The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-07-10
NEGROES IN SUNDAY SCHOOL

The following tribute to the South
ern whites is from a negro who knows
them al first hand At the recent In
ternatiOnal Sunday School Convention
in Louisville, they were discussing
New plans for Sunday School Work
among the Negroes" and Booker T.
Washington, principal of Tuskegee In
stitute, at Tuskegee, Ala. said in
part:
i was born in the South. I was
born a slave, In the southern part o.
the United States there are more than
eight millions Of my race. The blacks
and whites are here to remain. IN my
opinion. for all tine. Whatever al
fects theNOne race affects the otter.
We are fast learning in every part Of
America that one man cannot hold an
other man down in the ditch without
remaining in the ditch with him.
1T may not be known outside Of the
South and to the general pubic. but
nevertheless it is true that every
branch of the Southern white church
is assisting in some manner in the ed
vocational. moral and religious develop
ment OF the negro through their col
lege, Sunday school or church work
The whole future Of the relations Of
the two races in the South hinges up
on our being able to inculcate into the
young minds Of black children and
white children proper ideas of justice
and q spirit Of liberation and friend
ship between race and race. Ii We
fail to teach these lessons in the Sun
day schools, in that degree the future
relations between the races become
a matter Of speculation and danger.
The Good Father has SO arranged mat
ters on this earth that one man can
not get on without the help of the 9TH
er man. Our relations are so deli
cate!y and infinitely interviewer that
one race cannot in any large degree
get away from the other.
In nine-tenths of our Southern com
munities there is peace, good will and
evidences of friendship existing be-
tween the races. The outside world
hears of the isolated cases of friction
resulting in mob violence and lynch
ing and too often concludes that this
represents our Southern Christian civ
ilization and that there are no ade-
.Quate results following the work being
done in church, Sunday school. public
school and elsewhere.
Attention is often called to the fact
that the young negro gives trouble. I
grant that there is far too much crime
committed by the negro youth. but in
considering this phase of negro life
we must remember that it is the
young that give trouble. Statistics
show that two years ago ], 100000 chill
dren of my race entered no public
school. and a large proportion of those
who were in school attended only four
or five months during the year. There
are hundreds of thousands of black
children who enter no Sunday school
or church on the Sabbath day. But
notwithstanding the enormous amount
of work to be done, what already has
been accomplished in moral and re-
ligious growth indicates the pOssibili-
ties OF such work and justifies further
efforts in that direction.
This country owes a debt Of graft
tude already to a group of brave, I'M
selfish, courageous Christian white
men and women in the South which
/ it can never repay. 1t has been large
~ owing to the influence Of this group
working in cooperation with the cdu-
Gated negro that peace and harmony
and good will prevails in the South to
an extent that it does. The future Of
our race is not dark