ORGAN OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH IN AMERICA.
Voltdn
cT XXII.
Charlotte, N. C., Thursday, December 15, 1898.
- I \
Numbei
50.
RACE DISTURBANCES.
Bad Leadership the Cause of it
in North Carolina.
SITUATION PRACTICALLY DISCUSSED.
[Political extract from 3ishop J. W.
Hooj|s annual address del vered before
the central North Carolina Conference
in Carthage; N. C., two weeks ago.]
Turning from national to State
affairs! we have an object lesson
whicli we would do well to study
carefully and prayerfully. I am
astonished at myself when I think
how little I have been discouraged
or disturbed by the events which
have brought. sadness, sorrow and
gloom to many hearts. Except
ing the lawlessness, which ought
never to be expected in a Chris
tian country, the results of the
election are what might have been
anticipated by any one who has
made a study of political economy.
In thi^ State, the colored popula
tion is only one-third cf the entire
number; that is to say, there are
two white men' to every one black
man. If, therefore, a course is
pursued which induces the white
men to unite against the black
men, the minority party would
naturally have a poor chance.
So far as my leadership bas
been accepted I hav€ labored to
avoid this state of things. For a
long time it was avoided in North
Carolina, and in consequence
thereof a better state of feeling
between the races existed here
than elsewhere. In the town
where I reside it is still the case.
Notwithstanding the excitement
which we have heard cf elsewhere,
we have peace in Fayetteville. In
fact,
it has seemed to me that the
w7hitq people there have taken ex
traordinary pains to be pleasant,
notwithstanding every man voted
as he chose and bad his vote
counted as cast.
The condition of things in the
State at large is the lesult of bad
leadership. The colared people
of North Carolina have made two
very [great blunders. In 1881 we
r had the opportunity :o divide the
white vote so widely that it could
nevef have been consolidated
agaih—not on a political issue,
however, but on a great moral is
sue. I The best white people of
the State, regardless of party,
united with the best colored peo
. pie in favor of Prohi aition. That
movement looked t<j> me as the
Negroes’ great opportunity.
If the mass of our people could
havei been induced to vote for Pro
hibition and thus secured its adop
tion, the white people would have
seep that we could be depended
upeh to support suci measures as
tended to the best interest of the
State, and what ,we have now
passed through could never have
occurred. We should have had
an alliance with men worth stand
with—men of intelligence
worth and ch aracter—who
Id not have forsaken us when
could no longer use us. But
hat time the executive com
mg
and!
wo
they
at t
mittee of the Republican party
went out of_ their way to commit
the party to the rum interest, and
all sorts of lies were hatched to
scare the colored people. “Some
thing behind it,” “The cat in the
meal barrel,” “An effort to get
the colored people back into slav
ery,” and many other sayings too
numerous to mention were started
to get the colored people to vote
against Prohibition.
We were read out of the party
and our preachers generally who
favored Prohibition were de
nounced as enemies of the race,
and the attempt was made to
starve them into silence. The
drunken side of the Republican
party with the anti-Prohibitionists
generally succeeded in defeating
the measure, and the curse of God
has rested upon the party in this
State from that date to the pres
ent. I, to a large extent, lost
heart when that result was aecom
piisneu.
Four years ago another great
blunder was made. An alliance
was formed with the Populist par
ty. There are good men in that
party. There are good men in all
parties. But parties must be
judged by their principles. To my
mind there is not a plank in the
Populist national platform to
which an honest Republican can
subscribe. If there is a single
plank in that platform it is so
mized with rotten ones that it is a
source of weakness rather then
strength. The union with that
party was a great folly. I saw
it then almost as plainly as I do
now, T>ut protest amounted to
nothing. Those who were lead
ing, rushed on regardless of con
sequences, and we had to follow
or kick out of harness and again
be branded as enemies of the race,
and our usefulness hindered. I
have frequently had to suffer for
seeing five or ten years ahead of
some otner leaders.
The climax of folly was reached
when Judge Russell was made the
standard-bearer of the Republican
party in 1896. Every well-in
formed man in the State ought to
have known that nothing could
create so much bitterness as the
nomination of Judge Russell.
Whatever the cause—and Itdo not
pretend to be well informed on that
matter—there is no man in the
State who seems to be so greatly
hated as he. The only surprise on
my part is that the strife which
we have had recently did not occur
two years ago in connection with
that campaign, and Governor
Russell’s administration has not
tended to the promotion of a bet
ter feeling.
From the papers we learn that
one of the great reasons given for
the trouble in Wilmington was the
changing of the charter there, so
that the Governor might have the
appointment of some of the aider
men, which, to say the least, was
very unwise. It is a fact that
[continued on fifth page.]
DEAR BISHOP HARRIS.
Negroid Does Not Mean Any
More Than Afro-American.
THE TERM NEGRO GOOD ENOUGH.
The good Bishop C. 11. Harris
sententiously an d sarcastically
wishes to know if the term Ne
groid will satisfy Mr. Bruce-Grit,
who, with other fastidious critics,
is against the hybrid term “Afro
American.” Speaking for him
self, “Mr. Bruee-Grit” begs to
say to the learned Bishop Harris
that he believes in majority rule,
and is therefore against the adop
tion of this last miserable subter
fuge for the following reasons:
By the last census (1890) it was
shown that there were 7,470,040
people classed as Negroes, of
which number 6,j337,980 were pure
blacks or of African descent. Of
mulattoes—one-half Negro—956,
989; of quadroons—©ne-quarter
Negro—105,135; octoroons—one
eighth Negro—69,936; or a to
tal of “Afro-Americans,” “Ne
groids” and “Neithers,” of 1,132,
060. The Bishop will see with his
keen penetrating optics that the
proposition to saddle either of
these names upon the blacks is not
a fair olfe, since there gre 6,337,
980 blacks against a mere hand
ful of variously mixed people who
donot like the teifm “Negro.” The
Negro being in the majority nu
merically, has the right to object,
and will object, to any attempt of
this minority of nondescripts to
change his ethnological status by
fixing upon him a name which
does not properly describe him.
A Negro can no more be an “Af
ro-American” than ^“Afro-Amer
ican” can be a Negco.
The term “Colored” is equally
misleading an<l indefinite, and
doesn’t mean any more when used
to designate people of African de
scent than “A'fro-American” or
“Negroid,” wH'ich latter term im
plies, as does the first, an admix
lure o± uiuuu. i
The blacks are not worried
about these make-shift race names;
so far as the permanency of their
racial identity is concerned it is as
secure as the foundations of the
rock of Gibraltar. The name
“Negro” is the sign of our nation
al hope, and it will stick to all peo
ple of African descent as long as
God rules the universe and shapes
the destinies of races and individ
uals. The term “Negro” stands
for something, stands for a race to
whom God Almighty has given a
mission—a race with* a history be
hind it, and a future before it big
with promise. ,
All eminent writers and histori
ans concur in the opinion that the
ancient Ethiopians were Negroes.,
though perhapjs exhibiting the pe
culiar features, of the race in less
aggravated decree. But the au
thority of Herodotus is of most
weight, as he traveled in Egypt
and was therefore well acquainted
from his own. observation with
the appearancti of the people. In
his account of the people of Col
chis, he says they were a colony
of Egyptians, and supports his
opinion by this argument, that
“they were black in complexion
and woolly haired.” These are
the exact words (translated) used
in his description of undoubted
Negroes.
‘Eighteen out of three hundred
of these Ethiopians were Egyp
tian Sovereigns. As early as 1730
the chief of the Black Eunuchs of
the Porte, a man of great wisdom
and profound knowledge, was of
Negro or Ethiopian blood. He
was called Kislar Aga. In 1760
the English papers cited as a re
markable event the ordination of
a Negro by Dr. Keppal, Bishop of
Exeter. Among the Spaniards
and Portuguese it is of common
occurrence.
The history of the Congo gives
an account of a black Bishop who
studied at Rome.
*ine secretary or me Acaueuty
of Portugal—Correa de Serra—in
forms us that several Negroes
have beeD learned lawyers, preach
ers and professors, and that many
of them have been signalized by
their talents. In 1717 the Negro
Don Juar.i Latino taught the Latin
language at Saville. In 1734 An
thony William Amo, a Negro
from the coast of Guinea, took the
degree of Doctor in Philosophy at
the University of Wittemburg.
Two of his dissertations, according
to Bhimenbach, exhibit much well
digested knowledge of the best
physiological works of the time.
He was well versed in Astronomy
and spoke the Latin, Hebrew,
Greek, French, Dutch and Ger
man languages. In an account of
his life published by the Academic
Council of the University, his in
tegrity, talents, industry and eru
dition are highly commended.
One of the most remarkable
characters in the educational histo
ry of North Carolina was Rev.
John Chavis, a pure black, a grad
uate of Princeton, who conducted
a classical school for white youth.
He taught in Granville and Wake
and ’Chatham counties^ and his
school was patronized by many of
the most distinguished men in the
State. This was about 1805.
Prominent among his pupils were
Willie F. Magnum, Prestly Hin
ton Magnum, Archibald E. and
John L. Henderson, sons of Chief
Justice Henderson, Governor
Charles Manly, Rev. William
Harris, Dr. James L. Wortham,
the Edwardses, the Eulows and
the Hargraves. Many of his stu
dents became prominent as poli
ticians, lawyers, preachers, physi
cians and teachers. Rev. John
Chavis preached in many of the
white Presbyterian churches of
his State up to the Turner Insur
rection in Virginia, when the
Presbytery, for prudential reasons,
“retired him.”
1 citci these instances to show
that the Negro was in evidence in
this country and in Europe and had
[continued on fifth page.]
SOME LIVE TOPICS.
For the Next General Confer
ence™ Why Not Do These ?
KEY. W. A. BLACKWELL.
Since we must keiep the Pre
siding Elder’s System (and I love
it dearly) I submit that we do
away with the Conference Steward
and let the presiding elders collect
the general fund from the pastors
and report the same to the Gen
eral Steward. There is something
wrong or loose about our financial
system. The collection of general
fund monthly on circuits in farm
ing districts is a failure, and the
rallying of churches and pastors
by the Conference Steward is out
of the question, since he is simply
a pastor and does not superintend
the work.
The Presiding Elder’s office is
the most uncertain, and, possibly,
the hardest office to fill in the
church, because it needs definition.
Who knows any active duties at
tached to that office that may be
Eerformed without confusion ?
let’s elect no more presiding
elders, but let the Bishop appoint
them, and make them the stewards
to collect the general fund, or drop
the word “monthly,” and let the
pastor firing the money to the
conference, thus avoiding so much
confusion over either an imperfect
plan or an impossibility. Who
likes tms plans speak.
Let the Rev. W. EL Davenport,
A. B., of the “Northern country,”
be sent to take Brother Blalock’s
place at Wilmington, N. C. It’s
a big church, and Rev. Davenport
is a big, “brave,” “sarcastic”
man. He’ll just fill the order.
Come down, Brother Davenport.
Prof. W. F. Fonvielle, now of
Conway, S. C., then of Goldsboro,
N. C., is one of our very best
writers. I always read and enjoy
“Majors and Minors,” even if he
wants to talk about our “ Pause.”
Prof. J. A. Cunningham, of
Union, S. C., is a young man that
deserves to succeed, and will, if
given “a place whereon to stand.”
Prof. M. D. Lee, sometimes
“Rev.,” too, is hustling matters
at Lancaster, and students are
just “pouring in.” Come along;
we’ll try to make room.
Prof. R. J. Crockett, at Rock
Hill, thinks we have done admi
rably well to keep these little
unendowed, supported-by-charity
schools alive. I think so, too,
when I see the “professors” all
fat and jolly. I think they might
be hungry now.
The writer of “ Lights and
Shadows ” is another able fellow^
Mark him well! He’ll do to fill a
big place in our Church or one of
our schools. He is a most enter
taining writer.
Did you ever meet “Swamp
Angel?” He is one of the most
congenial, loving, jolly men you
ever saw. He has the ability to
make everybody fe«>l “One is your
Lord, and all ye are brethren.”
But, I tell you, if he drives ahead
as he was driving when we saw
him in Chester, S. G, he’s going
to make business out of Zion’s
Church Extension Society. Dr.
Warner deserves to succeed, and I
hope that the clarion notes sounded
by this “Angel of the Swamp”
will be heard and heeded in Zion
dom.
Well, boys and friends, “we
are doing business at the same
4 old stand,’ ” and if you should
take a notion to call, remember we
are here.
Lancaster, S. C.