Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1922-08-10
THE NEGRO IN DIXIE.
Northern Paper Discusses Prog.
ress Of Race in Last 60 Years.

ress Of Race in Last 60 Years.
1t is now close to 60 years since
the negro of the South became a
free man, says a. Northern news
paper. What has the negro done
through the years following >his
release from bondage to prove his
wOrthiness to become not only a
! free man but a>citizen of the
American republic? ...
Certainly the flight Of more
than half century has brought
about considerable change in the
character of the negro as well as
in his conditions Of living. The
old time negro of the South, with
his courtesy and his devotion TO
his white people, has almost en-
tirely disappeared. Only here
ard there does one now come
upon one of the old time maumas
about whom still fingers the
charm, the atmosphere, of the
equality" negroes of the old
plantations.
Two generations of negroes
Of the new" negro-have ap-
, pcared upon the scene and grown
to maturity since the close of the
Civil war. So, too, they have ar
rived to meet far different condi-
tions to those surrounding their
ancestors in slavery days. While
thousands of the new" negroes
have realized their opportunities
and eagerly seized upon them,
other thousands have not, show
ing an apathy, a shiftlessness al
together unaccountable save that
1t must come from an inherent
strain running back to the old
days OF childlike dependence. Yet
the facts show that the race has
made great progress mentally,
economically and spiritually in
The years since freedom was given
them. Events have demonstrate
ed clearly that the uplift, the
salvation, of the negro, has lain
in his recognition of educational,
industrial and religious advanta-
ges and his readiness to lay hold
upon them and make best use of
them.
A thirst for knowlelge,' an III
satiable ambition to grasp the
best within his reach, has been
plainly manifested in the attitude
Of the negro of the last two gen
erations. Not only has he tried
to obtain an education for him
self, but he has seized upon, every
opportunity to- haye -his--children
ehducated. Negro children do
not have to be driven to school
they go eagerly. e..
Statistics show that the litter
acy Of the negro race has de-
creased at least rs per cent since
their freedom was proclaimed.
The "new" NEGRO has shown, too,
that he can be both Industrious
and thrifty. Fully 100000 ne
groes OF the South today own the
farms they cultivate. The new"
negro, too,r has made creditable,
some of them remarkable, ad-
vance i'll industrial progress.
Yet despite these gains, there
are throughout the South thous-
ands of idle, shiftless negroes, de-
void OF ambition, living amidst
the most degraded surroundings
and born to criminal tendencies,
as the cess pool breeds flies. 1t
Is this class of negroes, insolent,
lnsubordinate, enemies of law and
order, with vicious instincts, un-
brldled, who have been the cause
OF most of those horrible occur
Fences that have shocked na-
tion and placed so dark blot
upon the fair name Of the. South.
A most distressing feature of
the negro question in the South
is the appalling conditions of
poverty and the utter absence of
cleanliness and sanitation in the
midst Of which so many of them
live. The figures of the latest
procurable census report give the
death rate of the negroes of the
South as 81 in every thousand,
while for the whites it is II in
each thousand, but little more
!. than half as much.
i '~S ...
Profiteers, like the poor, we
have with us always.