V
The Progress and Development
9 •
of t
our Nation
-j
An Address delivered before the American Missionary
v/C;
Association, Wednesday evening, October
21, 1908, at Galesburg, Illinois.
REV
J. GRIMKE, D. D.
"K; ' "■ ,;;-
P stor of the Fifteenth Street P, osbyterian Church, Washington D G
The Progress and Development
of the Colored People of
our Nation
An Address delivered before the American Missionary
Association, Wednesday evening, October
21, 1908, at Galesburg, Illinois.
By
REV. FRANCIS J. GRIMKE, D. D_,
Pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. G.
THE PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLORED
PEOPLE OF OUR NATION.
BY F. J. GRI M KB.
Mr. Presi dent and Members of the American Missionary
Association :
I want to express in this public way my very high apprecia¬
tion of the honor which you have conferred upon me by inviting
me to be present at this your Sixty-second Annual Meeting, and
to make one of the addresses. I have been asked to speak on
"The Progress and Development of the Colored People of Our
Nation." The subject is an interesting one, but so much has al¬
ready been said on it from the rostrum and through the papers and
magazines that it is rather a hazardous thing to attempt to discuss
it in the hope of holding the attention of an audience. I shall en¬
deavor, however, since I have been asked to speak on it, to do so
for a little while, not because I have anything new to offer, but
simply with a view of helping to keep alive the interest that is
already felt.
The words progress, development, are themselves great
words, inspiring words,—words that cannot be associated with
any race without leading that race to feel that there is an outlook
for it, that the future is not all dark. The very idea of progress,
of development injected into the consciousness of a race gives that
race hope and becomes a source of constant inspiration to it. I
want the colored people of this country, as they think of them¬
selves, to hold fast to this great idea of progress, of development;
and I want the white people of this country, as they think of the
millions of colored people in it, also to hold fast to this idea as ap¬
plicable to the colored people as well as to themselves. I believe
that God, who made of one blood all the races of mankind, and
•who made man in His image, has put within each individual, and
and within all the races of mankind, made up of individuals, the
possibilities of progress, of development; and that the same is true
of the Negro, of the colored people in the United States and
throughout the world. Not only are human beings capable of de¬
velopment, but every living thing that God has made possesses
the same capabilities. Everywhere we see evidences of the great
4
law of evolution. There is nothing unseemly, therefore, nothing
inappropriate in the use of these words, progiess, development, as
applied to the colored people in this country, as they are a part of
the human race. We are not left to mere priori considerations,
however, in establishing the possibilities of the colored people for
growth, for development: the last forty years of their history in
this country have gloriously demonstrated that fact. And this is the
first point in this discussion to which I desire to direct attention,
—to the simple fact that the colored people in this country have
progressed, have developed since emancipation. Before that time
there was little or no progress, but it was no fault of theirs; they
were so circumstanced, so environed, as to render progress im¬
possible. As soon, however, as the restrictions were removed the
race began at once to move forward, and has gone on progressing
ever since. This progress has been along various lines.
Materially, the race has gone forward. It is still poor, very
poor, but its condition in this respect is very different from what
it was forty years ago. It has increased its possessions by hun¬
dreds of millions of dollars, which, in view of all the circumstances,
is a most creditable record. I will not take the time to give the
figures, to enter into details; you know what the facts are, we all
know.
Intellectually, the race has gone forward. Its growth here
has indeed been marvelous. When we remember the dense ignor¬
ance of the race at the close of the war, and read the record today
of the attendance of pupils of this race in the public schools; the
number of colored teachers in these schools; the number of sec¬
ondary and higher educational institutions, for this race conducted
by various religious denominations,every one of which is crowded,
and every one of which is sending out graduates every year; and
when we think also of the fact that in nearly all the great univer¬
sities in the North and West, as well as the smaller white colleges,
representatives of this race are to be found, and found in increasing
numbers, the change for the better in the condition of the race is
manifest. There is still a course a great deal of ignorance among
us; but the improvement has been wonderful. There are millions
yet who cannot read and write, but think of the millions*
who can read and write; and the thousands upon thousands
who can do more than read and write, — who are teaching in
schools, colleges, universities; who are lawyers, doctors, and who
are filling other positions of responsibility which require training,
intelligence, education. Forty years ago how entiiely different
things were from what they are today!
5
Morally and spiritually, the race has gone forward. The
number of churches organized, and the accessions to these churches
during these forty years have been quite remarkable. The ministry
has also grown, not only in numbers, but in efficiency; it is be¬
coming better and better qualified each year to do effective work.
There are hundreds and thousands of men today ministering in
these churches who are well qualified to teach the people, to ex¬
pound to them the word of God. Many of them are not only col¬
lege-bred men, but, in addition, have been specially trained in
theological seminaries. There has also been considerable im¬
provement in the manner in which God is worshipped. The gen¬
eral character of the services, in many instances, has been im¬
proved. The order is better; there is less confusion, less noise,
less tendency to emotional excesses; and I believe higher ideals
are taking hold of some of the people, at least.
As I look back over these forty years, all along the line I see
evidence of progress; I see, slowly it may be, but surely, the
race moving onward and upward. It is not today in the same
place where it was forty years ago; and the place which it occu¬
pies today is not a less desirable one, but a more desirable one; the
place which it occupies today is not lower down the scale, but
higher up. Everywhere I see evidences, not of deterioration, but
of progress, of development. I am not saying, it is all bright; it
isn't all bright, it wasn't to be expected that it would be so. How
could it be all bright, in view of the antecedents of the race, with
the degrading influences of two hundred and fifty years of slavery
upon it? but what I am saying is, that in spite of this degrad¬
ing past, with its long train of evils, since emancipation the face
of the race has been set towards the light, towards better things.
It has, as a matter of fact, gone forward; the leaven of improve¬
ment has been at work, and is still working. And in this fact I
rejoice, and rejoice because it is a fact which no one can truthful¬
ly deny. Even if the progress was less than it has actually been it
would still be ground for rejoicing, because however little is the
forward movement, if it is really a forward movement, it is an
encouraging sign, it shows the trend to be in the right direction.
However slowly a race is moving on, if it is really moving on,
there is no reason to despair of it; it will some day reach the goal.
With this incontestable fact before us,—the fact that the race
has progressed during these forty years, I want in the next place
to call attention to some of the forces that have helped to make
this progress possible.
6
First among these forces, I place the fact that the colored man
himself has wanted to go forward. And this is the more remark¬
able when we remember that the whole of the education which he
received under slavery was designed to impress him with the fact
that he was less than a man, that God made him to move in a cer¬
tain sphere only, to be a servant of servants, a hewer of wood and
a drawer of water, and that beyond that he was not to aspire. That
was the education which he received day by day, week by week,
month by month, year by 3'ear,—from the cradle to the grave.
And yet, deep down, in the bottom of the heart of the slave, was
the desire for something better; deep down in the bottom of his
heart was the never-ending protest, put there by God himself, in
the shape of aspirations which slavery would not tolerate and which
it could not satisfy. Lowell says:
"When a deed is done for Freedom,
Through the broad earth's aching breast
Runs a thrill of joy prophetic, trembling
on from East to West,
And-the slave, where'er he cowers, feels
the soul within him climb
To the awful verge of manhood.''
And deep down in the bottom of the soul of the slave was ever
present this disposition to rise to the verge of manhood. He was
never satisfied to be what his master wanted him to be; there was
always the instinctive yearning for something better,—the feeling
that he was created for something better, that he was capable of
something better. The old slave system with all its rigor, its nar¬
rowing and benumbing influences, was never able to extinguish
this spark of genuine aspiration within the slave. And so when
freedom came, and the opportunity of gratifying this long-cher¬
ished desire was afforded, how the race, as it were, leaped for¬
ward to embrace it! Did ever a race before show such eagerness
for education ? Were parents ever more willing to make sacrifices
for the education of their children ? And the same is still true.
Under the Revised Constitutions in the Southern States, it was
supposed that colored people would be effectually shut out from
the suffrage through ignorance, and those who were instrumental in
getting up these constitutions chuckled over their success in elimi¬
nating the Negro from politics; but now we are beginning to hear an
entirely different note. The statement is being made now by these
very people that the colored people are taking more interest in th
education of their children than the poor whites are, and that un-
7
less something is done the number of Negroes who can read and
write and who will be entitled therefore to vote, will outnumber
the whites. Whether this fear is well-grounded or not I am not
prepared to say, but so far as it directs attention to the interest
which the colored people feel in the education of their children, it
is true From the very beginning the colored man has himself
always wanted to go forward; and in no particular is this more
strikingly illustrated than in the interest he has taken in educa¬
tion. Without this desire on the part of the colored people them¬
selves to go forward no progress would have been possible, the race
would be no further on today than when it emerged from slavery.
The fact that it has moved forward is due largely, and I do not
think too much emphasis can be laid upon it, to this desire on the
part of the race itself to improve its condition. It is a great thing
for an individual or a race to possess a spirit of divine unrest, the
the disposition to be ever reaching out for larger and better things.
And this I believe is true of this race. It is an aspiring race; it
is a race that is conscious of a great many needs, and that is still
reaching out for many things, and this desire for enlargement is
not diminishing, but is steadily increasing. The progress that the
race has already made has had a stimulating effect upon it; the
more it gets, the more it wants; the more it possesess of wealth, of
education, of the things that ennoble, the more it wants of them.
And as long as this continues to be true of it there will be no back¬
ward step; as long as it wants to go forward, it will continue to go
forward, as long as it wants to improve it will continue to improve.
Second among the forces that have helped to make this pro¬
gress possible I place the kindly sympathy that has ever been
manifested by our white friends, and the efforts they have put forth
to assist us, represented in the work that has been carried on by
the various religious denominations and by individual donors
among us during all these years. Even before the war closed, the
great philanthropic heart of the North began to devise ways and
means for the uplift of this race, and when peace came how many
hundreds of the best men and women of the North poured into the
South and gave themselves to the work of education! I do not be¬
lieve that in the history of the world, there ever went into a needy
field a nobler band of men and women than those who went into the
South at the close of the war for work among the freedmen. And I
believe still further, that in estimating the forces that have helped
to make the progress of these forty years possible too much empha¬
sis cannot be placed upon the type of white men and women with
whom this race first catne in contact in its efforts to rise, and the type
8
of men and women who have largely had control of the great phil¬
anthropic movements for its uplift,—the men and women who have
touched the race most closely in our schools, colleges, universi¬
ties,—men and women who really wanted to help the race, and to
help it, not because of what they could get out of it, but because
of a real interest in it, who were willing to become all things
unto it in order that if by any means they might be helpful to it.
The boys and girls, the young men and women who came in con¬
tact with these early missionaries and teachers never can forget
them; nor can the impression made upon them ever be effaced.
Nothing that has come to the race since has been a greater bless¬
ing to it than these first and earliest impressions that were made
upon it by these early missionaries, by these meii#and women who
came straight from God, to the work. The spirit of these early
missionaries and teachers still survives in some of the men and
women who are still laboring in the southern field, who are still
teaching in the schools, colleges, universities, for which we are
profoundly thankful; and, I may say, in passing, that just in pro¬
portion as men and women of the type of these earlier men and
women continue to dominate these institutions will they be useful
as factors in the development of this race.
The kind of education that the Negro needs, in addi¬
tion to training his head, and hand, and heart, is one that will de¬
velop his manhood, as well: and he never can get that, if the men
and women who teach him, with whom he daily comes in contact
in the school room do not deep down in the bottom of their hearts
recognize him as a man, and treat him as a man. This was true
of the men and women with whom the race came in contact in the
early days of freedom; and it must still be true of the men and
women who are working among them, if the efforts that are being
put forth today, are to be equally fruitful of good.
All of the great religious denominations of the country have
had a hand in this work of development, have been contributing
factors in making possible the splendid results of these forty years;
but of them all, and I am saying this not because I am speaking
under your auspices, not because I am the guest of this Associa¬
tion, but because I really believe it,—of them all the contribution
which you have made, in my judgment has been of most value.
You have not only planted schools and churches, and have sought
in every possible way to train the head and heart and hand of the
race, but more than any other organization you have recognized
the manhood of the Negro in all your dealings with him, you have
more largely than any other organization, so far as I know, treated
9
him as a man and a brother. You have been swayed less than
any other organization, so far as I know, by colorphobia. And, so
far as I am concerned, I am free to say, I attach more importance
to that aspect of your work than to any other.
What is needed in this country, as the supreme educational
factor, not only for the black man but for the white man as well, is
a Christianity that believes in the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man ; not white men, but all men ; that not only
preaches that God is no respecter of persons; that in Christ Jesus
there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but that lives it; a Christianity
that not only theoretically recognizes the evil of race prejudice,
but that practically sets itself against it in every shape and form.
The one, great, supreme educational force that the world needs
today more than any other, is a Christianity that breathes the
spirit of Christ, really, truly. And I believe, of all the organiza¬
tions that have been working among us as a race, your great As¬
sociation has shown most of the spirit of what I call true, genuine
Christianity. In an address which I delivered in 1903, entitled
"God and the Race Problem," I said among other things :
"I regard no man as a friend of the race, I care not what his
profession may be, or how much money he may give for Negro
education, if by word or act he denies the essential equality of the
Negro as a man, if he looks upon him and treats him as an inferior
being belonging to a lower order of creation than himself ; if he
thinks that the Negro ought to be satisfied with less than a white
man is satisfied with; that there are things that white men may
aspire to that Negroes have no right to aspire to, if such is his at¬
titude towards the Negro, I care not what he may think to him¬
self or what others may think ol him, I class him among the ene¬
mies of the race, among those who are seeking, consciously or
unconsciously, to break down in the Negro that which is most
essential to his true development,—his self-respect. Look upon a
man as an inferior, treat him as an inferior, encourage others to
treat him as'an inferior, and it doesn't make any difference how
much you may do for him under the guise of philanthrophy you
can never repair the injury that you do him. If you want to help
him, if you are really his friend, you will treat him in a way to
stimulate his self-respect, to encourage every noble aspiration
within him." And this is what I believe; this is the gospel that I
preach. The only kind of Christianity to which I attach any im¬
portance whatever is a Christianity that practically recognizes the
manhood and brotherhood of the Negro, and of all other races.
IO
Every other brand of it to me is spurious. And this is why I say
I attach more importance to the spirit in which you have adminis¬
tered the great trust which has been committed to your Associa¬
tion than to anything else. It has not only been an inspiration to
the colored people, it has not only encouraged them to hold their
heads up, but has also been a splendid example to the Christian
churches of this land, whether it has been heeded or not. If our
Christian churches were what they claim to be, if they were true
to the principles ot the religion of Jesus Christ, things -would be
very much better than they are. There is netd, not only in
dealing with the Negro problem, but in dealing with all other
problems, that the visible church,—the men and women
who are the representatives of Jesus Christ, should stand up
squarely and uncompromisingly for Christian principles, which
I am afraid we haven't been doing How is the fact to be ac¬
counted for that with nearly 200,000 Christian churches in this
land, and with over 250,000 ministers of the gospel, and with
nearly 30,000,000 professing Christians, members of these churches,
race prejudice, with.all its attendant evils, has gone on steadily
increasing year by year? What is the trouble? Is it because there
is no power in Christianity, or is it because these churches are
Christless, because they are not true to Christian principles? I
am not going to discuss the question, I simply raise it as one that
is worthy of serious consideration. There are some things that
the men and women who make up the church of Jesus Christ
ought to grapple with, and one of them is race prejudice. It is the
greatest single evil of today in the United States, and the religious
sentiment of the country has been powerless to check it because it
has made no serious effort to do so, because it has never concerned
itself very much about it. Where it has not directly encouraged
it, it has dealt with it in a timid, cowardly spirit Instead of lifting
up a standard for the people, it has been only too willing to follow
the standard which an unbelieving, non-Christian world has set
up Such has not been the case however with this Association.
Take for example, the little periodical that you publish, THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY. I know of no magazine in the
country in which the Negro question is discussed more intelligent¬
ly, more sympathetically, more courageously, or on higher Chris¬
tian principles. It is never afraid to touch the question, or to
speak out frankly, fearlessly for the Negro, not because he is a
Negro, but because he is a man and brother. It never stops to
ask whether, what it is about to say is acceptable to a Negro-
hating public sentiment or not. Its aim has not been to placate
11
such a sentiment, to express itself in such a way as to give no of¬
fense to such a sentiment, but to lift up a standard for the people,
a standard which reflects not the spirit of race hatred, the spirit of
caste, but the spirit of Jesus Christ. Wherever this magazine
has gone it has carried this gospel of the fatherhood of God and
the brotherhood of man; it has revealed the spirit of the men who
have spoken through it, and it has shown that they were men who
fully believed in the Negro as a man and brother.
Third : In this work of development, I want to say, that in
my judgment, the chief emphasis ought to be placed upon the
moral and spiritual rather than upon the material or even the
merely intellectual. If this race is to grow strong, if it is to carve
out for itself a great and honorable future, it must be sound mor¬
ally. Whatever else it may have, if it is deficient here, if it is not
grounded in the great and immutable principles of morality, it is
doomed. Without character, without a sound moral basis we are
building on the sand.
"Who steals my purse, steals trash ;
But he, who filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed."
Iu proportion as the race realizes the truth of this; in propor¬
tion as the men and women who are engaged in the work of train¬
ing this race realize it; in proportion as this great idea of the
supreme value of character takes hold of the hearts and minds of
the fathers and mothers of this race, will its future be insured. I
am interested in all forms of education, and in all forms of race
enterprises, but I have been afraid at times that too much empha¬
sis has been placed upon money getting, upon amassing wealth,
upon having bank accounts,—not too much absolutely, but too
much relatively, in comparison to the emphasis that has been put
upon higher things. To dress in purple and fine linen and fare
sumptuously every day; to be able to pull down barns and build
greater ones in which to bestow one's goods may be all right: it is
all right, but these are not the supreme things in life, these are
not the things around which the activities of a race should mainly
centre,—the things that it should covet most, in which its high¬
est aspirations should terminate. And the education that this
race needs most is the education that will impress that fact upon
it. My greatest concern for the race has been and still is, that it
shall be morally sound; that the men and women who are growing
up and who are to be fathers and mothers of those who are to fol¬
low shall be of the right stamp; that the men and women who are
I 2
to preside over the homes of this race, where the children are to
be trained, shall be God-fearing men and women who realize fully
their responsibilities as parents. I confess I haven't concerned
myself over-much about whether financially this race shall pro¬
duce any Astors, and Vanderbilts, and Carnegies, and Rockefellers,
or not; but from the bottom of my heart I have wished that there
might be many, many, moral and spiritual Astors, and Vander¬
bilts, and Rockefellers, and Carnegies; many moral and spiritual
millionaires and multi-millionaires. This is the kind of riches
that I crave most for this race; the kind of riches that I want it to
possess most of ; the kind of greatness that I want it to be most
distinguished for. Whether it ever becomes rich or not in mate¬
rial things, I want it to be rich in faith, and in love for the
things that are true, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good
report,—rich in the great qualities of the heart and mind that
alone can make an individual or a race great, in the true sense of
the term. Make this race sound morally ; let it be firmly planted
on the indestructible principles of morality ; make it a thoroughly
religious race, with the fear and love of God at the centre of its
life, and we need have no fears for it; it cannot fail ; it must suc¬
ceed, it must go forward.
Fourth : In closing, there are just three things more, that I
want to take just a moment to say :
(i). The progress that the colored people have made during
the last forty years is the race's answer to the oft-repeated and
ever-recurring charge of inferiority. There is nothing in that
record that indicates inferiority. In THE AMERICAN MIS¬
SIONARY for June, I find this statement, taken from an address
of Bishop Bratton, on the race question, delivered at the Southern
Educational Conference at Memphis, Tenn.:
"The more I study the great problem, the less able am I to
see the end of its progressive solution. Only a few things seem to
me to stand out clearly and distinctly above the dust clouds."
And among those mentioned by him is : "That the Negro is
capable of development to a point whose limit I have not yet
discovered." And this judgment of the good bishop is based upon
the record of these last forty years. In that record there is no
evidence of a lack of capacity to follow in the wake of other races.
Even Dr. Lyman Abbott, who will not be charged with having
any special bias in favor of the race, says: "Never in the history
of man has a race made such educational and material progress
in forty years as the American Negro."
!3
(2). The progress that the colored people have made during
the last forty years ought to be an encouragement to the friends of
the race who have labored among them, and who have contrib¬
uted of their means to help carry on the work among them, to
continue to lend a hand. Your labors have not been in vain, the
contributions that you have made have not been wasted, thrown
away, even what you have given for higher education, as is some¬
times asserted. Great good has been accomplished; the race has
responded nobly to your efforts in its behalf. It has shown its
appreciation of what you have done by the manner in which it has
applied itself, by the eagerness with which it has embraced the
opportunities which your generosity and kindly spirit of personal
service have afforded them. The results fully justify every dollar
expended, every noble life that has gone into the work of these
forty years. And what I want to say, in this connection, is, be
not weary in well doing. The race still needs your help ; there is
still a great deal to be done ; the fields are still white for the har¬
vest ; you can still be of help ; there is still need for workers, and
for financial aid in carrying on the good work.
(3). The progress that the colored people have made during
the last forty years has in it also a lesson for the enemies of the
race. It ought to make them ashamed of themselves to continue
to put obstacles in the way of a race that is struggling as earnestly
as this race is doing to make something of itself. It ought also to
convince them, that the task in which they are engaged is a futile
one. In spite of their hostility the race is moving on just the
same. Its progress may be retarded, but it cannot be permanently
arrested by their opposition. Fortunately the question as to
whether an individual or a race shall go forward is not left entirely
to be settled by outsiders; the individual himself, the race itself,
has something to say about it : and this race, if I understand its
spirit and temper, has made up its mind to go forward. And by
the grace of God, and by your continued help, and by its own en¬
ergy and push it is going forward. "The gates of hell will not be
able to prevail against it."
I wish that the Negro-haters of this country, North as well as
South, would make a careful study of this record of forty years of
progress. It would do them good ; it would be an eye-opener to
them. I do not believe that they could go over that record, calm¬
ly, dispassionately, impartially, taking into consideration all the
circumstances, and come out of it without a change of heart, with¬
out losing their hatred; and without feeling for the race at least,
some sympathy, and some little degree of admiration. The col-
*4
ored people are not all that they ought to be by any means; but is
there any other race anywhere on this globe, under similar cir¬
cumstances, that would be any better? This record, with all its de¬
fects, entitles it,'at least, to the sympathy, thejencouragement, the
hearty Godspeed of all. In the face of this record and the record
of the two hundred and fifty years of slavery lying back of it, any
man of any race, and especially of the dominant race in this coun¬
try, ought to be ashamed of himself not to want to lend a hand,
ought to be ashamed of himself even to think of putting any ad¬
ditional obstacles in the way of the race's progress.
"Out of the wilderness, out of the night,
Has the black man crawled to the dawn of light;
Beaten by lashes and bound by chains,
A beast of burden with soul and brains,
He has come through sorrow and need and woe,
And the cry of his heart is to know, to know."
The way upward, as Tennyson has expressed it, is
**** "on the stepping stones
Of our dead selves to higher things."
And it is.this self, not yet dead but dying, begotten in slavery
and nourished under its degrading influences, that this black race
is seeking to rise above, to free itself from. And we want you to
help us in the future as you have done in the past and are still
doing. We shall endeavor to prove ourselves worthy of your sym¬
pathy and support.