The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1905-06-23

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progress has been made, and we have
only to look at the career Of Booker Il.
! Washington, of whom the Hon. Clark
Howell, editor of the Atlanta Constitu-
! ton, in letter to the y. Y. World,
! says, 81 do not eXaggerate, when / say
that Prof. Booker L. Washington's add
dress at the Atlanta Fair opening was
one of the notable speeches, both as to
character and the warmth of its recep-
! ton, ever delivered to Southern audi
ence, and marks distinctly turning
! point in the progress of the Negro
race" The address was revelation;
| and he was a Negro. There is also
| Charles Chestnut, author and novelist;
! Paul Lawrence Dunbar, poet; Henry
o. Tanner, the great artist, whose paint
| ing "The raising of Lazarus" hangs in
| Luxembourg Palace, and he is consider
ed sure winner of a post norton
place in The Louvre, in which no paint
ing of living artist is ever hung. To
| this we add the fact, that the class
orator of the Senior Glass of Harvard
University is a Negro, Roscoe COnkling
Bruce. He has won his Office on his
merits, and is not debarred from it
because of his color. Probably the
most finished Negro scholar in the
world to day is DIR. Edward Wilmot
| Blyden, who represented the Republic
of Liberia at the court of st. James,
with becoming grace and dignity, and
we believe that the Negro talent for
music will ultimately produce vocalists
and instrumentalists of high rank.
The race that can so soon, after cent
uries of slavery, produce such men as
these, must surely be making progress,
only the unwise and impatient can be
disappointed that the final solution of
the problem has not yet been reached.
The Negroes are an amiable people,
with happy disposition. They are
the happiest tempered people under the
sun. This easy going cheerful tempera
ment is often coupled with shiftless-
ness, improvidence and laZiness. Do
we wonder at this under the slave sys-
TEN. The Negro had no property; he
had no responsibility of providing for
the future, he was fed and clothed and
care was taken of his physical welfare.
There was no incentive to industry
except as the eye of the task master
was upon him. These traits are a part
of his inheritance. Is it unnatural to
expect that it will take time and train
ing to change them?
Another race trait of the Negro is
lack of moral development. This, too,
is part of his inheritance. During the
slave period, too often the marriage re-
latiOn was not observed. When his
children and his wife were chattles,
which his master could sell ii he desir
ed, the marriage relations would of
necessity lose its sanctity. Undevelop-
ed mentally and spiritually, the physic-
al and animal part of his nature were
emphasized. When he was given his
liberty, often the teachers and preach
ers of his race were incapable of set
ting forth the Bible standard of moral
ity and charity. The teachers them
selves did not know, nor practice what
needed to be taught. The consequence
is, that in some States, the laws forbid
ding bigamy and adultery are not
seriously supposed to apply to Negroes,
and their violation is so frequent, that
no attempt is made to enforce them.
Any adequate efforts TO uplift these
people and train them to Christian
citizenship must take account of these
traits, and seek to correct these faults. |
They need to be taught physical cleanli- |
ness. They need to be taught the dig |
nifty of labor, and the value of property. |
They need to be taught industry and |
perseverance, and prudence, foresight |
and steadiness.
In manual training, in Industrial |
Schools, in intelligent farming, the |
Presbyterian church, through its freed |
mems schools, is seeking TO develop |
the Negro as citizen. The very first |
prevalent error, that needs to be eradi- |
Gated is the cherished idea, that if a |
Negro can acquire some education, he |
need never work with his hands for a
livelihood. BY providing an educated |
ministry, whose teaching and preaching |
are the explanation of the meaning, |
and the application Of the principles of |
the Word of God, the Presbyterian
church is seeking to enlighten and up
lift the souls of the people. Whatever
the distant and final solution of the
great problem may be, under Gods
good providence, the present duty is
plain-the white people must help the
black people. 1t is not the duty of any
section. North or South, the work be-
longs to the white people as a race.
The South has some knowledge of the
Negroes, that the North needs to know;
and the North some sense of response
bility that the South needs to under
stand; and both have q duty which can
not be postponed.
No other people on the face of the
earth have better claim on our mis-
sionary zeal. To neglect them is almost
to stulify ourselves in any other mis-
sionary effort we may be inclined to
put forth. God held us responsible for
their enslayement, and in His provid-
ence forced us to give them back their
freedom at fearful cost of treasure
and blood. And now in their ignor-
ance and helplessness, barred out as
they are by prejudice from many
avenues to prosperity and self-support {
we dare not try to convince ourselves !
they have no further claim on our
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