The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-05-22
THE NEGRO AT THE WORLDS FAIR.

III ,
The New York Herald following the ex-
ample of a majority of its Northern contempt
raries who have given expression TO their
opinion on the same subject, condemns en-
phatically the proposition which has been
advanced that the American negro shall be
permitted to have a department Of his
own in the general exhibit at Chicago in
1892 in order to display the substantial evil
dences of the progress which the race has
made since its liberation in 1865.
The Herald bases its objection to the
scheme of a separate department in the Fair
for the blacks on the ground that the negro,
or as he now prefers to be called the Afro
American. is an American citizen occupying
the same position and entitled to the same
privileges as any other American citizen,
whatever may be his color or antecedents.
According to the Herald and the other
Northern journals which share its views in
the premises it is as unjustifable' for any
reason to discriminate in favor of the negro
as it is TO discriminate against him, and to
differentiate him from the other exhibitors
at the Fair would be to ignore his character
as an ordinary citizen, and to give him a
prominence which would be an admission
that he does not stand upon the same footing
as the other individuals who with him consti-
tute our American communities.
The position taken by the Herald is the one
which should be most agreeable to the pride
of the negro, for it is that which recognizes
most fully the completeness of his identified
ton in citizenship with the masses Of the
American people, but unfortunately this posi-
ton is only supported by theory, which the
practical operation of the negro question has
refuted in so many of its aspects.
The negro is so far from being identified
with the spirit of American institutions and
American civilization that it seems entirely
proper in him to demand that he shall have a
separate representation in the great Chicago
exhibit in 1892. To those who by actual OBJ
servation have learned to comprehend his
true relations to American society and the
part he is playing in our American life, part
distinct. independent and characteristic of him.
self alone, this demand is so natural and
reasonable that it should be promptly and
iuuBlISlJ dtttdtb w.
In the light of their past in the light of
their present, whether we regard the indi-
viduals of the race from the point of view of
character or economy, they are a separate
people, unique, radically different, and not by
any process of law or nature to be assimlated
with the whites There is no other personal
element in oul American communities to be
compared with them in any respect whatever
They have always stood apart. they stand
apart now, and they will continue to stand
apart for an indefinite period. Opposed in
history. tradition and blood 70 the whites,
amalgamation is impossible, which is tanta-
mount to saying that identification with
American civilization is impossible.
Admitting this fact as the negro himself
does in demanding a department of bis own
in the Fair Of 1892, the position which
be takes in making this demand is entirely
just and logical. The theory Of the Herald is
beautiful one ard apparently without a
flaw, but unfortunately it Is disproved in
actual practice by the disposition which is
row moving the American negro to withdraw
himself from the American white man on an
occasion when both would be expected to
meet on common ground.