The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-12-16
THE COLOR LINE IN BOSTON.

4 correspondent of the Charlotte
is a southerner. tells about going to
hear Booker Washington lecture and
gives some instances showing the at
titude Of the white people Of that city
toward the negro. The plan the bar
Der worked to keep from shaving a
negro and still save himself from a
suit for damages could have original
ed nowhere else except in the fertile
brain of a yankee; yet we are sur
prised at his being willing to sacrifice
the value of a razor 20 his social pref
udice. 1t must have gone hard with
that yankee barber to nave to ruin a
razor in order to keep from shaving
a negro.
This correspondent writes the OBJ
server:
Last Sunday evening, curiosity
prompted several of us students from
the south to hear IN address by Book
er L. Washington, al the Old South
church. Although it is one of the
largest churches in Boston, and we
went fully half an hour before the
exercises were announced to begin. we
were compelled to stand in crowded
aisles, n hundreds got no further
than the church door. The peaker
was introduced by Governor Bates.
who spoke in warmest terms of him
as a benefactor of his race, and men
tinna6 Gpxvaral fiponc fha IifSop1ty 0f
overcoming ace prejudice in the
south.
Speaking Of race prejudice, I should
like space to mention a few things
that have come within my notice dur
ing a brief residence here. / have
seen Boston people look openly dis
gruntled and edge as far away as
possible from negroes who were seatS
ed by them in the street cars. The
man in charge of the box Office at one
of the large theatres here told me last
week that he had been obliged to
exchange some seats because the pur-
chasers were unwilling to sit by a ne
gro. II asked if they were southern
people and he did not think that they
were. The proprietor of a we'll known
restaurant%t old me a few days g
hat he had just charged a negro one
dollar and 1ertX cents for a dinner
which would nave cost any one else
thirty-fve cents. He also said with
out a bit of shame, hat he would not
let him have the bill of fare. The
same day the following incident was
told me. A negro entered a barber
shop near here and asked for a shaw
The barber at first refused but the
law is on the negro's side. He told
the negro that he would have to
wait and after about an hours
time, he re-appeared with a razor
which he had fixed for the purpose.
He had taken an old one and had
hammered on it with something heavy
until it was denied and the edge
broken in several places. He said to
the negro: 1.-The law compels me to
give you a shave, but by George, this
Is what I am going to do it with
The negro CAV n look at the razor
and fed.
I could mention other things but it
Is unnecessary to pile up evidence
Collectively, the people here seem TO
be anxious for the intellectual and
moral improvement of the negro. But
when it comes to individuals, it seems
to me that there is just as much pref
udice as at the south, and here there
is far less excuse for it, for with 1e"
exceptions, the negroes here are cream
and respectable. and many or thenh
are well educated. 1t seems to me
that charity begins at home.