davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03

thought through the problem nor can
he render the full service which we
believe he desires to- render, which
we honor him for seeking to render
| Without in the least urging inter
marriage we must protest against the
Presidents propaganda of "funda-
| mental, eternal, and unacceptable race
differences" We have no quarrel
whatever with those of either race
who urge what they call racial purity
But the true method of control in
!. this. matter. is by sound social pub
lie opinion and not by laws, nor by
the branding iron, nor that slow fire
which in the Middle Ages was relied
upon to prevent the spread of Pro-
testantism. These measures are as
ineffective as they are cruel and de-
basing. ---..
The laws against interpQarriage in
the South are the most effective pro-
motors Of immortality and of con-
cubinage and they place the black
woman at the mercy of the white man
without redress. AS matter of fact,
statistics prove that where marriage
is permitted the amount of it is neg
igible. We may rest assured that If
racial intermarriage is socially I'M
wise and racially destructive, nature
herself will take hand and control it
without mems having to resort to
crime to check it. But in the last
analysis anyone who believes in in
dividual freedom and liberty must be-
lieve in the right of every, sound in
dividual to seek his mate where he
will and if necessary to pay the price
for his deed in social ostracism to
which there is no need Of adding legal
penalties. Once more we repeat that
if racial admixture is not prevented
by the instructive Discrimination of the
races, it will not effectually be pre-
vented by denying to one Of them the
ordinary courtesies which individuals
earn by their conduct or deserve by
their essential humanity.
What Mr.. Harding has yet to see
is that if the colored man obtains the
economic freedom, the political free
he Graves for him this whole question
of race relationship will at once ad-
just itself on a far nobler and better
basis; that as long as the question of
social equality is made the excuse for
abuse, i'll treatment, and the denial of
rights sacredly guaranteed by the
Constitution it works infinite harm
to the whites who thus make of their
republic an hypocrisy and defle their
own souls by sponsoring injustice and
wrong. There is something sadly
wrong with a racial integrity which
must be preserved in that manner
Moreover, if there are fundamental
eternal, and unacceptable race differ
ences" they will take care of the sit
uation themselves. But whether they
do or not, no President is true tc
America who does not insist that
every American citizen shall have the
freest social opportunity without bar
riers of class or race or color, and
political freedom as we'll.
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
Race Needs Unlimited Vision.
attorney Walter M. Farmer in Il
Chicago BrOadax.)

Chicago BrOadaX.) Ss.
What right has the President OF
any other official, speaking in his off
cial capacity to give advice and to
fix netes and bounds within which q
certain group Of American citizens
must strive and aspire?
The race in its struggle upward is
not in need of barriers, but Of I'M
limited vision, of room for expansion
Of a friendly atmosphere, in ~tich to
act, without restrictions or sfimita-
tions, arbitrarily set by the fat of
unjust discrimination. Nor does the
race stand in need of so much adj
vice gratuitously given.
We had expected the President to
suggest that the colored man strive
to become the best possible American
citizen. Why should he strive to be
the chest possible black man ~" Why
should the worth of American citi-
zenship be limited by racial lines or
the color Of mans skin?
The President wants the colored
group to stand apart, pursuing it's
own inherited traditions, preserving
its own race purity and race pride.
The suggestions amount to having a
nation within a nation. This is not
only impossible, but undesirable and
the President in advocating such an
anomalous position has placed himself
in very embarrassing attitude to
say the least. The colored group
wishes to enjoy every right, every
privilege and every immunity that
belongs to American citizenship.
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03

Gus applause followed, black people
flew into hysterical ecstacies. The
black people being enveloped in a
pathetic pail of ignorance could not
, appreciate the sinister and insidious
meaning of what the President had
just said. Whatever social equality
means it is allowed to all other peo-
pie; it should not be denied to US. If
the denial of social equality means the
denial Of inter marriage of whites
and blacks, it means that white men
can seduce our daughters and sisters
and we cannot compel the scoundrels
to marry them because these thieves
OF virtue are placed upon higher So
cial plane than the Iwretched, helpless
women whom they have defiled and
ruined. If social equality means in
termingling of races and indiscrimi-
nate association, and that as Mr.
Harding says is impossible, we can
expect no equality in politics and
economics.
From various sources petitions have
been sent to the President begging
that no black people be appointed into
political positions which puts white
people under their control; and no
appointments have been made as yet
which prove recognition on the basis
of voting strength. Political equality
is thus denied because of the ines
capable social connection. Imagine a
black man as governor of a state or
member of the Presidents cabinet
This cannot be as long as America
stamps the sign Of social leprosy upon
the backs of all black men. Po-
litical equality without social equality
is a joke and means nothing.
. How can we expect to receive eco
non1ic equality and opportunity when
social equality is denied? Nobody
wants to work side by side with his
inferior. The white man will not al
low his black brother to advance be-
cause of his intrinsic value as long as
he is regarded as a social inferior.
How can we expect to become officials
in large concerns when the social in
tolerance of America and men like
Harding prevent it?
1t is regretted that Mr.. Harding
pronounced such a terrible sentence
upon us. It is more regretted that
the poor, ignorant black people saw
but darkly through what it would
mean. Ignorance is indeed curse,
but cowardice and weakness is the
great curse of the black people. Some
have been heard to say that President
Harding said more than some others.
IT is the old reactionary Uncle Tom
doct4 ine-a half loaf is better than
no loaf at all. YETI there are some
black men, some real men left, thank
God who want liberty, unqualified.
liberty or deatht. The "Ides of
March" have come and havoc indeed
has been wrought. Beware of the
"Ides of March,"
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03

President Harding says that there
must. be such education among the
colored people as will enable them to
develop their own leaders, capable of
understanding and sympathizing with
such differentiation between the races
as he has ggested-leaders who will
| inspire the race with proper ideals Of
! race pride, Of national pride, Of an
honorable destiny, an important par
| ticipation in the universal effort for
advancement of humanity as whole.
This kind of education has been in
operation for nearly half a century.
We are dumbfounded to learn that
the President of the United States did
not know it. The Southland is full
! of this kind of leaders. DR.. Booker
T. Washington did his part in devel-
oping this kind of leadership. In
later years he realized that he had
gone too far to the extent of elini-
mating the principles of manhood,
without which no race can rise to the
full height Of American citizen.
He declared that the race problem
was one noticeable in Africa, in South
America, in the South Seas and of
the world. Just how it can be a prob
lem in Africa, the home of the Black
Man is an amusing situation and a
most interesting one. If the black
people belong there, what are the
white people doing in the land of the
Ethiopian But then this is raising
another question. 1t seems to US that
President Harding might have cited
quotations from that Holy Bible upon
which he took his oath of office and
he would have found therein funda-
mental principles, the observance Of
which will settle all problems, racial
and otherwise.
The foregoing is an excerpt from
three-column editorial in the Planet,
Richmond, Va, edited by Hon. John
Mitchell, Jr., which is too long to
print in full. n
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
The President Has Spoken.
(From the Denver Star.)

The first utterance by the Presi-
dent on the status of the Negro in
America comes at a time when 81
lence is no longer endured and upon a
subject wholly uncalled for. 'Twere
better that he remained in Washing
ton and kept silent than to advocate
any form of un-Americanism. The
coloredman has suffered enough from
the so-called friends of the Republi-
can Party CD. Whey does the Presi-
dent of the United States advocate
social equality as a cause to the black
man, when millions of the white
mans amalgamated sons and daugh-
tiers make up one-eighth the popula-
ton of this country? If the colored
woman was good enough to give birth
to their children she ought to be good
enough to marry them.
Why did the Supreme Court uphold
jimcrow laws of the South? Was
that social equality? Why do depart
ments at Washington discriminate
and segregate the colored. employees?
Is that social equality? Why dodge
the issue? Why do the lily-white Re
publicans bar colored men and women
from voting? Is that social equality?
Why doesn't President Harding EN-
pfoy colored men to positions they
have held since 1865? Is that social
equality?
Thousands of our sons lay asleep
upon the torn bosom of France who
died for this country of justice that
you portray as a barrier to the So
cial life Of our race.
We will stand ready to defend our
race in the sunshine of whose society
we are ever happy. We want equal
| ity that is given every other citizen
under the Constitution. We will &C
cept nothing less.
The President has spoken. Let the
historians write: "Failed."
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
"Most Dangerous Doctrines Ever
Uttered."

CDR. w. A. Sinclair in Guardian.)
The speech delivered by President
Harding in Birmingham, Ala, is
fraught with the most dangerous, per-
1licious, destructive and hell-born doc
trines that have ever been uttered in
fifty years Of our development not
only by a President of the United
States but by any responsible cabi-
net minister.
The colored race cannot afford to
ignore these utterances; unquestion-
ably great harm has already been
done and incalculable injury to our
race will certainly follow.
X X
It's shameful exploitation. Pity!
The White House has lowered it's
prestige and dignity.
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03

After his argument in favor Of a
distinct place for the black and col
ored people, Mr.. Harding tells US that
the zone thing we must most sedu-
lousy avoid is the development of
group and class organizations in this
country" He argued against the very
thing which he has previously argued
for. There are just as many differ
ences between the individuals of any
one race as their are between the peo-
pie of any number Of races. The
idea of race diGerentia in any
form in the law, in the functions Of
the government, and in public asso-
citation is contrary to just concept
of democracy in which all men are
presumed to be equal, and is repug-
nant to the highest ideals of the
Christians God, who is declared to
have made of one blood all nations
Ct men. If Mr.. Harding is right,
God is wrong.
If Mr. = Harding had had the time
to study the question and he had
studied it with an open mind he would
have found that in France, Spain and
Portugal, there have never been any
racial hatreds founded on the color of
the skin and the same is true of South
and Central America. In these coun-
tries, unhampered by class and color
distinctions colored men have risen to
the highest places in every branch of
human endeavor. There are more
full blooded Negroes in Brazil than
in the United States; and, counting
the mixed-blood population of black,
Indian and white, and the pure whites,
the population totals over 30,0O0,000
who live together in perfect harmony,
without any public differentiation. OF
race. There are no social barriers
whatever in Brazil and it is COM
plete refutation Of the idea that there
must be social bars between the men
and women who are citizens of a
country. ..A
Color differentiation means the as
tendency of one caste and the degra-
dation- of the other. Social equality
does not necessarily mean anlalgama-
ton. That should be matter for
individuals to determine. During the
coming disarmament parley, the Japa-
nese will be treated with the greatest
social consideration. They will be
wined and dined and received at every
social function, meetlng. people whc in
their hearts hold hatred toward them,
and in spite of all the social mingling
it is safe to say that not a single
marriage will result.
In a democracy like ours, all men,
whether they, are black or white, red,
yellow or brown, should meet in all
human relationships without racial
differentiations- simply as AMEkl-
CANS
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
CoIored Man American, That's All.

(From the Portland (Ore.( Times.)
The Presidents logic is poor and
his own words destroy his speech and
lead him into vicious circle.
To work out greater success in
the South, blacks and whites must
forget divergence in things social
and racial' and relegate to the trash
pile the bugaboo as eternal and I'M
escapable difference. There can be
no two brands Of civilization in this
country.
Three hundred years of contact
with the white man has made the
colored man in this country what he
is. He has nothing he can claim by
divine right but his color. He has i'm
bibed the white mans blood, religion
manners, customs, and has adapted
himself to the requirements Of white
civilization and is an absolute coun-
terpart. So long as the colored man
lives under American customs, he
cannot be anything but American.
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
President Harding and the coIored
American.
(From the Boston Guardia,

(f rom Lne BOSTON GUARDIAN.
In regard to President Harding's
speech at Birmingham, fAla., on
Wednesday of this week, October 26,
1921, we would say to this Republi-
can President that persons of color
born in the United States of America,
most Of whose parents and grandpar-
ents and great-grandparents were
born in the U. S. A. see no reason
why they should be expected to be
willing to be simply black people and
not fully and wholly Americans, any
more than Jews born here are expect
ed to be willing to be simply Jews.
Irish simply Irish, Italians simply
Italians, and so on with the many
race varieties here.
We demand that there be no dis
tinction put upon us for race or color
| in public matters that is not put on
every other race in this, our common
country. We know as the white
| Americans know that there is no es.
sential difference between human be.
ings, and just as much superficial diff
ference except in color or feature be
tween white races here as between
Americans Of color and those calico
white. Nature has amply proven thi!
before the eyes of all. Americans will
the aid Of the white mans imposi
tions upon colored women. We OBJ
ject to being made the only everlast
/ ing aliens in our own land by any en-
forced separation in the public life o
i the country It must come over on
4 everlasting protest.
). The crux of the matter is this
4. Why does not President Harding as
Ius to be good and true and efcien
American? Why did he not ask whit
and black to be alike one uniform ele
!. ment of patriotic Americans, non
trying to be good as white folks, non
! to be good as black folks, but all on
common American citizenry
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
Faith FaIters, Hope ,FaIters."
(From the Chicago Whip

OAAAS%SO
Intelligence stands aghast, Patriot
ism trembles, Faith totters, Hope
falters, and the. finer sensibilities of
the black men are shocked and
stunned for the "Ides of March" have
come. From the lips Of Warren G..
Harding, Republican President Of the
United States, words have fallen
whose effect are as destructive and
deadly as the poisonous germs which
flew from Pandora's ill-fated box.
President Harding has brought the
"Ides Of March" upon us and accord
ing to his expressed dictum we are
doomed eternally to be "a race OF
slaves and scullionS.
The speech Of Mr.. Harding's upon
the race issues delivered in Birming-
ham, Ala, during the late days of
October nineteen hundred and twenty
one sealed and stamped a policy which
relegates the black people Of America
to conditions which are abhorrent, re-
pugnant and disgusting to any soul
which yearns and burns for liberty,
absolute and unqualified. Out of
great jargon of words and scram
bled melee of incoherent thought
few, ideas can be culled and gar
nered. These ideas taken collectively
institute an insidious and dangerous
propaganda which leaves the black
man in a precarious condition indeed.
He said that it is "a question Of
recognizing fundamental, eternal and
unacceptable differences" He has en-
couched himself in infinite egotism
and has even scared into the realms
of eternity. The black man is eter-
nally and everlastingly different from
all other people, no culture can make,
exalt him, no deeds Of va1our can ele-
vate him, no stroke of evolution can
raise him; according to Mr.. Harding,
neither time nor eternity nor even
God Almighty in all His Majestic
Power can wipe out the color line.
What the eternal differences are we
cannot understand. Mr.. Harding
knows no more of what the future
holds than we. It strikes US, how
lever, that he has not formed his opin-
ions upon scientific knowledge but
upon prejudices.
4 Racial amalgamation there cannot
4 be this is another one Of the Presi
Ident's astounding assertions. Franz
iBoaz, one of the greatest anthropolo
q gists in the world, has declared that ;
flew centuries hence a swarthy rae
:, will be in America in place of TIL
whites and blacks. The ama1gama
!, tion of races has gone on througl
!. the ages and the powers and petit.
Ipreiudices of mere man have bee,
unable to check it, but alasiit mus
1 not be-Harding says is mustn't.
Give the black people economic an
Epolitical equality but social equalit
never, quoth the President. Thunder
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
Condemns Presidents Conception OIL
American Citizenship.

(From the Afro-American, Baltimore)
President Harding's Birmingham
speech is being criticised by colored
people because it promises the col
ored race too little and by the white
people because it promises too much.
The ten thousand colored people
who listened to the President appeal
for political and educational equal
ity for them, cheered because they
know that their own state disfran-
chises them by the thousands and
robs them of millions of dollars of
school funds. His twenty thousand
white hearers were CORRESPONDENCE
silent.
On the other hand President Hard
ing subscribed to the white South's
view of ''social equality" which
means intermarriage laws, jimcrow
street cars and railways, no politica!
offices for colored people and discrim-
nation at every point Of contact be-
tween the two races. Carried out tc
it's logical conclusion the President
would sanction a separate school fol
the hundred colored families in Ban
gor Me-, separate cars for the Boston
subways and a disruption of the
Methodist Episcopal church.
It comes with poor grace from 9
President Of the United States tx
thunder Grace amalgamation, there
cannot be-, and close his eyes to mil
lions of mulattoes in this country wht
represent the lust of the white race
We ardently believe with the Presi
dent that colored people should di
vide their votes, but we should have
preferred to hear him say so befor,
his election rather than after it.
The Afro-American admires tn.
Presidents courage, believes in hi
sincerity, but condemns his concep
ton Of American citizenship, his igno
rance of the history of civilization
and his bad taste.
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
Great Danger in Things Said
(James Weldon Johnson in New York
Age.l u

49, Age.)
+ If the things which Mr.. Harding
demanded for the colored man can. be
achieved in the South and in the
United States, while at the same
time the race, either voluntarily or
involuntarily, is solicited into com
pletely separate and distinct element
in the nation, an element considered
either too different or too inferior for
common human association with the
rest, it will entail the working of a
miracle. Such thing has not come
to pass in the whole history of the
h~rlan race.
It seems that in developing his
speech President Harding inadver-
tently betrays the illogic Of such a
supposition. Following the very. par
agraph in which he stresses the per-
manent and eternal difference be-
tween the races, which must be fos-
tered rather than diminished, he
makes the f. lowislg -statenens:
"The one thing we must sedulously
avoid is the development of group
and class organizations in this coun-
try. There has been time when we
heard too much about the labor vote,
the business vote, the Irish vote, the
Scandinavian vote, the Italian vote,
and SO on. But the demagogues who
would array class against class and
group against group have fortunately
found little to reward their efforts.
That is because, despite the dema-
gogues, the idea Of our oneness as
Americans has risen superior to every
appeal to mere class and group
We hope the net result Of the Pres
ident's speech will be good, but
THERE IS GREAT DANGER IN
SOME THINGS HE SAID.
The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
President Harding Runs True to Form.

TTeSIuenI 7afuiH9 nuns rue 10 FORM.
(From the Philadelphia American.)
President Harding, in his address at
the semi-centennial in Birmingham,
Ala, on Wednesday last, nobly sus-
tanned his unenviable reputation as a
discreet follower of sectional senti-
ment. When he addressed an audi
ence in Ohio some time ago, he in
sisted that the colored citizen should
be given the equal protection of the
law in the exercise of his rights as
such. In Alabama, he claimed that
there could and should be no such
thing as social equality between the
races. Not one word is he reported
as uttering in favor of equal protec-
ton of the law, the enforcement of
the Federal Constitution, nor against
lynching or the roasting of human be-
ings at the stake. He did not even
ask the moral support of his audi
tors for the passage Of the anti
About all Of these important things,
he was absolutely silent-and why?
The President knew that such matters
as enforcing the law against murder,
mob violence, peonage and the right
VI suffrage we're Unpopular SUBJECTS
to discuss in the South; hence, he
journeyed all the way to Birmingham,
Ala, to tell the folks down there that
social equality between the races were
impossible. Good news and glad It'd
ings, we fancy, peace on earth and
good will to all white men in the
South. The Presidents mental ba-
rometer is unerring in pussyfooting
on the race question. We do not
agree with the President that our
ideal should be. the best possible black
man, nor the best possible white man.,
| nor an imitation Of such; but rather
the best possible man stripped Of both
qualifications. If the President had
! discussed the race question from the
standpoint Of equality before the law,
1 the equal protection Of the law, equal
civil and political rights and one
standard Of citizenship to be support
ed and maintained by the law
! throughout the nation, he would have
delivered a message to the people of
the country and those of Alabama in
particular, that would have been well
worth the effort.