The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-05-31
UGHONO UUUUELVs
Prof. 0. NJ. Wood Settles the
Race Problem.
Says Negro Race VIII Become
Extinct.
Says it Will Be Incorporated
With White Race.
GIVES 1T 100 YEARS.
Backs Up His Position With
Figures.
Shadow Of the AngIO-Saxon is
on the Race.
GIVES 1T 100 YEARS.

st. Louis, May 3L-"Fifty years
hence black man upon our streets
will be a rara avis, in 100 years he will
be a memory The shadow of the An
glo-Saxon is upon the negro race, and
1t must succumb as surely as the dew
yields to the sun. The black skin is
doomed
This is the bold theory advanced by
proDa9ly the most learned negro schoI-
ar and educator in the west, Professor
o. NJ. Wood, principal L'OuVerture
school, this city.
Prof. Wood is a graduate of Ann Ar
Dor university, and has spent nearly 20
years educating his people. He is thor
Oughly inbued with race pride, has
studied it's conditions, knows it's wants
and is familiar with its characteristics
and teaches from its history.
There is probably no man prouder of
the achievements of the negro since
his emancipation, but science and logic
have shown him the end and he admits
The startling position he has taken
and maintains can but claim uni
Versal attention and excite wide spread
comment at this time, when the east
ern press and eastern thinkers of both
colors are seeking a solution of the ne
gro problem.
Prof. Woods discussion of the con-
d1ttOn OF his people has been largely
caused by a recent publication from the
pen of Thomas Fortune, the New York
cOlOred editor
some length upon the increase of the
feeling between the pure blacks and
those of mixed b1ood-an antipathy
that found its inception in the western
hemisphere during the struggles of
ToussSaint L'OuVerture in Haytt in the
early part of the century. It was not
however, transferred to the soil of the
United States until within a few years
of the outbreak of the rebellion.
Since that time, it is said, an unre-
lenting hatred has existed between the
classes. 1t is argued that this feeling
has attained more intensity since the
war, owing to the changed conditions
brought about by the struggle between
the states. Black is not a popular color
with the whites, whom all negroes inni-
tate, and the marked preference shown
the mulatto for household and the
higher grades of work has to an extent
yet more embittered the heart Of the
pure African.
/ Environment is nine-tenths of the
battle for social elevation, says Prof.
Wood, and nowhere is this more aptly
illustrated than in the relative condi-
tons of the mulattoes and blacks. Be
ing preferred, the advantages of the
former are readily comprehended. They
come in contact with the best and
strongest influences of life, with its
wealth, it's culture and its refinement
The social and political heights at
tanned by the yellow skinned negro
demonstrate the power of association.
New Orleans, Prof. Woods thinks.
presents the most striking example of
color line within a color line. One-third
of the population is negro. This is di-
vided into the blacks, uuadroOns and
octoroOns, each class living unto itself
and resentful of entertainments by the
others. Though negro blood flows in
every vein, the lines of class distinction
are as closely drawn as though they
were of different races. It is a preju-
dice based upon the line of the skin, but
wholly ineffaceable.
Here is presented an interesting So
ciaI paradox. Authorities state with
out contradiction, that the nearer a, ne
gro approaches a white man, in his
habits, demeanor and complexion, the
higher the place he is accorded in So
ciety. Yet if he wins a white wife, he
is Immediately ostracised, and per-
force seeks his companions among the
lower class.
This is attributed to race pride, and
the unfortunate finds his white help
mate a perpetual burden instead of
pleasing aid to higher elevation.
Il am proud of my negro blood, said
Prof. Wood, land it is with pain adj
NIT the wars that constantly disturb
my people. know no color line. My
firm belief is in the empire of the brain.
It must be a survival of the fttest.
But while such conditions do exist
among the Afro-Americans we must
consider them. In my eye, and the
same must be true of all thinking men,
the man with a. drop of Ethiopian blood
in his veins is negro. he has skin as
dark as that of the Congo native or
WnICS as the ldlIESL 0duCdSted1t- DE-
ing a negro he must share the fortunes
of the race and his duty should be to
upIift his brother, instead of erecting
barriers of pride that help not even
himself.
This class distinction among ne
groes is foolish and is the veriest nom
sense. Why? Because as surely as the
night follows day, the race is being
conquered as a, race. Study the census.
Why this steady increase of the negro
death rate and the corresponding d.
Tninishment of the birth rate? Why the
falling off in the percentages of in
crease?
'sThe answer is simple. 1t thrusts it
self upon every man. The race is be-
ing absorbed by the Anglo-Saxon- It is
growing lighter. In SO years black
man will be a curiosity; in a century he
will be a memory
For proof of this it is but necessary
to observe the increase of mulattoes-
the product of the mixture of black
and white blood. Intermarriage, or the
consorting of the races. if you prefer,
association and environment, are work
perfect, and prejudices will no longer
be remembered. The weak must even
tua1ly give in to the strong"
1.-The condition of the inulatto is the
result of two causes heritage and en-
vironment. I shall deal with the form
er since speak of the races elimina-
ton What do we find in the child of
a black and white parent2 A lighter
skin, a brighter mind, weaker vitality.
The white parent with his stronger
mental force imparts the greater part
of this to the child. He inherits quick
ness of perception,a mind that is grasp
ing and retentive, and every whit of the
ambition of his father. The mothers
gift is the colored skin and certain ne
gro physical characteristics But he
has improved mentally at the expense
of his vitality. Being of mixed blood he
does not run the years of either of his
pure blood parents. Follow this down