The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His AchievementsBrown, William Wells
History
The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements
Brown, William Wells
African Americans -- Biography
The idea of colonizing the slaves in some other country, outside of the
United States, seems the height of folly. Whatever may be the mineral
wealth of a country, or the producing capabilities of the soil, neither
can be made available without the laborer. Four millions of strong
hands cannot be spared from the Southern States. All time has shown
that the negro is the best laborer in the tropics.
The slaves once emancipated and left on the lands, four millions of
new consumers will spring into existence. Heretofore, the bondmen have
consumed nothing scarcely from the north. The cost of keeping a slave
was only about nineteen dollars per annum, including food, clothing,
and doctors' bills. Negro cloth, negro shoes, and negro whips were
all that were sent south by northern manufacturers. Let slavery be
abolished, and stores will be opened and a new trade take place with
the blacks south. Northern manufacturers will have to run on extra
time till this new demand will have been supplied. The slave owner,
having no longer an inducement to be idle, will go to work, and will
not have time to concoct treason against the _stars and stripes_. I
cannot close this appeal without a word about the free blacks in the
non-slaveholding states.
The majority of the colored people in the Northern States descended
from slaves: many of them were slaves themselves. In education, in
morals, and in the development of mechanical genius, the free blacks
of the Northern States will compare favorably with any laboring class
in the world. And considering the fact that we have been shut out, by
a cruel prejudice, from nearly all the mechanical branches, and all
the professions, it is marvellous that we have attained the position
we now occupy. Notwithstanding these bars, our young men have learned
trades, become artists, gone into the professions, although bitter
prejudice may prevent their having a great deal of practice. When it is
considered that they have mostly come out of bondage, and that their
calling has been the lowest kind in every community, it is still more
strange that the colored people have amassed so much wealth in every
state in the Union. If this is not an exhibition of capacity, I don't
understand the meaning of the term. And if true patriotism and devotion
to the cause of freedom be tests of loyalty, and should establish one's
claim to all the privileges that the government can confer, then surely
the black man can demand his rights with a good grace. From the fall
of Attucks, the first martyr of the American revolution in 1770, down
to the present day, the colored people have shown themselves worthy of
any confidence that the nation can place in its citizens in the time
that tries men's souls. At the battle of Bunker Hill, on the heights of
Groton, at the ever-memorable battle of Red Bank, the sable sons of our
country stood side by side with their white brethren. On Lakes Erie and
Champlain, on the Hudson, and down in the valley of the Mississippi,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account