Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-10-26
THE NEGRO a THE SOUTH.
REV. o. SUMMERS GIVES HIS VIEWS ON
THE SUBJECT.
Having Been Born Slave He is Quail
fed to speak-The so-CalIed
Race War"

the pen of Rev. o. Summers, pastor of the
A. NJ. E. Church in this city:
EDS. RFcoRD- UNION: l have been asked
by my white friends, more especially those
who are on the fence. or that are tinctured
with Southern principles, why it is that the
negro is treated so mean in the South.
will try and explain some of the facts.
You will remember when we read the his
tory of the Jewish bondage in Egypt that
Israers enslavem ent and its emancipation
is not like that of the American negro, as
the American negro had to assistin emanci-
pating himself He WAS furnished arms
and ammunition to shoot down his master,
and 10000 of them were enlisted IN the
Union army, and were commanded by
white officers, who were from the North.
The Southern people hated these men as
bad, or worse than they did their own
negroes. Now after the war was over, the
Northern white soldiers went home: the
negro soldiers were mustered out and they
went home, snd the Southern army sur
rendered, and they went home.
The Northern man was in the North,
where he went from, and the Union negro
soldier had TO go right back to his msster
whom he had been fighting, and ask him
for bread and clothing and to give him an
education. The master looked at him with
contempt, and told him that he wasn't I'M
der any obligations to him, and to go to
those who were his friends. And if they
would not help him he could go back to
work as before or starve. The colored man
looked at this, and ne saw that the Govern
ment had turned him loose with nothing,
and he had nothing, not even name, I'M
less he used his masters, and there he was.
He had been a slave 240 years, and it I'M
fitted him for citizenship or refined society.
Now, Israel was not left thus, for they were
taken away from their taskmasters, and
were given a land really better than that
from which they came, and they had the
protection of God, and He fought their bat
ties for them. And yet 1t was many hun
dreds of years before they forgot the flesh
pots of Egypt Nov, can you expect any
more of the American negro who was a
slave?
Our Southern brothers tell US that we are
not refined, and they spread it broadcast in
their papers. Now. Mr. Southerner, let US
see who is the worse off. Do you not boast
that you are of the greatest nation of the
earth? Do you not boast of the best and
purest blood of any nation? and that there
is no nation like yours? And didn't you
claim that you had the noblest women Of
the land? We believe that you have the
noblest women, or else they never would
have stood what they did during the days
of slavery. What did they stand? They
stood the immoral conduct of their hus-
bands to the slave women, and the great
army of half white children in the South
shows lust what these husbands did, and
Just what kind of society they made.
They fought hard and shed their blood to
keep it going. Thousands of lives were
lost to keep this society in existence. But
they were very particular with the negro
slave men, for the law was that If he was
caught looking at white woman and
showed that he desired to make love to her
be would be hit thousand lashes upon
his naked back; and the second offense
would be to shoot. And Mr.. colored man
thoughtas he had to furnish the back for the
cato 'nine-tail, he would be careful who he
fell in love with. Now these are some of
the traits of the Southern men. | do not
say that they all did this, but the majority
of them did, and great many are doing
the same to-day. And now | think accord
ing TO the chance we have had that we are
Just about as good as they are.
They make laws to keep the colored man
from marrying the white woman in the
South, but won't make any to keep the
white man from disgracing the colored girl,
and as long as this is one-sided question
the colored man will laugh up his sleeve at
him, and will tell him that he does not
mean what he says, and he sees that the
Southern man still wants to keep him
slave. He does not propose to obey any
law that will make the colored man a citi-
zen. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution
he has long since put his foot upon and
has called forth society of night riders
and regulators Ku Klux and all kinds of
murderers to keep the negro and make the
negro think that he is an inferior being to
his white brother by creation, and that to
hate and undermine bis fellow is honor
able, and to be coward in the presence of
white men is his position.
The new friend of the negro did not I'M
derstand him, so he undervalued his man.
hood, and only used him as the cats-paw
to pull out the political chestnuts. The
negro suffered for his own ignorance and
the sins of others. He toiled and paid the
taxes of the poverty-stricken Southern
States. Being the laboriug class, therefore
the producer, be paid directly his own tax
and indirectly the taxes OF others.
While the negro was an inhabitant of
every State in the Union, vet he was not
free until the amendment to the Constitu-
ton of the United States was adopted, for
nearly every State had laws upon its sta
tutes to exclude the negro from rights en-
i Dyed by other citizens. He could not enjoy
the civil and political rights of his brother,
and though man he was not man.
During the dark days of the rebellion he
was only called into the ranks, and recog-
nized as a soldier, when the enemy was
about to overpower the Government; yet
he was never fully recognized as other SOL
diers, though he proved himself just as
worthy. Yet not single negro COM
manded a company on the battlefield.
What race under heaven would have fur
nisbed the same number of men to save
the Union, and not Captain to command
a single company
1t IS disgrace to the Government that
accepted his services. Colored soldiers
have more difficulty to-day in estab-
fishing a pension claim than any other
class. Yet, with Lincoln's proclamation
and the amendment to the United States
Constitution, the negro is not free. In
many parts of the South he does not enjoy
any civil OF political rights. He is whipped
and driven as in former days, and paid
starvation wages, and yet forced to work
for A or B. After he has once agreed to
work for him he cannot leave, for he is al
ways kept in debt, being paid only pit
lance, and that in checks representing
money which can only be exchanged at
the plantation store, and then at a dis
count OF 20 and 25 per cent. for this check
is payable twelve months after date. In
Wilkes, Lincoln, Columbia and Ebert
count s, Georgia Berkeley, Williamsburg
and Colleton counties. South Carolina, and
in many parts of Alabama, these things
exist yet.
In many parts of the South, materially,
the negro is doing well. But ne does not
enjoy his civil rights fully anywhere in the
United States. There is no valley so
secluded, nor mountain so lofty that he
can escape prejudice. In the South his
civil and political rights are taken; in the
North, East and West he is shut out of fac
tories, shops and stores because he is a
negro. With these odds he is being edu-
Gated and is gaining property. But while
education and wealth are powers with
other races, they DO not exert the same in