The new age., 1907-03-23
EDITORIAL
WINNING CoLoRED MEN.

up From Slavery" and in his lee
lures and frequent addresses anC
teachings generally, has advocated
and emphasized the Importance anC
need of manual and mechanical
rather than literary, scientific or pro
fessional, training of the colored peo
pie, yet would not altogether neglect
the latter, as he perceives that the
taste and talents of colored people
differ the same as of other people
1t is quite true that industrial train
ing is more important and Industrial
knowledge more useful than an
academical or college education
gained from books, but that negro
may attain great excellence and rise
high in purely intellectual or artistic
pursuits has been illustrated many
times, perhaps scarcely ever more
notedly than in the case of Mr.. w.
Burghardt Du Bois, author of "The
Soul of Black Folk This is ac-
knowledged by caucasian critics to
be one of the most remarkable books
ever written by an American, from
a standpoint of pure, meritorious lit
erature. A member of the negro
race is acknowledged to be one of
the country's and indeed of the
worlds greatest painters; negro re-
Gently died who attained interna-
tional fame as poet; there are many
negro educators, preachers and law
yers of undisputed ability of a high
order; and now it is a negro who has
written book that is considered one
of the masterpieces of American lit
erature.
Another instance that is attracting
attention is that Alain LIE Roy Locke,
who last week, among many Cau-
casian competitors, won the Pennsyl-
vania scholarship under the Cecil
Rhodes will, and is therefore entitled
to pursue his studies with all ex-
penses paid in one of the leading
celebrated English universities. Mr..
Locke is the son of a man who was
successful lawyer and a woman who
is a successful teacher. He is twen- !
ty-one, has already won four impor-
tant fellowships in his own universi- |
ty, which is Harvard, from which he !
graduates next June. In the Rhodes !
will provision was made for two
African scholarships which may be
competed for by any colored man in
the states or territories. 1t is proba- /
BILE that Mr.. Rhodes or his admins
traitors recognized the American an
tagonism which might be felt in
black competing with white on equal
grounds; there is no such antagon-
ism in England. But Mr.. Locke-a
significant name with which to con-
Jure at Oxford is merely the Penn
sylvania contestant on an equal foot
ing with any other Pennsylvania stu !,
dent. He carried the honor easily in
scholarship. But after that it must
be remembered that the applicants
must come before committee where ,
manhood, inherent qualities, are con- !
sidered in the final award. This is /,
what makes the Locke appointment I
more significant Then for three ,
years this Harvard man will be an 6
Oxford man. ,
OF course, it is the very excep- f
tional colored youth who could win
such prize and position, but it is |
also only the exceptional, white young t
man who could do the same. This t
instance, nor good many like 1t. f
do not prove that higher education t
is best for the mass Of colored people, q
nor is it best either for most white t
people; but such cases do prove that \
colored people are capable of high f
and success along edu- a
cational and intellectual lines, and il
exposes the folly and injustice of "
the assertions of the negrophobists n