Chapter XXXVIII: How to Help the Negro to Help Himself 468 (20)

Prof. H. L. Walker was born near the city of Augusta, Ga.,
in the year of 1859. His parents, Wesley and Adline Walker,
were the property of slave owners to whom they rendered
allegiance until 1864 and 1865, when Sherman took his
triumphal march through Georgia and the Carolinas. At the
fall of the Confederacy young Henry went with his parents to
Wilmington, N. C., where they spent about a year, during
which time young Henry for the first time saw the inside of
a school, taught by those pioneering teachers from the
North. At the close of this year the family left Wilmington
and went to Augusta, Ga., which city has been the scene of
our subject's boyhood and the basis of his literary career.
The public schools of Augusta were completed by 1874 and
upon the recommendation of all of his teachers young
"Henry," as he was familiarly called, was matriculated at
the Atlanta University, one of the most noted of Negro
colleges in the South. In this institution he studied for
eight years, coming out in 1882 with the class honor and the
degree of A. B. His parents died during his early boyhood,
even before he had entered the Atlanta University, so that
in his efforts to complete his collegiate career he had to
rely largely upon his own resources, and the very kind
assistance of his foster parents, and other friends whose
protege he was.

Prepared for his life work, he left school in June, 1882,
and was immediately elected principal of the Mitchell Street
Graded School, Atlanta, Ga., his examination papers being
the best offered for this position. In the following
month--July--he was also elected President of the Georgia
State Teachers' Association for Colored Teachers, of which
body more will be said later. As a student at College our
subject was studious, popular with professors and students,
and acquired that assiduity and strict adherence to business
that has since characterized all his subsequent life. In the
profession of teaching he continued to rise higher and
higher each year, holding positions of trust and honor under
each of the State's superintendents of education down to the
present incumbent. For eighteen years he has held sway in
the public school of the city of Augusta, during which time
Mr. Walker has officered the Second Ward Grammar School, the
famous Ware High School and at present the First Ward High
School, which position he still fills with dignity and
credit to himself and race. As Peabody expert, Mr. Walker,
by appointment of the successive State superintendents of
education, has occupied the lecture platform in all parts of
the State, with the best lecturers, white and Colored, that
money could command, and they have all cheerfully conceded
his ripe ability to master and handle successfully such
subjects as have been assigned him from year to year. As a
practical school man and well-informed scholar, Mr. Walker
is always at home. As a Peabody lecturer he has often been
pronounced one of the best in the State. Every Summer his
services are in demand in various parts of the State. For
ten years Mr. Walker was the honored President of the
Georgia State Teachers' Association, Colored, and no man has
since filled that honored chair whose administration has in
any way rivaled the success of Mr. Walker. During his ten
years the association was built up as it has never been
since. The intelligence of the State--white and
Colored--came together in these annual meetings and made
this gathering of educators and leaders the most
representative body in the State.

Mr. Walker is easy of address and modest in all things,
never contending for honors. Several years ago, at its
annual exercises, his alma mater conferred upon him the
degree of A. M. as a deserved tribute and recognition of the
literary work he has accomplished. As a polished orator Mr.
Walker has been heard with profit and delight in all parts
of the State. Some of his addresses before the State
Teachers' Association are considered real gems of
literature.

After a lapse of some thirty-eight years, or a little better than a generation, we are asking the question, "What is the Negro Teacher doing in the matter of uplifting his race?" In so brief a period of years it would seem to savor of arrogance to ask a question so seemingly fraught with significance, so inopportune and, too, about a people so recently freed from bondage that they have not yet had the time to grow a generation of teachers. It took England more than a generation to grow an Arnold at Rugby. It took France more than several generations to produce a Guizot, and Pestalozzi, whose reputation as a teacher widens with the universe, is the product of years of experimental accumulations of Swiss ingenuity. And yet it may be pardonable arrogance on our part to say that at this first milestone in our educational career we pause here long enough to take an inventory of what the Negro teacher has done and is still doing in the matter of uplifting his people. In the pioneering or experimental period of Negro education there were no Negro teachers, but it is safe to say that as early as 1875 a few Negroes, daring to rush in where angels would fear to tread, began the profession of school teaching. It is from this date that we may safely begin to reckon the services of the Negro teachers as a class. I make bold to lay down the proposition that wherever God has ordained intellect that intellect is capable of the highest development; for mental ability is a divine endowment. The intellect may be the possession of an Indian, a Mongolian, an Arab, a Negro, a Hindoo or a Caucasian. Textures may differ, but all mental organisms are the same in color, fiber, and mode of operation and development. It must then follow that the proper training of the intellect must produce the same results upon all races when properly applied. That training which has made the Mongolian, or the German, or the Caucasian race great and powerful will of necessity, under similar conditions, produce like results in the Negro race. Let us now see what the facts show. It is largely through the instrumentality of our schools that Negroes have been taught to place a higher and a proper valuation upon their citizenship, and the importance of the ballot when it is wielded for the maintenance and perpetuation of good government. As a class of citizens Negroes are peaceable and law-abiding, and must not be reckoned with the migratory hordes of anarchists, nihilists, and the wreckers of law and order that infest our Eastern and Western shores. In our schools, too, Negroes have learned that it is theirs to petition respectfully for the enjoyment of their rights, and the redress of grievances so often unjustly imposed upon them. In the last two decades the influence of the schools, colleges and industrial institutions and seminaries of all kinds has wrought wonderful changes in the home life of the Negro race. Purer homes now abound; intemperance is giving way to sobriety and economy; love and order have driven out hate and confusion; the golden rule and the Bible are taken as the measurement of conduct; and, where-ever Negro communities are found, cozy little cottages, and often palatial homes with thoughtful and convenient appointments, have taken the place of the very many little one-room huts in which all the whole range of domestic life was wont to be performed. In these new homes a better and more intelligent class of children is being reared to fit in the scheme of our advancing civilization. These are very hopeful signs of a better generation and a brighter day for the American Negro.

Our Negro teachers and leaders have instilled into the race a desire for the accumulation of property and wealth, and the keeping of bank accounts. "Put money in thy purse," "Put money in thy purse." This advice from Shakespeare is ripening in the minds of all thoughtful Negroes, and the results are being universally manifested. In the United States the valuation of Negro property runs far into the millions. In the state of Georgia alone Negroes are paying taxes on $15,629,811 worth of property; of this amount $1,000,000 represents the increase of a single year--1900 to 1901.

In the domain of literature and the varied professions the education of the Negro has furnished us as lawyers, Hon. D. Augustus Straker, Detroit, Michigan; Hon. R. B. Elliott, late of Columbia, South Carolina; Hon. Jno. R. Lynch, Washington, D. C., paymaster United States Army; Hon. J. W. Lyons, Augusta, Georgia, register Treasury, Washington, D. C.; Hon. H. M. Porter, Augusta, Georgia, lawyer at the bar.

As statesmen Negro education has produced Hon. Frederick Douglass, "The old man eloquent," late of Washington, D. C.; Hon. B. C. Bruce, ex-registrar Treasury, late of Washington, D. C.; Hon. Geo. W. Murray, ex-member Congress, Columbia, D. C.; Hon. Geo. H. White, ex-member Congress, North Carolina.

As poets, Mrs. Frances E. N. Harper and Paul Lawrence Dunbar are samples of a splendid class.

As musicians it might suffice to say that Blind Tom, Black Patti and Madam Selika are only samples of a large class.

Negro education has furnished us pulpits better filled with intelligent men, devout and pious; and with modern churches that are in harmony with the Christian demands of the age. In the Ecumenical Conference recently held in London, the Negro clergy represented there were from all parts of the civilized world, and the high tribute paid to their ability and ecclesiastical character was the comment of all the English papers. Our bishops and eminent pulpit divines are largely young men, the product of our Negro schools. Dr. C. T. Walker, now of the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, New York, and the foremost pulpit orator in all the Baptist ranks, perhaps, is a native of Georgia soil, and a product of our Georgia schools. But I must not prolong this account with a long list of bishops, D. D's., LL. D's., M. D's., diplomats, artists, painters, mechanics, inventors, and successful business men, who are the product of Negro education, but before closing this humble effort it is but proper that we should make mention of some of the men who are universally regarded as masters in the profession of teaching, and who in themselves are great benefactors of the Negro race. The following educators have wrought much in the matter of elevating their race in all the essentials of right-living. The most conspicuous figure just now in the firmament of Negro educators is President Booker T. Washington, who has at his command both the hand and the heart of the American people. The far-reaching influences of his work at Tuskegee, Alabama, where, perhaps, more than 1,300 Negro youths are taught all the useful and honorable methods of labor, are too well understood to merit further comment here. President J. H. Lewis, president of Wilberforce University, Ohio, has and is still doing a work that will tell on ages and tell for God in the matter of developing Negro ability along the lines of higher intellectual manhood. Prof. R. R. Wright, president of the State Industrial College, Savannah, Georgia, is a pioneer in the work of uplifting the Negro youth, and his excellent work recently begun at the state college is already teeming with fruit. Miss Lucy C. Laney is a woman of rare and well-developed intellectual attainments. The Haines Normal and Industrial School, with all of its influence for good, will ever be an imperishable monument to her memory. Her reputation as a woman of ability and culture is universal. Prof. W. H. Council, of Alabama, is hardly second to President B. T. Washington in his noble work in Alabama of uplifting Negro youth.

In professors, W. S. Scarborough, who holds the chair of Latin and Greek in Wilberforce University, Ohio; Prof. W. H. Crogman, chair of Latin and Greek, Clark University, Atlanta, Georgia; Prof. Kelly Miller, chair of mathematics, Howard University, Washington, D. C.; Prof. J. W. Gilbert, chair of Latin and Greek, Paine College, Augusta, Georgia; and Prof. W. E. B. DuBois, chair of science and economics, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, we have the ripest examples of high-class scholarship. These men, steeped in the love and sciences of all ages and people, have won respect and recognition in all the institutions, and among all educators of world-wide reputation, both European and American. They are only samples of a large class of educated Negroes who have given a very high literary tone to Negro intelligence. In an account like this, which necessarily must be brief, it must not be expected that we could elaborate into details about any one of the features above mentioned. In mentioning them thus briefly it is only our purpose to call attention to the great work now being accomplished by the Negro teachers.

In closing these brief lines it might be well to consider several charges made against the educated Negro. It is charged that education teaches Negroes how to commit crime, etc. Because some educated Negroes commit crime and do wrong that is no more of an argument against the education of the Negro race than it would be an argument against the education of the Caucasian race, because some educated white men commit crime and do wrong. If a man has indigestion from eating the wrong kind of food that ought not to be taken as an argument against eating. Educated Negroes as a class are among our best American citizens.

Again, there are still some "back numbers" belonging to the old school of thought who still charge a lack of ability on the part of Negro scholars to absorb and assimilate the same amount of intelligence that the Caucasian race does.

In our humble school career in the state of Georgia we have sat on the same seat with the boys and girls of the Caucasian race, and, often, in the recitation room, under the same professor in the higher classics and sciences, we have shared the same book with them, and yet at the time of reckoning term standing we have seen those white professors give the members of these mixed classes their class rating in their various subjects, and the average percentage of Caucasian and Negro pupils in all these subjects would be a matter of significant comment.

In many instances like these, both in the North and South, the ability of our Negro scholars is so forcibly demonstrated; and what the Negro teachers may yet do for their race and for civilization will be left as a rich inheritance for the enjoyment of an advancing civilization. Of all teachers it may be said that he who shapes a soul and fits it for an eternal habitation in the blissful Beyond has erected for himself a monument that eclipses in grandeur and architectural beauty all the conceptions of a Solomon, though Solomon was the wisest of men.

TOPIC XXIII.

IS THE NEGRO NEWSPAPER AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE ELEVATION OF THE NEGRO?

BY DR. D. W. ONLEY.

DR. D. WATSON ONLEY.

Dr. D. Watson Onley, the eldest child of John E. and Mary J.
R. Onley (nee Wheele), was born in Newark, N. J. When but
two years old his parents moved to Brooklyn, N. Y. He was
early taught to read and write by his mother, afterward he
was sent to the Raymond Street public school, Prof. Chas. A.
Dorsey, principal. Here he showed a capable mind, by his
easy mastery of all the subjects assigned him, and by his
standing among his fellows.

At the age of thirteen, by force of circumstances, his
progress in school was checked, his parents having changed
residence, going to Florida, transferred him to entirely new
scenes, environments and conditions. After attending school
in Jacksonville, Fla., for three years, he entered the
college preparatory course of Atlanta University.

In 1876, returning North, he entered and took a collegiate
course in Lincoln University, after which he took two years'
technical course in Boston, Mass.

In 1880 he married an accomplished young lady of one of the
first families of Charleston, S. C., Miss Ella L. Drayton.
Two charming and accomplished daughters of this happy union
are Charlotte E. and Mary M., the elder one a graduate of
the Normal school at Washington, D. C., and a teacher in its
public school. The younger daughter is at present a pupil in
Normal School.

In 1885 he returned to Jacksonville, Fla., began business as
architect and builder. After three years of prosperous
business, he launched upon the world the first steam saw and
planing mill, owned and operated entirely by colored men to
manufacture lumber in all its forms for house building. The
plant grew rapidly, increasing in facilities and continued
prosperous until by the hand of an incendiary it was swept
by fire. The State Normal and Industrial College of the
State needing a practical and efficient man to take charge
of their technical department, solicited his services, where
he taught all branches of architectural and mechanical
drawing, manual training, uses and care of wood-working
machinery and steam engine.

Not being thoroughly satisfied with his surrounding
conditions, he struck out for a new line of work, that of
dentistry, which, after three years of hard study, struggle
and sacrifice, with the cares and responsibilities of a
family upon him all the while, he finished at Howard
University, dental department, and immediately opened an
office in Washington, D. C. where he enjoys a lucrative
practice. His life has been a busy one, and his success only
represents what many have accomplished who have on hand a
good stock of push.

In answer to this question I would say that the press next to the school has done more for the intellectual advancement, hence, elevation, of the Negro, than anything else. When I say press, I mean specifically the Negro press, which is an integral part of the American press of the country. It is his positive mouthpiece, effective when other audiences are denied him. Before Negro newspapers, the Negro had nothing to set forth his claims and true status. The race consequently speaks through the press to plead its cause.

Reviewing the history and growth of the Negro press of this country since it was launched by John B. Russwurm in New York City, March 30, 1827, to the present, comparing style of form, character of matter, increase of circulation, widespread and universal interest, the great host of contemporaries that have joined in making a vast throng of channels through which we can advocate our cause without fear of having it misrepresented or smoothed over, but bringing forth our opinions to truly enlighten the world. The general support given speaks volumes for the good it has done in elevating the Negro.

In conducting the Negro newspaper of to-day as compared with fifteen years ago there is a marked change. The success then in maintaining and increasing the circulation depended largely in appealing to the vanities of the subscribers in parading their name in print, calling attention to many things of no consequence to the public, less to themselves; but to-day in a very large degree that is changed; it has become distasteful, which is a very healthful sign along the lines of improvement of taste.

While it is true the majority of Negroes care little but for local news, doings of their own race, care but little for the news of the great wide world, it must be conceded a step far in the right direction if they can be interested at all. The Negro press, like all others, had to begin at the bottom and grow, not patterned particularly after any other paper, but fashioned to suit the tastes, conditions and interests of its customers. It is the privilege of the editor, not only to shape public opinion, pointing out the policy that alone will conserve to our best and lasting interest, but to develop the tastes, and so elevate the race which he serves. Through the press the editor sees that the interests, as far as our freedom and rights are concerned, are in no wise abridged, circumscribed or destroyed. In a large measure this has been one of the great benefits to the race; through the medium of the press we have been awakened to our condition, and our rights, and we jealously guard and clamor for their enjoyment and recognition. Although dark clouds of prejudice and lawlessness obscure our pathway, yet we are surely though slowly moving on in the pathway already blazed before us.

In the hands of the Negro, the press has been an educator to the whites as well as to the Negro, reflecting his manhood and capacity; this, too, has elevated the Negro's appreciation of manhood and appreciable standing among men.

Before Negro newspapers we were unknown in history, art and science. Like the Negro exhibits at all the great fairs, they have served to open the eyes of the blind, and to remove an ignorant prejudice which was against us.

To-day we find the leading journals of this country clipping and editorially commenting upon topics discussed and articles appearing originally in Negro newspapers, and more than this, find the Negro newspapers for sale on the principal stands where newspapers are to be had, indicating the demand. In this city it would be hard not to find the "Colored American" and "Washington Bee" at the newsdealer's. "Yes, we keep them," I have heard to the query about the above papers; "they are good sellers." Now what is true in this city is no doubt true in other places where the local papers have secured recognition from their standing and worth.

The Negro newspaper has taken such a stand that its columns are read by white patrons, many of whom take pride and interest in noting the advancement of their brother in black.

Many newspapers published by whites have taken advantage of this condition, and the Negro's interest in the press, and have set aside columns devoted to his individual interest; have procured competent Negro reporters to gather all facts and doings of the race of special interest to it, and are published daily.

This has increased the circulation by thousands of new subscribers who eagerly seek to know just what is going on among them. The causes of non-support of the Negro press is no argument that the press has not been elevating, nor any argument against its possibilities. This is largely a condition due to poverty, illiteracy and inferiority of paper, but time will bring about a change. In the hands of the Negro the press has been a success. Failure in management and poor financial profit have been to one and all engaged in the pursuit, yet the net result shows success, not failure; and its success demonstrates the possibilities of the race, notwithstanding the lack of encouragement.

SECOND PAPER.

IS THE NEGRO NEWSPAPER AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE ELEVATION OF THE NEGRO?

BY WALTER N. WALLACE.

WALTER N. WALLACE.

Walter N. Wallace, the organizer of the Colored Co-operative
Publishing Company, of Boston, Mass., publishers of the
"Colored American Magazine" and many other race
publications, was born at Boydton, Mecklenburg County, Va.,
in 1874.

His mother was Nannie J. Ellerson, who has the distinction
of being one of the first graduates of the Hampton Normal
School. Mr. Wallace is the oldest grandchild of that
institution. His father Merritt Wallace was also a student
of Hampton, and after leaving that school he settled in
Boydton, in educational work, where he became one of the
most prominent and energetic citizens of his community. He
was at one time Deputy Treasurer and Commissioner of Revenue
for the county.

At nine years of age Mr. W. Wallace was sent to school in
Richmond, where he completed the grammar course, then
spending two years preliminary training at the High, before
entering the State College (Virginia Normal and Collegiate
Institution, at Petersburg), where he spent another two
years. While at this college he was prominent in athletics
and a member of the institute band.

Later, determining upon the study of medicine, he entered
the Leonard Medical College, where he spent two years in
theory, then turning his face northwards he came to Boston
in 1896, where he secured a position as prescription clerk
in a prominent drug store, there becoming more practically
acquainted with medicines.

In May, 1901, he launched his pet scheme, the "Colored
American Magazine," and under his editorial care there is
now no question of its future, as it has passed far beyond
the experimental stage, and is now an assurity.

The confidence which has been displayed by him and his
associates in the belief "that a man is what he makes
himself," is wonderful, for they have, through strenuous
effort, brought the magazine up to an actual circulation of
over twenty thousand copies per month, with a steady
increase each month, besides publishing many Race books,
which are the equal of any in merit and mechanical makeup.

Personally, Mr. Wallace is of a kind and modest disposition
and hardly realizes that he has accomplished within such a
short while a thorough new departure in Negro journalism. If
ever persuaded to forget for a moment, and be drawn from his
business cares, you will find him a pleasant entertainer,
both in music and conversation, for beneath his seeming
austere countenance there lies an urbane streak of humor,
piquant with wit and pleasant cynicisms, much to be enjoyed.

In its entirety, yes. The power of the press is indisputable. To the Negro youth of the land it should be put, as a beneficent educator, next to our schools. In its pages they should be able to read the good being accomplished by our prominent race-men in this glorious fight now on; this will cultivate a desire to emulate them. They will read of the bad being daily done and will learn to abhor such dastardly actions. With such a mission to perform our newspapers should contain the essence of truth and good and sensible instructions; for its power of assimilating bad influences is equal to the good which would accrue.

The Negro journal is an important factor, because it is a source through which the younger generation should and must become acquainted with the good accomplished by members of the race, with the possible exception of a favored few whom the ordinary press seems to think is all that is worth speaking of. Important because the rank and file is utterly ignored and positively unnoticed by the American white press (except as an example of the demonstrative inability to be an intelligent and thrifty citizen), and from which they pick from day to day the lowest as a type of Negro capabilities.

In order to fully explain the position taken in this matter we will be compelled to deviate from the main question.

To rightly diagnose the cause, for the seemingly apathetic manner in which the race appreciates its journals we must place the blame upon the right parties.

A few hundred dollars, a set of type and a press do not make a newspaper. A man with an education does not always make an editor. Many of our editors grow discouraged over their failure to arouse a support to their journals, blaming the race for non-appreciation, when the fault lies with themselves. Do they give their readers news? If a local sheet, they deal in stale generalities. If a general sheet, they confine themselves to locals of no general interest.

Let our journals arise, procure competent help, give the news, regardless of class, as the newspaper is for the masses. Make a business of the paper, run it on strict business plan, have good printing, be careful with proofs, avoid all mistakes as nearly as possible; study their patrons' tastes and cater to them, for it is not dealing fairly to require the masses to purchase for race pride when they should receive the worth of their money.

Petty animosities should not fill their pages with vituperation, which is shocking to refined sensibilities; neither should the reading public be forced to search for original matter with a microscope. He should ever be on the alert to champion the Negro's cause and never wholly sink his originality within the narrow confines of party bounds. Stand up for truth, and censure wherein, in his wide judgment, he feels it necessary so to do. Never let his paper travel in a rut, plenty of room for expenditure of gray matter.

We have many Negro journals which should be a source of pride to the race at large, others, we are sorry to say, do not deserve support and should make room for those which do.

A press association should be formed and the happenings sent from one to the other and used in brief by out-of-town journals and be fully detailed by local journals. More unity is needed and is a thing to be encouraged and maintained. Our journals depend too much upon chance MSS. than upon active reporters for their news.

Much could be said of the many sacrifices and labors of many of our editors, but we believe that the most good can be accomplished by fewer and better newspapers, than with "quantity without quality."

In our article we place great stress upon truth; we believe the goal for which all the Negro journals are laboring is to find "the means for the best good of the race," and way waste energy in useless toil?

THIRD PAPER.

IS THE NEGRO NEWSPAPER AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE ELEVATION OF THE NEGRO?

BY RICHARD W. THOMPSON.

RICHARD W. THOMPSON.

Richard W. Thompson stands in the front rank of those who
are making history for the Negro race in this century. A
native of Kentucky, he has spent most of his life in Indiana
and was educated in the common and high schools of
Indianapolis. His career of thirty-five years is quite an
interesting one, abounding in well-directed efforts that
have done much to give character and dignity to the
Afro-American youth of the land. At an early age he evinced
a remarkable aptitude for public affairs, and at school
showed proficiency of the highest order in such studies as
political economy, civil government, history, literature. He
was especially happy in the art of English composition, his
papers on current problems attracting wide attention in his
home community. Losing his father when very young, he was
largely dependent upon his own exertions for a livelihood
and throughout his school days worked at a variety of
pursuits.

In 1879 he became associated with Messrs Bagby & Co., in the
publication of _The Indianapolis Leader_, the first
journalistic venture launched in the Hoosier State, and
later on mastered the trade of printing. Taking as naturally
to newspaper work as "a duck to water," he made himself an
indispensable quantity on the _Leader_ staff and at
seventeen, was city editor. At the same time in connection
with his school duties, he kept books for Dr. F. M. Ferree,
secretary of the Marion County Board of Health. When _The
Indianapolis World_ was launched in 1883, Mr. Thompson took
charge of the city department and at different times during
the palmy days of that sheet, held nearly every position on
it from work at the case to foreman of the mechanical
department and managing editor. He was the first managing
editor of _The Indianapolis Freeman_, in which position he
was a marked success. Later, as editor of the _Washington
Colored American_, he won national fame as an accomplished
journalist, a graceful, versatile and forcible writer and a
clear and courageous thinker upon all questions that affect
the Negro's social, political and industrial development. He
leads rather than follows popular sentiment, and at no time
while the editorial tripod was in his hands did he take a
stand upon any issue that failed to meet the hearty
endorsement of the race and which was not accepted as the
expression of the best thought and principle of our people.
In argument his style is logical and conservative. As a
spicy paragrapher, originator of attractive news features,
and as a keen observer of popular tastes, he has few equals
and no superiors in the army of Afro-American journalists.
He has done special work for prominent papers of both races,
and furnished much "copy" for private individuals, always
giving complete satisfaction.

Mr. Thompson has been fortunate in the matter of official
recognition. At the age of fifteen he served as page in the
Indiana Legislature, being the first colored boy so
appointed. After attaining his majority he became a clerk in
the Marion County Auditor's office, and in 1888 he led a
class of seventy-five in a civil service examination,
earning an appointment as letter carrier. He came to
Washington in 1894 and was appointed clerk in the counting
division of the Government Printing Office, enjoying the
distinction of being the first colored man to be assigned to
a clerical position in that department. Mr. Thompson is now
connected with the United States Census Bureau and is
regarded as a faithful and efficient assistant.

Busy as Mr. Thompson must necessarily be, he has time to aid
in promoting race movements and organizations, being an
active spirit in the National Afro-American Council, the Pen
and Pencil Club, and St. Luke's P. E. Church. He is now
serving his third term as President of the Second Baptist
Lyceum, a cosmopolitan debating forum that has won a
national reputation.

The question is both pertinent and timely. In the past two decades the necessity for the preacher, the teacher, the lawyer, and the doctor has not been open to dispute. Every father and mother, no matter what their social standing or their worldly means, have striven honestly, faithfully and persistently to enroll their favorite boy in the ranks of one or the other of these callings, as if they were the only open highways toward distinction, or the goal denominated "success."

In contemplating the professions which make for racial grandeur, racial opportunities, and protection from assault, many of us forget the importance of the Negro _press_ as a factor in the elevation of the masses. It is not too much to say, in this connection, that of the primary levers to which the race must look for support, none contribute more toward endurance, permanency, and virility than the press. We have the pulpit, the schoolhouse, the field of politics, and the arena of business. Each has its bearing in the development of a larger life and a more perfect manhood for the Afro-American; but, conceding all due respect to the noble men and women who stand in the vanguard of each of these missions, no one of them is more potent or far reaching in its effect than the press. From the pulpit comes the precepts that direct moral and religious thought; the schoolhouse stands for a broader intellectual culture; the field of politics gives us our practical experience in the science of government, affording us an opportunity for actual participation in the shaping of legislation and in giving vitality to public policies. The press, however, occupies a most unique position with reference to all of them. It is the fulcrum upon which all these activities must depend for useful service. The press is the concentrated voice of the masses; the mouthpiece of the age; the universal censor--directed by popular opinion--from whose verdict there is no appeal. The press is the medium through which the great work of the church is disseminated over land and sea, and gives to the world the sweetening influence that the spoken word offers only to a single parish. It magnifies the labors of educational leaders and is itself an indispensable adjunct to the growth of intelligence. In the political field the press has long been recognized as an institution more powerful than any individual, and from the post of messenger or handmaiden of the people--a mere purveyor of current happenings--it has come to be the master mind in the economy of nations. To the business world it is a "guide, counselor and friend," and correctly analyzes the ingredients that bring material prosperity to the civic organization, of which all of us are a part. That distinguished autocrat of autocrats, Napoleon, once exclaimed, with a bitterness born of impending destruction: "Hostile newspapers are more to be feared than bayonets." And why not? It holds in its grasp the power of life and death, success and failure, happiness and misery.

These facts amply justify the assertion that the Negro newspaper is an all-important factor in the elevation of the race. Caucasian journals, while general in their news features, too often lack breadth in their opinion department, when the race question is a burning issue, just as religious denominations, the trades and political parties require "class" papers for the exploitation of their particular lines of thought, the Negro has found that only through his own "class organ" can he obtain a sturdy defense of his character, the record of his laudable achievements, and the advocacy of his rights as a man and a citizen. So the Negro journal came, and it is here to stay. The Negro journal had its origin in the direst necessity, and that necessity was never more apparent than at the opening of the twentieth century when the Declaration of Independence seems not broad enough to include the colored American, when the Constitution of the United States is perverted from the sacred intent of its framers and the spirit of disfranchisement is rampant throughout the land.

This demand for a Negro journal was first met between 1827 and 1834 by unpretentious sheets in and about New York City. But it was not until 1847 that race journalism became a positive factor, when that intrepid spirit, Frederick Douglass, launched "The North Star." This great man built up a circulation upon two continents and wielded an influence not exceeded by any subsequent race venture. That paper blazed a wide path, and in its path followed enterprise after enterprise, developing the sentiment for liberty and keeping in touch with the newer requirements of the hour. No reliable census of the many race journals has been kept. They have sprung from every state and section, but their span of life in most cases has been so brief and sporadic that only rough estimates have been attempted. To-day, perhaps, three hundred are in existence, a few taking high rank in literary quality--others struggling desperately for maintenance. The majority are printed at a positive loss, as regards dollars and cents. It is doubtful if any of the survivors are supported exclusively from revenues derived from subscriptions and advertising. It is a stinging indictment of our much-lauded "race pride" that the greater proportion of our Negro journalists are compelled to depend for a living upon teaching, preaching, law, medicine, office-holding, or upon some outside business investment. In character and make-up, these papers are as widely varied as the localities and environments from which they spring. Many are crude specimens of the "art preservative," dealing heavily in "boiler plate"--to use a professional term--and very lightly in original matter. A few have taken steps out of the beaten path and are giving striking evidence of what the resourceful and energetic Negro journalist could do under circumstances more encouraging. Our editors are, for the most part, men of strong personality, with standing and influence in their respective "bailiwicks." Without notable exception they speak for manhood, for race elevation, and for material development in every avenue of industry.

How many of us have paused and candidly considered just what Negro journalism is doing for the uplift of the masses? Notwithstanding the hard fact that the editorial work of many writers is done late at night, after protracted hours of labor in other fields; and notwithstanding that where a journalist is able to give his entire time to the business, he is often sole solicitor, clerk, compositor, pressman, collector, office boy, and editorial staff combined--despite all these disadvantages, the beneficent effect of the Negro press is felt all over the land. The dozens of able men and women who are engaged in this noble work, most of them doing so at a tremendous sacrifice, are true patriots, bearing burdens from which the timid shrink, leading cheerily where none but the brave dare follow, contending with malicious opposers, every inch of ground, this sturdy band struggles on year after year, hoping patiently for the "joy that cometh in the morning." Through their efforts Negro writers have been given a fair hearing, and, while the Caucasian journal is giving space to the police court episodes of our lower orders, the alert Negro sentinel finds in the church, the schoolroom, the inventor's studio, the author's desk, and in honorable political or social station, a most fertile field for his operations. Negro newspapers have aroused in us the commercial and industrial spirit, and are giving employment to hundreds of young colored men and women as bookkeepers, stenographers and canvassers. They are lending practical aid in solving the race's labor problem by yearly instructing and providing employment to printers, book-binders, pressmen and other artisans. They are building up a market for Negro labor, and neutralizing to a great extent the baleful influence of the trades unions' hostility. The Negro editor has increased the self-respect of the race by collating and publishing the creditable achievements of our people, furnishing a periodical compendium of history and placing the Negro in his most favorable light before the critics of the world. The truly representative Negro journal reflects the sober judgment of the race upon topics of general interest. It largely fixes our status as thinkers and philosophers of the times. The rights of no people can be ruthlessly invaded whose press is fearless, pure, upright, and patriotic. No people can forever be denounced as ignorant, vicious, and shiftless who support a press that is intelligent, moral, and thrifty.

Let it be remembered here, however, that the picture has its somber tints. Negro journalism, speaking generally, is not a paying investment. The fault does not lie wholly with either the public or the publisher. As a mass we are not a reading people and the bulk of us neither know nor appreciate the value of the work that the race paper is doing. Some of us take and pay for Caucasian journals for their news features--which is eminently fitting and proper--but the Negro journal should not be made to suffer in the unequal competition, for the latter fills a want which the former cannot or does not reach. One dollar to the race paper is often worth as much as ten to the wealthy corporation behind our great metropolitan dailies. It is not alone our illiterates who fail to support our journals. The educated classes are not as loyal to the cause as their means, learning, political interest and race pride suggest that they should be. True, it frequently happens that our papers fall into the hands of characterless adventurers who are "anything for a dollar," and it is felt that the best method of rebuking their self-constituted and erratic leadership is to treat them with silent contempt. To this no thinker can offer a reasonable objection. A journal that does not represent the highest impulses of a community does not deserve support. The personal organ, the scandalmonging sheet, the political and social blackmailer, the confidence-destroying campaign dodger, and the subsidized traitor to racial manhood are all under a ban, and should have no place in the homes of self-respecting Negroes. In this category should also be classed the colorless journal, that smirks in the recesses of cowardice. We should be faithful, however, to those that are honest and straightforward. We should strengthen their arms by our moral and financial resources. Booker T. Washington aptly points out how difficult it is for a needy man to resist the temptation of the bribe-giver, and tells pathetically of the uphill work of making a Christian out of a hungry mortal. Support the right kind of editors and the result will be a press that is progressive, healthful, and fearless--an institution of which all may justly be proud.

Is the ideal race journal attainable? I say, YES--when the two elements necessary to the transaction--the public and the publisher--are able to meet on a common ground, in the spirit of co-operation and fair dealing. The chasm between the journalist and his rightful constituency must be bridged by mutual confidence and mutual sympathy, or neither can reap the great benefits that lie in concentration of forces.

The ideal journal is that one which places racial weal above private gain--which exalts patriotism above pelf. It is controlled by men big enough and broad enough to eschew petty personalities and to avoid cheap sensationalism. It is piloted by men who breathe the atmosphere of freedom, whose inspiration is not drawn from the committee rooms of political parties, and whose course is not dictated by scheming politicians. It is the antithesis of sycophancy. The ideal journal is backed up by men who are far-sighted enough to perceive that success through trickery is short lived, and that character is the only foundation upon which an enduring structure can be built. It is conducted by men who know by experience that genuine worth will ultimately be appreciated, and that refined taste, sound judgment, and a saving sense of proportion will produce a newspaper that may stand as a model to posterity.

Journals of this type, sincere, earnest, and consistent--and in the future their names will be legion--are without question the key-stone in the arch of those forces which make for the permanent elevation of the Negro people. Such journals are prime factors in the race problem.

TOPIC XXIV.

ARE OTHER THAN BAPTIST AND METHODIST CHURCHES ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT NEGRO?

BY REV. GEORGE F. BRAGG, JR.,

REV. GEORGE F. BRAGG, JR.

George Freeman Bragg, Junior, Priest and Rector, was born in
Warrenton, N. C., January 25, 1863. Shortly after his birth
his parents, George F. and Mary Bragg, removed to
Petersburg, Va. It was in this latter place that their son
was reared and educated; remaining there until ordained to
the Episcopal Ministry, he left to take charge of his first
work in Norfolk, Va. Mr. Bragg was educated, first, in the
Episcopal Parochial School, then in the St. Stephen's Normal
School, and in the Bishop Payne Divinity School, all of
Petersburg, Va. His education, however, was supplemented by
private tuition by a master in languages, under whom he
studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew and philosophy. In 1881 he was
appointed a page in the Virginia Legislature, and a little
later, by the Speaker, promoted as the postmaster of that
body. In 1882, though not of age, he founded and edited the
"Virginia Lancet," the first Colored weekly published in the
"Black Belt" of Virginia. This newspaper he conducted for
some four or five years, and on January 12, 1887, in St.
Stephen's Church, Petersburg, Va., he was ordained Deacon by
Bishop Whittle of Virginia. He immediately left for Norfolk,
Va., where he began his ministry at the head of the little
Episcopal Mission of that city. He remained in Norfolk for
nearly five years, and during that time formally organized
Grace Church, secured the lot, built a new church and
rectory and improved the old school building. A very large
day Industrial School was carried on by Mr. Bragg in
connection with his work. While here, in June, 1887,
Governor Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia, appointed him one of the
State's Trustees of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural
Institute, where he served for four years, resigning only
because of leaving the State.

In December, 1888, he was advanced to the priesthood by
Bishop Whittle in St. Luke's Church, Norfolk, Va. In the
Fall of 1891 he accepted an invitation to become the Rector
of St. James' Church, Baltimore, Md. The church, although
one of the oldest of the connection, had been very much run
down. During a ministry there of ten years, he has wrought
remarkable improvement. He has increased the communicant
list from sixty-three to nearly two hundred, and advanced
the church well-nigh to complete self-support. The old
church, which was in a Jewish neighborhood, has been sold
during the present year, and a handsome brick structure
erected in another section of the city. Mr. Bragg, during
his residence in Baltimore, has founded a splendid
charitable institution, the Maryland Home for Friendless
Colored Children, and two young men have been sent into the
ministry of the church directly through his efforts. For
many years the Rev. Mr. Bragg was Secretary of the Annual
Conference of Episcopal Church Workers among the Colored
people. And in addition to his many other arduous labors he
has found time to edit the "Afro-American Ledger," a weekly
of this city, the "Church Advocate," and the "Maryland
Home," monthly publications.

Mr. Bragg is a well known figure in all public movements for
race amelioration, and is a veteran newspaper man, having
been Secretary of the National Press Convention for four
years, beginning with the presidency of the late Rev. Dr. W.
J. Simmons.

At first the asking of this question is a most natural one, seeing that the great body of Negroes are attached to either one of the above churches, and it would seem at a first glance that these religious organizations are pre-eminently suited to the Negro race. But, we hope to show that not only are other churches adapted to the "present Negro," but one of these other churches meets the Negro's need better than either one of those above mentioned. Of course it is hardly necessary for me to state that our showing is conceived in the very best spirit, and with the fullness of Christian love towards our Baptist and Methodist brethren. Did I not believe that the church of which I am a member is best suited for the Negro, I would at once renounce attachment thereto and embrace most lovingly the one which I thought more efficiently equipped to minister to the complexed and diversified needs of my race. On account of a multitude of reasons, not necessary to state here, Negroes naturally drifted into that form of Christianity presented by the Baptist and Methodist churches. With the innate feeling and strong tendency to warmth, fervor, animation and excitement, it is not at all surprising that people so strongly emotional should gravitate in that direction. Whatever may be my own criticisms with respect to the defects in these two systems, which render them inferior to the church of which I am a member, and therefore less suitable to the needs of the race, I much prefer stating my side of the question and leaving my readers free to draw their own conclusions. That portion of the Universal Church, known in this country as the Episcopal Church, to my mind, is better suited and equipped for the amelioration of the condition of the Negro than any other.

The Negro is specially fond of "regularity" in religious as well as political affairs. In this respect the Episcopal Church comes to him not as something new but as the living exponent of the old-time religion and the old church which has actually descended to him, through all the ages past from the very hands of Christ down to this present time. It has historic continuity and claims none less than the Blessed Master as its founder. She is not founded upon the Bible, for she gave to the world this blessed book. Her sons inspired of God wrote it. And the claim of historic continuity can be established and proven in the ordinary way that we attest other historical facts. The church, then, that Jesus Christ founded and concerning which He said the "Gates of hell should not prevail against it," must of necessity be "adapted to the present Negro."

The Negro needs the faith once delivered to the saints, not in shreds or left to pick it out for himself, but the whole faith. This the Episcopal Church offers him. A complete faith, naturally, is to be found in a comprehensive church. The Episcopal Church is most comprehensive. She believes more in turning in than in turning out. Men are not brought into the fold to be "turned out" for every little thing, but they are brought in to be built up, established and rooted and grounded in Him. The church, then, is adapted to the present Negro because she gives him not opinions and theories, but the living faith of the ages and a living Christ as potential to-day as when He trod this earth clothed in flesh. And this church is most comprehensive, taking in all sorts and conditions of men, and by grace dispensed through sacraments, ordained by Christ Himself, seeks to bring to the fullness of stature as realized in Jesus Christ.