La Junta tribune., 1917-02-03
HAS THE NEGRO MADE GooDY
story Of the Progress of the Negro
Race During Fifty-four Years
What They Have Done
By Rev. W. +. Washington

January list was Emancipation Day.
Fifty-four years ago, January LIST.
1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation. de-
signed to set four million negro
slaves free. What have these ne
groes done with their freedom?
This is iair question. But be-
fore answering II We must remem-
Der that the proclamation did not
give real liberty to the Negroes.
Freedom. like salvation. cannot be
obtained by decree, but by working
1t out with great tribulation. II is
not minimizing the great work Of
Lincoln and the northern army to
say that they only began the work
OF Negro freedom. and the work is
not completed as yet.
The measure OF freedom that the
Negro had has been used how? He
came from slavery in ignorance. Not
two In a hundred could read the
proclamation which freed them. But
they have steadily pushed forward
and made surprising progress in ed
ucation. Whereas fifty-four years
ago hardly any Negroes could read
and write. today more than seventy
five out Of every one hundred of the
age of ten and over. can read and
write.
While II was true then that there
were no Negro children in the public
schools OF the south, today there are
more than million and a half chill
dren In school: while there was only
one school. Wilberforce University.
conducted by Negroes, today there
are more than two hundred; while
there are more than five hundred
normal schools and colleges which
give instruction to Negroes, then
there were only about thirty Negro
college graduates In the country. To-
day there are 10000 Negroes who
leading college In the land to which
they have been admitted. The have
won the membership In the Phi
Beta Kappa fraternity In Harvard.
Yale, Dartmouth. Oberlin, Brown.
Cornell, Amherst. Michigan. Will
liams. Bowdoin. Rutgers. Western
Reserve. etc. and have won the
highest degree in American Academic
life. that of Ph. ID. from Harvard.
Yale. Columbia. Pennsylvania. Chi
cago and other leading universities.
Travelling fellowships to Berlin.
Germany. Athens, Greece. and the
Cecil Rhodes scholarships to oxford
University have been won by Negro
students.
Not only In school but out OF
school they have made good use OF
their education. More than 10000
books and pamphlets have been
written by Negroes. so that today II
Is no novelty To find Negroes who
have written good books. Paul
Lawrence Dunbar was one of Amer
ica's most popular poets. Charles w.
Chestnut wrote in 1904 one OF the
most popular books OF American
fiction. "The Souls OF Black Folks"
by W. u. H. Du Bois. was one OF the
most widely read books OF essays by
an American. While Booker T. Wash
ington's Up From Slavery" has
been translated into half dozen
languages, and is considered one OF
the masterpieces OF American biog-
raphy. Men like George w. Forber
and william Stanley Braithwaite
have placed themselves In an cnyi-
able position In the literary world.
In spite OF their color, the former
being librarian OF the West End
Library OF Boston. and the latter lit
crary critic on the Boston Evening
Transcript There was only ono
Negro newspaper In 1868. while now
there are over 800. VIII anyone.
then, say tina, the Negro has not
made progress In fifty-four years.
In Industry the Negro has dono
equally AS we'll Fifty years ago tho
Negro was an ignorant. unskilled
laborer, used almost entirely TO tho
system OF slavery. Today he has ad-
justcd himself 10 the wage systems
and more than 100000 Negroes
are at work In this country. and L.
100000 OF them In skilled occupa-
tIons.
There were no Negro lawyers In
1868. today there are 100 Negro
lawyers there were no Negroes
practicing medicine. dentistry OF
pharmacy In 1863 80 far ~ We can
find out today more than 400 ara
successfully following these profss.
sions. and at least 1000 are Study.
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