The Afro-American., 1895-08-31
SOUTHERN CHIVALRY.
White Men Expect Everything
Of Ilask Ell and Retyrn
Nothing.
rrCm the New York Sun

rights of Others, for boundless hospitali-
ty, and for consideration for women
equal to that which prevailed in Europe
before Cervantes gibbited its grotesque-
ness to the world don Quixote" and
Edmund Burke pronounced its funeral
Grafton over the open grave of Marie
| Antoinette, the most beautiful and un-
| fortunate victim of the French revolu-
tion. Indeed. it was commonly under
stood, in the South at least. that many
ot the nober phases of European chilal-
ry had been translated to the United
States, and had pitched their tents upon
Southern soil. Virginia was regarded
as the headquarters of The hole outfit.
A Virginia gentleman was supposed to
represent all that was noble and mag
unanimous in American life. After him
came everything THAT was common and
base-born. There was no middle
ground Nothing was held SO high as
woman's honor and proper respect for
womanhood. The mar who outraged
either one Of these unwritten laws was
compelled to fight duel, if he was moi
shot or stabbed to death upon the heel!
Of his alleged offence.
The ante-hellum condition of society,
! with all its destinations and allurements,
was still only one OF barbarlc splendor
| and sensitveness, often grotesque and
quixoticalIy amusing. The most ordin-
airy social offence was likely to lead to
| the boodiest consequences. Every gen
flpD0 n hod f,NY oI-o eel l.
i2g arsenal, ready for any sanguinary
encounter the high-strung condition OF
society might force upon him; every
woman on the other hand, while consid.
cred as occupying a position Of absolute
freedom and security, really occupied
prison home and walked on pms abroad
liable to be bereft at any moment of
near and dear ones, for real or fancied
causes, by the shot or sabre stroke of
the dueIliSt or the bully. 1t placed tho
white women of the South in a false DO,
sition, a sort of hot-house one, no lesq
than it did Southern white men, who
carried their honor about them so con-
splcuously that it made them appear
silly to people looking on from afar or
sojourning for period among them.
In short, it was a tiresome nuisance.
The treatments which men accord co
women, not their own women, but all
women with whom they are brought
into contact, may be taken as correct
guage of their civilization. From the
clamor which Southern white men keep
up about "protecting the honor of our
women" and the amount of lawlessness
and the lynchings they commit to back
up their clamor, the outside world has
been led to believe that nowhere else in
the Republic are women and women's
honor held in such sacred reverence as
in the Southern States. Here, if any
where. should he woman's paradice AS
matter of fact, this sentiment extends
to and includes only white women. To
all intends and proposes Afro American
black and coIored women are not, in the
main, considered to be women at all, ex.
cept for base purposes, by Southern
white men. While exacting of black
men grotesque Difference TO white wo-
men, white men do not hesitate to insult
black women in the most brutal and
public way, and when this is resented,
the mob or militia is invoked to overawe
and ''teach the niggar his proper place,
by CAD, sah'' The fact appears to be
ignored universally that those who dis
regard the rights of others will in one
way or another have their rights in
vaded. When the rights and feelings
IF black women are go generally ignored
bv white men, there should be less sur
prise than there is that the rights and
feelings of white women are sometimes
ignored. l. is the law of reprisal laid
down in holy writ, which transcends
statute law. If we expect others to re-
pect our rights, we must determine to
respect the rights of others. There can.
not be one law, written or unwritten,
for black men and women and another
for white men and women. The effort
to enforce such in Virginia and the the1
Southern States is brutalzing both
races, and producing a condition of So
cietv out Of which serious disorders are
bound to issue some time in the future,
In the South white women are pro-
t6ClGu Nv DldUOEIG laws tALAA ~ " Ia ~
public opinion from every shadow of Of
fence. and mob law ID invoked oftener
than statute law to avenge real on fan
cied injury, while black women are pro-
tected in nothing, not even by their
male protectors, in the main, who stand,
for the moment, in fear of the State
militia and the white mob. But this
fear is fast losing its restraining power.
II is constantly and naturally giving
way in spots, and it is bound ultimately
To be broken down entirely. From my
observations here and elsewhere in the
South | ara convinced that it should.
There is no reason why any such out
rageous condition should prevail any
where.
On the street cars of this city conduc-
tors are expected to help women on snd
of the cars. It is very absurd regula-
ltion. L entails upon the conductor an
enormous amount Of unnecessary work
and worry. Ii New York the rule
would not be tolerated twenty
hours. If the women did not demand
its abrogation the street car men would