Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1899-12-30
SOUTH FOR NEGROES.
Not So Many Coming North a.
We're a Few Years Ago
strong Feeling Of Sectional ~Intsssst
sprinGinG Up because of In
creased Southern I'm
t%epprise.

The colored people Of the south are
not looking rs confidently toward the
northern states as they once did for
their complete emancipation. 1t
seemed quite natural rs years ago for
them to feel that the north was strong
enough and good enough to guarantee
to every colored person all the rights
and CAPABILITIES of citizenship. This was
a most pleasing delusion, and under its
spell thousands Of colored people con
tinued to pour into the north from
every southern state. During the past
few years there has been a perceptible
check in this n%orthwnrd emigration.
The negroes in the south have learned
from the experiences of those who have
already come north that there is n dis
tressing scarcity of the milk and honey
which they dreamed OF. They have
begun To- learn that the prejudice from
which they would flee has been here all
the time, and is ready to confront them
in this rose colored haven of liberty and
equality. They have begun to learn
that race prejudice is omnipresent, and
as an interference with ones rights to
he free. to live and to be happy is quite
as decided in one part Of the country
as another.
Such bloody manifestations OF hostil-
ity to the employment of colored people
as have disgraced Illinois during the
past year are everywhere magnified in
the south as one evidence of the unfa-
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treme cases OF this kind probably have
had less influence In the gradual change
OF sentiment among the colorcd peo-
pie concerning their northern friends
than the general discrimination against
negro employment. The disappoint-
ment of thousands Of young men and
women who, after being educated in the
schools built by northern ~philanthro-
pists, have come north confident Of em-
ployment, has done n great deal to
bring about this growing change of sen
timent,
II cannot be denied that this change
of sentiment is of great significance
and importance. The south will there
by gain the influence and helpful en-
'iE. vi NiphShibo VI ''iiINA'hN spubE |
men and ome of the race who are
no longer lured into the northern states
by false hopes. They have discovered
that, in spite of race hatreds, the south
affords the best opportunity for young
men of flrst-class ability. The colored
business man of the south Is becoming
an important factor. With the rapid
development of business enterprises
the ways are opening up for bookkeep-
ers, clerks, stenographers and artisans
Of all kinds. Small banks have been
successfully opened and maintained
wholly by colored men in various parts
of the south. Insurance companies,
building and loan associations are
everywhere developed as an evidence
that education is being put to use in the
south instead of being wasted in the
vain search for work and the rewards
of it in the northern states.
Along with this increase of business
enterprise among the colored people
there has developed q strong feeling Of
sectional interest and even pride. This
may seem somewhat paradoXical when
we consider the awful manifestations
Of race hatred against the negro even
during the past year, yet it is a rare
thing to find a colored person in the
south who will confessedly share our
feeling of horror for the wrongs we
read about. In the recent negro con-
ventions held In Chicago il was notice
able that nearly all the denunciations
OF the south were made by the northern
delegates. a very successful lawyer
and business man OF Nashville, Tenn,
insisted that it was a good deal better
for the colored people in the south to
be on good terms with their respective
sheriifs than with the national admins
%tration, and that the negro in the south
would never desert the land OF his birth, |
his suffering and his prosperity. IN
speaking recently with a young man
from New Orleans, La, who Is himself
the head bookkeeper in one of the larg-
est business houses Of that city, he in
sisted that culored men were more gen
orally employed as clerks, ~bookkeep-
ers and in other respectable positions
in that city than in any other city in the
south and perhaps in the north. In
fact, it is being generally conceded by
the best informed men and women of
the race that the competent colored
people in the south are progressing in
more ways and to a greater extent than
they are in the northern states.
Intelligence and self-reliance are the
two things that the negro needs more
than a change Of habitation. \ large
part Of the south is his, il he will but
possess it, and it is gratifying and re-
assuring to see that he is awakening to
his power and opportunity.-Fannie
Barrier Williams, in Chicago Times
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