The colored American., 1903-02-21
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE
NEGRO?
{ Washington Post.)

let him alonei
The Negro is free. He has the OPP
portunity to acquire independence, to
make himself a respected member of
society, to hasten or delay his own
deVelopment-just as the average
white man has. He receives an edu-
cation, such as it is, almost entirely
| at the expense of the white taxpayer,
and, in the South, at least, he can
always obtain employment 1t lies
with him to work out his own des-
tiny, to make Of himself a useful citi-
zen, and to rear his family in right
| eOuSneSS and decency. Why need our
statesmen concern themselves over
the feVeriSh complaints of handful
| of impudent agitatOrs demanding that
| to which they are not entitled and
which white men of similar cOndl-
| ton and equipment would not dream
of asking for? There are thousands
| of well-to-do colored men in the South
| who could inform these anxious
gentlemen that the Negro is not help
| ed but injured by this everlasting
| outcry. There are thousands, worth
! anywhere from $4,000 to $1,O00000
| who get all the recognition" they
| want without clamOring for 1t, and
| they can testify in their own expert
| ence that recognition come always
to him who has deserved it. This
| peStiferOuS Vociferation over the Ne
| infames the vanity of, the ignorant
| infianmes the vanity of the ignorant
and robs him of what little self-re-
spect he has.
Here is a letter written to and
published by a Philadelphia news
paper within the past few days:
'Sir-I am a colored man, a me-
chanic by trade. There is nothing
IN the line of a house that | cannot
make. 1 can build all the stirs,
windows, make the sashes, blinds, and
doors. l can build a house from the
ground up and turn the keys over
to the owner completed. I can draw
the plans, make the blue prints, make
the specifications, and give estimates.
Yet I am debarred from employment
lon account of my color. The preju-
dice in this city is strong against me,
much stronger than in the place l
came from. No one wants me because
l am a colOred man. Why is this?
I am thirty-seven years old. l drew
the plans Of the colored church on
Tasker St, above Twentieth. My
name is on the cornerstone. l built
the State Colored College, of Orange
burg, S. c., and I have built cottages
in Orangesburg, and for the mayor of
Beaufort, S. c., but still l am debarred
from employment in PHILADELPHIA.
SAMUEL H. BLYTHEWOOD."
This man is a victim of the wicked
and mischievous agitation to which
we refer. Evidently far superior to
the average of his race he was never
theless credulOus enough to believe
that great things awaited him at the
North He abandoned a home in
which he had been cOntented and
prosperous and transferred himself
20 Philadelphia-with the result we
have already seen. Of course he will
return to South Carolina, where he
has friends among the whites and is
assured of remuneratiVe employment
1T all times. There are other victims,
however, who will not so easily es-
cape the consequences of their own
credulity, for only a few days ago
the New York Tribune called atten-
ton to the numbers of Southern Ne
groes who had migrated to the metro
~.olis, expecting no doubt to dine with
the mayor and be elected to office
within week, but who had landed in
the almshouses and were then begging
for transportation back home. The
truth is that this eternal nonsense
about the Negro and his rights and
wrO1. pS- this miSchieVOuS cackle over