Twentieth century Negro literature : $b or, A cyclopedia of thought on the vital topics relating to the American Negro
History
Twentieth century Negro literature : $b or, A cyclopedia of thought on the vital topics relating to the American Negro
African Americans -- History
(10) Not the least fruitful of all of the causes of the Negro's
excessive mortality, is a lack of _resistance_ to disease, engendered
by the social conditions that obtain in the Southland. There he is so
oppressed and persecuted that he finds himself not only an easy prey
to disease, but an early victim to death. He has little to live for,
and his religion promises him much after death, which, in a sense, he
welcomes as a relief from his trials and troubles. This statement will
not appear exaggerated when one considers the powerful influence that
the mind has over the body. A cheerful, hopeful, contented mind,
predisposes to a healthy body, and conversely, a discontented and
despairful mind, interferes with the vital functions and invites
disease and death.
(11) Lastly, in a consideration of the relatively high mortality of
the Negro in the cities of the South, considerable weight must be
given to the _contracted_ death-rate of the whites due to their
superior social and financial condition. Their environments are, as a
rule, as healthful as education can suggest and as money can obtain,
and when disease overtakes them, they combat it not only with the
skill of science, but with the power of will. The incentives of life,
so lacking for the colored people, are theirs in all of their
plenitude. The earth is theirs and the fullness thereof, and there is
no power therein that they may not covet. This feeling, this
knowledge, becomes _vis-a-mente_ that proves a potential factor in
their struggle with disease. Despite this powerful influence however,
and because of it, the _morbidity_ of the white man in this country is
great. I venture the assertion that his morbidity far exceeds that of
the Negro--not because he is more prone to disease, but because he is
enabled to live longer with disease on account of the influences to
which allusion has already been made. The plain fact is, the Negro
dies sooner and the white man lives longer with disease, which
presents the unique question: Is it not more advantageous to the
public good to die of a disease and be buried safely and deeply
beneath the soil than to live with it and thus increase the
opportunities of disseminating it?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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