The broad ax., 1917-03-17

Since the writing of my letter which
appeared in a recent edition of your
publication, it has been suggested that
I try to increase the interest of Cath
Ole readers in the Negro by relating
something of his past history. I as
sure you the study of the black man, so
"vastly more and greater and wiser
than he seems to be-" as an eminent
White southern writer once described
him, will be both interesting and bene-
fetal To quote further from this
thoughtful writer who says, "Behind
and within the savage heredity of sew
eral thousand years there lies a mag
nificent heredity of primeval condi-
tions nearer to God. They are the
buried possibilities of the Golden Age,
awaiting resurrection. Within that
coarse, black rind there lies a possible
fruitage of character, gentle, beautiful,
musical, grateful, humble, teachable,
the consummation not of White civil
zation but of Christ IS sermon on the
mount" Following the suggestion
above referred to, 1 beg leave to call
your attention to the following facts
regarding the ancient Negro, freely
quoted from sources as Herodotus, Glib
bon, Claire, Du Bots, Holeombe and
Work.
DIR. Holcombe, taking a somewhat I'M
usual view, tells us, "The first civil
cations probably existed on continents
now sunk under oceans by catastrophes
which originated the story of the de-
luge in all the ancient nations. Es-
capped fragments of the degenerated
races involved in the disaster were the
starting points of our present genera
tions of men. The black races were
probably the oldest of all. Their lost
continent lies between Africa and
South America. The other lost CONT
nent lies under the Indian Ocean be-
tween Australia and the Asiatic main
land. The darker races of the earth
are in states not of undeveloped, but of
suppressed civilization. They contain
deeply hidden within them the tenden-
cies and capacities of their most re-
mote ancestors. A later, baser heredity
has been super-imposed upon them, and
the problem now is how to break
through it, how to get rid of it, so that
the interior nature, long hidden, may
blossom forth. There is vast spiritual
life and power hidden in the bosoms
of these people like the water in the
rock until it was struck by the rod of
Moses"
George W. Williams in giving us the
literal meaning of the word "Ethi-
ope," being that of "sunburn," argues
in a similar strain to an eminent
anthropologist who has said, "Upon
the physiological effects of climate has
depended the history of the world
they have made one race a race of mas
tiers and another, race of servants. +"
He continues to say that "The Ethio-
plans colonized the African side of the
Red Sea and extended themselves in
definitely to the west and south of At
rica. The Philippians were the sons of
Ham. Ham was the grandfather of
Nimrod, a mighty hunter, who planted
kingdom in Babel, Erech, Accad and
Calveh in the land of Shenah. Out of
that land went Asshur, another Ethio-
plan, who builded Nineveh and Calah;
the same is a great city. Nineveh was
one of the grandest cities of the an
cient world. Cush, the eldest son of
Ham, founded the Babylonian empire.
Canaan was another son of Ham. The
posterity of Canaan were a powerful
people both in numbers and wealth.
From the number and character of the
cities this people built, we infer that
it was an intellectual posterity. The
second son of Ham was MIRIAM who
went into Egypt and peopled that eoun-
| try. The Negro appears at the first
dawn of history and has continued
down to the present day. Herodotus,
the father of history, declares that
eighteen of the Egyptian kings were
Ethiopians"
egypt" as Claire tells us, "has
been an object Of interest to mankind
in every age as the birthplace of civ
ilization, art and science" Modern
ethnologists with their unchristian the
DRY that the Negro is one of the links
that bind man to the animal creation,
have been prone to regard the ancient