmer OH "his own hook" lie
rents a tract of land and the
landlord has a lien against the
whole crop for the rental. 1t
is a penitentiary offence to move
any part Of the crop from the
place before the landlord is sat-
isfied for his rents. The landlord
has tie first claim on what the
negro makes.
RUINOUS ADVANCES.
In nine cases ont Of ten the
negro has not a dollar with which
to make his crop. He must get
advances from the money lender.
The money lender is always a