The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1895-10-11
THE SUNNY SOUTH.
NORTHERN EDITORS VIEW OF
THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE.
poets OF His Advancement as Seen By
Michigan Publisher-An Interesting
Letter from the Land a. Cotton.

| w nat auNanCeIneHI mas the cOlOTcu
race of the south made in the past fif
teen years is a subject which may per-
haps be of some considerable interest
to people of that section of the north
where this letter reaches. The obser
vations in this line. which have been
made, are placed in comparison with
observations made by the writer i'll
| 1880 and 1881.
Close observations now we must be
frank to say fail to disclose that mark
ed improvement which we had hoped
to meet with. The race is still the
labOrers and the servants of the white
man. There seems TO be no larger
percentage OF them independent of
servitude upon the whites than there
was in 1850. Their social condition
has not advanced TO any perceptible
degree. Last night in the opera house
we noticed that there was the mig
gers corner in the gallery the same
as fifteen years ago. No one of the
race, no matter how princely dressed,
how Intelligent. how largely mixed
with the blood of the Caucasian
or how wealthy, was allowed a seat in
the dress circle or parquet. Upon rail-
way trains they are all given seats in
| the front part of the smoking. car,
which is partitiOned off from the
smoking section. No colored person
ever attempts TO take seat elsewhere.
On n rush to take q train they may
get on TO one or the other of the cars
allotted TO the whites, but they pass
immeditely through 10 the smoker. We
said they never ride in any other car
than the smoker. This statement is
subject to qualification. When they
accompany whites, either man or wo-
man, in the capacity of servants or
nurses, they are allowed seats near
them. Ii seems TO make considerable
difference as To their being acceptable
to riding with white people when they
thus ride in the capacity of menials.
AS 10 virtue there seems to be q
difference of opinion among the people
there as 10 whether any advancement
is being made or not. On education
and religion there appears to be the
same diversion Of sentiment. On max
investigation inquiries have not been
confined to any one class. Where OPP
portunity has offered, inquiries have
been made of men of intelligence both
of northern and southern birth. On
all these investigations we have found
but one person taking position differ
ent from the others. This man was a
Methodist minister whom we met at
Desup, Ga, while waiting at the hotel
for a train. This man was a native
Georgian, whose father was n large
slave owner and who was himself a
confederate soldier by choice. The
ideas expressed by this gentleman
were so decidedly different from those
expressed by all the others with whom
We had conversed that they are wor-
thy of some especial notice. The gen
tleman stated that In .eligion the negro
was making rapid strides in the ad-
vance; that in education he sought
every opportunity to advance his con-
dition; that in virtue he was fast
throwing off the CALLING yoke fastened
upon him by generations Of slave SER
vitude. There was never a man or a
race of men that would not become
elevated by religion and education"
remarked our acquaintance of the day.
He stated that he frequently spoke 10
negro congregations in their churches
But he stated that while the white
people of the south would permit him
to preach to the negroes, being Il ma
tive southerner without ostracising
him. they would not permit person
from the north to do the same thing.
The same sentiment existed in relation
to teaching the colored schools.
This sentiment has been found to
exist among the others interviewed
on the subjects touched upon in the
last paragraph. When Il negro re-
ceives education he will not longer will
lingly work at manual labor. He seeks
genteel employment. If he cannot find
this employment he either becomes n
loafer or n criminal. That virtue is at
discount and that religion for the ne
gro is a harmless source of diversion.
What the exact facts may be personal
observation has not as yet enabled us
to determine. One would naturally
suppose that the position taken by our
ministerial friend was the right one,
yet what are we TO do with the mass
of evidence contrary TO his position
We find this state of facts to exist.
The habitation Of the negro Is the no.
vel still, his language is still the jar
gon of fifteen years ago. He Is still
thriftless and unreliable The germs OF
a better cannot take root and grow TO
any remarkable degree amidst the sur
roundings of squalor and filth. We
are speaking of the negro as race.
There are bright and sparkling excep-
tons.
When the subject of the emigration
of the negro to Africa is discussed, the
general impression is found to be
neither the white or the intelligent
men of the negro race desire It, The
white says the negro would relapse to
his former condition IL robbed OF the
association of the whites and this
seems to be feared by the negro of in
telligence himself.
That the negro has shown remarka-
BILE advancement in the thirty-two
years OF his freedom is evident upon
all hands. But he Is the negro still.
He Is not Caucasian and cannot be
made one. He initiates the white. He
is not original. He follows, he does
not lead. The whites of the south
could not get along without him. He
cannot get along without the whites.
The color line is as distinctly drawn as
OF old. Whether right or wrong it is
question which the people who have