Transcriber’s Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

KELLY MILLER, A. M., LL. D.
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington D. C.

PROGRESS AND
ACHIEVEMENTS
OF
THE COLORED PEOPLE
CONTAINING THE STORY OF THE WONDERFUL ADVANCEMENT OF THE COLORED AMERICANS—THE MOST MARVELOUS IN THE HISTORY OF NATIONS—THEIR PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS, TOGETHER WITH THEIR PRESENT-DAY OPPORTUNITIES AND A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS—THE DAWN OF A TRIUMPHANT ERA. :: :: :: :: ::
A HANDBOOK FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT WHICH LEADS TO GREATER SUCCESS

KELLY MILLER

AND

JOSEPH R. GAY

ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 100 PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES, ACTUAL SCENES IN REAL LIFE AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

AUSTIN JENKINS CO.

Manufacturing Publishers of Subscription Books

Agents Wanted Washington, D. C.

Copyright MCMXIII

BY JOSEPH R. GAY

Copyright 1917

by AUSTIN N. JENKINS

The Story of a Rising Race Told in Pictures

PHOTOGRAPHED FROM LIFE

CAPABLE OFFICE STAFF
Bookkeeping Department, National Benefit Association, Washington, D. C.

ENTERPRISING BUSINESS MEN
The Executive Committee of the “National Negro Business League.” The purpose of this league is to bring the business men together for mutual cooperation and trade advancement.

MONOTYPE OPERATORS
Modern typesetting machines. A. M. Sunday School Publishing House. Nashville, Tenn.

MEN OF FINANCE—BANKERS
Members of The National Bankers’ Association. The men who control trust funds and provide means for business and agricultural expansion.

PRIVATE LIBRARY OF A PROSPEROUS HOME
Refinement and culture is here shown in the home of Chas. Banks, Mound Bayou, Miss.

SUCCESSFUL IN LAW PRACTICE
A prominent lawyer presenting his case to Judge R. H. Terrell, who is a colored Judge of a Municipal Court in Washington, D. C.

STENOGRAPHY IN A WELL EQUIPPED OFFICE
The type-written letter in business correspondence is almost a necessity, hence the great demand for intelligent and experienced stenographers.

BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENT
Vandehorst’s Shoe Store, Jacksonville, Fla. Evidence of the opportunity for success in the shoe business.

THE REWARD OF THRIFT AND ENERGY
The palatial residence of J. F. Herndon, a prosperous Colored citizen of Atlanta, Ga.

AN ELEGANT AND WELL-APPOINTED LIBRARY
An interior view in the home of a noted physician, Doctor George Cabaniss, Washington, D. C.

LUXURY AND COMFORT
An elegantly appointed Barber Shop owned and patronized exclusively by Colored citizens. Birmingham, Alabama.

AN UP-TO-DATE STORE
An example of Mercantile Success, showing possibility and prosperity. Owned and operated by A. H. Underdown, Washington, D. C.

COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY
One of the largest Fish Markets in the South. Jacksonville, Fla.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OVERGROUND RAILROAD
Here are lined up in their uniforms some of the brightest Parlor Car porters of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.

THE COLORED MAN AS A PIONEER
The first house in Chicago was erected by a Negro.

FOREWORD.

“The progressive era” aims to set forth the marvelous achievements of the Negro race in the United States since its emancipation fifty years ago. Its plan is to cover the period of achievements by a series of chapters devoted to the several lines of endeavor. I want especially to commend the chapter on the Education of the Negro. Education furnishes the standard in terms of which the past progress of the race may be measured and its future progress gauged. Of the many elements which must enter into the final solution of the race problem none will be so important as that of education, whose purpose is to fit the Negro for a useful and honorable place in the complex schemes of American life.

This chapter brings together for easy reference information concerning the working of Negro institutions in better form and in fuller detail than has before been attempted in a private publication. Figures are taken from the reports of the Bureau of Education, and their accuracy is vouched for by the authority of the government. Each institution listed was visited by a special agent of the Bureau of Education and its work thoroughly examined and analyzed by educational experts. Over three hundred institutions are described, with the account of the equipment, facilities and course of instruction. There are over sixty photographs containing the fullest pictorial illustrations of Negro schools that has ever been made available in book form. This chapter involves, at once, the feature of a treatise and an encyclopedia, while gaining the general view of the education of the Negro as well. The reader may at the same time gain definite information about any particular school in any part of the country.

No one who wishes to keep abreast of the trend of educational movement of the Negro race, as well as to have at his elbow a compendium of Negro institutions, can afford to be without this work.

KELLY MILLER.

Howard University, Washington, D. C.

March 12, 1917.

CONTENTS.
Progress and Achievements of the Colored People

NINTH STREET BRANCH Y. M. C. A., CINCINNATI, O.

THE COMING MEN OF THE RACE
Our Young Men Will Be Our Future Leaders

Who are to be our leaders this coming generation?

We have had brilliant and faithful leaders in the past, men who labored under adverse circumstances, but who succeeded in reducing opposition, and brought the race up to a higher standard. They were the pioneers in a great national movement. Their names are honored and will be honored as long as the race exists.

Their preliminary great work done, they passed away leaving its continuation in the hands of other noble men and women, who are still among us.

Remember, we are now in the second generation of uplift, and the mantle of the leaders of the first generation of freedom, passed to those of the second generation, has been spread over a vastly wider field, and shows room for still wider extension.

The history of man shows that in all great human movements for betterment, there have been pioneers who commenced the work, and carried it to a higher point. Then came a succeeding line of leaders who took up the work and carried it higher still.

Neither the pioneers of the Colored people of the United States, nor their successors, the present leaders, could do all or can do all that is to be done in the way of elevation or betterment, because it has grown to enormous proportions.

For this reason we must look about us and see who are to be the future leaders of the Colored Americans.

We now have able leaders, men of great character and ability, men whose loss would be keenly felt, but they know, and we know, that in the course of nature all must pass away, and we have it from their earnest utterances that their great hope is to have successors in the leadership. Many of them are ready to train others to walk in their footsteps. There are thousands of men, children in our schools, youth beginning college life, and young men who have completed their course and are ready to take up a position as commanders in the battle of life.

Here are a few of our present leaders, between whom no invidious comparisons can be made, and to whose number may be added a thousand or more working in more or less conspicuous positions to fit their people to become leaders. They are shining examples of success and merely mentioned to show your own opportunities.

Look at and study this list earnestly, it concerns you:

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS

Rev. S. G. Atkins, President of the State Normal and Industrial College of North Carolina.

Dr. E. F. Boyd, physician and surgeon, Nashville, Tenn.

Hon. H. P. Cheatham, Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia.

Dr. D. W. Culp, A. M., M. D., author of “Twentieth Century Negro Literature.”

W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, editor “The Crisis, A Record of the Darker Races.”

Bishop G. W. Clinton, A. M. E. Zion Church, Charlotte, N. C.

Prof. J. M. Cox, President Philander Smith College, Little Rock.

E. E. Cooper, Editor “Colored American.”

Prof. A. U. Frierson, Professor of Greek, Biddle University.

Prof. N. W. Harllee, Principal High School, Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Lawrence Aldridge Lewis is a rising physician of Indiana, who made the highest record in a competitive examination for the city hospital of Indianapolis against 107 applicants.

Prof. R. S. Lovinggood, President Samuel Houston College, Austin, Texas.

Kelly Miller, Professor Mathematics Howard University.

D. W. Onley, D. D., Dentist, Washington, D. C.

I. L. Purcell, Attorney and Counselor at Law, Pensacola, Fla.

G. T. Robinson, Attorney and Counselor at Law, Nashville, Tenn.

Bishop H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., A. M. E. Church, Atlanta, Ga.

Rev. O. M. Waller, Rector Episcopal Church, Washington, D. C.

Prof. H. L. Walker, Principal High School, Augusta, Ga.

Prof. Booker T. Washington, President Tuskegee Institute.

Prof. N. B. Young, President Florida State Normal and Industrial College.

The foregoing are a few leaders in the professions. There are numerous others whose names and deeds have already made history and fame.

The present field of leaders in the professions is large, but there are other fields of leadership in the business world. These men are successful and point the way to others to follow, and they must lay down their leadership with the others:

Charles Banks, Cashier Bank of Mound Bayou, Mound Bayou, Miss.

E. C. Berry, hotel man, Athens, Ohio. Said to keep one of the best hotels in the United States.

Rev. R. H. Boyd, President National Doll Company; also of the National Baptist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn.

William Washington Brown, Founder of the True Reformers’ Bank, Richmond, Va.

Junius G. Groves, “The Potato King.” Edwardsville, Ky.

Deal Jackson, Albany, Georgia, the great cotton king.

John Merrick, founder of the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association, the strongest Negro insurance company in the world; North Carolina.

W. E. Pettiford, founder of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, Birmingham, Alabama.

The following condition of the Colored American opportunities will be of assistance in suggesting fields of leadership:

The number of colored men now engaged in business and professions are as follows:

This is close to 25 percent of the entire colored population of the United States.

But this enormous field of opportunity, is not the limit. You have aspirations toward music and the fine arts—singers, painters, sculptors, actors and poets. Here are a few leaders to be followed by you or your children, relatives or friends:

MUSIC COMPOSERS AND PIANISTS

Harry T. Burleigh, New York, composer of “Jean,” “Perhaps.”

Robert Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson, New York, musical setting to Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” “Idyll for Orchestra,” “Dream Lovers,” (operetta).

William H. Tyers, composer of “Trocha,” a Cuban dance and other noted compositions.

Will Marion Cook, New York, “The Casino Girl,” “Bandana Land,” etc.

De Koven Thompson, Chicago, composer of “Dear Lord, Remember Me,” “If I Forget,” etc.

James Reese Europe, founder of the Clef Club Symphony Orchestra.

Among pianists is Miss Hazel Harrison, of La Porte, Indiana, who is making her mark as a student of the piano under the celebrated greatest living pianist, Ferrucco Buconi, of Berlin.

These and other leaders in their art succeeded many illustrious composers. And you are called upon to prepare to follow the present leaders.

VOCAL ARTISTS AND PRIMA DONNAS

Remember the Black Swan, that wonderful prima donna whose voice had a range of three octaves and was frequently compared with Jenny Lind at the height of her fame.

Madam Marie Selika, of Chicago, achieved enormous success in Europe, a marvelous singer whose voice “trilled like a feathered songster,” and whose “Echo Song” has not yet been surpassed.

You have heard the “Black Patti” (Madame Sisseretta Jones) who was a success in Europe, and has her own company of which she is the head, “The Black Patti Troubadours.”

There is Mrs. E. Azalia Hackley, of Detroit. This lady has been a prominent singer for years. She studied in Europe, and is the author of “Guide to Voice Culture.”

PAINTERS

William Edward Scott, of Chicago, should be noted for his extraordinary works in America and Europe. Born in Indianapolis in 1884, he graduated from the high school in 1903. From 1904, when he entered the Chicago Art Institute, until the present time, he has been prolific in paintings, three of which were accepted at the Salon des Beaux Arts at Toquet, and others elsewhere. His work may be seen in three mural paintings which decorate the Felsenthal School in Chicago.

This field is rich in artists of the colored people:

E. M. Bannister, the first Negro in America to achieve distinction as a painter. One of his pictures was awarded a medal at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 (Philadelphia).

Henry O. Tanner, the son of Benjamin T. Tanner, Bishop of the A. M. E. Church, is one of the most distinguished artists of the present day. He resides in Paris but is a native born American. During the past three years his paintings have been on exhibition in the leading art galleries of the United States.

A rising young artist is to be found in Richard Lonsdale Brown, a native of Indiana, but who spent many years of his life among the hills of West Virginia. Not yet twenty years of age, he is on the road to fame and has received the encomiums of artists as a young artist of rare qualities with the precious gift of vision which indicates artistic instinct.

SCULPTORS

The two great sculptors of the colored people are women:

Edmonia Lewis, of New York, now a resident of Rome, where she turns out noted sculptures sought for in the great art galleries of the world.

Meta Vaux Warrick (Mrs. Fuller, wife of Dr. Solomon C. Fuller of South Framingham, Mass.). She first attracted attention by her exquisite modeling in clay in the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art. Rodin, the great French sculptor, took her under his charge, and her work is the admiration of the art galleries of the world.

Mrs. Mary Howard Jackson may also be mentioned as a rising sculptress.

ACTORS AND POETS

Ira Frederick Aldridge, of Baltimore, was a pupil of the great artist Edmund Kean. Aldridge appeared as Othello and other characters, and received a decoration from the Emperor of Russia.

Phillis Wheatley, the first woman white or black to attain literary distinction in this country. While a child she began to write verses, and received the endorsement of the most distinguished men of her time, including General Washington.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, a noted poet born in Dayton, Ohio. He showed poetic ability while at school, and soon became known as a writer of ability.

All the foregoing actors and poets have passed away, but there are many treading and to tread in their footsteps. Success and fame must come to them by utilizing their gifts to the best advantage.

We give you merely the edge of the field to be filled by you or some one you know and hope to see attain it. It is a thickly sown field, and if you cultivate it, you will be rewarded with an astonishing harvest.

INVENTORS

The evidence is accumulating every day that the Colored citizen, under favorable environments, has performed his whole duty in the work of benefiting mankind, whether in arduous labor or advancing the world by his thought.

The records of the United States Patent office show more than four hundred inventors and inventions among the Colored people. Many of these inventions are of the highest value and utility. These inventions are for devices of every conceivable use, from a rapid fire gun, invented by Eugene Burkins, a young colored man of Chicago, down to a pencil sharpener in common use today. In the line of humanity, life saving guards for locomotives and street cars have been invented. All of this goes to show the trend of the Colored man’s mind, and what he can do by thinking and the proper use of his brain.

As an inventor Mr. James Marshall, of Macon, Georgia, has attracted national notice through his novel flying machine which he has had patented. Mr. Marshall has introduced what is called a “Circumplanoscope,” which renders the flying machine non-capsizable, and which will enable it to stand still in the air.

R. W. Overton, a sixteen-year-old student of the Stuyvesant High School, within the past year won the long distance record for model aeroplanes against more than twenty competitors from all the high schools of Greater New York and vicinity.

It was said that the pioneer leaders of our Colored Americans struggled up and carried their people up with them. The questions presented them, the problems they were called upon to solve were new and the lights given them to solve them was somewhat dim. They worked for betterment by this dim light, but the light grew stronger as they advanced, and when they came to lay down the lamp of leadership, it was taken up by their successors burning brightly, and with added wisdom to carry on the great work.

Who can tell then, the names of the leaders to succeed them? They were in process of training, however, just as there are other leaders being trained or growing up to follow in the footsteps of the present leaders. They appeared and have expended and are expending their labors in elevating their fellow citizens, but they will eventually be obliged to lay down their mantle of leadership for others to take up. This means that in the present Colored Americans there are those destined, or who will make themselves fit to become great leaders in every department of uplift.

Conditions have improved during the past generation, and the new generation looks upon an enlarged field, with more varied prospects, greater development, and opportunities that did not exist before, and which have naturally sprung from the gradual progress of the race.

GREAT DEMAND FOR WISE LEADERS

There is a greater demand for a skilled and wise leader now than ever before, and in preparing for that leadership, let each man of the race look to himself as a possible aspirant and successor to the present leaders. The very thought of such a possibility, based upon the necessity for such leadership, is an inspiration, an incentive to action, and a motive to take advantage of the opportunities. The path has been cleared and you can not lose your course.

Let us revert to the question: “Who are the coming men?” Who will take the places of the men now leading the race, when they have done their work, fulfilled their mission loaded with honors and fame? They can not go on forever, for they are human and must yield to the inevitable.

Perhaps you are one of the possible leaders to reach honor and fame. Why not? Many a man living in apparent obscurity has suddenly come forth out of his retirement at the call of demand following opportunity. This is life and the natural progress of the world. You are living under auspicious circumstances, surrounded by events that must cause you to think, and know just what is required to advance along the lines of human betterment.

Every man thinks he knows just what he would do under certain circumstances if he had the opportunity, and that he has the power to do it. Very well, here are the opportunities, and if you develop your natural ability and capacity and take hold with a firm hand, you will attain the power. It is characteristic among all men, an attribute of modern affairs, that to obtain anything an effort must be made to get it. Everybody knows this by experience. It has been the experience of all men, and of all nations. A man must reach out and take what is before him within his reach. A wise man never attempts to try to take what is beyond his reach. Children do that, but a modern man is no child. There is an old maxim which says: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Wherefore, take the bird in hand and hold on to it, and you will get the two in the bush by and by.

FUTURE LEADERS NOW UNKNOWN YOUTH

Even now in some humble home, there is a youth, a mere child with possibilities unknown to him or to you, who may develop into a leader. Many great men have sprung from such sources, and made the world ring with their exploits. What has been done can be and will be done again. It is not fate, nor is it perhaps destiny as some may think, it is opportunity.

Do you suppose that the poor child who looks on at the amazing things of life, the things going on around him, does not think about them and feel ambitious to be or do something that will make as good a showing?

It may be that he plods back and forth after his morning chores, to some little elementary school with his few books under his arm, and which he has pored over the night before or in the early morning. He knows that he is learning, and his small ambition leads him to learn more. His interest is aroused and he represents the seed, the foundation of a leader or of some of our leaders who will make their mark, an advanced man to take the place of some who will soon pass away.

He may have left the plow and the little elementary school to go to college; there are opportunities for this, and when he gets to this college, his mind expands, and he becomes fertile in resources to embrace opportunities before him. The more he learns, the more rapidly does his mind quicken, and the more his mind quickens the more he advances along the goal.

PERHAPS YOUR BOY WILL LEAD THE RACE

He is your boy, perhaps, your son for whom you have the highest ambitions, and your bosom swells with pride at the thought that he is your boy, and that you have opened the door to opportunity for him.

Some young man just out of college, just out of the refining process, is on the high road to position and honor, and is already making a name for himself, may become the leader or some leader along the many fields open to him.

Can you say that it will not be yourself? Who knows that it may not be you, your brother, nephew, cousin, or some valued friend? Give yourself the benefit of the doubt if there be any doubt, and there need not be, and take hold of the intellectual plow, and till the field of opportunity. It is waiting for you and for yours.

Do not throw straws in your own and in the way of those you know and to whom you may be related by the ties of blood or friendship. Why not put them and yourself in the way of opportunities? Give yourself and them a chance to prepare for opportunity, every one possesses the chance, and he must prepare for it, it is in the future, perhaps it is waiting now, are you ready for it? Do you think you will be ready when it calls? If not get ready by keeping your ear close to the ground and watch for the signal. Keep in touch with the people, their needs, necessities and demands; observe the signs of the times and study the shaping of events.

These are progressive times, and age of hustle, and the man who stands out in front will win the race, for he has the advantage of place and position, also readiness to start at the first sound of the signal.

THE CHURCH OFFERS HIGH INDUCEMENTS

The Church offers the highest inducements to a life of usefulness and honor. It is guided by men of distinguished ability and humanity. The Bishops and clergy of the various denominations have taken advantage of the new lights of the twentieth century, and are striving to bring their fellow men of the same race, up to the highest standard of right living.

The heights they have attained must be maintained like a protective rampart in a great battle. Their successors are the ones to continue the work of defence, and advance the lines still farther into the country of the enemy of humanity and morality.

The army and navy have had their share of brave Colored men, and has opened its ranks to more of them who are distinguishing themselves and ennobling their race. In the school of army and navy discipline, the Colored man has proven himself to be a man in every sense of the word. Faithful and true to his duty, he honors and loves the country under whose flag he is ready to draw his sword, and lay down his life.

YOUR CHILDREN MAY BECOME DISTINGUISHED

You or your children may be the fortunate ones to be offered an opportunity to become distinguished for bravery and generalship, for the way has been prepared and those now striving to uphold peace will have successors. Remember this point, that the longer the test and the greater the perseverance, the more and the higher facilities will be given you to reach the leadership.

It must be plain from the mere birdseye view that has been given that many leaders will be needed in the near future. Indeed, some of our present leaders as they grow older will lay down their armor, and others must be ready to take it up and wear it.

The filling of the ranks is almost imperceptible because it is so gradual, but it goes on continually, and the time to prepare for stepping into a vacancy is now. There is always a leader, and the coming men, it is plain, are those who make themselves ready, and prepare for immediate and future emergencies.

Have no fear that there will be no place for the lowly boy in the humble home; the lad with his school books plodding his way to the elementary school; the youth at college, or the newly made graduate. The wheels of life are not going to stop, they are ever turning, and there is a vast upward tendency which comes with every succeeding generation, the last an improvement upon its predecessor, and the next one a still greater improvement. So will go the world until the last whisper of time shall beat against the gates of eternity.

THE TURNING POINT
The Progress of the Colored American; His Chance in the Business World

There are three points upon which every colored citizen may base his chances for success in the business world:

First—From their inability to engage in any business whatever a generation and a half ago, the Colored race now numbers about five hundred thousand members engaged in trade, transportation, manufacturing and mechanical pursuits.

Second—The Colored race having increased from about four millions of people a generation and a half ago, to nearly ten millions of people in 1913, the commercial field has vastly widened for exploitation.

Third—Under the now accepted doctrine announced by Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst of New York City, the field is still farther enlarged and bids fair to become unlimited.

The exact bearing of this increase in the population upon business chances lies in the increased consumption, greater demand and advanced civilization—that is a greater variety of objects are necessary to comfort or pleasure. This makes more customers, and all things being equal, perhaps they should be a trifle better, it is quite on the cards to believe that the Colored American will get his increased share of the trade of his fellow Colored Americans. If he does not, then he is probably in fault through inferior goods, poor service and lack of prompt delivery. The business is in his hands at any rate and the opportunity is at his call.

The first proposition is to the effect that business chances are now at high tide, where a few years ago there were no chances of any sort. We are speaking of the subject of business chances exclusively, but may venture to add such employments as miners, masons, dress makers, pavers, iron and steel workers, stationary engineers, engine stokers, etc. In these latter occupations there are more than one hundred thousand Colored Americans employed, a gain of over 85 per cent in ten years, or rather since 1890. The other trades have fallen off somewhat owing to the introduction of machinery.

To limit this question to commercial pursuits, it may be well to state that economic progress has reached a high water mark among Colored Americans. There are one hundred twenty-five and more Colored business men’s local Leagues in about every State in the Union, with eleven State Colored men’s business leagues in the Southern States.

These leagues are composed of bankers, merchants, and dealers generally in goods, wares and merchandise—dry goods and groceries, hardware, etc., and are all at the top notch.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

It is evident from the signs of the times, the business situation, our interstate commerce laws, and the domination of the trusts and combines by the Federal government, that there will soon come a great change in our business methods, and practices.

We are expecting that competition will be restored to the place it occupied before men were forced out of business by overpowering interests and vast aggregations of capital. It will certainly happen in the near future that any man will be able to open a modest store, or engage in a quiet and reasonable business without being driven into bankruptcy and poverty.

Our Colored Americans are not men of large capital, nor can they control large amounts of capital, consequently they have been unable to make any headway against great combinations, but here is an opportunity and if you wish to grasp it make ready. Prepare for this turning point, for it will be the turning point in the fortunes of many of our people who never had such a chance before, and will not again if they permit others with more sand and hustle to jump in and take up every valuable claim and chance.

THE PROGRESSIVE COLORED AMERICAN EARNS RESPECT FOR HIS RACE
What Other Races are Doing to Rise—Persistence and Determination Will Win

In a country like the United States where there are so many different peoples gathered together, it is difficult for all of them to live in perfect harmony.

In view of what is said in other parts of this book, it must come that all men will be united as one nation, with one set of rules and laws applicable to all alike and without discrimination against any branch of the human family, and without regard to his color.

There are not so many prejudices against races as was formerly the custom, or rather habit, and the signs of the times are that prejudice and opposition are diminishing every day.

Colored citizens have had to fight against all kinds of prejudice and even submit to humiliations that ought to rouse their manhood and compel them to inquire when or whether it will ever end. Every Colored American who reads this book may feel assured that the end is in sight, and that his children will witness a great diminution in the slights put upon his race and color. It will be effected by personal influence based upon education and high standards of living.

Not so very long ago, the Jew was about as humiliated a race of men as exist in the world. Driven out of public places because they were Jews; unable to do business with others on account of their race, they were made a byword and a laughing stock in every occupation of life, and held up to the world on the theater stage as objects of derision and caricature.

The Jew was a “Sheeney,” a “Shylock,” an “Ol’ clo’ man,” a “Christ killer,” and given other choice epithets to bring him into disrespect and excite prejudice, even abhorrence.

All these epithets and others equally as cruel and vulgar, were applied to the whole race of Jews, and it did not make any difference whether he was an honest Jew, or one of education, and of high repute, he was still a “sheeney.”

But a change has taken place and the Jew is no longer a “Sheeney,” unless he merits the epithet, but stands as a man among the other men and is entitled to and gains their respect. Jews, as a race, are no longer “Sheeneys,” or “Shylocks,” only those individuals of the race that are in bad repute among their own people are such. Hence we perceive that prejudice against the Jew as a race is diminishing.

THE FLANNEL MOUTHED IRISHMAN

Not very long ago, an Irishman was considered a “Paddy,” and to call a man “Irish” was to provoke a fight in which blood was spilled. To call an Irishman a “Flannel mouth” meant a broken head to the speaker. It was a term of reproach. The Irishman also was caricatured on the theatrical stage and held up to derision. “O, he is only an Irishman,” was an explanation for every outburst of disorder.

We find that these opprobrious epithets are now limited to certain Irishmen, and not to the entire nation or race of Irish. To call an Irishman a “Mick” does not hurt his feelings as it once did, because he knows it does not apply to him as a member of the Irish race.

The Italian “Dago,” and the Chinese “Chink,” were epithets applied to the entire nation or race of Italians or Chinese. But a change has come over the situation. There are Italians who are not “Dagos,” Chinese who are not “Chinks.”

Epithets cruel and vulgar have been and still are applied to Colored men, and we often hear our Colored Americans styled “Niggers.” Of course this is slang for Negro, and although the word “Negro,” means a high type of Ethiopian, nevertheless it hurts the Colored American. Why should it hurt his feelings?

BECAUSE HE ALWAYS APPLIES THE VULGAR EPITHET TO HIS RACE

That is what the Jew used to do when he was called a “Sheeney,” and it hurt the whole Irish race of people to call one of their number a “Flannel mouth.” The Italian did not like to be called a “Dago,” and he always felt for his dagger intending to kill for this insult to his whole people. So too, the Chinaman does not mind being called a “Chink,” because he now understands that the opprobrious word does not mean the whole race of Chinamen.

When one white man calls another a “liar,” a “scoundrel,” a “thief,” a “briber,” or other vulgar epithet, the whole white race of Americans do not rush to arms to wipe out the insult to the nation, because such epithets have nothing but a personal application, and the white man, who is none of the things covered by the vulgar word, merely laughs.

Let us extend the idea to religion:

If a wayward boy or man casts a rock through a church window, he is charged with sacrilege and an enemy of religion. If a man even on provocation slaps the face of a clergyman, he is also a desecrator of religion, and an enemy of God. This is ridiculous, and we begin to see how ridiculous it is to attach to an entire system a mere petty detail of local or personal insult. Religion can not be harmed by breaking a church window, nor is the majesty of God insulted by an assault upon a clergyman. If that does happen, then it is mighty poor religion that can not stand so small a thing.

Applying the idea to racial epithets:

You do not offend a Jew now, by speaking of “Sheenies,” because he knows that there are Jews who are Sheenies, that is, disreputable Jews, and he is as anxious to get rid of them as you are.

When you mention “Dagoes” to an Italian, he shrugs his shoulders as much as to say: “O, yes, there are Dagoes just the same as there are grafting Yankees.” The Yankee to whom this is said does not get angry because he knows that the Italian does not mean the Yankee nation.

It is the same with the Irishman and the Chinese. They laugh at the application of vulgar terms to members of their race that deserve the appellation—they do not take it to mean the whole race.

There is a reason for this diminution of racial prejudice against the other races. That reason lies in the fact that education has put the races upon the same plane of intelligence and good citizenship. When it comes to caricaturing their race in order to create prejudice or excite animosities against the whole, they protest and their protests are heard because they are founded upon reason and common sense, as well as business sagacity.

The movement among the Jews and Irish to stop the caricaturing of their race upon the theatrical stage is bearing fruit and is doing much toward eliminating race prejudice.

All the Jewish organizations have combined to prevent caricatures of the Jewish traits of character which are notoriously bad, in theaters of all grades and to punish their representation. It is a business proposition mainly, but it is effective. “You make fun of the bad traits of my people,” intimates the Jew, “and I will not trade with you.”

Likewise the Irish organizations are unanimous in their movement to prevent and punish caricatures of the bad traits of the Irish people. Says the Irishman, “You keep the Flannel mouth off the stage, or off goes your head at the next election.” This is the loss of political influence mainly.

So with the other nationalities: “You let us alone in your caricatures, or we will not trade with you, work for you, or vote for you.”

The consequence is, that high-minded people, or those who have an eye to profits and success in their business ventures, find that there is less to be gained from encouraging the immature, or half educated, the bigoted, and the ignorant whose race prejudices are based on mere personal dislike or neighborhood animosity, gossip, or lies repeated until they are regarded as gospel truth, than in the business of the educated and cultured classes, or those who believe in equality of opportunity.

The people who cater to the public are discovering that honey catches more flies than vinegar and gall.

Comic and even sharply satiric portrayals of Jewish, Irish, or even Negro foibles are appreciated by these races themselves, just as Americans of other race strains are amused by caricatures of themselves. But there are limits beyond which race enmities and prejudices are fostered, and those limits are to be respected, and will be respected when the race affected establishes a high standard.

This can only be done by education and self-respect. The body of men or the race that does not respect themselves, can not expect to command the respect of others.

There are drones in every hive, and they live on the work of the busy members of the hive. If you know anything about bees, you must know that these drones are killed off and thrown out as useless members of the bee colony.

Among men, if a man refuses to work when able, and nothing but laziness is his trouble, he is quickly thrown out and becomes a “tramp,” and when a man becomes a tramp, why then, an ignominious life and an ignominious death are his portions.

The Colored Americans have it within their power to rise above any race prejudice just as the Jews and other races are doing. They made a bitter fight, and finding that the Constitution, while giving them political rights, could not give them the respect of other fellow citizens, they, turned to education, business, employment and embraced every opportunity to get on top in progressive influences and they succeeded. They made themselves kings of finance and are deeply concerned in scientific investigations, appropriating large sums of money to the cause of education.

The Irish stand in the front as builders and workers, and none can point his finger at any particular successful Irishman and call him a “Flannel mouth” in derision. “Paddy” can refuse to eat meat on Friday, or eat it as he wishes without calling forth any vulgar remarks—he is respected as a race worth respecting.

So with the Italian, he is a worker and a fruit and produce caterer. He is no longer a mere member of the “Dago” race, he is a respectable member of the community. He does something.

The once despised “Chink” has arisen out of ages of superstition into an enlightened member of a great republic. He is no longer a “washee-washee,” but a man. He has cut off his pigtail and put on civilized clothing. At a banquet or gathering, the chairman is proud to introduce to the audience “My friend Wun Lung, who started out as a laundryman in the Fifth Ward, and has risen up to the presidency of the great Ginseng Company.” The Chinese are doing things and none of them is sitting around waiting for something to turn up. They go after opportunities and seize the one nearest and hold on to it until another and better one comes along and then they grasp that.

We are all living in the present laying up treasures or preparing for the future, and the Colored American stands in the same category as every other race. The petty details incident to human nature of every kind, go away with the present into the past. Every footstep made in the mud yesterday is sunk out of sight on the morrow. What you are called today, is nothing tomorrow, if you hold your position in the world’s respect. Keep on doing something, and if the epithets of the vulgar offer obstacles in the way of your progress, then give battle as have the Jews, the Irish, the Italians, and the Chinese. You belong to a race entitled to respect if you yourself respect it.

INCREASE OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLORED AMERICANS
Trades, Business Occupations, and Professions Opening Up in Every Part of the United States—Four Hundred Millions of Acres of Fertile Land Waiting for the Tiller—Agricultural and Mechanical Facilities Multiply—Honor and Profit Within the Grasp of Every Colored American

Nearly every occupation known to the world of endeavor, that is to say: the trades; arts and sciences; commerce; business; manufactures; skilled labor, and others, are now filled by Colored Americans with success and profit.

There are at least one hundred and fifty different occupations and professions utilized by Colored Americans, and not a single occupation can be mentioned or thought of that is not open to them.

One colored citizen in any business, occupation, or profession, means another one, and the field grows more extensive every year, with the advantages offered by institutions of learning, trade and mechanical schools and colleges, and every industry represented by an institution of learning.

The Colored American is to be found in the Army and Navy of the country, and the walks of life which are not menial are so various that one is almost tempted to disbelieve the evidence of the record.

There are 17 State Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges in the United States, and in all of them, the Colored American stands on a par with the other races, often at the head of his class.

Distributed through the various States, are one hundred and eighty-four special Normal and Industrial schools of the highest class, specially maintained for the benefit of the Colored Americans.

To these add 14 schools of law, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy, and it will be seen that the colored citizen has opportunities within easy reach.

If he does not want to fit himself for a high position, then the training in the public schools gives him an insight into business which makes him the equal of any other race in the struggle for existence.

We must put the Colored American upon the same basis, or foundation, as the other races, and in doing so, and giving him the same advantages, it is most astonishing to find that he is improving along the same line, and in the same ratio as the other races. That is, the Colored citizen is the intellectual equal of the other races, when given equal opportunities and advantages.

It must be admitted, to be strictly just, that without advantages of education or uplifting environment, the races are also equal in ignorance and prejudice. A perusal of any of our great daily newspapers easily demonstrates this as a truth.

TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR WOMEN

There are 36 institutions for the education of Colored women, and in addition, there are 63 Training schools for nurses conducted by Colored Americans.

It has been proved numberless times by actual experience, under the most trying circumstances, that our Colored women make the very tenderest of nurses. In these training schools, are to be found the most important factors in the improvement of the health of our Colored Americans. Indeed, their services are so valuable that they are not limited to their own race.

At the close of the Civil war only five per cent of our Colored Americans could read and write. In the year 1900, the number had increased to 55.5 per cent, and in 1910, the number reached 69.5 per cent. This is an astonishing increase in education, and it proves the reason why our Colored Americans are forging to the front in the arts and sciences, trade, commerce, and the professions. It is stupendous progress when we consider that scarcely two generations were required to bring about this uplift of an entire race. It takes the banner of racial improvement.

It appears that the manufacturing and mechanical pursuits are very attractive to our Colored Americans, the increase during the last ten years being about 40 per cent. If we may make the comparison, it is on record that 62 and ²⁄₁₀ per cent of all our Colored Americans are engaged in profitable occupations, whereas, there are forty-eight and six-tenths of the White Americans so engaged.

TRADE AND MANUFACTURING PURSUITS

The employment of Colored Americans in domestic and personal service is becoming less and less every year, under the influence of education, and is being changed into trade and transportation, mechanical and manufacturing pursuits. This means as plainly as anything, that our Colored Americans have found opportunities, and that they are taking advantage of them. And where there have been opportunities to permit such a transformation, there must be others equally as advantageous and numerous—that is a law of trade and of progress. One business or occupation successfully carried on always begets another.

THE JEW, THE IRISHMAN AND THE ITALIAN

In considering the various occupations, trades, etc., in which our Colored Americans are engaged, the locality must be taken into account. The colored man, like the Jew, the Irishman, and the Italian, meets with more prejudice in one than in another locality, and he must govern his occupation in a great measure by that prejudice, until he is strong enough to overcome it, and intelligent enough to find a way to overcome it.

There are many who hold that the Colored American in the South finds less opposition and prejudice against him in the trades and occupations than in the North. There is less also in the East than in the West, except that in the Middle West, or the northern portion of Mississippi Valley, where there is less prejudice against the employment of Colored Americans outside the large cities where the trades unions prevail and control. Owing to this diminution of prejudice in the Middle West, the number of Colored Americans in that part of the country is increasing, likewise improving.

In the South, it is said, the differences between the two races is not so much prejudice against employment, as a political idea that the Colored Americans are on the way to obliterate the color line.

Notwithstanding this opposition, the Colored American readily finds room for his labor where he would be impeded in the North and West from the opposition of the great labor unions, the great aim of which is material progress and not intellectual.

It is for the Colored American, therefore, to govern his choice of a business, trade, or profession by the locality in which he lives or purposes remaining during his natural life. In that selection, he is afforded advantages to rise to any limit of perfection and thus obtain profit from his talents and capacity.

THE SKILLED WORKMAN

The man who limits himself to become a skilled workman, or a successful tradesman anywhere, must drop his personal grievances, and not attempt to father the evils and troubles of the race upon himself.

Who cares about the downtrodden condition of Ireland? The Irishman who is constantly calling attention to the heel of the oppressor upon his neck, makes a poor workman and remains stationary in the lower level.

The Jew who talks about the sufferings of his race receives but little sympathy because he is referring to ancient history. So it is with the others and so it is with everybody who attempts to take upon his own shoulders the ills and burdens of the whole. In the first place, it is not his business, and in the second place, people around him are fighting their way up, while he is always looking down to see how far he must fall, and he gets dizzy and does fall.

It is an old but true saying applicable to Colored Americans as it is applied to everybody else: “Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.”

There is one subject of the greatest importance to Colored Americans, because the opportunities are enormous, but they will be lost in the course of time, and can never be regained.

That subject is the land question; the farm problem.

It is almost like sounding a tocsin to repeat what everybody is saying, every economist urging, and every civic reformer giving as the remedy for overcrowded cities, and a cure for vice and crime: “Back to the farm.”

In the “Wise man’s philosophy,” every Colored American is advised to become a land owner. Get an acre, two acres, ten acres, twenty acres, forty acres, and so on. Why? There are two good reasons why:

1. Every man must have a home of some kind unless he prefers to be a tramp or a beggar with his hand held out for pennies.

2. There is no possible uplift without being a producer of something, and land offers the easiest solution of the production problem.

FORTUNES TO BE MADE

The enormous markets of the country in our great cities, make such a heavy demand upon production, that the commonest vegetables and fruit are brought from great distances at a high cost of transportation. Within reach of every populous center, there is to be found vacant land that could be made productive with very little labor, and the result would be profitable, for the supply must keep up with the demand. But out in the vast territories of the Mississippi Valley, there are fortunes to be made in producing cereals, cotton, tobacco, live stock, butter, poultry, and fruit. There is an unlimited field, and every one who has ventured into it finds a large reward in a good bank account. A man cannot begin and then, when he gets tired, lie down in the furrow and expect nature to pull him out. It never has and it never will as many know to their cost.

It is estimated, that in the Mississippi Valley and its adjoining territory, outside of mountain tops and rivers and lakes, there are in the markets, four hundred million acres of land as fertile as the valley of the river Nile. It is beyond the reach of present railroad transportation and therefore it has been left untilled.

It matters little whether this enormous quantity of land exists or whether it is exaggerated by one-half, it is a fact that millions upon millions of acres of land are left untilled and can be had for small sums of money. There are lands in Texas as an illustration, which can be purchased for from one to four dollars an acre, with forty years to pay for it in. This is not only the case in Texas, but cheap land can be had even in the State of Illinois, or New York. In the great corn belt, the farmers raise corn only, and even buy and bring their butter, eggs and fresh vegetables from Chicago or St. Louis. Whoever heard of such a thriftless condition? It is true, corn pays, but there is such a thing as getting too much of one thing and not enough of another.

Investigation and inquiry shows that if a man should start a small vegetable garden anywhere, on rented land, and supply the corn barons with vegetables, eggs and butter, he would make a good profit and get a large trade.

The idea sought to be conveyed is, that by taking advantage of a demand where there is no supply, there is an opportunity to be seized without arguing about it. It is there.

The advent of the motor track, which runs into localities fifty or a hundred miles distant, carrying from five to ten tons of a load, and trailing as much more, offers an opportunity for several workers to club together and carry their products to market at small expense.

Our agricultural and mechanical colleges are turning their attention in that direction, and preparing to fill the field. But it is a large field and can not be fully occupied in a hundred years to come.

It is worth thinking about when a Colored American is in doubt what opportunity to seize.

The main object in every man’s life, if he has any manhood and intelligence, is to produce something. He may use his hands or he may use his brain, but the result is that something is produced, and whatever is produced possesses some value.

THE FIELD OF OPPORTUNITY

Ten per cent of our population is made up of Colored Americans. This number creates a demand that it would be profitable to supply, but when it is considered that the other ninety per cent, or ninety millions of people are constantly demanding something, and take everything that comes along, there is an everlasting field of opportunity into which every Colored American can fit in some capacity if he makes the slightest effort.

THE COLORED AMERICAN IN THE EMPLOY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
The Army, Navy, Government Services, and Legislatures—Opportunities to Colored Americans to Distinguish Themselves—Heroes and Patriots Furnished by the Race—The Advantage of Discipline in the Formation of Character—Avenues to Honor and Renown.

The Federal government is a large and generous employer of men of every nationality where brains and capacity are shown to exist. In fact, there is no country in the world where so many opportunities are offered to its people of every class.

Not only subordinate positions may be sought with perfect confidence of a raise in rank or grade, but the very highest positions are within reach. This pertains to our Colored Americans without distinction.

IN THE ARMY AND NAVY

In the Army and Navy, beginning with the revolutionary war, Colored Americans have taken an active part side by side with their other fellow citizens in removing the foreign shackles from the limbs of the nation.

The War of 1812 also brought out Colored Americans to drive the foreigner from our shores, and in both great wars the fighting ability and courage of Colored Americans have been amply tested, weighed in the balance, so to speak, and not found wanting.

The heroism displayed by thousands of Colored Americans in the great Civil War, not only convinced the world of the sincerity and patriotism of Colored Americans, but impressed the nation as well. The result of this devotion to country and its interests, opened the eyes of the government to an element of strength which it had recognized but had not fostered to any great extent.

It is different now, for the government takes from the ranks of Colored Americans its best and ablest men, satisfied from experience that whatever duties are imposed upon them will be ably and intelligently performed.

FORCE OF CHARACTER

Along this line, the struggle of Colored Americans to acquire by force of character and education, a high station and to fit themselves for any position of honor in the government, has met with success.

Not only in the army and navy, but in the halls of Congress, the Colored American has demonstrated his wisdom, sagacity, and statesmanship.

It is historical that the first martyr in the Boston massacre, a resistance to British tyranny, was the Negro, Crispus Attucks. In the War of Independence so many of the Colored Americans made themselves conspicuous in their fight for national independence, that they were recognized by Congress and the States as national defenders.

At the siege of Savannah, October 9, 1779, it was the Black Legion under Count D’Estaing that covered the retreat and repulsed the charge of the British, saving from annihilation the defeated American and French army.

In the War of 1812, the Colored American was conspicuous for his bravery. One-tenth of the crews of the fighting ships on the Great Lakes were Colored Americans. In the great picture of Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, may be seen a Colored American sailor.

Two battalions of five hundred Colored Americans distinguished themselves under General Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. In 1814, 2,000 Colored Americans enlisted for the war and were sent to the army at Sackett’s Harbor, where they performed deeds of valor.

RECORDS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT

During the great Civil War, 178,975 Colored Americans took up arms and fought side by side with the men of the North to maintain the nation. The records of the War Department at Washington show that the Negro troops were engaged in many of the bloodiest battles of the war, distinguished themselves more especially at Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, Milligan’s Bend, and Petersburg.

In the late war with Spain, in 1898, Colored American soldiers took a more conspicuous part than in any other war waged by the United States. In the famous battle of San Juan Hill, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry and Twenty-fourth Infantry rendered heroic service. Col. Roosevelt delights to tell of the part the Colored Americans took with his Rough Riders. It is even said, that without the aid of the Colored troops, the gallant Colonel would not have gone up the hill.

All this is evidence of physical prowess, patriotism and courage. History has been made, and now the country is ready for the results of a glorious history and as honorable a record as that exhibited by any race on earth. Out of it has come a regular demand of the government to make Colored Americans a part and parcel of its army and navy, and the ranks of many regiments of infantry, cavalry, and artillery are filled with heroes who have won their baptism of fire in the Philippines, and others who are ready and fired with zeal to earn their spurs in some well contested field of battle. They have but to ask, to be received.

Out of this also, has grown a confidence that has made the Colored American a man of energy, fired him with an interest in improvement, and a seeker after education. Out of his noble history has grown a spirit of emulation, that impels him to aspire to high position not only as deserved but because he is fitted to fill it.

With the twenty-five United States Senators and Congressmen who have done good service for the nation at large, and have been faithful to the traditions of their race, the record is augmented.

In the executive branch of the government, Colored Americans are conspicuous for their ability in highly responsible positions.

IN THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE

In the Treasury Department, the Attorney General’s Department, the Auditor of the Navy, Customs Department, Internal Revenue, Land Office, and others, there is no dearth of efficient Colored Americans performing onerous duties and engaged in unraveling intricate governmental details with as much ease and intelligence as if to the manner born.

In the diplomatic and consular service, the Colored American is fast making his way upward, many important posts being now filled by them with honor to the country, and dignity to their positions.

With all these advantages in the way of opportunities, it can not be said that Colored Americans are being crowded to the wall. Where prejudice does hold him back, it is in small localities where there is prejudice against everything, not the making of the prejudiced people themselves. There is a prejudice against the Creator Himself, and to expect all persons to drop prejudice is to expect more than the Almighty can cure.

It is a fact that a blind man must be able to perceive, that the bitter prejudice is becoming less aggravating. The rough edges of personal opposition are being worn down smooth, and in the course of less than another generation, the prejudices against Colored Americans will be almost a horrid dream of the past.