The Future of the American NegroWashington, Booker T.
History
The Future of the American Negro
Washington, Booker T.
African Americans
Population--Emigration to the North--Morality North and
South--Dangers: 1. incendiary advice; 2. mob violence; 3.
discouragement; 4. newspaper exaggeration; 5. lack of education;
6. bad legislation--Negroes must identify with best interests of
the South--Unwise missionary work--Wise missionary work--
Opportunity for industrial education--The good standing of
business-educated Negroes in the South--Religion and
morality--Justice and appreciation coming for the Negro
race as it proves itself worthy.
CHAPTER I.
In this volume I shall not attempt to give the origin and history of
the Negro race either in Africa or in America. My attempt is to deal
only with conditions that now exist and bear a relation to the Negro
in America and that are likely to exist in the future. In discussing
the Negro, it is always to be borne in mind that, unlike all the other
inhabitants of America, he came here without his own consent; in fact,
was compelled to leave his own country and become a part of another
through physical force. It should also be borne in mind, in our
efforts to change and improve the present condition of the Negro, that
we are dealing with a race which had little necessity to labour in its
native country. After being brought to America, the Negroes were
forced to labour for about 250 years under circumstances which were
calculated not to inspire them with love and respect for labour. This
constitutes a part of the reason why I insist that it is necessary to
emphasise the matter of industrial education as a means of giving the
black man the foundation of a civilisation upon which he will grow and
prosper. When I speak of industrial education, however, I wish it
always understood that I mean, as did General Armstrong, the founder
of the Hampton Institute, for thorough academic and religious training
to go side by side with industrial training. Mere training of the hand
without the culture of brain and heart would mean little.
The first slaves were brought into this country by the Dutch in 1619,
and were landed at Jamestown, Virginia. The first cargo consisted of
twenty. The census taken in 1890 shows that these twenty slaves had
increased to 7,638,360. About 6,353,341 of this number were residing
in the Southern States, and 1,283,029 were scattered throughout the
Northern and Western States. I think I am pretty safe in predicting
that the census to be taken in 1900 will show that there are not far
from ten millions of people of African descent in the United States.
The great majority of these, of course, reside in the Southern States.
The problem is how to make these millions of Negroes self-supporting,
intelligent, economical and valuable citizens, as well as how to bring
about proper relations between them and the white citizens among whom
they live. This is the question upon which I shall try to throw some
light in the chapters which follow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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