Representative Sims’s objection to the phrase “of the colored race” precipitated a discussion throughout the country. The New York _Tribune_[43] made a canvass of a great many prominent Negroes and white persons to ascertain what they thought the Negro should be called. The result of its inquiry is this: An average of eleven Negroes out of twenty desired to be spoken of as Negroes. The other nine spurned the word as “insulting,” “contemptuous,” “degrading,” “vulgar.” Two argued for “Afro-American,” two for “Negro-American,” one for “black man,” and one was indifferent so long as he was not called “Nigger.” Of the white men interviewed, ten out of thirteen, on an average, preferred the word “Negro.” The Negroes made a specially strong plea for capitalizing the word “Negro,” saying that it was not fair to accord that distinction to their dwarfish cousins, the Negritos in the Philippines, and to the many savage tribes in Africa and deny it to the black man in America. They were also strongly opposed to the word “Negress” as applied to the women of their race. This, they asserted, is objectionable because of its historical significance. For in times of slavery, “Negress” was the term applied to a woman slave at an auction, in contradistinction to “buck,” which referred to a male slave. E. A. Johnson, Professor of Law in Shaw University, North Carolina, said: “The term ‘Afro-American’ is suggestive of an attempt to disclaim as far as possible our Negro descent, and casts a slur upon it. It fosters the idea of the inferiority of the race, which is an incorrect notion to instill into the Negro youth, whom we are trying to imbue with self-esteem and self-respect.” Rev. J. W. E. Bowen, to whom reference has already been made, said: “Let the Negroes, instead of bemourning their lot and fretting because they are Negroes and trying to escape themselves, rise up and wipe away the stain from this word by glorious and resplendent achievements. Good names are not given; they are made.” Rev. H. H. Proctor, pastor of the First Congregational Church, Atlanta, said: “What is needed is not to change the name of the people, but the people of the name. Make the term so honorable that men will consider it an honor to be called a Negro.” Rev. Walter H. Brooks, pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, Washington, wrote: “The black people of America have but to augment their efforts in lives of self-elevation and culture, and men will cease to reproach us by any name whatever.” Finally, Charles W. Anderson, Collector of Internal Revenue, New York, said: “I am, therefore, inclined to favor the use of ‘Negro,’ partly because to drop it would expose me to the charge of being ashamed of my race (and I hate any man who is ashamed of the race from which he sprung), and partly because I know that no name or term can confer or withhold relative rank in this life. All races and men must win equality of rating and status for themselves.”