Huntsville gazette. [volume] (Huntsville, Ala.) 1879-1894, 1891-10-03
HEADLINES.

tdVc Will prOuL IL Is neaullnoS. IL
one is all observant they will notice
that in the average newspaper, an ar
ticle referring to the Negro in some
| capacity, incident or crime, the head
line too frequently carries with it an
| idea of insigni6cance, ridicule or hate.
For instance, Negro was lynched for
a supposed rape, the headline in GER
tain paper read: Skinned alive, but
act justified" After fair and impair
tial trial with the weight of the evil
dence, accurate and truthful, against
the wretch, the crime of rape does not
justify the literal skinning alive, and
otherwise mutiiating the body Of man.
Such an act is the relic of the days of
the inquisition and would make the
blood-thirsty savage blush with shame.
1t is such headlines that influence the
younger element against the race.
Whites as general thing are too prone
to judge the good by the bad, when the
person in question is a black man, and
with the papers breathing a sentiment
of justification over such barbarous
atrocities, is it to be wondered at that
the minds of the young is prejudiced
against the race?
Two colored women engage in
neighborhood quarrel They resort to
physical force to settle their difficulty
and like all women when enraged, they
indulged in hair pulling. The incident
is written up in a certain paper and ap-
pears under the caption. Large Wool
Crop" This very headline displays the
absence of respect for the race, and
shows an attempt to ridicule, not the
com batants alone, but the race. Still
another case: Two colored men en-
gage in quarrel, and with the deadly
razor they fall to slashing each other
The fact is announced in paper
thusly: "a Coon Carving" And yet an
other case: A Negro girl gives birth
to an illegitimate child and to hide her
shame she attempt what hundreds of
white girls have done and still do. make
way with the child. She throws the
body into vault. The papers come
out and head the article that conveys
this piece of news: ''Darktown in the
sewer" Although the act Of the wom-
an was most unnatural, it does not ex-
cuse such outrageous headlines which is
the ridiculing of misfortune and an eff
fort to cast odium upon the race.
A colored woman runs away with the
lawful husband of another colored
woman, the headline states: MARY Run
Away wild de Coon.''
/ might 60 on and cite similar in
stances ad infinitum, but what's the
use, the practice of ridiculing and
depreciating the race in headlines is too
well known. It's practice that race
journals should denounce through their
editorial columns, and colored citizens
in every town and city should endeavor
to stop.
A telegraph editor in his desire to be
funny selects cases in which the Negro
is the principle. as best adapted to vent
his nauseOus humor.
Prof Peter III. Clark. the eminent
educator, a former citizen of Ohio. but
now a resident Of st. Louis, recently
made trip through Ohio visiting Gin
cinnati, his former home, and other
points where he is we'll known and had
many old-time and warm friends. On
this visit he was dined and feted on
every hand, and houors were plentiful
for him. The very persons that few
years ago had naught but curses for
him, were loudest in their praise for
him. They forgot, u few years ago,
how many sleepless nights, how many
DAYS of watchfulness, how arduously
and devotedly he worked for his people
when the clouds of slavery hung black
est and thickest
They forgot all this, and more too,
and because he dared to question
the right of one party more
than another, to claim the
suffrage of his race forever and forev-
er, they forgot all this and denounced
him from pulpit and rostrum, on the
corner and in the shop. Now they re-
member it all too well and fall over
each other in paying tribute to one OF
the grandest of the race.
Peter Clark has not come to them, he
has not stopped for them to catch up.
He was ten years and more in advance
of any of his race, and they are now just
coming up They are just beginning to
appreciate him and to realize that this
sturdy yeoman, this wise old man, this
consistent member of the race whose
progress was SO great that it dazed the
rest. that he is one of the noblest men
in the ranks of the Afro Americans he
can smile complacently now, and view
ing the past with all its embitterments,
all its trials. can say-at last they see,
their eyes are open.
1t did me good to see them paying
tribute and honor to him, for even in
those days when others were denounc-
ing him, although l was too young to
fully comprehend his supposed sin, l
could not help but feel kindly to-
wards him, and think, though unable
to explain, that he must be the one that
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