The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-04-24
NEGRO POLlTENESS.

Our contemporary, the Star, copie!
an article from the Record (Phil
: written by w. E. Curtis, in which hs
Icharges the students OF the Hampton
Va, school with lack of politeness in
refusing to give IN their seats, in the
trolley cars, that connect Hampton and
Fortress Monroe, to white ladies when
there are no available seats. The
statement made is only partially true
Mr.. Curtis does not state in that con-
nection that no white man either in
the North or the South ever yields a
seat to cofored woman however old
or feeble she may be; that the white
men still force the negroes to use seL-
arate cars in many states; that they
refuse them admittance to many
churches, hotels and theatres, however
respectable they appear.
But the article quoted by our contem-
porary alleges as a reason for this lack
of polfteness some facts stated by a
lady who said: "She said the pupils at
Hampton were taught that they were
as good as anybody, and that they
were entitled to the rights and privi-
leges of citizens OF the United States
be a confession of their inferiorty if
they surrendered their seats. While
this was proper doctrine, the teachers
at Hampton had neglected to instruct
boy hot of no
cardinal virtues, and that certain cour-
tesies were always expected from gen
tlemen to the weaker sex
Those who know the founder of that
school either personally or by reputa-
ton know that he earnestly tried to
remove from the minds Of the students
false pride of citizenship; that he
placed before them the fact that they
were facing a race superior to them
selves in education, in activity, in civil
liZatiOn that aggressiveness in polit
ical and social affairs would only pro-
duce friction, and retard the advance
of the Negro race. Above all things
he impressed the idea upon their minds
that thrift, honesty, and good citizen
ship was the key that unlocked all po-
litioal and social doors, whether it was
in the hand of the negro or in other
hands
For holding these views the Negro
press time and again bitterly denounc
ed the founder of the school, because
he refused to instruct the students to
become politically and socially aggres-
sive. He taught the students that po-
likeness was something more than a
social accomplishment, that it was a
moral principle of the highest import
ance.-
His great pupil, Booker T. Washing |
ten, has steadfastly enforced his teach |
ing in the noted Tuskegee School IN |
Alabama, and has done more than any |
man living in urging the negro to |
avoid any display of aggressiveness in |
the enforcement of rights.
The statements contained in the ar
ticle quoted are a gross misrepreisen- |
1ation of the persistent teaching of thir- |
Ly years in the Hampton SCHOOL,.
The republication of them by our
betrays "a willingness to
disparage the character of the founder |
of the School, in the place of his birth. |
This is, however, of little consequence,
as the intelligent men and the press
of the southern states especially COM
mend and admire the instruction he
gave to the young Negroes. This
would not be done, if the statements
contained in the article are true.
Among the many thousands of COM
ments made on the School by the Am
erican press, criticisms of the kind
made by Mr.. Curtis can rarely be
found. The Star picks UP out of the |
o. o. % o o o o. o o. o. ~ a - ~