Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-03-18
The LEARNED BLACK MEN.
WHAT THE NEGRO HAS DONE IN
SCIENCE AND LITERATURE.
Africans Who We're Remarkable for Their
Achievements In Poetry, Medicine and
Education-Pushkin, Dumas
and Douglass.

legations we have an elaborate work on the
subject from the impartial pen OF the dis
tihguisheG FrenC hman. the Abbe Gregoire.
ana an exhaustive and analytical discus
sion OF the negro race from the earliest pc.
ROD down 70 modern times, by the learned
German author and historian, Blumenbach.
| Both of these writer's have treated the
subject fairly and impartially and both
is no exception to this general proposition.
| Blumenbach testifies that some of the
ablest and most .erudite scholars and cor
| respondents of the French academy were
| negroes. and the Able Gregoire pays trlb-
nte TO the genius and ability of a score of
| country and Europe, who Were the intel
| lectual equals of white men. lie Instances
the celebrated Or. James Derham. of Phil
adelphia. an eminent negro physician. who
attained the highest rank in his profession,
| ana who was esteemed for his ability, his
| virtue and his integrity.
| In the report of the honorable commits
| sioner of education for lSS1-S is n mono
graph by Charles Lee smith fellow in his
tory and politics. Johns Hopkins uniyersi-
| of North Carolina who was one of the
most most rsmarkable characters in the educa-
| ttonal history OF the old North state
He was a Presbyterian clergyman, edu-
| Gated az Princeton under the celebrated
Dr. Witherspoon,. TO whom it was said he
| receiving. collegiate education After he
was graduated and had done some active
returned 70 North Carolina in 1906. where
| ne opened a classical school for the edu-
eation Of white youth, and had as pupils
the sons of some of the wealthiest families
IN the state Prominent among his pupils
Mere We're, Willie r Msngum, pr!estly Hinton
derson, sons of Chief Justice Henderson.
Governor Charles Manly, the Rev William
Msrdnss marfis Dr. James l.. Wortham. the Ed
Many of his students became prominent as
poi,ticians, oa ,I, lawyers. preachers. physicians
This negro educator was said to have
,,,a been g good Latin and Greek scholar
man OF Intelligence on general subjects and
as the pest school in North Carolina. Here
Is Is, aii9ther proof that man is mind, and as
race. was at that time in chains of slavery.
,ea,Lhing Latin and Greek and the classics
more chains to keep his race in slavery
And this in the sister state OF South caro-
una, una. whose leading statesman, Calhoun,
OF higher intellectual Developments
The testimony in behalf of Mr.. Chavis as
,,'otii 10 ms mental endowments Christian piety
seen and read in the pages of the repor, re
ierred TO- His eulogists are the best and
most prominent white citizens of his ma
tive state, and ii is a fitting answer 10 the
unGrac!ous slander which some prejudiced
a ana ro nIisgulded white men in our own times
j.. In Russia the name of Alexander Push
Kin kh, i is as we'll known among the lterati as
in England Pushkn Was SHty stvled or tba hG3ys Ry
ron of Russia; he was a poet in whom, t6e
fres nrs of Of true poetic genius burned, and his
est notes that ever sent a thrill OF ranti,re
INTO the human, heart or left their echoes
IN IN the souls and memories of men. Push
kin, like Alexander Dumas, the great
Hrench romancist and dramatist, was a
RfEp0 %6o had M bsan bsfanafhSr vas pars black
e'reat; with whom he was great favorite
volume de luxe of Pushkin's choicest
gems nppn i,, ,l,;.
having, been translated into English BY bE
Ivan Ivan iranin, an educated Russian. it is
ing house. | hesitate. to dwell further on
The. life and work of l'ushkn; the sub
only refer to him to show that the f.seIi, nog,d
race has genius and scholarship and tbat
IKE fd, az other races. it is CAPABLE under
reaching the heights attained by those Of
the n. more favored races in the domain Of
IN Pf8S6"by rob RSr,1 the most finished negro scholar
biggden' igern' who represented the republic OF
becoming grace and dignity lie is
valued correspondent of many Of the En-
FTrasers, is a linguist Of acknowileodiegeaS ilodiaS
ABILITY and one of the most profound
aaed He Is as fnmar nfR raSf With 1i the yei Hrabc are
English is as pure and as cbaste as; as that hat
scholars of the Anrlo-Saxon race
lie IS the author of work entitled
published in London by W b. Whittingham
q CO., several years ago, which has passed
sve and exhaustive exposition Of Mo-
hnfnmedanism and It's relation to the negro
tb hme annr, lion M C. BBntler in his speech on
the United States senate, made copiolls
quotations from the book Of DIR, Blyden's,
spect. Dr. Blyden is a voluminous writer
on social ana economic questions. and is
and thinkers than to Amerlcans.
+, 'Ihere Is no Caucasian reinforcement in
The American negro has not been a lag
gard since his emancipation in efforts to
has written and published over 80 books
and pamphlets prior, to and since, the close
under adverse conditions, with the opposl-
ton of the unconquered and unconquerable
The plantation negro and college bred
in the estimation OF that Class of White me" men
ascertain Just what the negro has accom-
pllshed in the development OF civilization.
heart and good conscience Of the American
people for hearing, and If allowed to
equity, is confident of his ability to secure
a verdict which Will be favorable to himself
and to his posterity forever. He does not
be shown him: all he does ask and all he
expects Is "A fair and honest opportunity
to prove that his race Is worthy of lust
and fair play in all the avenues
of honest endeavor in which white men
have distinguished themselves. There Is
nothing unusual or unreasonable in this
The logic of events will justify the claim of
the negro for more and greater considera- |
tion in those departments of scholarship |
and learning for which he Is peculiarly nj |
ted and adapted by education and train |
ing. Who that has read the life and times |
Of the venerable Frederick Douglass
penned by his own hand, clothed in his own |
modest and elegant language, will not adj |
nit that 1t is one of the most graphically |
told stories of suffering and outrage i'm the |
Fn"ltsh language? Shorn of all rancor and |
II stands alone among all the |
books by negro authors as the best and |
most complete production of its kind ever |
written,
There was only one Frederick Douglass;
his style was peculiarly his own, his Ian
suagc is well chosen and he drives the ar
suments home with a power and force |
which at once appeals to the Americans |
need of praise and commendation which |
his martyrdom for his scourged and down
rOdden race unquestionably deserves To |
.he black boys and girls of America the life |
md struggles of Frederick Douglass ought
% be an inspiration no less potent than |
hat which Is felt by the youthful Ameri-
ans who regard George Washington as the
aYored American.
Among the newer candidates for public
aYor as an author is John NJ. Langston. |
Who has recently written a book entitled
From the Virginia Plantation 10 the Ma
ional Capitol" The book is largely auto
IL