Twentieth Century Negro Literature Part 23

She has twice been invited to address the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation at its annual convention in Was.h.i.+ngton.

Her public utterances have always made a profound impression on her hearers and no speakers a.s.sociated with her have received more applause from audiences or higher praise from the public press than herself. Not many years ago when Congress, by resolution granted power to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to appoint two women on the Board of Education for the public schools, Mrs. Terrell was one of the women appointed. She served in the board for five years with great success and signal ability.

Mrs. Terrell is the only woman who has ever held the office of President of the Bethel Literary and Historical a.s.sociation at Was.h.i.+ngton, the foremost and oldest Lyceum established and controlled by colored people in America. Her splendid work as presiding officer of this organization had much to do with her other subsequent success in attaining similar positions in other bodies of deliberation.

Mrs. Terrell's life has been an interesting one. She was born in Memphis, Tenn., of well-to-do parents.

She graduated at Oberlin College in 1884 with the degree of A. B. In 1888 she received the degree of A. M. from Oberlin.

She was for a while a teacher at Wilberforce University at Xenia, Ohio. In 1887 she was appointed teacher of languages in the Colored High School at Was.h.i.+ngton. She went abroad for further study and travel in 1888 and remained in Europe two years, spending the time in France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. She resumed her work in Was.h.i.+ngton in 1890. In 1891 she was offered the registrars.h.i.+p of Oberlin College, being the first woman of her race to whom such a position was ever tendered by an inst.i.tution so widely known and of such high standard. This place was declined because of her approaching marriage. In 1891 she was married to Mr. Robert H. Terrell, who is a graduate of Howard College and who was recently appointed by President Roosevelt to a Federal Judges.h.i.+p in the District of Columbia, being one of the two colored men first to receive this high distinction. Mrs.

Terrell has a daughter whom she has named Phyllis, in honor of Phyllis Wheatley, the black woman whose verses received the commendation of George Was.h.i.+ngton and many other distinguished men of her time.

Mrs. Terrell is now engaged by a lecture bureau. She has traveled extensively in the West, speaking before large audiences and everywhere her talks have received the highest praise. The Danville, Ill., "Daily News," speaking of her address before the Chautauqua of that town, says:

"Mrs. Terrell's addresses are the pure gold with less dross of nonsense than any lecturer that has come upon the stage at this Chautauqua. From the first word to the last she has something to say, and says it as a cultured lady in the best of English, which has no tinge of the high falootin or the sensational. Such speakers are rare. She should be paid to travel as a model of good English and good manners."

Mrs. Terrell's eloquent utterances and chaste diction make a deep impression, which must have influence in the final shaping of the vexed problems that confront the Negro race in this country. Her exceptional attainments and general demeanor are a wonderful force in eradicating the prejudice against colored women. She is making an opening for her sisters as no one else is doing or has over done.

Should any one ask what special phase of the Negro's development makes me most hopeful of his ultimate triumph over present obstacles, I should answer unhesitatingly, it is the magnificent work the women are doing to regenerate and uplift the race. Judge the future of colored women by the past since their emanc.i.p.ation, and neither they nor their friends have any cause for anxiety.

For years, either banding themselves into small companies or struggling alone, colored women have worked with might and main to improve the condition of their people. The necessity of systematizing their efforts and working on a larger scale became apparent not many years ago and they decided to unite their forces. Thus it happened that in the summer of 1896 the National a.s.sociation of Colored Women was formed by the union of two large organizations, each of which has done much to show our women the advantage of concerted action. So tenderly has this daughter of the organized womanhood of the race been nurtured and so wisely ministered unto, that it has grown to be a child hale, hearty and strong, of which its fond mothers have every reason to be proud. Handicapped though its members have been, because they lacked both money and experience, their efforts have, for the most part, been crowned with success in the twenty-six States where it has been represented.

Kindergartens have been established by some of our organizations, from which encouraging reports have come. A sanitarium with a training school for nurses has been set on such a firm foundation by the Phyllis Wheatley Club of New Orleans, Louisiana, and has proved itself to be such a blessing to the entire community that the munic.i.p.al government has voted it an annual appropriation of several hundred dollars. By the Tuskegee, Alabama, branch of the a.s.sociation the work of bringing the light of knowledge and the gospel of cleanliness to their poor benighted sisters on the plantations has been conducted with signal success. Their efforts have thus far been confined to four estates, comprising thousands of acres of land, on which live hundreds of colored people, yet in the darkness of ignorance and the grip of sin, miles away from churches and schools.

Plans for aiding the indigent, orphaned and aged have been projected and in some instances have been carried into successful execution. One club in Memphis, Tennessee, has purchased a large tract of land, on which it intends to erect an old folk's home, part of the money for which has already been raised. Splendid service has been rendered by the Illinois Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, through whose instrumentality schools have been visited, truant children looked after, parents and teachers urged to co-operate with each other, rescue and reform work engaged in, so as to reclaim unfortunate women and tempted girls, public inst.i.tutions investigated, garments cut, made and distributed to the needy poor.

Questions affecting our legal status as a race are sometimes agitated by our women. In Tennessee and Louisiana colored women have several times pet.i.tioned the legislature of their respective States to repeal the obnoxious Jim Crow car laws. In every way possible we are calling attention to the barbarity of the convict lease system, of which Negroes and especially the female prisoners are the princ.i.p.al victims, with the hope that the conscience of the country may be touched and this stain on its escutcheon be forever wiped away. Against the one room cabin we have inaugurated a vigorous crusade. When families of eight or ten men, women and children are all huddled promiscuously together in a single apartment, a condition common among our poor all over the land, there is little hope of inculcating morality and modesty. And yet in spite of the fateful heritage of slavery, in spite of the manifold pitfalls and peculiar temptations to which our girls are subjected, and though the safeguards usually thrown around maidenly youth and innocence are in some sections entirely withheld from colored girls, statistics compiled by men not inclined to falsify in favor of my race show that immorality among colored women is not so great as among women in some foreign countries who are equally ignorant, poor and oppressed.

Believing that it is only through the home that a people can become really good and truly great the National a.s.sociation has entered that sacred domain. Homes, more homes, better homes, purer homes is the text upon which sermons have been and will be preached. There has been a determined effort to have heart to heart talks with our women that we may strike at the root of evils, many of which lie at the fireside. If the women of the dominant race, with all the centuries of education, culture and refinement back of them, with all the wealth of opportunity ever present with them, feel the need of a mother's congress, that they may be enlightened upon the best methods of rearing their children and conducting their homes, how much more do our women, from whom shackles have but yesterday been stricken, need information on the same vital subjects. And so the a.s.sociation is working vigorously to establish mothers' congresses on a small scale, wherever our women can be reached.

From this brief and meager account of the work which has been and is still being accomplished by colored women through the medium of their clubs, it is easy to observe how earnest and effective have been their efforts to elevate their race. No people need ever despair whose women are fully aroused to the duties which rest upon them and are willing to shoulder responsibilities which they alone can successfully a.s.sume.

The scope of our endeavors is constantly widening. Into the various channels of generosity and beneficence we are entering more and more every day.

Some of our women are now urging their clubs to establish day nurseries, a charity of which there is an imperative need. Thousands of our wage-earning mothers with large families dependent almost entirely upon them for support are obliged to leave their children all day, entrusted to the care of small brothers and sisters, or some good-natured neighbor who promises much, but who does little. Some of these infants are locked alone in the room from the time the mother leaves in the morning, until she returns at night. Not long ago I read in a Southern newspaper that an infant thus locked alone in a room all day, while its mother went out to wash, had cried itself to death.

When one reflects upon the slaughter of the innocents which is occurring with pitiless persistency every day and thinks of the mult.i.tudes who are maimed for life or are rendered imbecile because of the treatment received during their helpless infancy, it is evident that by establis.h.i.+ng day nurseries colored women will render one of the greatest services possible to humanity and to the race.

Nothing lies nearer the heart of colored women than the children. We feel keenly the need of kindergartens and are putting forth earnest efforts to honey-comb this country with them from one extremity to the other. The more unfavorable the environments of children the more necessary is it that steps be taken to counteract baleful influences upon innocent victims. How imperative is it then that as colored women we inculcate correct principles and set good examples for our own youth whose little feet will have so many th.o.r.n.y paths of temptation, injustice and prejudice to tread. So keenly alive is the National a.s.sociation to the necessity of rescuing our little ones whose evil nature alone is encouraged to develop and whose n.o.ble qualities are deadened and dwarfed by the very atmosphere which they breathe, that its officers are trying to raise money with which to send out a kindergarten organizer, whose duty it shall be to arouse the conscience of our women and to establish kindergartens wherever means therefor can be secured.

Through the children of to-day we believe we can build the foundation of the next generation upon such a rock of morality, intelligence and strength, that the floods of proscription, prejudice and persecution may descend upon it in torrents and yet it will not be moved. We hear a great deal about the race problem and how to solve it. The real solution of the race problem lies in the children, both so far as we who are oppressed and those who oppress us are concerned. Some of our women who have consecrated their lives to the elevation of their race feel that neither individuals nor organizations working toward this end should be entirely satisfied with their efforts unless some of their energy, money or brain is used in the name and for the sake of the children.

The National a.s.sociation has chosen as its motto: Lifting as We Climb.

In order to live strictly up to this sentiment, its members have determined to come into the closest possible touch with the ma.s.ses of our women, through whom the womanhood of our people is always judged.

It is unfortunate, but it is true, that the dominant race in this country insists upon gauging the Negro's worth by his most illiterate and vicious representatives rather than by the more intelligent and worthy cla.s.ses. Colored women of education and culture know that they cannot escape altogether the consequences of the acts of their most depraved sisters. They see that even if they were wicked enough to turn a deaf ear to the call of duty, both policy and self-preservation demand that they go down among the lowly, the illiterate and even the vicious, to whom they are bound by the ties of race and s.e.x, and put forth every possible effort to reclaim them. By coming into close touch with the ma.s.ses of our women it is possible to correct many of the evils which militate so seriously against us and inaugurate the reforms, without which, as a race, we cannot hope to succeed.

Through the clubs we are studying the labor question and are calling the attention of our women to the alarming rapidity with which the Negro is losing ground in the world of labor. If this movement to withhold employment from him continues to grow, the race will soon be confronted by a condition of things disastrous and serious, indeed. We are preaching in season and out that it is the duty of every wage-earning colored woman to become thoroughly proficient in whatever work she engages, so that she may render the best service of which she is capable, and thus do her part toward establis.h.i.+ng a reputation for excellent workmans.h.i.+p among colored women.

Our clubs all over the country are being urged to establish schools of domestic science. It is believed that by founding schools in which colored girls could be trained to be skilled domestics, we should do more toward solving the labor question as it affects our women, than by using any other means it is in our power to employ. We intend to lay the Negro's side of the labor question clearly before our large-hearted, broad-minded sisters of the dominant race and appeal to them to throw their influence on the right side. We shall ask that they train their children to be broad and just enough to judge men and women by their intrinsic merit rather than by the advent.i.tious circ.u.mstances of race or color or creed. Colored women are asking the white mothers of the land to teach their children that when they when they grow to be men and women, if they deliberately prevent their fellow creatures from earning an honest living by closing their doors of trade against them, the Father of all men will hold them responsible for the crimes which are the result of their injustice and for the human wrecks which the ruthless crus.h.i.+ng of hope and ambition always makes.

Through our clubs colored women hope to improve the social atmosphere by showing the enormity of the double standard of morals, which teaches that we should turn the cold shoulder upon a fallen sister, but greet her destroyer with open arms and a gracious smile. The duty of setting a high moral standard and living up to it devolves upon colored women in a peculiar way. False accusations and malicious slanders are circulated against them constantly, both by the press and by the direct descendants of those who in years past were responsible for the moral degradation of their female slaves.

Carefully and conscientiously we shall study the questions which affect the race most deeply and directly. Against the convict lease system, the Jim Crow car laws, lynchings and all other barbarities which degrade us, we shall protest with such force of logic and intensity of soul that those who oppress us will either cease to disavow the inalienability and equality of human rights, or be ashamed to openly violate the very principles upon which this government was founded. By discharging our obligation to the children, by coming into the closest possible touch with the ma.s.ses of our people, by studying the labor question as it affects the race, by establis.h.i.+ng schools of domestic science, by setting a high moral standard and living up to it, by purifying the home, colored women will render their race a service whose value it is not in my power to estimate or express. The National a.s.sociation is being cherished with such loyalty and zeal by our women that there is every reason to hope it will soon become the power for good, the tower of strength and the source of inspiration to which it is destined.

And so lifting as we climb, onward and upward we go, struggling and striving and hoping that the buds and blossoms of our desires will burst into glorious fruition ere long. With courage born of success achieved in the past, with a keen sense of the responsibility which we must continue to a.s.sume we look forward to the future, large with promise and hope. Seeking no favors because of our color or patronage because of our needs, we knock at the bar of justice and ask for an equal chance.

THIRD PAPER.

WHAT ROLE IS THE EDUCATED NEGRO WOMAN TO PLAY IN THE UPLIFTING OF HER RACE?

BY MRS. ROSA D. BOWSER, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. Rosa D. Bowser.]

MRS. ROSA D. BOWSER.

The writer of the subjoined article is a native of Virginia, and belongs in the front rank of educators of her race in this grand old commonwealth, which may justly boast of the eminence to which its black as well as white citizens attained before and since the war. The first president of the black republic on the West Coast of Africa, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, as well as the foremost Baptist leader, Lott Carey, were Virginians.

Mrs. Rosa D. Bowser was born in Amelia County, and was reared in the city of Richmond. She pa.s.sed through the grades of the public schools, and completed her school work at the Normal School of that city under the instruction of its founder, Mr. Ralza Morse Manly, of Vermont, a distinguished educator in the North as well as the pioneer educator in Virginia among the Negro race. Mrs. Bowser received special training from Mr. Manly, having been instructed by him in the higher mathematics and Latin. She early developed a taste for drawing, painting and music, and made commendable progress in the fine arts. Mrs. Bowser's work as an educator has not been limited to the school room, in which she has been so efficient for the last twenty-five years, but she has been conspicuous in other and wider fields of usefulness among her people within and without the State.

This is evidenced by the following facts: She founded the Woman's League, which rendered signal service in the Lunenburg trials; she is President of the Richmond Mothers'

Club; she is a member of the Executive Board of the Southern Federation of Colored Women; she is Chairman of the Executive Board of the Women's Educational and Missionary a.s.sociation of Virginia; she is Chairman of the standing Committee of Domestic Economy, for the Hampton Conference; she is President of the Woman's Department of the Negro Reformatory a.s.sociation of Virginia; and is one of the most conspicuous members of many benevolent organizations in Richmond. She is an eloquent and fascinating orator, bringing to that accomplishment, earnestness of manner, grace of gesture, and a charming personality.

In all ages of the world woman has been the central figure around which all joys and sorrows, all inspirations, all aspirations, and all accomplishments have circled. In all conditions of life, in all climes, in all Christian epochs, in all countries, she holds this position indisputable among the nations of the earth. For without her there would be no home circles, without the home circles there would be no races nor nations. Her office, of divine inst.i.tution for the perpetuation of the human family, should not be lightly regarded by any cla.s.s of people. Woman's primary duty is the systematic and wise ordering of the household. The infant looks into its mother's face and there receives its first impressions. These impressions are stamped upon the mind and heart of the child. The mother notices all the little disorders and griefs of the child from its birth throughout its life. The conscientious mother is ever ready to console, advise and sympathize in all grievances and perplexities which may confront her offspring. Hence there is great need for proper instruction to wives, mothers, and, in fact, to all women in antic.i.p.ation of the responsibilities of a home, and the obligations of motherhood. It has been well said that the training of children should begin with their grandparents. The character of the homes of the land, the moral and immoral bearing of every settlement, town, and city, in a large measure depend upon the cla.s.s of women--upon the idiosyncrasies of wives, mothers, and women in general, who by nature mould the sentiment of every department of human control. That society is ruled by women cannot be questioned. The age of complete dependence of women upon the stronger s.e.x, has so far pa.s.sed as to be foreign to the minds of the present generation. Not that the gentler s.e.x is averse to the protection and tender solicitudes of the father, husband and brother, but it is of such common occurrence that women are thrown upon their own resources in the maintenance of the home, that they of necessity rather than from choice a.s.sume a degree of independence in various avenues of life.

Christianity is the medium by which woman has been exalted to her legitimate sphere in the world. The best colleges that a few years past closed their doors against her, have gradually put the latch strings on the outside. The coeducation of the s.e.xes and the attendant results have displaced the old idea of the moral and intellectual inferiority of women. The learned professions are subject to her choice. She stands beside her brother as a partner, sharing equally with him in the world's work for humanity. Of one flesh G.o.d made all men. Hence they have the same general tendencies or inclinations, the same likes and dislikes, the same sympathies and the same indifferences, the same joys and the same sorrows manifested in a greater or less degree as their sensibilities have been cultured and developed. The Negro is no exception to this general rule. The centuries of servitude when he dared not of his own volition pursue courses for intellectual growth now place the Negro as an adolescent race, yet one that has made wonderful strides in improving its condition morally, intellectually and financially. The Negro is grateful for much in past experiences, which experiences have been rigid disciplinarians, urging him to _think_ and _act_ for himself.

Therefore his hopes and aspirations grow stronger for more glorious results for the future. Compare the first thirty-six years _of_ the independence of any civilized race with the progress made by the Negroes since their emanc.i.p.ation; who can, in a spirit of justice, say that the Negro has not made a very creditable record wherever the opportunity to show himself a man has presented itself. The Negro is grateful that there are many Southern as well as Northern friends in the dominant race who publicly commend him, and give him due credit for his energy and perseverance in making the best use of his time and talents. The fact is generally known that whatever success has been made was achieved through many difficulties. The best cla.s.s of Negroes is not discouraged by the ravings and unjust criticisms of certain cla.s.ses of people who do not know the Negro, having had little chance of intercourse with him even in the years prior to and during the Civil War. Yet he is far, very far from being contented with his present condition. The harvest is great, and many sheaves are yet to be gathered. He knows that the number whose eyes are opened to the beauties and utilities of life, and whose souls can discern the grand possibilities of the future, is a great contrast to the ma.s.ses of the race that must yet be induced to appreciate the light of day. More teachers are needed to point out and supply this light. Who can better perform this duty than the unselfish, humane, intelligent Negro woman?

Who can better feel the touch of sympathy and get out of self to help by lifting as she climbs? Who can better see the need than one who is interested in the lowly of her own household? Who but the educated Negro woman will feel more keenly the stigma of the depravity of her weak sister who has wearied of the struggle for a higher plane of living? To whom is the call to this duty more urgent? Will she answer?

She must do so. Her advantages, intellectually and socially, demand that she should take a front rank in the crusade against ignorance, vice and crime. She is the lighthouse, giving warning of the hidden shoals and guiding away from the rocks which are wrecking the lives of many capable young men and women. These young people are anxious in many cases to be led into paths of purer man and womanhood. They incline toward leaders. But they will follow only good leaders in whichever course they take, whether the straight and narrow path of integrity and upright Christian character, or the broad road which leads to shame, degradation and death. They must and will follow leaders. But they require of leaders.h.i.+p a reflection of their ideals.

In other words, they require them to be as leaders all that they would admonish others to become--models of true, intelligent, morally pure women and men. Not only must these upright Negro women take their role as counselors and teachers, but it is highly essential that they be WITH the element to be uplifted, yet, certainly NOT OF it. It is impossible to help a fallen or weak sister to rise if the helper, like the Levite, pa.s.s by on the other side, and merely call out, Arise and stand in the beauty of pure womanhood--rather than like the Samaritan, she goes to her and lifts her to her feet. The touch of the hand, in proof of a heart full of sympathy, goes a long way in winning and holding a living, lasting evidence of the regenerating influence of charity to the recipient. The alarming death rate among the Negro population is largely due to ignorance of the laws of health, and the proper care of children. Such people need instruction in their homes, for you will reach them nowhere else. They will not attend public meetings nor church services; they feel out of place in them. Hence there is no way to reach such people other than by going among them.

This act will not mar the reputation of a true leader, one whom they can emulate, and in whom they have confidence. It rather increases her influence; for they know she is NOT OF them, but WITH them in their efforts to improve. The magnitude of the work may sometimes cause one to shrink, when the progress seems slow. But all reforms require deliberation, endurance, and perseverance. Occasionally we get an encouraging comment which comes like a calm after storms of criticisms and abuse. Two of the daily papers of Richmond, Virginia, made very favorable statements in regard to the conduct of the colored people during the week of the carnival--October 7th-12th, 1901. For violations of the law there were about two hundred arrests, and not one colored person of the number. The colored schools came in for a liberal share of praise for their attendance during said week. All colored groups of schools were way up in the nineties. Baker School (colored), of six hundred and twenty-seven pupils, led the city schools, with 98.9 per cent of attendance. We hailed the announcements with delight, for they strengthened our belief that "Negro education"

may not always be considered "a failure." We are stimulated to more earnest endeavor when we find persons of great minds and large hearts voicing such helpful sentiments as expressed by Mr. Joel Chandler Harris, in his article to the New York Journal, November 3, 1901, on "Negro Education," from which I quote:

"What is called the Negro problem is simply the invention of men with theories.

"The spectacle spread out before us is not in the nature of a problem.

"It is made up of the actual efforts and movements of a race slowly and painfully feeling its way toward a higher destiny.

"The conditions and circ.u.mstances being without parallel or precedent in the history of the world, it was inevitable that serious mistakes should be made; that misunderstandings should arise, that philanthropy should stretch out full hands in the wrong direction, that partisan politicians should pour out the vials of wrath.

"But what of it?

"The real progress of the race has not been r.e.t.a.r.ded a moment. Nothing has been lost. And now, at last, the whole conservative and intelligent element of the race is placing itself under the leaders.h.i.+p of men well qualified to lead it, and is making a new start.

"If the philanthropists and rich men of the country will hold up the hands of such Negroes as Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton they will be able to forget in a few years that any serious mistakes have been made.

"More than that, they will be able to view leniently the mistakes that are still to be made."

And, I add, if the hands of such women as Mrs. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton of Tuskegee, and Miss Georgie Was.h.i.+ngton of Mt. Meigs, Alabama, be upheld by friends of the North, South, East and West, many skeptics would, in a comparatively short time, forget that they had at any time doubted the ability of the Negro to make for himself a creditable place in history. Such are the women needed to-day. Women who teach by doing.

Women who can take a basket of soap on the arm, and in a gentle, winning way present it to homes that need it, while at the same time extol its merits in a pleasant manner. Women are needed who can teach the lesson of morality, cleanliness of soul and body, and the hygienic and economic management of the humble home, by showing them how to perform these acts, and furnish examples. Women who can arouse their sense of propriety to such a degree that by frugal habits they may abandon the one-room cabin in which a family of eight or ten eat, cook, sleep, wash and iron, for the neat two, three, or four-room well ventilated cottage. The laundry tub may be an excellent subst.i.tute when no better can be provided, but they will be taught to see the need of a genuine bath tub in every home. They will be taught that honest labor is no disgrace; that, however much education one may acquire, the deftness of the hands to execute the mandates of the mind tends rather to elevate the possessor, and hastens the day of a full developed man or woman with mind, heart, and hand trained to the best service--thereby dignifying labor. Above all, the thought must be impressed indelibly upon the hearts and consciences of the youth that the men can be no better than the women. Men are what the women make them. If a woman is refined, and exhibits a modest, dignified bearing, men can not fail to appreciate her demeanor and conduct themselves accordingly. While, on the other hand, boisterous, uncouth conduct upon the part of women will encourage boldness toward them, disrespect for them, and win the contempt of the men of a community for such women. Hence, wherever uplifting influence is needed, the result of the labor depends upon the compliant nature of the element, upon which they are working, whose persuasive power is more efficacious in directing the _upward_ and _downward_ trend of the ma.s.ses. The women who can best appreciate this fact have the very grave responsibility of keeping the lesson constantly before the people--"Lest we forget, lest we forget." The so-called Negro problem must be solved by the Negro. The plane to which he must attain is limited by the energy and persistency of the most competent and sympathetic leaders, in piloting the followers in such a manner that they may realize that