The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-04-21
INTELLECTUAL FUTURE OF TIE NEGRO.
Maurice Thompson Believes that Pure BloOded
Members of the Race Will Progress Most.

lnGeycnuen&
1t has pleased me to inquire. as from time
to time good opportunity offered. into the
literary taste of educated negroes in the
South. To my mind the subject is one well
worth careful study. Here is a race which.
SO far as book -enlightenment is concerned.
stands Just outside the door of savagery.
1t 10, however, a singularly unsavage race
In erything except what may be called
negative qualities. The negro 10 neither
warlike nor treacherous. nor can it be said
that he is cruel or constitutionaliy vicious
The most marked badge of savsgery is
worn on his Imagination in the form of i'm
plicit supersfitiousness. Indeed. the black
negro. by which i mean the full blooded
the education of the schools. nor
yet the more lnsistent training
of the churches. relieve him of his
Congo strain of heather character. Every
close observer of the race in the South
must have noticed that the mixture of
white blood weakens this savage reserve
and at the same time introduces a refractory
element into the intellectual and animal
nature of the individual A half breed Is
q more restless. volatile and unreliable
room is apt 20 be degenerate ply sicaily. the
tissues rarely showing normal condition.
The tendency Is toward slender and de-
fective physiques aud restless mental stress
without the great brain to sustain the
worry of it all OF course, this must be
taken as the general effect my judg-
ment Of observation made with q special
view to reckoning the probable effect of
education on the negro a. he IS situated In
the Southern States
l am led to believe that. speaking gener-
ally, the full-blood negro will not take
book-learning so readily or so understand
ingly the mixed blood; but facts seem to
more than suggest that in the long run of
generations the full-blood will profit most
by enllghtening Influences, because his
progress will be true race development.
while that of the mixed-blo must en-
counter physical hindrances.
Curiously enough, it appears that the
free mixed bloods of the South those who
are descended from ancestors who were
never slaves, or. at least, free for several
generations back have here and there
shown literary genius. / could name some
instances, but forbear for obvious rea-
sous. Not single instance of an andoubt-
ed full-blood who gave evidence of
extraordinary literary power hes come
to my knowledge. The jet-blacks, how
ever, are expert story-tellers. Mr. Joel
Chandler Harris has reflected this negro
characteristic with almost perfect art in
his Uncle Remus" sketches. No mixed
blood can tell 'Bre'r Rabbit" story as q
Jet black can. 1t was so in slavery. it Is so
in freedom. What L would call the negro
genius is des troy ed by the acquisition of
white mans blood. Ii seems, however. not
to be affected by mere social intercourse
with white people. The negro remains me-
gro so long as his blood is pure negro blood.
l conclude that the education of the
African will be valuable to the world in
about the ratio that Eir blood is kept pure
from the Caucasian fixture. His educa-
- al L..
increment must be brain power. Already
he has a superb physique, as regards power;
but his intellect is very primltive--some
parts of it are documentary.
have tried some experiments to amuse my
self withal, and am not sure that the sugges-
tlons arising ont of them ought to be passed
by as worthless from scientific point of
view. l have found that mixed bloods. as
a rule. do not relish the negro dialect
stories written by white authors, while the
jet-blacks enjoy them greatly. The latter
are quick to catch the humor of both situa-
tion and phraseology; the former may grasp
both, but not with appreciation. The
mixed blood aspires to be white. and yet
every joke at the expense of the negro, and
at the same time he despises the thought OF
being distinguished as q black. On the
other hand, the full blood occupies the ne
gro's point of view with aplomb and sin
certify. His growth will be from healthy
root.
The jet-black is natural orator and mu-
stefan, therefore natural poet. Some or
his corn-husking songs were models of
rhythm and meter. though the meaning of
them was often obscure, sometimes undis-
coyerable.
1t is the jet-black negro who Is preserving
to-day the traditions of his race; the mixed
blood has no tenacity of race memory, no
steadiness of race vision. The latter is SUI
periOr to the former at many points as an
individual; but he is always inferior as a
facter in lifting the race. Indeed. his
whole influence ie to disintegrate and de-
grade the race standard.
1t is the mixed blood in the South who
becomes the restless and scbeming poll
tician. A jet-black negro'is very rarely
shot In political fray. save when he rs in
toxicated. He would forget to vote If let
alone. These are general statements.
Many exceptions could be pointed ouJs but
they would not change the larger facts. the
bulk of truth.
My own studies of this subject have con-
WINGED me that the friends of the negro
race could not serve their purpose better
than by using their utmost influence to
keep the race black-full blooded-un-
mixed descendants of African stock In
this way. and in this way alone,
the negro may In the long run
grow to the stature of q sound, strong,
happy, intellectual race of men and women.
Hybrids from the black and the white may
turn out notable individuals; but the bulk
of them will be degenerate and refractory
compared with either stock.