Richmond planet., 1907-05-25

es" of economical New England are
here absent. because nothing is ever
left 20 make over. The Negro eats
it up, Even bread here is not usual
Is baked days ahead as in the North
but made fresh for every meal-the
famous delicious (and indigestible)
hot bread" of the South.
A Negro cook often supports her
whole family. including a lazy hus-
band, on what she gets daily from
the white mans kitchen. In some
old families the basket habit" of
the Negroes Is taken for granted; in
the newer ones, IL is, Significantly.
beginning TO be called stealing, show
ing that the old order is passing and
often a Negro of the old sort will
literally bulldoze his hereditary white
protector into the loan of quarters
and half dollars, which both know
viii never be paid back.
Mr.. Britain, superintendent OF
schools in Fulton County. gave me
an incident in point. a big Negro
with whom he was wholly unacquaint
ed came TO his Office one day, and
demanded-he did not ask, but de-
manded-a job.
What's your name?" asked the
superintendent.
Marion Luther Britain" was the
reply.
THAT sounds familiar" said Mr..
Brittain-it being. indeed. his own
name.
"Yas. sab. Ah'm the son of yo'
OF nanny"
In short, Marion Luther had grown
up on the old plantation: It was the
spirit of the hereditary vassal de-
manding the protection and support
OF the hereditary baron, and ne got
it of course.
The Negro who makes his appeal
on the basis Of this old relationship
finds no more indulgent or generous
friend than the Southern white man.
indulgent 20 the point of excusing
thievery and other petty offenses.
but the moment he assumes or de-
mands any other relationship or
4 stands up as an independent citizen,
the white men-at least some white
men-turn upon him with the fierc-
est hostility. The incident of the as
sociated charities may now be under
stood.
IL was not necessarily cruelty to
a cold or hungry Negro that inspired
the demand OF the irate subscriber,
but the feeling that the associated
charities helped Negroes and whites
on the same basis, as men; that,
| therefore, IL encouraged social e.
quality" and that therefore it was
to be stopped.
I shall have TO ask the indulgence
of the reader here-and all through
this series-for getting away from
the main-traveled road of my narra-
II tive SnnDnr nr 1afn,. L
emnly TO get back again, and not
without the hope that / have illum-
mated some obscure by-way or found
a new path through a thorny hedge.
Most of the examples so far given
are along the line of social contact,
| where, OF course. the repulsion is in
| tense. They are the outward evil
| dences of separation, but while high
| ly provocative, they are not really
/ OF vital imporantce. Negroes and
whites can go TO different schools,
churches and saloons, and sit in diff
| ferent street cars and still live pret-
tty comfortably. But the longer 1
| remain in the South. the more clearly
come to understand how wide and
| deep, in other, less easily discernible
ways, the chasm between the races
| is becoming. 1t takes forms that
had never dreamed of.
THE NEW RACIAL CONSCIOUS
NESS AMONG NEGROES.
/ One of the natural and inevitable
/ results of the effort of the white
man to set the Negro of, as a race.
by himself. is to awaken in him a
new consciousness sort of racial
consciousness. 1t drives the Negroes
together for defense and offense.
Many oble Negroes. some largely of
y white blood, cut on from all oppor-
} tunity OF success in the greater life
} OF the white man. become of neces-
/ sity leaders of their own people.
And one of their chief efforts con-
: sists in urging Negroes to work to-
} gether and to stand together. In
this they are only developing the In
: stinct of defense against the white
man which has always been latent
, in the race.
II This instinct exhibits itself, as In
; the recent Brownsville case. in the
] way in which the mass OF Negroes
II o9fou rofuoo 70 furx ovor s>r3u,f n r