The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1915-10-23

Liberia have a great task before US
the task Of rearing and maintaining on
African soil a republican society, the
most complex of all civil institutions.
In no other form of government is the
need for an intelligent public more
urgent than in this form.
"Not only must the masses be edu.
Gated. but their education must be SO
liberal az to enable them to exercise
those high privileges. prerogatives and
rights Of free citizens. 1t is a hopeful
sign that throughout the republic there
Is general awakening Of the masses
and a growing tendency toward intel.
lectual improvement. Not only does
this apply to our civilized communi-
ties. but in native centers as well there
seems to be deeper thirst for knowl-
edge"
These sentiments from the lips of an
African who is Of the race racy"
merely hint at what is back of the
black mans mind in Africa. Those
who have formed opinions about. the
dense ignorance Of the heather Az
rican" will have to revise their Opin
ions. have personally met and
known in the past thirty years hun
dreds Of native Africans. and l have
not met one who could not read and
write. used to know stupid looking
Kroo boy in Washington. who did not
seem to have intelligence enough to 60
in the house when 1t rained. who wrote
q beautiful hand and was as quick at
figures as an expert accountant. He
said that his instructor was black
man. q MOhammedan. And there are
u great many like him on the west
coast of Africa. Liberia college in past
years has had several distinguished
men as its president, among them the
scholarly Alex A. Crummell Of blessed
memory. the erudite and accomplished
e. w. Blyden. the late Justice Richard
son Of the supreme court and now the
young. virile able. talented, patriotic
Dossen.
have written MIR. DOssen, urging
him to move for the establishment in
Liberia college Of chair Of Negro his
tory. Liberia is the gateway to Africa
and Liberia college should sustain to
the. entire Negro world the same rela'
ton that Oxford and Cambridge do to
England. Heidelberg to Germany and
Harvard and Cornell and Columbia ia
the United States. For in the fullness
Of time Africa-Ethiopia-will sudden
ly stretch forth her hands unto God
and take her place in the family Of na'
tions in largersense than she has done
and "men equipped in all the wisdom
Of the Egyptians" for the duties and
responsibilities Of the hour will be need
ed to meet and combat the questions
national and International. which will
then come up for settlement.
They should be men trained to think
and act as Negroes. proud Of their heri'
tage and all the traditions of their race
And what better place for the educa
ton of Negroes than a Negro college
or university manned from president tc
janitor by Negroes? Where better than
in such an institution of learning could
Negro youth acquire the habit of think
ing and seeing black? The Negro race
Of the entire world should assist in
raising an endowment Of million and
a half dollars to make Liberia college
the greatest educational institution for
Negroes in the world. and its prOfes
sors and teachers should be the best.
The West Indies, Africa. South Amer,
lea and the United States are filled
with educated men of the race who are
eking out (some Of them q miserable
existence and living lives Of repres'
sion in lands where they cannot give
out the best that is in them. Their
ideals are white. Their destiny Is not
coordinate with that Of the race which
dominates the western hemisphere,
and It cannot be made so by legal en-
actment. state or national. When this
war in Europe IL ended the black men
in America and abroad will face the
hostile opposition Of white men in
many avenues of labor and industry
which he has never met before. They
will need the opportunities which these
blacks are enjoying. and they will get
them, for always remember that blood
To- khtnlxAr tap