Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1906-10-13
THE TRAGEDY OF COLOR

"TBE TRAGEDY OF COLOR"
Mr.. II C. Wells, the accomplished
English writer continues his obser-
vations upon the Negro as follows:
II Is TO the tainted whites my sym
pathies go out. The black or main
" black people seem to be iairly
content with their inferiority:
one sees them all about the States
as walters. cab-drivers, railway port
ers, car attendants. laborers Of va
rious sorts. n pleasRnt-smiling, &C
quiescent folk. But consider the
case of a man with a broader brain
than such small uses neei. conscious
perhaps. OF exceptional gifts, capa-
BILE OF wide interests and sustained
attempts, who is perhaps as English
as you or I. with Just a touch of col
or in his eyes, in his lips, IN his
fnger-nails, AMI in his imagination.
Think Of the accommodating sense OF
injustice ne must bear with him
through life, the perpetual slight
and insult he must undergo from all
that is vulgar and brutal among the
whites, Something OF that one may
read in the sorrOwful pages OF Du
Bois's ''The Souls OF Black Folk" "
They would have made Alexandra
Dumas travel in the Jim Grow car
IL he had come to Virginia. But
can imagine some sort OF protest on
the part OF that admirable but eXtrav
agant man .... They even talk OF
Jim Crow elevators" now in South
ern hotels.
AT Hull House. in Chicago. was
present at a conference OF colOre
people-Miss Jane Adams encisntly
in cOntrol-tC consider The coming
OF a vexatfous play, The Clansman, p"
which seems to have been written
and produced entirely 20 exacerbate
racial feeling. Both men and wo-
men were present, business people.
professional men. and their wives
the speaking was clear. temperate,
and wonderfully 20 the point. high a
bove the level OF any British town
council / have ever attended. One
lady would have stood out as caps-
BILE AMI charming IN any sort OF pub
lie discussion in ngland-though
We are not wanting in good women
speakers-and she was at least three
quarters black. ..
And while l was in Chicago. too,
went 10 the Picking Theatre n
coon" music-hall-and saw some
thing OF a lower level OF colored
life. The common white, I must ex-
plain. delights in calling colorel peo
pie "coons" and the Negro. so far as
I could learn, uses no retaliatory
word IL was a variety" entertain
ment. with one turn. at least. OF
quite distinguished merit. goO1-hu-
mOred and brisk throughout l
watched keenly, and I could detect
nothing of that trail OF base sug-
gestion one would find as a matter
OF course in a music-hall in such En-
glish towns as Brighton and Ports
mouth. What one heard OF kissing
and love making was quite artiess
and simple indeed. The Negro. Il
seemed 20 me. did this sort OF thing
with a better grace and a better tenn
per than a LondOner. and shows,
think. finer self-respect. He
thinks more OF department. he bears
himself more elegantly by far than
the white at the same social level.
The audience reminded me OF the
sort OF gathering one would find in
a theatre in Camden Town or HoX-
ton. There were a number OF fam
lily groups, the girls brightly lress-
ed, and young couples quite OF the
London music-hall type. Clothing
ran smart" but not smarter than
IL would be among fairly prosperous
north London Jews. There was no
gallery collection OF
orange-eating. interrupting hooli-
gans at all. Nobody seemed cross.
nobody seemed present for vicious
purposes, and everybody was sober.
Indeed, there and elsewhere I took
AMI confirmed a mighty liking 10
these gentle. human. dark-skinned
people.
We shall quote him further in our
next issue.