Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1910-01-14
Zone who was there.)

Mr.. Editor Bystander. Dear Sir:
Please allow me space in your very
excellent paper for thi following art
icle.
The negro as a race is being felt in
all the progresses Of life, regardless
of what have been said or done to im-
pede his progress, his march has been
on and upward Coming out OF chat
tel slavery with an inheritance Of two
hundred and fifty years of ignorance
and superstition, without land, UNI
organized and .moneyless, with pow
erty anddegradation facing him at
every turn He has bored his way
through as man, regardless OF what
was said of him before the war by
his white brother That he was in
capable of enlightenment, and that it
was impossible to educate him. But
in contradiction to that saying we are
glad to say that out of nearly eleven
million today. six million of them can
read and write the English language.
Three hundred lawyers at the bar,
some Of them classed as the very best
orators of theday. ! speak this with
out fear of successful contradiction
on the part of any other race. We
have fifty thousand school teachers,
some educated from the very best
colleges of the land. And today We
find the negro still pushing his way
upward in every evenue of life, we
have thousands of men and women
engaged in all sorts of gainful occu-
pations and independent, we have
some of the very best historians and
poets and philosophers, musicians.
inventors, and journalists and in fact
some of the very best talent OF the
day. From the plantation to the ma
chine shop he Is marching shoulder to
shoulder with the white man, turned
out of slavery without even dollar
to protect him from the chilling blast
of life, today he is worth three humid
red and fifty million dollars, in per-
sonal property, twenty million dollars
worth of school property, and all told
l feel that the negro has climbed to
height in the past forty years un-
equaled by that of any other race.
write this so that all who read 1t
may be encouraged and not forsaken,
that ambition to push onward and
upward until he reached that stand
ard of life where they can demand
their place as patriotic sons and dau-
ghters of this great civilized country.
Not withstanding the many things that
are being 9aid through the journals
and magazines to impede his progress
and cause him to stop striving and
forsake ambition and get down into
the cutters of do nothing where In
all possibility they would have him
remain and die useless, undignified
and illiteral race He has learned
this important lesson of industry, &C.
onomy and thrift, and forging q head
every where and will continue to do
so, despite the difficulties which con-
tinually befront him. Now let me say
right here that all the negro likes to
make him just what he ought to be
what he should be, and last, what he
must be is the self reliance to be-
lieve in himself and believe that he Is
as good as any other human being
and capable of the same sort OF Inn
provement under similar conditions as
other men. Let me say again, let the
negro become hopeful not-with-stand-
ing the many victories that he has al
ready achieved, let him not feel that
his work is finished, but to feel there
is greater work for him to accomp-
lish until he reaches that standard,
that he can be dictator instead of
being dictated to. Now in conclusion
let me say for the negro as q man, not
to become bitter in spirit. Not to be-
come hopeless. Not to be discourag-
ed. But let Gods grace and the hum
BILE example of Christ continue to be
his support and guard him up through
land him on that side of prosperity
where he may dwell in peace with all
human kind. # 4. S
P. o. Box, 1894. Hiteman, Iowa,
Greek Prcverb.
what the wind gathers the dsvf1
SaAftArs. 1s1 ssS