澳门六合彩开奖直播

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentleman:

I cannot bring myself to feel that I am worthy of speaking to the members of the聽Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences on the occasion of the observation of the birthday聽of George Washington, the Father of our Country. Neither by education nor by experience am I fitted to perform such an important service. Occasions like the one which we聽celebrate tonight, that have to do with the great lives of the founders of the republic, are聽mainly valuable in giving us the opportunity to pause in the midst of our onward march, take聽our bearings, and learn lessons from the past that may perchance serve us greatly in the聽future.

Our republic is the outgrowth of the desire for liberty that is natural in every human聽breast 鈥� freedom of body, mind, and soul, and the most complete guarantee of the聽safety of life and property. It was the desire for liberty, ever burning in the hearts of the聽Pilgrim Fathers and the Quakers, that led them to cut loose from kindred and native land聽and risk the perils and hardships of an almost unsailed and unknown sea. It was the same聽aspiration that led these people in their new鈥攆ound home in America to resolve to聽make an effort to rid themselves of all connection with the mother country, because of聽political and economic restrictions. A spirit of freedom was kindled that soon manifested聽itself in every valley and on every hill from Massachusetts to Georgia. The cry for liberty聽came in equally emphatic tones from the Cavaliers of Jamestown as from the Puritans of聽Plymouth Rock. I need not take your time to remind you how, under the leadership of聽George Washington, the result sought for was secured through the Declaration of聽Independence, through Lexington, Concord, and Yorktown.

Still later in our country鈥檚 history we have another evidence of the growth of the聽sentiment of freedom in the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine, which, in a word, said聽that the United States would not only contend against the world for its freedom, but for the聽freedom of all governments upon the two American continents. Half a century later we find聽the Southern section of our country entering into a political and physical war in a contention聽for freedom in the control of domestic and state policies, and still later we find ourselves demanding, at the point of the sword, the freedom of our neighbors, the Cubans.

During all the period that the majority and dominant races were contending for the聽most complete and perfect freedom and independence, there were living by their side two聽other races, different in color and different in history 鈥� the Indian and the Negro. The聽red man refused, in a large degree, to serve the white man as a slave, refused as a general聽thing to assimilate the white man鈥檚 civilization, and refused, even when he had the聽opportunity, to enter into sympathetic cooperation with the government instituted by the conquering race. Strange to relate, during all the years in which the white American was聽making such heroic struggles of his own freedom, at nearly every point at which the lives of聽the red man and the white man touched each other there either was war between the two聽or injustice and oppression shown in the original American. The result is that because of聽oppression, or inability to stand the contact with a stronger and more numerous race, the聽Indian recedes and diminishes.

At any rate, you have so far practised absorption, colonization, or extermination, that聽the problem growing out of the presence and influence of the red man is small in聽comparison with the scope and depth of your other race problem. That is to say, in one聽way or another, you have got the Indian out of the range of your vision. And in this country聽it seems to be the fashion to consider a problem solved when we get it out of our sight to聽such an extent that its existence is unobtrusive and our consciences are eased.

Our most recent experiment in the way of race accessions 鈥� the Filipino 鈥擨 shall not, on this occasion, discuss, for the reason that you seem as yet to be quite聽undecided as to how and where he shall be classed 鈥� that is, whether you will rate聽him as a black man or a white man. Just now the Filipino seems to be going through the聽interesting process of being carefully examined. If he can produce hair that is long enough聽and nose and feet that are small enough, I think the Filipino will be designated and treated聽as a white man; otherwise he will be assigned to my race. If I were to consider the question聽purely from a selfish standpoint, I should urge that our new subjects be classed as聽Negroes; but if I were to consider unselfishly the peace of mind of the Filipino himself, I聽should hope that he be so classified that, in addition to all his other trials, he will not struggle聽through all future generations considered and looked upon as a problem, instead of a man.聽But this is a digression from the trend of our discussion. In the year 1620, just about聽the time when the sentiment in favor of national freedom was at its height, in some way a聽few members of my own race 鈥� twenty in number, it is said 鈥� were landed at聽Jamestown and were sold into physical bondage. The first representatives of your race聽preceded the first of mine by less than a score of years, if you reckon the landing of the聽English at Jamestown 鈥� the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in the same year 鈥斅�1620.

Caesar, writing of the people out of which your race grew, describing them as he found聽them in England, says: “The inhabitants do not for the most part sow corn, but live on聽milk and flesh, and clothe themselves in skins. All the Britons stain themselves with a聽pigment which produces a blue color, and gives them a most formidable appearance in聽battle. They wear their hair long. Ten or twelve have wives in common.” Another聽historian says of these people: “They appeared rambling about their islands with long聽beards like goats, clad in dark garments reaching to heels, and leaning upon staves. Their聽only navigation is in small boats of twisted osier covered with leather.”

Two thousand years later 鈥� in round numbers 鈥� another explorer and聽historian, writing of the Africans 鈥� the stock out of which my race grew 鈥� has聽this to say of them (I quote from Dr. Livingstone): “I had been in closer contact with聽heathenism than I had ever been before; and although all, including the chief were as kind聽and attentive to me as possible, and there was no want of food, oxen being slaughtered聽daily, more than sufficient for the wants of all of us, yet to endure the dancing, roaring, and聽singing, the jesting, anecdotes, grumbling, quarreling and murdering of these children of聽nature, seemed more like a severe penance than anything I had ever before met with in my聽course.”

We come thus to the point where these two races, so unlike in physical appearance but聽so similar in their primitive life, meet. One becomes the owner, the other the slave. It is聽interesting, and perhaps instructive, to note that during the greater part of the period in聽which agitation and struggle were kept up for the most complete freedom for the white聽race, another and growing race was being held in servitude by the very people seeking聽liberty for themselves. Even George Washington, whose birthday we celebrate, held slaves聽while he fought for freedom.

For nearly two hundred and fifty years the two races remained in close contact with聽each other in the capacity of master and servant. What was the result of this contact on the聽enslaved? I confine myself to a statement of cold, bare facts when I say that when the聽Negro went into slavery, he was a pagan; when he ended his period of bondage he had a聽reasonably clear conception of the Christian religion. When he went into slavery he was聽without anything which might properly be called a language; when he came out of slavery聽he was able to speak the English tongue with force and intelligence. Moreover, when he聽entered slavery he had little working knowledge of agriculture, mechanics, or household聽duties; when he emerged from the condition of a chattel he was almost the entire聽dependence in a large section of our country for agricultural, mechanical, and domestic聽labor.

In spite of many wrongs and frequent cruelties, when the two races faced each other in聽their new relations at the end of slavery, there was a certain attachment and bond of聽sympathy existing between the individuals that composed them that few people outside of聽the slave states could understand or appreciate.

Unlike the Indian, unlike the original Mexican or the Hawaiian, the Negro, so far from聽dying out when in contact with a stronger and different race, continued to increase in聽numbers to such an extent that, whereas the race entered bondage twenty in number, at the聽end of the slave period there were more than four million representatives. In addition to that聽the race has continued to grow in numbers in a state of freedom until there are now more聽than nine millions. So I want to emphasize the truth that whether we are of Northern or of聽Southern birth, whether we are black or white, whether with or without sympathy for the聽colored man, we must face frankly, gravely, sensibly, the hard, stubborn fact that in聽bondage and in freedom, in ignorance and in intelligence, the Negro, in spite of all聽predictions and scientific conclusions to the contrary, has continued year by year to聽increase in numbers, until he now forms about one eighth of the entire population, and that聽there are no signs that are based upon proper evidence that the same ratio of increase that聽has obtained in the past will not hold good in the future. Further than this, in spite of聽setbacks here and discouragements there, despite alternate loss and gain, despite all the聽changing, uncertain conditions through which the race has passed and is passing, you will聽find that every year since the black man came into this country, whether in bondage or in聽freedom, he has made a steady gain in acquiring property, skill, habits of industry,聽education, and Christian character.

But now we have the two races in contact with each other, not as master and slave,聽but as freemen, with equal rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and sheltered by the same聽flag.

If one had asked Caesar when he first discovered your forefathers in the condition that聽has been described, if in two thousand years, they could be transformed into the condition聽in which they are now found in America, the answer doubtless would have been an聽emphatic “No.” If one had asked Livingstone, when he first saw my forefathers聽in Africa, if in the fifty years that have elapsed since then, or even in the two hundred and聽fifty years that have passed since the first African was brought to this country, a young聽Negro would be the class orator at Harvard University, the answer doubtless would have聽been a “No” 鈥� as emphatic as Caesar鈥檚.

In mathematics and in the physical sciences we can lay down definite聽hard鈥攁nd鈥攆ast rules, can be sure that a certain thing will be true tomorrow聽because it was true five hundred years ago, but in the evolution of races and nations it is聽hardly possible to be guided by or to reckon by mathematical rules. In fact, the higher one聽ascends, the further he gets away from the material, and the more nearly he approaches the聽intellectual and spiritual life, the more uncertainty surrounds him. The two races, facing each聽other in a state of freedom thirty鈥攕even years ago, presented, we must聽acknowledge, a problem of life which could not be found anywhere in the history of the聽world. It was not left us, then, to be definitely guided by the mistakes or failures of others,聽but it became our duty to blaze, as it were, a path through a wilderness.聽While, as I have stated, in dealing with races one cannot be guided by definite聽formulas, yet I do believe that study of the history of the races of the world, together with a聽close observation of the character and history of these two races during a period of two聽hundred and fifty years in America, ought to enable us to reach a few conclusions with聽some degree of correctness.

The Negro has lived for over two centuries in the midst of the people who from pulpit聽to rostrum, through the press and in school, in legislative halls and on many a battlefield,聽have been constantly upholding the doctrine that the most complete development of each聽human being can come only through his being permitted to exercise the most complete聽freedom compatible with the freedom of others. Under these conditions the Negro naturally聽has wrought into every fiber of his being a belief that if freedom is good for one race, it is聽equally helpful and necessary to the well鈥攂eing of others. It is impossible that the聽impassioned plea of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death,” should聽have had no influence upon our black citizens. If the black man did not have in him that聽which spurred him toward the acquiring of those qualities which you consider most聽essential, neither the white man at the North nor the white man at the South would have any聽respect for him or confidence in his future.聽This, then, after a long introduction to a short sermon, brings me to the pith of what I聽want to say:

What is liberty for a race, and how is it to be obtained?聽In this respect we must bear in mind the words of another, that freedom in its highest聽and broadest sense can never be a bequest; it must be a conquest.

Black men must not deceive themselves or from others suffer deception. There are聽several kinds of freedom. There is a freedom that is apparent, and one that is real; a聽superficial freedom, and one that is substantial; a freedom that is temporary and deceptive,聽and one that is abiding and permanent; one that ministers to the lower appetites and聽passions, and another that encourages growth in the higher and sweeter things of life聽鈥� a freedom that is forced, and one that is the result of struggle, forbearance, and聽self-sacrifice. But there is but one kind of freedom that is worth the name, and that is聽the one embodied in the words spoken centuries ago by the Great Master: “And ye聽shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” We can benefit a race only聽as we can an individual, and that is by dealing honestly, truthfully with it 鈥� by giving it聽that truth which shall make it free indeed.

It is my purpose this evening to take a historical, philosophical, and fundamental view聽of the Negro question. I do this because, in building a house, the main thing is to get the聽foundation laid correctly, to get it started upon the rock and not upon the sand, to be sure聽that the principal timbers are sound and true to measurement. Or, changing the metaphor,聽to say with Longfellow, of the ship:

We know what Master laid thy keel, / What workman wrought thy ribs of steel, / Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, / What anvils rang, what hammers beat, / In what a forge and what a heat, / Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! / Fear not each sudden sound and shock, / 鈥橳is of the wave and not the rock;聽鈥橳is but the flapping of the sail, / And not a rent made by the gale.

In the development of a race there are many temporary, local, and side issues to which聽one can devote himself if he so choose. On the other hand he can aim to keep true, in the聽main, to matters more fundamental and far鈥攔eaching, and trust in a large degree to聽time for a growth in the sense of justice 鈥� trust to time for the logical and natural聽readjustment of all human rights around any worthy and deserving race, which can never be聽permanently resisted.聽The dreamers who gaze while we battle the waves聽May see us in sunshine or shade;聽Yet true to our course, though our shadow grows dark,聽We鈥檒l trim our broad sails as before,聽And stand by the rudder that governs the bark,聽Nor ask how we look from the shore!

But to return to the main point. What is freedom, and how obtained?聽The child who wants to spend time in play, rather than in study, mistakes play for聽freedom. The spendthrift who parts with his money as soon as it is received mistakes聽spending for freedom. The young man who craves the right to drink and gamble mistakes聽debauchery for freedom. The man who claims the right to idle away his days upon the聽street, rather than to spend them in set hours of labor, mistakes loafing for freedom. And聽so, all through human experience, we find that the highest and most complete freedom聽comes slowly, and is purchased only at a tremendous cost. Freedom comes through聽seeming restriction. Those are most truly free today who have passed through great聽discipline. Those persons are in the United States who are most truly free in body, mind,聽morals, are those who have passed through the most severe training 鈥� are those who聽have exercised the most patience and, at the same time, the most dogged persistence and聽determination.

To deal more practically and directly with the affairs of my own race, I believe that聽both the teachings of history as well as the results of everyday observation should convince聽us that we shall make our most enduring progress by laying the foundation carefully,聽patiently in the ownership of the soil, the exercise of habits of economy, the saving of聽money, the securing of the most complete education of hand and head, and the cultivation聽of Christian virtues. There is nothing new or startling in this. It is the old, old road that all聽races that have got upon their feet and have remained there have had to travel.聽Standing as I do today before this audience, when the very soul of my race is aching, is聽seeking for guidance as perhaps never before, I say deliberately that I know no other road.聽If I knew how to find more speedy and prompt relief, I should be a coward and a聽hypocrite if I did not point the way to it.

Efforts in other directions may assist and bring stimulation, but after all for permanent聽success and growth we must, in my opinion, go back to and depend upon the basic聽principles to which I have referred. In the case of a diseased person, when the blood is聽once purified and the body cleansed, it is surprising to note how soon nature will cure all聽the minor and temporary ills that grow out of an abnormal blood.

As a slave the Negro was worked. As a freeman he must learn to work. There is a聽vast difference between working and being worked. Being worked means degradation;聽working means civilization. There is still doubt in many quarters as to the ability of the聽Negro unguided, unsupported, to hew his own path and put into visible, tangible,聽indisputable form products and signs of civilization. This doubt cannot be much affected by聽mere abstract arguments, no matter how delicately and convincingly woven together.聽Patiently, quietly, doggedly, persistently, through summer and winter, sunshine and shadow,聽by self鈥攕acrifice, by foresight, by honesty and industry, we must reinforce argument聽with results. One farm bought, one house built, one home sweetly and intelligently kept, one聽man who is the largest taxpayer or has the largest bank account, one school or church聽maintained, one factory running successfully, one truck garden profitably cultivated, one聽patient cured by a Negro doctor, one sermon well preached, one office well filled, one life聽cleanly lived 鈥� these will tell more in our favor than all the abstract eloquence that聽can be summoned to plead our cause. Our pathway must be up through the soil, up聽through swamps, up through forests, up through the streams, the rocks, up through聽commerce, education, and religion.

If you ask me to state in detail just what will happen, and how and when it will happen聽鈥� just what attitude each race will assume toward the other, and how each will act in聽a given case, when the conditions of growth on which I have laid emphasis have been聽fulfilled 鈥� if you ask this of me, I must answer frankly that I do not know. One can聽no more tell that than he can tell the day and the hour when the corn will ripen. We only聽know that if conditions prescribed by nature are complied with, at some time in some聽manner the corn will ripen and be gathered into the garner. Duty is with us; results are with聽God.

I have referred to the task that my race must perform if it would effectually emancipate聽itself. But there is another side. The white race, North and South, also has a duty and a聽serious responsibility.

In connection with our presence in this country, it should always be borne in mind that,聽unlike other races, we not only were forced to come into this country against our will, but聽were brought here in the face of our most earnest protest. Both as slaves and as freemen聽we have striven to serve the interests of this country as best we could. We have cleared聽forests, builded railways, tunneled mountains, grown the cotton and the rice, and we have聽always stood ready to defend the flag. We have never disturbed the country by riots,聽strikes, or lock鈥攐uts. Ours has been a peaceful, faithful service and life.聽In the face of all this I cannot believe, I will not believe, that a country that invites into聽its midst every type of European, from the highest to the very dregs of the earth, and gives聽these comers shelter, protection, and the highest encouragement will refuse to accord the聽same protection and encouragement to her black citizens. I repeat here what I have often聽said in the South. The Negro seeks no special privileges. All that he asks is opportunity聽鈥� that the same law which is made by the white man and applied to the one race be聽applied with equal certainty and exactness to the other.

And when I say this, I repeat also that which I have said directly to the members of聽more than one state constitutional convention in the South 鈥� namely, that any revised聽state constitution that is capable of being twisted into one interpretation when an ignorant聽white man is concerned and another when an ignorant black man is concerned will not聽represent entire justice or the highest statesmanship. These new constitutions should place a聽premium upon good citizenship for both races, and wherever they fail to do this, they are聽weak and are not in accord with the best interests of the state.

When in any country there are laws which are not respected, which are trampled under聽foot and made to mean one thing when applied to one race and another thing when applied聽to another race, there is not only injustice for which in the end the nation must pay the聽penalty, but there is hardening and blunting of the conscience, there is sapping of the growth聽of human beings in kindness, justice, and all the higher, purer, and sweeter things in life. No聽race can degrade another without degrading itself. No race can assist in lifting up another聽without itself being broadened and made more Christ-like.

Before I conclude, I want to make one request and suggestion, and I do so with all the聽earnestness of my soul 鈥� with a full knowledge and realization of the present聽condition and anxieties of my race. That request is that you white men of the North and the聽white men of the South approach the solution of the Negro question with coolness, with聽that calmness, that deliberation, and that sense of justice and foresight with which you聽approach any other problem in business or national affairs. On most other subjects white聽men use their reason, not their feelings; but in considering the subject of the colored man, in聽most cases, there are evidences of passion 鈥� a tendency to exaggerate and to make聽a sensation out of the most innocent and the most meaningless events. This is not the way聽to settle great national questions. While the North and the South argue in heated passion,聽the Negro suffers.

We must not grow disappointed or despondent because, forsooth, all that was hoped聽for thirty-five years ago has not taken place just exactly as we wish, or as had been聽planned. Man鈥檚 way is not always God鈥檚 way. The Ten Commandments and the Golden聽Rule were proclaimed centuries ago, and yet with all his growth and strivings, the聽Anglo-Saxon, citing him as an example, has not, I think you will agree with me,聽reached the point where he is living up to them in daily life. And yet, because of this failure,聽no one has yet been bold enough to propose that we should repeal the Ten聽Commandments and the Golden Rule. Every government, like every individual, must have a聽standard of perfection that is immovable, unchangeable, applicable to all races, rich and聽poor, black and white, towards which its people must continually strive.

I believe the time has come 鈥� and I believe it is a perfectly practical thing聽鈥� when a group of representative Southern white men and Northern white men and聽Negroes should meet and consider with the greatest calmness and business sagacity the聽whole subject as viewed from every point. When there is division, when there is doubt on聽other great questions, this method is followed. Why not in this?

The age for settling great questions, either social or national, with the shotgun, the聽torch, and by lynchings, has passed. An appeal to such methods is unworthy of either race.聽I may be in doubt about some things connected with our future, but of one thing I feel聽perfectly sure, and that is that ignorance and race hatred are no solution for any problem on聽earth. No one can ever lift up a race by continually calling attention to its weak points. The聽Negro, like other races, should be judged in a large degree by its best element, rather than聽by its weakest.

It is hard to find those who can be so far control themselves as to discuss this subject聽with complete absence of prejudice. In most cases there is an effort to prove the Negro a聽devil or an angel. He is neither, but just an ordinary human being. I deplore the spirit and聽the disposition of any person who can extract seeming comfort out of the habit of聽continually dwelling upon the mistakes and weak points of any individual or race, without聽trying to suggest a remedy for those mistakes and weaknesses. Anyone who is guilty of聽doing this lives among the briars, the thorns, the stubble and the stumps of life. He who is聽not content with cold, captious, negative criticism, but enters with body and soul into聽positive, progressive effort to strengthen and make more useful the most unfortunate of聽God鈥檚 creatures, is the individual who is living in green groves and who is continually聽drinking in the sweet fragrance that comes from beautiful flowers.

When measured by the standard of eternal, or even present, justice, that race is聽greatest that has learned to exhibit the greatest patience, the greatest self-control,聽the greatest forbearance, the greatest interest in the poor, in the unfortunate 鈥� that聽has been able to live up in a high and pure atmosphere, and to dwell above hatred and acts聽of cruelty. He who would be the greatest among us must become the least.聽Though often beset behind and before, and on the right hand and on the left, with聽difficulties that would seem well-nigh insurmountable, I have the most complete faith聽in the ultimate adjustment of all the perplexing questions that weigh heavily upon us. More聽and more, as a race, we are learning to exclaim with one of old:聽The stormy billows are high; their fury is mighty,聽But the Lord is above them, and almighty and almighty.