Chapter X: The Pale Messenger (6)

I gathered from the information in possession of his sons, that
he, (Peter G. Morgan) was in his day one of the most prominent
colored men in the city of Petersburg. He was a carpenter by trade
and followed said trade for a number of years. Later he acquired
the knowledge of shoe making and became a first class shoemaker,
which trade he also followed for a number of years before the
Civil War. He was twice sold as a slave, and he purchased himself
at $1,500 and completed the payment on the fourth of July, 1854
at the White Sulphur Springs, his master being part owner of the
Springs at that time. Later on he purchased his wife, paying
$1,500 for her and two small children in 1858, thereby himself
becoming a slave holder. He removed to Petersburg in 1863 and
continued to work at his trade as shoemaker. Meanwhile he made use
of every possible opportunity to increase his knowledge of books,
although he had no opportunity to attend any school. In this way
he became a fairly well educated man, certainly ahead of many at
that time, and at the close of the Civil War was able to train his
own children and the children of his neighbors. He served in the
Constitutional Convention of the State of Virginia in 1867, this
latter date was given me this week by a gentleman in Richmond, who
served as page in the Legislature of Virginia fifty years ago. I
am enclosing a clipping which was passed into my hands a few weeks
ago, which contains some of the names of those who served in this
particular convention.[1]

It has occurred to me that the Rev. Dr. Bragg, of Baltimore,
Maryland also served as page some time, later and perhaps he would
be able to assist me in supplying correct data, provided errors
are made in the dates in this correspondence.

Mr. Morgan served in the Legislature of Virginia two terms,
1869-1871, and 1871-1872.

Now, my dear Mr. Work if additional information is desired,
bearing upon the late Peter George Morgan, please do not hesitate
to command my services, and I shall be very glad to do my best to
assist you.

With kind regards and best wishes, believe me,

Very sincerely yours,
Signed: JAMES S. RUSSELL,
_Principal_.

ST. PAUL NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL

LAWRENCEVILLE, VIRGINIA,
October 23, 1920.

MR. MONROE N. WORK,
Tuskegee Institute,
Alabama.

_My dear Mr. Work_:

Your very kind letter of the 18th instant has been received and
contents carefully noted. I have delayed replying to your letter
that I might secure definite information from the Register of
the General Assembly of Virginia. My letter to you contained
information from the memory of my brother-in-law and another aged
gentleman, with whom I conferred regarding the information you had
asked me to supply. I have just secured first hand information
which contains practically the same information as given in my
letter, still it comes with authority. You will note please the
slight correction to be made in reference to the years he served
in the Legislature of Virginia.

You have my full permission to use the matter in any way you see
fit, making the slight correction in the dates the Hon. Peter G.
Morgan served in the Legislature.

With kind regards and best wishes, believe me,

Sincerely yours,
Signed: JAMES S. RUSSELL,
_Principal_.

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
RICHMOND

October 22, 1920.

DR. JAMES S. RUSSELL, Archdeacon,
St. Paul Normal and Industrial School,
Lawrenceville, Virginia.

_My dear Dr. Russell_:

The Register of the General Assembly of Virginia, on p. 409,
carries the information that Peter G. Morgan of Petersburg, was a
member of the Convention of 1867-1868; was a member of the House
of Delegates of Virginia at the session of 1869-70, and in 1870-71.

I hope that this is the information you desire.

Yours very truly,
Signed: LEROY HODGES,
_Aide to the Governor_.

THE EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO

Captain A. B. Spingarn has supplied the following valuable information given in these extracts from the laws of the State of New York:

May 10th, 1923.

DR. CARTER G. WOODSON,
Journal of Negro History,
1216 You Street, N. W.,
Washington, D. C.

_My dear Dr. Woodson_:

The following extracts from the Session Laws of the State of New
York for 1826 and 1832 may be of interest. I did not see mention
of the latter one in your invaluable, _The Education of the Negro
Prior to 1861_.

"CHAP. 145 of Laws of 1826.

AN ACT _to provide for the colored Persons who are occupants of
Lots in New Stockbridge_. Passed April 11, 1826.

1. BE _it enacted by the People of the State of New York,
represented in Senate and Assembly_, That it shall and may be
lawful for the commissioners of the land-office to cause letters
patent to be issued to the persons respectively, who have been
reported by the appraisers of lands in New Stockbridge, as colored
persons, for the lots set to their names as occupants, in the same
manner as grants of land are authorized to be made to those who
have been so reported, as white persons persons settled on said
land: _Provided_ ..."

"CHAP. 136 of Laws of 1832.

AN ACT _to constitute the coloured children of Rochester a
separate school_. Passes April 14, 1832.

_The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows:_

1. The commissioners of common schools of the towns of Gates and
Brighton, in the county of Monroe, or a majority of them, may in
their discretion cause the children of colour of the village of
Rochester to be taught in one or more separate schools.

2. The commissioners of common schools of the towns of Gates and
Brighton, shall discharge the duties of trustees of such school,
and shall apportion thereto a distributive share of the moneys for
the support of common schools."

Very sincerely yours,
ARTHUR B. SPINGARN.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] COPY OF CLIPPING FROM UNDESIGNATED PAPER AS MENTIONED IN ABOVE LETTER.

The Radical State Convention, which was in session in Richmond on Thursday, elected the following State Executive Committee, with Ex-Governor H. H. Wells as chairman: First district--Rufus S. Jones, Isaac Morton and Robert Norton. Second district--R. S. Greene, Peter G. Morgan and H. H. Bowden. Third district--Wm. C. Wickham, J. M. Humphreys and Langdon Boyd. Fourth district--Geo. W. Finney, John T. Hamletter and Ross Hamilton. Fifth district--Thos. J. Jackson, Alexander Rives and I. F. Wilson. Sixth district--John F. Lewis, Thos. H. Hargest and John R. Popham. Eighth district--W. B. Downey, John M. Thatcher and J. B. Sener. Ninth district--R. W. Hughes, G. G. Goodell and John W. Woest.

BOOK REVIEWS

_Piney Woods and Its Story._ By LAURENCE C. JONES, Principal of
the Piney Woods Country Life School, with an introduction by S.
S. McClure. (New York and Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company. Pp.
154. Price $1.50 net.)

This is a story of a Negro brought up and educated in a more favorable environment than most of the members of his race but, nevertheless, imbued with the spirit of social uplift of those of his group unfavorably circumstanced. With this vision he cast his lot in Mississippi, where he toiled against odds in the establishment and development of a school which is today an important factor in the progress of the Negroes of Mississippi.

This volume had a forerunner in a shorter story _Up Through Difficulties_. As the influence of the school extended, however, and a larger number of friends became interested in his efforts, there arose such a demand for a brief statement of the history of this institution that it was necessary to meet this with a publication in this handy form. Coming then from the heart of a man who has given his life as a sacrifice for the advancement of his oppressed people, the story has been well received by the friends of education in general, and especially by those who appreciate the arduous labors of that class of pioneers so nobly represented by the author.

And well might such a story be extensively read; for, as S. S. McClure has said in the introduction, it is a story "of Negro education, intelligence and sensitiveness, who turned his back upon everything that usually makes life worth living for people of his kind and went, without money or influence, or even an invitation, among the poorest and most ignorant of his race, for the sole purpose of helping them in every way within his power." As it has been said, it is persuasively and sincerely told. It is therefore, to quote further from Mr. McClure, "a valuable human document; a paragraph in a vital chapter of American history."

Briefly told, the story describes in detail the beginnings of the educator, his early school days, the development of his school in the midst of "Pine Knots" under the "Blue Sky," its "Log Cabin" stage, the more hopeful circumstances later attained, and its widening influence. In the chapter entitled the "Message of Hope" there is an unusually interesting account of how once during the World War the author was misunderstood by certain white persons who, from the outside, heard him at a revival urging the Negroes to battle against sin, ignorance, superstition, and poverty. Understanding some but not all of the words used by the speaker, the eavesdroppers reported him as stirring up the Negroes in the South to fight the whites. A mob was easily formed in keeping with the custom of the country, and the author was speedily picked up and thrown upon a pile of wood, when guns were cocked and primed to shoot him down before he was to be offered up. Thereupon, however, one of the mob demanded that he make a speech, by which he so convincingly disabused their minds of any such sinister intention of stirring up an insurrection among the Negroes that he was finally released and befriended rather than lynched.

* * * * *

_The Book of American Negro Poetry._ By JAMES WELDON JOHNSON. (New
York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. 1922. Pp. 217.)

A review of a book of poetry is out of place in an historical magazine unless, like the volume before us, it has an historical significance. It cannot be gainsaid that the poetry of a race passing through the ordeal of slavery, and later struggling for social and political recognition, must constitute a long chapter in its history. In fact, one can easily study the development of the mind of a thinking class from epoch to epoch by reading and appreciating its verse. It is fortunate that Mr. James Weldon Johnson has thus given the public this opportunity to study a representative number of the talented tenth of the Negro race.

The poems themselves do not concern us here to the extent of showing in detail their bearing on the history of the Negro. The student of history, however, will find much valuable information in the interesting preface of the author covering the first forty-seven pages of the volume. The biographical index of authors in the appendix, moreover, presents in a condensed form sketches of the lives of thirty-one useful and all but famous members of the Negro race. Much of this information about those who have not been in the public eye a long time is entirely new, appearing here in print for the first time.

The aim of the author is to show the greatness of the Negro as measured by his literature and art. He believes that the status of the Negro in the United States is more a question of national mental attitude toward the race than of actual conditions. "And nothing," says he, "will do more to change that mental attitude and raise his status than a demonstration of intellectual parity by the Negro through the production of literature and art."

In the effort to show "the emotional endowment, the originality and artistic conception and power of creating" possessed by the Negro, the author has begun with the Uncle Remus stories, the spirituals, the dance, the folks songs and syncopated music. He then presents the achievements of the Negro in pure literature, mentioning the works of Jupiter Hammon, George M. Horton, Frances E. Harper, James M. Bell and Albery A. Whitman. A large portion of this introduction given to the early writers is devoted to a discussion of Dunbar. He then introduces a number of poets of our own day, whose works constitute the verse herein presented. Among these are William Stanley Braithwaite, Claude McKay, Fenton Johnson, Jessie Fauset, Georgia Douglass Johnson, Annie Spencer, John W. Holloway, James Edwin Campbell, Daniel Webster Davis, R. C. Jamison, James S. Cotter, Jr., Alex Rogers, James D. Carrothers, Leslie Pinckney Hill, and W. E. B. DuBois.

* * * * *

_The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations, 1897-1909._ By JAMES
FORD RHODES, LL.D., D.Litt. (New York: The Macmillan Company,
1922. Pp. 418.)

Fortunately Mr. Rhodes does not make the mistake of designating this as a volume continuing his history of the United States from 1850 to 1877. Like the volume recently written to treat the period from Hayes to McKinley, this one does not show the serious treatment characteristic of the earlier work of Mr. Rhodes. The author makes no introduction but enters upon the discussion of the political events which he considers as having constituted the most important facts of history during this period. In this volume Mr. Rhodes is largely concerned with the rise and fall of political chieftains, who have attained high offices in the services of the nation or with the record of those who have championed principles which have not been acceptable to the American people. The most valuable facts of the book are the bits of first-hand information which he obtained by personal contact with the statesmen of the time. From this volume, however, one gets very little more general information than he would from an observer who has closely followed the various presidential campaigns. Furthermore, there is not much discussion of the social and economic questions which have engaged the attention of the American people because of their bearing on shaping the destinies of the nation. As a narrative for ready information of men and measures of this period it is interesting, but judged from the point of view of modern historiography, the book cannot be seriously considered as a very valuable work on American history. When one has finished reading the volume he will find his mind filled with what men have done and what they have failed to accomplish, but he will not easily grasp the meaning of the forces which during the last generation have given trend to present-day developments in the United States.

Students of Negro history will wonder what mention the author has made of the rôle which the race played during this period. In any expectation of this sort they will find themselves disappointed. With the exception of references to the Booker Washington dinner at the White House, the Brownsville Affair, and the Roosevelt attitude on Negro suffrage, the race does not figure in this history. It is interesting to note Rhodes's statement to the effect (230) that Roosevelt said to him that he made a mistake in inviting Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House. With the usual bias of the author, it is not surprising that he justifies the dismissal of the Negro soldiers charged with participating in the riot at Brownsville (340). After reading this volume, one who has not lived in this country would be surprised to come here and learn that we have such a large group of citizens about whom so much was said and to whom so much was meted out during this stormy period.

* * * * *

_The Journal of John Woolman._ Edited from the Original
Manuscripts, with a Biographical Introduction, by AMELIA MOTT
GUMMERE. (New York: The Macmillan Company. 1922. Pp. 643.)

From the time of the first publication of the _Journal_ of this unusual man in 1774, he has been known to the world as one of its greatest characters because of his wonderful spirituality and deep interest in all members of the human family regardless of race or condition. It is decidedly fitting then that this valuable record should be reprinted and be made accessible to a larger number who will find it an inspiration to those engaged in reform and valuable in throwing light on heroism in the past.

The author, however, has another reason for the new edition of this _Journal_, inasmuch as there are many editions of the _Journal_ proper, and a multitude of publications in which Woolman's _Essays_ and appreciations of him appear. The reason is that the descendants of Woolman "have recently made accessible by presenting to learned institutions, which are glad to guard them, the manuscripts of the _Journal_ and of most of his _Essays_ as well as letters, marriage certificates of the family and other documents."

The work is arranged in chapters presenting his immigrant ancestry, his youth and education, his marriage, his participation in the slavery discussion, his Indian journey, his experiences as schoolmaster, his final tours, and his death. The book is well printed and neatly bound. It contains thirty-three interesting illustrations which decidedly enhance the value of the book. Among these should be noted the portrait of John Woolman, his birthplace, his home, important pages from his manuscripts, and his grave.