The Denver star., 1914-12-26
OKLAHOMA PAYS
HIGH TRIBUTE.
Citizens Of 0kmuIgse Praise
Thrift Of AfrO-ATerlcanS.
DR., LAMBERT CHIEF SPEAKER
In Optimistic Address Well Known
White Man Says Race Occupies
Unique Place In Country's History.
breaches Doctrine Of Character a.
True Measure of Manhood.
By wILLIAn II. DAVIS.

|
True Measure of Manhood.
By WILLIA1 H. DAVIS.
Okmulgee, Okla.-The high esteem In
which DR.. Booker T.. Washington Is
held by the people of both races in
Okmulgee and vicinity was never more
generously shown than it was on his
recent visit to this town. At the meet
ing held on this occasion DR.. Washing
ton was made welcome in a most time
ly address delivered by DR.. o. A Lam
bert, who in part said:
1 come today as a representative of the
Anglo-Saxon race to bid your people
godspeed in every undertaking that Will
lift them to q better a higher, nobler,
condition of life. Whether we will 1t or not,
you are a part of our national existence
and in the years gone by the hand of fate
has linked your destiny with ours. and
future years can only reveal its fullest
meaning. AS people your place In his
tory Is unique. Torn from dark cont1-
nent of ignorance and superstition by the
ruthless hand OF greed, enslaved for 400
years by a superior race, redeemed from
that bondage by treasures Of money and
sacrifice of the best blood Of a nation and
suddenly given all the rights and priv
!
| hold a place in history unparalleled and
as race stand alone
Believing in the doctrine that charac-
ter Is the true measure of a man, that
merit is the determining factor In the
scale of life and that true worth may be
found under black skin as well as the
white, that no race OF people has mo-
nopoly on all the good or all the bad. but
that the virtues and the vices flourish
alike in all the races under the same con-
80 i%, rYyoaS
truths uppermost in our hearts today We
can speak the message Of cheer and hope
to the Afro-American race. Fifty years
ago 100000 Of your people were wearing
the calling chains OF slavery. without
property.
But today you present yourselves with
more than 100000 of people. paying taxes
on 500. 100000 worth of property. sus-
tanning more than sixty Afro-American
banks, having your own schools, churches
and colleges, with representatives of your
race permeating all branches OF indus
trial, commercial and Intellectual life and
activity of the nation. In the south
alone there are over $1,000 Afro-American
schoolteachers, where half a century ago
It was a crime to teach Negro to read
| and write There are today more than
l,l0O instructors in 169 academies, schools
| and colleges who are graduates OF coll
leges; more than 10000 Sunday school
| teachers, 5000 men in the ministry. who
|
There are 100 lawyers, 1900 doctors and
scores OF editors Of magazines and news
papers who are engaged In hfting the
once benighted and superstitious mind OF
the race into the sunlight OF knowledge
and truth
To the question rs the Negro capable of
Intellectual attainment" you have given
the affirmative by such Afro-American
colleges as Wilberforce, Allen. Livingston
and Tuskegee, schools with such intel
lectual minds as Bishop Payne. Mitchell.
Price and Booker T. Washington
To those who think that the Negro lacks
enterprise and business accumen you can
point with pride to ]. H. Lewis, the sec
ond largest merchant tailor in the state
of Massachusetts and fourth In the Unit
Sycamore Mich, one Of the largest lum-
ber dealers of the northwest. born an Al
| ALBANIA slave, or to Walter p. Hall. the
largest wholesale produce merchant on
Market street. Philadelphia But why take
time to specify by name? For they arc
legion who have entered the industrial
and commercial field and have shown
great ability and thrift in the manage
ment OF business enterprise.
To those who thought the Negro lack
ing in ingenuity and mechanical skill you
can tell, then, of Mccoy. who invented
the lubricator now in use on nearly all
railroad engines. or Lewis H Latimer
the expert electrician of the New YORK
Electric Light company. who personally
superintended the installation of light
plants in the great cities of England, or
w. A. Hezel. the noted designer and dec
orator. Some Of the finest art glass in
our churches today are his designs To
those who think you are devoid OF culture
an, = love Of the esthetic, Pc them to W.
E. Bannister. whose painting Under tho
Oaks" won the medal at the Philadelphia
exposition in 1876 or Professor Henry O
| rop xyhn LuXGm-
burg gallery his famous painting the
| Raising Of Lazarus" the second Amer
lean artist to sell his work to that tnst-
| tuition
To those who charge that the Negro
| lacks physical courage and fortitude let
the annals Of history answer how at Fort
Pillow and Cold Harbor in the war to
save the Union the black troops stood the
merciless fire OF the enemy In such q
manner as to call forth the admiration of
the whole country. or. in the Spanish
| American war. with the well disciplined
and fortified Spanish troops pouring q
deadly fire from the hill into the faces of
the black troops. with song on their
lips. My Country. 'Tis OF Thee. sweet
Land of Liberty" went charging up the
hill and saved to the rough riders tho vic
tory of San Juan Hill.
You. sir, have already proved to the
| world that you have the essential ele-
ments, though crude some may be. to be-
come self supporting. self governing
race of people Give you 400 years OF
American freedom. American opportunity
and possibility and such will be your
achievement that II 1t were possible for
Lincoln. your great deliverer. to look
down from the portals of heaven he would
little suspect you were the descendants
from those from whose limbs he unloosed
the shackles. Napoleon once said. Il and
time can accomplish all thin8D-" This
was not true but we have the faith that
with patience and sober Judgment IN Gods
own good time the race problem gill bs