Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-07-28
THE NEGRO PROBLEM.
A Richmond Preacher Talks Plainly to
His New England Brethren.

THE NEGRO PROBLEM.
A Richmond Preacher Talks Plainly to
His New England Brethren.
DR.. A. Z. Dickinson. of this city, has been
attending some big Baptist meetings IL
New England.
At one place he was called upon to ex-
plain the negro problem. He replied
You viii not believe me on that subject
You will accept IA true my testimony about
ANYTHING else. hut not as TO this. And yet
there ought to be a good understanding
between the Christian people of the two
great sections of the country as TO Oui
colored friends. You know that you here
are more responsible for the bringing OF
the negro to America than we are. your
ships brought them over and you sent
them South, only when their labor ceased
TO be remuneratlve to you, and you ana no'
give them away when you sent them 70 US;
You sold them for all they were worth.
do not say tins to reproach you. You are
no more responsible for what your great
grandfathers did than / am for what my
grandfather did. And. besides. tho hand
of the Lord was in it all, and 1t has been
overruled for good. There are more pro-
Tossing Christians among the colored peoo-
pie of the South to-day than we nave MADE
converts among heather nations for the last
g..
done in the Foreign Mission work by all
denominations of Christians.
coLoRED PREACHERS.
And now, "a we are preparing colored
preachers (and We have seventy of them IN
a colored Theological Seminary in Rich
mond) for missionary work. Africa IS
thrown open TO the Gospel, and the great
missionary societies of the world are look
inc TO the colored Christians of the South
for their standard-bearerS to take the
Congo country and all Africa for Chrst.
If we believe that the God OF nations is
managing affairs in this world, ought we
not to bury our petty preJudlces ana look
AT this great negro problem with something
of that serene thouehtfulness with which
il will be viewed fifty years 10 come, when
the great designs Of Providence III tins
matter will be more fully developed.
WHAT THE WHITES ARE DOING.
You ask me what the southern whites are
dong for the education Of the colored peO-
Dley Well, counting what the public
schools for colored children have cost, |
eunDOse the whites Of the South have. since
the war, contributed not less than seventy
five millions of dollars for the education of
their cOlored friends. In any just estl-
mate Of what has been done this must be
taken into the account. for that amount
came out of the hard earnings OF the whi' 9
people. many Of whom. after paying this,
did not have enough left to educate their
own children.
VOTING N THE SOUTH.
You ask me about voting in the South,
and tell You honestly 1t Is very much like
voting here at the North. Many elections
pass of very quietly and no one tries 10
boss his neighbours vote. Then again
there is mighty struggle, and the price of
u vote iumpS up. You know how II Is here
when the proprietors of the great factories
90 among their operatives and in one way
and another try TO make their employees
vote as their employers wish them 10 vote.
You know how II Is out West when man
like Dudley issues an order that they must
be taken i'm blocks of five. Well, human
nature is about the same in the South as il
is in the North and the average politician
down there does not any more search the
sacred Scriptures or hold q prayer-meeting
to secure Divine guidance as to the means
TO be used in carrying an election than You
do up here. am not talking rs to how II
ought 10 be done or rs to how II Will he
done when the millennium comes, but as to
how it is done in this day Of sin and sim
ners.
THE COLoBTD MANS FRIEND.
I do not speak as party man, but as one
who is honestly looking to the good Of the
whole people colored as well as white
You may say that | am less concerned
about the colored folk than YOU are, but
YOU are mistaken as to that. With no dc.
sire to boast, | tell you that | am doing the
best | can TO elevate the cOl0red people,
and thousands more of the white people OF
the South are doing far more than | am
doing for they have more ability than
have with which 10 help.
If Won ask mo who are he real enemies
of the negro, / reply-every man, woman,
and child who seeks to keep mp this war OF
races. Whoever helps to widen the breach
between the races 10y incorporating the
true condition Of affairs in the South Is an
enemy to both races and deserves the con-
tempt of both alike.
NO COLoRED OFFICERS.
wish the colored people to have all that
belongs to them. but do not wish to see a
man put into office because he Is black
man. That has been tried IN the South,
and the result was such that the white peO-
pie of the South never intend to let 1t be
tried AGAIN. They owe it to you people of
the North who have made such large In
vcstments in the South; they owe 1t 70
themselves and to their chIldren's chill
dren; they owe 4 TO the cOlored people,
who would suffer even more than the
whites by such a wrecking of our civlllza-
ton: they owe IT to the progress or inc
nineteenth century; they owe 1t TO the
God of Heaven to resist every effort that
may be made TO put back their fair south
ern land where it was in the dark days and
wears which followed AppomattoX.
If the colored people are prosecuted in
the South. why DO they not come North p:
They have only TO spend two or three dol
lars to get upon northern soil and spend
the rest of their lives here with YOU. What
a good time they might have here in your
New England factories, but YOU don't want
them and they don't want YOU. was IN q
village up here recently in which there was
but one colored man. He WAS like black
berry swimming IN a great pan of milk, but
he was not happy. His heart lOnged TO see
once more DiXle's land.
BIG THING.
This negro problem is bigger thing than
many of YOU think for, and its solution IS to
be q thing of the ages. Unless you are
willing to come South and personally look
after this people you had better trust to
the true Christian people of the South to
do the best they can, without being sus-
pected and lectured and mlsrepresented as
TO their aims and purposes. We sought the
good of the cOlOred people before ever you
took them in hand. When you marched
into Richmond in 1865 you found 5000
colored people church-mcmbers IN that
city, which then bad but 90 900 inhabitants
For thirty years before you came DR.. Ry-
land. our college president, had been the
pastor of one of our colored churches. We
are now doing something in one line and
4 Al IL, f.tlr nd xrrsl