 Topic 9. Fourth Paper of 20th Century Negro Literature. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by D. Randall. 20th Century Negro Literature. Topic 9. Fourth Paper by Professor Charles Henry Turner. Will the education of the Negro solve the race problem by C. H. Turner? Charles Henry Turner was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, February 3, 1867. Both parents were of Negro descent. His mother was a Kentucky girl and his father a Canadian. Both parents were temperate and Christian in habits. Neither parent was college bread, yet Charles's father was a well-read man, a king thinker, and a master of debate. He had surrounded himself with several hundred choice books, and one of the earliest ambitions of Charles was to learn to read these books. The only education of our subject was obtained in the excellent public schools of Cincinnati, Ohio. From the Walnut Hills District School, Charles passed to the Gaines High School, from which he graduated valedictorian of his class. From high school he passed to the University of Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 1891 with a Bachelor of Science degree, and in 1892 with a Master of Science degree. When a youth in college, Charles hoped someday to be the head of a technological or agricultural school for Negroes, and much time and money was expended mastering those essentials that the head of a school should know. That youthful daydream has never been realized, but Charles has been an active teacher for years. Even before graduation, he taught one year in the Governor Street School at Evansville, Indiana, and occasionally taught as a substitute in the public schools of Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1891 to 1893, he was assistant in biology at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. Since then he has been professor of biology at Clark University, South Atlanta, Georgia. In 1901 he was dean of the Georgia Summer School. By training, Professor Turner is a biologist who has contributed his might towards the advancement of his favorite science. In the following list of some of the principal publications of Professor Turner, those marked with an asterisk are contributions to biology. Asterisk, Morphology of the Avian Brain, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1891 Asterisk, A Few Characteristics of the Avian Brain, Science, 1891 Asterisk, Psychological Notes on the Gallery Spider, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1892 Asterisk, Notes on the Clodocera, Ostracoda, and Rotifera of Cincinnati, Bulletin of the Scientific Laboratories of Denison University, 1892 Asterisk, Additional Notes on the Clodocera and Ostracoda of Cincinnati, Bulletin of the Scientific Laboratories of Denison University, 1893 Asterisk, Notes on the American Ostracoda, Bulletin of the Scientific Laboratories of Denison University, 1893 Asterisk, Poliminary Note on the Nervous System of the Genus Cyprus, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1893 Asterisk, Morphology of the Nervous System of Cyprus, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1896 Asterisk, Synopsis of the Intimal Straka of Minnesota, etc. C. L. Herrick and C. H. Turner, 1895 C. H. Turner is only part author of this. Numerous abstracts and translations from German and French published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology Reason for Teaching Biology in Negro Schools, Southwestern Christian Advocate, 1897 Object of Negro Memorial Day, 1899 New Year Thoughts about the Negro, Southwestern Christian Advocate, 1899 Asterisk, Notes on the Mushroom Bodies of the Invertebrates, Zoological Bulletin, 1899 Asterisk, A Male Airpedal Cyprus, Barbados, Forbes, Zoological Bulletin, 1899 Asterisk, Synopsis of North American Invertebrates, Freshwater Ostracoda, The American Naturalist, 1899 Living Dust, Southwestern Christian Advocate, 1901 Asterisk, The Mushroom Bodies of the Crayfish and Their Histological Environment, The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1901 The War of the Rebellion is over. Negro slavery in America is no more, and the days of Reconstruction have passed into history. Dr. Dubois, in speaking of that period, wrote, Amid it all, two figures ever stand to typify that day to coming men. The one, a great-haired gentleman, whose fathers had quit themselves like men, whose sons lay in nameless graves, who bowed to the evil of slavery because his abolition boated untold ill to all, who stood at last, in the evening of life, a blighted, ruined form with hate in his eyes. And the other, a form black with the mist of centuries, and a foretime bent in love over the white master's cradle, rocked his sons and daughters to sleep, and closed in death the sunken eyes of his wife to the world. I, too, had laid herself low to his lust, and borne a tawny man-child to the world, only to see her dark boy's limbs scattered to the winds by midnight marauders riding after niggers. These were the saddest sights of that woeful day, and no man claps the hands of these two passing figures of the present past, but hating they went to their long home and hating their children's children live today. Would some power had clapped the hands of these two fleeting figures of the present past? Then those marauders chasing niggers would have been subdued, and there would not be so many bloody threads in the weft of the history the New South has been weaving. The grey-haired gentleman has left a grandson who has all the culture and education money and thrift can buy. He is thrifty and enterprising, law-abiding and conscientious. He has inherited prejudices, yet he is sincere. He loves the South no less than did his grandfather, but he loves the Union more. He would die to save the Union. He lives to glorify the South. He is known as the New Southerner, and he is evolving a New South. The marauder chasing niggers has left a grandson who is illiterate, uncultured and thriftless. He despises manual labor, but is too poor and too ignorant to live without doing it. Unfit to be the associate of the New Southerner, and filling himself too superior to mingle with Negroes, he brews over his hardships and bemoans his fate. He is a Negro-hater and thirsts for the excitement of a lynching bee. This condone clogged to the progress of Southern civilization is known as white trash. The foreign black with the midst of centuries has left two grandsons. One is a thrifty, law-abiding gentleman. Too thrifty to be a beggar and too busy acquiring an education or accumulating wealth, or educating his race to be a loafer or criminal. In his home are all the comforts of modern life that his purse can afford. He loves his country and his Southland, and is educating his children to do likewise. He even contributes his might to the literature, science and art of today. He is modest and retiring and is known as the New Negro. The other grandchild is a thriftless loafer. He is not willing to pay the price of an education, but he likes to appear intellectually bright and entertaining. He often works but merely to obtain the means for gratifying his abnormally developed appetites. He laughs, he dances, he frolics. He knows not of the value of time nor of the deeper meanings of life. In the main he is peaceable and law-abiding, but under the excitement of the moment is capable of even the worst of crimes. This thriftless slave of passion, this child-man, this much-condemned clog to the progress of Southern civilization is called the vagrant Negro. Prejudice is older than this age. A comparative study of animal psychology teaches that all animals are prejudiced against animals unlike themselves, and the more unlike they are, the greater the prejudice. A comparative study of history teaches that races are prejudiced against races unlike themselves, and the greater the difference, the more the prejudice. Among men, however, dissimilarity of mind is a more potent factor in causing prejudice than unlikeness of physiognomy. Races whose religious beliefs are unlikely accepted beliefs of our race we call heathens. Those whose habits of living fall below the ideals of our own race we call uncivilized. In both cases, we are prejudiced. When a highly civilized race is brought in contact with another people unlike it in physiognomy, but in the same stage of intellectual advancement, at first each is prejudiced against the other. But when they become thoroughly acquainted, prejudice gives way to mutual respect. For an example of this recall, the relations of the nations of Europe to the Japanese. The new Southerner is prejudiced against the new Negro because he feels that the Negro is very unlike him. He does not know that a similar education in a like environment have made the new Negro and himself alike in everything itself color and features. Did he but know this? He and the new Negro would join hands and work for the best interests of the South, and there would be no Negro problem. At present he does not and cannot know this. For the white trash and vagrant Negro form a wedge separating the new Southerner from the new Negro so completely that they cannot know each other. Every unmentionable crime committed by the vagrant Negro, every lynching bee conducted by white trash, every Negro disenfranchisement law passed by misguided legislatures, every unjust discrimination against the Negro by the people drives this wedge deeper and deeper. Render this wedge so then that it will no longer be a barrier and the Negro problem is solved. This cannot be done by banishing white trash and the vagrant Negro, for that is neither possible nor practicable. The only way to accomplish the thinning of this wedge is to transform a large number into the new Southerners and the new Negroes. Will education do this? In order to transform the majority of white trash and vagrant Negroes into new Southerners and new Negroes, it will be necessary to instill into them the following regenerating virtues. One, the manners of a gentleman, not the swagger of the dude nor the cringing of a scapegoat, but the manners of a being permeated with a golden rule. Two, cultured homes. Not necessarily extravagant mansions, but comfortable dwellings wherein impoliteness, intemperance, slander, and indecent tales have given place to politeness, temperance, intelligent conversation, and refined pleasantries. Three, business honesty, not only punctual in the payment of debt but also truthful in making sales. Four, thrift. Not the ability to hoard as a miser does, but the ability to spend one's earnings economically to purchase property and to lay by a little for a rainy day. Five, Christian morality. Not the ability to shout well and pray well and testify well, but the ability to live the Christ life. Six, the ability to do something well that the world desires bad enough to be willing to pay a good price for it. This includes not only mechanical, but also commercial and scholastic achievements. Seven, ability to lead in the light of modern civilization. Eight, love for justice and contempt for lawlessness. Experience and thought convince me that the highest education is the only agency that will instill all of these virtues into a people without detriment to the multitudes that are forced to stop school before graduation. Highest education is a new phrase, but can we not truthfully say that there are three system of education in the world today, the lower or industrial education, the higher education, and the highest education? In each of these three systems, the student begins his education by an attempt to master the English branches, and in each attention is given to developing the moral side of the pupil. In the lower or industrial education, parallel with the elementary English training or after its completion, the student learns how to work at one or more trades, but he gets no training in the higher English branches, nor in languages, nor in science. This system may instill into students the majority of the regenerating virtues mentioned above, but it is impossible for this system to impart the ability to lead in the light of modern civilization. Without this virtue, one is not fit to lead in this strenuous age. A race without competent leaders is doomed. And any system of education which does not furnish such leaders is defective and doomed. It has been well said that the advocates of the lower or industrial education are welding a chain that will bind the race and industrial servitude for ages. In the higher education, after completing an elementary English training, the individual takes a collegiate course in science, literature, history, and language, but no attention is given to industrial training. Such a course does instill into those who completed all of the regenerating virtues mentioned above. But how about the multitudes that necessity forces to drop out before the course is completed? It is a sad, sad fact that the taste they have had of something different renders them not content to be servants. Yet their training is not sufficient to enable them to be anything else. In the highest education, a thorough training is given in the common English branches, but parallel with it instruction is imparted in the care and practical use of tools. The elementary course is followed by a secondary course, in which, along with instruction in the elements of languages, literature, and sciences, is given a thorough training in some trade. Above this come the colleges and technological schools wherein the pupil specializes according to his natural taste. In its ability to instill into those who completed the regenerating virtues mentioned above, this highest education ranks with a higher education. In this respect, neither is superior to the other. But when it comes to fitting those who stopped before the complete course has been mastered to successfully fight the battle of life, then highest education is infinitely superior to the higher education. Indeed, it is the only education that helps abundantly, not only the graduate, but also those unfortunate legions that drop out while yet undergraduates. In attempting to solve the Negro problem, the industrial or lower education has been tried on the Negro and found wanting. The higher education has been tried upon both races and has succeeded, but little better than the lower education. If we will cast aside our prejudices and try the highest education upon both white and black, in a few decades there will be no Negro problem. Clock University December 1, 1901. End of Topic 9, Fourth Paper. Topic 10, First Paper of 20th Century Negro Literature. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. 20th Century Negro Literature. Topic 10, First Paper by Rosetta Douglas Sprague. What role is the educated Negro woman to play in the uplifting of her race? The subject of this sketch was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, June 24, 1839. She is the oldest child and the only living daughter of the late Frederick Douglass. At the age of five years she moved with her parents to Lynn, Massachusetts, where the first narrative of Frederick Douglass, written by himself, was published. Its publication attracted widespread notice and stirred the ire of slaveholders in the vicinity from which he escaped. His many friends, fearing for his safety, arranged to send him abroad. His wife has often told of the demonstrative and enthusiastic young father catching up his infant daughter and fervently thanking God that his child was born free and no man could separate them. Among the many friends who were solicitous for the family were two maiden ladies, Abigail and Lydia Mott of Albany, New York, who were cousins of Lucretia Mott, the well-known philanthropist and friend of the Negro. These women, who conducted a lucrative business on Broadway opposite Bleecker Hall, were also staunch abolitionists. Being anxious for the welfare of the little six-year-old daughter of Douglass, they sought the privilege of caring for her while the father was abroad. The wife and three sons remained at their home in Lynn during the father's absence. Mrs. Sprague has frequently spoken of her stay with the Mott's, who were in good circumstances and with their one servant lived in comfort. Their little charge was amply provided for and was made contented and happy. She had a time for play and a time for study. Miss Abigail gave her instruction in reading and writing and Miss Lydia taught her to sew. At the age of seven Rosetta wrote her first letter to her father, and when her eighth birthday had passed she made a shirt to give him on his return from England. At this early age the child was painfully conscious of the trials and misery resulting from slavery. Many slaves had sought and obtained shelter with the Mott's, and the anxious moments of their stay made a deep impression on her childish mind. After the establishment of the North Star by her father in Rochester, New York in 1847, the family were reunited in that place, a governess secured, and for several months the children pursued their studies at home. Later the father was convinced that as he was a taxpayer he ought to avail himself of the privilege of the public schools, and accordingly sent his sons there, but the little daughter was sent to a private school but recently opened for girls. Tuition was paid in advance, the little girl was sent, but never saw the inside of the school room nor met any of the pupils. Finally she with her brothers attended the public schools until the year 1850, when the Board of Education decided that colored children should no longer be permitted to remain in the public schools. At the next meeting of the Board, Mr. Douglas and some anti-slavery friends were present to debate the question why such distinction should be made. As the result of that conference the doors were open to colored children in that city. Rosetta, being the only girl of color in her room, was subjected for a time to such indignities as only the vulgar are capable of inflicting. Her complaints pained her fond father, but his counsel was, Daughter, I am sending you to school for your benefit. See to it that you are punctual in attendance, that you do not offend in your demeanor, and cope with the best of them in your lessons, and await the results. The daughter strove to obey, and soon found herself appreciated by her teachers, who classed her as one of their best pupils. Her companions also changed, and sought her aid in the preparation of their lessons. At the age of eleven years, Rosetta became her father's assistant in the library. She copied for him, wrapped, addressed, and mailed eight hundred copies of the North Star each week. Rosetta Douglas married December 24, 1863, Nathan Sprague, who, like her father, had been a victim of the slave-holding power. The problems of life are manifold. Wherever we turn, questions of moment are presented to us for solution and settlement. At no period in the history of the American Negro has his status as a man and an American citizen been so closely scrutinized and criticized as at the present time. The galling chain and merciless lash were the instruments used to accomplish the humiliation and degradation of the African. Averus was the factor in the composition of the character of a large number of the white men of America that wrought such ravishes in the well-being of the African. Today, after the short space of thirty-six years has passed over him from the deep degradation of centuries, the descendants of these Africans are wrestling with the situation as it exists today. Through the avarice of the white man in the past, the black man's physical, moral, and mental development was sacrificed. Today, egotism stalks abroad to crush, if possible, his hopes and his aims, while he is struggling from the effects of his thralldom. This latter process is more subtle in its operation, placing as it does a weapon that can with confidence be used by the most inferior and degraded ones of the white race, so that color and not character is made the determining factor of respectability and worth. And as the target is to the archer, so is the negro to the white man, notwithstanding that the presentation of such facts are not flattering to the white man or pleasurable to the black man, they are facts which are to be considered. Rapid changes have already been wrought in the condition of the American negro. His capabilities and possibilities as a factor in the nation have been marked and encouraging, and yet there are labors to be performed to further obtain and maintain his position in the land of his birth. The negro is but a man, with the frailties that bound humanity, and cannot be expected to rid himself of them in any way different from methods adopted for the betterment of mankind generally. In view of much that has inspired the friends of the negro in the years now past, with faith in him and the interest and belief in him of his numerous friends at the present time, he is still an object of hatred to a considerable number of his fellow citizens. Ages of deception, vice, cruelty and crime, as practiced by the Caucasian upon the African in this land, would in itself produce fruit in kind. We would submit a suggestion to those who are disposed to criticize very closely and to condemn in strong terms the delinquencies of the negro. Allow the negro two hundred and fifty years of unselfish contact to offset the two hundred and fifty years of Caucasian selfishness and be as assiduous in his regeneration as you were in his degradation. Then judge him. The twentieth century in its infancy is striving to grasp what it pleases to call the negro problem. When it is in reality only a question as to whether justice and right shall rule over injustice and wrong to any and every man, regardless of race, in this boasted land of freedom. The negro is made the test in everything pertaining to American civilization. Its high principles of religion, politics and morals all receive a shock when a negro's head appears, upsetting all theories and, in a conspicuous manner, proving that the structure of American civilization is built higher than the average white man can climb. At this stage of Afro-American existence the question is asked, what role is the educated negro woman to play in the uplifting of her race? As this is unquestionably the woman's era, the question is timely and proper. Every race and nation that is at all progressive has its quota of earnest women engaged in creating for themselves a higher sphere of usefulness to the world. Insisting upon the necessity of a higher plane of integrity and worth, and thus the women of the negro race should be no exception in this land of our births. Feeling thus this particular woman, previous to the question above presented, has already in considerable numbers formed various associations tending to the amelioration of existing conditions surrounding her race. The most notable of them is the National Association of Colored Women, for several years presided over by Mrs. Mary Church Terrell of Washington D.C., but now under the guidance of Mrs. J. Salome Yates, a woman of refinement, culture, and education, and an earnest worker in the cause of the advancement of the race. It is with pride I point to this body of women as its scope is far-reaching, being composed of organizations from every part of the country. There is no woman, certainly no woman in the United States, who has more reason to desire and more need to aspire for better opportunities for her brothers and herself than the negro woman in general, and the educated negro woman in particular. Averus and egotism have done and is doing its work in retarding, but not entirely subjugating, the advances that a respectable number of the race are making. The task that confronts the thoughtful woman as she surveys the field in which she must labor is not a reassuring one. It will be through a slow process that any good will be accomplished. Much patient and earnest endeavor on the part of our women, a strong missionary spirit needs to be exhibited before any appreciable results may be reached. It will require the life work for many years to rescue even a fractional part from the condition of today. Not only has the negro race to be uplifted, but the white race need to stand on a stronger platform than that of egotistical display of virtues which are not wholly theirs. As long as they deny to the negro the fact of his brotherhood and his consequent rights as a man, they are false to their God and to the nation. Happily for us there have been a considerable number of the white race who are mindful of what is due to those of a race whose tendencies are upward and onward. It is with feelings of deep gratitude, love, and respect when we reflect upon the great work that was accomplished in the nineteenth century for the negro by the truly great and good men and women of the white race. Now the twentieth century is confronted with the fact that there is more work yet to do, and the negro has his part to bear in it. The progress of the race means much to the negro woman, and as she goes forth adding her best energies to the uplifting of her people, the work in itself will react upon her, and from a passive individual she will be a more alert and useful factor in the regeneration of her race and to the social system at large. How to begin the work in a systematic manner for the further advancement of a people struggling amidst so much that is discouraging is puzzling to the would-be reformers within our own ranks. We would have the negro now that the mantle of freedom is thrown over him and also as an acknowledged citizen to fully understand and appreciate the fact that now that his destiny is in his own hands that he must make of himself a potential value. In order to emphasize himself as a factor of value he must place himself in touch with the highest and best thought of past and present times, barring the barriers that avarice has placed in our way in the past or the growing egotism of our brothers in white at this stage of our progress, the women of the negro race should put themselves in contact with all the women of this land and espouse all worthy efforts for the advancement of the human race. The educated negro woman will find that her greatest field for effective work is in the home. The attributes that are necessary in forming an upright character are each of them facts, the acceptance of them making or marring the character as they are accepted or ignored. In view of this thought I cannot see that any different role should be adopted by us than by women in general in this land. Industry, honesty and morality are the cardinal attributes to become acquainted with in forming an irreproachable character and each and all of them must be dwelt upon in the home. Already the mothers all over the country are uniting themselves in the one thought, the home. No less should our women esteem it essential to place themselves in line with the progressive mothers in our common country. In advancing such a thought we are confronted with the fact that the development of the homes of this land has not been a day's work and the improvement of the character of the homes will test the energies of the women who preside over them. The home life of the negro has taken on a new significance during the past thirty or more years and the zeal required to show the parents today their duties in the rearing of their children should be untiring. We have a few among us that are interested workers for the maintenance of good government in the home. We would that in every city, town and village where any number of the race reside they would form aid societies for the maintenance of kindergartens and industrial schools as well as to aid those already established. And before the twentieth century has reached its quarter-century mark, the colored women's aid societies would have an astonishing effect on the manners and morals of those who come under its benefits. It is a source of regret and deep concern to a number of our women that there is so little attention paid to the labors of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union when we reflect that through the medium of Rome and, I may add, red beads, African homes were devastated. We wonder at the apathy of our women in the matter of temperance. The homes of the race can but be humble and poverty-stricken so long as the men and women in them are intemperate. The educated women among us need to set the pace in discountenancing the social glass in their homes. In this transition stage toward a higher plane of civilization, we need every faculty, pure and undefiled, to do the work that will lift us to a merited place in our land. Surely our women must see the necessity of urgent endeavor against a traffic fraught with so much that is inimical to the promotion of good citizenship and purer and better homes. From the word of God we received decided instructions against strong drink, as in the instance of the instructions concerning the character of John. His work was to be such that all his energies were to be called in action, and there was to be no weakening of them. He was to be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. We have a great work to perform in meeting the demands of the hour, requiring all the energy possible of a brain unclouded, pure and unsullied. The motto of the National Association of Colored Women, lifting as we climb, is in itself an inspiration to great activity in all moral reforms. And with a spirit of devotion for the welfare of humanity, we embrace the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in their motto, For God and Home and Native Land. If the educated Negro woman will rally to the support of the principles involved in the organizations already presented in this paper, I think they will be amply repaid in the results accruing from their labors. End of Topic 10, First Paper. Topic 10, Second Paper of 20th Century Negro Literature. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vincelli. 20th Century Negro Literature, Topic 10, Second Paper by Mrs. Mary Church Terrell. What role is the educated Negro woman to play in the uplifting of her race? In all matters affecting the interests of the woman of her race, Mrs. Mary Church Terrell of Washington D.C. is a leading spirit. Three times in succession, she was elected president of the National Association of Colored Women by most flattering majorities. When, according to the provision of the Constitution, which limits the terms of officers, Mrs. Terrell could not be re-elected president, she was made honorary president. She has twice been invited to address the National Women's Suffrage Association at its annual convention in Washington. Her public utterances have always made a profound impression on her hearers, and no speakers associated with her have received more applause from audiences or higher praise from the public press than herself. Not many years ago, when Congress, by resolution granted power to the commissioners of the District of Columbia to appoint two women on the Board of Education for the public schools, Mrs. Terrell was one of the women appointed. She served in the board for five years with great success and signal ability. Mrs. Terrell is the only woman who has ever held the office of president of the Bethel Literary and Historical Association at Washington, the foremost and oldest lyceum established and controlled by colored people in America. Her splendid work as presiding officer of this organization had much to do with her other subsequent success in attaining similar positions in other bodies of deliberation. Mrs. Terrell's life has been an interesting one. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, of well-to-do parents. She graduated at Oberlin College in 1884 with the degree of A.B. In 1888, she received the degree of A.M. from Oberlin. She was, for a while, a teacher at Wilberforce University at Xenia, Ohio. In 1887, she was appointed teacher of languages in the Colored High School at Washington. She went abroad for further study and travel in 1888 and remained in Europe two years, spending the time in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. She resumed her work in Washington in 1890. In 1891, she was offered the Registership of Oberlin College, being the first woman of her race to whom such a position was ever tendered by an institution so widely known and of such high standard. This place was declined because of her approaching marriage. In 1891, she was married to Mr. Robert H. Terrell, who was a graduate of Howard College, and who was recently appointed by President Roosevelt to a federal judgeship in the District of Columbia, being one of the two colored men first to receive this high distinction. Mrs. Terrell has a daughter whom she has named Phyllis, in honor of Phyllis Wheatley, the black woman whose verses received the commendation of George Washington and many other distinguished men of her time. Mrs. Terrell is now engaged by a lecture bureau. She has traveled extensively in the West, speaking before large audiences, and everywhere her talks have received the highest praise. Mrs. Terrell's addresses are the pure gold with less dross of nonsense than any lecturer that has come upon the stage at this Chautauqua. From the first word to the last she has something to say and says it as a cultured lady in the best of English which has no tinge of the highfalutin or the sensational. Such speakers are rare. She should be paid to travel as a model of good English and good manners. Mrs. Terrell's eloquent utterances and chaste diction make a deep impression which must have influence in the final shaping of the vexed problems that confront the Negro race in this country. Her exceptional attainments and general demeanor are a wonderful force in eradicating the prejudice against colored women. She is making an opening for her sisters as no one else is doing or has ever done. Should anyone ask what special phase of the Negro's development makes me most hopeful of his ultimate triumph over present obstacles, I should answer unhesitatingly. It is the magnificent work the woman are doing to regenerate and uplift the race. Judge the future of colored women by the past since their emancipation and neither they nor their friends have any cause for anxiety. For years, either banding themselves into small companies or struggling alone, colored women have worked with might and main to improve the condition of their people. The necessity of systematizing their efforts and working on a larger scale became apparent not many years ago and they decided to unite their forces. Thus it happened that in the summer of 1896 the National Association of Colored Women was formed by the Union of two large organizations, each of which has done much to show our women the advantage of concerted action. So tenderly has this daughter of the organized womanhood of the race been nurtured and so wisely ministered unto, that it has grown to be a child, hail, hearty, and strong, of which its fond mothers have every reason to be proud. Handicapped though its members have been, because they lacked both money and experience, their efforts have, for the most part, been crowned with success in the 26 states where it has been represented. Kindergarten have been established by some of our organizations from which encouraging reports have come. A sanitarium with a training school for nurses has been set on such a firm foundation by the Phyllis Wheatley Club of New Orleans, Louisiana, and has proved itself to be such a blessing to the entire community that the municipal government has voted it an annual appropriation of several hundred dollars. By the Tuskegee, Alabama branch of the Association, the work of bringing the light of knowledge and the gospel of cleanliness to their poor, benighted sisters on the plantations has been conducted with signal success. Their efforts have thus far been confined to four estates comprising thousands of acres of land on which live hundreds of colored people yet in the darkness of ignorance and the grip of sin miles away from churches and schools. Plans for aiding the indigent, orphaned, and aged have been projected and in some instances have been carried into successful execution. One club in Memphis, Tennessee has purchased a large tract of land on which it intends to erect an old folks home, part of the money for which has already been raised. Splendid service has been rendered by the Illinois Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, through whose instrumentality schools have been visited, truant children looked after, parents and teachers urged to cooperate with each other, rescue and reform work engaged in, so as to reclaim unfortunate women and tempted girls, public institutions investigated, garments cut, made, and distributed to the needy poor. Questions affecting our legal status as a race are sometimes agitated by our women. In Tennessee and Louisiana, Colored Women have several times petitioned to the legislature of their respective states to repeal the obnoxious Jim Crow Car Laws. In every way possible we are calling attention to the barbarity of the convict lease system, of which Negroes and especially the female prisoners are the principal victims, with the hope that the conscience of this country may be touched and this stain on its escutcheon be forever wiped away. Against the one room cabin we have inaugurated a vigorous crusade. When families of eight or ten men, women and children, are all huddled promiscuously together in a single apartment, a condition common among our poor all over the land, there is little hope of inculcating morality and modesty. And yet in spite of the fateful heritage of slavery, in spite of the manifold pitfalls and peculiar temptations to which our girls are subjected, and though the safeguards usually thrown around maidenly youth and innocence are in some sections entirely withheld from Colored Girls, statistics compiled by men not inclined to falsify in favor of my race show that immorality among Colored Women is not so great as among women in some foreign countries who are equally ignorant, poor and oppressed. Believing that it is only through the home that a people can become really good and truly great, the National Association has entered that sacred domain. Homes, more homes, better homes, purer homes, is the text upon which sermons have been and will be preached. There has been a determined effort to have heart-to-heart talks with our women that we may strike at the root of evils, many of which lie at the fireside. If the women of a dominant race, with all the centuries of education, culture and refinement back of them, with all the wealth of opportunity ever present with them, feel the need of a mother's congress that they may be enlightened upon the best methods of rearing their children and conducting their homes, how much more do our women, from whom shackles have but yesterday been stricken, need information on the same vital subjects? And so the association is working vigorously to establish mother's congresses on a small scale wherever our women can be reached. From this brief and meager account of the work which has been and is still being accomplished by coloured women through the medium of their clubs, it is easy to observe how earnest and effective have been their efforts to elevate their race. No people need ever despair whose women are fully aroused to the duties which rest upon them and are willing to shoulder responsibilities which they alone can successfully assume. The scope of our endeavours is constantly widening into the various channels of generosity and beneficence we are entering more and more every day. All of our women are now urging their clubs to establish day nurseries, a charity of which there is an imperative need. Thousands of our wage-earning mothers with large families dependent almost entirely upon them for support are obliged to leave their children all day entrusted to the care of small brothers and sisters or some good-natured neighbor who promises much but who does little. Some of these infants are locked alone in the room from the time the mother leaves in the morning until she returns at night. Not long ago I read in a southern newspaper that an infant thus locked alone in a room all day while its mother went out to wash had cried itself to death. One reflects upon the slaughter of the innocents which is occurring with pitiless persistency every day and thinks of the multitudes who are maimed for life or are rendered imbecile because of the treatment received during their helpless infancy. It is evident that by establishing day nurseries colored women will render one of the greatest services possible to humanity and to the race. Nothing lies nearer the heart of colored women than the children. We feel keenly the need of kindergartens and are putting forth earnest efforts to honeycomb this country with them from one extremity to the other. The more unfavorable the environments of children, the more necessary is it that steps be taken to counteract baleful influences upon innocent victims. How imperative is it then that as colored women we inculcate correct principles and set good examples for our own youth whose little feet will have so many thorny paths of temptation, injustice, and prejudice to tread. So keenly alive is the National Association to the necessity of rescuing our little ones whose evil nature alone is encouraged to develop and whose noble qualities are deadened and dwarfed by the very atmosphere which they breathe, that its officers are trying to raise money with which to send out a kindergarten organizer whose duty it shall be to arouse the conscience of our women and to establish kindergartens wherever means therefore can be secured. Through the children of today we believe we can build the foundation of the next generation upon such a rock of morality, intelligence, and strength that the floods of proscription, prejudice, and persecution may descend upon it in torrents and yet it will not be moved. We hear a great deal about the race problem and how to solve it. The real solution of the race problem lies in the children both so far as we who are oppressed and those who oppress us are concerned. Some of our women who have consecrated their lives to the elevation of their race feel that neither individuals nor organizations working toward this end should be entirely satisfied with their efforts unless some of their energy, money, or brain is used in the name and for the sake of the children. The National Association has chosen as its motto, lifting as we climb. In order to live strictly up to this sentiment its members have determined to come into the closest possible touch with the masses of our women through whom the womanhood of our people is always judged. It is unfortunate but it is true that the dominant race in this country insists upon gauging the Negro's worth by his most illiterate and vicious representatives rather than by the more intelligent and worthy classes. Colored women of education and culture know that they cannot escape altogether the consequences of the acts of their most depraved sisters. They see that even if they were wicked enough to turn a deaf ear to the call of duty both policy and self-preservation demand that they go down among the lowly, the illiterate, and even the vicious to whom they are bound by the ties of race and sex and put forth every possible effort to reclaim them. By coming into close touch with the masses of our women it is possible to correct many of the evils which militate so seriously against us and inaugurate the reforms without which as a race we cannot hope to succeed. Through the clubs we are studying the labor question and are calling the attention of our women to the alarming rapidity with which the Negro is losing ground in the world of labor. If this movement to withhold employment from him continues to grow the race will soon be confronted by a condition of things disastrous and serious indeed. We are preaching in season and out that it is the duty of every wage-earning colored woman to become thoroughly proficient in whatever work she engages so that she may render the best service of which she is capable and thus do her part toward establishing a reputation for excellent workmanship among colored women. Our clubs all over the country are being urged to establish schools of domestic science. It is believed that by founding schools in which colored girls could be trained to be skilled domestics we should do more toward solving the labor question as it affects our women than by using any other means it is in our power to employ. We intend to lay the Negro's side of the labor question clearly before our large-hearted, broad-minded sisters of the dominant race and appeal to them to throw their influence on the right side. We shall ask that they train their children to be broad and just enough to judge men and women by their intrinsic merit rather than by the adventitious circumstances of race or color or creed. Colored women are asking the white mothers of the land to teach their children that when they grow to be men and women if they deliberately prevent their fellow creatures from earning an honest living by closing their doors of trade against them the father of all men will hold them responsible for the crimes which are the result of their injustice and for the human wrecks which the ruthless crushing of hope and ambition always makes. Through our clubs colored women hope to improve the social atmosphere by showing the enormity of the double standard of morals which teaches that we should turn the cold shoulder upon a fallen sister but greet her destroyer with open arms and a gracious smile. The duty of setting a high moral standard and living up to it devolves upon colored women in a peculiar way. False accusations and malicious slanders are circulated against them constantly both by the press and by the direct descendants of those who in years past were responsible for the moral degradation of their female slaves. Carefully and conscientiously we shall study the questions which affect the race most deeply and directly. Against the convict lease system the Jim Crow car laws, lynchings and other barbarities which degrade us we shall protest with such force of logic and intensity of soul that those who oppress us will either cease to disavow the inalienability and equality of human rights or be ashamed to openly violate the very principles upon which this government was founded. By discharging our obligation to the children by coming into the closest possible touch with the masses of our people by studying the labor question as it affects the race by establishing schools of domestic science by setting a high moral standard and living up to it by purifying the home colored women will render their race a service whose value it is not in my power to estimate or express. The National Association is being cherished with such loyalty and zeal by our women that there is every reason to hope it will soon become the power for good the tower of strength and the source of inspiration to which it is destined. And so lifting as we climb onward and upward we go struggling and striving and hoping that the buds and blossoms of our desires will burst into glorious fruition ere long with courage born of success achieved in the past with a keen sense of the responsibility which we must continue to assume we look forward to the future large with promise and hope seeking no favors because of our color or patronage because of our needs we knock at the bar of justice and ask for an equal chance. End of Topic 10 Second Paper Topic 10 Third Paper of 20th Century Negro Literature This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Phyllis Vincelli 20th Century Negro Literature Topic 10 Third Paper by Mrs. Rosa D. Bowser of Richmond, Virginia What role is the educated Negro woman to play in the uplifting of her race? The writer of the subjoined article is a native of Virginia and belongs in the front rank of educators of her race in this grand old Commonwealth which may justly boast of the eminence to which its black as well as white citizens have attained before and since the war. The first President of the Black Republic on the west coast of Africa, Joseph Jenkins Roberts as well as the foremost Baptist leader Lot Kerry were Virginians. Mrs. Rosa D. Bowser was born in Amelia County and was reared in the city of Richmond. She passed through the grades of the public schools and completed her schoolwork at the normal school of that city under the instruction of its founder, Mr. Rosa Morse Manley of Vermont, a distinguished educator in the north as well as the pioneer educator in Virginia among the Negro race. Mrs. Bowser received special training from Mr. Manley having been instructed by him in the higher mathematics and Latin. She early developed a taste for drawing, painting and music and made commendable progress in the fine arts. Mrs. Bowser's work as an educator has not been limited to the schoolroom in which she has been so efficient for the last twenty-five years but she has been conspicuous in other and wider fields of usefulness among her people within and without the state. This is evidenced by the following facts. She founded the Women's League which rendered signal service in the Lunenburg Trials. She is President of the Richmond Mothers Club. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Southern Federation of Colored Women. She is Chairman of the Executive Board of the Women's Educational and Missionary Association of Virginia. She is Chairman of the Standing Committee of Domestic Economy for the Hampton Conference. She is President of the Women's Department of the Negro Reformatory Association of Virginia and is one of the most conspicuous members of many benevolent organizations in Richmond. She is an eloquent and fascinating orator bringing to that accomplishment earnestness of manner, grace of gesture and a charming personality. In all ages of the world women has been the central figure around which all joys and sorrows, all inspirations, all aspirations and all accomplishments have circled. In all conditions of life, in all climes, in all Christian epochs, in all countries she holds this position indisputable among the nations of the earth. For without her there would be no home circles, without the home circles there would be no races nor nations. Her office of divine institution for the perpetuation of the human family should not be lightly regarded by any class of people. Woman's primary duty is the systematic and wise ordering of the household. The infant looks into its mother's face and there receives its first impressions. These impressions are stamped upon the mind and heart of the child. The mother notices all the little disorders and griefs of the child from its birth throughout its life. The conscientious mother is ever ready to console, advise and sympathize in all grievances and perplexities which may confront her offspring. Hence there is great need for proper instruction to wives, mothers and in fact to all women in anticipation of the responsibilities of a home and the obligations of motherhood. It has been well said that the training of children should begin with their grandparents. The character of the homes of the land, the moral and immoral bearing of every settlement, town and city, in a large measure, depend upon the class of women. Upon the idiosyncrasies of wives, mothers and women in general, who by nature mold the sentiment of every department of human control. That society is ruled by women cannot be questioned. The age of complete dependence of women upon the stronger sex has so far passed as to be foreign to the minds of the present generation. Not that the gentler sex is averse to the protection and tender solicitudes of the father, husband and brother, but it is of such common occurrence that women are thrown upon their own resources in the maintenance of the home that they of necessity rather than from choice assume a degree of independence in various avenues of life. Christianity is the medium by which women has been exalted to her legitimate sphere in the world. The best colleges that a few years past closed their doors against her have gradually put the latch strings on the outside. The coeducation of the sexes and the attendant results have displaced the old idea of the moral and intellectual inferiority of women. The learned professions are subject to her choice. She stands beside her brother as a partner sharing equally with him in the world's work for humanity. Of one flesh God made all men. Hence they have the same general tendencies or inclinations, the same likes and dislikes, the same sympathies and the same indifferences, the same joys and the same sorrows manifested in a greater or less degree as their sensibilities have been cultured and developed. The Negro was no exception to this general rule. The centuries of servitude when he dared not of his own volition pursue courses for intellectual growth now place the Negro as an adolescent race, yet one that has made wonderful strides in improving its condition morally, intellectually and financially. The Negro was grateful for much in past experiences which experiences have been rigid disciplinarians urging him to think and act for himself. Therefore his hopes and aspirations grow stronger for more glorious results for the future. Compare the first thirty-six years of the independence of any civilized race with the progress made by the Negroes since their emancipation. Who can, in a spirit of justice, say that the Negro has not made a very creditable record wherever the opportunity to show himself a man has presented itself. The Negro is grateful that there are many southern as well as northern friends in the dominant race who publicly commend him and give him due credit for his energy and perseverance in making the best use of his time and talents. The fact is generally known that whatever success has been made was achieved through many difficulties. The best class of Negroes is not discouraged by the ravings and unjust criticisms of certain classes of people who do not know the Negro, having had little chance of intercourse with him, even in the years prior to and during the Civil War. Yet he is far, very far, from being contented with his present condition. The harvest is great, and many sheaves are yet to be gathered. He knows that the number whose eyes are opened to the beauties and utilities of life and whose souls can discern the grand possibilities of the future is a great contrast to the masses of the race that must yet be induced to appreciate the light of day. More teachers are needed to point out and supply this light. Who can better perform this duty than the unselfish, humane, intelligent Negro woman? Who can better feel the touch of sympathy and get out of self to help by lifting as she climbs? Who can better see the need than one who is interested in the lowly of her own household? Who but the educated Negro woman will feel more keenly the stigma of the depravity of her weak sister, who has wearied of the struggle for a higher plane of living? To whom is the call to this duty more urgent? Will she answer? She must do so. Her advantages, intellectually and socially, demand that she should take a front rank in the crusade against ignorance, vice, and crime. She is the lighthouse, giving warning of the hidden shoals and guiding away from the rocks which are wrecking the lives of many capable young men and women. These young people are anxious, in many cases, to be led into paths of pure man and womanhood. They incline toward leaders, but they will follow only good leaders in whichever course they take, whether the straight and narrow path of the integrity and upright Christian character or the broad road which leads to shame, degradation, and death. They must and will follow leaders, but they require of leadership a reflection of their ideals. In other words, they require them to be as leaders all that they would admonish others to become, models of true, intelligent, morally pure women and men. Not only must these upright Negro women take their role as counselors and teachers, but it is highly essential that they be with the element to be uplifted, yet certainly not of it. It is impossible to help a fallen or weak sister to rise if the helper, like the Levite, pass by on the other side and merely call out. Arise and stand in the beauty of pure womanhood. Rather than like the Samaritan, she goes to her and lifts her to her feet. The touch of the hand, in proof of a heart full of sympathy, goes a long way in winning and holding a living, lasting evidence of the regenerating influence of charity to the recipient. The alarming death rate among the Negro population is largely due to ignorance of the laws of health and the proper care of children. Such people need instruction in their homes, for you will reach them nowhere else. They will not attend public meetings nor church services. They feel out of place in them. Hence there is no way to reach such people other than by going among them. This act will not mar the reputation of a true leader, one whom they can emulate and in whom they have confidence. It rather increases her influence, for they know she is not of them but with them in their efforts to improve. The magnitude of the work may sometimes cause one to shrink when the progress seems slow. But all reforms require deliberation, endurance, and perseverance. Occasionally we get an encouraging comment which comes like a calm after storms of criticism and abuse. Two of the daily papers of Richmond, Virginia made very favorable statements in regard to the conduct of the colored people during the week of the carnival, October 7th through 12th, 1901. For violations of the law there were about 200 arrests and not one colored person of the number. The colored schools came in for a liberal share of praise for their attendance during said week. All colored groups of schools were way up in the 90s. Baker School, colored, of 627 pupils led the city schools with 98.9% of attendance. We hailed the announcements with delight, for they strengthened our belief that Negro education may not always be considered a failure. We are stimulated to more earnest endeavor when we find persons of great minds and large hearts voicing such helpful sentiments as expressed by Mr. Joel Chandler Harris in his article to the New York Journal, November 3rd, 1901, on Negro education, from which I quote, What is called the Negro problem is simply the invention of men with theories. The spectacle spread out before us is not in the nature of a problem. It is made up of the actual efforts and movements of a race slowly and painfully feeling its way toward a higher destiny. The conditions of circumstances being without parallel or precedent in the history of the world, it was inevitable that serious mistakes should be made, that misunderstandings should arise, that philanthropy should stretch out full hands in the wrong direction, that partisan politicians should pour out the vials of wrath. But what of it? The real progress of the race has been retarded a moment. Nothing has been lost. And now, at last, the whole conservative and intelligent element of the race is placing itself under the leadership of men well qualified to lead it and is making a new start. If the philanthropists and rich men of the country will hold up the hands of such Negroes as Booker T. Washington, they will be able to forget in a few years that any serious mistakes have been made. More than that, they will be able to view leniently the mistakes that are still to be made. And I add, if the hands of such women as Mrs. Booker T. Washington, of Tuskegee and Miss Georgie Washington, of Mt. Megs, Alabama, be upheld by friends of the North, South, East, and West, many skeptics would, in a comparatively short time, forget that they had at any time doubted the ability of the Negro to make for himself a credible place in history. Such are the women needed today, women who teach by doing, women who can take a basket of soap on the arm and in a gentle, winning way present it to the homes that need it, while at the same time extol its merits in a pleasant manner. Women are needed who can teach the lesson of morality, cleanliness of soul and body, and the hygienic and economic management of the humble home by showing them how to perform these acts and furnish examples. Women who can arouse their sense of propriety to such a degree that by frugal habits they may abandon the one-room cabin and a family of eight or ten eat, cook, sleep, wash, and iron for the neat two, three, or four-room well-ventilated cottage. The laundry tub may be an excellent substitute when no better can be provided, but they will be taught to see the need of a genuine bathtub in every home. Women will be taught that honest labour is no disgrace, that however much education one may acquire, the deafness of the hands to execute the mandates of the mind tends rather to elevate the possessor and hastens the day of a full-developed man or woman with mind, heart, and hand trained to the best service, thereby dignifying labour. Above all, the thought must be impressed indelibly upon the hearts and consciences of the youth that the men can be no better than the women. Men are what the women make them. If a woman is refined and exhibits a modest, dignified bearing, men cannot fail to appreciate her demeanor and conduct themselves accordingly. While, on the other hand, boisterous uncouth conduct upon the part of women will encourage boldness toward them, disrespect for them, and win the contempt of the men of a community for such women. Hence, wherever uplifting influence is needed, the result of the labour depends upon the compliant nature of the element upon which they are working, whose persuasive power is more efficacious in directing the upward and downward trend of the masses. The women who can best appreciate this fact have the very grave responsibility of keeping the lesson constantly before the people, lest we forget, lest we forget. The so-called Negro problem must be solved by the Negro, the plane to which he must attain is limited by the energy and persistency of the most competent and sympathetic leaders and piloting the followers in such a manner that they may realize that, quote, life is real, life is earnest, and the grave is not its goal. Dust thou art to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul, end quote. End of topic 10, Third Paper. Topic 10 of Fourth Paper of 20th Century Negro Literature. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. 20th Century Negro Literature. Topic 10, Fourth Paper by Mrs. C.C. Petty. What role is the educated Negro woman to play in the uplifting of her race? Mrs. Sarah Dudley Petty, the brilliant and accomplished wife of the late Bishop Charles Calvin Petty, A.M.D.D., was born in the historic city of New Bern, North Carolina. She is the daughter of Honorable E.R. and Caroline E. Dudley. Her father is a gentleman of great prominence. He was a member of the General Assembly of North Carolina during the reconstruction period and has held important local, state, and national positions, and his services are now in great demand as a political orator and editor. Her mother, the lamented Mrs. Caroline E. Dudley, was a lady of refinement and of natural gifts. From environments, contact, and association at home, Mrs. Bishop Petty always had the instruction and advice of intelligent parents. At the age of six, she could read and write, she entered the graded school of her native city, and after finishing her course, she entered the state normal school and remained three years. Then she entered the famous Scotia Seminary at Concord, North Carolina, from which institution she graduated with distinction June 1883. In addition to her inherited gifts, Mrs. Petty is a woman of great acquired ability. She reads the classics well, has a taste for the higher mathematics. She is a student of current events and a close observer of human nature. Upon graduating at Scotia Seminary, she was in October of the same year, tendered the position as second assistant in the New Bern graded school. Next year she was promoted to vice principal, which position she held with credit and honor until she was married. For two successive summers, she taught in the Craven County Teachers Institute. As a teacher, she was able, brilliant, and magnetic. Popular with her associates, she was loved and honored by her pupils. She ruled with kindness and love and punished with a flash of her eye. Well versed in the theory and practice of teaching, she soon won the sobriquette model teacher. She is a gifted musician, and for several years was the organist for one of the most prominent churches in her native city. On the morning of September, 1989, she was married to Bishop Charles Calvin Petty, A-M-D-D. Immediately after her marriage, she became the private secretary of her husband, and with him traveled extensively in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, and continental Europe. She is an able writer and eloquent speaker. For several years, she has been general secretary of the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the A-M-E Zion Church. As wife, mother, and Christian worker, Sarah Dudley Petty is a model woman endeavoring to lead men and women upward and heavenward. Women's part in the consummation of any project which has to do with the elevation of mankind is of paramount importance. With her influence eliminated or her work minimized, failure is inevitable. This is true regardless of race or nationality. In the civilization and enlightenment of the Negro race, its educated women must be the potent factors. The difficulties that the Negro must labor under in his effort to rise are manifold and peculiar. The critics of the Negro have assaulted him at the most vital point, these character. In their onslaught they have assailed the morals of the entire race to meet this criticism. The Negro must establish a character of high morals, which will stand out so conspicuously that even his bitterest foe will acknowledge its reality. In establishing this art women must lead. It must be understood that their virtue is as sacred and as embodied as the laws of the eternal verities. They must not compromise even with an apparent virtuous sentiment. It must be real, nothing great is accomplished without the shedding of blood. To convince the world of the virtue of the Negro race, Negro blood must be shed freely. Our young women must be taught that gorgeous dress and fine paraphernalia don't make a woman. They should dress modestly, succumbingly and economically. She is a true woman whose honor must not be insulted, who though poorly paid, pursues her honest labor for bread and would scorn the obtaining of a livelihood any other way, regardless of the magnitude of the inducement. The foundation for this high sentiment finds its initiative in the home. Home life is the citadel and bulwark of every race's moral light. The ruler of home is mother. A faithful, virtuous and intelligent motherhood will elevate any people. The impressive mother follows her children to the grave when her form is changed and her physical existence extinct. The footprints of her noble and pious life live long after her. Womanhood and manhood begin in the cradle and around the fireside. Mother's knee is truly the family altar. True patriotism, obedience and respect for law, both divine and civil, the love and yearning for the pure, the sublime and the good all emanate from mother's personality. If mother be good all the vices and shortcomings of father will fail to leave the children astray, but if mother is not what she should be, all of the holy influences of angels cannot save the children. I would urge them, as the first prerequisite for our work, a pure, pious and devoted motherhood. Secondly, a firm stand for right and truth in all things. Woman's power is her love. This pure flame lights up all around her. Her wishes and desires, men love to satisfy. There are many things in society, politics and religion that ambitious men would seek to obtain by all hazards, but when woman takes her stand against these things, she invariably wins. Our first stand must be for intelligence. No woman of today who is thirty years of age has the right to be queen of a home unless she is intelligent. In this advanced day to rear up a family by an illiterate woman might well be considered a crime. As a race, if we would possess the intelligence desired, our children must be kept in school and not allowed to roam idly through the streets when the school house is open. Most of the southern states, countless numbers of our people have been disenfranchised. Our educated women should institute a movement which will bring about compulsory education and a general reform in the educational system of the South. We need better schools and a higher standard of education for the masses. In our homes, homes, some literature, periodicals, papers and books must be had. Mother must be acquainted with these herself. She introduces the little ones to them by the story form. This catchy method soon engrosses their attention and they become wrapped up in them. Great care must be exercised in the selection of reading matter for our girls. Nothing is more hurtful than obscene literature. When our homes become intelligent we shall have intelligent statesmen, ministers and doctors. In fact, the whole regime that leads will be intelligent. In other words, women has their share. She must speak through husband, son, father, brother and lover. Men go from home into the world to execute what women has decreed. An educated wife formulates the political opinion of husband and son and though she may remain at home on election day, her views and opinions will find expression in the balance of the male members of her household. The same thing is true in the church. I shall not dictate what woman should do here or limit her sphere but this I know she can with propriety in her auxiliary work to the church she can become a mighty power. Women's missionary societies, Christian endeavors societies, Sabbath school work, etc. afford a broad field of labor for our educated women. Her activity in all things pertaining to racial advancement will be the mode of power in establishing firmly and intelligently an enlightened racial existence. An educated Negro woman must take her stand among the best and most enlightened women of all races and in so doing she must seek to be herself imitate no one when the imitation destroys the personal identity not only in dress are we imitated to the extreme but in manners and customs when our boys and girls become redeemed from these evils a great deal will have been accomplished in the elevation of our race. There are some noble women among other races whom we may associate with church, morality and deportment. Those women come not from the giddy and gay streets of London, Paris or New York but such women as Queen Victoria Helen Gould, Francis Willard and others these women have elevated society given tone and character to governments and other institutions they ornamented the church and blessed humanity. I can say with pride just here that we have many noble women in our own race whose lives and labors are the of emulation. Among them we found Francis Watkins Harper Sojourner Truth, Phyllis Wheatley Ida Wells Barnett and others our educated women should organize councils, federations literary organizations, societies of social purity and the like these would serve as great mediums in reaching the masses I cannot refrain from mentioning public or street decorum here woman as she glides through the busy and crowded thoroughfares of our great cities is eyed and watched by everyone it is here that she impresses the world of her real worth she can by her own acts surround herself with a wall of protection that the most vicious character would not dare attempt to scale or she can make it appear otherwise beware then mothers accompany your daughters as often as possible in public in this advanced stage if the Negro would scale the delectable heights of more highly favored races our women must unite in their endeavors to uplift the masses with concentration of thought and unity of action all things are possible these can affect victories when formidable armies and navies fail the role that the educated Negro woman must play in the elevation of a race is of vital importance there is no sphere into which your activities do not go gather then your forces of lofty height where you can behold the needs of your race adorn yourself with the habiliments of a successful warrior raise your voice for God and justice leave no stone unturned in your endeavor to route the forces of all opposition there is no height so elevated but what your influence can climb no depth so low but what your virtuous touch can purify however dark and foreboding the cloud may be the effulgent race from your faithful personality will dispel in their long Ethiopia's sons and daughters led by pious educated women will be elevated among the enlightened races of the world end of topic 10 fourth paper