Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-03-20
The Plantation Negro a. . Freeman.

1
We have received from the publishers,
Messrs. G P Putnam's Sons. of New Yc1K the
latest addition to their valuable series Of
Questions of the Day." in the shape ofa vol
ume Of some $50 pages on "The Plantation Ne
gro az a Freeman"
The book is the work OF Mr.. Philip A. Bruce.
of Richmond. virginian of the post belt,sm
generation. who has gathered his facts during
a residence from boyhood on one Of the largest
tobacco plantations in southside virginia.and
| whose liberal and enlightened attitude to-
wards the question he discusses is the out.
growth of the training he received as student
| at the two representative Institutions of learn.
| ing in America-the University of virginia
and Harvard.
Whatever may be the condition of the liberia.
ted and enfran chised colored person who
dwells in immediate contact with the progress
Of events. having his habitat on the outskirts
of the white mans village or town this volume
shows that the negro of the plantation living
in the great Black Belt that runs from Virgin
ia to Texas, has made no great and permanent
gains from the gift of freedom. Like the boon
vouchsafed by the old Greek Gods to Midas, it
has captured his Imagination with Its SPLEEN
dor and left him IN state of M entail and moral
restitution.
Removed from the Influences which sur
rounded him in slavery, the plantation negro
has lapsed back with unexampled celebrity into
his Guinea coast habits and customs of YOU
dooism, copjuration and trickery. Released
from the restraints imposed by the system out
Of which he was elected. full-panoplied with
all the rights of an American citizen, he has
shown himself uns table in purpose destitute
of moral sense. lacking in intellectual power,
in his dom estic relations. superadded TO this
uninviting array of personal characteristics,
he displays in undated vigor the reckless i'm.
providence which was a natural result of his
status as slave.
The picture is som bre, and distressing in It's
detail; but SO impartially and accurately
drawn that the radical Boston Advertiser in
an elaborate editorial review of the book says:
"Mr. Bruce's analysis OF the mental and
moral characteristics of the modern negro of
tbs famous Black Belt is as impersonaI as a
scientists analysis OF the traits of some ante
diluvian animal might be-"
The overwhelming array of suggestive facts
points to inevitable conclusions. In its
pages Is seen drawn in uncolored verify the
spectacle Of the emancipated and enfranchised
rural African after a quarter of a century of
freedom and citizenship. He is held up to
view. stripped of the sentiment which haloes
"Uncle Tom" and the heroes of the story
tellers. and in all of his disagreeable and unat-
tractive reality. In the contemplation of him,
as Mr. Bruce portrays him, 1t is not difficult to
realize the tremendous and far reaching sig.
nificance of the act which made him the
political peer the inherited virtue, wisdom,
and refinement OF a thousand years. or to IN
derstand the roison d'etre of that profound
which animates the Southern white
conviction that the safety of
society demands the continued supremacy of
the white race in the administration of State
and local government in the South.