The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1907-08-17
Kstes.d VI TIE Pea olAss a. cieAeA
q. % SscoaS-dAs Matter.
FOLLOWING THE COLOR LINE.
fconcluded from page u


fair was largely attended, and not
cniy by Negroes but by many white
visitors. The brunt Of the work OF
organization fell upon r. R. Wright.
president Of the Georgia State Indus
trial College (Colored) of Savannah.
President Wright is a full-blooded
African descent, his grandmother, who
reared him, being an African Negro
Of the Mandingo tribe. Just at the
close of the war he was a boy in a
freedman's school at Atlanta. One
Sunday General o. o. Howard came
to address the pupils. When he had
finished, he expressed a desire to
take a message back to the people %
the North.
"What shall l tell them for you?"
lie asked.
A little black boy in front stood up
quickly, and said:
"Tel 'em, Massa, we is rising"
Upon this incident John Greenleaf
Whittier wrote a famous poem: and
st the Negro fair browning the charts
which had been prepared to show the
progress of the Negroes Of Georgia.
saw this motto:
I'VE ARE RISING"
The little black boy grew up, was
graduated at Atlanta University, stud
led at Harvard, travelled in Europe
served in the Spanish-American War,
and is now seeking to help his race
to get an industrial training in the
college which he organized in 1891.
The attendance at the fair in Macon
was between $4,000 and 10000, the
Negroes raised $1,000 and spent ST.
600, and propose TO have a greater fair
this year. In this enterprise they had
the sympathy and approval of The
best white people. A vivid glimpse Of
what the fair meant is given by the
Daily News of Macon-a white news
paper:
"The fair shows what progress can
be accomplished by the industrious
and thrifty Negro, who casts aside
the belief that he is a dependent, and
sails right in to make living and u
home for himself. Some Of the agri-
cultural exhibits Of black farmers
have never been surpassed in Macon.
On the whole, the exposition just
simply astounded folks who did not
know what the Negro is doing for
himself.
Another significant feature about
tie fair was the excellent behavior OF
the great throngs of Colored people
who poured into the city during its
progress. There was not an arrest OF
the fair grounds and very few in tbs
city"
The better class of Negro farmers,
indeed, have shown not only a capac-
fly for getting ahead individually, but
for organizing for self-advancement,
and even for working with correspond
ing associations of white farmers. The
great cotton and tobacco associations
Of the South, which aim to direct
the marketing of the product Of the
farms, have found 1t not only wise,
but necessary to enlist the coopera-
ton of Negro farmers. At the annual
rally Of the dark-tobacco growers at
Guthrie, KY, last September, many
Negro planters were in the line Of
rarade with the whites. The farm
ers' conferences held at Hampton,
Tuskegse, Calhoun and at simila,
schools, illustrate In other ways the
possibilities of advancement which
grow out Of landownership by the Ne
Eoes.
The penalties Of Being Free.
So much Tor the sunny side Of the
picture; the broad-gaage landlord and
the prosperous tenantry. Conditions
IN the black belt ara in one respect
much As they were in slavery times
or as they would be under any feudAl
system: II the master or lord Il
~eood,s the Negro prospers; II he i
harsh, graspfng, unldnd, the Negro
suffers bitterly. II gets back finally
to the white man. In assuming sn
IRENE Fights in the south-pollHeal
social and industrial the white mar
also assumes tremendous duties and
responsibilities; he cannot have TIE
enc without the other; and he takes
to himself the pain and SUFFERING
whach goes WITH power and rssponni