Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-12-21
LETTER NO. A
On Atlanta Exposition by Mrs.
Anna Sargent Hunt,
A Day With the Handsome Exhibit In
the Negro Building.
The Colored People and Their Work in the
New South.

3 .following is letter No. on the Atlanta
EXPOSITION, by Mrs. Anna Sargent Hunt
of this city:
as we TOOK our way to the Negro
p''iiolng rejecting on the changed condi
eioi OF affairs which allowed such prom
lnence In this locality with its cotton-feld
TASK master and auction block memories
Vne very heart CT the Confederacy, to the
exhibits OF the children of the aforetime
slaves, we echoed the expressive saving of
another, surely the world do move ;,
me most fertile Imagination would
haroiy have pictured such an occurrence
Ia tho'c days when the war cloud hung
iieaNlly over Atlanta, and the heart of the
iosal Southerncr, brave, even when he
hhcW MS cause was lost, nursed its bitter
haoreu 10 the boys in blue because they
aaio py word and act that slavery should
DC forever blotted out Scarcely more
possible would it have seemed even ten
years ago, that the programme for the
opening day of the Cotton states and In
ternational Exposition should mention the
presentation of no other exhibit save that
oil the negro, and should include among
bishops and governors and mayors and
III the exercises, the name of Professor
Booker 7. Washington, principal of the
Iuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute.
ior the colored people, himself a colored
man, who was to deliver an address.
Later, not only the Northern press but the
southern as wei, most warmly approved
tho words that had been spoken, and
recognized that a mighty one had arisen
to champion the rights Of his people and
to lead them wisely and safely. As an
illustration we quote the words of the
editor of the Atlanta Constitution, whose
standing IS everywhere recognized Il
do not eXagglate when 1 say that Prof.
Booker L. Washington address, yestcr-
day, was one of the most notable speeches.
hoth as TO character and the warmth of
is reception, ever delivered to Southern
audience. 1t was an epoch making talk,
ana marks distinctly turning point In
the progress of the negro race, and its
effect in bringing about perfect under
standing between the whites and blacks
oil the South, will be immediate The
address was IA revelation. 1t was the
hrst tirie that Il negro orator had appeared
on "a similar occasion before a Southern
sLdlence. The proprety Of inviting IA
representative of the negro race to partci-
pate in the opening exercises was fully
discussed month ago, when the open
ing programme was being arranged.
Some oppostioDl was manifested on
account of the fear that public sentiment
was not prepared for such an advanced
step The invitation, however, was cx-
tended by vote of the board Of directors,
and the cordial greeting which the audi
cnce gave Washingtons address, shows
that the board made no mistake. There
was not line in the address which
would have been changed even by the
most sensitive of those who thought the
invitation to be imprudent.
The whole speech is a platform on
which the whites and blacks can stand
with full justice to each race. The SPEECH
is n full vindication from the mouth OF a
representative negro of the doctrine So
eloquently advanced by Grady and those
who have agreed with him that it is To
tho South that the negro must turn
for his best friend, and that his welfare is
80 closely identified with the progress Of
the white people of the South, that each
race is mutually dependent upon the
other, and that the SO called race prob
lem must be solved in the development
OF the natural relations growing out Of
the association between the whites and
blacks of the South. The question of
social equality is eliminated AS factor
in the development Of the problem and
the situation is aptly expressed by Wash
ington in the statement that in all things
that are purely social we can be as sepa
rate us the fingers, yet one as the hand in
all things essential to mutual progress.
The speech will do good and the unani-
nous approval with which it has been
received, demonstrates the fact that 1t
has already done good. This from
southern editor The Waterman, Boston
saws edtorially; There Is no audience
worth speaking of North or South that
would not rejoice to hear Principal Wash
ingtou. simply because he has won the
right to be heard The urgent lesson for
the colored people all over the country
il that they are to be treated a5 men; and
we must make their recognition in social
life, their prominence in religious work
and In politics depend absolutely upon
heir qualities of personal manhood. To
NET the negro because he is negro, or 10
discriminate against him because he is
negro is equally, American.
There was surely no chance for dispute
I'm the reference Prof Washington made
to the struggles of both whites and blacks,
starting practically empty handed, three
decades ago; there was nothing over
drawn in the figure wherein he imagined
the races bending over the exposition
altar that represents the subsequent
struggles Of each; there was nothing that
hreathea uprising and sedition in the
nleaue given that in the working cut of
the grand and intricate problem which
Got1 has laid ut the doors of the South,
the old master aud his children shall have
the patient. sympathetic help OF his
slaves and their descendants.
Prof. Washington asserted his hrm De
Iiof that while from the representations
of thc product of field, of forest, OF mine,
of factory. letters and art, much good
would result. Ia far higher blessing would
come ia the blotipg out of all sectional
differences, and racial animosities, IN
determination to administer absolute
ipstIce in willing obedience among all
'el.sses to the mandates of the law.
His was ringing prophecy that this
condition of affairs coupled with our ma
+erial prosperity will bring to our beloved