The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-07-06
WI$igliHlIlR II HARVARD
al@ mT@
lar Heel Student One of tho Five
Commencement Speakers
Ills io1nqI NA~Ffse Raa-> sFruhl~m in
@e sotHst-Nrsml sim" st >acc~~-
~i"n That a North Caruiinsan Ha>
on tire Contested Honor.

NaA-oE Lcg' Mass June -I-.le
s0Aaa2AAG-AGs1AGn = par.!ec-
A<-eGe-xEA2naAu1G.al 4--c..aa--
gay II the commencement exercises
at Harvard, in the selection % =
young MAJ from Pendlson. y {.
Gilbert T. Stephenson. as one Of the
commencement speakers. This IS an
honor much sought in Harvard AL
there Is keen rivalry for II. \ ma
Il DE- a good speaker, mus have
attained distinction in some specia,
branch Of study and thea present !
par, which shall excel all os the
hundreds ~ others. When ii is said
that the!e are at least four or FIVE
hundred men eligible for each # tho
I'VE commencement parts, il shows
now we'll It man must have done 10 De
appointed.
And what make the appointment
the more interesting is that this j.
the second year III succession hat
a SOutherner, and a North Caroiinian.
has received the same honor. Last
year ". A, Lambeth, now a Metbo-
dist minister in Salisbury y. {. re-
celyed the appointment. as he wa
then in Harvard doing graduate work
after, getting his degree a. Yale. When
Lambeth finished speaking. his sub
ject was on the race question, as is
Stephnson's. President Roosevelt
who was here attending the o5th
anniversary of his class, rose and
shook hands with him on the plat
form Months lorar n-Ra, .h1 Drae;
dent. was passing through North Caro-
Lambeth meet him and be his CUES,
the subject the young minister seem
ed TO have such a good idea Of.
And now. another Tar Heel steps
TO the front to show the southern Side
again. He has specialized in the sub
ject. since he has been in Harvard,
two years, and last winter was one Of
the speakers at the meeting OF the
American Political Science Society, a
Baltimore. .,,., ~
His speech today is rs follows.
RACE DISTINCTIONS"
America has today no problem
more perplexing and disquieting than
flL4't VI Az pIobNi "HN H1I
relation between the white and COL
ored races. Although ii concerns
most vitality the twenty millions OF
Caucasians and the eight millions Of
negroes in the eleven state of lower
south. still it is a national problem,
because what effects one part of this
national organism concerns the whole
of it. While the question has been
@x@-o-1l 4,@~o ,lp1ar% no
able standpoint, few, if any, have ever
turned the laws Of our states to
see if they had a message for us.
If n can CLEAN a lesson or a tenden-
cy from the multitude of statutes
that have been enacted in the forty
five states within the past forty years,
new light will necessarily be shed upon
this subject .r
Only twice since the negro has been
a free man have there been per-
| iods without racial distinction
recognized in the laws of the states i'll
which he lived These were 1860. dur
ing the interval between the close OF
the civil war and the r~econveninS OF
the legislatures, and 181O-11, while
the governments Of the southern states
were being reconstructed. AT the hr>t
| session of the legislature after the war
[ before reconstruction was under way.
| and at the sessions after Reconstruction
| the states were free 10 adopt 1i5ell
! own course in taking cOgnizance u the
relation between the races, except rs
| restricted by the Federal government
| Therefore. it is exceedingly valuable Il
| note the difference between the laws
| passed in the first and The second
| of these two eras. for if the nature
| of the laws is different, il argue.
| strongly that the attitude Of the White
| neODle towards the colOrcd people ha,
| changed.
CoincidenI with the recOnvening Il
| the legislatures in h south II 1860
| hacan a series Of racial laws which
| ended only with the beginning OF rt-
| construction. Statutes were enactet
| that negroes should not sit on juries
they might not serve IN militia
| Thev might not testify except II
eases to which ! negro was a party
, Sever pu~nishments were inflicted
| upon them than upon white criminal:
guilty Of the same offense. some
| states prescribed separate courts 70
the hearing of their complaints. Ihes'
polltical distinctions were even outdcn'
nv the industrial. Labor CONTRACTS
with negroes had to be written an>
| signed by white witnesses. Special law
regulated negro apprentices. tpo;
certain trades they might not ente
at all until they had served a term o
aDnrenticeship not required OF white
Tpon other trades a license tax va
levied. In one state az lenst, the
might no rent Or lease land exc@p
in incorporated towns and tues Ia"
stated at what hours colored IaooreT
should arise and prescribed their reg
ular routine throughout the day, Agr1
cultural hborers masters permission
South Carolina could neither leave n
plantation nor receive visitors wffnou
their masters permission South Car
olina. which went farrheSt n sue
LEGISLATION, said that the White en-
ployer should De addressed az, master
and the colored employe as servant
There were statutes regulating N
@ -avrc.- ~aCfS-Trr NfTSr