The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-13

IN, obstacles - Tis advancement Described
by Oae OF the race.

by One OF inc hAhoo'
To THE EDITOR OF THE sUN-Sir' I have just
read "A New African Project in to-day's issue
OF Your paper. and, with a deep sigh, indeed,
with a groan, i oxclaim, stun and nonsense'
with nll my heart 1 wish that my race had the
spirit Of pioneers. tho ability to meet and on
duro emigrant life like tho Pilgrim Fathers,
like tho Dutch emigrants, like their descendants,
who have built up tho western United states
and are now facing tho klondiko. ihen
tho people Of African blood everywhere, but
especially here and In tho West Indies. would
become n recognised power, an Indispensable
force In the worlds civilization. Now we are
hirelings and dependents wherever found.
For thirty years I have been a student OF the
question raised by your article. In the year
1881 extended my studies to Africa, spending
about n year there. / am and l nave ocen Tor
over twenty years in full sympathy with the
proposition that a negro nation Of wealth and
power would have great effect upon the status
of Afro-Amcricans, improving 1t materially;
but I hnve long since reached the conclusion
that all schemes Of African emigration and col
onization, with tho reasons given Tor them,
injurc Afro-Amcricans and retard our progress.
What arc wo going to Africa With l saw the
result OF colonization on tho west coast of
Africa; how tho negro emigrants from tho
United States carried to Africa very little idea
Of voluntary, systematic labor. They worked
in America more from outside than inside in
huences. Finding themselves free to lie down
and to rise up, they have done very little work.
Some have plainly said: 81 worked hard enough
when l was a slave. Here l can lie down when
1 want to and got up when l please" And
under the effect of the enorvating climate Of
Africa tho negro emigrants from the United
States, as n class. usually degenerate. Instead
Of fratcrnizing with tho natives. they Cypress
them.. They even. give them back seats In Tho
chIiFTiGnSs when SiSr,,i fhsy q mainta mem The al s Sro rae
communities in Africa. g..
am ashamed to make the admission; but
white men know it we'll, that Afro Americans
are not yet capable of living INDEPENDENTLY any:
where and maintaining themselves strongly and
shackles to our arms and manacles to our limbs,
like a milestone around our neck. 1t Is almost
Ing negro has to endure in his effort to rise In
the world. His own rsce pulls him back T. he
EI p tsa az Sd infh D sh Isnsi. Who No A1fo,Am laPTe business hrss;
success, comparative wealth. and cultured homo
SURROUNDINGS. who owes anything to his race
help white men up. Black men pull black men
down. One negro says Of another, I am
not up there; he shan't get up there" Every
same level with himself. Now the effect Of this.
s where s9 tSeS i h"1o e come f into the Control cont tSn of n "a
Here in the United States, especially in the
North, where any Afro American gets far ahead,
he owes it to- some. fortunate connection with
white men. This fact. even more. than our
o onhnfioI P so much " "staff PrSdIe nons Sc
would like to see DR.: Thorne and other ~ ne
seess and lldG make n,In G mone UP { th lsnsG alter Res't aesu qr os'i a
small fortune. he could draw men unto himself
and his new African project by putting S25..
other negroes to help sustain it.. The work In
hand for the Afro-Ainericans to do. for at least
a half century to come, is for individuals to
get character, trades, business. wealth, and
then learn the lesson of combining their money
In associated business enterprises.
The work to be done is correctly outlined by
Booker T. Washington and Tuskegee Institute.
Money spent here will be, money well spent;
money spent colonizing American negroes in
Africa, will be money thrown away, Build
up such institutions MS Tuskegee. and the time
tecis for African colonization; for then they will
be able to put money into projects" and not go
race OF mendicants living on charity.
1t does no good to be constantly claiming that
so IN p rnf Slts, rG asainst 81 the ere BLACK lae rs we't That raot the ,s
only hope for tho latter to get along is to get
away from the former, We ca mot escape, the
Project" The, white race is, in some respects,
exclusive and dominating; but it recognizes all
this democratic nation. in which the ballot
makes him n king. there Is a brighter outlook
for the Afro-Amcrican han anywhere else in
It is impossible to forescc what changes are to
follow the remarkable ones which have takeu
t''NS ~ mo - Nv htipi. Ahs INV bih
for n moment will regard rs miraculous the
transitions from the conditions OF slavery to ex,
listing conditions. Take. for example, the etti
tudc of the white race toward the education OF
the blacks. In the South it was once a crime to
teach a negro to read; now he there gets State
aid in his education from the primary school
through the college. In the North special "col
ored schools of an inferior character were once
maintained for the blacks; now colored women
teach the children OF the white race. one having
charge, rs principal. OF an exclusively white
school with, several white teachers as her IS
%sistants, and others teaching exclusively white
classes in some Of the cities of the North and
the West. even in New York city, where preju
dice against the negro has been so strong.
Why ask space to show other chnngesi They
are, in evidence in every direction. "What
hath God wrought" is constantly escaping from
the lips OF the rcverent student Of the history OF
the colorcd people OF the United States. II the
Atro-American has anything in him. he is living
here amid conditions which will educate him
which will force him to be industrious: proyi
white race, II there is tho germ in his blood, HI
will evolve those elements OF character which
fit man for pioneer life; h" will get the wealth
without which forests cannot be leveled. mine,
opened, fields titled. manufactures promoted
without which new lands cannot DO settled anc
changed from barbarism to civilization.
T, MCCANTS STEwART.