| 6546 DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Day at Arlington, 1871—│Speech delivered there—National colored convention at
New Orleans,│1872—Elector at large for the State of New York—Death of Hon.│
Henry Wilson.
483.2-5: [Chapter title and summary:] Retrospection.│Meeting of colored
citizens in Washington to express their sympathy│at the great national bereavement
the death of President Garfield—│Concluding reflections and convictions.
516.17-518.26: ['chance in the race of life.' is followed by eight paragraphs:]
Do I hear you ask in a tone of despair if this time will│ever come to our people
in America? The question is not│new to me. I have tried to answer it many times
and in│many places, when the outlook was less encouraging than│now. There was
a time when we were compelled to walk by│faith in this matter, but now, I think,
we may walk by sight.│Notwithstanding the great and all-abounding darkness of
our│past, the clouds that still overhang us in the moral and social│sky, the defects
inherited from a bygone condition of servitude,│it is the faith of my soul that this
brighter and better day will│yet come. But whether it shall come late or come soon
will│depend mainly upon ourselves.
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial
and eternal. We shall reap as we sow.│There is no escape. The conditions of success
are universal│and unchangeable. The nation or people which shall comply with
them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps disappear
altogether. No power beneath the│sky can make an ignorant, wasteful, and idle
people prosper-│ous, or a licentious people happy.
One ground of hope for my people is founded upon the returns of the last
census. One of the most disheartening│ethnological speculations concerning us
has been that we shall│die out; that, like the Indian, we shall perish in the blaze of
Caucasian civilization. The census sets that heresy concern- ing us to rest. We are
more than holding our own in all the│southern states. We are no longer four millions
of slaves,│but six millions of freemen.
Another ground of hope for our race is in the progress of education. Everywhere
in the south the colored man is learn-│ing to read. None now denies the ability of
the colored race│to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to
the human understanding by letters. Our colored schools in the city of Washington
compare favorably with the white│schools, and what is true of Washington is
equally true of│other cities and towns of the south. Still another ground of│hope
I find in the fact that colored men are strong in their│gratitude to benefactors, and
firm in their political convictions.│They cannot be coaxed or driven to vote with
their enemies│against their friends.
Nothing but the shot-gun or the bull-dozer's whip can│keep them from voting
their convictions. Then another ground of│hope is that as a general rule we are
an industrious people.│I have traveled extensively over the south, and almost the
only│people I saw at work there were the colored people. In any fair condition of
things the men who till the soil will become│proprietors of the soil. Only arbitrary | 6546 DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Day at Arlington, 1871-│Speech delivered there-National colored convention at
New Orleans,│1872-Elector at large for the State of New York-Death of Hon.│
Henry Wilson.
483.2-5: [Chapter title and summary:] Retrospection.│Meeting of colored
citizens in Washington to express their sympathy│at the great national bereavement
the death of President Garfield-│Concluding reflections and convictions.
516.17-518.26: ['chance in the race of life.' is followed by eight paragraphs:]
Do I hear you ask in a tone of despair if this time will│ever come to our people
in America? The question is not│new to me. I have tried to answer it many times
and in│many places, when the outlook was less encouraging than│now. There was
a time when we were compelled to walk by│faith in this matter, but now, I think,
we may walk by sight.│Notwithstanding the great and all-abounding darkness of
our│past, the clouds that still overhang us in the moral and social│sky, the defects
inherited from a bygone condition of servitude,│it is the faith of my soul that this
brighter and better day will│yet come. But whether it shall come late or come soon
will│depend mainly upon ourselves.
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial
and eternal. We shall reap as we sow.│There is no escape. The conditions of success
are universal│and unchangeable. The nation or people which shall comply with
them will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and perhaps disappear
altogether. No power beneath the│sky can make an ignorant, wasteful, and idle
people prosper-│ous, or a licentious people happy.
One ground of hope for my people is founded upon the returns of the last
census. One of the most disheartening│ethnological speculations concerning us
has been that we shall│die out; that, like the Indian, we shall perish in the blaze of
Caucasian civilization. The census sets that heresy concern- ing us to rest. We are
more than holding our own in all the│southern states. We are no longer four millions
of slaves,│but six millions of freemen.
Another ground of hope for our race is in the progress of education. Everywhere
in the south the colored man is learn-│ing to read. None now denies the ability of
the colored race│to acquire knowledge of anything which can be communicated to
the human understanding by letters. Our colored schools in the city of Washington
compare favorably with the white│schools, and what is true of Washington is
equally true of│other cities and towns of the south. Still another ground of│hope
I find in the fact that colored men are strong in their│gratitude to benefactors, and
firm in their political convictions.│They cannot be coaxed or driven to vote with
their enemies│against their friends.
Nothing but the shot-gun or the bull-dozer's whip can│keep them from voting
their convictions. Then another ground of│hope is that as a general rule we are
an industrious people.│I have traveled extensively over the south, and almost the
only│people I saw at work there were the colored people. In any fair condition of
things the men who till the soil will become│proprietors of the soil. Only arbitrary |
EN