Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1894-10-12
BRIEF EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
What the Negroes Have Accomplished
in Thirty Years Of Freedom.
Emancipation Day Adfr IS of MIR. T.. a.
VIII s, of Muci akinock, in DeS
Molnes on sept. 20, 1894.

with subdued tenderness upon the
sacred memories of the past and again
we turn with outstretched hands to a
hopeful future.
BARRIERS AND OBSTACLES.
The Negro has been on trial before
the world for thirty years, and now the
severest tests are being applied to try
the strength Of his manhood His
upward way is blocked ami hindcred in
every way that senseless prejudice
and an Unsuitable hatred can devise.
Apparently unsurmountable barriers
lay across his way to a higher develop
ment--obstacles so rooted and fastened
into the Wit Is OF the present civiliza-
tion. that he must become heartless
and discouraged If he had not a supreme
con fidcnce in his God. The foes he
must con end against are well fortified
upon their own well chosen battle
field, and he must storm their str 'ng-
hold and vanquish every foe by courage
and perseverance.
SHALL. WE OVERCOME THEM?
| can only answer ia the words OF
Patrick Henry: 81 have no way of
Judging of the future but by the past.
LOOKING BACKWARD.
progress with unpreJudiced eyes and in
the light of ancient and modern times
and find parallel to it if you can.
We might well ask, "Can we fathom
the providence of Tod in reference to
the Negro?" Has not Jehovah some
mighty design in al this mighty de-
velopm mt of race in such q rapid
success on? Let us look back upon our
history, then. and trace. if we can, the
developm Mt and Advancement of our
race intellectually And il we do this
we will not have misspent the few mo-
ments devoted to these exercises.
Gentlemen, this is large subject and
one to which cannot hope to do
justice. The story of the Negroes ed
ucational progress has been told a
hundred times by men more learned,
more eloquent and more experienced
than your present speaker, and they
have failed to tell it AL The theme is
worthy Of the eloquence of the most
renowned and brilliant orators of
Greece or Rome; sufficiently compre-
hensive to em 2loy tue logic and phil
osophy of Webster; and with patriotism
and pathos sufficient to exhaust the
enthusiasm of O'Connel. If ! were
possessed with the grnins and acquire
ment of these thre, combined it would
be presumption u, suppose that | could
exhaust d subject so broa and deep
and difficult. But / viii however. say
a few things that have perhaps been
said a dozen times. but perhaps WIZ
bear the telling dozen more.
AN UNDEvELoPED INTELLECT.
The common belief that was entertain
ed by a large portion Of the people Of this
country, few years ago. and still
taught and believed by some, but which
is fast passing away before the astound-
ing aud unparalleled achievements of
the Negro. was that the Negro was an
inferior being; that his intellect. if he
was possessed Of human faculties, was
so limited and inferior that he could
not guide or protect himself in the
mid-t,o the competitive Anglo-Saxon
civilization. He must havea master
or he would perish. 1T was taught
that he could not attain to any high or
advanced state of civilization-th his
tory had failed to record an instance
where he had risen above barbarism.
The ministers of God proclaimet from
the sacred rostrum this monstrous doc
trine that God had placed upon the
the Negro a mark of inferiority as dis
tinctlve as that placed upon Cain: "The
fiat has gone FORTH they said, from
the Almighty; the researches of ethnol-
ogy. Of history and of experience teach
thai slavery is the normal condition OF
the Negro; that if he was left to him
self he would destroy himself by
plunging headlong and bin ily to ruin
or by sliding backward into barbar-
ism"
John c. Calhoun once said: ssIf |
could find a Negro who knows Greek
syntax / would then believe he was
possessed of human faculties and should
be treated as a man.
Now, without attempting any delib-
crate aud logical answer to these un-
founded illogical claims of the apollo
gist for human slavery. | will endeavor
simply to set before your candid
judInent the recorded facts of history
and experience and leave the results to
the impartial Judgment of mankind.
ANCIENT AND HIGHLY CULTURED.
Historical records prove the Negro to
be among the most ancient and highly
civilized races of antiquity. His rec
ords reach back 5000 years into the
dim and shadowy period of history.
The pyramids of Egypt, the inscrut-
able Sphynx and the great temples
along the Nile are monuments of his
glory and attainments. The science,
arts and learning of ancient Greece
and Rome were once the fair Inherit
ance of our forefathers Ali nations
came to them as heggars after knowl-
edge; and if we read history Alright,
wi h our Judgment and not our preju-
dices, we cannot, if we are just. rob
the Negro of the honor he claims of
being the descendant of the Pharaohs,
the most powerful and enlightened
race on earth.
CHRISTIAN SLAVERY HAS LEFT 4 MARK.
The Negroes condition to-day is the
result of his past enforced degrada-
ton, and has nothing to do with his
mental or moral constitution No man
is wise enough to fix the ordained place
of a race till it has had an opportunity
and fair trial in the race OF lire.
Wclldirected effort, struggling through
many tedious generations, and con-
tinucd contact with superior develop
ment are the conditions of the advance
ment of any people. The mental and
moral nature of men have been slowly
and laboriously evolved through ages
OF severe effort.
The e is no gauge by which we can
measure the intellectual powers OF
man, whose past has been spent amid
influences adverse to his advancement.
And | maintain that the mocked and
branded Negro needs but an equal
chance in the race of life to equal II
not snrpass all others in the race OF
civilization.
Now, what has the Negro accom-