The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-09-14
race, contains uni limited reserve force
and that ut the proper time and In the
proper way twill mani est itself has.
done it from generation to- generation,

race, contains tunI ll1teds Y. reserve I0TGo,
and that at the proper time and iIl the
proper way twill Hanife est itself. AIts has
fdone it from generation to genera ations,
and will continue TO do 1T,
What Is universally conceded to the
Irish and Hebrew races is lstudi Isl de-
MED to the Afro American race. 1t is not
considered in some quarters that this
race has any reserve force. Mr.. Douglass
is regarded as the first and last man Of
his race, and he was an Afro-American to
the core, although he persisted In referr--
ing to himself as "a black man. He
possessed all the brains and force OF
character his race was capable Of, and
even these were placed to the credit of
the white and not the black side of him.
He never looked at the matter from this
point of view. He was identified in the full
est sense with the Afro-American race.
It enjoyed all his sympathies. He sor-
rowed when it sorrowed and rejoiced
when itrejoiced., Wherever he may have
got his brains and force Of character,
there can be no dispute about the origin
of his boundless charity. which forgaye
those who despitefully used him; of the
great love for humanity and hatred Of
all forms of oppression. These char
acteristics were partly the products Of the
African temperament and of his slave
education. 1t seems surprisingly cruel
to enslave man in his youth and young
manhood and degrade him by petty per
secutiOns through a long and brilliant
career of labor and achievement, and
when he is dead to claim that all that
was grand and noble and brilliant in his
character was derived from the white
and not the black side Of him. This is
adding insult to injury with a, vengeance.
1t can find no countenance with generous
minds. The man was a product of Amer
ican civilization, of European and Afri-
can parentage, a representative Of the
Afro-American race and as such he
should be estimated and judged. His
tory will SO judge him.
The argument amounts to nothing that
Mr. Douglass left no man of his race
great enough to take his place. There
are thousands Of Afro-Americans today
who possess a more finished education
than Mr. Douglass ever enjoyed. They
are mostly young men. They have grad
uated from schools and academies during
the past thirty years. They are still
young men, gradually making a position
for themselves in all the avenues of
American life and activity. They are
products of free conditions, while Mr..
Douglass waSsa product Of slave. condf-
tions When some Of these thousands Of
collegians have become old men they will
have made great names for themselves
in the la,1 in letters, in the church, or
accumulated great wealth, and they will
be honored and respected by their neigh
bors and fellow citizens, but not in the
sense that Mr.. Douglass was. But they
must have time. It takes twenty one
years to prepare a man for the work Of
life, and it usually takes the man so
prepared from fifteen to thirty years to
make himself, to stand out as a central
figure, as a light set upon hill where all
men can see him. The Afro-American
has had only thirty years Of freedom and
opportunity. He has had only time to
|.prepare hinself for his work. ssss Ee HAS
hardly begun TO work in the larger sense,
because he has really not found out what
he wants to do. The Afro-American
race possesses great capacity and is
demonstrating the fact every day. 5