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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

RACE ORTHODOXY
IN THE SOUTH

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RACE ORTHODOXY
IN THE SOUTH
AND OTHER ASPECTS OF
THE NEGRO QUESTION
BY
THOMAS PEARCE BAILEY, Ph.D.
FOIIIEILY : ASSOCUIB PEOPESSOK Of EDOCAHON m THE UNIVEKSITX OF CAUFORNIA;
mnvEKStry extension lectdeek fok the TTNivEssiTy of Chicago; sjjpsbux-
ZENDENT Of SCHOOIS Of UEUPmS; EtVESTIGATOa FOR THE NEW YOKE
BOSEAU Of itxrtacaxL seseasch; dean of tbedefaetueni
OF EDUCATION AMD PIOFESSOK OF FSYCBOLOGY AND EDC-
CAHOH D) THE rNIVEESITY Of tOSSISSIFFI

NEW YORK
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1914

COFYBIGHI, 1914, BY
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

fAOE

A. The Race Problem and Race Prejudice.
I. A Fools' Paradise for Negroes ... 7
II. A Brief Statement of Southern Hu-
MANITASIANISM  22
III. Curing the South : Salve or Surgery ? . 27
». IV. The Crux of the Question: Organizing
TO Answer It  33
V. Study the Negro Question ! . . . . 55
VI. Comment on the Indianapolis Discussion 59
VII. Fuse, Fight, or Fail?  66
VIII. The Home and the Habitation . . . yy
IX. Race Orthodoxy in the South ... 92
B. Reviews of Typical Vievv^s.
I. Philosophical: Murphy's "The Basis of
Ascendancy"  116
II. Sociological: Southernism and "The
Southerner"  149
III. Philanthropic: "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Sixty Years After  170
IV. Scientific: Boas' "The Mind of Primi
tive Man"  206
C. Views in a Club.
I. Club for the Study of the Negro Ques
tion  230
II. Proceedings of the Watchtower Club . 238
III. The Negro from the Physician's Point
OF View  249
IV. The Negro and the Episcopal Church . 255
V

vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
D. Negro Education: The Thought and The Thing.
I. Education and Racial Equality . . • 260
II. A Negro Rural School  273
III. "Shady Grove"  281
IV. A County Institute for Negroes . . • 287
V. Platform of Principles and Policies . 300
E. The Caste of the Kin.
I. Supposed Racial Traits of the Negro . 304
II. Race Sympathy and Race Antagonism 313
F. Freedom Through the Truth.
I. The Experience of a Student of the
Negro Problem  331
II. The Need of a New Freedom .... 339

APPENDIX
I. Ancient Rome and the Southern Race Problem :
A Historical Parallel  350
II. Negro Traits and the Negro Problem .... 358
III. The Race Question and Southern "Deteriora
tion"  368
IV. Syllabus of Tentative and Suggestive Scientific
Study of the Negro and the Negro Problem . 376
V. Tentative Suggestive Syllabus of a Statistical
Study of the Negro  383

RACE ORTHODOXY IN
THE SOUTH
A. The Race Problem and Race Prejudice.
I. A FOOLS' PARADISE FOR NEGROES
(This paper was used as a test of public opinion in magazine
cirdes. The editor of a very high-grade journal wrote the author
in a manner that expressed deep interest in the paper; he asked
for permission to keep the paper longer and to send it to a "friend
who knew Southern Conditions." The editor afterward returned
the paper because his "friend" thought that the present writer's
views were too pessimistic, and that the latter would "feel bet
ter" after he had mingled more with "practical men." Inasmuch
as the paper was directly based on conversations with many de
cidedly practical representative men of both races as well as upon
several years' special field study of Southern conditions, the charge
of pessimism due to academic seclusion cannot be taken very seri
ously.) If the American negro becomes afflicted with racial
mania, melancholia or paranoia, the fault will lie at
the door of the white people of the United States. Listen
to the voices that come to the freedman from books
and pamphlets, newspapers and magazines! One says:
"You are a great people in the making; you have quali
ties and powers that the world needs; your race is the
youngest and most unspoiled; you have made in a few
years an amount of progress that puts to shame the
achievements of any other race during the same length
of time; your vitality, your patience, your adaptability,
7

8 mace mthotiotv in tbt %outb
your sweet reasonableness, your childlikeness, your po
tentialities full of promise— these make you a Chosen
People. Only persevere and assert your powers, and
you will win a notable place among the peoples of the
earth." Another cries: "You are of all people the
most miserable! Your physical stock is deteriorating;
your fertility is rapidly decreasing; your bodies are
faster and faster becoming the prey of the race-destroy
ing diseases; your progress, so far as you have made
any, is due to the help of the white civilization that has
coddled you and without which you would sink into the
savagery whence you recently came; you are not patient,
but dull and stupid and lacking in the self-assertion of
the people that have the law; your powers of imitation
are those of the jackdaw and not those of the Japanese.
You are childish, shallow, sensual and incoherent. Make
up your minds to the annihilation that is coming to your
race, and may your end be an euthanasia!"
And a third voice exclaims: "Industrial education!
Own your homes ! Prove that you are needed ! Thrift
and honesty and purity will save you!"
How sad the pathos of it all! As a rule, neither the
negro nor his friends nor his enemies has studied this
most difficult and complicated problem, except in a
scrappy and unsystematic way. "Studies" enough there
are, but little that satisfies even a tyro in any one of the
many sciences that have to do with the Study of Man.
Disputants seize on the same "facts" to prove theses
worlds apart. Prejudice against the negro race or in
favor of him has very often rendered the "facts" mis
leading. Avowed men of science usually prefer to study
ethnological peculiarities in far-off peoples rather than
concern themselves with a question that is "in politics"
and is so full of snares to the wary as well as the un-

a jFooIs' pataoise fot JiSegtoes 9
wary. A "favorable" study meets with the enthusiastic
approval of one set of citizens, and an "unfavorable"
study receives the praises of another set. And yet we
are living in an age of organized science. Even such
"political" questions as the tariff and trust regulation
are receiving the careful attention of science and scien
tific experts. But where is the cooperative scientific
group that is studying the negro question? How few
are the first-class men that are making this most baffling,
distressing and imminent of human problems the object
of devoted and patient scientific investigation ! Must we
wait until all other pressing problems have been worked
on before coming to this question of most immediate
human concern?
Even the few who are doing worth-while work in this
field are scarcely cooperating, and those who seem to be
cooperating are seldom capable of doing scientific work.
Meanwhile clamor fills the air; the gap between the
whites and blacks is widening, at the North as well as
at the South; money is being poured into educational
and other philanthropic enterprises in behalf of the
negro, while at the same time the dominant race, North
and South, is instinctively reducing discrimination
against the negro to a fine art.
Truth to tell, this whole subject seems to bristle with
delusions and illusions. The negroes are talked about
as if they were all alike. Even those who call attention
to the immense individual differences among human
beings in general and negroes in particular are all too
apt to lose sight of this point when practical results are
aimed at. Some of the negro's friends seem to hold
the doctrine that a remnant always and everywhere can
save a people. On the other hand, those who have no
faith in negro possibilities explain away "exceptional"

10 mace 2Drti)oDoip in t&e ^outb
cases, and seem to aver that even if there were a rem
nant of good negroes these would leave no descendants,
or if they did that the idea of ten men saving the city
does not apply to the negro race. Indeed, both sides —
all sides, for there are many more than two — seem to
be concerning themselves with what the negro may be
or may have been, rather than what he is and has been.
Yet the man in the street knows that we cannot fore
cast the future except from the vantage ground of the
past and the present. This notion is true in physical
science, and needs must be applied to every case of the
science of man, in spite of the unfortunate fact that the
anthropological and social sciences have climbed only a
little way up the ladder of scientific method and re
sults, so that even the simplest questions of "races and
peoples" are still in the region of conjecture and con
troversy. Bold, therefore, the men who, without long-
continued scientific special study, would venture on pre
diction in a region where fog and mist obscure even the
plainest landmarks.
Even if we admit for a moment that good work is
being done in the study of negro character, for ex
ample, how many first-rate men are making a careful and
conscientious study of the Southern whites and the
Northern whites in their respective relations to the
negro? Does it not seem a plain matter of common
sense, for instance, that there should be a very pains
taking investigation of "race prejudice" in the world
generally, in the United States especially, and in the
South most particularly? Even Southerners, to say
nothing of Northerners, do not as a rule seem able to
state their own views correctly as to what is race preju
dice. Occasionally some writer makes a "try" at an
explanation, but — well, nothing comes of the effort!

a Jfool0' pataDfse for I9effroe0 1 1
Finot quite correctly states that race antipathy is not
primarily instinctive, but forgets to tell us anything defi
nite about what it is, or to explain its causal efficacy.
Other writers have made various and sundry remarks
about the "former slave" factor and the economic com
petition that has something to do with certain forms of
race prejudice. But most of the speculation on the sub
ject is in the clouds.
• One evident classification of race attitudes might serve
as a point of departure for further study:* There is a
race enmity to be found mainly among those-^wba come
into economic competition with the negroes; a race-
pndewKiicirmay be sesthefic and social and political; a
race-conscience that is ethical and scientific and humani
tarian. Only those belonging to the third class can lead
successfully in the study of the negro question, and
among them only individuals who have an intimate
knowledge of the first two classes and a real sympathy
for them, as well as an equally real sympathy for the
subordinated race. To take an example. President Eliot
belongs to the third class, and probably has some sym
pathetic knowledge of the second, but has had neither
opportunity nor, possibly, desire to understand sympa
thetically the viewpoint of the first class. Some repre
sentatives of the humanitarian group feel it difficult to
understand why an illiterate and even vicious white man
should object to dining with a highly cultured negro
gentleman. To them the attitude of the "low" white
man seems essentially illogical and absurd; but it is not
so to the man who knows the "low-grade" white man
from the inside. The whole picture changes when one
knows "what it is about." Social attitudes at bottom
are concerned with marriage and all it stands for. Now,
* Compare paper on The Crux of the Question, p. 33.

12 mace DttftoDojp in tbe ©outft
race conscience may prevent the enlightened humani
tarian from encouraging in any way the interbreeding
of the two races. Race-pride will deter the average man
who is willing to acknowledge the excellence of certain
individual negroes. But may it not require race enmity
to prevent the amalgamation of the "lower" grades of
the higher race with the higher grades of the lower
race? Mind you, I am stating this simply as a matter that
deserves study. If it be true or possibly true that race
enmity serves the function above mentioned, will not
our position on the race question be radically altered if
we take this idea, even as a possibility, into consider
ation? I think so.
Practical men everywhere believe in the common-sense
principle of the adaptation of means to ends. But how
many investigators have pointed out the inexpugnable
truth that all our efforts directed toward the bettering
of the negro's life and the development of his charac
ter must be profoundly affected by the question, in
sistent and remorseless, What is going to become of the
negro; what are we going to do with him; where shall
he work out his own salvation in fear and trembling?
Some few stoutly declare that we must get rid of the
negro. Various schemes of deportation, colonization
and the like are suggested. But these hints of a radical
solution are generally so vague and have so little con
nection with accurate observation and reflection that
little heed is paid to them. It is the fashion to reply
somewhat impatiently to these radicals: Your sugges
tions are impracticable; the negro must stay with us.
Sometimes the additional claim is made that we cannot
get along without the Brother in Black, or that he cannot
get along without us.

a JFooIs' paradise for Ii3egroe0 13
Among the negro leaders themselves little favor is
shown toward the colonization idea. The Booker T.
Washington group and the W. E. B. DuBois group are
one in rejecting the very thought of separation. Now
is it possible that such able men as Washington and
DuBois have failed to understand the temper of the
white people of this country? Are they misled by the
optimism of philanthropists? Have they failed to no
tice the growing social discrimination against the negro
in the North and the increasing economic hatred of the
negro in the South? And surely all men see that the
old affection felt for the Southern negroes by the slave-
holding class is rapidly passing away with the departure
of the "old-time" Southem people from the stage of
life. Nor can even a superficial observer miss the clear
evidence that the old-fashioned "human rights" doctrine
is no longer being embraced con amore in this country.
The abolitionists have left few spiritual descendants^ and
the few have little or no power to carry out their views.
The last introduction of a "political practice" Force
Bill into the halls of Congress was only a perfunctory
performance that was treated almost as a joke. Mean
while, the Southern states continue to "keep the negro
in his place" — ^without showing any popular intention of
ever letting him climb higher. As Senator John Sharp
Williams has truly said, the trouble lies in the "physical
presence of the negro."
On the one hand, the conscience of the American
people is not likely to deprive the worthy and qualified
negroes of any of their civil and political rights; on
the other hand, the Southern people show not the slight
est disposition to encourage the negro in believing that
"some of these days" he will be held the white man's
equal in matters affecting the rights of citizenship. No

14 mace flDctfjoDoip in tfte SoutlJ
statesman yet born has been able to disentangle the
interwoven threads of domestic, social, religious, legal
and political life. So long as the negro is debarred
from the hope of being valued according to his charac
ter instead of his race, so long will the "problem" re
main unsolved.
But am I wrong in believing — 'for I cannot now scien-
i tifically prove the assertion — that all forms of "equality"
depend on social equality and that the latter depends on
the right of intermarriage ? My reading of history sup
ports the contention. Fustel de Coulanges'* illuminating
study, "The Ancient City" (to take one illustration),
makes it plain that the Roman Plebeians never got their
rights until intermarriage was allowed with the Patri
cians. Human life in society is one, and its basis is bio
logical, with all the meaning of "natural selection" and
"sexual selection," and with modes of "social selection"
to boot. Willingness to "rear a dusky brood" is not
impossible to the consciousness of most men; but race
prejudice is driving the idea far afield in the United
States of America and in the British possessions. As
a rule, men dare not allow themselves, especially in the
South, to think of such a thing.
However, without discussing the point, I am making
the plea here, as elsewhere in this paper, that the race
problem should be studied, and by competent, trained
minds, and with all the methods known to the biological,
psychological, anthropological and social sciences. It
seems almost cruel to tell ten millions of people that there
is "a good time coming" for them in this country, when
the facts of increasing race feeling all point the other
way. Even more cruel is it to inform them that they
*See Appendix: Ancient Rome and the Race Problem in the
South.

a JFooIs' paradise for jaesroes is
are handicapped, hopelessly and finally, by Nature, and
cannot hope to develop as a race. "The white man
doesn't want the negro in his way — and, apparently, all
ways in this country are becoming the white man's way ;
and nature does not want the negro anywhere!" Now,
the first part of this sentence, put into the mouth of the
pessimist, is probably true. This is becoming true in a
most sinister fashion as the years go by; but surely no
man that loves mankind can, without being morally and
scientifically sure of his ground, allow himself to accept
the doctrine of despair that condemns the negro to
ultimate destruction.
If the negro is to stay with us, we must help him to
develop himself to fit in with the present and probable
future civilization of the country. If he is to go abroad
on the earth, or to be segregated in American territory,
his training will have to take such a future into account.
Are we not wasting time and money in educating this
people in the dark? Shall we educate them to do eco
nomic battle with the white race, with the practical cer
tainty in view that they will fail in their fight? Or can
we view with equanimity the thought of "high-grade"
negroes or mulattoes overcoming "low-grade" white
men? Doubtless some are doughty enough to say. Let
the white man go down if he cannot compete with the
negro. But it may happen that the negro's success, if
he achieves any, will be due to qualities not sought after
by the white race. The Japanese and other race "prob
lems" will have to be solved before we can allow our
selves to harbor even the most pragmatic form of that
alluring doctrine: "The devil take the hindmost I"
After all, we cherish our own, whether high or low.
The Congress of the United States seems to have thought
so in their legislation with regard to Chinese immigra-

1 6 mace ©rtfjoDoip in ttie ©outi)
tion, and in other ways that need not be mentioned.
Whatever we may say in print, we Americans have a
"favored race" clause in that unwritten constitution of
ours which is more "national" than our written docu
ments. Even now the Anglo-American warcry. This is
a White Man's Country, is sounding throughout the
world, wherever whites constitute a fair percentage
of the population. And politicians and statesmen are
being compelled to pay heed to it. History should by
this time have taught us the significance of race feeling
as a compelling and often a controlling factor in the
development of peoples. Our Bible is full of it. Our
experience with the Indians has made us familiar with it,
in spite of the romantic interest the red man inspired.
Armenia, Austria-Hungary, the Balkan States, the treat
ment of Jew by Gentile — all these tell the tale ; how is it
that we have failed to learn our lesson with those object
lessons before us? The Indians, whether "American"
or Hindu, are interesting in a novel or a write-up, es
pecially when we have no first-hand acquaintance with
them; but woe to them or their ilk if they come into
antagonistic relations with our social or our economic
life! Though we marvel at the wonderful heroism and
resourcefulness of the Japanese, many of us feel a sort
of humiliation that a nation of white folk allowed them
selves to be humbled by a nation of yellow people.
Is not feeling or impulse sometimes a more powerful
historical force than ideas ? Must not the noblest thought
suffuse itself in feeling and get close to the primary
impulses of the common people ere it acquire active and
telling energy? The human instinct betokened by the
saying "Birds of a feather flock together" is none the
less true because man has grown more cosmopolitan and
humanitarian in his feelings. We need a new Kant to

a JFooIs' paradise for jQegroes 17
arise who will give us a "Critique of Pure Instinct."
When such a work is written and takes hold of the
world's leaders, we shall have no more attempts to alter
the eternal constitution of man's nature in favor of
academic ideas however noble. When man's strongest
acquired instincts or habits become suffused with his
strongest feelings, as in the case of race attitude in
America, let all of us pay due heed to the phenomenon
and strive to guide rather than ignorantly to alter or
suppress. I have already insisted that race enmity is
not innate, but "consciousness of kind" is instinctive —
and kind and "kin" at bottom mean pretty nearly the
same thing to the average man. Nor is it singular that
the Southem people especially take account of the "kin-
ness" of things. Their whole history has shown their
feeling for the kin, their fondness for local self-govern
ment, their powerful feelings about domesticity. A
people cannot be altered by law and argument when the
logic of blood and tradition speaks otherwise, and when
history and social psychology give large significance to
their point of view.
The practical psychology of the situation seems to
indicate, on the whole, that the negro must find some
more congenial field than the Southern states for the
sphere of his development. While few Southern leaders
make this admission, many would do so if a labor supply
were at hand. And do the people of the North and
West feel fundamentally different on this subject? I
doubt it. In spite of all our manly talk about giving
every man a "square deal," most of us are inclined to
give the negro justice only on conditions that the giving
does not harm the dominant race. And the very pres
ence of a race in tutelage is a menace to the character
of the ruling race, as James Bryce pointed out some

1 8 mace DrtiJoDoip in tfte ©outlj
years ago, even though the decline of the subordinate
race may not carry the dominant race with it.
All men of good will and higher intelligence wish the
negro well. But many are coming to wish him well
away — as many miles removed as possible! And this
wish is for the negro's welfare as well as for the white's.
If we, the dominant race, after careful investigation,
decide that it is best for both races that the whites and
the negroes dwell in different lands, no amount of money
is too great that will thus solve or "dissolve" the prob
lem. Better spend treasure equivalent to many Panama
Canals than keep up the direful tragedy now being en
acted in a Christian nation.
If our American people have a "God-given destiny,"
surely we ought to begin its fulfilment by taking the
beam out of our own eye in order that we may see well
enough to take the mote from our brother's eye! The
ten millions of defenseless negroes have a right to call
on Heaven for vengeance on us if we fail in our duty
to them. And surely the nation owes a duty to the
"retarded South." For it needs no argument to prove
that we white folk must do the best we can for the suc
cess and happiness of our own race. If investigation
can help us to decide the fateful question, let us investi
gate. But we are only shallow mockers and hypocrites
if we strive to educate these unfortunate negroes only to
let them take into their mouths bitter Dead Sea ashes.
If the negro is not to remain here, every acre he ac
quires complicates the problem; yet his advisers. North
and South, are telling him to buy land. Already he
finds that he cannot purchase city lots that are desirable,
and the time may be coming, may be near at hand, when
he will find it hard to buy good land anywhere in this
country at any price. More and more, as the years roll

3 Jfools' Paradise for ji3egroes 19
by, is he being "ordered off the premises" in residence
sections of the cities and in divers country communities,
and even whole counties. If an owner of city lots is
regarded as infamous if he sells his property to a decent
negro, can we wonder if the lowest of the low among
the poorer whites come to look upon the matter in the
same light as that which illumines the "prejudice" of the
dwellers in fine houses?
Summing up our thought, let us seriously ask our
selves the question. Are we preparing the negro to dwell
in a Fools' Paradise ? A small percentage of the negroes
are doubtless getting a kind of training that will fit them
for almost any emergency. Industrial schools are doing
for the negro the sort of service he may need under
almost any conditions. But even their work will be
vastly more useful if directed toward a well-understood
end, a carefully mapped out future for the students.
How cheerfully would the people of the whole country
give of their money and their service did they know that
their means and their efforts would result in settling
the negro problem. And how blithesomely would the
better negroes work for the betterment of their race did
they know that their people would have a fair chance
somewhere, somehow, some time! At present many of
the negro leaders have depression at the bottom of their
hearts. How could it be otherwise, when facts are so
insistent ?
After years of silent observation and study, and care
ful reading on all aspects of the subject, after long resi
dence in North and South, I am inclined to believe that
we must find a home for the negro where he will have
a fair chance, where he will be aided by us in every
sane way, where he can prove himself to be a worthy
race. If he fails, then we shall at least have done our

20 mace ©rtftodoip in tfte Soutft
duty. If he succeeds, we shall enjoy the satisfaction of
having succeeded in the noblest deed that history re
cords. Once we decide on such a course — and the negro
will help us to decide — it may take half a century of
time and many millions of money to prepare a place or
places for him and properly establish him therein. But
we are a people of large deeds, and our faith is such as
will remove mountains of difficulty. Let us not forget
that, while it is our pleasure to extend our markets and
facilitate our trade, we owe a solemn duty to these
people and to our own people. Not for one moment
would I be represented as saying that my tentative opin
ion as to the solution of the negro problem is neces
sarily the correct one. Much careful investigation is
needed before anyone can do more than hazard a well-
based judgment. If, however, what I have said helps
ever so little to direct the conscience of our people or
any one of our leaders toward the painstaking, intelli
gent, scientific, cooperative study of this vexed ques
tion, I shall feel that the weight of responsibility that
every honorable American must feel in this matter has
at least been a little eased from my own aching shoul
ders. For of all things pitiable it is one of the most
trying and grief-inspiring to dwell in this sweet and
sunny South while the tragedy that is retarding two
peoples' development goes on around one! Praise or
blame for the people of the South are not important
matters. I doubt if a finer stock could be found any
where than these Southern white folk, my own people.
But the situation is too much for us. We cry out strenu
ously. Let us solve our own problem! But we are not
solving it; indeed, the complication of it is growing.
Nor can the Northern people solve it, for they are far
less equipped than Southerners in their knowledge of

a iFooIs' paradise for jQegroes 21
the negroes and of Southern conditions. Our Mace
donian cry must go out to all men who care for human
beings, all men who have apostolic "charity" (carifas),
and would not that a single man should be lost because
he has not been understood.
So, while we need not cease talking and writing about
the negro question, let us study it in the light of twen
tieth century science and Christianity! If we must
finally reach the colonization solution, every year of de
lay adds immensely to the difficulty of the undertaking.

II. A BRIEF STATEMENT OF SOUTHERN
HUMANITARIANISM
(Summary of commencement address to graduating class of Uni
versity Training School, Oxford, Miss.)
I. No person should expect to be listened to sympa
thetically in Mississippi or anywhere else in this country
whose point of view in regard to the negro question is
not substantially that of the American citizen and the
Christian gentleman.
2. The American citizen believes that all men have a
right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happines," and
that there should be "equal rights for all, special privi
leges for none."
3. The Christian gentleman believes that God is the
loving Father of all men, and that He "made every
nation of men for to dwell on all the face of the
earth, having determined their appointed seasons and
the bounds of their habitation." (Acts: 17,26.) And
we further believe that Christ died for all men, of every
race and nation; that we should love our neighbors as
ourselves ; that all men everywhere are our neighbors and
brothers so far as rights and duties and spiritual life
are concerned ; that, finally, if we "love not our brother
whom we have seen" — no matter if his appearance does
not please our aesthetic sense — "how can we love God
whom we have not seen" ?
4. The above view claims equality rights for all
men. But equality of rights in the abstract does not
32

^outljern l^umanitarianism 23
presuppose equality of exercise of those rights in the
concrete. A young man of twenty may be an accom
plished gentleman and a useful citizen, but he does not
quarrel with the state for not giving him the franchise.
Millions of noble and thoughtful women are not given
the legal right to vote, even though thousands of their
number are qualified to hold some of the highest offices
in the land. Yet the insistent demand for woman suf
frage is not as yet very general among women. Expe
diency and the general welfare must determine how far
the exercise of rights must be held in abeyance; but to
deprive human beings of their fundamental rights of
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, except as a
means for securing these rights for Society and Man in
general, is un-American, inhuman, un-Christian. Nor
has pride of race any justification in usurping for itself
the role of Providence and deciding what shall or shall
not ultimately be the destiny of any race, nation or
people. The greatest good of the greatest number and
the preservation of the highest civilization are principles
that may justify the holding in tutelage of an alien race
or people until in the process of time such race or people
are fit to exercise their rights in a way useful to the
general weal. But the pleasure or the convenience or
the prejudice of the stronger race is not to be the ar
biter of another people's fate for all time; rather let the
enlightened thought of humanity decide as the years go
by when and where every people may have their full
and free development.
5. Just as the law insists that parents and guardians
must show forth the character appropriate to their rights
and duties in regard to the children under their charge,
so the enlightened conscience of humanity insists with a
mighty and compelling voice that a superior race has

24 mace fl)rti)odO£p in tfte ^outfi
rights over an inferior race only in so far as it has a
responsible conscience void of offense toward those
under its tutelage. Unworthy exploitation of human
beings in any form is a spitting upon the image of God
and a dire insult to God Himself which He will most
surely avenge.
6. The Christian gentleman or the ethical humani
tarian is one who goes far beyond legal rights and duties
in his kindness toward those seemingly his inferiors.
He knows that his own superiority, if it exists, imposes
upon him the obligation of noble conduct toward his
inferiors — noblesse oblige. And no more certain test of
true gentility can be found than real manliness and real
gentleness. The bravest are the tenderest, and the brutal
are spiritual cowards. The Christian gentleman is
scarcely distinguished by the cut of his coat or his gal
lantry to ladies, but rather by the way he treats dumb
brutes and the human crawlers on life's hard roadway.
The Christian gentleman is a knight without fear and
without reproach, not a harsh and arrogant egotist; a
sayer of kind words, not a hurter of tender feelings ; an
encourager of noble aspiration, not a scoffer at honest
effort. And the Christian gentleman's words and deeds
apply equally to rich and poor, white and black. His
heart responds to the tender words of South Carolina's
cherished Hampton, gallant soldier, upright servant of
the people, knightly Christian gentleman, who cried with
his dying breath : "God bless my people, white and black
— God bless them all." And yet Hampton knew that his
"people" were really two peoples and that the whites
must rule.
7. Thoughtful experience at the South is beginning
to admit not only that the "appointed season" of the
negro race has not arrived, but also that the bounds of

^outftern ^umanitarianism 25
their habitation may not be set here for all time. The
negro will not be allowed to share the white man's
"season" through amalgamation. No sane leader of
thought and action desires such a "solution," which is
worse than the "problem." Shall the negro, then, remain
forever as a subordinate and an alien race, to be ex
ploited in the supposed interests of the white man and
to have all hope of free development blasted in his
breast? Surely not! The present situation is bad
enough, but these "solutions" are worse. And do history
and experience show any other solutions to be possible?
8. Immediate and wholesale deportation is a futile
dream. But if the sovereign people of this rich and
powerful and God-fearing country decide that our black
brethren cannot in justice to them and ourselves remain
where they cannot hope to become a real part of our
national life, then we shall gradually, carefully, scien
tifically and thoroughly prepare the negro and ourselves
for an inevitable separation, and the brother-in-black,
"at sundry times and in divers manners," will find a
home for himself, and under his own vine and fig tree,
in his own country, "work out his own salvation." And,
if he works his own damnation, we at least shall not be
blameworthy, for we will prepare him during years for
his life apart, and all the world will help him Und his
place, for God alone knows what each man's place is.
9. This is not a question to be settled altogether by
politicians and elections. The time will come when we
shall know what ought to be done with the negro. And
when that time comes let the statesmen and politicians
put into effect what the best research and the wisest
benevolence of the country sanction. In the meantime
let the negro "keep his place" and dream no idle dreams
of equality for which intermarriage alone could make

26 mace £)rtgodox^ in tj^e ^outh
him eligible. Let him rather gird up his loins for brave
effort to make himself worthy of a better fate and a
fuller life. Let him wait in patience to be called up
higher by God and good men, and then perhaps in his "ain
countree" let him "make his calling and election sure."
lo. Whatever his future, the negro must be educated
for that future. Therefore, let us study him and the
whole question, so as to educate him aright for his des
tiny and cause to cease the restless agitation and suspi
cion that are now a serious drawback to the develop
ment of the South.

III. CURING THE SOUTH: SALVE OR
SURGERY?*
"It will but skin and film the ulcerous place.
Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen."
Hard as it is to enter the holy of holies of a little
child's mind, it is still harder to sympathize with the
incongruities of an alienated personality ; and hardest of
all, especially for those brought up in another civilization
or those who have lived all their lives in a peculiar en
vironment, to practice the political-psychologic art on a
whole people when that people's life is spiritually and
materially abnormal, on account of an impossible situa
tion. To read the South's mind to-day is a much harder
undertaking for either Nationalist or Southerner than
was the case a quarter of a century ago. For the South
has caught the commercial spirit, and the average solid
citizen will say and do nothing that will "hurt business."
On the contrary, he adopts an optimistic point of view,
feeling that if outsiders are in a hopeful frame of mind
on account of the belief that things are getting better in
all respects, they are more likely to invest in the South
and build up its waste places, or at least give it a good
name as a section that invites the investment of capital
with reasonable safety. These solid citizens do not in
tend to deceive others, but they deceive themselves. They
* Written for a prominent educator. 27

28 mace Drtl)od03Ep in tfie ©outft
shut off all communications from their widely appre
hending social instincts, take counsel of their hopes, and
forthwith become optimists, without fully realizing that
their optimism is shallow if not dishonest, though not
consciously. Then, too, the exploiters ! There are more
of them than one thinks, and they, too, are often uncon
scious or half -conscious in their seemingly altruistic de
sire to "get" all they can for the South. One cannot
gauge the feelings of the Japanese by their silken smiles
while in the presence of the "foreign devils"; nor can
one judge of the common people's attitude anywhere by
perusing the speeches and interviews of their leading
publicists. California withdrew her offensive legisla
tion toward Orientals, but does anyone suppose that the
average Calif ornian's feelings have changed in the least?
And is it surprising that the state's fixed feeling now
finds expression in the Alien Land Bill ?
Inasmuch as instincts and habits and social subcon
sciousness are the real determining forces in national
life, one must not expect to get at the truth of things
Southern by a study of individuals' facile utterances,
especially to their guests. President Roosevelt was once
received at Charleston with open arms and the utmost
enthusiasm. When he was asked about the appointment
of Crum, a mulatto, to a Federal office in Charleston, he
thought he was told that the appointment would be ac
ceptable. His hosts were in a good humor — for had
they not expanded their souls amid scenes of wining and
dining? "Let's not talk politics, but have a good time!
You'll do the right thing (that is,' we hope you'll do
what we want you to)." No doubt President Roosevelt
thought that the Charlestonians were "disingenuous."
And doubtless some of them were, in a sense ! Assertive

Curing tfte ^outft: ^altje or burger?? 29
and social instincts do much of their influencing near
the margin and the threshold of consciousness.
But, replies an optimist, does it not argue well that
there should be an increasing number of liberal persons
who take a pride in pointing out the evidences of negro
progress, and who profess not to object to the exercise
of the right of suffrage by high-grade negroes — does not
the existence of such persons indicate a tendency toward
a better spirit toward the negroes? In such an inquiry
many things have to be considered. In North Carolina,
for instance, where our Northern brethren have met
such "liberal" persons, the negroes have been "squeezed"
politically for a number of years. Since the Wilmington
riot the Republican party has been able to make no
progress, in spite of their alliance with the populists and
in spite of North Carolina's having a normally large
Republican vote. We may also ask what evidences of
change of heart are these liberal souls able to report
among the people at large? Have not the Southern
states continued to enact discriminatory suffrage laws,
Jim Crow laws, and the like? Is not the South being
encouraged to treat the negroes as aliens by the growing
discrimination against the negro in the North, a dis
crimination that is social as well as economic? Does
not the South perceive that all the fire has gone out
of the Northern philanthropic fight for the rights of
man? The North has surrendered! At least that is
coming to be the practical judgment of the commercial
and political South. "They are going to let us alone;
we'll fix things to suit ourselves," is the underlying
feeling of many a Southern leader, even though the
Southern people generally may not be so optimistic. Mr.
Alfred Holt Stone, in his recent illuminating book, rep
resents the high-grade Southerner's attitude toward the

30 mace ©rtljodoip in tfte ©outlj
negro question when he seems to argue that the negroes
should be treated as a "peasant class." Individual
Southerners look with approbation and sympathy upon
the economic improvement of certain negroes, always
provided these negroes are "white men's negroes," and
"know their place." As soon as these negroes begin to
"put on style" and express their social dignity, even if
this exhibition is confined strictly to their own race,
mutterings and murmurings begin. Let these favored
negroes take the mildest interest in politics or any de
cided personal stand against the dominant whites, then
the trouble begins in good earnest. Furthermore, every
prosperous negro who shows his prosperity in a way to
be seen by the whites is a focus for hatred on the part
of the "lower" whites, with whom the "higher" whites
are vastly more sympathetic than they were thirty years
ago. White solidarity, ultimately dominated by the feel
ings of the majority, is the real danger to the negro.
So long as an individual negro's vote has no influence
and is not the expression of a demand for citizenship
(always, historically, potential social equality), there
may be acquiescence on the part of many individual
whites. But let the negro vote become conspicuous, or
let the negro show a consciousness of equal citizenship,
then the lower white and the higher at once feel that
"this is a white man's country, and the negro hasn't any
business voting."
The writer would be greatly pleased to have an oppor
tunity to examine and cross-examine more of the liberal
Southern optimists. Being himself an unswerving be
liever in human rights for all races and an uncompromis
ing opponent of the "peasant class" idea, he neverthe
less feels obliged to say that the low-grade Southemer's
feelings on this subject have more reality and more

Curing tbe ^outt): ^aiue or ^urgerp^ 31
validity than those of the occasional liberal optimist.
And why? The caption of this paper and the quotation
from Hamlet with which it begins point to the answer.
If the negro will not be allowed to have a fully de
veloped, self-conscious citizenship and spiritual free
dom in the widest sense of the term, are we not treating
the Southerner "case," with salves and lotions, when in
reality a surgical operation is needed? During the last
few years the number of well-balanced men holding to
a belief in the ultimate separation of the races has ap
parently increased. Why? Because of the Southern
man's underlying consciousness that the negro occupies
space that could better be filled by the white man.
If right-minded men want nothing less for the negro
than a full and free development of character and citizen
ship, ought they to be content with present tendencies,
without making a thorough, cooperative scientific inves
tigation of the situation, including a scientific attempt
to understand the psychology of the white man's mind ?
We humanitarians are opposed to amalgamation, or
peasantry, or perpetual friction and strife, as "solu
tions" of the negro problem. There are two other
"solutions" : One has been already hinted at — coloniza
tion (perhaps over a period of a hundred years) ; the
other is a solution that the present writer advocated ten
years ago to his classes and in public speeches — ^parallel
civilization. Will it be feasible to have a parallel civiliza
tion for the colored folk? That, it seems to me, is a
subject for long-continued scientific study. History
shows no instance of such an arrangement. New Zea
land's racial suffrage is the nearest approach to it; but
the problem is already settled in this case, for the Maoris
are dying out. Jamaica's "solution" is hardly one that
the white people of the South would agree to, even if

32 mace ©rtftodoip in tlje %omb
conditions could be as good as in the District of Colum
bia! Besides, the American negroes are not Jamaicans
nor the Southern whites English. Further, Jamaican
civilization is hardly successful enough to be taken as a
model by progressive Americans. It may turn out, how
ever, that a parallel civilization, with bi-racial suffrage
and the like, may be possible either as a permanent solu
tion, or, what is more likely, as the best temporary solu
tion until the negroes can be disposed of in a century-
long colonization and educational preparation therefor.
The writer is too old in years and experience to prophesy
rashly, but all successful prophecy is based on insight
into social and political conditions. More than that, it
sometimes happens that one can prove the existence of
instincts that will inevitably produce certain human re
sults. Well, the present writer, believing that he had
acquired some insight on account of his special study
of the problems of character and on account of his long
resident study of racial matters, has tried the experiment
of mentioning to a few friends the thought underlying
Mr. Carnegie's kindly prophecy of personally owned
"sweet little homes" for the negroes of the South. The
reaction was extremely instructive, though it would have
been startling to the uninitiated to see the look of scorn
and contempt, or of smiling cynicism, that was to be
seen on the faces of prominent Southern educators, men
of culture and Christian nurture. On the other hand,
when it was suggested that it might be necessary some
of these days to start in the South the cry: "This is a
white man's country! Don't sell land to a negro. Buy
back the land for our children," the reaction was still
more interesting. // something is not done within the
next few years the cry will be raised and the results of
it will tend to "settW the negro question — "in a way."

IV. THE CRUX OF THE QUESTION; ORGAN
IZING TO ANSWER IT
(Written at Conference for Education in the South, after con
ference with one of the great constructive educational leaders of
the country.)
An honest man may be the noblest work of God; as
suredly a well-balanced man is the rarest. For balance
means not only equipoise in feeling, intellect and will,
but sanity with salt enough in it, and ethical passion with
just enough prejudice to be human. To be both inter
ested and disinterested, intensive and extensive, idealis
tic and practical, cautious and hopeful — these are some
of the seemingly opposite traits that must be held in
solution in the character of one who studies the negro
question. Nevertheless, questions must be answered in
spite of the imperfections of the would-be answerer; nor
will they consent to wait until some modern "angelical
doctor" adequate to the task answers truthfully and yet
suaviter in modo. Be it my office, therefore, in this
brief paper, to prepare the way for a fuller statement
to come when leisure allows, although this present writ
ing must partake somewhat of the hurry and scurry
incident to "writing on the wing."
THE SITUATION
Two peoples, representative of the two most widely
differing races, inhabit the same territory, supposedly
33

34 mace £lrt|)odoip in tfte ^outl)
share common institutions and a common religion, sup
posedly stand equal before the law touching political and
civil rights, supposedly come perforce into divers neigh
borly relations ; and yet the one race is regarded by the
other not only as inferior, but as destined for all time
to remain subordinate to that other. Time was when
such a statement would have raised a vigorous if not
indignant protest from the "friends of humanity" and
from chivalrous protectors of the weak. We should
have been told that in political, social and spiritual mat
ters, as well as in rights pertaining to one's ownership
of his own body, a man's a man for a' that and a' that.
Is the old spirit of abolitionism clean gone, and is South
ern chivalry become the memory of a valiant gentle
man's past? God forbid that we free men's bodies only
to leave their souls bound by the shackles of ignorance
and vice and severed from that self-respect without
which there comes untowardly the early decline-and-
death of a people's aspirations.
And all the time men cry peace when there is no
peace. Though competent observers freely grant that
the races are drifting farther and farther from mutual
sympathy and helpfulness, nevertheless many a success
ful planter, or investor, or owner of Southern land and
industries asks us consientious fanatics of the faith
humanitarian and democratic to "let things be." Even
the voices crying in the wilderness and calling men to a
realization of their situation if not to repentance are
afraid to cry aloud and spare not, because of the feeling
fashions of the multitude. Though zealous for human
rights, and even the bondman's human feelings, they
fear lest they may fail to avoid the appearance of evil
exploitation or of sectional disloyalty, when they ex
press agreement as to humanitarian principles with influ-

Cfte Crui of tfte Question 35
ential and benevolent gentlemen from the yonder side
of the magic "line" that until recently used to part
brethren from one another through sectional inertia and
chronic misunderstanding. The mutual understanding
of Northern and Southern idealists becomes an object
of suspicion to the growing hatred felt for the negroes
on the part of the masses of the people North and South.
The South is the most "democratic" portion of the
Union, and yet appears to the world to suppress those
whose erstwhile masters found for the principle that all
human beings have certain inalienable rights and that
taxation without representation is tyranny. Democracy
has dressed herself in the arrogant habit of the aristo
crat by the grace of God. Then, too, this same favored
South is the most religious section of the country. And
yet, by some strange and unheralded revelation made
only to certain publicists and their kind, we are told that
God intended the negro to be the servant of the whites —
or to be "peasantry" — or to be everlastingly subordi
nated in vital ways. Conceive, if you can, of a Grod
whose predestinating hand condemns a whole race of
immortal spirits to the eternal punishment of spiritual
slavery ! If the negro is content to be thus disposed of
by these very modern readers of the Almighty Mind,
the prophet exclaims, "Said I not that he has no future;
look how he behaves — like an unthinking beast, without
that self-respect that makes a man a man." And if the
negro asserts himself the soothsaying representative of
Eternal Love cries out, "Back to your place, nigger!
You are trying to get social equality and to destroy our
civilization." A study of the situation will show that comparatively
few ordinary Southerners believe from the heart in
negro education of any liberal sort or description what-

36 mace mrtljodoip in tfte ^outi)
soever; while the few who really believe that all human
beings should be educated with one voice acclaim the
demand of Booker Washington for industrial educa
tion. But no one has perceived any general eagerness
on the part of Southern communities to give the "only
kind of education that a nigger is fit for." Truth to
say, much of this commendation of Washington's views
is based upon the thought that, if "what the negroes
need" is industrial education, then it follows that they
need no other kind, and will perhaps keep away from
the white man and his very delicate and sensitive "civili
zation." The uncritical man reading the above might classify
the writer as a Northern man and a negrophilist ! And
yet, as a matter of fact, he is a Southerner of the South
erners, of the straitest sect of "white supremacy," and
in addition has observed for years the Northern feeling
of repulsion for any sort of physical proximity to the
negro. Moreover, this same writer is deeply and intrin
sically sympathetic with the Southem "orthodox" atti
tude, believes it to be rational at bottom, and would not
change the status quo in the South to-morrow if he
could do so with one wave of the magician's wand!
To your tents, O Israel! The Chosen American must
rule! Earnest and careful students of the negro question
who have occupied themselves with the ethical and
psychological aspects of the problems will have reached
the conclusion that nothing is contradictory or para
doxical enough to be waved aside as unmeaning and not
worth investigation. I plead guilty to the seeming speak
ing of foolishness and throw myself upon the mercy of
the court — ^the enlightened mind of the sincere student
of the most difficult, complex and dangerous of human

Cfte Crui of tlje Question 37
situations. In this paper I must attempt to show a real
reasonableness underlying this apparent blind contra-
dictoriness and strive at once to explain and to justify
my attitude.

THE SOUTHERN WHITE MAN'S MIND
The real problem is not the negro, but the white man's
attitude toward the negro. Most observers find no
trouble in understanding, and even sympathetically, the
Southemer's prejudice against "social equality." What
ever the ultimate explanation, one can with a show of
reasonableness postulate such a principle of explanation
as the lack of a larger human sympathy in trying to find
a basis for social discrimination against the negro; or
he may resort to the theory of caste, or that of aesthetic
dislike, or what not. But, asks the dispassionate ob
server, what has "social equality" to do with the suffrage
and political rights in general? Social privileges are
an affair of choice, custom, convention, fashion and the
like; then why should we pay any serious attention to
the man who seems to confound the social with the
political? The whites used to contend that the ignorant negro
voter was the real menace. Said they, we cannot afford
to allow an ignorant and often vicious horde to en
danger our civilization. Such a plea seemed reasonable
enough. In fact, almost every thinker, North and South,
negro and white, assumes nowadays that the Southem
suffrage laws, so far as they disfranchise only the ignor
ant voter, irrespective of race, are wise and proper.
Some even go so far as to excuse or at least palliate the
offensiveness of a law that strives to save the privilege of

38 mace SDrt&odoip in m ^oufb
the suffrage for the ignorant white man, on the ground
that though unlettered and even illiterate, he may have
some degree of real political instinct and judgment in
spite of his uneducated condition. And all Southern
states do not have the "Grandfather Clause," perhaps
caring more to shut out the negroes than to give privi
leges to the illiterate whites. The "understanding"
clause, or the poll-tax provision, may be regarded as
advisable psychological methods of discriminating
against the negro. Waiving, for the sake of argument,
the claims just made, I assert, without fear of being
contradicted by competent observers, that the Southern
whites in the mass do not want any negro to vote under
any circumstances. Point out to them that the negro
voter is no longer a menace to good government, and
their reply is that "the negro has no use for the fran
chise, anyhow."
A good illustration of this was to be observed in
Georgetown, S. C, some years ago. I found that the
younger white voters were bent on causing trouble at
the polls during a municipal election. I inquired
whether they feared that the negroes might carry the
election. The reply was in the negative. The "audac
ity" and "impertinence" of the negroes in "daring" or
"presuming" to vote was the trouble. The spontaneous
remarks of average citizens and the express utterances
of influential leaders, such as Tillman and Hoke Smith,
who are really representative of the tendencies of the
Southern masses, point in the same direction. So I
think that we may assume that the great majority of
the Southern whites resent negro citizenship whenever
expressed in a quasi-rtprtsentative (racial) capacity.
If it be true that the suffrage is the lineal descendant of
the club and the fist, as defenders of the home, then

Cf)e Cruj of tfte €tuestion 39
we may connect together the following indications : The
disfranchisement of the negro; the disbandment of col
ored militia in the South; the strong Southern feeling
against the enlistment of negro soldiers in the United
States army ; Southem opposition to negro office-holding
and jury duty.
Voting, whatever its origin, is the expression of the
sovereign rights of the free citizen. When a man votes
he practically says to every other man in the commu
nity, "I am as good as you are before the law." Now
this is just what the average Southem white man wishes
to deny in the case of the negro, so far as active citizen
ship is concerned. In effect he says, "You are not my
equal as a citizen and you shan't pretend that you are.
If you vaunt your equality at the ballot box there's no
telling what other claims you will be making pext.
Efface yourself and keep in your place as a subordinate
race." But why does the white wish the negro to remain
subordinate, in spite of the former's passionate belief in
democracy and evangelical Christianity? Practically
every white man will reject the explanation that he
doesn't want a "race of former slaves" to enjoy political
equality with himself. Such an explanation is some
times made at the North and at the South, but not,
ordinarily, by the average Southern whites in spon
taneous conversation.
This passionate aversion to negro suffrage has grown
in proportion as social class lines among the whites have
become obliterated. For instance, the Tillman move
ment in South Carolina and the Vardaman movement
in Mississippi carried with them the cry that the Demo
cratic party is a "white man's party." Hence, under
the influence of the "extremist" leaders, the rules of the

40 mace €)rt&odoip in tbt ©outfi
Democratic primaries in these two states read all negroes
— including negroes who have hitherto passed as "Demo
crats" — out of participation in the primaries. In the
seventies negro Democrats were highly esteemed and
their votes were sought. In proportion as the ranks of
the humbler whites achieved more and more success as
practical factors in politics, the negro — to use a term
made famous in Dr. Prince's "Dissociation of a Per
sonality" — became "squeezed." He is not even allowed
to become a sort of subconsciousness or penumbral "co-
consciousness." He must relapse into complete political
unconsciousness, and is to be counted only to keep a
quorum. In tine, disfranchisement of the negroes has
been concomitant with the growth of political and social
solidarity among the whites. The more white men
recognize sharply their kinship with their fellow whites,
and the more democracy in every sense of the term
spreads among them, the more the negro is compelled
to "keep his place" — a place that is being gradually nar
rowed in the North as well as in the South.
Thus it has come to pass that political privilege is
instinctively regarded as the legal expression of a poten
tial social equality. This feeling is especially keen in
the South because the people are social in their political
activities. Picnics and barbecues are common and popu
lar; social classes of all kinds freely mingle at times;
the "professional" politician is ordinarily more of a
"hero" and less of a grafter and exploiter than in the
large cities of the North; the identification of a party
with a race has become complete ; the belief in that race
as the "chosen people of God" is practically an unwrit
ten creed stronger than ecclesiastical dogma. Indeed, at
the South, "white supremacy" is an integral part of the
religious consciousness, as much so as is racial faith

Cl)e Cru£ of tfte Question 41
among the Jews or among the Boers. Now, recall the
Hebrew belief so often expressed by the biblical writers
that God punished the chosen people because they did
not exterminate the Canaanite tribes, and one has an
ancient picture on a large canvas of the at present less
virulent feeling of the Southerner, that the chosen
people must sustain their God-given supremacy, come
what will — "they the heirs of all the ages in the fore
most files of time." George Washington was the father
of the white man's country, not the negro's country;
"my country" of the national h)mrin is not the negro's
"sweet land of liberty" ; Jamestown and Plymouth Rock
were in no respects beginnings of a negro "native land."
Professor Burgess's definition of a "nation" is acceptable
to the South, for it stresses community of descent and
tradition. Even the "coon song" expresses comically the
tragic fact that "every nation has a flag but the coon."
The etymological meaning of "nation" (birth) is the
one to which the Southern people adhere. And shall
we say that they are historically and psychologically,
even biologically, unreasonable? The negroes, indeed,
are aliens to all intents and purposes, and aliens that
cannot be assimilated. In the body politic they are inor
ganic substances that cannot be either digested or got
rid of, and tending to become virulent poisons ! At heart
the white man's fear is not objective "social equality."
He does not believe that the negro race can ever be the
equal of the white race in any worth-while way. But
he shrinks from social contact except on a well-defined
basis of "white supremacy"; it is the negro's assertion,
present or possible, of his equal racial worth — this it
is that irritates the white man, for assertions tend to
become far-reaching acts.
Now, this principle of white supremacy is not a new

42 mace SDrtftodoip in tbt ©outft
thing. It is not only a result of white superiority, but
also of civic order and the public weal. Even the declara
tion of the French revolutionists and the Virginia Bill
of Rights, while maintaining the doctrine of liberty,
equality and fraternity, distinctly state that the public
safety and the public weal must always determine the
realization and expression of human rights. In the
family relations the wife and minor children do not
practice their "inalienable rights" in the same manner
that adult males do. Rights are relative to public wel
fare.* Historically, political and social relations have ever,
at least potentially, been closely connected. The plebeians
in ancient Rome got their political rights through the
assertion of social rights and in connection with inter
marriage. The first fruit of plebeian political rights
was the repeal of the anti-amalgamation laws. And let
us remember that in Greece and Rome, as well as India,
it is probable that caste originated in racial differences.
In England, too, to take a more modern instance, from
the time of the Norman Conquest until the present, so
cial and political relations have gone hand in hand, and
amalgamation has tended to solve all social-political
problems. The average Southerner doesn't know much
about such history, but he has the instincts that have
made, are making and will make history. For, say what
we will, may not all the equalities be ultimately based
on potential social equality, and that in turn on inter
marriage? Here we reach the real crux of the question.
If there were a blindly instinctive basis for racial dis
like, not much could be urged in extenuation of the
anxiety felt by Southern racial orthodoxy. But even
* See Ritchie, Natural Rights, and J. F. Stephen, Liberty, Equal
ity and Fraternity.

Cfte Cruj of tfte Question 43
the high-souled Tennyson, in "Locksley Hall," draws a
picture of the reckless, disappointed youth who has an
impulse to wed a dusky maiden and rear a dusky brood.
It is just because primary race feeling is not deeply
based in human instinct, whereas the mating instinct is
so based, that a secondary racial feeling, race-pride,
comes in from a more developed reflective consciousness
to minimize the natural instinct for amalgamation.
Bad, even fiendish, as race prejudice may become, it
may have its part to play in default of some higher
force, in the conventional life of the soul among nations.
And "secondary instincts" often perform an important
function in nullifying or inhibiting primary instincts.*
* Southerners do not ordinarily have the biological and esthetic
repulsion that is usually felt by Northerners toward the Negro.
Familiarity, in biological matters at least, sometimes breeds com
plaisance or indifference rather than contempt. And the memory
of ante-bellum concubinage and a tradition of animal satisfaction
due to the average negro woman's highly developed animalism are
factors still in operation. Not a few "respectable" white men have
been heard to express physiological preference for negro women.
If, therefore, animal appetite may become more powerful than race
pride, it is not surprising that race hatred is superinduced in those
who offend against race purity; for abnormal sexuality easily de
velops brutality. The race hatred of white offenders is an in
stinctive effort to neutralize the social effects of an impulse that
would ordinarily tend toward the legitimation of amalgamation.
Under the influence of race enmity, even concubinage tends to give
place to impersonal and infertile forms of animal satisfaction.
Thus the element of kindliness that often belongs to concubinage
yields to a mere animal convenience that may be consistent with
race enmity on the part of the white offender. Of course the in
crease of race hatred has the net result of decreasing the amount
of interracial vice. Thus does the negro woman become more
and more a cheap convenience of the occasional sort, and the
purity of the white race is protected at the expense of the white
man's appreciation of the negro woman's personality.

44 mace ©rtfiodojEp in tfte ©outfi
In this connection it will be useful to classify roughly
the various manifestations of race prejudice.* (i)
Race enmity is largely based on economic competition
with those regarded as interlopers who do not belong to
the "caste of the kin" (as I am in the habit of calling
white solidarity). Inasmuch as human relations are
organically connected, it usually happens that when un
like peoples come into industrial competition the feeling
of unlikeness — ^"I do not like thee. Dr. Fell ; the reason
why I cannot tell" — becomes sharpened by the laws of
association and contrast, and economic hate easily be
comes social hate. For example, note the race feeling
against the Chinese, cured by exclusion of the Mongols
and followed by a similar outbreak against the Japanese.
In the latter case the "superiority" of the Japanese adds
fuel to the flames, just as the attempt to show forth the
wonderful performances of gifted negroes often seems
to accentuate the average Southerner's antagonism
toward the negroes as a race. Consciousness of compe
tition quite easily develops into the feeling that the
lowest white man is incomparably (withal representa
tively) superior to the highest negro. Here we have
federal racial solidarity with a vengeance! (Compare
certain forms of the evangelical doctrine of the Atone
ment. ) Sympathy with the lower whites, as it increases
with growing political and social solidarity, results in
contagious increase of race enmity among the higher
whites. (Compare books on social psychology, chapters
on social suggestions, the "Mob Mind," etc.) Personal
suffering due to negro criminality still further recruits
from the higher grades the ranks of this lowest and
*I apologize to the general reader for discussing this topic at
all, and to the student of the negro question for not discussing it
more fully.

Ctie Crui of t|)e liuestion 45
therefore most dangerous level of race feeling, which
nevertheless is possibly the only form that can success
fully prevent the animal passions of the morally less
developed whites from tending toward social mingling
with negroes and the ultimate effacement of the protec
tive "color line."
(2) Race Pride. Most members of the better class
of citizenship in the South belong to this class, although
here, as in all such classifications, there is much over
lapping. Not a few of the uneducated classes, especially
those whose humanitarianism is genuine and practical,
are by nature inclined toward race antipathy, but have
a conscience culture developed toward a higher attitude.
The resultant is a respectable form of race pride. On
the other hand, some of the highest types of mind are
drawn toward a view much lower than the highest on
account of personal experience with race contact of the
bitter sort. Race pride is social and aesthetic in its
origin rather than economic, though at all times liable
to drift toward race enmity on account of economic
competition or the untoward personal experiences above
referred to. Pride of race seems to be a form of racial
self-respect and loyalty to traditions and institutions.
However, it can seldom give a reason for the faith that
is in it. Hence the "average solid citizen" is not able
to account for his seeming inconsistency in his treat
ment of the finer types of the negro race. While he
frankly admits the validity of enlightened moral prin
ciples, he fails to explain the subconscious relation of
"equalities" to one another; nor does he clearly see the
social-psychological principles that give some sort of
validity to an extension of the biblical insight that no
man liveth unto himself and none dieth unto himself.
He easily becomes impatient or angry when his seeming

46 mace ©rtljodoip in tlje ®out!)
inconsistencies are pointed out, and not seldom contents
himself with telling the Northern objector to "come
South and live among the negroes for a while," or "take
a few millions of the negroes up North."
(3) Race Conscience. This attitude is of course the
highest and the only one that possesses real moral valid
ity. But in order to be healthy it must have experi
mental and sympathetic knowledge of the lower atti
tudes. "First the natural man and then the spiritual
man." The idealistic doctrinaire is not a real specimen
of this type of attitude. "My people do not under
stand," can be said of him. Perceptive and empirical
understanding must ever underlie logical and scientific
thinking on social subjects, whatever may be true in
other spheres of human thought.
Race conscience holds to the higher ethical utilitarian
ism, or "pragmatism," as the philosophical fashion now
calls it. It sees clearly that biological assimilation is
the basic principle of national solidarity ; that science ap
pears to corroborate the findings of common sense when
it declares against mixture of extremely divergent racial
types; it sees more or less clearly the correlation and
interaction between political equality and social equal
ity; it hesitates to oppose too vigorously even such a
base passion as race enmity, to say nothing of race pride,
because of the evident protective (teleological) function
of race antipathy. If not that, what, then? it asks.
Evidently it must be the task of good men everywhere
to help transmute race enmity into reasonable race
pride, and the latter into spiritual and practical forms
of race conscience. How is this to be done? To find
out we must study long and hard. If it cannot be done,
separation of the races would appear to be necessary.
Fear and Anger: "Preternatural Suspicion." Before

Cije Crui of tht IXuestion 47
we can get to the bottom of the Southerner's mind we
must notice — for that is all we can do in a rapid survey
like this — the feeling-tone that accompanies the prevail
ing attitudes above described. There are three funda
mental emotions that have to do with social environment :
anger, fear and love (corresponding to the three atti
tudes described above). Translating into the language
of attitude and prevailing mood, we may call them hate,
anxiety-obsession and benevolent kindliness. Now, little
need be said of the third mode of feeling-reaction. Evi
dently it is the only one that ought to exist in a state
of enlightened civilization. Nevertheless, it is felt uni
formly by the very few only, and exerts an influence
in special cases alone and in some degree of silent modi
fication and amelioration of the other and stronger pas
sions. Anxiety and a kind of vindictive dislike tend
together to hold the field of race consciousness. Carlyle
well describes the resultant of these fundamental feeling
attitudes in his phrase a propos of the French Revolu
tion — "preternatural suspicion." All observers coming
South detect it in the very mental atmosphere. There
is an ill-veiled "polite repulsion" toward the Northerner
come South on observation bent, unless he has creden
tials from some Southern high priest of race orthodoxy.
This last-named fact is suggestive. The combination of
anxiety and antagonism that I have called suspicion is
called forth not by the negro alone, not by the Northern
"philanthropic" attitude alone, but by their combination
in the historic past and by the possibilities of future force
bills, cutting down of representation, political appoint
ment of negroes, philanthropic efforts in behalf of negro
ambitions and aspirations, and the like. Preternatural
suspicion is due to a racking uncertainty about the fu
ture, a dread of ill-conceived interference from without.

48 mace £)rtI)odoip in tlje ©outi)
and a consciousness of apparent inconsistency along with
a sense of being in the right nevertheless. Was ever
people so beset? Some one ought to write a book on
the Dissociation of a Sectional Personality.
Again the question. What shall we do about it? One
thing, assuredly — we must study the phenomena and
strive to understand them.

WHITHER?
Can progress and peace be hoped for as permanent
facts of Southern development, granting that the above
cursory account be accepted? Are we doing well to
spend millions of dollars on negro education without
having a reasonable hope that the developmental results
will make for higher character and truer nationality?
Shall we deepen the darkness of the situation by sharpen
ing the intellect of white and black to the end that they
may fight one another with a more subtle venom?
Shall we leave the negro in spiritual slavery and the
white in rancorous sectionalism and an alienated con
science? Shall we forsake the ideals of the New Eng
land "friends of human rights" and of Southern chival
rous gentlemanliness ? Shall we leave a large and tragic
human problem to "settle itself" when we have no rea
son to hope that it will settle itself aright? Shall we
close the real "door of hope" in the black brother's face,
the door of access to a fully developed manhood ? Shall
we permit our Southern youth of the dominant race to
grow up arrogant and inhuman despisers of human
rights and haters of practical democracy and large-
souled humanitarianism?
On all hands it is admitted that nothing can be done

Cfte Crui of tije IXuestion 49
without the cooperation of Southern white men. And
these men will not cooperate until there is some answer
to the question. Whither are we going? The land, the
institutions, the traditions are theirs. They claim their
heritage and decline to share it with others unless they
have reason to believe that such sharing will not en
danger the material and spiritual weal of their children's
children. "Solutions" of the negro problem have been
put forward and are being put forward as theories ; and
yet we are further from a "solution" than at any time
during the nation's history. Politicians, preachers,
philanthropists, educators, historians, the man in the
street (without considering these classes as mutually
exclusive) have had their fling. Is it not time that a
concerted organized, scientific, humanitarian attempt be
made to study the whole question in all its bearings and
through the cooperation of all the factors involved?
Shall we to a great extent take tariff and finance and
"conservation" and other national questions out of the
hands of the man in the street, and yet leave a vastly
more complex and more delicate question to be settled
or unsettled according to the whims and prejudices, or
at best the partial insights and halfway investigations,
of untrained or ill-trained people?
As soon as the Southern people find that a whole
hearted, unprejudiced attempt is being made to study
the question in all its bearings and with their coopera
tion, they will be ready and willing to help. As soon as
a tentative answer to the question, "Whither?" is pro
posed, and the Southern people see that what is worth
while in their contentions is respected and that there will
be no meddlesome nor doctrinaire interference from the
outside, they will be willing to bend their energies in the
direction that points toward peace and hope and safety;

50 mace flOrtljodoip in tlje ^outl)
they will be willing to educate the negroes for the part
the negroes are to play; they will be willing to revive
their Christian ethics as applied to the other race. Of
these results I feel sure from conference with all sorts
and conditions of men. These Southern people are nor
mal Americans. They are reasonable and just. But
they want to work toward some definite objective point,
and they wish for an open and above-board statement
of the designs and methods and bias of the persons
undertaking any investigation that may be made.

HOW SHALL THE STUDY BEGIN?
This is not the place for an outline of the directions
wherein a scientific investigation should work. I shall
furnish later a full report on that subject, if such a
report be wanted. But it may not be unwise to suggest
here some method of getting the work organized and
started. I therefore submit, with much hesitation and
some perturbation, but sincerely and after a number of
years of close study of the negro question on the ground
and with first-hand data, a series of tentative sugges
tions — one of many plans that might be outlined.
I. Let some nation-wide group of leading Southern
ers and Northerners of all political and religious types
select some one man as director who by character, tem
perament, training and experience is best fitted to under
stand the question, the Southerners, whites and blacks,
the race question on the Pacific Coast, the Northern
situation, the national and historical perspective. Let
this man choose, with the advice and consent of the
group, a few well-qualified workers to assist him in the
work of a Steering Committee. This group should

Clje Crui of tfte €luestion si
probably form an association for the study of race
problems. 2. Let this committee, after due conference, call a
meeting of a selected and closely limited list of promi
nent Southerners and others who are well known in
business (including farming), the professions, public
life and academic circles, and have some first-hand
knowledge of the subject. The larger number of those
invited should come from the Southern and the Pacific
states. They should represent all phases of attitude on
the question, including the most radical. Let them be
sounded personally before being invited officially.
3. Let the director of the work, as chairman of the
steering committee, prepare, after conference with his
colleagues and after the committee has made a tour of
the Southern states and other parts of the country and
foreign countries where race questions are pressing, a
careful statement of the scope of the investigation. In
that statement let him show the whites that they are
s)Tiipathized with and let him show the colored people
that their interests will be carefully considered.
4. When the conference has met, in some convenient
Southem city, let the chairman read his statement and
then call on the members alphabetically and by states to
comment on the paper in a three to five minutes' speech.
(A syllabus of the statement ought to be sent to the
members of the conference a sufficient time before
hand.) Let each member of the conference, after he
has spoken, leave with the secretary of the committee a
MS. setting forth his views and opinions in full.
5. Let the committee carefully digest the proceedings
and the paper and publish a report of the conference and
also a smaller and popular syllabus of the larger report.
Let the report be sent to leading men, libraries, etc., in

52 mace ©rtt)odoip in tfte ^outt)
this country and elsewhere, and have the syllabus dis
tributed very widely through the press and in every
legitimate way, so as to reach especially the humbler
classes of the white and the colored populations in this
country. 6. Let the committee appoint sub-committees to work
through the ordinary channels of the association or in
stitution or bureau, through universities in this country
and elsewhere, through learned and professional socie
ties, etc. Let special investigators be put into the field
under the direct supervision of the director of the work.
Let some of the work be done through fellowships in
universities, especially the better organized Southern uni
versities. 7. Let the investigators give frequently, at least
once a quarter, a statement of work done, so that the
central office can keep in close touch with the whole field.
(Perhaps the central office might be in one of the border
Southern cities, such as Memphis, Nashville, Louisville,
Baltimore or Richmond, or, perhaps in the nation's capi
tal.) 8. Let the director, with the advice and consent of
the committee or board, issue two bulletins of the work
at convenient intervals — one a scientific statement of
the progress of the work, the other a popular statement,
both to be distributed in the manner described above in
the case of the report of the conference and the syllabus
respectively. Let him also issue pamphlets, ileaflets,
cards, questionnaires, and organize correspondence scien
tifically. 9. Some time after the conference of whites there
ought to be held a conference for colored people only,
inviting no whites to be present except the members of
the committee, who should probably all be white, though

Cfte Crui of tlje Question 53
some of the cooperating workers should, of course, be
colored men and women. Let a section of the bureau
devote itself entirely to work done by negro investi
gators. 10. From time to time, at fit opportunities and dur
ing successive years, call conferences for reports of work
done, for the reception of suggestions and criticisms, and
the like.
CONCLUSION
If it were done, 'twere well 'twere done quickly. This
statement is often as true for deeds of light as for deeds
of darkness. The work itself may have to last many
years; putting its results into execution, or cooperating
with those who are getting the machinery of race adjust
ment into motion, may take a much longer period than
the investigation. But we want to allay as soon as pos
sible the attitude of suspicion, unrest, anxiety or exasper
ation. For a catastrophe may happen at any moment.
There are sinister signs of this. Moreover, at any time
something may arise in national or sectional politics that
may make cooperation extremely difficult. As for the
money needed — ^there will be no lack of it if our people
leam to realize the vitalness of this investigation.*
*Is it rash to hope that the much-needed investigation of the
negro question will begin during the administration of a Southern-
born president aided by a Democratic congress? President Wilson
has shown a high quality of courage and patriotism. Will he show
forth his leadership by taking the initiative in ridding politics of
the negro problem? Or will the present auspiciously begun Demo
cratic regime timidly dodge this vital question because of its diffi
culty and its "intangibleness" ? Will the Republicans continue to
welcome to their national conventions the absurd Southern dele-

54 mace Drtt)odO£? in tbt ^outb
gations of negro politicians? Will the Progressives, with their
voluminous program of "reform," remember that the existence of
the negro problem is a challenge to the friends of human rights
everywhere, and is the prime cause of the excessive Democratic
solidarity of the South?

V. STUDY THE NEGRO QUESTION!
(Reprinted from Proceedings of the Department of Superin
tendence of the National Education Association, Indianapolis, Ind-,
March, 1910. — Topic: The Problem of Environment in Education —
As the South Sees It.)
There is only one Southern problem, and it is that
of environment. For Southern children are the truest of
Americans by birth and tradition, and therefore, if they
are being bred in the cult of caste, nurture due to con
ditions and not nature due to inheritance must be re
sponsible for their apparent departure from the splendid
type of American democracy.
But do not suppose that even by implication I am
condemning my own dear people. Public peace and the
safety of the state demand that the less-developed race
( I ) * be subordinate to the more developed, under condi
tions as they exist in the South to-day. The caste of the
kin is the practice of the theory that blood is thicker than
water; and the Sermon on the Mount cannot invalidate
(jod's own law of the survival of the fittest. If these
widely different races cannot blend their blood — ^and
instinct and science say nay — the only real foundation
for democracy, equality, actual or potential, does not exist
and cannot be created. The principles of liberty, equal
ity and fraternity are as abstractly true as Newton's
Laws of Motion (2), but the resistance of race-con
sciousness brings about as real a friction as does the
* Numerals refer to appended comments.
55

56 mace SOrtftodoip in ttje ^outi)
resistance of the air in modifying the actions of bodies
in motion.
The all-inclusive virtue, love itself, has a biological
basis, and character values are conditioned by body
facts (3). Thus it happens that the Southerner's loyalty
to his race comes of his love of his kind, the kind he
knows and values.
But should such conditions exist? Must Southern
children of the dominant race grow up to scorn and
despise, or else condescendingly to tolerate, their less
fortunate fellow creatures? Or shall we legitimate lust
and short-circuit the destiny of a chosen people ? South
erners understand the apparent cruelty imputed to the
God of Israel who is represented as commanding the
extermination of non-assimilable peoples (4). But the
more refined killing of to-day in the South is not the
occasional taking of a negro's life, but the impassive and
relentless murder of a people's hopes. But better this
than worse that might be. Better twenty years of Eu
rope than a cycle of Cathay. Better preternatural sus
picion than rearing dusky broods. Sometimes we must
be cruel would we be kind.
Only in the kingdom of heaven is there neither mar
riage nor giving in marriage. Now, the kingdom has not
yet come in the South. Therefore, let him that would
establish any kind of human equality on any basis other
than that of a biologically based family life give us the
recipe for life in a vacuum (5).
Again I ask, Should these things be ? Must the South
ern child be compelled to choose between the ideal and
the real in a world where ideals must be realized in
accordance with the laws of nature? Will sickly saintli-
ness bring us salvation? Or must we seek safety in
racial selfishness? God forbid the answer "Yes" to

^tudp tije jQegro Question ;f 57
either of these last two questions! Who shall deliver
us from the body of this death? (6)
I dare not hope to put this subject before you sharply
in a hasty minute or two. But I must make an appeal in
the name of the righteous God and of bewildered human
ity. I ask that you leaders of education think on these
things in this wise : Let us have this negro question
studied. We are studying tariffs and the price of beef ;
we become partisans about a pole, intangible and invisible ;
our scientific expeditions scour land and sea for speci
mens of fauna and flora; we discriminate nicely the
uncertain tints of Mexican Indians; we explore the
heavens above, the earth beneath, and the waters under
the earth — all these we do, and much more, without the
waving of bloody shirts or the planting of party plat
forms. Let us take the negro question out of politics, out of
society, out of popular religious discussion, out of prize
fighting — out of all wherein heat doth obtain rather
than light.
Let us put the negro question into science, and science
into the negro question. We have tried all else, and in
vain. Parties and churches and schools, and philan
thropies of all kinds, have brought us not one whit
nearer a solution. The favorite prescription for a solu
tion is education, especially industrial education. And
yet there are towns where negro artisans are not allowed
to work, and labor unions in plenty that negroes may not
enter. Education for what? Are the whites going, to
neglect the training of their children's hands? When
the grandsons of the former slave-owners are dead, will
anyone prefer negro labor, skilled or unskilled, to
white? (7)
Can education abolish race-consciousness and repat-

58 mace ^ttbonotp in tfje ^outb
tern the convolutions of the brain? Aye, education may
solve the race problem and all problems, hut when and
where and how?
Men and brethren, let us study the race problem. Let
the study be national and international, for ours is not
the only problem of race. Let the study be scientific and
not sentimental ; cooperative and not individualistic ; con
tinuous and not scrappy; professional and not dilettante;
humanitarian and not partisan. (8)
Let us isolate the surd and square the whole equation
— find a square deal. It is science, and science alone,
star-eyed science, truth-loving science, spiritually intel
lectual science — it is the twentieth century's greatest
power, the scientific research of to-day, that can prepare
us for the doing of this nation's greatest duty, the solu
tion of this problem, so as to free two unallied peoples
and make the states of this Union United States indeed
and in truth !

VI. COMMENT ON THE INDIANAPOLIS
DISCUSSION
I.* "Less developed," not "lower." All admit the
accuracy of the former term, without determining
whether the negro's possibilities are limited. The term
"lower" unfairly closes the question, at least in the popu
lar mind, for it has acquired a static, fatalistic conno
tation. Negro "equality" in the South depends on the feasibil
ity of a parallel civilization: — racial representation iii
legislature and congress (as in New Zealand) ; negro
industrial organization (as at Mound Bayou, Miss.);
cooperatively managed places of amusement for the
negroes (as in Memphis) ; negro libraries (as in Louis
ville) ; and the like. These things are needed whether
the negro "goes" or "stays." This "equality" does not
presuppose social intermingling with whites, but, rather,
as complete as possible segregation of the negroes.
2. The average Northerner thinks that Southerners
do not believe in the "rights of man." Southerners re
sent the imputation, but cannot explain the apparent
anomaly of their actual conduct, and hence reply with a
tu quo que or a charge of pharisaism. The trouble with
radical Southerners is not their insistence on white
supremacy, but their satisfaction at the prospect of per
manent subordination of the negroes to the whites, with
out regard to the possibility of colonizing the negroes or
of securing their segregation in some other way.
*Niimerals refer to text of above speech.
59

6o mace ©rt|)odoip in tfie %cmh
3. The most exalted romantic and chivalrous love
can be completely inhibited by physical mutilation. Yet
love is not merely physical. Likewise humanitarianism
is not mere physical kinship, but nevertheless has a neces
sary, though often disavowed, biological basis.
4. New Testament morality is historically and prac
tically meaningless without an Old Testament basis.
Under Old Testament conditions (largely existing in
the South), Old Testament morality is more or less
appropriate and inevitable.
Don't criticize human nature and its protective biologi
cal creed; but change the abnormal situation in such a
way as will respect natural law as well as moral law.
God still winks at the hardness of men's hearts, when
such hardness has a providential value. Matthew Ar
nold's "Might till right is ready" is the working creed
of the conscientious Southerner. But when and how
shall right be got ready? Interestingly enough, the
phrase "impassive and relentless murder of a people's
hopes" has not yet met with criticism from white South
erners. In their heart of hearts they know that the
expression is true, and this knowledge hurts their con
sciences. The present status is just the white South
erner's choice of evils. In the recesses of their hearts
Southern men are crying out : "Give us a better chance
to choose. Do not make the alternatives so cruel; we
choose the lesser evil, but we know that it is evil. Prove
to us that real citizenship is not based on the family
life, which in turn has a biological basis, show us that
the negro can be assimilated on a non-biological basis,
and we may ameliorate the negro's pains, even though
we can't cure them."
In the matter of the franchise, the South first des
perately intimidated the negro; then systematically

Comment on Indianapolis Discussion 6i
cheated him without semblance of law ; then cheated him
legally; and now defrauds him of his political rights in
a duly constitutional fashion with the consent if not the
aid of the United States Supreme Court. What next?
Well, self-sophistication may become even more refined.
There is a movement on foot to educate negroes only
with taxes that negroes pay. Southern legislatures would
perhaps in some cases enact this scheme into law —
indeed, Vardaman was elected governor of Mississippi
on this platform. But the lawyers declare the plan
to be imconstitutional. South Carolina has a "better"
plan. When whites want an extra tax for a certain
school district they vote the tax and specify the school
for which the tax is to be voted. Now, in practice this
generally means that the special taxes are voted for the
white schools only. I give this illustration to show how
an impossible situation leads fatally to the failure of
"democracy" and to tinkering with conscience. Some
white men seem to think that lunatics, imbeciles, children
and negroes have rights as human beings but not as
citizens. And they resent the very thought that "nig
gers" should get the same public benefits as fall to the
share of "our own blue-eyed Anglo-Saxon children."
Does all this mean that Southerners are conscience
less? No; it simply means that healthy morality can
function only under certain normal conditions. And
these do not exist in the South.
Now, if some workable solution of the negro problem
should come into view, various temporary adjustments,
such as racial representation and the like, would most
probably not be resented by the South. But the present
suppression of the negro will continue so long as he is
supposed to be infected with the microbe of social equal
ity or any other "equality" that is associated with pos-

62 , mace SDrtftodoip in tfte %omh
sible social equality — and which is not? No kind of
alleged equality is worth anything to a man if his chil
dren's children are to rank as social outcasts in the eyes
of the "desirable" people, the whites. Prominent negroes
.^03; that they do not desire social equality. What they
mean is this: We do not ask for social intermingling
under present conditions. If negro leaders will assert
that they do not believe that social communion between
the races ought to be feasible in the remote future, I
for one shall not be able to respect them. These lead
ers probably believe that all the equalities, beginning
with unsuppressed suffrage, will "come in time," when
the negro has become rich and refined and educated.
The masses of the whites probably believe that such an
outcome is possible, and hence want the negro to remain
poor and coarse and uneducated — "a genuyne nigger,"
who "knows his place." Senator Tillman probably rep
resents the opinion of many thousands when he says
that but for the anti-amalgamation laws not a few
whites would be glad to marry rich negresses. The
social taboo is largely conventional. Untrained children
do not recognize it, but soon "catch it" from their eld
ers. I have seen white men evidently enjoying the
society of negroes, but becoming shamefaced when de
tected. There are other evidences that human sociality
on its lower and more animal side is not very discriminat
ing. And these patent evidences are known to all men.*
5. As I have already indicated, the Southerner's in
stinctive feeling that sociality, actual or potential, is the
basis of all the equalities — this subconscious feeling, I
say, is the crux of the whole question.
*I regret that I must use the word "probably" so often. Such
caution, however, seems necessary if one desires to keep close to
facts and to eschew dogmatic prejudice.

Comment on Indianapolis Discussion 63
Potential equality is of the essence of democracy.
Extirpate "race prejudice" in a democracy and social
communion and intermarriage are bound to follow. One
of the reasons why Northerners fail to understand this
is their aesthetic antipathy to the negro. ' Most South
erners like individual negroes that "keep their place" —
and I daresay that the negroes, like all more or less primi
tive folk, are likable. The Northerner is protected from
social communion and intermarriage by his feelings ; the
Southerner is protected by what he calls his principles —
the superiority of the whites, and the like. I am speak
ing here only in a general way. Many Southerners —
and their number is increasing — detest negroes; not a
few Northerners like negroes. The present writer is
consciously both Northern and Southern in his attitude.
At times the Northern ingredient is strongest; at times
the Southem. But both are usually swallowed up by
the sense of pity — pity for both races put in such Sorry
plight. O the pity of it that "lesser breeds without the
law" cannot take the kingdom of civilization by vio
lence; but far greater pity if they could! Juridical and
ethical abstractions hold absolutely only in a realm of
pure bodiless spirits. Given humanity, as we find it — •a
sinful incarnation — we shall still find the Israelites tend
ing to exterminate the Canaanites, or else to enslave
them. Jefferson, De Tocqueville and Lincoln believed
that the two races could not live together on terms of
equality. Were they wrong? Has recent history made
against their doctrines? Let patient research decide on
the preponderance of probabilities. If the races can get
along together, let us find out how the thing can be
done without ultimate amalgamation, without unjust
subordination for worthy negro individuals, and without

64 mace Drtftodoip in tlje ^outt)
keeping the South far in the rear of the world's best
civilization. 6. The alternatives are here rather brutally pre
sented. But I confess to an abhorrence of the idea of a
Chosen People lagging behind the best that is simply out
of pure altruism — saintly this, but sickly, yes, suicidal
(with apologies for the spontaneous alliteration). Now,
self-sacrifice that is demanded by developed conscience
and God's providence is a sublime and perfect thing.
But useless, foolish, quixotic self-sacrifice — call it what
you please — is simply provocative of the laughter of
demons. Jesus Christ begged that the cup might pass
from Him. With great agony He drank it, because the
drinking was necessary to God's plans and man's salva
tion. But He did not ask to be damned for His people's
sake. On the contrary, He looked for a resurrection.
There was a glorious end to be attained. But shall we
say that Dr. Edgar Gardner Murphy's second-best civili
zation plan is the necessary, the only possible moral
course? If so, let's adopt it. But let's make sure that it
is necessary before we resign ourselves to the prospect of
an extremely altruistic but hopelessly limping civiliza
tion. On the other hand, how can a true man accept the
maxim: Each one for himself and the devil take the
hindmost? By all means let us help the Brother in
Black — ^may God bless him, for he is a child of God!
But shall we help him at the expense of our children and
future generations ? God forbid. Aye, He will forbid.
Racial selfishness is perniciously bad ; healthy racial ego
ism is sane and decidedly necessary. Altruism and ego
ism work together like the two hands. But be ye sure,
O ye believers in abstractions, that the meek who shall
inherit the earth are strong and sturdy meek whose self-

Comment on Indianapolis Discussion 65
respect is ultimately respect for God and whose love for
neighbors is measured in terms of this heightened self-
love. 7. "Education for what?" I speak of facts, real
conditions, as they exist, say, in Mississippi and Ten
nessee. Education means soul expansion. How can a
soul expand in prison walls? How can a dignified hu
man soul acquiesce in any kind of ostracism? The
negro who shows his manliness in protest gets himself
hated. But to me DuBois is ideally truer than Washing
ton — ^the latter is "wiser" than the former. Shall truth
and wisdom tell different tales? Can any good come
of it?
8. Better no attempt at systematic investigation than
to start one that fails to be national and international,
scientific, cooperative, etc.

VII. FUSE, FIGHT OR FAIL!
(This paper, which may be regarded as fanciful by some, was
written shortly after the writer had held a conference with the
white school principals of the Memphis schools on one day, and
had then called the negro principals together on the following
day. Neither meeting discussed the race question in any way. But
the author knew the feelings and opinions of both sets of principals,
felt strongly the tragedy of the situation, and was yet fully aware
of the general apathy of the whole country with regard to a de
cisive settlement of the race question. It may be that the emo
tional form of the essay will have some value to some minds. In
deed, it may have a message even to the hard-headed practical man
whose soul is big enough to receive it!)

"Their angels do always behold the face of the Father."
Angel of the negro race speaks :
"They say — do the Aryan followers of Jesus, the
Semite — that the negro peoples are the child-race of the
world. If their word be aught more than sound, let
mine be listened to, for children grow up in the fulness
of time, and I am the voice of the negro race speaking
Caucasian language, the language of the adult races.
Listen, then, O strong men of the earth, to the sacred
voice of the Child !
"I have no history. I have no coimtry. I use bor
rowed flags and borrowed languages and borrowed re
ligions. My own languages and religions are the wails
of infants crying in the night. Do I wish to make my
66

iFuse, JFigljt or Jfail^ 67
needs articulately known, I must essay to use adult
words of the great powers. Forgive me if my lan
guage seem only childish prattle.
"Some speak contemptuously and others pessimis
tically about my hope of growing up, because during the
long ages of my existence I have not reached man's
stature. Others believe that my blood enters somewhat
into the make-up of that great Mediterranean race which
conquered the world through culture and law and arms,
and established western civilization. But I am making
no speculative claims; howbeit I might be permitted to
develop for a few centuries under favorable circum
stances before final judgment is passed on my possi
bilities of adultship. The Teutons were quite childish
two thousand years ago, and had to borrow religion,
arts and almost everjrthing else of cultural value from
the Mediterranean peoples.
"This is an age when men talk greatly of evolution,
of natural and artificial selection, of the imperceptibly
slow processes of nature, of use and disuse of the brain,
of the effects of environment on the speed of change,
of the apparent arbitrariness of spontaneous variations.
Give me time, without coddling and without intimidation.
Then, if I fail to grow to man's estate, let me die the
death of a child whose guardians have done the best
they could for him. It may be that Nature has cruelly
caused premature closing of my skull sutures, and that
such a condition will always obtain. But men of science
have not yet killed my hopes by fastening this accusa
tion on Nature. It may be that what has not yet been
done can never be done, and that my development is
doomed to arrest because I have thus far failed to grow
as fast as some other races. But philosophy has not
yet declared that what has not yet been can never be.

68 mace Drtftodoip in tfte ®out|)
Nor have European Teutons undergone their compara
tively late development in the jungles of torrid Africa
as my people have. Even my deficient brain weight
does not unduly distress me when I realize that my brain
is that of a man, not that of an ape, and that my associa
tion centers have hardly had sufficient opportunity for
growth. Men of science tell me, indeed, that the brain
may yet prove itself to be the most plastic organ in the
body, as it is undoubtedly the educable organ.
"Remember, too, O Caucasian, that there is an educa
tion in social and political life; that there is education
in racial self-respect, in hope, in the encouragement of
one's fellowman. Shall we not have such education
somehow, somewhere? Do not quench the smoking
flax, most Christian Caucasians. I have looked the
white man in the face and lived. Give me credit for
ability to survive, and help me rather than discourage
me. You are not afraid of my competition and you
can take no pleasure in depriving me of hope; therefore
give me a chance, give me a trial, give me time and
space, faith and hope, as my allies.
"My achievements under tutelage during slavery and
freedom have been exaggerated by some and underrated
by others. So it is always with children's performances.
I am, however, hopeful, for my Heavenly Father's face
is still lovely to look upon.
"America, you have partially adopted an orphan child.
Will you educate it? Will you give it a start in life,
or will you use it only as a drudge in your service?
Will you equip it well and send it to seek its fortunes,
or will you adopt it fully into your family? Will you
at least make up your mind what you are going to do
with this orphan, which is now old enough to take an
active interest in its own welfare?

JTuse, jFigfit or jFaiU 69
"Don't call me a child and yet expect from me the
morality and mentality of a man. Don't say that I am
a problem because I am a man, and then act as if you
destined me to serve your interests rather than my own.
Don't blame me for my backwardness and then begrudge
any forward movement in my behalf. Don't leave me
to be the prey of undiscriminating doctrinaires on the
one hand and of self-deceiving exploiters on the other.
"Am I a human being ? Then treat me as such. Are
democratic and Christian doctrines true for all men?
Then have them apply to me. Ought every child to be
educated for its own sake and up to the limit of its
powers? Then give me such an education.
"I do not ask that manhood's rights be given to me
while in child's estate. But assure me, white friend, that
my manhood is to be complete and free.
"You admit that I am not your property but your
charge. Then help to free my mind from ignorance, my
hand from sloth and awkwardness, my soul from super
stition and cringing acquiescence in 'my fate.' Remem
ber your own childhood. Forget not your Declaration of
Independence. Be mindful of your Christ's commands.
Those who are meek and patient enough to eat the
crumbs that fall from the master's table ought some time,
somehow, somewhere gain a child's portion. If I cannot
be Isaac, let me at least be a better-cared-for Ishmael.
If you send me away, let the protecting, self-sacrificing
generosity of a mother spirit go with me.
"But why should I go? True, I am only a waif.
But here was I born. This is all the native land that
I have. Why am I an alien in this land of my birth?
Why am I not part of the community? Why is it that
in your heart of hearts you have solemnly sworn that
I shall not be a complete citizen? Why do you begrudge

70 mace ffl>rt|)odoip in ti)e SoutI)
me an education, and are willing that some of your
children should remain uneducated rather than that I
should be compelled to go to school?
"May I be allowed to study the workings of the
white man's mind? May I try to understand why you
will not permit me to attain unto full-orbed manhood?
Let me confess that I desire nothing less than complete
personality and citizenship. I do not seek "social equal
ity" if by that expression you mean social mingling with
the whites. I do not ask to exercise all of my rights
imder the law of the land and the moral law, but
rather I want the assurance that all of manhood's rights
will come to me in time, as I prove myself worthy.
"To deny natural inequality would be false and futile.
But should human beings be treated as representatives
of a race rather than as free, self-respecting persons?
And should a child race be forbidden to grow up just
because it has had a retarded development, or because of
the exigencies of the white man's labor market?"

II
"It is not meet that the children's bread should be given
unto dogs."
The spirit of the white race answers :
"Brother in Black, your speech is reasonable from
your point of view, but I doubt whether you can under
stand the Southern white man's mind, seeing that his
Northern brother often fails to get into touch with it.
However, a child's questions should be heeded, and
answered as fully as possible, provided they be respect
ful and earnest, as yours undoubtedly are.

iFuse, JFiglJt or jFaiU 71
"First of all, as to social equality. You say that you
do not seek it. By this you mean only that self-respect
forbids your seeking to associate with those who do not
want your company. But if your doctrine of the worth
of individuals be true, you have a right to potential
social equality at least. Of what avail is it for us to
admit your abstract right when you can never exercise
it in this white man's land?
"Two of your foremost men. Professor Kelly Miller
and Dr. DuBois, see clearly that social equality is the
basis of all equality. Indeed, the "pursuit of happi
ness" implies it, and with it the right to intermarriage.
The Roman plebeians got no real rights, became citizens
in no real sense, until they secured the right to inter
marry with patricians. The Saxons became true citi
zens after the Norman conquest of England only
through intermarriage. White foreigners in America
become truly assimilated only through intermarriage.
Your people instinctively feel that the suffrage in some
sense constitutes citizenship, and citizenship means, and
must mean, membership in the nation — those born of the
same stock, or potentially able to be grafted into it.
By psychological and historical association citizenship
means national homogeneity. A nation ought to be
made up of citizens only^ We discourage your civic
claims because they have no natural significance apart
from their implications of social "rights," the exercise
of which we cannot grant you.
"Some of your people have learned to think of the
state as a product of 'contract' ; however that may be, a
national contract can obtain permanency only through
national status, the actual or the potential status of kin
ship. People are fused into nationality. Jarring races
do not constitute a real community. And yet you talk

72 mace a)rt|)odoip in tfee Soutii
about 'individuals.' There are no isolated individuals.
One's tme personality is social to the core. Nations are
made up of homes. Community of interest, without
which a people cannot form a nation, is a phantasm of
the imagination if it do not imply the intercommunion
of homes. Indeed, politics, rehgion, art, business, edu
cation — all imply and presuppose sociality. Conscience
itself is only secondarily individual and intellectual. It
is primarily social. The church festival and the political
celebration ought to teach you the essential sociality of
all forms of national life. Because of her belief in the
family as a sacred institution and her unwillingness to
accept the mere 'contract' theory of nationality, the
South is truer to nature, history and Holy Writ than
are some other parts of the Union.
"We are emphatically 'members one of another.'
Politics and religion of certain forms notoriously tend
to 'run in families.' And with reason. Other things
being equal, a man ought to vote and pray in spiritual
union with his ancestors. The Jajauese understand this.
Your people do also, and vote the Republican ticket —
when they do vote — ^because their 'folks' do so and have
always done so. Occasionally one finds a 'Democratic'
negro family or a 'Republican' white family in the 'or
thodox' South. Now, I do not claim that political equal
ity logically presupposes potential social equality, but it
biologically and psychologically presupposes it. Demo
crats do not always marry Democrats, nor do Baptists
always marry Baptists — ^but they tend to do so, for
biologically — and psychologically — ^based reasons.
"When you seek for any 'equality,' come out like a
man and ask, not for present social communion but for
potential social equality. Nothing less than this will
bring your race to manhood's estate. And realize, please.

iFuse, JFigftt or JFaiU 73
that, while we do not deny your claim of abstract rights,
we cannot allow the exercise of them in the midst of a
white population.
"Leaving aside the Southem white man's apparently
unconquerable distaste for racially mixed marriages, let
us inquire whether such intermarriage is advisable, even
were it allowable and feasible — and it is neither. If
science could tell us that the amalgamation of the races
would produce good results for this nation, and we
should be willing to hearken unto her voice, in the course
of a century 'prejudice' might be overcome and amalga
mation might result. There is always such a biological
tendency among the lowest classes of both races, and the
doctrine of 'individuality* might in time bring it about
in the upper classes. But science seems to advise against
such an experiment. So we need not discuss the 'fusion'
member of our three alternatives : Fusion, fight, or fail
ure — even if our race feeling could be blotted out.
"Nor do conscientious Southerners want the negro
race to fail. We wish you well. Brother in Black —
provided you keep in your place. What is your ultimate
place? That remains to be found out. Your place now
js that of a subordinate race. Whether youF'place' wHT"
change in time, or m space, or in both, or in some other
way, no one can tell. We only know that so long as
the two races live together the whites will rule and negro
individuals must accept the stigma of representative in
feriority. "You ought to have the fullest opportunity for devel
opment. You ought not to be exploited by the whites.
There is no place for a peasantry in America. You
should not be subjected to scorn and hate, nor even to
condescending pity. To have you American negroes fail
as a people would be a tragedy in this day of democratic

74 mace ©rttjodoip in tije %outt
and Christian enlightenment. It may be necessary to
find you a land of your own and found for you a state
that will give you full freedom.
"But enlightened Southerners do not want to deceive
you or have you deceived by letting you remain in a
fools' paradise. You don't belong to the kin. You
cannot be assimilated. And unless you are assimilated
you will constitute a nidus for disease in the body politic.
Indeed, such is the case now. Your physical presence
retards the growth and nationalization of the South.
You are farther from assimilation to-day than you were
in 1870. And yet as Christian democrats we would not
have you fail as a people.
"If fusion is impossible and failure too painful to
contemplate, how about the third alternative — ^fight?
"Now I would not have you suppose that I am urging
you to contend with arms for your rights. By 'fight' I
mean civilized, useful, rational warfare with the arms
of the mind and the spirit.
"Fight! I say. And keep up the fight without ceas
ing. How? Not by agitating for your 'rights,' nor by
alternately blessing and cursing a Roosevelt or a Taft,
nor by waiting for the 'problem' to 'settle itself by 'in
dustrial education' — but by binding yourselves together,
asking your Southern friends to help you, and insisting
modestly but with steadfast determination that the race
question in America be scientificajly investigated. Think
of the splendid scientific agencies in this country and
wonder at the small amount of real study that has been
given to a problem graver than war and pestilence!
Race enmity is worse than the hookworm, for it stunts
the generous soul of the chivalrous Southerner.
"Will the people of this country wait for more
troubles from the Atlantas, the Wilmingtons and the

iFuse, iFiglJt or iFaiU 75
Sprjngfields? Do they want to keep the South spiritu
ally out of the Union, or to have the spirit of racial
malignancy overshadow the Union? Are they going to
desert you people, after opening to you various illusory
doors of hope? Lincoln could as truly say to-day as he
said fifty years ago that no nation can permanently re
main half-slave and half-free. Your people are more or
less free in body — free to wander and to drift — but their
minds and souls are enslaved by the blighting 'check'
of subordination; and the spirits of my people, a sacred
nation, are enslaved by apprehension, enslaved by self-
protective bourbonism, enslaved by your consciousness
of political futility and stigmatised individuality,
"Why am I so insistent? Because I am the true spirit
of the white man of the South, and I want you people
to be free — for your own sake and especially for the sake
of my own people.
"No man can predict what the end will be. But
nowadays science does what she can to furnish the true
prophets material wherewith to work. Let us no longer
try merely to patch up the civic health of the South with
educational and other tonics.
"Let us have more light and less heat. We cannot
have peace until we have light.
"Lincoln, Jefferson and De Tocqueville are names
great enough to arrest our tongues when we begin to
cry 'absurd,' 'impossible,' whenever a radical settlement,
colonization, is hinted at. Suppose such a settlement to
be the only certain one. Would it not be the part of
wisdom to get ready for it now? And if such a thor
oughgoing settlement be shown to be unnecessary or
impracticable, would it not be well to steer our policy
in regard to this question, rather than to let it drift?

76 mace SDrtijodoip in tfie ^outft
"If foresight is the characteristic of the civilized man
and science the glory of our age, should we not call our
science to help us secure foresight and end this present-
day blind poHcy of drifting?"

VIII. THE HOME AND THE HABITATION
(Substance of lecture given at Mississippi College, Clinton,
Miss.) Thoreau says that sauntering means "Holy Land-ing,"
or else "without a land." Yesterday I got a new mean
ing for this suggestion of the great walking philosopher
of the woods. I found that Mississippi is a sort of
"holy land" for whites, and that the Mississippi negro
is "without a land." I was storing up strength while
the beautiful autumn lasted — strength of body and in
spiration that nature, wild nature alone, can give.
Avoiding the places where men do congregate, I joyfully
sauntered, pursuing the trail that wobbled along mis
cellaneously with an occasional pretense of being a road.
Breasting a little hill, I heard the sound of wailing, and
soon perceived that a ten-year-old boy was "minding"
his baby sister by teasing and bullying her. No adult
person was near; the house seemed to be shut up. I
need hardly tell you that the children were negroes and
that the older members of the family were picking cot
ton in the field. The house was more or less a habita
tion, but could hardly be called a home. I do not think
that a movement to provide care for that negro baby
while its mother was away would prove popular. Was
there not an older brother to tend baby? School age?
Yes, but what of that— he is "only a nigger," and "nig
ger schools don't amount to anything anyhow — educat
ing a nigger spoils a good field hand." This would be
77

78 mace flDrtijodoip in tfte ^outl)
said in spite of the fact that there was an industrial
school for negroes near by with a handful of pupils, the
scanty remnant of a flourishing school that has had
thirty years of devoted history, and the result of a
Christian white woman's sense of responsibility for do
ing something that would help to uplift the negro. The
school lacked pupils, and all around were pupils that
lacked a school. But why should the negro mother have
her ten-year-old boy go to school? Education equalizes,
and the whites won't have anything that appears to
equalize the races. After the cotton is picked, however,
that negro mother will send her boy to school, because
she believes that education will do something, she knows
not what, for him. Sometimes she may think that study
ing books will help to free him from excessive hard
labor such as she must perform; but for the most part
she has a dim feeling that human beings are to be edu
cated, and that her child is a human being and hence
needs education. Even horses and dogs need training.
If she were told that training behind a plow was all that
her boy needed, she might reply that educated negroes
get along better, are less likely to be criminal, and are
more respected by their kind. Naturally, she wants her
child to have these advantages. If she is mistaken in
thinking that school will help her boy, it would be merci
ful to tell her so; and if the average white man thinks
that education will "spoil" that boy, his allegation ought
to be investigated, for surely he does not regard a human
being simply as a domestic animal without a soul.
But let us suppose that the negro child is to be edu
cated; then how much education does he get, and of
what kind? If he goes to the public school he may
reach the fourth grade. His teacher is unskilled and
unlettered. He has no money wherewith to buy the

Ci)e l^ome and t|)e habitation 79
school books he needs at first. His six months of school
ing during the year are divided into two periods with
several months between them. Is it surprising that the
"literate" negroes that come from such schools are as
likely to go to jail as are negroes that have not had
these stupendous "advantages"? If he should get an
education that would teach him good habits as well as
reading, writing and ciphering, and should become a
skilled laborer, does he not cease to become a field hand,
and thus complicate the labor problem, and at the same
time enter into competition with the superior white race ?
Granted that he will find work for some years to
come, is there any indication that the white boys of the
South are going to tum over the skilled trades to the
negro ? And does the labor union situation at the North
encourage the negro to hope for good things in that
direction? In a town to the south of this college town
negroes are not allowed to work as carpenters and brick
layers. In a community to the north all negroes have
been driven out. In a large town to the west all negroes
not definitely at work are arrested because some one has
shot at a street car conductor. (This application of the
"vagrancy law" would scarcely be tolerated if white
visitors should be arrested as vagrants.) To the east
of this place a white man who mutilated a negro girl
has escaped justice without any serious trouble in so
doing. Will education help such conditions? Only on con
dition that the educated negroes have more white friends
than the uneducated ones possess. But the negro mother
has a suspicion that perfectly illiterate negroes are more
helpless than even partially educated ones. If she is
wrong it would be a pity not to tell her so. If she is
wrong we should be able to find out the truth, and then

8o mace Drtliodoig in tfte ^utft
to ask ourselves the question, why should education be
good for all other races but bad for the negro? And
should we decide that the white man's temporary labor
advantage ought to be the test of the advisability of
educating the negro or else of leaving him in absolute
intellectual darkness, so that he cannot even read his
Bible or sign his name to a law paper? Knowing, as
we do, if we know anything at all of the white people
of this part of the country, that there are no people on
earth more really religious and more tender-hearted and
chivalrous, would it not be well to find out why good
people seem to be so ruthless in "keeping the negro
down"? But let us return to our sauntering walk.
The house on the right of the rambling road gives
us painful thoughts, for it is not a home and hardly
hopes to be one. How is it with the house on the other
side of the road and a rod or two further on? It too
seems to be poverty stricken. But it is a home. The
mother is there. True, she is working harder than does
the woman in the cotton patch. True, she herself works
at cotton picking in a pinch. What, then, is her advan
tage? She is working for her children at home, and
her children are attending a good school taught by com
petent teachers, and enjoying opportunities that promise
illimitable possibilities. There is no bar to her children's
hopes. Her boy may be president; her girl may be the
wife of a senator, or something much better. Humble
as her family may be, nothing stands in the way of their
rising in the social scale through their own exertions by
the grace of God. Her children will be vouchsafed all
civil rights and due protection of laws. She and hers
are the heirs of all the ages and need only to take their
own. Not only do her children get education in school,
but also in church, at home, and through participation in

Clie ^ome and tfje I^aditation 8i
all the free institutions of a free and freedom-loving
state and country.
Now comes the philanthropic friend of abstract human
rights and tells us that these violent contrasts between
the rights and opportunities of the two races should not
exist. He asks the question: Do you believe it right
or expedient to let the lazy and immoral white man
believe himself to be better than the thrifty and moral
negro? Do you think that the doctrine of a protective
tariff should be extended to human rights, so that the
negro is given a handicap and the white man a bounty?
Well, things human are never as simple as they seem.
The mother of a weak and inefficient child might con
ceivably say to herself, "Why should I waste love and
care on my weakling? Why not let the doctrine of
natural selection and survival of the fittest obtain?" I
need not say that she asks no such question and has no
such thought. Just because her offspring is weak and
inefficient, she lavishes on it all the wealth of mother-
love, and stands like a lioness to defend the "unfit"
child. Let the friends of abstract human rights use
any argument they will at the South except that which
would indicate a willingness to allow any negro to
triumph over any white man ! Xh£_52lidarity_of race ij
ourSj^is a part o£^ur_religion. We wiir3o~ali we can
to make our weaklings efficient; but we shall continue
to love them and care for them and protect them even
from their own foolishness. We are the people, even
though we know that wisdom shall not die with us.
Every white man is our brother in a sense whereof the
negro can never know. The South fought for the
principle that patriotism begins with the blood kin; nor
could the arbitrament of arms change that principle in
any respect. From the known to the unknown, from

82 mace SDrtljodoip in tlje %omb
the concrete to the abstract, from the home to the nation,
from the fact to the possibility — these are Southern
slogans, and they ought to be rallying cries for all men
who believe in the principle that, if we love not our
brother whom we have seen, how can we love aliens
that we cannot assimilate?
We are willing for the negro to come into his own,
but not at the expense of white solidarity and white
supremacy; nor even though the whole negro race were
helped by the shaming of a few white individuals. Na
ture has selected us, God has made us a chosen people;
we therefore take care of our own, and all of them.
When philanthropists insist on lifting the negro up, we
feel justified in saying that the white race must be lifted
up correspondingly.
The abstract philanthropist, however, does not under
stand this position. He wants to know how it can hap
pen that white solidarity or white supremacy can be
injured by giving negroes the right of citizenship and a
kind of courtesy that will not lead to social commingling
of the races. Can we make the world understand our
Southern position ? For the civilized nations are asking
the question put forth by the philanthropist. Our answer
must ever be that democracy normally means equality;
that every human institutional promise to pay must have
a cash value in social opportunity, if these notes are to
be aught more than the fiat money of philosophical
abstractions. Politics means social commingling. Aye, the wise saw,
"politics makes strange bedfellows," is more than a fig
ure of speech. Every barbecue, every political meeting,
every "dollar dinner," every assertion regarding the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — all
these things and many more mean at least potential or

Cl)e ^ome and tlje habitation sj;,
implicit social communion. We are willing to grant
the abstract dogma that every man's civic rights, and
hence his social rights, ought to be determined by his
intrinsic character and real, inner social availability; but.
social equality in the abstract inevitably leads to the
assertion of the rights of social communion at some
time. Hence, although we Southerners appear to be
contending against the doctrine of abstract social equal
ity, we are really fighting against anything that will lead
even indirectly to the assertion of the right to social
commingling between the races. History has shown us,
through patricians and plebeians, through Saxons and
Normans, that political and social rights are organically
connected in such wise that one inevitably tends to beget
the other. And De Tocqueville, in his great work on
Democracy in America, has pointed out once for all the
evident truth that, when all are equally citizens, all tend
to draw together in every way concerned with mutual
interests. Citizenship is an empty name unless social cominunion
and intermarriage cause that necessary fusion of ele
ments without which a democracy cannot persist. The
behavior of the negroes during reconstruction times is
still fresh in the minds of all Southerners. The negro
now "knows his place" tolerably well; and the South
will do or willingly allow nothing that will tend to make
the negro think that he is "as good as a white man."
Individually, and in the eternal vision of God, many
negroes may be far more valuable as souls than many
whites; but the blood, the tradition, the territory are
ours, and a strained and unnatural, halt and blind citi
zenship can do nothing for the negro but incite in him
ambitions that the white folk of the South are not
willing to tolerate. Show us, say the Southerners, that

84 mace 2Drt|)odoip in tbe ^outft
there is no historical and no organic connection between
the various equalities, but that human life is a set of
arbitrary, disconnected "equalities," no one of which is
necessarily connected with another; show us, too, if any
assimilation other than that of intermarriage has ever
welded together diverse peoples ; — show us these things,
and prove our instinct for solidarity to be but illusory
moonshine, and we shall consider your arguments for
the exhibition and functioning of abstract human rights
on the part of the negro. We don't deny the rights ; we
insist only that they be held in abeyance because the
public welfare demands it. And we are primarily the
public, its welfare is primarily our welfare.
The negro has become segregated in church, lodge,
and in all other institutional-social ways. It may be
possible to segregate him in his political "rights." That
is a matter for investigation. But he must be treated
as a race politically as well as in every other social way.
The very words, patriotism, fatherland, nation, ought to
show us the social basis, yea, the home basis, of political
institutions. To empty politics of the social feature
would be to dehumanize it and render it even more dan
gerously machine-like than it often is to-day. Party
leaders are treated as heroes. When men have heroes
in common, and work for them, when men have ideals
in common, and these are connected with their native
land, how is it possible to allow the notion of mere
"contract" government to displace entirely the idea of
human status with its rich "fringe" of instinctive social
relations ?
The contract idea of the family has already caused
untold mischief. True, marriage is a contract; but the
home is also an institution of status. Reform and im
prove the status relations, if you please; let conjugal

€^itt )^ome and tfje l^abitation 85
reciprocity in rights and privileges take the place of
one-sided rights ; but do nothing to injure the sacredness
of a status that is founded on imperative instinct and
hallowed by immemorial custom. So with the state.
We Democrats do not desire "paternal" government.
But we do not wish for "machine" government, either.
If government ever loses its human features and be
comes simply a matter of bookkeeping and business,
men will seek paternalism because it is at least human
and founded on instinct. Let the machine features of
government be efficiently administered on a purely busi
ness basis, but forget not that the voter means vastly
more than a numerical unit, and remember that contract
can never destroy instinct and hero worship and the
social values of politics.
Perhaps the South injects more sociality into its
politics than the rest of the country does. In the South
conservative ideas of family life obtain, and the "old-
fashioned religion" is more popular than elsewhere.
Rural life and farming undoubtedly help men to asso
ciate politics with sociality. Then, too, kinship and the
call of the blood kin help to keep alive in the South the
etymological meaning of the word nature. At all events,
even granting that the South is old-fashioned in viewing
politics as connected with sociality, our making common
cause against those who were concerned with negro
domination during reconstruction times has resulted in
a growing sense of race solidarity and a feeling that the
Solid South idea has not only a political but also a racial
and a social meaning. If the South should become con
verted to the notion that some human institutions need
not in any way be connected with social values, a change
of attitude might occur with regard to giving the negro
a chance at the ballot box. Even if such a change should

86 mace Drtljodojp in t&e ©out!)
come, it would simply indicate that Southerners were
willing that the negroes should have political represen
tation as a race, and representation that would not inter
fere with normal political conditions.
On my way home from the walk above referred to I
met a little negro child, a mere toddler. He smiled
benignly and touched my coat in friendly fashion as I
passed. Pretty soon he will "know better." My own
child spoke of negro women as "black ladies" when he
lived in California, where a negro was seldom seen and
where it was unnecessary to discuss the negro question.
A few months later the little two-year-old had learned
to "discriminate," and had described a negro man at
the front door as a "nigger," not a "gentleman." Noth
ing had been said to him by the adult members of the
household; but he had become indoctrinated through the
very atmosphere of South Carolina social life.
Both of the above incidents illustrate the evident fact
that race feeling is not instinctive. If it were a deep-
seated instinct, much of the Southern guarding of the
"color line" would appear foolish; but the race feeling
is a tradition and a part of religious culture at the South,
and has hence become a sort of secondary instinct, a
social custom and habit.
When I was a child no objection was made when a
little white child caressed his colored nurse. Nowadays
the thing is usually discouraged and oftentimes vigor
ously prevented. Even the children must not be al
lowed to "cross the color line," lest the negroes should
in some way "presume." Much of the Northern man's
reluctance to have the negro brought into intimate re
lationship with whites as a menial is now felt by many
Southerners. Is all this simply a kind of cruelty, or is
it the cruelty of real kindness ? In most cases the latter,

Ci)e l^ome and tbe l^abitation 87
I think. Dear experience has taught the Southerner that
the negro is best off when he keeps his place in every
respect. The old kindly relationships of slavery at its
best are now impossible ; the freedman does not wish the
privileges of a Newfoundland dog, and the whites ap
preciate the patent fact that even the kindlier phenomena
of slavery are now out of place, and that exhibitions
of advanced democracy in social matters had better be
reserved altogether for white people as their objects.
Granted, then, that the racial orthodoxy of the South
has a measure of rational justification, should we exult
in our position as a dominant race, continue for all time
to make the negro acutely conscious on all occasions of
his inferiority? Shall we give full rein to arrogance
and bourbonism? Not so, if our civilization is really
democratic and humanitarian — not to say Christian. Let
us regard the color line as one drawn by reason and
conscience, and not by passion and prejudice. If our
rights and reasonable racial principles tend to be habit
ual and instinctive, no harm is done and much good,
for we need habit and instinct for our everyday conduct.
But woe to us if we sell our birthright of democracy
and humaneness for a mess of blind and passionate race
enmity ! Holding fast to our dogmatic belief in our race
and its rights, let us not forget God's child-races, and
their rights, and our duties to them. Let us not flaunt
our supremacy in their faces. Let us not tell them that
we want them to exist simply for our own selfish pur
poses. Let us hold out to them the hope of ultimate
full development as a race, though never at our expense.
Although the white people of this country should never
consent to have the South's development permanendy
retarded on account of a desire to "give the negro jus
tice," there must be some way under high heaven

88 mace SDrtljodoEp in tbe ®outb
whereby this conflict of duties can be ameliorated.
Surely investigation will point out some method by
which the negroes can get all that freemen should have,
and yet without any crossing of the color line, without
any holding out of vain hopes to the negroes that they
may ultimately break down "race prejudice" among the
whites. I am a radical Southerner so far as the chief tenet of
our distinctively Southern faith is concerned; but I have
no sympathy with the kind of radicalism that forgets
its humanity and revels in the thought of permanent
spiritual slavery for the negroes. Much harm has been
done to the negro's cause by worthy Northern and South
ern champions who declaim against the extreme state
ment of "southernism" ; for the Southern people have
developed their "secondary instinct" of raciality so that
it has become a fine instrument for detecting even the
subconscious, tendency on the part of the negro's special
advocates to soften in some wise the sharpness of defini
tion of the color line. Southern "prejudice" is not mere
caste feeling, but is race feeling that can give a good
reason for its existence. The negro is not simply a lower
class in the community; he is a different race, with all
grades of character and individual value. It is not ex
pedient for us to treat individual negroes as individuals
in any way that even indirectly suggests social recog
nition. An illiterate white may well be able to look the
highest negro in the face and refuse him the slightest
sign of social recognition such as he would accord a
white man. Not that he need claim to be the negro's
personal superior — in the sight of God. But the
humblest white man is still a Caucasian, though the least
of Caucasians ; and the noblest negro is still an African
though he be king of Africans. Only this attitude can

Cbe l^ome and tht i^aditation 89
prevent the gradual breaking down of racial distinctions.
The true Southerner would prefer to put up even with
hellish exhibitions of race ferocity than do anything to
break down even the most remote outpost that guards
the citadel of the elect people of this land.
Race pride in itself may be nothing worth while, but
when it guards, however unreasonably in appearance,
what Southerners believe the manifest will of God that
the white race retain its leadership and make no pre
tense of ever sharing its heritage with any blood too
alien for assimilation, race pride, yea, even race enmity,
harsh and cruel as it may become, would appear to be
the chastening rod of Jehovah that warns the two races
to remain forever separate.
But — here is the problem: How to keep the races
separate and yet retain the practice of American prin
ciples in their fulness in the same territory and under
the same institutions, under conditions of daily contact!
Young men, will you do your part in compelling the
attention of our people to focus itself on the scientific
investigation of this most human of practical problems?
Let us return now to our first illustrative example of
home vs. habitation. A home is a state of congenial
sociality wherein faith and hope and love do dwell. Has
the negro faith in his past or hope for his future, or
love for his present condition? The other day I heard
a white man give the following synopsis of a lecture
that he was going to deliver to a negro institute: The
negro is an animal without a history, a man without a
country, a citizen without the protection of law, a hus
band without loyalty, and a father without authority!
Granted, gladly granted, that many a negro household
proves this statement to be far from universally true.
Nevertheless, what is home without hope? And how

90 mace Drtljodoip in tU %outb
can a people hope when there are no signs of ultimate
human freedom for them, freedom of complete spiritual
manhood and citizenship? A negro was recently asked
if certain negroes lived in such and such places. In each
case he said: "He stays there." A home ought to be
not simply a breeding place of bodies, but the nesting
place of free souls. Sooner or later the true home spirit
is lost when the children of the home may not look for
ward to complete living and full citizenship. For the
state and the church and all human institutions are rooted
and nurtured in the home. If children are bred to
believe themselves forever subordinate; if they feel them
selves to be forever shut out from some of the legiti
mate aspirations of free humanity; if the very face of
Providence is veiled from them because of the accident
of race; if thrift and culture and good conduct count as
nothing in the life of the state and the pursuit of happi
ness; if, in a word, the future does not lure them on
to a day of the sunshine of sufficing human oppor
tunity — ^how easily " do the most sacred relationships
come to appear as dull limitations without promise of
perfection ! How easily does faith shrivel and love pine
away when the buoyant presence of hope has departed!
Homes without hope? There may have been such in
the world's history, but they thrive but poorly when this
day and hour spell opportunity and freedom to the
favored nations of the favored races, and when every
normal individual of a favored race may become a com
plete individual.
The presence of the negro may be a black blight on
the South, but the really deadly blight is in our hearts
do we content ourselves in this Christian country of
opportunity with dull and stupid acquiescence in the

Cbe ^ome and tbe l^abitation 91
very existence of unfreedom in our land and at our
doors! "And now, men and women of America, is this a
thing to be trifled with, apologized for, and passed over
in silence?"
We white folk must rule in this white man's land,
but how can we rule our own hearts through love to
(jod and man when every circumstance of our daily
lives encourages in us a temper of arrogant overlord-
ship?

IX. RACE ORTHODOXY IN THE, SOUTH
(From Neale's Monthly Magazine, November, 1913.)
The soulful brevity of wit and worth is something
greatly to be desired in the discussion of the negro
question. If one have no patent of nobility with re
gard to authoritativeness, he may show forth a virtue
allied to it, — that of straightforward directness, — even
if he may lack the larger wisdom and the wider wit. If
the reader will kindly accede to the truth underlying the
proposition just stated he will perhaps pardon a some
what abbreviated presentation of a very large subject.
The race attitude of the Southern whites is not a
code of cases but a creed of a people,— a part of their
morality and of their religion. If this attitude seems
not to square with the democratic and Christian ethics
of the world, there is need that it take stock of itself.
The cocksure arrogance that hugs its provincial self-
sufficiency and casts sour looks at ethical world stand
ards merits the name of foolish Bourbonism, if not a
worse name. I, for one, hold that the South is com
pelled by the logic of events and the conscience of the
world to explain her attitude to men of good will every
where.

Here is the racial creed of the Southern people as
expressed by a group of representative Southerners dur
ing the past few months: 92

mace SDrtbodoip in tiie ftoutli 93
I. "Blood will tell."
2. The white race must dominate.
3. The Teutonic peoples stand for race purity.
4. The negro is inferior and will remain so.
5. "This is a white man's country."
6. No social equality.
7. No political equality.
8. In matters of civil rights and legal adjustments
give the white man, as opposed to the colored man, the
benefit of the doubt; and under no circumstances inter
fere with the prestige of the white race.
9. In educational policy let the negro have the crumbs
that fall from the white man's table.
ID. Let there be such industrial education of the
negro as will best fit him to serve the white man.
II. Only Southerners understand the negro question.
12. Let the South settle the negro question.
13. The status of peasantry is all the negro may hope
for, if the races are to live together in peace.
14. Let the lowest white man count for more than
the highest negro.
15. The above statements indicate the leadings of
Providence. This creedal statement is practically the common opin
ion of the South, or as near that opinion as I can set it
down at the present writing. But is it a true orthodoxy,
a right opinion ? Not in its present shape, though much
of its underlying meaning is right enough. Let us there
fore attempt to restate, in the form of a commentary,
the creed of "Southernism" in a more adequate form,
in order that it may better give a reason for the faith
that is in it, and better square itself with the recognized
standards of American democracy and Christian ethics.

94 mace ©ctftodoip in tfte ^outij

II
I. "Blood will tell." In this age of interest in
eugenics, — when men are coming to regard the forces
of heredity as the "capital" of the races, and the forces
of environment, including education, as racial "income,"
— we are not justified in neglecting the paramount im
portance of keeping up the physical stock of the higher
racial types, even if in so doing the less developed races
may not be favored to the extent of their desires. Judg
ing the future by the past, as we must do, we have no
reason to believe that it will conduce to the ultimate
welfare of the world if we fail to give sufficient play
to the forces of selection, be they "natural" or "arti
ficial," "biological" or "social." The popular concept
of the potency of blood and race has sufficient scientific
warrant for all the practical purposes of political insight
and foresight.
2. "The white race must dominate." History tells us
that the higher civilization of to-day has been wrought
out by the white race in its various branches. The rapid
rise in recent times of such a people as the Japanese, —
due as it undoubtedly is to the partial assimilation of
Caucasian culture by this Asiatic people, — gives us no
reason to believe that the dominant place in the world's
life and work will not continue to be held by the white
race that has made the rise of the Japanese possible.
Moreover, the Japanese are yet to prove that their recent
achievements in culture will stand the test of time and
that their powers of imitation are destined to lead to the
powers of initiative possessed by the white race. The
primacy of the white nations need not mean the un
ethical exploitation of other races ; but it does mean that

mace flOrtbodoip in tfje ^outlj 95
the ethical stocks which now hold the supremacy are
not at all likely to yield it, should conflict arise.
If the white race holds its own there will be no oppor
tunity for any other racial type to acquire such power
and prestige as that now enjoyed by the primary makers
of the world's civilization. Until another race shows
its ability to establish a religion, a code of ethics, social
institutions, forms of government, literature, art, and
so on, equal to those that have come into being through
the agency of the white nations, "the white race must
dominate." If the various races are kept apart geo
graphically, there is no reason for supposing that any con
flict need arise because of the superior world power pos
sessed by the present leading nations of Europe and
America. 3. "The Teutonic peoples stand for race purity." It
is likely that the Teutonic stocks are the most dif
ferentiated peoples of the white race, and that they pos
sess to-day, partly through admixture with other white
stocks, a commanding position in all the continents, — a
position from which they are not likely to be dispos
sessed. They are the great colonizers and empire build
ers. Their influence among all nations is constantly
increasing. Hence their acute consciousness of race is
the strongest guarantee that the Caucasian stocks will
be kept comparatively pure from admixture with other
racial types, and that the Teutonic valuation of racial
pedigree will more and more extend to other peoples of
the dominant race. Indeed, there are indications that
the so-called Slavic and Keltic people are following the
lead of the Teutonic peoples in this matter. Until sci
ence advocates the intermixture of primary racial types
it is not likely that Teutonic ideals of racial purity will

96 mace !©rtt)odoip in tije ^outb
be overborne. And science shows no tendency to advise
such inter-racial mixture.
4. "The negro is inferior and will remain so." It
is generally admitted, even in the most conservative scien
tific circles, that the negro race, as a type, is at present
inferior to the white race. Although some scientific men
see no reason for doubting the negro's ability to fit him
self into the conditions of modern civilization in the
future, no first-class man of science is rash enough to
predict that the average of development of the negro
race in the South will equal that of the white people
of the South within any assignable period. Nor should
any "friend of humanity" wish to see the masses of the
negro people lifted up at the expense of the white,
either through the mixture of blood or through educa
tional neglect of the whites in favor of the negroes.
However promising the outlook may be for a small per
centage of the negro people, the signs of promise for
the poorest classes of whites are very much greater ; and
the Southern people can be trusted to see to it that
their "submerged tenth" shall have greater opportuni
ties for development than any that are likely to be offered
to the submerged negro nine-tenths. For the low-grade
white man has the higher potency and promise in his
blood, and furthermore there is a favored race under
standing implied in the very conditions of the Southern
situation, by the very nature of the case.
5. "This is a white man's country," because the white
man acquired it; made it what it is; contributes eight-
ninths of the population; represents a much greater pro
portion of the inteUigence, wealth, and civilization in
general; formed a government and developed institu
tions for white men, and will not yield one jot or tittle
of his present advantages. Not only will enlightened

mace flDrtftodoip in tfje Soutb 97
self-love compel him to hold that which is his, but the
welfare of the world is better conserved by this country's
remaining specifically the land of the white man.
Racial traits always color habits, customs, institutions,
modes of thought, feeling, and action. But Afro-
Americanism, no matter what its merits, will not be
allowed to constitute any discernible part or aspect of
the spirit of the people of this country. To grant to a
nonassimilable people, with different mores or racial pe
culiarities, privileges that would stimulate them to seek
for entrance into the psychological and social heritage
of national temperament and disposition would be to
love one's alien neighbor better than one's national self,
— a counsel of perfection put forward neither by sound
philosophy nor practical religion. To the white first —
and also to the negro! If the whites prove themselves
unheeding of the summons to go up higher, then it will
be time to say, "To the white and the negro equally and
at the same time." Let the sentimentalist that argues to
the contrary of this position tell us wherein our view
conflicts with the enlightened policy of the best peoples
of the earth.
Nationality, like marriage, is something more than a
contract; hence, until the constitution of nature is
amended through triumphs of national self-sacrificing
grace as yet undreamed of even by the saints, "this is
a white man's country!" This doctrine by no means
impugns the negro's rights to life, liberty, and the pur
suit of happiness ; nor does it condemn him to an)rthing
less than the freest and fullest spiritual life wherever he
can assimilate himself to the conditions of his environ
ment or can conquer for himself the right of racial
ascendency. If he can unfurl his flag somewhere and
truthfully say, "This is a colored man's country!" the

98 mace fl>rtijodoip in tfte ©outb
Southern white man will wish him success and help him
to achieve it. But the white man of America wants and
will have nothing less than white civilization, outside,
inside, through and through, without in any wise casting
aspersions on the yellow man's or the black man's merits,
real or alleged. At bottom this is the white man's con
tention in this connection : This is a white man's country,
because the requisite homogeneity in American civiliza
tion cannot be obtained except through intermarriage;
all other attempts at assimilation are unnatural and un-
historical ; the white man does not believe that the blood
of the white and that of the negro ought to be mingled,
for the product is advantageous neither to the white
man nor to the welfare of the world. Hence all attempts
to overcome the negro's inferiority, being intrinsically
abnormal and unnatural, do not avail. Therefore the
negro is unassimilable — ^and this land must remain a
white man's country.
6. "No social equality." Since "social equality" can
naturally and effectively mean nothing but amalgamation
or "miscegenation" there must be no social intermingling
of the races. Granting social privileges to negro indi
viduals is an admission that sociality has nothing to
do with race, but is a purely personal and private con
cern. But if the mayor of one of our cities should
"keep the pig in the parlor," or have his servants sit at
table with his guests, contrary to the wishes of the latter,
the community would have the right to object. The
"private" and the "personal" cannot separate themselves
from representativeness. When a representative of a
government serves grape juice at his table he may be
making history. No man can isolate his social conduct
from the rest of his behavior. Public opinion has some
rights even in the private sanctities of the home. The

mace laDrtbodocp in tbe ^outb 99
people that put down patriarchal polygamy with an iron
hand and sanction the attempt to prevent a citizen's pur
suing his "happiness" through the use of alcoholic bever
ages will surely recognize the representativeness of race
and the insidious danger of unrepresentative social
example. Since the world began so-called personal rights have
had to yield to public expediency. Much as fair-minded
men may regret the lumping together of all individuals
of a race under a sort of social taboo, the vicarious sac
rifice of such individuals is one of the sad but necessary
incidents of the sacred solidarity of race. And if inter
racial social equality is to be guarded against, all ap
proaches thereto must be prevented. The gentle trickling
of water through a levee bank must be quickly and
adequately stopped, lest the levee give way in time. The
West Indian hurricane may begin its operations with
little soft puffs of balmy breeze. For direction and the
ulterior cause are the real forces, and not the trivial
initial phenomena in themselves. In denying to "Mister
Sammy Green," the estimable Afro-American gentle
man, certain inoffensive social courtesies that are ac
corded to rough-and-tumble "Dago Macaroni," or "Dago
Mac" for short, the white man is true to the principle
of the representativeness of race. The assertion of the
right of social equality by negroes is obnoxious to whites,
because it indicates a disposition to unsettle the status
of white supremacy. Conservative whites know that
race friction cannot be avoided if individual negroes
evince a disposition to have themselves treated as indi
viduals apart from their race status in the white com
munity. When high-grade whites demand that certain negroes
be treated as exceptional persons apart from race status

100 mace fl)rt|)od03Ep in tbe ^outlj
they endanger the peace of the community, and there
fore render themselves persona non grata to white
people. Noble philanthropic views and a magnanimous
sense of fair play should so discipline themselves as not
to interfere with the best interests of both races. A
situation that requires social rigidity toward any worthy
person is by no means satisfactory; but so long as two
diverse races live together one must remain subordinate
if race friction is to be avoided; and individuals of the
dominant race do a distinct disservice not only to their
own race but also to the subordinate race when they
espouse the cause of an abstract individualism that no
longer has the sanction of the best thinkers.
Antagonism to racial coequality demands that the
low-grade white who endangers racial purity, and who
encourages thereby social assertiveness of any kind on
the part of the subordinate race, needs to be disciplined
by public opinion as well as by the vigorous and rigor
ous application of legal penalties. When whites begin
to coerce unworthy individuals of their own race in
the interests of racial morality, no longer will the world
be able to point scornfully at a dominant race which
allows its individuals to give by their conduct the lie
to the anti-equality protestations of the dominant racial
stock. Every young white man should be taught by his
elders that the use of human beings as mere biological
conveniences is bad enough, but that such conduct is
peculiarly despicable when it leads to the virtual prac
tice of inter-racial social equality of the gravest sort.
7. "No political equality." The right to vote is a
conventional privilege of public order and not a natural
right. If the public welfare is best served by denying
the exercise of the franchise to any portion of the popu
lation, the state is justified in such denial. If, however,

mace iSDrtbodOf? in tbe ^outfj loi
the people of a state agree, even under sufferance, to a
constitutional provision that prohibits the drawing of
racial lines in the matter of the franchise, only temporary
expediency justifies them in evading the constitutional
provision through the indirection of state laws that are
intended to operate against one race rather than against
the other. Either the unsatisfactory Fifteenth Amend
ment should be repealed, — in which case the subordinate
race would have to be allowed protection in another
form, — or else some kind of racial representation might
be provided, — perhaps municipal, legislative, and con
gressional delegates without votes.
No system of negro suffrage that would enable the
negro to hold the balance of power in a political division
between parties or factions of the white race should have
the sanction of the state. The time has come for the
whites of the South to cease pretending either that they
are afraid of "negro domination" or that they are per
fectly willing for "qualified" negroes to vote in appre
ciable numbers. The political elimination of the negro
can be secured without depriving him of the democratic
right of representation of some sort; and, sooner or
later, the govemment of this nation will have to admit
the natural fact of racial differences and the civil and
political implications thereof. But to leave a subor
dinate people entirely at the mercy of any set of men, —
no matter how well-intentioned and fair-minded they
may be, — is to fly in the face of experience, especially
where race feeling is the essential factor in a political
situation. On the other hand, the frank admission of
racial inequality under the conditions of local contact
and the cultivation on the part of the ruling people of
the spirit of noblesse oblige, as well as the practice of
impartial justice to the "minor" or subordinate people.

I02 mace ©rtbodOEp in tbe ^outb
will at least have the merit of arranging a peaceful
status pending the full and thorough investigation of
the race problem.
It appears probable that mankind values all rights
and privileges in terms of at least potential social equal
ity. All conventional rights are closely associated with
potential social status. The social implications of politi
cal life are many and varied. The suffrage is the demo
cratic badge of complete citizenship. Inasmuch as social
equality between the races is denied, and the negro is for
bidden to expect or seek for that complete citizenship
which is at bottom secured only by means of facile inter
marriage, the denial of political equality, — along with the
granting, however, of appropriate racial political activ
ity ,^-would seem to be safeguards of white supremacy
and of the peaceful dwelling together of the races. That
such a situation is desirable cannot be claimed by a
people that calls itself democratic and Christian. How
ever, criticism should be directed not toward those South
ern whites who are free from race enmity and who
listen to the voice of race conscience, but rather toward
those who maintain that the present condition is satis
factory, — who look forward with equanimity to a per
manent subordination of the negro people.
Though the prevailing race opinion of the whites in
the South may not articulately declare itself in favor of
the principles of democracy and Christianity in their
application to the negro people, I would call "race
orthodoxy" the opinion of those who are true to
American principles, yet hold to white supremacy and
all that it legitimately implies. Were the masses of the
people able to appreciate fully the necessary ethical limi
tations of race attitude, they would undoubtedly express
themselves in terms similar to our present statement of

mace Drtftodoip in tfte ^outft 103
race orthodoxy in the South rather than in the crude,
uncompromising, and seemingly unethical dogmas enun
ciated in our first statement of racial common opinion
in the South.
Lack of faith in the common people's basal right feel
ing undermines the influence of many would-be leaders
of ethical opinion in the Southern states. On the other
side, subservience to mob spirit renders the utterance
of some of the people's influential leaders void of ethical
value in the eyes of the civilized peoples of the earth.
Those of us that see clearly the validity of race feel
ing, yet hold firmly to our heritage of democratic prin
ciples, should be sensible enough to oppose sentimental
abstract philanthropy in the interest of the people's more
deep-seated and ultimately reasonable instincts. At the
same time we should brace ourselves firmly against all
racial arrogance, brutality, and the cowardly use of
the mob spirit to shut off free discussion and maim the
influence of high-souled men that love not their people
less because they love righteousness more. Neverthe
less, after all has been said, we must hold to the dogma :
No political equality for the negroes, but as much politi
cal privilege as will encourage and develop the civic con
sciousness of the negroes, help them develop a healthy
race feeling, and leave them ground for hope that the
white man will ultimately find for the "brother in black"
a status freer than that which the subordinate race now
occupies, without in any way giving up any of the racial
principles that we have been setting forth in this state
ment of racial orthodoxy.
8. "In matters of civil rights and legal adjustments
give the white man the benefit of the doubt; and under
no circumstances interfere with the prestige of the white
race." When the Supreme Court of the United States

104 mace ©rtijodoip in tbe ^outft
declared the first and second sections of the second Civil
Rights Act unconstitutional the highest law tribunal of
the land showed that it was not racially color-blind, inas
much as it practically recognized a condition rather
than a theory, no matter what its reasons for such a
decision. So far as tests have been made, the courts
have admitted the contention that the publication of a
newspaper statement that a white man is "colored" con
stitutes a libel. The states have been allowed, in the
exercise of their police power, to promulgate anti-amal
gamation laws, thus negativing the merely abstract claim
of any two given individuals of different races osten
sibly to pursue their individual happiness through the
establishment of the marriage relation.
Whatever, then, the reasoning of the courts may be,
the latent consciousness, — ^the subconsciousness, — of the
law recognizes the inferior status of the negro race. If
it is a good policy on the part of the state to recognize,
directly or indirectly, the negro's discounted status, it is
also good policy to buttress this conclusion by strength
ening the prestige of the dominant race in cases where
probability and evidence are equally balanced. Where
doubt must be resolved in favor of a child on the one
hand or an adult on the other, law and public opinion
incline in favor of the child ; for the law tends to protect
the weak. Where decision must be made in favor of
either a man or a woman the balance is inclined in
favor of the woman, for she is in greater need of pro
tection; and chivalry is one of the characteristics of the
true American. But anything resembling a racial tri
umph for the negro individual is full of peril to the
peace of society.
Should not the negro, however, be protected just be
cause of his weakness? Assuredly, but in a way that

mace ©rtbodojp in tbe ^outft 105
will not endanger white supremacy or the negro's ex
plicit recognition of it. When an influential white
patron attempts to see that justice is done a negro, that
negro usually gets fair play. The white man's sponsor
ship takes the question out of the category of race rela
tions. It may become necessary to establish special
tribunals or special procedure that will take up cases
involving unfair discrimination against the negro indi
vidual, — the attempt of might to establish itself as right.
Nevertheless, when the evidence is approximately equal
in a given case it appears inevitable that a white man's
word should be accepted rather than a negro's, a white
man's life protected rather than a negro's, a white man's
rights in general respected rather than a negro's. We
must remember that Lincoln, the Liberator, said that in
case of conflict he was "for the white man." This prin
ciple in no respect militates against the vigorous prosecu
tion of those who exploit the negro's weakness and
ignorance. The white man's representative pride in his
race, however, is a racial and a national asset, and is
the prime condition of the peaceful retention of the
status of white supremacy.
If the unfortunate bi-racial situation involves some
thing of the flavor of caste privilege, so much the worse
for the situation; but, such as it is, we must make the
best of it, or change it in some way that will benefit the
common weal. Important as justice is, order without
justice is frequently safer for the state and more intrin
sically equitable than justice without order. Protect the
negro, but let the guardianship be that of the superior
race protecting the inferior, and not that of "the law"
deciding the doubt in favor of the unfavored race. If
the machinery of the law can be got to educate the white
man to despise the cruel exploiter of a defenseless negro,

io6 mace Drtbodojp in tlje ^outft
it will be well. Truly this is a consummation devoutly
to be wished. On the other hand, let all the institutions
of this white man's country ever teach the lowest mem
ber of the dominant race that his representative superi
ority is the concern of all the people. We cheerfully
admit that a condition wherein "benefit of clergy" must
to some degree be granted to one race rather than to
another is anomalous in view of the highest principles
of democratic institutions. Curse the situation as much
as you please, O friends of humanity, but recognize the
preeminence of the white race everywhere and at all
times, — and teach the negroes to do so.
9. "In education let the negro have the crumbs that
fall from the white man's table." So long as there is
not enough money to educate white children aright, so
long as the dominant race feels unsure of the proximate
and the ultimate effect of educating an inferior race
that should continue to regard itself as inferior, so long
as the rather expensive industrial education evidently
needed by the negroes is also greatly needed among the
whites, — just so long will the ruling race provide first
for its own children and then for the children of the
alien race that happens to be living in a white man's
land. It seems highly unfortunate that this must be so.
Exiucation, however, means freedom, and the whites are
bound to give the greater freedom to their own children
who are destined to remain the favored people. When a
practicable solution of the race problem comes in sight,
and when the requisites of a proper education are pro
vided for white children, then the innate generosity of
the white people, freed from fear of the future and
realizing the pitful need of the black man, will show
itself as the quality of a brave and noble people.
The sensitiveness of the Southern conscience has been

mace ^rtbodos? in tbe ^outb 107
somewhat blunted by the assumption of responsibility
for negro education by the Northern friends of the
negro. The whites expect the negroes to exert them
selves in most self-sacrificing fashion to educate them
selves. Believing that the handicap of the negro's pres
ence is sufficiently severe, the Southern people would be
more than human if they thought as much of the negro's
needs as they do of their own children's. The whites
do not fear general negro competition in any depart
ment of life; but they do dread the friction that will
result from the negro's attempts to show his "equality,"
and they will never stand for the competitive overcom
ing of inferior or unfortunate white individuals by "su
perior" negroes. As a rule, the whites will conquer all
along the line ; but there is enough friction between capi
tal and labor, enough striving among the classes of so
ciety, enough difficulty in having the people get their
dues, without adding to our burdens and complicating
our problems with a racial coefficient prefixed to each
item of our large economic problems. Hence, for some
time at least, the negro will get what educational
funds the white man feels he can reasonably spare — and
no more. In this day when men are asking the question
whether benevolence in general is worth as much as it
costs in the long run, it ill becomes critics of the South
to ask for "equal educational facilities" for whites and
blacks. Let the negro prove some of the splendid quali
ties attributed to him by his friends by evincing a spirit
of self-sacrifice such as the world has never before seen.
He will need to do this in order to hold his own atten
tion focused on the situation of his race, — desperate so
far as spiritual freedom is concerned.
10. "Let there be such industrial education of the
negro as will best fit him to serve the white man." To

io8 mace ©rtbodoip in t&e ^outb
say that the negro was "created" to work for the white
man is to utter unmitigated nonsense. But the negro
must remain a subordinate race so long as he lives in
the same territory with the whites; hence he will con
tinue for a long time, — unless complete local segrega
tion shall come about with tremendous rapidity, — to fill
the ranks of the simpler manual occupations. He may
have his doctors and his lawyers and the like; but they
must not be educated to claim professional equality with
white practitioners. Professional life has many social
associations and implications. If the industrial educa
tion of the negro is such as to make him a useful worker
without bringing about competitive friction with whites,
his industrial education will be a blessing to both races.
If the negro continues to "know his place," no matter
how much or how well he may be educated, even mod
erate competition with the whites, when not accompanied
with "bumptiousness," may for a time be tolerated by
the ruling race.
As long as education makes for freedom, latent if not
patent opposition to negro education may be expected
from the whites, just as in slavery times. This oppo
sition will disappear as soon as the future of race rela
tions is so forecast that the whites may be freed from
the uncertainty of not knowing how soon the negroes
will "claim that they are as good as white men." The
evident fact that some negro individuals are better in
character as measured by any known standard than cer
tain whites in no way invalidates the principle of repre
sentativeness of race. Racial equality and individual
worth are different things. And the imputation of rep
resentative racehood to the inferior white man is a
process that cannot be expected to decrease, but rather
to grow as the negroes become better educated.

mace £)rtt)odoxp in tbe %omb 109
It is a necessity of his position that the negro shall be
a "suffering servant" ; let us hope that he will be Jeho
vah's suffering servant as well as the white man's and
his own race's.
II. "Only Southerners understand the negro ques
tion." But diey do not. They undoubtedly understand
the negro better than do any other people. They are
not always able to state what they know of him, but
they somehow manage on the whole to get along with
him far better than could have been expected under the
circumstances. AVhatever study of the negro question may be made,
the Southem white man must be close to the center of
it, in order that his experience, his intuition, his tem
peramental fitness to deal with the negro may be utilized
in the interest of the interpretation of negro character
and of race relations. For the Southern white man,
however, to "go it alone" in the study of any human
question would be simply preposterous. On the other
hand, for technical scientific methods to expect to ap
preciate the nuances of racial and social relations of a
peculiar kind is equally absurd. When Southerners are
scientifically prepared and are free from more than a
saving amount of provincialism, then they are doubtless
the best fitted of all men to study the race problem.
But the South is not as yet overstocked with such
persons. 12. "Let the South settle the negro question." Yes,
if the South can, and will, settle it in accordance with
democratic and Christian principles. No human ques
tion can be regarded as permanently settled when one
people remains subordinate to another simply on account
of racial differences. Under present conditions the
South's "solution" will vary with locality, percentage

no mace SDrtljodoip in tbe ^outb
of negro population, and so on. These local solutions
are the very best under the circumstances, but a com
placent satisfaction in them as permanent arrangements
contradicts the humanitarian principles of civilization,
and will sooner or later prove to be inimical not only
to the world, the nation, the South, and the states con
cerned, but also most directly to the localities them
selves. Nevertheless, whatever the "solution" shall be, it
must take into account specifically the needs of particu
lar localities and the mental attitude of the people con
cerned, both white and colored.
The South did not and could not settle the slavery
question; it did not and could not settle the question of
reconstruction. The actual method of emancipating the
slaves was wasteful and injurious, and the coercive
measures of reconstruction have in large measure proved
themselves to be failures; but so long as the prevailing
opinion in the South is in favor of reaching a settlement
based upon the stigmatized subordination of all negroes
for all time, the conscience of mankind will not approve.
And surely the South has learned that no matter how
honest it may be in its opinion it cannot expect to have
its own way unless the enlightened sentiment of man
kind is favorable thereto. The South is too close to
the race problem to be competent to solve it aright ; the
rest of the world is too far away; the South, with the
aid of the rest of the country and with the assistance of
the best thought in the world, should take the leading
part in the solution of the race question, provided the
Southern people pronounce in favor of ultimately giving
the negroes every opportunity of development of which
they prove themselves capable. And nothing but ex
periment under favorable conditions can demonstrate
what any given people can make of themselves. But

mace SDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb m
as long as the two races live together under conditions
substantially as at present, the negroes will remain a
subordinate people.
13. "The status of peasantry is all the negro may
hope for if the races are to live together in peace."
Under present conditions, and admitting the continued
subordination of the negro race so long as the two races
live together, it would appear that some sort of caste
civilization is necessary, wherein the lower race may
develop its own individuals to the highest possible ex
tent, but must rest content with a lower social, civic,
and political status as compared with that of the ruling
race. A sort of parallel bi-racial civilization, with a
broad and rigid anti-racial caste line, may prove feasible.
All historical analogy and the traits of the Southern
white man, however, are against such a supposition.
That the common opinion of the South, even of many
of its highest representatives, should favor a "peasantry"
solution is a clear indication that the South, unless pre
vailed upon to study the race problem in the light of
the world of conscience, will make no attempt to solve
a problem that it has already solved in its own mind, and
is now trying to solve in practice by increasing the grip
of the dominant race and fastening the stigma of in
feriority on all negroes without regard to individual
worth. Though this present racial discrimination is the
best present arrangement, — especially when it is tem
pered, as it is almost everywhere, by the generous Chris
tian attitude of a white minority and by the general
good will of the masses of the people toward "negroes
that know their place," — the American people must radi
cally revise their basal political principles and stultify
their vaunted Christian faith if they rest content with
the present arrangement, however necessary it may be

112 mace ^rtbodof? in tbe ^outb
now and for the immediate future. If the results of
investigation indicate that the present condition is a
necessary evil, then all we can do is to temper the wind
to the shorn lamb as much as we may without endanger
ing complete white supremacy and ascendancy.
14. "Let the lowest white man count for more than
the highest negro." If the statement "Let the lowest
white man count for more than the highest negro" be a
statement of race status under present conditions, it
may be allowed to stand because of the principle of the
representativeness of race as we have enunciated it ; but
if it means a final judgment of character value, and pre
tends to rank worth of soul and body simply in accord
ance with the accidents of race, it is pernicious moral
heresy. If Jesus meant anything when he said that the
harlots and sinners might go into the Kingdom of
Heaven before the righteous, no human authority has
the right to rank human souls at all, and least of all
by superficial standards. To establish a caste of the
kind in the interests of peace, race purity, and the public
weal is one thing; to act as an arbitrary human provi
dence in deciding on the personal worth of individuals
according to racial characteristics is another, and a most
inane proposition. But those who make the absolute
statement regarding the worth of individuals do not
mean what they seem to say. They all would prac
tically admit the splendid worth of certain negro indi
viduals if these individuals were living somewhere else
than in America. The statement, then, is tme of racial
representativeness under the conditions of geographical
racial contact, but is true in no other sense.
15. "The above statements indicate the leadings of
Providence." The advocates of slavery said that the
peculiar institution was the result of the "leadings of

mace SDrtftodoip in tbe ^outb 113
Providence." Even so, — and so was the emancipation
of the negro. In a sense it is always true that "what
ever is is right." But we do not see the end wherein
the full rightness doth appear. Even if we did, the end
would not justify the means, except on the principle of
self-preservation in the choice of the least of several
evils. Let those who claim to read the Divine Mind at
least have the goodness to show their credentials and
admit science and the highest human morality to the
counsels of the guild of latter-day prophets and inter
preters of the Most High.

Ill
In our statement of what we have tried to put forth
as an honest view of race orthodoxy in the South, as
opposed to, but involving the truth of, a mere race com
mon opinion, we may have unwittingly indulged in
special pleading and other forms of unconscious disin-
genuousness; if so, our challenging statements may at
least have the office of inviting a criticism as honest in
intention as our statement has been. The trouble with
most of us in this discussion of the race question is not
our lack of fairness, frankness, candor, and ingenuous
ness, but our lack of "the incessant prevalence of de
tective discussion" of the scientific order. There has
been little straight thinking on the subject. The emo
tionalists are of course cloudy; and the men of science
are in many cases too disdainful of emotion to interpret
its values. Psychological amateurism has been almost
as common among men of science as among the gen
eral run of disputants; for the man who fails to see
the overshadowing importance of race feeling, and who

114 mace DrtbodOEp in tbe ^outb
would settle the human problems without regard to the
psychological and ethical interpretation of human preju
dices, has missed the very essence of the problem; and
his "scientific views" deserve as little consideration, so
far as "solutions" go, as do the antagonistic or the be
nevolent vaporings of the emotionalist, or the deadly
dull "common sense" of the merely "practical" man.

IV
Have we failed to learn the lesson of the slavery con
troversy and the Civil War and the evils of reconstruc
tion? Shall we hide our heads in the sands of "com
promise"? Shall we drift, drift, drift, — waiting on
Providence, Who helps those who help themselves?
Whatever the answer to these questions, unless some
one or ones can convince the South that her racial creed
is unworthy and unpractical, she can be counted on to
hold fast to it, — at least in its more conservative form,
— with the consent, and with more and more of the
active aid, of the masses of the white people throughout
this country. If a division must come, the whites will
assuredly stand together. The cleavage is now not be
tween North and South, but between race and race.
North and South are still somewhat apart on account
of the inertia of the past; but the time is close at hand
when the people of the whole country will either show
the South a better racial creed (and I doubt their ability
or their willingness to do so) or will adopt for them
selves the creed of the South. Even now the solid Far
West is joining hands with the South in racial matters;
and the end is not yet in the growing solidarity of the
white people of this country.

mace ©rtt)od03Ep in tbe ^outb 115
Shall the negro, therefore, be deserted or simply ex
ploited by the whites ? Not so ! Very soon, let us hope,
the common sense and the conscience of the country
will be roused sufficiently to have this problem at least
worked on systematically, seriously, in the fear of God,
and in the love of man.

B. Reviews of Typical Views.
I. PHILOSOPHICAL
* Edgar Gardner Murphy : The Basis of Ascendancy
New York, 1909
Mr. Murphy is one of the choicest specimens of noble
character that the South has produced. With love for
his native section and appreciation of its excellencies,
its difficult problems, and its brave attempts to meet
them, he unites in his character sweet-spirited Chris
tianity, broad humanitarianism and loyal national patri
otism. He is in many ways a model for our young men
and an inspiration to us all. He has scholarship, com
mon sense, industry, keen powers of observation, a
sense of humor, distinction of literary style, philosophic
grasp, and many another attribute deserving of uni
versal praise and admiration. His former book, "The
Present South," received praise not a little from quali
fied men North and South. His work with the educa
tion boards and conferences merits the gratitude of our
whole people. His pathetic struggle to help work out
our Southern problems, in spite of his continued bad
health, deserves and receives our warm sympathy.
Hence it would seem that a critical but friendly com
mentary on certain phases of his recent book ought to
have some value, if such work is done in the right spirit.
The present writer hopes that he has that spirit, inas
much as his temperament makes him warmly sympa-
* Review originally written for a distinguished Northern inves
tigator. 116

''€^bt iSasis of ascendancy" 117
thetic with Mr. Murphy, his experience has been na
tional as well as Southern, and his political and ethical
and religious principles are in substantial accord with
our author.
The book exhibits a more or less conscious struggle
between Northern and Southern points of view at their
best. Mr. Murphy realizes the validity of Southern
race feeling in its broader and deeper aspects and North-
em humanitarianism in its more rational forms. He
feels that the average Southerner is as much a humani
tarian at heart as his Northern brother, and that the
typical Northerner has at bottom as much race conscious
ness as the Southerner. On the Southern side he sees
the danger of even our best men's acquiescing in the
idea of benevolent exploitation of the negro people;
and he realizes the danger that is lurking in certain forms
of Northern long-distance ultra-altruism. He tries to
hold the balance evenly in this book. But, whether
consciously or unconsciously, the first part of his book
seems to be, in the main, pro-Southern and defensive of
the South, while the latter part becomes largely pro-
Northern and critical of the South. Nor does he suc
ceed in making a synthesis of the two points of view.
When speaking of the situation as it is and of the
importance of race consciousness he seems to be almost
a Southern partisan; but, when he comes to deal with
the solution of the race question and the method of
bringing it about, he apparently loses sight of the clear
implications of race consciousness and race contact. This
criticism will, I think, appear justified in the course of
the commentary on the book. I emphasize this point
at the outset because Mr. Murphy's ideals and reasoning
are very attractive to the better spirits North and South
and everywhere else. In other words, to resume, Mr.

ii8 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
Murphy understands the ethics of the situation better
than its psychology, the spiritual man better than the
natural man, the ideal better than the actual. But surely
it is of utmost importance in a vitally practical matter
to "draw the thing" as it is "for the God of Things as
they are." What ought to be can, in this matter, only
be reached through what is. Doubtless Mr. Murphy
would reply, I am drawing the thing as / see it; if so,
my contention is that Mr. Murphy does not see it as it
is. Vividly appreciating the tremendous importance and
value of race feeling, he does not see its inner signifi
cance. There is no open way between his psychology
and his ethics. Occasionally he drops a word that indi
cates a rather scornful attitude toward certain crude
forms of race psychology, and this attitude careful men
ought to share; but popular ethnic psychology, so called,
is a very different thing from what our author himself
calls the "moral psychology of the situation." Indeed,
the whole race problem is found in the psychology of
the white man's mind and not in the psychology of racial
possibilities. Granted that the negro may attain unto
a high degree of culture and strength of character, such
a result will but deepen the problem if the white man
declines to associate with the negro in any way that
involves social contact — and all contact in civil life is
at bottom social or closely connected with sociality.
Mr. Murphy seems to think that race consciousness
can be evolved into something higher and finer. Per
haps; but we must know certainly that such a refining
is possible, how it is to be brought about, and whether
there are signs of such development in existence now.
Useless and dangerous is it to advocate mere possibili
ties, which, as Hegel says, are really "nothing," in the
face of actualities working the other way! Granting

''€^bt TBasis of ascendancy" 119
that the negro ought to have a full and free development,
we are by no means sure that such development can
occur in the presence of the white race. Nor is it by
any means a feasible assumption to claim that the white
man will or even ought to be willing that the South
should hold on to the negro in spite of Mr. Murphy's
admission that the negro's presence will render the South
economically less effective than other parts of the Union.
As a rule, economic inferiority carries with it some other
infirmities. Character is "one body"; nationality is or
ganic and biologically based.
But we are delaying the detailed treatment that will
make the above statements clear. Be it noted, before
beginning our commentary, that the words Southern and
Northern are meant to stand for what is best in both
sections and that this best is largely common to North
and South, but that the sections cannot possibly, at
present, see the problem from the same angle, on ac
count of differences of position and contact.
THE SOUTHERN VIEW AND TRADITION AS
TO THE RACIAL SITUATION
I. Its Uniqueness. "Has the South a field of ex
perience peculiarly her own?" P. 217. ... "The sym
pathy which the world has given, and has rightly given,
to the negro of these Southern states should not be per
mitted to obscure the situation of the stronger race."
121. ... "No man can fully understand such a situa
tion except the man who has been reared right in it." 39.
. . . "If the South had sinned against freedom in the
name of property, the North was now (during recon
struction) sinning against freedom in the name of gov
ernment." 177.

I20 mace ©ttbodoip in tbe ®outb
Comment. The "uniqueness" is not simply a matter
of history, geography, economics and the like, but es
sentially one of biology, psychology and social ethics
and esthetics. Even the man reared "right in it" —
"raised right in it," the average Southerner would say —
is by no means quaHfied to understand it; but he has an
immense advantage over those who live away from the
Southern situation, when we ask ourselves what that
situation means to human instinct. However, the South
erner's uncritical "raising" may be as destructive to the
truth of his views as the Northerner's lack of vital ex
perience in regard to Southern affairs.
Neither humanitarian generalities nor Southern "in
stinct" can tell us the whole truth, nor can both of these
together; but, whatever the truth may be, the stronger
race is the stronger factor and deserves the first con
sideration, the first place and the greater sympathy.
And this on the principle of the higher utilitarianism as
well as on the principle of the blood kin and race sym
pathy. More than this : the highest system of morality
that the world has ever seen — Christian ethics — does not
forget the biological basis of administrative and develop
mental ethics. For it says, and its saying is a law of
nature, "To the Jew tirst, and also to the Greek."
Therefore, I should say that the psychology of the
Southern white man's mind is the first thing of all to
be considered in order that the first factor in causation,
and the first factor in the solution, and the first factor
in the final worths of civilization's resultants may be
properly understood and evaluated. Such a study, of
course, does not stand by itself, but is closely linked with
the psychology of the negro's mind, with the psychology
of historical causes, with the psychological results of
environment — a la mode Buckle. But Mr. Murphy's

''€^bt IBasis of ascendancy" 121
modest insistence that the white man's side must not be
"obscured" is putting the thing rather mildly. To the
average man this is like saying : In considering the care-
taking of flocks of sheep and goats, care must be taken
not to let the sheep suffer too much from the lack of
food ! I do not say that Murphy means it that way, but
I do think that his words would ordinarily be so inter
preted in the South. After all, we are obliged to apply
to this situation the words of Jesus addressed to the
Syro-Phoenician woman. We dare not throw the chil
dren's bread to the dogs! And we ought not to let the
crumbs that fall from the white man's tables be too
scanty. If we can play the part or a part of Providence
and prepare a table in the wilderness for the children of
Ham, that may be better than feeding them on crumbs.
We do not know what is best : let's study and find out !
We are now in danger of sinning against freedom in
the name of both property and government. In order
not to "interfere with property values" by disturbing the
labor market — even twenty-five years hence and as a
bare possibility — ^by talking about negro colonization, we
run the risk of insisting that white planters at the South
and white investors at the North must wax fat at the
expense of Southern manhood and democracy and Chris
tianity. And in the name of "government" we are in
danger of asking that a system of race caste must be
substituted for democracy, because "the safety of our
institutions" demands it! I am here emphasizing Mr.
Murphy's rebuke of the reconstruction policy; and at
the same time pointing out a greater spiritual danger
which Mr. Murphy does not deal with. On the other
hand, I cannot agree with the song in another key in
which Mr. Murphy seems to join: "When the negro
race becomes strong enough it shall vote, for every

122 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
qualified citizen should vote!" This last is a chant of
the idealists who forget that the spiritual man cannot
come, and, if thrust forward, cannot thrive, except on
the firm basis of the normal "natural man," all of
whose equalities are offshoots of immanent social equal
ity and the intermarriage that is its vital basis. The
caste of the kin is the last stand of "liberty enlightening
the world." [Even if we admit Mr. Murphy's contention
that "every qualified citizen should vote," it does not fol
low that the possession of education or money will "qual
ify" a non-assimilable people.]
II. Race Consciousness. "The deepest thing about
any man — next to his humanity itself — is his race." 79.
Mr. Murphy tells us that Professor Giddings is right
in his assertion that "it is about the consciousness of
kind, as a principle, that all other motives organize them
selves in the evolution of social choice, social volition,
or social policy." xix. And he also expresses the hope
that the South will never "minimize the significance of
race." xvi.
Comment. No Southerner could hope to have his
views on race consciousness expressed more forcibly than
Mr. Murphy here puts them. But what do his state
ments necessarily imply? I should say that he means,
that he must mean, if he means anything real and defi
nite, that our humanity manifests itself in time and
space and motion in and through and with the "con
sciousness of kind," which is itself at bottom based on
biological kinship. We cannot afford to "minimize"
kinship as the prime material of all social structure, as
the prime motive of all social function. The natural
man is a racial man, who must reach spiritual develop
ment in and through and with the perennial sense of
kinship and the dependence of all social phenomena —

"¦Wbt 'Basis of ascendancy" 123
civic, political, economic, religious, esthetic, moral — upon
the sense of social solidarity biologically derived. In
other words, we had better not forget the etymological
signification of the word nation. Let us follow out a
common dictionary definition. "A nation is an aggre
gate of persons belonging to the same ethnological fam
ily, and speaking the same language." Let us suppose
this meaning to be secondary and try another: "A
people inhabiting a certain district and united together
by common political institutions." Here, obviously, we
need to find out what the word people means, though at
a glance we note the significance of the words, "united
together" (not discordant and jarring by nature). Well,
a people is "the body (not bodies) of persons composing
(not discomposing!) a nation, community, tribe, or
race." Eliminate the words nation, tribe and race, for
obvious reasons. What is a "community" ? "The mem
bers of a body politic having equal rights and privileges,
civil and political, and united by common interests."
These definitions, taken from English sources, hint
pretty plainly at our chief difficulty in this negro prob
lem. We cannot frame a definition that does not imply
in some way equal rights and privileges and common
interests. And, when conditions exist that keep these
equal rights and privileges in abeyance, we naturally fall
back on the rest of the definition of a community, "com
mon interests." Interest is "advantage, good, profit,
concern, utility; share, portion, participation in value."
Common is "general," which means either pertaining
to a genus, or wide, without narrow limitations. Can
the secondary meaning, "wide" exist healthily without
the primary meaning, "pertaining to the same race"?
That is a most pertinent question, and not to be an
swered offhand. I think we may safely assume that it

124 mace DrtbodOEp in tbt ®outb
will be hard to get any "generality" — leaving aside glit
tering varieties — that has not a biologically generic tang
to it. And when we find contrasting psychological-
social "genera," or races widely differing in physical,
mental and moral traits, and feeling no kinship with one
another; and when we know, furthermore, that the one
race esteems itself the "Chosen People" as compared
with the other; and when the interests of the two races
do not seem to fit in with one another unless one serves
the other; and when we note that even in family life
one person must be legally superior for the sake of
security and authority; and when we see the "races"
growing apart instead of together; and when the domi
nant race is bent on depriving the weaker race of all the
distinctive marks of community and "generality," im
puting to it fitness only for segregation or subordinated
service — I say, when we find these things, dare we deny
the native association between birth and nationality, and
do we continue hoping to get a "community" out of a
"natural" (birthly) dw-unity? Perhaps so, but surely
not certainly so. The burden of proof is on those who
hope to transform the natural man in such wise that he
will substitute contract for status in race matters — a
thing he never has done without intermarriage or the
admission of substantial equality of races. Are we to
assume that whereas we cannot get oil and water to
mix we may nevertheless coax the oil to allow just a
few very little drops of water to float with the oil on top
without actually mixing with it? These questions,
surely, cannot be answered dogmatically. If they can,
is it not more scientific and historical and natural to
answer them in the way the ordinary Southerner does?
If his answer is wrong, show the wrongness to him in
such a plain way that his common sense and his con-

''^^t iBasis of ascendancp" 125
science must approve if he is an honest man. Now, I
think that the average white Southerner is honest. And
I believe that these honest men generally control all that
can be controlled at the South. Nor do I believe that
this last statement will be contradicted by any person
whose opinion is worth having — at least on this subject.
I can hardly believe that Mr. Murphy realizes the
implications of his strong statement about the ultimate-
ness and finality of race differences. At any rate, if he
does appreciate fully these things, may it not be that he
overlooks to some extent the inevitable sociality that
is involved in equal civil and political rights? The man
who will not sit with a negro in a hotel will not long be
willing to sit with him in a street car ; the man who will
not sit with him in a street car will not long sit with
him on the jury bench. If the negro's presence is un
pleasant behind the counter of a department store, it
will soon become offensive in a post office. How can
students of social nature overlook the simplest facts of
psychology, the law of association and the law of imita
tion ? Besides, can one draw a line in water and expect
it to remain fixed ? Can one actually tell us where social
communion ends and civic relations begin? Can human
contact healthily exist on the compartment principle?
Does not a democracy believe that any child may live
to be president or to marry the president's daughter?
And can you strike out the natural, the vital, the poig
nantly interesting, the eternally human aspects of de
mocracy and leave anything else but a stupid lot of
paper "rights and privileges"? Let believers in the
equalities minus their soul of social equality listen to
James Bryce, quoted by Mr. Murphy himself on p. 334
of his "Present South": "The social relations of two
races which cannot be fused raise problems even more

126 mace ©rtbodoi? in tbe Soutb
difficult (than the suffrage, etc.) because incapable of
being regulated by law. Law may attempt to secure
equal admission to public conveyances or public enter
tainments. But the look of scorn, the casual blow, the
brutal oath thrown at one who dares not resent it — these
are injuries that cannot be prevented where the senti
ment of the dominant race allows them. Impunity cor
rupts the ordinary man; and even the better sort suffer
from the consciousness of their own superiority, not
merely in rank, but also in strength and volition.. One
must have lived among a weaker race in order to real
ize the kind of irritation which its defects produce in
those who deal with it, and how temper and self-control
are strained in resisting temptations to harsh or arbi
trary action. It needs something more than the virtue
of a philosopher — it needs the tenderness of a saint — '
to preserve the same courtesy and respect toward the
members of a backward race as are naturally extended to
equals." III. Negro Inferiority. "Those with the capacity to
govern will govern." 8. The negro's rights were "won
for him, not by him." 9. Disfranchisement "bore in its
origin only the slightest animus against the negro or
his fortunes." 26. "Aggressive antipathies" have partly
a "defensive basis" due to habits induced by Reconstruc
tion and to fear of "a general encroachment upon the
white man's 'blood.' " 123.
Comment. If those with the ability and capacity to
govern will govern, and if the white folk are therefore
the ones to govern, will they not govern primarily in
the interests of their own people, the whites? Believ
ing that the negroes are inferior people; that the indi
vidual negro cannot escape the fate of his race because
of unusual qualities; that every negro represents his

''^ttt I5asis of ascendancp" 127
race as such whether he wants to or not, because racial
lines as such are drawn and cannot be escaped ; believing
with Mr. Murphy that rights won for a race instead of
by that race are really "rights" imposed by external and
perhaps hostile authority — is it surprising that the whites
should idealize every white man and discount every
negro? Is it surprising that the "democratizing of the
South" so well described on pp. i6 ff. of Mr. Murphy's
"Present South" should result in a strong belief that
the negro is not really a vital element of citizenship, and
therefore ought not to have the suffrage because he
cannot win a status that will show "sufficient evidence
of permanent common interest with, and attachment to,
the community"? (Virginia Declaration of Rights,
1776.) If "law is an expression of the will of the com
munity . . . and civil distinctions can be founded . . .
only on public utility" (French National Assembly,
1789), is it not inevitable that the whites should regard
the negroes as bogus citizens and come to believe that the
real community would be injured, that "public utility"
would be outraged, if aliens, doomed to remain alien
biologically, were allowed to treat themselves as citizens
in a land where every contact of citizenship is closely
associated with social contact ?
"As with the idea of equality in ethics and in religion,
equality before the law means the membership of a great
whole" (Ritchie: "Natural Rights," p. 255). If the
white man cannot get himself to look at the negro race
except as a race, and if he cannot regard negroes as
part of the "great whole" of the community, but as
aliens residing here on sufferance and because no one
knows what to do with them, what process of develop
ment will bring the white man to give the negro the
suffrage voluntarily? This point will come up farther

128 mace fl)rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
on, but it ought to be noted here, because of its con
nection with the apparent belief of Southern whites — a
belief too deep and instinctive for articulate expression
on the part of the average man — that all the equalities
of actual life are based on actual or potential social
equality, and social equality in turn on biological kin
ship. Cry "alas! that it should be so," if you will, but
the fact remains that kindness is primarily kin-ness, and
that a man sometimes cannot "love his neighbor as him
self," unless he can manage to keep his neighbor on
the other side of the fence. The Jesus who told the
parable of the good Samaritan was also the Jesus who
explained to the Samaritan woman that the Jews had
no dealings with the Samaritans, and who soon Himself
departed from the country. Daily, hourly do Southern
white men show forth the qualities of the Good Samari
tan. But the kindness shown is that of the representa
tive of a superior race to a representative of an inferior
race. And the representative binds the race. Forced
and unnatural and ultra-altruistic morality of the "social
catholicity" order may have as deadly results as those
high-flown "affinities" that lead to adultery.
Conservative Southern whites have been brought up
on the Bible with its history of the Chosen People's sad
fate when they, supposedly, disobeyed God and let the
wives and children of the Canaanites stay alive. They
instinctively believe in the God of Battles and Venge
ance, and in the God of Social Selection and Survival of
the Kin. They feel the subtile meaning of the social
solidarity of all real citizenship. To them the family
is very sacred as a condition of status out of which all
social contacts arise and in the form of which all civic
relations are seen. They vote for men as incarnations
of principles; they hold to principles largely because of

''€^bt OBasis of ascendancy" 129
the men who have promulgated the principles and the
impressive and noble way in which these leaders have
taught the common folk who heard them gladly. This
is idealizing? Yes, that is one of the troubles — and one
of the permanent factors — not altogether to be frowned
upon by idealizers of present-day "national" leaders.
Carlyle may have failed in his task of teaching us the
overwhelming importance of hero-worship, but the way
faring man may see if he will the vitality of the South's
belief in personality, kinship, family and blood.
Is the South wrong? Is there any danger to "blood"
from inter-racial communion? Is there any danger of
"social equality" from the practice of "political equal
ity"? Is the South believing in something unreal and
unpsychological when she practices the belief that all
forms of equality come at last to blood kinship actual
or possible? Perhaps so. But many an investigator in
other parts of the world than the South will warn us
not to deny the South's claim without careful study.
"Show us the futility of our over-great protective in
stinct ; show us the unreason of our fears ; show us what
will take the place of race-prejudice run out of a simple
man's mind; prove to us the sovereign power of high-
toned esthetic morality in preventing the mixture of the
races — show us some of these things," say the South
erners, "and we shall try to put our bogie fears to sleep."
IV. Racial Contacts. "The ultimate basis of inti
mate social affiliation is not individual (as is so fre
quently asserted), but social." 80. "The profoundest
need of every educated life is for another educated life.
The deepened instinct, the educative impulse, is assimi
lative, accumulative, social. It demands and creates an
environment." 99. "The individual man, in the world,
may escape almost every calamity or deliverance except

I30 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
that which comes in the form of other men." 156 (cp.
136). "The stronger race must live, must find and equip
and free itself, must rear its children — thronged, en
vironed, influenced, profoundly determined by the weaker
race" (cp. 241) 156. "There is nothing more perilous
to the moral standard or social feeling than the presence
of a large and distinctive class of a closely related popu
lation too ignorant and too weak to protect itself. It
is easy to say that the case of such a population should
appeal to the chivalry of the strong. And so it should.
And so it does." 123. "The stronger becomes habitu
ated to the conception of itself as identical with the
state." 133.
Comment. Take the quotations of this section in con
nection with the extracts and comments of previous sec
tions, and it will be seen how close is the connection
between all acts of sociality among individuals and the
races they represent. We shall also have to admit that
the "educative impulse" tends to pull down barriers. The
gentleman is welcome the world over, or tends to be, no
matter what his nationality. Intrinsic nobility of soul
distracts attention from color of skin. Now, reduce
race prejudice, so called, to the minimum, and allow
race contact to continue, is it not inevitable that the
"assimilative" action of education will tend to break
down barriers of blood? So say many Southerners.
They seem to think that contact begets either coopera
tion or competition (race competition). They believe
that cooperation is at bottom based on potential social
ity. The festive board is usually an incident of all co
operative efforts, whether religious, philanthropic, po
litical, esthetic, scientific or commercial. Desiring neither
cooperation — except in a very extemal and therefore
non-vital way — nor competition, which is likely to be

"Cbe TBasis of ascendancy" 131
decidedly anti-social, these Southerners naturally enough
feel uncertain about giving the negroes an education that
will make them the "equals" of the whites, or, worse
still, make them think themselves equals when they are
not. But I must not elaborate, for this is not primarily
a study of the negro question, but a study of Mr. Mur
phy's views of it.
V. Rctce Psychology. On p. 191 and elsewhere in
the book Mr. Murphy hints at the importance of the
"moral psychology" of the Southem situation. Remem
bering this, note the implications of the following two
quotations: (i) "We are not bound to assume equali
ties that do not exist, but we cannot arbitrarily fix the
status of inequality from without." 197. (2) "No true
freedom can retard our freedom. Every liberated ca
pacity must contribute both its capacity and its liberty
to ours."
Comment. "Moral psychology" will help us to find
out what equalities are natural and effective and safe
and useful. And it will show us that not every "liber
ated capacity" is really liberated. "What will he do with
it?" How will it affect the other race? How much
revolution will it breed? These are some of the ques
tions brought out by a practical psychology of peoples.
True it is that liberated capacities of our kind of folk,
folk with whom we can, sooner or later, associate on a
basis of social and biological equality, will really en
hance our freedom. But how can there be normal liber
ated capacities in a race occupying an inferior social
status and with no hope of raising it to terms of equality
with a superior race? Idealism cannot dare to dispense
with biological and psychological reality. The natural
man must precede and condition the spiritual man.
VI. Existing Tendencies. On p. 32 our author makes

132 mace SDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
the usual statement that, if it is hard to convict a white
man of murdering a negro, it will be hard to convict a
white man of murdering one of his own color. In
Mississippi, South Carolina and other Southern states
there are clear indications of a growing regard for the
lives of white men: for instance, notice the conviction
of Smith, a wealthy man of Lowndes County, Missis
sippi, despite a decidedly good showing of insanity by
the defendant. Note also the conviction of the Coopers
in Tennessee for the killing of Senator Carmack. The
tendency Mr. Murphy speaks of probably exists, but
with the growing solidarity of the whites and the grow
ing antagonism between the races, it is not impossible
that the whites will evolve a high system of racial justice
and morality that shall not apply at all closely to the
negroes. There are examples in Greece and Rome of
that sort of thing. At any rate, may not Mr. Murphy
be assuming tendencies without sufficient regard to all
the facts?*
On p. 105 our author assumes that the negroes are
following their leaders better than they used to. This
statement is by no means self-evidently true to the or
dinary observer. There is a conspicuous loss of negro
leadership in politics; negro leaders frequently show a
good deal of jealousy of one another: the attitude of
very many negroes with reference to Booker Washing
ton is still uncertain. But I am not trying to disprove
Mr. Murphy's statement. I only want to register a
warning against accepting his opinion too readily.
* Of course I agree most heartily with Mr. Murphy in his high
regard for the sacredness of every human life; but I am not pre
pared to argue that disregard of negro rights will inevitably lead
to depreciation of the white men's rights. Logically, it ought ; actu
ally, it may not.

''€^bt IBasis of ascendancp" 133
p. 188. "The South is at home within the land."— I
wish this could be assumed; but I should have to say
that the statement should be put thus: "The South is
as much at home within the land as could be expected
under existing circumstances, and as much so as any
other people would be under the same circumstances."
On p. 221 Mr. Murphy contends that democracy is
enforcing equality of rights everywhere. I wish he
would give instances. True, the classes are being com
pelled to free the masses in all homogeneous nations.
But we are holding Filipinos and Porto Ricans with a
pretty close rein, and tightening the reins on the latter.
"Might till right is ready" still seems to be good policy.
In South Africa the mother country is about to let the
white colonists manage the natives as seems best to the
dominant race. Democracy is gaining among uniracial
peoples, and showing a tendency to gain among people
who are overwhelmingly in the majority as compared
with their conquerers, and at the same time show some
capacity for self-government that will not seriously in
terfere with the weal of the dominant race (India).
Even in these last cases, we cannot argue as if they were
similar to the Southern problem, where the whites are
the "nation."
P. 228. Mr. Murphy holds that the disfranchisement
of all negroes is not the prevailing tendency. — How
about Mississippi and South Carolina, for example?
And in Mr. Murphy's own state of Alabama, does he
find that the common people, who settle "tendencies,"
want any negroes to vote?
On p. 231 we are told that the dilemma is this: De
velopment or repression? Many of us put it thus:
Development somewhere else or a certain degree of
necessary repression here? Nowhere does it seem to

134 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ®outb
enter Mr. Murphy's mind that his rather contemptuous
dismissal of all schemes of negro colonization is pos
sibly a form of closing the door of hope in the negro's
face. VII. Data Wanted. On p. 6i we are told that the
morality of the negro women has moved forward. This
is probably true, if what is meant is this : there are more
virtuous negro women in proportion to the population
than there were twenty-five years ago. Very many
Southerners do not believe this last statement; could
they be convinced of its truth by an impartial investiga
tion of conditions, the cause of the negro would be
helped in the South. Many claim that prostitution has
increased more than concubinage has decreased.
P. 64 note. We are warned against accepting census
inferences to the effect that negroes are going out of
the higher grade of manual arts. Mr. Murphy thinks
that many, for example, who leave barber shops go to
carpenter benches, etc. Then there ought to be more
carpenters. The figures ought to show correlative com
pensation. Perhaps they do. It would be interesting
to have, say, one hundred cases of the kind mentioned
by our author. But the statement itself will be warmly
questioned if it is to be put forward as a generalization.
P. 97. Blending with whites not so common. — Here
again the facts are hard to gather and the interpretation
very doubtful. Blending may be going on at a greater
rate in the North, where people are less apt to detect
negro blood in light mulattoes. It is true, without ques
tion, that dislike of negro blood is stronger than it used
to be and that the whites are more careful in their ob
servations of race mixture.
P. 97. The power of the negro race to "hold its own"
is increasing. — Now this is one of the very points at

''€^bt TBasis of ascendancy" 135
issue, and one of the hardest to decide about. Is it
wise to make such statements without giving the proof
or pointing out the data?
V. Doubtful Interpretation of Doubtful Facts. ( i )
We ought all to admire the glow of Mr. Murphy's moral
indignation. The present writer, for one, believes that
the South is morally cursed on account of the presence
of this negro problem. But we gain nothing by making
doubtful statements about conditions and giving doubt
ful interpretations about these "facts." If the following
statement were improperly used throughout the South it
would do Mr. Murphy's cause a great deal of harm:
"He" (the man accused of being "silly about the negro")
"is struggling to save the ballot from degradation, the
courts from paralysis, the schools from the touch of an
ignorant and benumbing controversy, our industries from
the destitution of crude warfare or depleting irritations,
the law from injustices which will blight the wholesome
progress of every class among us, our society itself from
the reproach that its rights are partial and that its effi
ciencies, so far as they may be founded upon its eva
sions, are based upon the sands. If to fight against
these things is to fight for the negro, then there are
some of us who wish it to be known that we are fighting
for the negro." 34 f.
Comment. Most Southemers would reply, and with
much truth: The ballot is purer than it has ever been
since the war, but is, of course, "degraded" in the esti
mation of people whom we won't allow to vote, because
we believe that they can never be real citizens; the courts
are not paralyzed, but becoming more efficient, and espe
cially because negroes don't sit on juries — even negroes
get better justice than they used to, though it is true
that negroes will be discriminated against so far as they

136 mace i)rtbodo£g in tbe ^outb
seem to endanger white supremacy or the interests of
the whites as a race; the schools — for the whites — ^are
very far from being in a "benumbed" condition, and
white children are being brought to the schools without
using compulsory law ; our industries, our laws and other
things of our civilization are rapidly developing. Yes,
fighting against negro political disability is fighting "for
the negro," and such fighting will be resented by the
average Southerner. True, the better men of the South
are sorry that the negroes must be discriminated against
and deprecate all failure of justice in the courts. And
the higher classes contain not a few men who believe
such discrimination to be dangerous to morals and the
whole spiritual life. But, says the average man, we are
in an abnormal condition and must choose between evils.
Convince us in a careful, scientific, not dogmatic way
that the methods we have chosen are not conducive to our
higher welfare, and we'll try to get better methods.
But don't tell us to help the negroes develop at our ex
pense. We are willing to develop him so that he will
remain in the place we put him. If you leave him here
we are going to be his Providence and do the best we
can for him without endangering ourselves. And, in
our judgment, we shall be endangering ourselves if we
teach the negro that any one of his race, however highly
developed, is a citizen in the sense that a native-born
white man is, or a white foreigner whose children may
at length be able to intermarry with our children. This
plea of the Southerner may not be valid; but it has a
closer relation to things as they are and as they are
bound to be than the implications of the last quoted
words of Mr. Murphy. Who is to judge between these
divergent views of fact and interpretation? I should
say, neither combatant, but those who have investigated

''€^bt IBasis of ascendancy" 137
the phenomena in the dry light of science. And who
are they?
(2) P. 89. Mr. Murphy thinks that race sensitiveness
has increased because of the following factors: i, com
munity of interest; 2, community of suffering; 3, preju
dice from without. — Perhaps so, but has he forgotten
what he said about "consciousness of kind" ? Is not that
becoming spontaneously more acute and more self-con
scious? And is not race consciousness — pan-teutonism,
pan-slavism and the like — ^growing the world over? Do
not Caucasians talk about a "yellow peril"? Does not
the world think far more of race differences than it did
when the French revolutionists were exhorting about the
"rights of man" ? A philosopher may not be blamed for
evolving a set of causes from his reflection upon his
ordinary experience ; but what the situation needs is facts
scientifically gathered and scientifically interpreted.
(3) "The South, in her soul, has no dream, nor no
tion, nor imagination, except of a democratic state." 187.
— Right, provided "democratic" means white demo
cratic. (4) On pp. 188-9 ^^- Murphy tells us about the in
gratitude of the weaker race and the brutality of the
stronger. Does he mean to imply that the weaker race
is ungrateful because it is weaker, and the stronger "bru
tal" because it is stronger? May not the "ingratitude"
be negroid and not really what the white man means by
"ingratitude"; may not what he calls the "brutality" of
the whites be something very different, and may not
real "brutality" among the whites be so rare as to be
entirely untypical? These questions are not asked in a
captious spirit, but because I, for one, need light on these
matters. (5) On p. 238 our author has a passage, too long to

138 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ^outb
quote, about the sinister "education" the negro gets in
regard to his race from newspaper disparagement, popu
lar unfairness and the like. Now all this is due to the
radical belief in the negro's inferiority — all admit this.
And what we regard as inferior we finally come to dis
like, as James Bryce so well pointed out in the words of
his quoted above. Will not the "solution" of the prob
lem have to take this into account, and can we cure
esthetic and moral dislike by pointing out the fact that
it "hurts" the negro? The saints are too few and the
sinners too many, and the handicap against increasing
the ranks of the saints is too much for the poor "natural
man" who may have aspirations in this direction. The
negro is persona non grata, and thus he will remain to
the end of time : so says the Southern white man. Can
one say offhand that he is wrong?
IX. Dogmas, (i) In his preface (xvii) Mr. Mur
phy contrasts "spurious catholicity of race" with the be
littling or denying of "individuality" in other races. —
Well, says the Southerner, that belittling and denying
will inevitably go on till the millennium unless we adopt
the opposing dogma of race catholicity in the only sense
of the word catholicity that has any hope for the lower
race — equal social recognition.
(2) P. 16 f. Education by the ballot vs. public secur
ity. — 'Mr. Murphy believes that public security ought
not to be sacrificed to "education by the ballot" when it
is negroes that have to be so educated. But will the time
ever come when the whites are willing to call the negroes
real citizens? They have never wanted to disenfran
chise ignorant white men ; will they ever want to welcome
the use of the ballot on the part of intelligent negroes in
considerable numbers? They cannot well help allowing
a few of them to vote; but those few don't enjoy the

''^bt TBasis of ascendancy" 139
process overmuch! The Southerners, not having force
enough, have invoked craft and the complaisance of the
United States Supreme Court to nullify in the spirit an
article of the Constitution of the United States. An
overwhelming majority of the Southern masses would,
I believe, repeal the amendment to-morrow if they could,
though in my judgment the repeal would be inadvisable
unless accompanied by a new amendment giving the
negro some sort of racial representation in state and
federal legislation. The Southern conception of "pub
lic security" will have to be profoundly modified by
stronger arguments than anything Mr. Murphy brings
forward if the negroes are to be allowed to vote.
(3) We now come to a dogma of Mr. Murphy's which
is, perhaps, his favorite, and which appears conspicu
ously in print for the first time, so far as I remember.
I shall give the substance of his contention as gleaned
from several references in this book: P. 56 — So long
as the lower race is kept down, so long will fusion con
tinue. ... P. 74 — 'Fusion occurs at the lowest levels.
... P. 76 — The development of the negroes will not
increase intermarriage, "so far as one can now deter
mine." ... P. 94 — Those who think that the educated
negro will turn from his race to the whites "know little
of the tendencies of the negroes and still less of the
tendencies of education."
Comment. In the first place the fusion at the lower
levels is admittedly of an animal nature, a matter of
sexual convenience, but is by no means peculiar to "lower
whites." It is probably decreasing more proportionately
with the lower whites than with better educated whites,
who ought to be morally better. In some communities
it is not the lower whites who indulge in habitual con
cubinage, but supposedly substantial men, and sometimes

140 mace Drtbodox? in tbe @outb
educated men. As the prostitute's trade grows concu
binage is said to decrease. But, strange as the statement
may seem to Northern and many Southern ears, not a
few whites of supposed higher grades have expressed a
sexual preference for negro or mulatto women, mostly
the latter. This preference would be much more wide
spread, as several persons have explained to me in talk
ing about their own experiences, were it not for race
prejudice, or conscientious scruples, or fear of being ex
posed. What I have just said is based on investigation
into the practices and opinions and preferences of definite
individuals, and I hope these hints are sufficient to justify
me in saying that Mr. Murphy's dogma is a tribute to
his innocence.
Senator Tillman's belief that some so-called respectable
whites would marry rich negro women but for the laws
against miscegenation and fear of the community has, I
believe, some basis in fact. However that may be, I do
not think that Mr. Murphy's view ought to be accepted
without investigation. I am glad that he guards him
self by saying, "so far as one can now determine."
Readers of Kelly Miller and DuBois will find no
trouble in reading the heart-views of these negro leaders
about educated negroes "turning to the whites." Of
course these men would reprehend any turning to whites
as whites, but they believe that a gentleman or a lady
anywhere ought to have the right of the "pursuit of
happiness" in getting a suitable spouse without refer
ence to "race, color or previous condition of servitude."
I may be mistaken, but such is the inference I have been
compelled to draw. And why should they not think
this? Is it not natural and self-respecting? If some
of us were negroes or mulattoes should not we hold the
same view? Almost every Southerner with whom I

''€^bt iSasis of ascendancy" 141
have conversed on this subject — and I have talked with
hundreds of all classes and conditions of life — has said
that in his judgment most of the educated negroes would
like to have the right to intermarry with whites. This
belief is probably exaggerated, but it is, in my judg
ment, nearer the truth than is Mr. Murphy's opinion.
However, we know extremely little on this topic.
I may know little of racial feeling and less of educa
tion, but I find that the marriages between Jews and
Gentiles of my acquaintance occur at the higher rather
than at the lower levels. The cases are not altogether
analogous, but, as Mr. Murphy brings the case of Jew
into the discussion, I am privileged to use it in doubting
the validity of his opinion.
(4) P. 166. Our author says that the declining race
pulls the stronger down, etc. This may be true; but I
fail to recall instances enough to warrant a ganeraliza-
tion. It may be that our American kin in Hawaii are
going down. It may be that we have all gone down
with the American Indian. But some of us think that,
no matter what happens to the negro, we Southem white
people, with God's help, are going up. Doubtless the
declining race will pull down the stronger if that stronger
lets it take hold. And doubtless the drowning man
sometimes drowns his would-be rescuer. But — what is
the use in multiplying words? The question is one of
fact. What are the facts of history and experience?
Mr. Murphy's statement, in the absence of evidence, need
not be taken to be more than a possible tmth. If our
author will limit the statement to different classes in the
same nation, or to different races that intermarry, he
will be at least uttering an opinion that I shall not quarrel
with. But the white man has a marvelous ability to

142 mace ©rtbodojp in tbe ^outb
get out of the way of a drowning race, whether it be
Indian or negro !*
(5) On page 198 we are informed that society need
have no relation to negro "rights." This idea is the
most astonishing of all, especially since it comes from
a Southerner. Here is the place where the battle wages.
Has Mr. Murphy any right to end the fight and claim a
victory without shivering a single lance ? I have already
touched on this point and cannot discuss it further now.
The psychology of the white man's mind will show us
some light some of these days. May those days soon
come ! I must insist, in closing this section, that man's
life must be assumed to be connected in all the length
and breadth and thickness of it. A happy and useful
civic life of con amore cooperation is practically impos
sible when not based upon social intercourse, or at least
the hope of it for one's children's children. So says
the experience of ages. So the Southerner feels when
he declines to hold open a "door of hope" to the negro
that will usher him into ultimate hell fire of race strife.
If there can be healthful political and civic equality with
out social equality, give us facts from history, and psy
chological and social science, and careful and candid
observation, in order that we may believe; but do not
expect us to accept without proof a doctrine that gives
the lie to our Southern tendencies and our actual experi
ences. It may be that Southern people base too much
on sociality and the family life; but we are hardly will
ing to renounce the peculiar genius of our people in
* I do not deny the moral danger that besets any race that holds
another in tutelage. And I am unwilling to see any Southem folk
exposed to this danger, if a way of escape can be provided. But
it may be possible for the dominant race to rise — though perhaps
not as high as it might — while the lower race is "going down."

''^^^bt 'Basis of ascendancy" 143
associating all "rights" with social rights, just at a time
when race consciousness is awakening the world over,
and when men are calling for purer and more conserva
tive family life.

THE NORTHERN VIEW AND TRADITION
I. Democratic Idealism. On page 9 we are told that
our democracy insists that "class as class shall never
rule." On p. 232 Mr. Murphy speaks of the negro as
a "new class that may hold the balance of power." On
page 23s occurs the expression : "Restrictions shall have
no stigma of class." Pp. 240 and 241 speak of the train
ing of the "people" in a sense that makes the word in
clude the negro. Page 236 reminds one of the true, old-
fashioned abolition fervor. If the negro's permanent
acceptance of a low status be the condition of peace,
"then we had better have something less than peace."
The absence of "manhood" is more dangerous than racial
disturbance. Comment. Is the negro a "class" ? And do the demo
cratic arguments about class touch the subject in any
way? Do Southemers show any disposition to injure
"classes" ? Our author (and the old but receding North
ern sentiment) fails to see that the negro is not treated
as a class at the South, but as a race — a very different
thing. Orthodox statements about democracy refer to
homogeneous or at least to uniracial situations; or, if
they did not in the past, they are learning to do so to-day.
No Southerner would deny Mr. Murphy's contentions
about democracy versus aristocracy. Racial distinctions
are very different things from superficial castes made by
social or economic distinctions. The former have a bio-

144 mace SDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
logical basis. If we agree that God made of one all
the nations to dwell upon the face of the earth, we
must also admit that he "set the bounds of their habi
tations." And if unassimilable types stray away or are
taken away, they introduce discord into the course of
nature. This discord is not necessarily cured by talking
and acting as if the whites were a favored class of a
homogeneous population and the negroes another class!
Northerners generally have always tended to think of
negroes as individuals, and therefore cannot understand
the mass psychology of the South. If I am not mis
taken, modern social science is more and more taking the
Southern point of view, especially when dealing with
national life.
Referring to Mr. Murphy's last statement, which is
really founded on those immediately preceding it, I may
say that to the Southern negro it may be true that ab
sence of manhood may be worse than racial disturbance ;
but to the white Southerner it may be that absence of
manhood among the negroes is not so bad as racial dis
turbance! At any rate, it is a peculiarity of the typical
Northern view that it has only two horns to its "lemma."
Now doubtless the true dilemma, as the word indicates,
has but two alternatives; so let us say that we may be
dealing with a trilemma or a polylemma. The either-or
and versus attitude is hardly scientific in this connection.
Why should we have to choose between loss of manhood
and fear of racial disturbance? The "solution" cham
pioned by Jefferson and Lincoln (colonization of ne
groes) may prevent either of the fatal results that Mr.
Murphy deprecates. And there may be other alterna
tives not yet mentioned. Let's find them out!
II. "Out of Touch." — ^Just a few references to show
that Mr. Murphy is sometimes out of touch with "his

''€:tt TSasis of ascendancp" 145
people," as I suppose he would call most Southerners.
P. 58 — "It soon seems to be incredible to us that any
one could have ever hoped to rebuild the South as a
permanent institutional exception to all that has been
known and proved of human nature and of human so
cieties . . . promote the self-respect of one race by
weakening the self-respect of the other." Of whom does
Mr. Murphy speak? Most Southerners think that the
South, rather than the abstract advocates of "human
rights," had the "straight of it" as to practical knowledge
of human institutions. The South believed that the sud
den freeing and enfranchisement of millions of slaves
of an alien race was an act contradictory of all human
experience and institutions. Mr. Murphy, in spite of
his lack of sympathy with the sudden enfranchisement
of the negroes, is still thinking of the negroes as a class
of citizens, whereas the South does not regard them as
true citizens at all! And the better men of the South
interfere with the negro's self-respect only in the spirit
of self-protection.
Southerners take "snapshot judgment" on the negro's
"inadequacies," says Mr. Murphy (p. 236). But does
Mr. Murphy help to eradicate that tendency by himself
pronouncing summary judgment on Southern leaders like
Tillman and Vardaman? I do not care for such leaders
in a scientific consideration of the negro question, but I
hope that I understand them better than Mr. Murphy
does, and I am anxious that they may have the credit
for some degree of sincerity and other qualities that I
believe them to possess. These Southem leaders could
not acquire so much power did they not represent the
people's views in large measure. In attributing their
hostility to negro suffrage only to snap judgment on the
negro's inadequacy, Mr. Murphy is condemning the de-

146 mace flDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
fensible opinion of perhaps a large majority of the com
mon folk of the South.
We are informed on p. 237 that it is not right to dis
franchise a people on the ground of their ignorance and
then give them no schools. — Assuredly such a procedure
would be pernicious. But who says that the negroes
were disfranchised on the ground of their ignorance
alone? Few Southerners wish to disfranchise illiterate
or ignorant white men. Indeed, great ingenuity has been
exercised in trying to retain the franchise for such men.
The negro is not a class, but a race. The classes can be
assimilated in the South; the races cannot. Here is the
crux of the race question.

SOLUTIONS
I. Methods and Processes. I have not time to go
further into the criticism of the book. Besides, I have
already discussed its leading ideas and attitudes. For
the rest I must content myself with giving a list of refer
ences under the above heading and the next, and then a
few final hints that must take the place of comment.
References: xx, xxi, 48, 53, 79, 103, iii, 159 f, 165,
166, 170, 209, 213, 243.
II. Results: 11, 12, 113, 146, 218, 222, 241, 248.

On page 241, where Mr. Murphy admits that Southern
industrial and commercial progress will never equal that
of other sections if the negroes stay with us, he prac
tically gives up the fight. Does he suppose that South
erners are going to rest content with a future less than
the best that man can have? And does he think that
commercial backwardness will not be accompanied with

''^tt TBasis of ascendant?" 147
other forms of maldevelopment? Some may be willing
to be partially damned for their black brethren's sake.
Not so most of us. If we cannot be great in the presence
of the negro, we will surely get rid of him, God helping
us, through the help of our country and the rest of the
civilized world. The best white Southerners want the
negro to get all the development that he can get, but not
at their expense. He shall not keep us down, they say.
We will not be a less-favored portion of this country.
We m,ust come into our heritage, Africans to the con
trary notwithstanding. As things are now (as we have
already said) our finer spirits often want to get away
from it all, and our rougher spirits often want to make
the negro get out of it all. When it comes to a "show
down," if that should have to come, the plan of the
rougher ones will probably be the one adopted. But shall
we rest supinely and wait for conflict, or for that second-
rate future that Mr. Murphy is self-sacrificing enough
to be willing for us to have ? There is a more excellent
way : Let us organize a nation-wide, a world-wide co
operative and scientific study of this negro problem, and
get the masses of the white people and the black people
to help and to get themselves into trim for acquiescence
in the results that the best human wisdom may offer.
It is a sin against God and a crime against man to
leave this largest of human problems in the hands of
"people generally," without making a national scientific
effort to rid ourselves of this body of death in life that
so fearfully besets us. What does it avail to have sci
ence and education when we fail to apply them to the
real problems of life that are close to the heart of a
people's safety and peace and development?
Finally let me say that, in spite of my earnest belief

148 mace fl>rtbodoip in tU ^outb
that Mr. Murphy has not successfully seized some of the
most fundamental psychological aspects of the race ques
tion, I trust that our people. North and South, will ever
honor men of his splendid type of patriotism and Chris
tianity and philosophic largeness of mind.

II. SOCIOLOGICAL
SOUTHERNISM AND "THE SOUTHERNER"
(From Neale's Monthly for August, 1913.)

Four years ago the publishers of "The Southerner"
requested a number of Southern men, including myself,
to give their opinion of the fitness of the book for dis
tribution in the South. This request was made because,
it was said, a public-spirited gentleman wished to make
the book more widely known in the Southern states, pro
vided it were acceptable there. The novel, which had
already appeared as a serial in the Atlantic Monthly, had
excited much favorable comment in sections other than
Southern as a book of the times and of the South.
Having lived the greater part of ten years in the North,
— although Southern born and bred, and consequently
sympathetic toward both Southern sentiment and the new
nationalism that was arising in the secession states, —
and being a professed student of Southern questions,
especially the negro problem, I went to the book with
the expectation of finding something I could praise gen
erously. To my surprise, I found that Nicholas Worth,
the ostensible author, felt intellectually at home only in
the North, and especially in Boston; that he ridiculed
the Confederate Veterans and the Daughters of the Con
federacy ; that he failed to see any sense in Southern sen-
149

I50 mace i)rtbodO£? in tbt ^outb
sitiveness with regard to the negro question, and that
he seemed to mention religious life at the South only to
sneer at it.
As I read Nicholas Worth's wholesale charges of in
sincerity and lack of frankness on the part of Southern
political leaders, and noted the indications of his belief
that the South was under the dominion of the "dead
hand," I thought to myself : Even granting that the atti
tude and strictures of Nicholas Worth, schoolmaster,
politician, and reformer, are well founded, his book is
evidently not one to be read in the South, where rever
ence for the past and hero-worship now find no serious
difficulty in aligning themselves with industrial progres-
siveness and religious and political independence.
I myself had spent several college years as an agnos
tic ; I had bolted the Democratic nomination for governor
of South Carolina, not having perceived the real mean
ing of Tillman's apparent violence and ruthless attacks
on those whom I had been taught to revere; yet it had
never occurred to me that the Confederate Veterans and
the Daughters of the Confederacy, — though individuals
among them sometimes had exhibited "amusing" yet
understandable and pardonable exaggerations and excess
of sentimentality, — were legitimate objects of ridicule,
even to one like myself, whose life and training had given
him perspective, and who was supposed to have some
sense of humor.
Wishing to discourage the circulation of the book as a
philanthropic free tonic for Southemers, I wrote the re
view for the publishers (in 1909), and summed up my
criticism substantially as follows :
I. The author of "The Southerner" is not a South
erner of the spirit, whatever he may be of the flesh.
There is something of North Carolina and something of

''€^iit ^outberner" 151
Massachusetts in his attitude, but none of that all-inclu
sive Americanism that alone is able to write about the
South with sympathy of the heart yet with balanced
critical discrimination.
2. When he compares North and South, as he often
does, the South always gets the worst of it. He professes
to appreciate evanescent Southem charm and romance;
but in the background of his thoughts one feels sure of
the ever-ready comparison between a Southern medieval
barbarism on the one hand and the solid merit of an
up-to-date Northern civilization on the other.
3. There seems to be lack of sympathy for the South
em temperament, — perhaps due to a proselyte's disgust
felt for a forsaken cult. This possibly explains the au
thor's talk about the "humor" of Southern traits and
situations and his attitude as "business" intellectuel, — an
attitude not uncommon in "New England-educated"
Southemers living in New York.
4. Being out of sympathy with spiritual Southernism,
he fails to do justice to the social and institutional life
of the South.
5. His fundamental failure in part is due to a wrong
view of the negro question. Neither the "business" view
nor that of abstract humanitarianism, nor a combination
of both, will ever enable anyone to understand the
Southern white man's attitude toward the negro.
After sending my opinion of the book to the publishers
I heard rumors to the effect that the real writer of the
novel was a man who had the public ear to quite a degree.
I could but regret the ostensible author's failure to under
stand both the plain people of the South and their old
leaders, and still hope that, whoever he may be, the real
author will yet disavow sympathy with the sad misun-

152 mace Dctbodojp in tbe ^outb
derstanding of the South on the part of "Nicholas
Worth." I shall not discuss the ethics of anonymity in this par
ticular case. The reputed author, Mr. Walter Hines
Page, has not disavowed his responsibility for the book.
It therefore challenges attention on account of its alleged
representativeness and because the author is generally
supposed to be the American ambassador to Great Brit
ain. The real author's conscious attitude may be entirely
commendable : I assume it to be so. But my contention
is with Nicholas Worth, who assumes to set forth the
true inwardness of the Southern situation.
As a Southerner, — ^who is all the more an American
because he is a Southerner, — ^I feel free to make this
review count for the advancement of a large cause that
all good men should wish to further, a proper under
standing of the South and the negro question; hence, if
for no other reason, I desire to keep clear of even the
appearance of sectional rancor and self-conscious "smart"
criticism. Moreover, personally I am unprogressive
enough to hold fast to faith in the amenities of criticism
and the courtesies of debate.

II
The story runs somewhat as follows:
Nicholas Worth III is ten years of age when the tide
of civil war begins to be felt at Milworth, a little cotton-
mill town in North Carolina. His father and his grand
father are Union men.
Nicholas recounts various experiences of his boyhood :
the camp meeting, where the old "h3Tnn-h'ister" is said

''^'be ^outberner" 153
to have "bawled along the corduroy tune," seeing "a vis
ion of the wicked burning in Hell," whereat "he rejoiced,
and he quickened his pace somewhat, for he had intima
tions of the ecstasy that was to overcome him an hour
later" ; and where the Reverend Mr. Babb selected as his
text a "sulphurous sentence," after which he "preached
and spat himself into a spasm," etc. ; the Ku Klux Klan ;
the private school "for the flower of the South," wherein
Nicholas fought a boy who insulted him because the
father of Nicholas was not a colonel, and where he played
"the game of Mathematics, Latin, and the Honour of a
Gentleman — not a bad game for youth whether in that
cloistered school or in the world." (p. 53.) One scene of
these boyhood days pictures the frantic conduct of Con
federate veterans as they ecstatically kiss a bust of Stone
wall Jackson that had been unveiled. Later Worth un
dergoes "effervescence of spirit" when he enters a de^
nominational college.
The next step is Harvard University, where our hero
finds his true "intellectual home," unfavorably contrasts
Adelaide Cooley, of "orderly mind" but guiltless of emo
tions, with his "slow" and "restful" Cousin Margaret,
who figures as the typical Southern girl. Nicholas has
fun with Northern misconceptions of Uncle Remus and
the like; "exchanges confidences" with a colored stu
dent in regard to a lecturer's "Bostonian intonations";
gives a capital illustration of the fatuous lionizing of a
negro student, and thinks he finds his religious doubts
settled on a basis free from the Methodist-Baptist-Pres
byterian-Episcopalian conservatism. After graduation
he is offered a place as teacher in Harvard, but decides
to go back to his "own" people, despite his intellectual
preference for the frank and free North.
In Marlborough, his state's capital, — which he charac-

154 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ®outb
terizes as the "dullest settlement of English-speaking
people" on the face of the earth, — he meets Professor
"Billy" Bain, who is an advanced exponent of industrial
and home-making education. They become great friends
right away on account of their mutual desire to vitalize
Southern education; but Cousin Margaret closes chapter
ten with her plaintive refrain, to be repeated in substance
at the end of several other chapters : "Dear Cousin, you
have lived away from us so long that you may forget
our own people. You won't, will you?"
The school at "Energetic Edinboro" is given to
Nicholas. He applies Professor Billy's practical prin
ciples (rather than Harvard's), and as superintendent
works for both the white and the negro schools. Here
his troubles begin. He gets a principal for the negro
school, "Professor" Marshall, from Hampton, after
vainly trying to obtain one from the negro college man
aged by the white Snodders, — Northerners that "grov
eled in martyrdom," "neglected and tactless foreigners
in a strange land."
Worth's version of Southern life, as expressed by Cap
tain Bob, the Republican boss, is characteristic of the
book : "We are born and baptized and grow up and live
and eat and think and vote and swear and drink and go
to hell — all by formulas. You've got to keep to the right
formula." But Nicholas tries to live up to the spirit of
his grandfather, who used to say to him, "Widen your
horizon." Consequently Nicholas eschews narrow things, and
therefore declines to make a speech on Jefferson Davis.
He says to himself: That way lies ruinous limitation!
Indeed, seeing Margaret the center of wild Confederate
enthusiasm, he resolves to save her from the "shame."
(i6i.) Margaret, however, alienates him still more by

''^bt ^outberner" 155
saving some Confederate relics from the burning of St.
Peter's Church, barely escaping with her life. The lack
of "patriotic" sympathy between the young people be
comes manifest. And, — though Margaret's soft remon
strances are heard for a few times, and though she
praises him warmly for his educational activity, — she
drops out of the story, to give place to the English-
educated Louise Caldwell, who is "advanced" in her
views of patriotism, and keeps away from the "senti
mental" Daughters of the Confederacy and the "beg
garly" Confederate Veterans. (182.)
Election time grows near. Colonel Stringweather has
Thomas Carter Warren nominated. Warren is engaged
to Nicholas Worth's sister Barbara, but she breaks the
engagement when she sees that a little mulatto girl,
Lissa's child, is the living image of Tom Warren, and
finds corroborating evidence of Tom's — indiscretion.
Warren is said to be a poor candidate because he "does
not see the absurdities of the ludicrous life all about
him." (187.)
The Education Club founded by Bain and Worth, find
ing that the Democratic bosses will not champion the
club's projected educational reforms, decides to organ
ize a bolt and to have their own man put up for state
superintendent of education in place of a "broken-down
Baptist minister," who had been nominated by the Demo
crats. Nicholas is chosen as Independent candidate, and
is "endorsed" by the Populist-Republican coalition.
At first he finds it hard to reach the people in his
canvass. Negroes form the greater part of his audience,
and Worth is belabored by the Democratic organ, — The
White Man. All sorts of charges, — social equality with
the negroes, sleeping in negro houses, etc., — are urged
against him. It is insinuated that Lissa's daughter owes

156 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
paternity to him. But at length Warren compels his
managers to drop their scurrilous tactics by avowing his
own responsibility for the mulatto child.
In his campaign Worth insists on fairness as to negro
suffrage, and tells the negro that the white, man has "got
to" give him education, etc. To his white associates he
insists that there is no negro problem, but that it is
simply a "social and industrial condition." (P. 52.) His
canvass seems to be succeeding, when a catastrophe oc
curs in the killing of Colonel Stringweather by a negro.
This occurrence strengthens the prejudice against
Worth's "too much nigger" candidacy.
When election day is over Worth's friends believe that
he has been elected, but claim that the election has been
turned against him through intimidation and fraud, be
cause men of the Democratic party feel justified in doing
anything to defeat a man who had sat at table with
negroes at Harvard, and who, they alleged, wished to
give negroes such treatment as would soon make them
think themselves on an equality with white people.
Writes Nicholas : "One paper published this inquiry ad
dressed to me in 'sorrowful emphasis' : 'Would you
marry your daughter to a nigger ?' and it added : 'Until
the gentleman answers that test question we need not
pay more attention to what he says.' " The death of
Stringweather and a race riot on election day had of
course been attributed to Worth's activity on behalf of
negro rights and privileges.
Having resigned his professorship because of his can
didacy. Worth is at first inclined to consider the promise
of some of his friends the enemy to get a consulship in
Greece for him, but his brother Charles and his friend,
young Caldwell, persuade him that the Democrats are
simply trying to get him out of the country. He there-

''€^bt ^outberner" 157
fore decides to remain, write the history of his common
wealth, and become a "builder" of the society that is to
come. Nicholas finds it hard to write history with his fond
mother near to interrupt him, and at times he has serious
doubts whether or not he can remain in a land where
there must be "silence on subjects of serious concern."
Nevertheless, his decision to stay remains unaltered.
Being invited to Boston, he delivers an address and
some conversational speeches in which he advocates
building Southern education on cotton; accuses North
erners of a certain type of "drawing the color line" ; ex
presses his desire to escape the shadow "Southerner,"
and so on. After enlightening Northern audiences and
individuals in this way he goes South in haste to find
his sweetheart, Louise Caldwell, whose freedom from
sentimental Southern patriotism enables her easily to
take the place of "willing" Margaret in Worth's emanci
pated heart.
The last significant episode of the novel is the descrip
tion of an interview between Nicholas and Lissa's daugh
ter, who had been educated North by her father, had
passed for a white girl, had married a white captain of
industry at Pittsburgh, and had now come South to
visit the scenes of her childhood.
The book closes with indications that Nicholas Worth
IV is a chip of the old block and will devote himself to
the "uplift" of the people of his state.

Ill
The book is primarily a tract for the times, only
secondarily a novel. Hence we need spend no time on

158 mace £DrtbodO£? in tbt ^outb
literary criticism. The candid reviewer, however, will
gladly admit that the author has given us some vivid
touches of felicitous description and genial humor,
despite the generally sarcastic sermons and rather forced
and somber hopefulness of the story.
In trying to get at the "message" of the book we are
helped by this peculiarity that marks it : the author evi
dently regards traditional Southernism as a sort of social
disease. Since Nicholas Worth so interprets the South
ern situation, I propose that we take up the case in de
tail, first considering the symptoms, and then passing on
to diagnosis, causation, prognosis, and treatment.
First of all, let us notice the religious symptoms.
Worth seems to hold that the close association of religion
with education, the narrow and striving denominational-
ism, the over-great prayerfulness ("It seemed ill-bred
not to pray." — p. 65), the tendency to suppress honest
doubt, the Sabbatarianism ("no train ran ... on the
Sabbath, — not so long as the firm of Suggs and Babb
did business for the Lord." p. 410), are symptoms of
bad circulation of intellectual blood. However, his pic
tures of Southern religion are not typical, so far as my
experience goes. Making "Christian character" the aim
of education may be claimed as a Southern symptom;
but that is not universally regarded by the world, — in
England, for instance, — ^as in any sense a "retarded"
piece of mentality.
During the 'seventies in South Carolina "sulphurous
sermons" were so uncommon that we boys used to watch
out for them with interest : we called them "H. and D.
[Hell and Damnation] sermons." In our section relig
ion was not characteristically terrifying; ministers were
not hypocrites like Worth's spiritual guides, Babb and

''^bt ^outberner" 159
Suggs. Granting that the South tried to conserve the "old
time religion," we may note that even German Biblical
criticism is becoming more conservative ! The evangeli
cal religious conservatism of the South, though in part
a sign of slow development, is partly temperamental ; but
it may yet serve a useful purpose in slowing down the
speed of an overhasty liberalism that threatens to throw
out the baby with the bath water. Nor is it absolutely
necessary that Southern religion should follow exactly
the New England lines of development. Perhaps we pre
fer Old England lines with American improvements.
Next we look into the "patriotic" S)miptoms of South
ernism. Surely Worth cannot tell us, — tell us, who
know, — that the scene of the kissing of Jackson's effigy
was a common thing in the South. But, suppose it had
been; should temperamental Southern emotionalism be
judged by Professor Worth's analytic intellectualism ?
Besides, I have heard distinguished Northern visitors
say that they wished they could see the same enthusiasm
at reunions of Northern soldiers as they witness during
the gathering of Confederate veterans. Even though a
supposed student of social character may not be "intel
lectually at home" in the South as he is in Boston, I call
upon our author as one who would write for the world
not to paint Southern scenes as "symptoms" of disorder,
when they are really a part of that Southern "openness"
and "closeness to the soil" that he professes to admire.
Would he have Southern sentiment take on the dry rot
of intellectual aloofness?
The apparent political symptoms are more serious.
Worth seems to wish to give the impression that certain
tricks of the political trade are peculiar to the South.
Are all the repressions and suppressions Southern?

i6o mace ajrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
Have there been no "zones of silence" with regard to the
true inwardness of the tariff, the trusts, the financial
system and the like ? Is our "Southerner" sure that even
a small percentage of the "colonels" were hypocrites,
and that they did not believe what they said with regard
to "social equality," "negro competition," and so forth?
The "colonels" were often leaders at the South because
of their training in public affairs, their social position,
and the like. If Worth claims that certain kinds of
"politics" are a disease, I agree with him. But we
Southerners have a right to our own peculiar form of the
disease without having our leaders specially stigmatized
as "insincere" and "hypocritical."
I pass over such alleged symptoms as the "oratorical
habit." Fashions change in oratory as in other things.
Southern college boys of to-day do not often "orate" in
the set terms of their fathers. Southerners will always
be orators, let us hope ; that is one of their talents. The
oratory of the political stump is not, I assert, half so
bad as the hypocrisies of secret coteries and committees
in high places remote from the public gaze. "Zones of
silence" are to be deprecated in a democracy, but let us
push publicity all along the line, and not waste so much
time belaboring the "oratorical habit," which will doubt
less become less blatant and more insidious as the "higher
civilization" of which Nicholas Worth is a prophet per
meates the South.
In describing Southern women Worth conveys the
impression that they are characteristically languorous
and helpless beings. If they were, that condition would
be a transient symptom, due to historical and climatic
causes, not a disease of character. Worth knows, of
course, or should know, that helpless types have always

''^bt ^outberner" i6i
been exceptions, and that Southern women have risen to
every occasion that they have had to face.
When we come to the racial complex of symptoms the
pathologic taint appears. Indeed, whenever religion and
politics touch racial issues the one seems to forget the
universality of the gospel message and the other is silent
about the equal rights of man, "no taxation without rep
resentation," and the other democratic doctrines of the
fathers. Although "Nicholas Worth" seems to look askance
on sentiment in love and patriotism, and shows esthetic
disgust at such terms as "beauty" and "chivalry" and all
rotund oratorical utterances, even he must agree with us
that race-hatred, the cry "This is a white man's coun
try," the fear of "negro domination," the dread of the
assumption of "social equality" by the negroes, are the
real symptoms of a deep-lying trouble. Why all this
"praeternatural suspicion" (as Carlyle would call it) ?
Why this seeming anesthesia with regard to intellectual
and political freedom for all men and this hyperesthesia
with regard to anything that even remotely touches the
negro ? I cannot agree with one of the characters in the
story that "nobody cares a damn about the nigger," be
cause the whole mentality of the Southern whites, — con
sciousness, subconsciousness, and "superconsciousness,"
— necessarily is full of racial anxiety (angst). Here is
the "psychopathic complex" that disturbs Southern life.
Perhaps we should now attempt a diagnosis of such
"Southernism" as is held to be pathological, guided by
our knowledge of the crucial symptoms. "Professional"
Southernism is simply one type of attack. When a poli
tician talks of the "maudlin craze for education" he is,
consciously or unconsciously, thinking of negro "higher"
education. All the apparent limitations of democracy

1 62 mace flDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
and of Christianity in the South are connected with the
"nigger" complex of symptoms one way or another.
I judge that Worth has attempted a partial diagnosis
from the following statements of his: ghosts of dead
commanders [hallucinations of the spiritual eye ?] ; rigid
orthodoxy of formulas [cataleptic condition?] ; zones of
silence with regard to religion and politics, etc. [hysteric
zones of anesthesia?] ; negro-in- America form of insan
ity [monomaniacal anxiety ?] ; all history a perversion
or a suppression [suppressed complexes of thought and
feeling that the patient is unwilling to face?] ; fear on
one subject [anxiety complex?]; double life [a false,
"split-off" personality of hysteria?] ; etc. Now, I think
that Worth on the whole is disposed to diagnosticate the
case as one of hysteria. Let us be careful, though. The
line between social health and social disease is hard to
draw, and social hysteria is an obscure, protean thing
that requires careful investigation. Some of the freak
ish conduct of the patient ("Professional" Southernism)
evidently makes our author suspect a guileful form of
professional hysteria. It is said that Charcot had some
patients of that kind in Paris.
On the whole, I am inclined to think that the case is
one of incipient hysteria. "Nicholas Worth" would ad
mit that much, and would perhaps go much further. He
would agree, I hope, that there is nothing deeply wrong
with the patient's nervous system, but that the trouble is
one of stress and strain of life. Indeed, he calls it "de
fensive," and that term is one much associated with
hysteria by many savants of the day. A defensive re
action ! Well, perhaps we had better now go on to study
the cause of the trouble, — the etiology of the case.
The author's list of causes : "error of slavery" ; "crime
of secession" [Grandfather Worth] ; "mediaevalism" ;

''€^bt ^outberner" 163
"poverty" ; "forced emigration" of "strong men" from
the South; "killing" of the "working habits" by slavery;
"rule of the dead"; the "old false position," — all these
would be but secondary causes if they all existed. Worth
incidentally has mentioned the true causes, — "dormant
race-hatred," "people fear what they do not know";
"three hundred tragedies" [mulattoes in an audience] ;
the mulatto woman who "passed as white." The South
is suffering from the threat of a divided personality, a
form of hysteria in which a diseased self, — accompanied
by a group of symptoms that the patient will not or
dares not face, — tends to usurp the place of the true
personality. The abnormal, freakish self unconsciously
disguises the real cause of its own appearance. So in
the South the true self is democratic and Christian and
humanitarian; but emotional race politics sometimes
causes the onlooker to mistake the race-hatred simula
crum of the South for the real Southern personality.
A fear of "amalgamation" due to instinctive aware
ness of the terrible power of easily aroused and easily
satisfied sex passion often masquerades as a belief in
Anglo-Saxon civilization, or in some other "institution"
that needs to be "preserved." But Southern men know,
— and the mulatto tragedies testify to this knowledge, —
that esthetic dislike of race-mixture has not defended
race purity in the South; and they believe that race-
prejudice, — aye, even race-hatred, — does tend to offer an
adequate defense. Truly, some of the worst white of
fenders against racial purity are most savage against the
negroes. Lust easily becomes transformed into hate.
But most Southerners see the danger in the negro situa
tion. They believe that legitimation of sexual relations
between races would set free the flood of mongrelism;
hence they guard all possible approaches toward any
sort of social recognition of the negro. Mixed marriages

1 64 mace SDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
occur in the North. Light mulattoes "lose" themselves
in the white population from time to time. Most North
erners seem disinclined to recognize the representative
ness of a race, but incline toward treating high-grade
negroes as individuals only. These are a few of the
aspects of the racial situation. Only a full study can
do them justice.
Southern women, too, know the danger threatening
white men and youths, as this story testifies. Refined,
upright Southern gentlemen may utterly disavow sub
conscious dread of "amalgamation" so far as they them
selves are concerned; but they admit the danger for
growing youth and many adult men. When two races
are thrown together the natural consequence is either
race mixture or race antagonism. It is a general belief
in the South that increase of race antagonism has caused
decrease of race mixture.
I have said that the true self of the Southern white
man is democratic and humanitarian, — believing in the
rights of man and in the brotherhood of the spiritual life.
Yet, in spite of himself, feeling obscurely that all the
rights of man are as organically related as are the parts of
the body, the Southern white man instinctively strives to
keep the negro away from the assumption of any rights
and privileges that might ultimately imply social ming
ling and consequent racial mixture. He hopes at least to
insulate vice as much as possible. History shows that
race problems are solved by race mixture. Experience
suggests that all human rights are ultimately social, and
are based institutionally on the home. The white man
does not wish to disavow his Christianity and his democ
racy; but he feels that there are great instinctive forces
at work against the purity of his race; he realizes the
necessity of his apparent inconsistency; he cannot get

''€^bt ^outberner" 165
the world to understand; he ends by elevating "white
supremacy" into a creed without being able to explain it
even to himself.
Now, I do not pretend to say that I have explained
the case. I am simply studying it, and this is not the
place for a full treatment of the problem. But I do
want to insist upon this: the real cause of any patho
logical "Southemism" is an abnormal situation, wherein
a proud and highly endowed race finds itself on the same
territory with an amiable, dependent, and, perhaps, prom
ising people, — who nevertheless cannot be assimilated;
for the simple reason that human beings have bodies as
well as souls, and all true assimilation is ultimately based
on intermarriage. Without biological mixture there is
friction, antagonism, dominance of one race over the
other. Science does not seem to advise the mingling of
two such races. Even if it did, the Teutonic peoples do
not believe in such mixture.
So there is unconscious conflict in the white man's
attitude. He cannot square his racial orthodoxy with his
democratic and Christian faith. Those of us who are
sympathetically and yet scientifically studying the negro
and ourselves hope to show the world the insistent need
of relieving the white man from his burden of defensive
inconsistency. Let him that doubts the marvelous and
insidious power of sexual proximity, free from esthetic
dislike and free from race prejudice, — let him, I say,
study the recent development of sex psychology, and he
will see the unnaturalness of putting two civilizations
parallel to each other without expecting them to meet in
fusion or in conflict. And Southerners know, from con
versations with Northern leaders, that many of the latter
fully expect the race problem to be ultimately settled by
means of race mixture. Hence Southern opposition to

1 66 mace fl>rtbodojp in tbe ^outb
Northern efforts in behalf of the negro. Much of it
seems cruelly unfair. But anxiety studies neither logic
nor ethics.
What of the prognosis of this distressing social trou
ble? "Nicholas Worth" seems to think that the dying
out of the "colonels" will settle things. Look around
and behold the successors of the "colonels." They make
a much defter use of the race problem than the "colo
nels" ever did. The veteran politicians of reconstruction
times had urgent need to free their section from misrule
and to keep it freed; the newer political leaders are
steadily intent on making the negro realize that he can
never be a real citizen. Nicholas Worth had better call
back the colonels !
The author of "The Southerner" assumes that the
races will always live together. If the cause of the
trouble is what Senator John Sharp Williams calls the
"physical presence of the negro," is not Mr. Worth tak
ing a hopeless view of the future? Even now senators
are elected pledged to work for the striking out or the
profound modification of the fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments. The supreme court of the land gives no
promise to the negro. Discrimination against him,
legally, economically, and in every other way, proceeds
apace. But Worth says that we must not expect too much,
and that we must take a far look ahead. Granted : but
we must study the forces in operation and ask whither
they are leading. The American ideal is invincible and
things must come out right. If the cause of the trouble,
however, is in the white man's mind, no prognosis of
this case will be satisfactory that does not deal with that
"symptom." Worth assures us that he was silent toward his mother

''€^bt ^outberner" 167
with regard to matters that would pain her if they were
discussed. Unless he will help us to remedy our real
trouble in some way that will reach the ultimate cause, it
would be better for him to refrain from setting forth
sarcasms as a basis for a brilliant "cotton" civilization
in the motherland that produced him.
The South sees no vision pointed out by a prophet
who does not love her from the heart.
My prognosis is this : So far as I can see, the future
holds no really permanent hope, no matter how much
educational and material advancement is made, unless
something can be done to remove the deep anxiety of the
Southem white man, which is due to the presence of a
"split-off" self, the defensive self of race prejudice.
Will Worth's treatment affect that? Let us see.
Intellectual emancipation, religious toleration and lib
erality, shaking off the fetters of provincialism, getting
rid of worn-out formulas and so on, — all these things
are coming to pass, even where the influence of Harvard
is not very evident. The Southern whites are giving the
negro his dole and are allowing Northerners to spend
money on him. The great agencies for the distribution
of money for education are learning to let the Southem
ers spend it in their own way. These agencies are learn
ing, too, to discriminate between the exploiting South
erners on the one hand, who coyly welcome all "Yankee"
money for the suffering South, and the elect Southerners,
on the other hand, who despise soft-soaping ways as
much as they abhor fire-eating. In other words, the
South, like the rest of the world, is treating herself to
the newer education, and welcomes all help that is
straightforward and kindly, and neither grudging nor
condescending. But does Nicholas Worth think that negroes are ap-

1 68 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
preciably nearer equal rights, say the suffrage, than they
were twenty years ago? Does he imagine that "rebel
lion" against the "generals" and the "colonels" is worth
talking about? Does he find the youth of the South
showing a disposition to treat whites and blacks as "a
people" rather than as two races ? Does he find that the
ten thousand young white men who have been studying
the race question under the guidance of Professor Weath-
erford are likely to advocate the negro's right to the
suffrage, or that they realize that they have "got to
[p. 243] do more for the negro"? Worth's recipe of
education is all right. All social doctors are prescrib
ing it.
But some of us do not wish to base all our education
on cotton. We want Southern education, industrial and
other, to continue to be as varied and as free as any
other education on earth. We intend to stand not one
pace behind the chiefest of states and peoples. We will
hold our place in the world's work and in the world's
progress. And if the negro is in our way, and is the cause of
all our trouble, we will relieve the situation as best we
can; first, for our own sake (for even Reformer Worth
must realize that the world knows that the white people
are the more important part of the Southern popula
tion) ; and secondly, for the sake of the negro.
We need more wide-visioned, practical men down
South, and we are growing them. In fact, the process
has never stopped, though circumstances retarded us for
a time. But Worth and his kind must not prescribe for
us contempt for Confederate Veterans; for the "senti
mental" South; for the Daughters of the Confederacy;
for oratory; for Christian education; for noble women,
and for chivalrous men. Such a prescription may not be

''Wbt Soutberner" 169
too bitter (Professor Nicholas disclaims bitterness) ; but
it is too sour !
Even a sour prescription may not be amiss at times
for some persons; but the "sensitive" South declines to
take corrosive acid. The proper tonic treatment of the
South's ills is the scientific study of the negro question
by men that are duly qualified and who are trusted by
the Southern people. Perhaps the greatest danger in the
treatment of Southern troubles is not the old slogans,
but rather such deadly formulas as these : "There is no
race question"; "The question will settle itself"; "We
must leave it all to Providence" ; "The American people
are not ready to study the race question"; "The study
will disturb economic conditions" ; "You can't study race-
prejudice scientifically"; "Things are getting better";
"Look at the progress of the South, — or the negro";
"Christianity will solve the race problem"; "Education
will solve the race problem," and so forth. These are
now the formulas that threaten our undoing. We advo
cate publicity and scientific study of all other questions;
for how can we dissolve the "zones of silence" that sur
round the race question except by means of investiga
tion that has the motive of humanitarianism and the
method of science?

III. PHILANTHROPIC
"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" SIXTY YEARS AFTER
The hundredth anniversary of Mrs. Stowe's birth oc
curred on June 14, 191 2; the sixtieth anniversary of the
publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was in March, 1912.
As a student of the negro problem for ten years I sud
denly awoke to the fact that, though I had read all man
ner of treatises and some fiction connected with slavery
and racial questions, I had not read "Uncle Tom's
Cabin," a book often regarded as of epochal significance.
And why? Because I had associated the book with con
troversy and fierce passions, and had been brought up
to regard it as an exaggerated and unfair picture of
Southern conditions before the war between the sec
tions. It occurred to me, however, at this time, that I
must no longer neglect what seemed clearly a duty in
the case of one who was unwilling to pass over any
significant contribution to a better historical understand
ing of the difficult problem that I had been studying so
assiduously. So I overcame my repugnance to the book,
a dislike not so much to what I knew of the book as to
the unpleasant associations connected with it. I am
therefore here setting down the results of my analysis
of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" without expressing an opinion
on its literary form or of its influence on the world at
the time of its publication.
What value has the book for us to-day, and are the
issues raised in it vital for us at the present moment ?
170

"Qlttcle Com's Cabin" 171
I shall presuppose the reader's general acquaintance
with the story, but shall nevertheless so express my ana
lytical results that their bearing on the negro problem
of to-day need not be prejudiced by the reader's lack of
familiarity with the book. The page references are to
the Everyman's Library edition.
In order to clear the way for an appreciation of the
suggestive lessons of the book I shall begin with some
aspects of it that seem most open to criticism. One is
astonished to note how possible it is for an author to take
true incidents, to write from a dispassionate and hu
manitarian point of view, and yet to produce an im
pression that produced enthusiastic praise from one side
and fierce denunciation from the other. I think that we
may assume that both the praise and the denunciation
were sincere, that the authoress thought she was drawing
the thing as she saw, and believed that she saw it as it
was; and that the main message of her book may be
as useful for us sixty years after as it was on its first
publication to the opponents of slavery.

CRITICISM
We must be wary in our criticism of a book that has
been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish,
Dutch, Flemish, German, Polish, Magyar, Welsh, Ar
menian, Illyrian, Finnish, Modern Greek, and Portu
guese. And when a million copies of a book were sold
in a foreign country (England) in one year (1852), we
may well be careful how we judge harshly something
that has gained the suffrages of the human race. How
ever, 1852 and 1 912 are further apart in reality than
the sixty years would seem to indicate, and we may

172 mace jaDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
hope that our criticism will be practically free from
prejudice and emotional disturbance. Just because the
book was so popular and had so much influence on the
minds — and perhaps the muscles — of men, we must not
shirk our duty of impartially estimating its significance.
I. Untypical Incidents Treated as Typical. — This is,
of course, the stock criticism. That the authoress her
self meant the reader to regard even the extremest cases
of cruelty as being typical of slavery in the South, and
that she meant the darkest shadows in her picture to
hold the center of the reader's attention, may be judged
from the following quotation from her preface: "The
object of these sketches is to awaken sympathy and feel
ing for the African race, as they exist among us; to
show their wrongs' and sorrows, under a system so
necessarily cruel and unjust as to defeat and do away
the good effects of all that can be attempted for them,
by their best friends, under it. In doing this the author
can sincerely disclaim any invidious feeling toward those
individuals who, often without any fault of their own,
are involved in the trials and embarrassments of the
legal relations of slavery.
"Experience has shown that some of the noblest of
minds and hearts are often thus involved; and no one
knows better than they do that what may be gathered
of the evils of slavery from sketches like these is not
the half that could be told of the unspeakable whole.
"In the Northern states these representations may,
perhaps, be thought caricatures; in the Southern states
are witnesses who know their fidelity. What personal
knowledge the author has had of the truth of incidents
such as are here related will appear in due time." (xi. )
Thus the reader is led to feel that there is an "unspeak
able whole" that even the dramatic powers of a novel

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 173
cannot portray ; although there are "individuals" that are
"embarrassed" by the institution of slavery, the real
"witnesses" of the atrocities are in the South. I am
quite willing to believe that Mrs. Stowe believed every
thing she wrote in the above passage. Allow me, how
ever, to contrast the impression she strives to give of
the t3rpicality of her gruesome stories of slavery with one
of the true stories of my boyhood's traditions of things
that happened "before the war."
Dr.  hears a timid knocking at his office door.
When he opens for the supposed patient he finds a
cringing negro who asks for medical attention. The
doctor says: "What is the matter with you?" The
negro replies: "Ah's been w'ipped, mossa; Ah cain't
tek off my coat." After removing the poor creature's
clothes from his back the doctor finds the slave's back a
mass of cicatricized lacerations, layer upon layer. He
quickly ministers to the wretched creature, has him put
in the negro quarters of the physician's own home, and
calls a meeting of prominent slave-owners. The meet
ing appoints a committee to have the miscreant whipper
arrested and prosecuted with all possible rigor. This
man, however, finding out what degree of horror has been
aroused in the community (in the "low country" of
South Carolina), flees the country and is never heard of
again. It is natural that thousands of Southerners who
know Uttle of cases of atrocity such as those perpe
trated by Mrs. Stowe's Legree should feel that her pic
ture of the times of slavery has not been drawn true
to life. However, Mrs. Stowe wrote for the purpose
of arousing sympathy, and might well have replied that
those who painted pictures in the dim light of the pyra
mids of Egypt needed to make the colors bright and
garish. And yet, even now, the world needs to know.

174 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ^outb
sooner or later, that "Southern atrocities" of the times
of slavery were no more typical than the burnings of
negroes at the stake to-day. We do not judge a civiliza
tion by its perverts, its exceptional criminals, its occa
sional orgies of maddened mobs, and the like.
Says our author (p. 433) : "The separate incidents
that compose the narrative are to a very great extent
authentic, occurring, many of them, either under her own
observation or that of her personal friends." Even so;
but "separate incidents" may be very untypical, without
attention being called to the fact. In spite of this, how
ever, it is true that slavery opened the door to all sorts
of atrocious possibilities, and surely Mrs. Stowe is to be
pardoned, especially when she is avowedly writing for
the purpose of arousing sympathy for the slaves, and
knows how hard it is to break through moral lethargy,
even if she had given samples of what might occur under
slavery as well as of what did occur. The analogous
remark might be made with regard to the status of the
negro in the South to-day. Even a very few lynchings
are symptomatic of a condition that ought not to be
allowed to obtain. Whatever the cause of savagery in
civilized communities, it ought to be investigated, and,
if possible, removed. It is not enough to hold up bru
tality and mob madness to reprehension, nor even to
make sure of convicting individual offenders: these
things are but symptoms of a trouble whose causes lie
deeper and the remedies for which may be correspond
ingly drastic. If one case of burning at the stake of
even the most demoniacal criminal occurred in England,
the whole British Empire would insist on something
more than the prosecution of the ring-leaders of a mob.
Hence the naive suggestion by an English paper re
cently that President Wilson should put a stop to lynch-

"GJncle Com's Cabin" 175
ings. Mrs. Stowe knew that the deep inward injustice
of a system often showed itself best in exceptional cases,
and hence she took the artist's privilege of making her
picture as effective for her purpose as possible. When
she is told that slavery is mild in Kentucky (p. i6) and
yet finds terrible cruelties perpetrated occasionally she is
hardly to be blamed for believing that worse things may
happen on the great cotton plantations of Mississippi.
If she knows a case of a refined white lady herself
using the whip on a negro in the enlightened city of
New Orleans, what must she infer as to what might
happen in the out-of-the-way places of the South? If
the weapons of oppression or the incitements to the un
checked display of temper are put into the hands of
human beings, it is safe to say that such persons will be
dehumanized to some extent, and that the public opinion
of the higher minds will not be able to leaven the lump
altogether. Nor must we overlook the fact that Mrs.
Stowe opposes the thoughtful St. Clare type to the callous
Haley tj^je, and that she depicts a humane Mrs. Shelby
as well as a weak and selfish Mrs. St. Clare. I think
that we are safe in saying that the book strives to point
out the terrible possibilities in slavery: and it succeeds
in doing that.
One mistake made by Mrs. Stowe needs mention be
cause it is still current, namely, that of confounding racial
with social relationships. She compares the escaping
slave George with a Hungarian patriot (p. 201), and
(p. 148) she contrasts the refined little white girl, Eva,
with the hoodlumesque little negro girl, the celebrated
Topsy. It is entirely allowable to sympathize with the
escaping slave; but his case is decidedly not like that
of the escaping patriot. Nor is the difference between
Topsy and Eva a merely social difference. Had Topsy

176 mace SDrtbodoip in tbe Soutb
been the refined child and Eva a little white savage, most
of the white people of earth would still prefer Eva. In
deed, just as a mother particularly cherishes her maimed
or otherwise afflicted child, so the average man of racial
conscience is inclined to stand up for his weak and worth
less brother. Racial representativeness is a very dif
ferent thing from difference of social status. No one
can come within shouting distance of the real negro
problem who does not appreciate this distinction. In
deed, almost everything critical that can be alleged
against "Uncle Tom's Cabin" springs from the failure
of its humanitarian authoress to sympathize with race
consciousness as such. To blame her for this failure
would be absurd. Only now are the people of the
North, through contact with the negro, beginning to
understand that the caste of the kin in the South is not
simply a difference of social or other accidental status,
but is based on the ultimate meaning of biological kin
ship, with its presupposition of intermarriage among the
racially akin and its taboo of amalgamation.
2. Offending Racial Sensibility. — 'The last remark
introduces us to another criticism of the story. When
(p. 143) a white child is represented as throwing her
arms around a little mulatto boy and kissing him the
possibility of strong Southern sympathy for the book is
done away with, even now. (Dne such passage speaks
eloquently for what is execrated at the South as the
encouragement of interracial "social equality," but
which, perhaps, had better be called the right of social
communion. It is a manifest absurdity to assert that
every white man, no matter how low he is, has neverthe
less an intrinsic value above that of every negro, no mat
ter how high his character is. But racial solidarity de
mands that the low white man should have a represen-

"Cancle Com's Cabin" 177
tative value quite apart from his intrinsic character ; and
every attempt so to portray the social communion be
tween whites and blacks as to confound this distinction
of representativeness is to alienate the Southern reader
from the book and the noble-hearted writer of it. We
are emphatically members one of another, and not the
least so in racial matters. Even in halcyon apostolic
days in the Christian church minor racial differences had
to be considered in social life, and the apostolic con
cordat did not prevent the Christian church from di
viding on national lines that were as nothing in com
parison with the racial differences between whites and
negroes. When the little Southern girl, Eva, is represented as
kissing her old black mammy (p. i68). Southerners
know that there is no implication of "social equality"
in the child's affection, if the representation be true to
life. Eva would have kissed her kitten or hugged the
Newfoundland dog with the same kind of "petting"
affection. But the real little Evas of the South would
not have tolerated any "equality" liberties on the part
of black mammies.
On page 114, where the "rich dark eye" of the mu
latto is spoken of, we have an instance of unintended
affront to the sensibilities of the South. No one doubts
the existence of beauty in races other than the white
race. But the little touch reveals the tendency on Mrs.
Stowe's part to adopt an abstract humanitarianism that
instinct tells the Southern white man will sooner or
later tend to break down all distinctions between the
races. There are some truths not to be told, some ap
preciations of beauty that are out of place, some ex
hibitions of goodness, even, that are impertinent under
certain circumstances. Fancy a mulatto reading about

178 mace fl>rtbod03Ep in tbe ^outb
the "beauty" of a Caucasian-African mixture! Then,
too, sad experience shows that there are types of white
men and women that are strongly attracted by what is
unusual in physical attractiveness; such expressions as
that to which I have referred have a subtle influence
that can lead to no good. If the mixed type occurs in
Central Africa, there may be no harm in telling of its
"beauty" — ^but so greatly do circumstances alter cases
that what on the surface seems to be liberal aesthetic
humanitarianism may be easily construed into racial dis
loyalty and a belief in amalgamation.
Some would say that these matters should not be
discussed. I think, however, that overmuch reticence
has already muddied the waters of the negro problem.
Mrs. Stowe herself would probably have abhorred the
idea of amalgamation : she evidently, as in "Uncle Tom's
Cabin" itself (preface and elsewhere), hopes to see the
negro colonized in Africa; nevertheless, in her abstract
human charity, she fails to command the sympathy of
those who would otherwise have appreciated such a noble
plea as this: "To you, generous, noble-minded men and
women of the South — you whose virtue and magnanim
ity and purity of character are the greater for the severer
trial it has encountered — to you is her (the author's)
appeal. Have you not, in your own secret souls, in your
own private conversings, felt that there are woes and
evils in this accursed system far beyond what are here
shadowed, or can be shadowed? Can it be otherwise?
Is man ever a creature to be trusted with wholly irre
sponsible power? And does not the slave system, by
denying the slave all legal right of testimony, make every
individual owner an irresponsible despot ? Can anybody
fail to make the inference what the practical result will
be? If there is, as we admit, a public sentiment among

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 179
you, men of honor, justice and humanity, is there not
also another kind of public sentiment among the ruffian,
the brutal and debased ? And cannot the ruffian, the bru
tal, the debased, by slave law, own just as many slaves
as the best and purest? Are the honorable, the just,
the high-minded and compassionate the majority any
where in this world?"
3. Idealization of the Negro. — Necessarily the book
makes the most of the negro's supposedly more attrac
tive traits. However much we may want to see justice
done to human beings, our sympathies are hard to arouse
unless the victims of a bad system have some heroic or
some amiable characteristics. Nor would we for a mo
ment assert that negroes now or during the times of
slavery are to be regarded as destitute of such traits.
But it is hard for us nowadays to think of the "gentle
domestic heart" as a primary trait of the average negro
(99). Their "instinctive affections" (loi) may be strong,
but one of the contemporary criticisms of the negro is
the facility with which many of the race seem to neglect
their own "flesh and blood" kinsfolk. It is hard to
believe that so many negroes of roving disposition and
feeble affection for home should be the descendants of
a race whose love of family life was so "peculiarly
strong" (101). Perhaps the degeneration of to-day
may be due to powerful causes that did not operate
under slavery, or did slavery rather suddenly succeed
in suppressing the negro's evil tendencies? The same
kind of criticism may be passed on the ascription to the
negro (as a race) of love of beauty (183), talent for
cooking (209), religious docility (391). Some of these
supposed traits we shall discuss in another section: it
is enough here to say that it is unlikely that Mrs. Stowe's
knowledge of negro character was large enough to jus-

i8o mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
tify her characterization of the negroes in these re
spects. We must remember, however, with respect to
her tentative prophecy (183) that the negro will pro
duce new arts, etc., she is careful to say "perhaps,"
and even then she locates this flowering of the negro
race in Africa, where "the negro race, no longer des
pised and trodden down, will, perhaps, show forth some
of the latest and most magnificent revelations of human
life." Would Mrs. Stowe be able to write such words
to-day? I doubt it: I am inclined to think that her
optimistic glow would tone down into a prophecy nearer
akin to the Booker Washington industrial, money-mak
ing kind of negro heaven.
But listen to this further prophecy, which now sounds
pathetic: "Certainly they will (succeed), in their gentle
ness, their lowly docility of heart, their aptitude to
repose on a superior mind and rest on a higher power,
their childlike simplicity of affection and facility of
forgiveness. In all these they will exhibit the highest
form of the peculiarly Christian life, and, perhaps, as
God chasteneth whom He loveth. He hath chosen poor
Africa in the furnace of affliction, to make her the high
est and noblest in that kingdom which He will set up
when every other kingdom has been tried and failed:
for the first shall be last, and the last first." "Perhaps"
all this will happen in Africa, when the negroes have
come to their own: if there is the slightest chance for
such a development the lingering of the negro in this
land of the free and home of the brave seems to be a
direful tragedy, for I for one can see no sign of this
peculiarly Christian character developing in any con
siderable section of the Southern negroes. "Perhaps"
the American negroes will do better in Africa than they

"ancle Com's Cabin" i8i
are doing here, and much better than the "civilized"
native African Christians.
One thing, however, about Mrs. Stowe's pathetic hopes
we must sympathize with : her belief in the possibilities
of human nature. Japan was regarded not very long
ago as destined to take a rather humble rank among the
nations, and no one dreamed even ten years ago that
China would become a republic. Those cocksure indi
viduals who condemn the negro race to perpetual servile
spiritual tutelage are further from the truth, "perhaps,"
than the idealistic authoress of "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Let us, at any rate, rejoice in Mrs. Stowe's moral hope
fulness, and realize that her idealization of the negro,
her failure to understand racial solidarity, her wrong per
spective with regard to the actual working of slavery in
the South, were inevitable under the circumstances, as
inevitable as was the resentment that her negrophilism
kindled in the South. We shall never get far in any sort
of study of the negro question until we realize that
charity means clarity when its tolerance is discriminating
rather than merely sentimental.

THE POINT OF VIEW
Northern vs. Southem. — Mrs. Stowe's notable ef
fort to be fair, as seen in her portrayal of the attitudes
of St. Clare, the Southern slave-owner, and Miss Ophe-
Ua, the Northern philanthropist, has not received the
credit due it. And the gist of this contrast is in principle
as true to-day as it was sixty years ago. Let us con
sider several instances of where the Southern attitude
is contrasted with the Northern.
(i.) Miss Ophelia : "I think you slaveholders have an

1 82 mace Dttbodoip in tbe ®outb
awful responsibility upon you. I wouldn't have it for a
thousand worlds. You ought to educate your slaves
and treat them like reasonable creatures that you've got
to stand before the bar of God with. That's my mind."
St. Clare : "Oh, come, come ! What do you know about
us? . . . Well, now, cousin, you've given us a good
talk, and done your duty ; on the whole, I think the better
of you for it. I make no manner of doubt that you
threw a very diamond of truth at me, though you see it
hit me so directly in the face that it wasn't exactly ap
preciated at first." (P. i8o.)
Even so to-day, when Southerners wince because of
being hit with "diamonds of truth," it is not surprising
that the rankling pain prevents due appreciation of the
diamond's beauty. When Northerners come South, enter
fully into the difficulties of the situation, do nothing to
encourage social communion between the races, sympa
thize with the white man's view of the representative
ness of race, realize the danger of putting whites and
blacks into competition with one another; but neverthe
less treats the negroes as if they were reasonable souls
and immortal creatures, and strives to have them edu
cated in a way that will not unduly complicate an already
intricate situation; — then the diamonds of truth will
sparkle peacefully before the eyes of the South, and
resentment on the part of the better classes, at least,
will be conspicuously lacking. Whenever even the most
radical Southerners can come to see that the "enlight
ened" treatment of the negroes will not have the effect
of putting aside the Southern contention for the repre
sentative superiority in status of every white man over
every negro, opposition to negro education and the more
humane treatment of the colored race will cease. In my
paper on Education and Equality and elsewhere I dis-

"dncle Com's Cabin" 183
cuss some of the troublesome points in this connection.
(2) When Miss Ophelia discovers Eva perched on
Uncle Tom's knee and hanging a garland of flowers
around his neck, she exclaims in horror : "How can you
let her? ... it seems so dreadful!" St. Clare says:
"You would think no harm in a child's caressing a large
dog, even if he was black ; but a creature that can think,
and reason, and feel, and is immortal, you shudder at:
confess it, cousin. I know the feeling among some of
you Northerners well enough. Not that there is a par
ticle of virtue in our not having it; but custom with us
does what Christianity ought to do — obliterates the feel
ing of personal prejudice. I have often noticed, in my
travels North, how much stronger this was with you than
with us. You loathe them as you would a snake or a
toad, yet you are indignant at their wrongs. You would
not have them abused, but you don't want to have any
thing to do with them yourselves. You would send them
to Africa, out of your sight and smell, and then send a
missionary or two to do up all the self-denial of elevat
ing them compendiously." (Pp. 181-2.)
Is this passage out of date now, has it lost its truth —
and its sting? Can forced and unnatural righteousness
in the abstract ever be appreciated by its — victims ? And
yet has not this very lack of loathing felt toward the
negro's physical make-up caused dire consequences at
the South? Add to the Southerner's lack of aesthetic
prejudice against the negro a failure on the part of some
to adhere rigidly to the caste of the kin and the creed
of racial representativeness, what then would happen?
Nowadays Southerners, having less to do with negroes
and losing the old ties of domestic affection toward them,
are more and more coming to feel the average North
erner's distaste toward the physical proximity of negroes.

1 84 mace SDrtbodos? in tbt ^outb
On the other hand. Northern public opinion is saying
more and more, "The negro problem is a matter for the
South to settle: it is none of our business." Thus the
negro is in danger of losing both his abstract Northern
friends and his concrete Southern friends ! As a promi
nent student of the negro question put it to me : "We are
heartily tired of the negro question at the North." And
Southerners are constantly confessing their growing
aesthetic dislike of any sort of contact with the negro.
All of which is a thing to be thought about very seri
ously. (3) St. Clare: "What poor, mean trash this business
of human virtue is! A mere matter, for the most part,
of latitude and longitude and geographical position, act
ing with natural temperament. The greater part is noth
ing but an accident. Your father, for example, settles
in Vermont, in a town where all are, in fact, free and
equal; becomes a regular church member and deacon,
and in due time joins an Abolitionist society and thinks
us all little better than heathens. Yet he is, for all the
world, in constitution and habit, a duplicate of my father.
I can see it leaking out in fifty different ways — just that
same strong, overbearing, dominant spirit. You know
very well how impossible it is to persuade some of the
folks in your village that Squire Sinclair does not feel
above them. The fact is, though he has fallen on demo
cratic times and embraced a democratic theory, he is to
the heart an aristocrat, as much as my father, who ruled
over five or six hundred slaves. . . . Now I know every
word you are going to say. I do not say they were alike
in fact. One fell into a condition where everything
acted against the natural tendency, and the other where
everything acted for it; and so one turned out a pretty
wilful, stout, overbearing old democrat, and the other a

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 185
wilful, stout old despot. If both had owned planta
tions in Louisiana, they would have been as like as two
old bullets cast in the same mold!"
Even in the matter of just treatment of the negro
before the law, the country is beginning to find that in
spite of better facilities for protecting negroes at the
North, and in spite of the tradition for treating them
fairly. Northern officers of the law are sometimes unable
or unwilling to protect negroes from mob violence. And
Northern discrimination against negroes with regard to
public utilities and the like is showing a "Southem"
spirit; while labor union discrimination is far worse at
the North. Then, too, it is notorious how violent many
Northerners become in their feelings toward the negro
race when their residence in the South brings them into
contact with the race whose "rights" they have been
taught to respect. St. Clare himself brings out this idea
strongly (314-5). Southerners can now say to the
people of the North what St. Clare said to Miss Ophe
lia:. "We are the more obvious oppressors of the negro;
but the unchristian prejudice of the North is an oppres
sor almost equally severe." According to certain negro
leaders, the Northern "economic" oppression bears even
more heavily on the negro, especially when accompanied
with actual social "discrimination," than does the South
ern drawing of the "color line," which is a matter of
principle at the South.
Mrs. Stowe knew that "the magic of the real presence
of distress, the imploring human eye, the frail, trembling
human hand, the despairing appeal of helpless agony,"
work as truly on Southern as on Northern hearts, and
that a system of things which repressed such natural
feelings is a monstrosity though the people living under
such a system are not only far from being monsters.

1 86 mace i)ttbodO£? in tbe ^outb
but at bottom may be better human beings than their
more fortunately situated critics.
Think to-day of the growing callousness of feeling
at the North with regard to the negro situation and
realize that practically nothing has been done for the
scientific and humanitarian study of the negro question ;
note that the country is drifting, with the eyes of the
spirit closely shut, thinking only of present profits, with
out even striving to look ahead and ask itself what the
outcome will be. Reflect that in the meanwhile there
is practical spiritual slavery still in our land. When
one thinks on these things, it is well to conclude this
section with Mrs. Stowe's indictment of the North:
"Do you say that the people of the free states have
nothing to do with it, and can do nothing? Would to
God this were true! But it is not true. The people of
the free states have defended, encouraged and partici
pated; and are more guilty for it before God than the
South, in that they have not the apology of education or
custom. If the mothers of the free states had felt as
they should in times past, the sons of the free states
would not have been the holders, and proverbially the
hardest masters, of slaves; the sons of the free states
would not have connived at the extension of slavery
in our national body; the sons of the free states would
not, as they do, trade the souls and bodies of men as an
equivalent of money in their mercantile dealings. There
are multitudes of slaves temporarily owned and sold
again by merchants in Northern cities; and shall the
whole guilt or obloquy of slavery fall only on the South ?"
Now slavery is gone from the land, and no one wants
it back ; but Northern "capital" is apparently not willing
to help have the Southern situation studied for fear that
conditions will be "unsettled," and talks as if the situa-

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 187
tion would "settle itself" — as if such questions ever did!
When conscientious men are willing to allow a tragic
moral problem to remain unstudied for fear that an
economic status might conceivably be interfered with,
they show forth the same sort of moral blindness as was
evinced by the Northern merchants that Mrs. Stowe
upbraided. When Southerners complacently declare that the
North has at last turned the negro question over to the
South, they forget that the problem is national even if
it were only Southern, and that the time has come for
the South to ask the cooperation of the whole world in
the study, at least, of what profoundly affects the funda
mental principles of enlightened mankind. If the South
is right in her view of the negro question, she should
want the whole world to know it; if conditions should
be changed in the interests of both whites and blacks,
the South should aid all those who wish to put an end
to whatever interferes with the economic, educational
and moral deevlopment of the South.
THE SOUTHERN WHITE MAN'S POINT OF
VIEW
It is doubtful whether anyone has ever classified con
cretely the differing viewpoints of the Southern whites
with respect to the negro as well as Mrs. Stowe has done
in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." I shall group into classes some
of the representative views. Of course such classifica
tions are only for the sake of convenience. The same
person may change from one point of view to another,
according to time, mood and occasion; besides this, all
such classifications overlap to a considerable extent. But
the important point is this : the main problem connected

1 88 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ^outb
with the negro remains to-day, in spite of the absence
of economic slavery; hence the views of the dominant
race, being ultimately due to the presence of the negro,
remain substantially what they were sixty years ago.
I. "The negro is a wild beast and needs to be tamed
so that he will show submissive docility in obeying man's
will." — Such is the thesis of the "Legree" type, not a
common one except when the mob spirit is aroused, or
when some negro "atrocity" makes the higher classes of
whites forget that the beast-spirit lurks in man as man
everywhere, and that the white race has its full allowance
of beastliness. Legree's brutality seems to have been due
largely to strong drink and an ignorant, badly balanced,
superstitious mind. He is practically the only real rep
resentative of his type in the book.
2. "The negro is human, but is a species of man so
different from the whites that he must not be treated
as possessed of full human rights, for they mean nothing
to him." — Haley and his friends represent this type.
Here are some of its utterances, which one can hear to
day on all sides: "Honest as niggers go. . . ." (lo.)
"These critters ain't like white folks, you know; they
gets over things, only manage right, etc. . . ." (13.)
"Niggers, you know, that's fetched up properly, hain't
no kind of 'spectations of no kind; so all these things
comes easier. ... I treat niggers just as well as it's
ever worth while to treat 'em." (15.) "Put him to
hoeing and digging, and see if he'd step about so smart."
(20.) 3. "Providence has designed the negro to be a ser
vant of the white man, and servants cannot be expected
to understand the higher life and motives of the higher
social classes." — Mrs. St. Clare and, to some extent, Mr.
Shelby illustrate this type. This is how they talk : "We

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 189
can't reason from our feelings to those of this class of
persons. . . ." (127.) "I hold to being kind to ser
vants — I always am ; but you must make 'em know their
place." (173.) "Mammie couldn't have the feelings
that I should." (178.) "It's a pity . . . that you have
burdened them with morality above their condition."
(256.) With the growing solidarity of race- feeling this type
is rapidly becoming assimilated to class two, before-
mentioned, that regards the negro as specifically different
from the white race, and therefore not to be treated as
fully human.
4. "The negro is an inferior race, but is truly and
altogether human, and deserves to be treated humanely
under all circumstances and in every respect; even if the
negroes were only animals, it would be our duty and
privilege to be kind to them."
Let me give a few illustrations which are confined to
no particular social class : "Somehow I never could see
no kind o' critters a-strivin' and pantin' and trying to
cl'ar theirselves, with the dogs arter 'em, and go agin
'em. Besides, I don't see no kind of 'casion for me to
be hunter and catcher for other folks, neither." (67.)
(This "poor, heathenish Kentuckian" is shame-faced and
apologetic in his humaneness, but is typical, perhaps, of
the deeper heart of the South generally, when "politics"
and "social equality" are not concerned.) ". . . Treat
'em like dogs and you'll have dogs' works and dogs'
actions." (m.) "The Lord made 'em men, and it's a
hard squeeze getting 'em down into beasts. . . . Better
send orders up to the Lord to make you a set (of ne
groes) and leave out their souls entirely." (112.)
5. "The negro is something of a beast — a little more
evidently so than we are, something of a child — and

I90 mace Drtbodoxp in tbe ^outb
therefore needing correction: something of a savage —
and therefore needing civilization: but he is as truly
human as we are; we are responsible for him; and
something could be done to alleviate the situation if
public opinion were only solidified as to our evident
duty, and if we only saw a way out of our perplexi
ties." St. Clare is, of course, the representative of this class,
which includes those with race conscience who neverthe
less understand the meaning of the race-enmity and the
mere race-pride of other types among the whites. St.
Clare holds that, although the negro is often what Mrs.
St. Clare declares him to be — '"provoking, stupid, care
less, unreasonable, childish, ungrateful" — in large meas
ure "we have made them what they are, and ought to
bear with them" (177) ; "that if we were in their place
we should often, even with our 'superior' natures, do as
they do" (234) ; that more ought to be done for them,
"but one man can do nothing against the whole action
of a community" (272) ; that education is a dangerous
expedient, because "education frees," and people do not
submit to tutelage after they are full-grown.
I have put St. Clare's opinions in a form that will
make them apply to the negro problem of to-day, and I
doubt whether any dispassionate man is prepared to criti
cize St. Clare's views harshly. He saw the problem
clearly, and through him Mrs. Stowe shows her abiding
sympathy with the better Southem view of the negro
problem. But for her apparent approval of "social equal
ity" in the case of the Quaker child's treatment of the
little mulatto, and a failure to see the full implications
of the representativeness of race and the far-reaching
possibilities of social communion, I think that much in
Mrs. Stowe's book might easily become an expression.

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 191
especially through the views of St. Clare, of the thinking
South's conscientious bewilderment.

THE NEGRO'S POINT OF VIEW
Mrs. Stowe, naturally enough, does not represent the
negro's attitude as fully as she does the various views of
the whites. And it is to be expected that her portrayal
of despairing pessimism among the colored folk, espe
cially those of mixed blood, should be stressed more
decidedly than any other aspect of the negro's feeling
toward his status.
I. Racial Solidarity. — There are a few such expres
sions as the following, which are typical of the average
black's attitude : "Him as tries to get one o' our people
is as good as tryin' to get all, etc." (8i.) "Don't want
none o' your light-colored balls, cuttin' 'round, makin'
b'lieve you's white folks. Arter all, you's niggers, much
as I am." (219.)
The growing "get-together" of the white people has,
of course, led to greater solidarity of feeling among all
those who have any negro blood in their veins ; yet, even
now, one sees social lines drawn at times among the
negroes apparently according to the degree of white blood
among the lighter-colored folk.
2. The Pessimistic View. — "What's the use of liv
ing," etc. (23.) — "Ain't no use in niggers havin' noth-
in'." (102.) "What country have I but the grave?"
(115.) "There is a God for you, but is there any for
us ?" (121.) The mulatto George is responsible for most
of these expressions of untypical pessimism; but I am
inclined to think — and I base my opinion on actual knowl
edge — ^that, though the higher orders of full-blooded ne-

192 mace i3E>rtbodo]c? in tbe ^outb
groes are not as a rule pessimistic, many of them feel
keenly at times the hopelessness of the outlook for their
race, so far as fulness of life in the future is concerned.
The average negro fails to appreciate the existence of a
"problem," and does not bother himself with it, even if
told that a problem exists: nevertheless, the close ob
server can occasionally catch the sound of a sigh or a
sob. For example, one among a number: A certain
full-blooded negro woman, educated, refined, the prin
cipal of a large negro school in the South, made this
remark to one of my teacher friends who held the usual
Southern views as to "social equality" and the like, but
who was incapable of betraying confidence : "Mr. Blank,
you see that girl of mine playing out there so light-
heartedly. Well, I often wish that she had never been
born, though she is a good child, into whose life no
impurity has entered." Nor is this expression unique.
Negroes are proverbially cautious and reticent with re
gard to racial secrets, but we must not conclude on that
account that they cannot and do not enter into the spirit
of Dr. DuBois' "Litany of Atlanta," which is one of the
saddest plaints ever written.
With the development of a worthy minority of the
negro race has come a hopeful outlook toward the fu
ture, especially because of the belief inculcated by
Booker Washington that honest and trustworthy skilled
industry will somehow ultimately give the negro all he
needs, if not all he wants. All the same, not a few
of these negro leaders are but whistling to keep their
courage up.
NEGRO CHARACTER
In another paper I have given a slight psychological
account — or sociological, if you prefer it — of divers

"ancle Com's Cabin" 193
characteristics imputed to the negro by the whites. In
that short and inadequate study I tried to show that,
according to average white opinion, the negro is pre
vailingly gregarious, appropriative and expressive, but is
lacking in responsiveness (s)mipathy, gratitude, etc.),
assertiveness (resentment, etc.) and perceptiveness (dis
interested curiosity, power of observation, etc.). It will
be interesting to see how far Mrs. Stowe agrees in her
portrayal of negro character with the popular Caucasian
view of the negro in the South.

NEGRO CHARACTERISTICS
I. Sociological. — (i) Appropriative. — There are no
clear indications of this trait that I can find in the book.
The nearest approach to it is to be noted in the charac
ter of the cunning Sam, who had a "strict lookout to
his own personal wellbeing"; but as that trait is asso
ciated by Mrs. Stowe with white patriots in Washing
ton (supposedly Congressmen), we are not justified, I
suppose, in using this allusion as an illustration of ap-
propriativeness ! The cook, Dinah, is said to be "studi
ous of her ease," but nothing is indicated with regard
to a tendency "just to take things." I leave it to the
experienced reader to determine whether the trait of
appropriativeness is sufficiently conspicuous in the negro
to deserve characterization in a book like "Uncle Tom's
Cabin." Perhaps Mrs. Stowe was incautious when she
states in her preface that negro character is "essentially
unlike" that of the "hard, dominant Anglo-Saxon race."
(2) Gregariousness. — This trait is taken for granted
in the book and occasionally specifically touched on:
"And so much did his prayer (Uncle Tom's) always

194 mace Drtbodo]cp in tbe @outb
work on the devotional feeling of his audience that there
seemed often a danger that it would be lost altogether
in the abundance of the responses which broke out every
where around him." Perhaps the authoress knew of the
"carryings-on" at divers white camp-meetings, North and
South, and hesitated in consequence to portray excitable
gregariousness as characteristic of negroes.
(3) Expressiveness. — Our author here gives many il
lustrations, for her attention was of course struck with
the picturesqueness of the effusiveness shown by some
types of negroes. Apart from general references, the
following examples of expressiveness occur: Mandy's
"strutting" (47) ; Sam's "rolling up his eyes with a
volume of meaning" (52) ; the bumptious attempt to
use big words and the ridiculous misuse or mispronunci
ation of them, "bobservation," p. 55 ; "collusetate," p.
82) ; "I'll speechify these niggers, now I've got a chance.
Lord, I'll reel it off to make 'em stare!" (80).
Fertility in excuse-making (210) perhaps belongs un
der this head, for it is usually the effusive negroes that
are facile in "explaining."
As to perceptiveness, assertiveness and responsiveness,
Mrs. Stowe gives us few data. In general terms she
tells us that negroes are responsive; but her portrayal
of this trait can nearly always be interpreted as expres
siveness rather than sympathy. Of course she sets forth
Sam's cunning and the childish, hoodlumesque or savage
trickiness of other negroes ; but we have little indication
that she regarded the negroes as observant, except in
their ability to note social facts — for instance, Mrs.
Shelby's influence over her household (50), and this
trait is rather the product of gregarious expressiveness
whereby negroes often "pool" their social observations
and get a sort of social generalization that they all fre-

"Oncle Com's Cabin" (195
quently act upon. The "passing of the word" and the
"grapevine telegraph" are phenomena still decidedly in
evidence. As to assertiveness, there is no sign of negro revenge-
fulness in the book except of the humorous kind. But
no special attention is called to the negro's lack of re-
sentfulness. 2. Psychological Traits. — Uncle Tom's observation
(p. 33) that the negro children are "full of tickle" is
most true to life. The organic sensations of the negro,
including the sexual sensations, seem to be greatly de
veloped. His imaginativeness, "sensual concretism,"
love of pleasure, eagerness for excitement, quick emo
tion, and so on, all seem connected with this inside
"ticklishness." Apart from mentioning Dinah's inabil
ity to be helped by "systematic regulation" (211), a most
significant lack and possibly one connected with weak
ness of development of the associative system in the
brain, nothing further is given us of a definite nature
with regard to the negro's psychological traits.
3. Moral Traits. — 'Apart from the character of
Uncle Tom, whose morality is essentially religious, we
have singularly little to show for negro morality. For
the most part, Mrs. Stowe treats negro character as
childish and non-moral rather than moral. It is interest
ing in this connection to quote the following paragraph
that is true to-day, except that for the word "master"
we need to soften the language and substitute the word
"patron" : "We hear often of the distress of the negro
servants on the loss of a kind master, and with good
reason; for no creature on God's earth is left more ut
terly unprotected and desolate than the slave in these
circumstances." Much of the negro's attachment to
white persons has a sort of utilitarian basis. Many of

196 mace Drtbodoip in tbe %outb
them are adepts at making use of white people. And
sore would be the fate of many, as the Atlanta riot and
other events have shown, were it not that the negro's
"best friend is the Southern white man." Of course the
patron class among the whites is not large, and is prob
ably rapidly decreasing; but we still hear of "Mr. Blank's
nigger," etc.
II. Servants' Traits. — Some of Mrs. Stowe's best
touches in delineating negro character are to be found
in the traits that characterize the servant class generally
at certain stages of their development rather than negro
servants in particular; nevertheless, there is a negroid
tang about these servants' traits that is hard to analyze.
Here are a few of the characteristics that are at least
as much "servant" as negro: "Zealous and ready offi-
ciousness" (p. 62). "How easy white folks al'as does
things" (p. 29). "Our folks" (referring to her owners,
p. 30). "I can't do nothin' with ladies in the kitchen" (p.
32). "Mas'r can't be 'spected to be a-pryin' round every-
whar, as I've done, a-keepin' up all the ends. The boys all
mean well, but they's powerful car'less. That ar troubles
me." (Note the non-moral weakness, p. 61.) As to the
imitativeness, wrong use of big words, and the like,
Shakespeare, or any other master of human nature
knowledge, will assure us that the negro has no special
claim to such peculiarities.
III. Types: The Child, the Savage and the Hood
lum. — Mrs. Stowe of course makes no classifications of
types and attempts no exhaustive treatment of negro
character. Indeed, it is surprising to find out how much
she has brought out with regard to tj^ical negro traits
when one considers her object in writing and her limited
acquaintance with the negro. I acquit her of all respon
sibility for the heading of this section. But I think that
she has recognized and portrayed the three types, never-

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 197
theless — tj^es which are still to be seen among the ne
groes, and without understanding of which the psycho
logical, that is the fundamental, aspects of the negro
question cannot be well understood.
I. The Childish Type. — This may of course also be
hoodlum or savage. I must once more remind the
reader that such sociological types are not mutually ex
clusive. The redoubtable Sam again furnishes us with an illus
tration of this type, for Sam's characteristics are "child
like and bland" rather than savage or hoodlum. Says
Sam, after he had been guilty of a characteristic piece
of childish cunning and mischief: "Yer oughter seen
how mad he looked when I brought the horse up. Lord,
he'd 'a' killed me, if he durs' to ; and there I was a-stand-
in' as innercent and as humble." Most of the negro
characters are of the childish type.
2. The Savage Type. — Sambo and Quimbo (344 ff.)
are the principal illustrations of this type. Legree, the
cruel slave-driver, had found them well suited to his
purposes, callous enough for his training. Here is a
specimen of Sambo's savage humor: "Lord, de fun!
To see him stickin' in the mud, chasin' and tearin'
through de bushes, dogs a-holdin' on to him! Lord, I
laughed fit to split dat ar time we kotched Molly. I
thought they'd had her all stripped up afore I could get
'em off. She car's de marks o' dat ar' spree yet." (389.)
3. The Hoodlum Type. — The classical Topsy that
was not "made" but "grow'd" is the best type of hood
lum in the book. Though the typical hoodlum "grows"
in the town, and Topsy is supposedly a country product,
her traits are such as would have found a congenial
atmosphere in the slums of a great city. Many of us
have seen the type among the negroes : "The expression

198 mace Drtbodo^p in tbe ^outb
of the face was an odd mixture of shrewdness and cun
ning, over which was oddly drawn, like a kind of veil,
an expression of the most doleful gravity and solemnity."
Her fantastic song-and-dance performance showed that
curious combination of childishness, savagery and sophis
tication that we associate with the street gamin that will
develop into a full-fledged hoodlum. Notice the bravado
in her nonchalant complaining: "... 'She can't b'ar
me, 'cause I'm a nigger! She'd 's soon have a toad
touch her. There can't nobody love niggers, and nig
gers can't do nothin'. I don't care,' said Topsy, begin
ning to whistle." All three types produce criminals:
the childishly ignorant and thoughtless, the savagely
brutal and callous, the worldly-wise "professional" ex
ploiter of the weak and the timid. Mrs. Stowe evidently
believes that the childish type is commonest, and shows
her belief in the entire humanness of the other types by
describing a "conversion" of a representative of each.
Isolation and ignorance in the country and the outcast
life in the city are constantly tending to change childish
negroes into the savage or the hoodlum types.

MESSAGES FOR TO-DAY
Of all the books written on the negro question, "Uncle
Tom's Cabin" is still the one that most nearly touches
the nerve of the problem. The South is still too sensi
tive to do the book justice and the North is becoming
apologetic toward the South. Perhaps it is well that
this should be so. Too long has the South been cruelly
misunderstood. Too long has she had to bear reproach
from the whole civilized world, which finds it so much
easier to blame than to understand. In putting into a

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 199
series of propositions what I regard as the main mes
sage of the book for this day I am not afraid to say that,
if I do not misinterpret the book — and I give page refer
ences in order that my inferences should not stand un
supported — the mission of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" has not
yet been fulfilled.
I. Humane people do odd things (14), and eco
nomic motives prevent men from using their consciences
in finding out and righting wrongs (40). Such is the
value of human souls, however, among exploiters and
exploited, that sooner or later this nation will be ashamed
of itself for allowing this negro question to remain un
studied in this age of science and humanitarianism.
2. There is no use in calling people names, especially
when the supposed wrongdoers are as likely to be con
scientious as their critics are. We may call a system
barbarous without regarding its upholders as barbarians
(236). It is doubtful if the framework of society in
New York City will stand scrutiny any better than it
will in New Orleans (187). Undemocratic withholding
from a people of the full rights of manhood may some
times be the less of two evils, but can never be right and
should not be tolerated unless modern science and philan
thropy, after due study, agree that conditions cannot
safely be ameliorated. But we must not conclude that
because a system as system is bad that the actual con
ditions of those who suffer from it are as bad as the
system seems to indicate on the surface. Good men
scorn to use their power to the full, and thousands of
Southerners refuse to take any sort of advantage of the
negro, but strive to protect him in his rights so far as
regard for the public weal will allow (225 f.). But
whether a system of tutelage of a lower race be right or
wrong, just or unjust, expedient or inexpedient, it is

200 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ^outb
hard to bring up children of the dominant race in a civi
lization where certain classes of human beings do not
count as full men (281). It is humiliating for some of
us to have negroes get clear off the sidewalk in order to
give us a superfluity of room ; and sad for us to see that
our children seem to take this action as a matter of
course, or even to demand it as a right. Although it is
true that the "higher" exploit the "lower" the world
over (216), it is peculiarly distressing to have the prime
lesson of democracy and humanitarianism, to say noth
ing of Christianity, flouted by the most democratic people
on earth, the masses of the Southem people. In order
for a Southern man to train his children aright in the
principles of democracy, must he try to keep them out
of the way of temptation that besets them on all sides
when a less developed race is held in practical subjection
by a more developed one (223) ? That is poor training;
and yet none of us ought to have this temptation to arro
gance, to impurity, to contempt for fellowmen, put in his
children's path! When we see humane and noble men
perfectly helpless when a mob desires to stab the state in
its vitals by spurning the forms of its laws, and finds
himself "compelled" to defend everything Southern be
cause he feels that the wretched situation is itself to
blame, and that effects cannot be prevented as long as
their causes obtain ; then it would seem high time to have
something done that will relieve the situation instead
of attempting to punish a few lawbreakers who imagine
that they are "defending their homes," etc.
3. Kindness cannot take the place of justice (41).
Sympathy at a distance (137) in this case benefits no
one, but exasperates those who feel that they are doing
wrong, but regard themselves as choosing a less evident
evil — the complete subordination of the lower race, rather

"dncle Com's Cabin" 201
than any possible assumption on the part of said race
that it can ever have the rights of "the kin." Further
more, two things are evident : First, that even kindness,
at a distance or close by, that is accompanied by a feel
ing of repugnance toward its object, cannot do its real
work; second, that unredressed wrongs, not only to a
"lower" people, but to the cause of democracy itself,
cannot be wiped out by an ocean of philanthropy. Finally
when kindness has an unnatural tinge, and one side
feels that it is suffering injustice and the other that it
is, even though unwillingly "forced," doing injustice —
unless there has been a special revelation from on high
that democracy does not apply to all men or that negroes
are not men — then it follows inevitably that a "harden
ing process" sets in on both sides (250), and the gulf
between the races widens and widens. A glorious spec
tacle for the land of freedom and churches !
4. Religion is just what the negro needs ; for it is a
binding, relational force, and the negro needs relationiz-
ing, reciprocal sympathy, higher friendship, in his moral
life. The best types of negroes are almost invariably
honestly religious. Though the negro type of religion
has suffered somewhat from emotionality and superficial
ity, the criminal classes are not usually recruited from
the religious (149, etc.). While the negro's "docility"
has its weak points, his social imitativeness is a fine
foundation for character in a people that must undergo
long training, and who need to be supported by a Higher
Hope. One of the real wonders of the world has been
certain types of Christian character among illiterate
negroes. Industrial training for the negroes cannot save
them without religion. Their faults are exactly those
that will cause degeneration when their prosperity is
merely materialistic and their morality utilitarian. They

202 mace Drtbodo£? in tbe ^outb
must learn that a man should not be allowed to loaf, and
that if he does not work neither shall he eat; They need
to learn industrial efficiency. But their imaginativeness
and predisposition toward sensuality — I speak generally
— are just the kind of traits that need religion as a mo
tive for moral conduct. And one of the fruits of the
scientific-humanitarian study of the negro problem must
be a decision as to what specific kinds of religious train
ing the negro most needs. His present forms of prot
estantism may not be the best for him.
5. The combination of industrial skill and conscience
with religion should show itself in freeing the white
people, especially the women, from a sort of bondage to
negro servants (182). When all the white people that
have to do with negroes are able to set them a good
example of respect for labor, of industrial efficiency and
of the reality of religion in everyday life, then the whites
will be freed without needing to use the kind of severity
that is generally practiced in order to get orderly and
consecutive work from negro servants and laborers.
When there is a Christian relation between employer and
employed the one can dispense with unsjTupathetic sever
ity, and the other will not take advantage of his em
ployer's kindness (214). This statement may be denied
by some, but careful study of the alliance of efficiency
and religion in employer and employed will demonstrate
the truth of this contention.
6. How can we expect the negro to be honest and
faithful when we give him no motive (215) ? The eco
nomic motive is not enough for him. He frequently
prefers time to money, and gifts to increase of wages.
The personal touch of kindness, combined with firmness
in requiring good results, will produce much better work

"Oncle Com's Cabin" 203
than does either rigid justice alone or a kindness that is
not absolutely just or is merely soft and slouchy.
The ordinary negro does not so much want "social
equality" as impartial justice along with some recog
nition that he is not simply a thing apart, but a human
being that can be joked with and talked to without re
pugnance on the part of his employer. He is amenable
to neither bare business nor mere mildness. Such state
ments as these of course need careful verification, but
they are nevertheless based on experience.
7. Education frees (235). Hence the need of being
able to forecast what the negro is going to do with his
education, and whether it will simply have the ultimate
effect of bringing him into sharper competition with the
white man. If there is anything certain it is this : that
the white men of the South will not allow the law of
"natural selection" to help the negro triumph over his
less efficient white competitor. Call this attitude un
reasonable, if you will ; but the principle of love is based
on kinship, and no abstract humanitarianism will ever be
able to supersede that which finds its exemplification in
race-kinship. Hence the study of the negro question that is de
manded by the situation in this country — not only in
the South — must find out how to free the negro by
education without superseding the white man's religious
regard for the weal of all who belong to the white race.
8. When men like Jefferson and Lincoln, not to men
tion others of note, believed that the negro must eventu
ally have his own nationality (426), and when we see
the ties of race becoming stronger in our day all over
the world, it will no longer do to dismiss the idea of
colonization of the negro with the usual remark that
it is impracticable. We can call nothing impracticable

204 mace la^rtbodofp in tbe ^outb
until adequate study has shown it to be so. Such a radi
cal "solution" may take many years and many millions,
but it is astonishing how many "impracticable" things
become feasible when we set out to study how to meet
an actual need. Wireless telegraphy, aviation, the Pan
ama Canal, and many other achievements have been
called impracticable. No big problem can be disposed
of simply by an easy comparison of birth rate and ship
loads. Let the sociological engineers pronounce judg
ment after proper study. If they find that coloniza
tion during a long period and costing a billion or so is
advisable, they may be able to show how the thing can
be done. If they cannot show the feasibility of the
scheme, then the next best thing or things can be tried.
9. This is not a question to be trifled with (437).
The dilettante has handled it long enough; let us give
the expert a chance. To drift and wait "for something
to turn up" is a process of cowardice due to a failure
to face the facts. If those of us who regard this negro
problem as the most serious one facing this country are
wrong in our opinion, let a scientific study prove us to
be in error. There are so many of us. North and South,
that we deserve this much consideration. Some of us
have yet to find the man who would declare, after a
sufficient and serious discussion, that the negro problem
does not exist, or that it will probably "settle itself"
right. ID. The negro question is not simply a Southern
problem. It is even more than a national question. The
world must find out what to do with its backward races.
If enlightened America, where the problem is most acute
and where the people are so rich and so ingenious, cannot
help in this matter, who can?

"2Incle Com's Cabin" 205
Whether or not Mrs. Stowe would agree to all these
propositions in the form in which I have put them I
know not. But she was a generous and godly soul, and
I believe that her version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" of
to-day would be a plea for a complete study of the negro
problem, in order that democracy and Christianity should
not have to face the farcical condition in this country.
We pretend to believe in special privileges to none and
equal rights to all, and fight Spain in order to prove our
sincerity; and yet refuse even to make a concerted and
systematic attempt to rid ourselves of the spectacle of
some millions of human beings in a state of spiritual
slavery. We allow millions of children in a "dominant"
race to be brought up to despise millions of their fellow-
men, in defiance of their very school-book teaching and
their training by the church. To all this the following
reply is vouchsafed by a leading scientific light of this
country: "The American people are not ready for a
study of the negro question." In the meantime the
leaders of thought and action in this country must not
be surprised if the South at least, which is conscien
tiously striving to "hold the negro in his place," should
complacently say to the world these words of Matthew
Arnold : "Might till right is ready !"

IV. SCIENTIFIC
"THE MIND OF PRIMITIVE MAN"
By Franz Boas, 1912
(This study tries to give greater currency to the principal views
of Professor Boas on the Negro Question, especially his earnest be
lief that the race problem should be scientifically studied; to show
that the author's guarded admissions of negro inferiority are
sufficient to establish a presumption against the advisability of
racial intermixture; and to urge the inclusion of the psychological
study of race feeling within the scope of any future scientific study
of the race problem.)
This book is one of the latest (published September,
191 1 ) that touches the negro question, and is of con
siderable importance not only on account of the scien
tific eminence of the author, but also because the book
embodies a plea for the scientific study of race questions
in general and of the negro problem in particular.
The first paper, on racial prejudices, was first printed
in 1894 in the "Proceedings of the American Associa
tion for the Advancement of Science," and was subjected
to extensive criticism by Professor ~W. B. Smith, in his
"Color Line" (1905). Much of Professor Smith's criti
cism applies rather to the logical form and to turns of
phrasing than to the general results of Professor Boas'
reasoning. In the present book the author has revised
his paper in such wise that the language of the just-
mentioned paper is less open to criticism. One could
have wished that the author had replied specifically to
some of Professor Smith's criticisms, not because they
threatened the validity of his main contentions, but rather
206

''^bt Q^ind of Primitibe 9^an" 207
because Professor Smith's book is a sort of vade mecum
with many intelligent Southemers who will not see the
author's fuller statement of his views in the book that
we are now considering. One is not, however, surprised
that he does not see fit to answer a critic who uses phrases
like the following: "Here the cards are conveniently
shuffled and the terms changed from 'race' to 'people.'
. . . The savant has deceived himself by conjuring with
the words 'people' and 'race.' . . . (Certain alleged
facts) all cry out against this complacent assumption."
Then, too. Professor Smith himself makes some state
ments that do not give us confidence in the entire justness
of his insight: "Of Caucasians, the Aryan shines like
the moon amid the stars." One would naturally think
that the people through whom came the Bible and Chris
tianity had some claims to being regarded as at least a
fairly well-lighted moon. "We have often wondered
whether the bee might not yet overtake the man." (Per
haps this is meant as a joke, for Professor Smith, of
course, does not regard evolution as being in a straight
line, and knows that the very highly specialized structure
of the bee makes it impossible for the insect to develop
in the human direction.) When Professor Boas speaks
of the fundamental difficulty for the rise of a primitive
people being due to its being looked upon, in spite of its
higher development, as "belonging to an inferior race,"
Professor Smith retorts : "Here again there is quietly
assumed ever3^hing in dispute. We deny outright that
such is the 'fundamental difficulty.' In a measure it has
no existence at all, annulled by the prevalent doctrine
of the equality of all men." Now, whatever may be said
with regard to the abstract belief of the people of this
country in the "equality of all men," I had supposed it a
matter of common observation that nowadays, even in
the North, in practice the doctrine is not applied to the

208 mace ©rtbodoig in tbe ^outb
negro concretely — 'Surely not in social matters; whereas
in the South no pretense is made that the doctrine of the
equality of all man is at all "prevalent" in practice, so
far as the negro is concerned.
On the other hand, though Professor Smith has used
in one or two places rather harsh expressions about the
"learned savant" (Dr. Boas), he seems to us to make
some amends for his perfectly inadvertent display of
incautious terms of depreciation by the following gen
erous tribute to Professor Boas' paper : "While, then, we
greatly admire the testing, probing spirit of Dr. Boas,
and thank him heartily for his broad-minded plea for
the 'primitives,' we are unable to find in any of his pages
anything but strong confirmation of the theses of our
earlier chapters."
In effect, Dr. Boas seems to be writing on the prin
ciple that we have no just reasons for quenching the
smoking flax; whereas Professor Smith seems to think
that we should at least let it quench itself with its own
smoke, and that we should do nothing to kindle it into
flame. I think that disinterested men will sympathize
with Dr. Boas' purpose, and will not refuse S3mipathy to
Professor Smith's "Brief in Behalf of the Unborn." To
Professor Smith all other important public matters, such
as tariff and currency, sink into insignificance compared
with the "vital matter of pure blood"; on Professor
Boas the actual situation in the South cannot press very
heavily, hence much of what is of deeply sincere, even
though rhetorical, concern and anxiety in the South
seems to him to be "emotional clamor."
II
In order to be fair to Professor Boas' thought, which
is especially interesting because of its plea for the study

''^bt Qiind of l^rimitibe Q9an" 209
of the negro question by a man who has devoted his life
to the investigation of "primitives," let us put before us
a summary of his views, mainly in his own words. We
shall then be in a position to see the bearings of our
author's general positions, and can take up special points
in connection with Dr. Boas' main view.
"We must investigate in how far we are justified in
assuming that achievement is primarily due to excep
tional aptitude, and in how far we are justified in assum
ing that the European type — or, taking the notion in its
extremest form, that the North European t}rpe — repre
sents the highest development of mankind." (5)
Here is his summary of his answer to the first ques
tion as stated above:
"Several races have developed a civilization of a type
similar to the one from which our own had its origin.
A number of favorable conditions facilitated the rapid
spread of this civilization in Europe. Among these,
common physical appearance, contiguity of habitat, and
moderate differences in modes of manufacture were the
most potent. When, later on, civilization began to spread
over other continents, the races with which modern civil
ization came into contact were not equally favorably situ
ated. Striking differences of racial types, the preceding
isolation which caused devastating epidemics in the newly
discovered countries, and the greater advance in civiliza
tion made assimilation much more difficult. The rapid
dissemination of Europeans over the whole world de
stroyed all promising beginnings which had arisen in
various regions. Thus no race except that of eastern
Asia was given a chance to develop an independent civili
zation. The spread of the European race cut short the
growth of the existing germs without regard to the
mental attitude of the people among whom it was de-

2 ID mace SDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
veloping. On the other hand, we have seen that no
great weight can be attributed to the earlier rise of
civilization in the Old World, which is satisfactorily ex
plained as a chance. In short, historical events appear
to have been much more potent in leading races to
civilization than their faculty, and it follows that achieve
ments of races do not warrant us in assuming that one
race is more highly gifted than the other" (i6 f.).
Here is a statement of some of the typical facts that
lead Professor Boas to think that the Caucasian has not
the monopoly of the "higher" anatomical characteristics :
"The European and the Mongol have the largest
brains; the European has a small face and a high nose;
all features farther removed from the probable animal
ancestor of man than the corresponding features of
other races. On the other hand, the European shares
lower characteristics with the Australian, both retaining
in the strongest degree the hairiness of the animal ances
tor, while the specifically human development of the red
lip is developed most markedly in the negro. The pro
portions of the limbs of the negro are also more markedly
distinct from the corresponding proportions in the higher
apes than are those of the European.
"When we interpret these data in the light of modern
biological concepts, we may say that the specifically
human features appear with varying intensity in various
races, and that the divergence from the animal ancestor
has developed in varying directions" (22).
Let us note also the summary of the results of the
whole preliminary investigations :
"We have found that the unproved assumption of
identity of cultural achievements and of mental ability
is founded on an error of judgment; that the variations
in cultural development can as well be explained by a

'^bt 8®ind of Primitibe 00an"

211

consideration of the general course of historical events
without recourse to the theory of material differences of
mental faculty in different races. We have found,
furthermore, that a similar error underlies the common
assumption that the white race represents physically the
highest type of man, but that anatomical and physiologi
cal considerations do not support these views" (29).
We may add to Professor Boas' summary of his first
paper two of his significant statements, the first of which
warns us not to judge a race by one trial only, and the
other admits the preeminence of the white race in at
least one important characteristic:
I. (Retardation in the development of a race)
"would be significant only if it could be shown that it
occurs independently over and over again in the same
race, while in other races greater rapidity of development
was found repeatedly in independent cases."
2. (The white race seems to show) "a remarkable
power of assimilation which has not manifested itself
to any equal degree in any other race" (10).
The second paper deals with the influence of environ
ment, and is thus summarized (p. 75) :
"We are thus led to the conclusion that environment
has an important effect upon the anatomical structure
and physiological functions of man; and that for this
reason differences of type and action between primitive
and civilized groups of the same race must be expected.
It seems plausible that one of the most potent causes of
these modifications must be looked for in the progressive
domestication of man incident to the advance of civiliza
tion." In the third paper, "Influence of Heredity Upon Hu
man Types," occur two summary statements that contain
what is essential for our purpose in reviewing the book :

212 mace S^rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
p. 76 — "Even granting the greatest possible amount
of influence to environment, it is readily seen that all the
essential traits of man are due primarily to heredity.
The descendants of the negro will always be negroes;
the descendants of the whites, whites ; and we may even
go considerably further, and may recognize that the
essential detailed characteristics of a type will always be
reproduced in the descendants, although they may be
modified to a considerable extent by the influence of
environment. I am inclined to believe that the influ
ence of environment is of such a character that, although
the same race may assume a different type when removed
from one environment to another, it will revert to its
old type when replaced in its old environment. This
point has not been proved by actual anthropological evi
dence; but it seems reasonable to make this assumption
by analogy with what we know of the behavior of plants
and animals. It would, of course, be highly desirable to
clear up this question by appropriate investigations."
P. 94 — " . . . The differences between different types
of man are, on the whole, small as compared to the range
of variation in each type."
Here is the conclusion of the paper on "Mental Traits
of Primitive Man" :
". . . The average faculty of the white race is found
to the same degree in a large proportion of individuals
of all other races, and although it is probable that some
of these races may not produce as large a proportion
of great men as our own race, there is no reason to sup
pose that they are unable to reach the level of civilization
represented by the bulk of our own people "(123).
Conclusion of chapter on Race and Language: ". . .
Language does not furnish the much-looked- for means of

''^bt Q^ind of Primitibe Qian" 213
discovering differences in the mental status of different
races" (154).
We shall allow the following quotation to represent
the main teaching (for our purpose) of the paper en
titled "The Universality of Cultural Traits" :
"There remains one question to be discussed ; namely,
whether some tribes represent a lower cultural stage
when looked at from an evolutionary point of view.
Our previous discussion has shown that almost all at
tempts to characterize the mind of primitive man do not
take into account racial affiliations, but only stages of
culture, and the results of our efforts to determine char
acteristic racial differences have been of doubtful value.
It appears, therefore, that modern anthropologists not
only proceed on the assumption of the generic unity of
the mind of man, but tacitly disregard quantitative dif
ferences which may very well occur. We may therefore
base our further consideration on the theory of the simi
larity of mental function in all races.
Observation has shown, however, that not only emo
tions, intellect and will power of man are alike every
where, but that much more detailed similarities in thought
and action occur among the most diverse peoples. These
similarities are apparently so detailed and far-reaching
that Bastian was led to speak of the appalling monotony
of the fundamental ideas of mankind all over the globe"
Summary of paper on "The Evolutionary Viewpoint" :
"We are thus led to the conclusion that the assumption
of a uniform development of culture among all the dif
ferent races of man and among all tribal units is true in
a limited sense only. We may recognize a certain modi
fication of mental activities with modifications of forms
of culture ; but the assumption that the same forms must

214 mace i)rtbodo£? in tbe @outb
necessarily develop in every independent social unit can
hardly be maintained. Thus the question with which we
began our consideration — namely, whether the represen
tatives of different races can be proved to have developed
each independently, in such a way that the representa
tives of some races stand on low levels of culture, while
others stand on high levels — may be answered in the
negative. If we should make the attempt to arrange the
different types of man in accordance with their indus
trial advancement, we should find representatives of the
most diverse races — such as the Bushman of South
Africa, the Veddah of Ceylon, the Australian, and the
Indian of Terra del Fuego — on the same lowest level.
We should also find representatives of different races on
more advanced levels, like the negroes of Central Af
rica, the Indians of the southwestern puebloes, and the
Polynesians ; and in our present period we may find repre
sentatives of the most diverse races taking part in the
highest types of civilization. Thus it will be seen that
there is no close relation between race and culture"
(195 f-)-
Professor Boas' paper on "Some Traits of Primitive
Culture" does not take racial affiliation into view, hence
we need not summarize it; moreover, it does not add
anything in principle to the views already summarized.
The tenth and last paper of the book deals with "Race
Problems in the United States." Leaving aside that por
tion of the paper which discusses white American-Euro
pean mixture, and so on, let us concentrate attention on
what Professor Boas has to say with regard to the negro
problem specifically. After saying that the information
that we have with respect to the negro child is "prac
tically without value" (p. 269), that most persons in the
United States little realize what the African people have

''Wbt Q^ind of l^rimitibe a^an" 215
done and can do (270), our author expresses several
opinions, the most important of which we shall quote,
as they deal directly with the negro problem in the
South. "All the different kinds of activities that we consider
valuable in the citizens of our country may be found in
aboriginal Africa" (270). ". . . The traits of African
culture as observed in the aboriginal home of the negro
are those of a healthy primitive people, with a consider
able degree of personal initiative, with a talent for or
ganization, and with imaginative power, with technical
skill and thrift. Neither is a warlike spirit absent in the
race, as is proved by the mighty conquerors who over
threw states and founded new empires, and by the cour
age of the armies that follow the bidding of their lead
ers. There is nothing to prove that licentiousness, shift
less laziness, lack of initiative are fundamental charac
teristics of the race. Everything points out that these
qualities are the result of social conditions rather than of
hereditary traits" (271).
"We do not know of any demand made on the human
body or mind in modern life that anatomical or ethno
logical evidence would prove to be beyond the powers
of the negro" (271).
After stating that in his opinion the traits of the
American negro are adequately explained by his history
and social status, our author makes the following state
ment with respect to "race instinct" : "Ultimately this
phenomenon is a repetition of the old instinct and fear
of the connubium of patricians and plebeians, of the
European nobility and the common people, or of the
castes of India. The emotions and reasonings concerned
are the same in every respect. In our case they relate
particularly to the necessity of maintaining a distinct

216 j mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
Social status in order to avoid race mixture. As in the
other cases mentioned, the so-called instinct is not a
physiological dislike. This is proved by the existence of
our large mulatto population, as well as by the more
ready amalgamation of the Latin peoples. It is rather
an expression of social conditions that are so deeply
ingrained in us that they assume a strong emotional
value; and this, I presume, is meant when we call such
feelings instinctive. The feeling certainly has nothing
to do with the question of the vitality and ability of the
mulatto. "Still the questions of race-mixture and of the negro's
adaptability to our environment represent a number of
important problems.
"I think we have reason to be ashamed to confess that
the scientific study of these questions has never received
the support either of our government or of any of our
great scientific institutions; and it is hard to understand
why we are so indifferent toward a question which is of
paramount importance to the welfare of our na
tion . . . (274). The importance of researches on this
subject cannot be too strongly urged, since the desirabil
ity or undesirability of race-mixture should be known.
Looking into a distant future, it seems reasonably certain
that, with the increasing mobility of the negro, the num
ber of full-bloods will rapidly decrease; and since there
is no introduction of new negro blood, there cannot be
the slightest doubt that the ultimate effect of the contact
between the two races must necessarily be a continued
increase of the amount of white blood in the negro com
munity . . . (275).
"While the large body of the white population will
always, at least for a very long time to come, be entirely
remote from any possibility of intermixture with negroes.

''€:bt Q^ind of primitibe Q0an" 217
I tliink that we may predict with a fair degree of cer
tainty a condition in which the contrast between colored
people and whites will be less marked than it is at the
present time. Notwithstanding all the obstacles that may
be laid in the way of intermixture, the conditions are such
that the persistence of the pure negro type is practically
impossible. Not even an excessively high mortality and
lack of fertility among the mixed type, as compared with
the pure types, could prevent this result. Since it is
impossible to change these conditions, they should be
faced squarely, and we ought to demand a careful and
critical investigation of the whole problem (276). . . .
The most important practical questions relating to the
negro problem have reference to the mulattoes and other
mixed bloods — to their physical types, their mental and
moral qualities, and their vitality. When the bulky liter
ature of the subject is carefully sifted, little remains
that will endure serious criticism; and I do not believe
that I claim too much when I say that the whole work
on this subject remains to be done. The development
of modem methods of research make it certain that by
careful inquiry definite answers to our problems may be
found. Is it not, then, our plain duty to inform our
selves that, so far as that can be done, deliberate con
sideration of observations may take the place of heated
discussions of beliefs in matters that concern not only
ourselves, but also the welfare of millions of negroes?"
(277 f.). Ill
NEGRO ABILITY AND CAPACITY
Desiring to be not only just but even generous with
respect to our appreciation of the possibilities of negro

2i8 mace Drtbodoip in tbt ©outb
character and achievement, let us, pending the investiga
tion that Professor Boas does well to desiderate, accept
our author's authority in this matter, and group together
his most important suggestions with regard to negro
capacity and ability.
(i) The historical fact of achievement does not of
itself prove capacity and ability in a race. (This gen
eralization cuts in two directions: While it frees the
negro race from the imputation of infirmity because of
its historical lack of development, it also debars us from
insisting that the "wonderful achievements" of the Amer
ican negro since emancipation show forth the negro's
real powers of cultural assimilation and racial talent. )
(2) Specifically, "human" features are not a monop
oly of the Caucasian race. (We should admit this con
tention simply on the assumption that Professor Boas'
list of "human" features is the correct one. But I
should think that ethnologists would admit the large
speculative element in the statements that the negro's
red lips, scantiness of hair, etc., are peculiarly human.
May not some of the racial characteristics be due to adap
tation to environment, so that a feature that would be
more "human" in the tropics would be less "human" in
the temperate regions? If we regard the temperate
zones as more suitable for the evolution of a higher type
of humanity, we naturally frame our concepts of human
ness from the temperate zone point of view. However,
I think that we should provisionally admit Professor
Boas' contention as being at least the best that scientific
speculation offers, inasmuch as we scarcely have the right
to say that the higher type of man is necessarily produced
in the temperate zone; nor should we allow aesthetic
judgment to interfere with the best scientific speculation

''€:bt Qiind of primitibe 9|an" 219
as to what constitutes "human" features of body and
mind. (3) The retardation of the negro race proves nothing
significant when we consider the immensely long age of
mankind's life on earth, the highly probable concept of
the unity of the human species, and the balancing of the
negro's retardation during the ages with his apparently
rapid advancement in a stimulating environment.
(We must bear in mind, however, this caution : Negro
retardation has not been proved to be absolute, and may
be only relative; but the raw material of Teutonic bar
barians is by no means to be viewed as practically the
same in promise as the barbarianism of Central Africa,
to say nothing of Western Africa. Many unprejudiced
observers of to-day would claim that an illiterate white
man of the South has more political instinct than many
educated negroes have; nor are facts lacking to sustain
this contention. Nor has science disproved Professor
W. B. Smith's representative suggestion that there may
be qualitative differences of brain tissue, whereby white
and negro brains of equal weight and apparent develop
ment would by no means be equal functionally. I think
it would be fair to say that what we know of the relative
bodily and mental values of the whites and negroes would
compel us in all fairness to say that, though Professor
Boas' careful statements with regard to negro retarda
tion should be accepted, the presumption still remains
against the probability that negroes and whites are in
trinsically equal in capacity and ability. True, the pre
sumption is only a presumption; but if we should find
any positive evidence in favor of the probable inferiority
of the negro, especially when such evidence is furnished
by those who claim all they can for primitives, the
"prejudice" against negro capacity and ability becomes a

220 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
probability that must be taken into practical account.)
(4) The range of variations in each type is greater
than the differences in type. (We should expect this in
varieties of the same species. The important thing, per
haps, may be the kind and the direction of the variations,
rather than the mere degree of variation. The mere fact
of there being more large and heavy brains among whites,
for instance, may not be a very significant fact in favor
of Caucasian superiority. If along with these racial dif
ferences, however, go others that indicate Caucasian su
periority, we have a right to say that the presumption
against the negro's equal endowment is decidedly in
creased by any general indication of Caucasian superior
ity in size and weight of brain.)
(5) General and detailed similarities of thought and
culture occur among most diverse peoples. All races
show representatives among peoples and individuals of
highest and of lowest levels.
(Here, again, we should expect such phenomena
among varieties of a single species. But the potentiali
ties of a primitive Greek myth or a Norwegian saga, for
example, may be very different from those of an African
folk tale. "What will he do with it?" is the question that
must inevitably be asked. Are there any signs of a great
epic in the African civilizations? Is their folklore wis
dom anywise comparable to the beginnings of Greek
philosophy or Hebrew prophecy? An underlying "con
cept" has little significance in human culture compared
with the potentialities of development. I sometimes read
a book of adventure that has been enjoyed by my chil
dren, and discuss it with them on seemingly equal terms.
But I am not warranted on that account in supposing
that my children will necessarily become interested in
the psychological, social and philosophical ideas that in-

''mt e©ind of primitibe O^an" 221
terest me. Nor can I conclude that because my children
show equal interest in adventure they will hereafter de
velop equally in other directions of interest and thought.
An African tribe may develop practical wisdom superior
to that of the early Greeks, and yet fail to make any
aesthetic or scientific or philosophical use of its concepts.
Some of the shrewdest observations on life that I have
ever heard have come from illiterate negroes who have
shown a singular incapacity for abstract thought.)
(6) Language does not furnish us with a standard for
comparing the capacity of a race for culture.
(Admitting this generalization, are we therefore jus
tified in saying that noble literature and high philosophy
can be expressed in African dialects? No doubt the
African languages express all that an African needs to
express, and that they can be so developed as to set forth
some of the higher concepts of civilization; but is it at
all likely that they ever can become the plastic instru
ments of thought in a way at all comparable to Greek
and English? If the ethnologists and language experts
will tell me that I am mistaken in thinking that the pre
sumption is against the cultural possibilities of African
dialects, I am perfectly willing to change my views on
the subject. Indeed, I hope that I am mistaken, and that
every human dialect has within it possibilities of limit
less culture in all human directions.)
(7) All the essentially valuable activities are to be
found in aboriginal Africa.
The American negro is equal to all the demands likely
to be made on him, whether physical or mental.
Shiftlessness, licentiousness and lack of initiative in
the American negro are probably due to social causes.
(Let us hope that these statements are true. All our
generous feelings, all our chivalry, all our humaneness

222 mace 2Drtbodoip in tbe ^outb
should be aroused on behalf of this unfortunate negro
people. We must, however, note carefully whether Pro
fessor Boas himself is altogether hopeful with regard to
the negro's capacity and ability.
The problem that interests us in America is not so
much the negro's ability to prove himself equal to the
demands likely to be made on him, but whether he is
able to meet all the important sorts of demands that
Caucasians have shown themselves able to meet. Grant
ing that negro licentiousness, lack of initiative, etc., are
probably due to social causes, we must ask ourselves two
further questions : i. Is it possible to remedy the negro's
social disabilities in this country, except through mixture
with the whites and ultimate obliteration of the color
line? 2. If the negro should be separated altogether from
the white race, will he be able to stand alone? If we
must give a negative answer to these questions, our
judgment with regard to the promise of aboriginal Afri
can traits will avail nothing.)
RACE MIXTURE
;(i) Through a process of domestication the primitive
races become assimilated to the civilized races.
(2) The desirability or undesirability of race mixture
between negroes and Caucasians should be known, for
the differences between the races will very probably tend
to disappear, and in time the negro race as such will dis
appear in America.
COMMENT ON (i) AND (2)
If Professor Boas is correct in thinking that domes
tication of the negro will ultimately break down the

''^bt e@ind of Primitibe 6©an" 223
color line and lead to the "solution" of the negro prob
lem through fusion of the races, he and other inves
tigators will find that the investigation cannot content
itself with a study of the "desirability or undesirability"
of racial intermixture. It will have to face another
problem: How can the whites, whose feeling of preju
dice against the negro is rapidly growing, be got to take
a cool, scientific view of the probable potency of negro
blood? Granted, for the sake of argument only, that
the negro is intrinsically, though as yet only potentially,
the equal of the white, can the white race be got to found
its attitude toward the negro race on a utilitarian-ethical
basis only, or will economic, aesthetic and historical rea
sons continue to operate against the full recognition of
the negro's probable worth ? Will present historical and
social and aesthetic prejudice against the negro be allayed
in any way when even ethnologists who are favorably
disposed toward primitives seem to admit the present
substantial inferiority of the negro race?
Even if it could be scientifically proved that an infu
sion of negro blood would help the white race, the preju
dice against a really great branch of the white race like
the Jews is sufficient warning to us not to confine our
discussion of race problems to the question of equality
or inequality of physical and mental endowment.
NEGRO INFERIORITY
(i) The detailed characteristics of a race will be re
produced in its descendants.
(2) Race-mixture and the negro's adaptability to our
environment are problematic matters.
(3) The negro's powers of assimilation of culture are
apparently less than those of the white race.

224 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ^outb
(4) The negroes would probably revert in large meas
ure to their primitive status if left unsupported by the
white race.
(5) The negroes will probably show for all time a
smaller proportion of great men than the white race
shows and has shown. COMMENT
These "five points" give us anything but a promising
outlook for the "desirabihty" of race-mixture. If the
negroes as a race are probably inferior to the whites
with regard to the powers of assimilation, the production
of great men, and the permanent stability of their cultural
acquirements, and if their adaptability to our culture is
a problematic matter; and, finally, if the negroid charac
teristics tend to persist, is it not the part of wisdom for
the white race to assume that there is enough intrinsic
inferiority in the negro race to justify the whites in ask
ing that science prove the actual desirability of race-mix
ture before the slightest encouragement is given to the
process of "amalgamation" ?
Professor W. B. Smith may be incorrect in his state
ment that Professor Boas' first paper contains nothing
to justify a change of Southern attitude with regard to
its belief in negro inferiority, but I think we should ad
mit in all candor that the burden of proof is thrown on
those who believe that there is no substantial inferiority
in the negro race. RACE PREJUDICE
(i) Race "feeling has certainly nothing to do with
the question of the vitality and ability of the negro."

''^bt fl^ind of Primitibe 90an" 225
(But belief in the negro's physical, mental and moral
inferiority may have something to do with race feeling.
Apparently one author's guarded admissions with regard
to negro disability are scarcely reassuring even to those
who are willing to view the idea of racial mixture from
a dispassionately scientific point of view. )
(2) One of the primary causes of race mixture is the
"increasing mobility of the negro."
(The proportion of mulattoes to negroes seems to be
much larger in the North and the border states than in
the South. The few instances of intermarriage of white
and colored occur at the North with the sanction of law.
However, the indications do not point toward the lessen
ing of race feeling at the North, but rather in the con
trary direction. Have we then any right to prophesy
that the social discrimination against the negro will ulti
mately die out? And can we view with equanimity the
idea that very light-colored mulattoes will increasingly
"lose themselves" in the white race, because of the fail
ure of the whites to distinguish superficial negroid traits?
If a slight infusion of negro blood will cause no deteri
oration in the white race, racial feeling may ultimately
become a negligible quantity. But until the people of this
country believe that even the slightest degree of mix
ture is innocuous, they will view with alarm any tendency
toward the diffusion of negro blood in the white race,
and probably race prejudice will more and more tend to
become race enmity.)
(3) Race "instinct" is not a "physiological dislike," as
is "proved by the existence of our large mulatto popula
tion." (But is not "physiological dislike" increasing? Be
sides, are our experiments in civilization to be based on
the indiscriminateness of the sexual instinct? At the

226 mace Drtbodoip in tbe %outb
best, brute passion tends toward perversion and lustful
orgies. Do we want our problem settled by allowing
lust to have its way? Of course, our author will answer
with us in the negative.)
(4) "Fear of the connubium" is at the basis of race-
feeling. (This is undoubtedly true, and there is a clear parallel
between Roman life and our own in this respect. [See
Appendix : notes on Coulanges' Ancient City] ) .
(S) "Emotions and reasonings are the same in every
respect," i.e., in present race-attitude in this country as
compared with that of ancient times.
(This statement may be correct, but I doubt it. Fear
of intermarriage and "corruption" of the blood is cer
tainly a feeling common to present and ancient times.
But surely the race- feeling of the twentieth century is a
phenomenon not really paralleled in ancient times. It
would be hard, perhaps, to state the differences in the
"emotions and reasonings" ; but I doubt if we can reason
ably assume that the racial self-consciousness of to-day
makes no difference in the attitude of the "higher" races
toward those that are less developed. "Races" are not
to be treated as "social classes." Indeed, one of the most
important features of the investigation of the negro
problem that ought to be made is just this complex race-
consciousness of "Teutonic" peoples.)
(6) The peculiarity of the race-attitude of to-day con
sists in the whites' "retaining a distinct social status in
order to avoid race-mixture."
( Even so : and our author might go further and in
sist on a careful study of the relations of social "rights"
to political and civic rights, because, in the South, at
least, it seems to be assumed that all the "equalities" are
at bottom based on potential social equality.

^'€^bt e@ind of Primitibe 6©an" 227
If a careful scientific observer like Professor Boas
should study the race-feeling of the Southern whites, I
think he would find that belief in the racial inferiority of
the negroes is common to practically all whites of the
South. Scientific investigation must give unequivocal
proofs of the negro's practical equality with the whites
with respect to body and mind before the "prejudice"
features of the fear of racial intermixture can be at all
reasonably attacked.
Under the circumstances should we attempt to weaken
the "color line" in any respect? That is the real race
question. If mixture of the races can be proved to have
no deleterious effect; if it can be shown that the ab
sorption of the negro population by the whites would
not lower the potency of white blood, then there would
at least be room for argument. But, zvith a reasonable
presumption against negro "equality," nothing should be
done that even squints at the ultimate obliteration of
Southern race-consciousness. Here we stand squarely
with Professor W. B. Smith and others that agree with
him.) STUDY OF THE RACE PROBLEM
( I ) We should be ashamed that our government and
our great institutions of scientific research have not
studied the negro question.
(2) Practically the whole work of investigation of
race-mixture needs to be done.
COMMENT
Professor Boas' plea for the study of the race ques
tion is the most notable thing in his book. The race

228 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
question is a problem, as he clearly sees. Even if the
study of race-mixture be by no means the only important
item to be investigated, a judicial, scientific pronounce
ment on that matter alone would be of incalculable ad
vantage. It would sharpen the whole issue, as well as
give us some practical data to work with. So long as
"race-prejudice" is largely based on belief in negro in
feriority — and Professor Boas could hardly claim to have
deprived that belief of all validity — we should be very
cautious in attempting to modify a race feeling that
probably has a rational basis.
The real strength of race- feeling in the South does
not, of course, reside in race-enmity, nor even in race-
pride, but rather in the conscientious belief that under
lies Professor W. B. Smith's "plea for the unborn."
Nor must we underrate the significance of strong feel
ing, even when it leads to excess of rhetoric and "emo
tional clamor." Feeling affects votes and policies; and
so long as it cannot be shown that feeling has no prob
able validity, sympathy for "primitives" and abstract be
liefs in the equality of human "rights" have no sort of
chance for victory as opposed to race "prejudice."
I daresay that Professor Boas and other prominent
men of science are quite ready to admit that the psychol
ogy of race-attitude is a very important phase of the race
question and needs careful scientific study. Hence, in
the division of labor that must obtain when a systematic
scientific, cooperative research is organized, we may
safely assume, I think, that all thoughtful scientific men
will welcome the inclusion of psychological and socio
logical study in the scope of the investigation.
Should science show, in spite of the reasonable pre
sumption to the contrary, that the absorption of the
negroes within the white population could produce no

''^bt a^ind of primitibe Q^an" 229
serious consequences, it may be, nevertheless, that im
partial science will come to see the inadvisability of
having race-friction continue for a long period of years
because of a tenacious race-consciousness based on
aesthetic distaste, economic competition, growing "physi
ological dislike," and perhaps other factors that may be
pointed out by an investigation. The agitation in Cali
fornia against the Japanese is itself of sufficient diagnos
tic and prognostic importance to demand immediate sci
entific study.
Pending the organization of scientific investigation of
the negro problem, it is to be hoped that we shall have
more books like that of Professor Boas, the temper of
which is so admirable and its statements so authorita
tive and judicial, even though their speculative element
must necessarily be large.

C. Views in a Club.
I. CLUB FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEGRO
QUESTION
(Nov., 191 1. Read before a club.)
Nowadays, to the making of clubs there is no end.
Many of them have no sufficient reason for existence.
When, therefore, several very busy men undertake to
establish a new club they ought, in the interest of their
reputation for sane common sense, to give a clear-cut
reason for their action. Having been requested by the
original promoter of the club to give some sort of apol
ogy for the club's desire to live, I propose to put forward
several questions that would seem to be pertinent, and
attempt to give definite and rational answers that may
prove suggestive to the members.
I. Is a club for the study of the negro question an
undertaking that is worth while in itself?
Yes: because the negro question is intensely human
and hence interesting ; connected with the welfare of the
club members and their families, community, state and
nation, and hence practically important; obscured by
clouds of passion and prejudice and vapors of sentimen
tality and cynicism, and therefore needing the genial and
stimulating light of moral and intellectual tolerance and
open-mindedness. On account of the national importance of our study,
in case we attempt it seriously, Vicksburg is a peculiarly
appropriate place for the projected club. The Vicksburg
National Military Park threads its way between city and
230

Club for Studp of iQegro ilXuestion 231
county domain, between private property and church
property, and its outlook tower, hard by a school for
Christian education, is a symbol that our club might well
adopt as expressive of our desire to look calmly over
the situation from a standpoint that includes within its
horizon city and county, state and section, and our nation
upon which the stars look down so peacefully to-day,
but whose peace and higher prosperity have often been
endangered and may yet again be threatened by the situ
ation that President Taft speaks of as "the most serious
facing the American people."
II. What can we expect to gain from such a study?
Besides the considerations already adduced, we may
expect to bring about one or all of the following results :
The better understanding of study material close to
hand ; the production of a typical club that may stimulate
the formation of others like unto it; the demonstration
that typical callings like medicine, business, the ministry
and teaching can work successfully together on a prob
lem that affects our entire civilization. Who knows that
this club may not be the beginning of a scientific, prac
tical and Christian study of the negro problem by the
qualified people of this whole country?
III. Why should we study the negro question just at
this time?
Because it is the dominant question in the economic,
social, political and religious life of our state and the
South, and perhaps the most serious problem that con
fronts the nation, the church and humanity. Further
more, a presidential election is coming on and promises to
result in the election of a man of fearless and inde
pendent, truth-loving spirit.* With an occupant of the
presidential chair who is at once a scholar, a patriot and
?Governor Woodrow Wilson.

232 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
a practical man of affairs, and at the same time one who
has a Christian spirit and a humanitarian outlook, we
may expect a thoroughgoing attempt to have our national
problems studied disinterestedly and scientifically. Fur
thermore, this question will likely engage the attention
of the Triennial Convention of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, a church that seems determined to claim its
responsibility toward the negro race, and which is in
close touch with the national church of England, whose
leaders are also facing a great question of race in South
Africa. IV. What shall be the scope of our study?
We should use the typical material that Vicksburg
locally commands — hill and delta ; city and country ; river
traffic and railroad lines; Mississippi and Louisiana.
Then, too, we should use the special interests and talents
of our members, who are unusually representative of the
various points of view from which the question may be
studied. One can reach material of the economic and
legal kind; another, material medical and anthropologi
cal; another, facts pertaining to religious, moral and
ecclesiastical matters ; the fourth, psychological and edu
cational data.
V. What shall be our method ?
As in the preceding question, so in this and others that
follow, the club itself will have to determine what it
wants to do. The suggestions here given are simply
tentative and suggestive. I would suggest, in order to
start the discussion in definite fashion, that the following
phases be considered in our planning : i . That the mem
bers take turns in leading the discussion, preferably
through papers, and that each be furnished with a copy
of the paper that is read. 2. That the papers be based
on observations, conversations, letters, readings, as well

Club for ^tudp of laegro Question 233
as on well-ascertained first-hand facts when they can be
got. 3. That a record be kept of the discussions. 4.
That a schedule for eight meetings be arranged, consist
ing of one paper from each member of the club as at
present constituted, followed by a paper or discussion
based on the members' papers, by some invited guest
who is well qualified to add something to the discussion.
5. That whenever the club is unanimously of the opinion
that a visitor would be of service in the discussion of
the topic, efforts be made to have such a person attend.
6. That our proceedings and the record thereof be so
conducted that it will be possible to prepare our results,
or some portion of them, for publication, without undue
expenditure of time and effort.
VI. How can we secure among ourselves a fair, im
partial and disinterested attitude with regard to the ques
tion before us ?
By cultivating a mental attitude formed by something
like the following processes: Full, frank and explicit
statement of views; sincere self-criticism and patient
submission to the incisive criticism of others; sifting and
verifying all alleged facts; questioning all generaliza
tions; willingness to doubt views not sustained by veri
fied facts; eschewing right heartily the vice of infalli
bility with regard to our own feelings, impressions, views
and habitual attitudes.
VII. With whom shall we cooperate?
With those who can probably be got to favor and pro
mote a scientific and a Christian study of the question.
Professional philanthropy and dilettante juggling with
statistics should be no more to our taste than partisan
politics and effervescent emotionalism. Careful workers
like Hoffman, Boas, DuBois and Odum, even though
they may have their personal views that we need not

234 mace ^rtbodo£? in tbe ^outb
accept, can help us because of their sincerity and their
fitness to do investigational work. Some of the promi
nent church leaders hold balanced and statesmanlike po
sitions and can aid us in our study of the relation of
Christianity to our problem. Occasionally we may find
one who is not a professed student of the problem, but
who is nevertheless well qualified by temperament and
experience and native insight to further our study. It
should be a part of our task to get into touch with repre
sentatives of the classes just mentioned, and to help
them as well as try to be helped by them.
VIII. Shall we set forth the basal assumptions on
which we proceed? If so, what are they?
Yes, we should be clearly conscious of what we regard
as necessary fundamental assumptions, if we would avoid
cross-purposes and the generation of heat rather than
light. What these assumptions are must be determined later.
Just now I shall venture to state two that I regard as all-
important: I. We should hold to the general principles
of organic, psychical and social evolution as indicated in
the celebrated phrases. Natural Selection and The Sur
vival of the Fittest. We must regard ourselves as a
chosen people, and therefore with no right to lower the
standard of our race and nation. 2. We should firmly
hold to the broad principles of Christianity and De
mocracy, and the sane principles of liberty, equality and
fraternity which spring from Christian and democratic
principles. I think that we dare not deny either the naturalistic or
the idealistic basis of modem thought. If these two
general assumptions do not seem to square with each
other, it behooves us to reconcile them as well as we may,
but on no account give up either of them. Nature and

Club for ^tudp of laegro Question 235
spirit cannot ultimately be at war. If we are merely
naturalistic, we shall assuredly be lacking in apprecia
tion of the spiritual values without which our civilization
is vain. If we take the spiritual point of view only, we
are in danger of leaving the truths of science out of
account, and these truths must come from the same
Author who is the Source of spiritual power.
There is a third assumption that is a necessary impli
cation of what has just been said, and which must be
held if we do not wish to indulge merely in more or less
pleasing intellectual exercise, — namely, that the so-called
neg^o question is a real problem, but one which can be
solved. IX. Having in our club representatives of the busi
ness, clerical, medical and psychological attitudes, shall
we call in representatives of the legal, literary and other
viewpoints ?
Yes, if our own little group, after assimilating one
another, believes that it can assimilate others sufficiently
like-minded with ourselves. Hence it is advisable for
us to understand one another pretty thoroughly before
attempting to introduce others who may waste our time
or who may have temperaments or attitudes that cannot
be got to work harmoniously with our own. We have
no monopoly of the negro question, and others are per
fectly free to discuss the question and form clubs in
any way they may wish. Hence, under the heading of
"organization," I shall advocate plans that will tend to
keep our club from dissipating its energies and yet at
the same time keep itself in touch with the very best
thought on the subject in which we are interested.
X. What shall be our organization?
Again I give a few suggestions merely for the purpose
of starting the discussion, for the club itself ought to

236 mace flDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
determine its own organization, after each member has
been heard fully.
I. Meetings every fortnight, on a definite night of
the week.
2. Meetings held in rotation at the members' homes.
3. Definite time-limit for adjournment.
4. Host to notify members and guests on the day of
the meeting, and to act as chairman.
5. Agreement as to nature and time of refreshments
(evening meal?).
6. No new members without unanimous consent.
7. No new member to be elected until he has visited
the club at least three times, and has agreed to the plans
and procedure of the club.
8. Invitations to guests only by unanimous consent.
9. No publicity to proceedings except by unanimous
consent.* 10. No dues, except payment of the expenses of visi
tors and special dues by unanimous consent.
If the club wishes it I shall present orally a list of
subjects, with suggestions as to the points needing inves
tigation; also a list of speakers and topics for the next
eight meetings, alternating members and visitors in such
wise that there will be two discussions on each topic, one
led by a member and another by a visitor.
I am also prepared to give a list of books that are
accessible, most of which I have worked over quite care
fully. If each member can procure a book or two, we
shall easily be able to get access to the chief works on
the subject that are worth while.
?Acting in the spirit of this paper, I secured the consent of
each member of the club before making public use of club material.
I thank these gentlemen for giving their cordial consent.

Club for ^tudp of Begro ilXuestion 237
I may also state that I have written a number of papers
on our subject and shall be glad to have the members
make use of them. They may not have much value, but
will at least prove suggestive, coming as they do from
one who has made a somewhat special study of the ques
tion during the last eight years.

II. PROCEEDINGS OF THE WATCHTOWER
CLUB
(Dec. I, 1911, to Jan. 12, 1912)
(These notes are given simply as a "sample." I wish to thank
the members of the club for permission to publish these "minutes.")
The club began its existence in this wise: A certain
clergyman was very much interested in the discussion in
the Episcopal church relative to the negro, and found
himself anxious to know more about the whole subject.
Finding that a certain psychologist and educator whom
he had come to know well had been working on the negro
question for eight years, said clergyman proposed one
evening that an informal club be organized, to consist
of four members : the clergyman, the educator, a promi
nent physician, and a prominent business man — all na
tive Southerners (a Virginian, a South Carolinian, and
two Mississippians), all Democrats and all Episcopal
ians. The proposer further suggested that meetings be
held every fortnight after the evening meal; that each
member entertain in turn; that no publicity be given to
the meetings; that no more members be added until the
four charter members had assimilated one another's
views; that the educator formulate a plan for the first
meeting. The clergyman agreed to speak to the others
mentioned for membership.
Here follow brief notes of the meetings; the papers
read; the discussions held; and other matters more or
238

Proceedings of matcbtoUier Club 239
less pertinent to the club and its purpose. Roman figures
refer to meetings, Arabic figures to remarks made by
individuals. I. (Dec. I, 191 1 )
One absent ; one tired ; one the host ; the fourth, reader
of the outiine plan.
The following paper was read by the psychologist-
educator: (See paper by T. P. B. Title— Club for the
Study of the Negro Question.)

DISCUSSION
Paper and its plan approved. Some talk about books
mentioned by the writer of the paper. Desultory discus
sion. Net result: Recommendations of paper adopted;
supper voted successful; tired man got a little livelier
after digestion got a headway; amicable adjournment.
II. (Dec. 16, 191 1 )
All members present. Prominent ecclesiastic of the
Episcopal church also present as invited guest. Chair
man explains object of club to guest.
REMARKS OF THE GUEST
I am especially, and naturally, interested in the spirit
ual side of this question, for it is fundamental, in all deep
human questions, and especially in this one wherein the
interests of civilization and Christianity are at stake.
Trying to make a hopeful start in the discussion, I
want to say that I think the negro is gaining industrially

240 mace Drtbodojp in tbe ^outb
and morally through industrial education. (Here the
guest mentioned several towns in his state where negro
farming is improving on account of the work of negro
industrial schools.) It is interesting and important to
note that white people who have been opposed to the
negro industrial schools in these communities are now
among their warmest friends.
The only apparently valid objections that I have heard
urged against these schools is that their graduates do not
become better laborers and cooks and nurses working for
the whites in the community, but go out into "higher
class" occupations. I regard this as inevitable, in the
case of both whites and blacks. The demand for trained
labor is larger than the supply, and we cannot expect
these trained negroes not to be snapped up by those who
need them in more technical and more highly paid work.
As I started out by saying, the spiritual aspect of the
question is all-important. The best industrial schools
will amount to nothing if character is not improved by
them; but it so happens that training for honest labor
is the best introduction to spiritual culture, especially in
a race that has not learned the dignity of labor. Many
individuals in the South are willing to give the negro
industrial education, but balk at giving them the suf
frage. In my opinion, such political questions are not
important. The suffrage is not a right, but a privilege.
Usefulness and happiness do not depend on it. With
holding the suffrage is a matter of social expediency.
Real freedom comes through the freedom of spiritual
life. Religion frees men from sin, wrong, materialism,
ignorance, which are the things that really enslave. The
suffrage does not free the real spirit. Onesimus was
a freeman of Christ, though he remained a slave.

Proceedings of mmtbtomi Club 241
DISCUSSION
I. Do not civilization, democracy and Christianity
include political privileges in their program of freedom?
2. Yes, and these privileges ought to come in time;
but they are not now socially expedient.
3. The trouble is that most whites in substance de
cline to look on the negro as a fellowman in any worth
while way. This is the crux of the question, and spirit
ual freedom can hardly come- under such circumstances.
I see little hope for the negro's advance in civilization
when I reflect that the negro enjoyed intercourse with
the high civilization of North Africa for generations, but
seemed to get nothing from it.
4. We know very little of what they did get. Indeed,
white civilization of that region and of many others
seemed to get wiped out, leaving very little behind. The
average modern Greek bears little resemblance to the
free Athenian citizen of the age of Pericles. Besides,
African tribes did seem to gain something from the
Arabs they came into contact with, for the tribes with
Arab blood seem to be the highest. And it may be that
environmental influence as well as inherited traits helped
to bring these favored tribes up to a higher standard.
5. Ancient civilization had too little spirituality to
do much for the negro or any other subordinate people.
6. Perhaps; but, as Bryce and Boas point out, our
modem race prejudice seemed to be little in evidence in
ancient times ; and negroes probably had as good a chance
proportionately as had any other subordinate people.
We find no ancient records of prejudice against the
negroes. But it is precarious to draw any conclusions
from a situation that we know so little about, more
especially as we find it only too difficult now to draw

242 mace flDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
any satisfactory conclusions about any present aspect
of the negro question, even when prejudice does not
blind us.
7. This whole problem is complicated by the fact
that there are very few pure negroes.
8. There are, I think, very many negroes who are
near enough full-blooded to count as pure negroes for
all practical purposes. Those extremists who deny that
there are any full-blooded negroes should apply their de
ductions to the whole human race. There are no pure
races anywhere. However, it is no doubt true that some
branches of the white race amalgamate with the negroes
more readily than do others, and there may be biological
reasons for the fact. Undoubtedly one of our members
was right in saying that the psychology of race prejudice
is fundamental in the discussion of the whole question,
and another member may be right in holding that there
is a biological reason for differences in race prejudice.
Some ethnologists hold that the "Mediterranean race"
in prehistoric times got an infusion of negro blood.
Others think that the Japanese have negro blood in
them. If these authorities are right, we should not in
discriminately claim that amalgamation leads to bad
biological and psychological results. However, this
phase of the question need not concern us practically,
for the Southern whites will not entertain the idea of
amalgamation, and none of us wants them to do so.
Opposition to amalgamation, now and hereafter, and
disbelief in the advisability or the practical possibility of
it, are two of the planks in the club's platform of assump
tions wherewith we begin the study of the negro question.

Proceedings of ^atcbtotoer Club 243
m. (Dec. 28, 191 1 )
No guest present. The business man discussed in
formally :
Treatment of the Negro in the Courts
The negro is better treated in Virginia than in Missis
sippi. Older traditions and fewer negroes.
In a certain locality well known to me negroes are
convicted for the same crimes committed under the same
conditions and through the same kind and amount of
proof, — ^I claim, I say, that negroes are convicted under
conditions practically identical with those that lead to
acquittal of whites. This is notoriously true of trials for
murder. (Here the business man gave some illustra
tions. )
2. But are not whites prosecuted and sometimes con
victed for crimes that negroes are not even prosecuted
for, — for instance, bigamy ?
3. Yes ; but that indicates how little the whites regard
the sacredness of family life among the negroes.
4. I for one cannot help taking up for the negroes
on occasions when they are unjustly treated in my own
town; but when I go North I am not willing to admit
that negroes are generally unfairly treated in the South.
5. Yes, many Southern writers and speakers seem to
share your attitude on the subject. They do not feel
called on to tell the whole truth, even when telling noth
ing but the truth. And when one does not tell the whole
tmth he is more than likely to tell the truth he does tell
in discriminating fashion that may really lead to obscura
tion of substantial truth. What we need are facts and
figures properly explained, and a belief that the whole
truth is best in the long run.

244 mace SDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
6. I have little faith in facts and figures in such mat
ters as this. White men are declared to be innocent be
cause "whites are not criminal" ; negroes are declared to
be "criminal in nature," and hence in the interests of
society should not have the benefit of the doubt. There
is always a precedent presumption of the white man's
innocence and the negro's guilt, and hence "facts and
figures" mean nothing.
7. True enough, facts and figures may be misin
terpreted; but if we had stenographic accounts of trials
and all the circumstances of the cases detailed, even a
few typical cases would show whether or not race preju
dice interfered with true judgments. If we are to give
up truth-seeking simply because it is hard to establish
the truth, our club has no reason for existence. If truth-
loving conservatives will band themselves together
throughout the length and breadth of the South, radical
public opinion cannot hurt it, provided the conservatives
convince the radicals, as they can very easily, that con
servatives believe as much in white supremacy as the
radicals do, and are as averse to amalgamation and to
sentimental philanthropic abstractions. But so long as
educated and morally enlightened people stifle the truth
and put local patriotism or "economic necessity" before
the white light of truth, we cannot hope to have the
negro problem studied. Give us a number of actual
parallel cases wherein whites and blacks, respectively,
are concerned, and let the record speak for itself. If
the United States Government did not take care of cases
of peonage. Southerners going North on a visit would
be ordinarily unwilling to admit the existence of peon
age at the South. Even as things are, when Northerners
come South we carefully distract their attention from
the raw places in our civilization, for they readily re-

Proceedings of matcbtotoer Club 245
spond to our well-known urbanity and hospitality. They
pass by cases of practical peonage right under their
noses, because they do not know where, when, or how
to look for them, unless such cases are very gross and
plainly illegal, so that evidence is well on the surface.
8. But isn't it perfectly evident from a study of
lynchings that the blacks suffer from race prejudice?
9. Yes, to us that know all the circumstances. But
how often do we know the circumstances, and how much
better is a case at law where we can obtain accurate
results and can study the phenomena at our leisure?
Moreover, isn't it dangerous for us to take sides against
our ozvn people without having a great mass of indis
putable facts and figures to sustain us? Finally, what
we think is not so important as what we can prove. Who
knows that lynchings are due to race hatred rather than
to fear that the negroes will rebel against the whites?
Isn't there much of something akin to hysteria about
lynchings? And should we risk our case on such ab
normal phenomena, when we can get accurate facts in
the courts ? If the South is to lead in this investigation,
let us begin by telling the whole truth and shaming the
devil. It is not enough to get facts and figures: we
need to get detail, accurately taken and transcribed, with
all the attendant circumstances. Further: we must not
claim that a large humanitarian question concerns us
alone. Such Bourbonism does not fit the twentieth cen
tury, and the world will no more admit our claim than
it did in the case of slavery.
Our club members are all Southern sympathizers, and
believe in the substance of the Southem contention. But
are we prepared to give a reason for the faith that is in
us? And are we prepared to study this question scien
tifically? If so, we must away with suppression of

246 mace Drtbodojcp in tbe @outb
truth. If we have a case, let us stand by the facts, all
the facts, and nothing but the facts, so help us God.
Let us take the lead in this investigation, not only be
cause we are most concerned, but also because we have
nothing to conceal and are willing for science to probe
to the uttermost. Covering up yellow- fever did not pay ;
assuredly attempts to hide any portion of the truth will
lead to failure and shame, and will hopelessly discredit
us in the eyes of humanity.
IV. (Jan. 12, 1912)
No one was ready with a paper. A distinguished
guest was fortunately present. We discovered that he
had a paper on the need of more missionary effort on
behalf of the negroes. So we prevailed on him to read
his paper. DISCUSSION
The paper may reach our records ultimately. But we
must content ourselves now with a few notes furnished
by one of our number who had been asked to make sug
gestions with regard to the paper.
I. I don't think it quite accurate to say that there is
any degree of growing skepticism and cynicism among
the negroes. Most of them, even among the higher
classes, don't know enough philosophy to be either skep
tics or cynics. They are becoming more careless and
indifferent, less docile and reverent, more interested in
other things, especially their lodges, as shown by Dr.
H. W. Odum in his recent book.
2. In regard to such an expression as "persecuting
the church," I should prefer to say that Episcopalians

proceedings of ^atcbtotoer Club 247
among the negroes must run the gauntlet of social criti
cism and sneering because they are few in number and
clearly marked off aesthetically and socially from the
great masses of their fellow-religionists. Whether this
can be called "persecution" in any sense is a question.
3. When our honored guest says that race culture
leads to race pride, and that to race segregation, he is
speaking of a tendency native to most of us of the
dominant race. Our pride is based on belief in our
superiority. Does the negro really believe in his superi
ority as a race? And, on the other hand, is the superior
negro trying to claim that his race is equal to the white
man or superior to him, or is he not rather claiming his
own superiority to the majority of the whites that he
personally knows, but who pretend to be his social supe
riors? Do not these superior negroes want to segregate
with their spiritual kind rather than with low, illiterate
people of their own race? Are they willing to throw in
their lot entirely with the lower race? All these ques
tions may conceivably be answered in the affirmative,
or in the negative; but I am not willing to state that
race culture will have this or that effect when I know
that the leaders among the negroes differ among them
selves on this question, and when some of them are in
censed at being treated as members of a race rather than
as gentlemen by the grace of God. Segregation and
race patriotism are easy in the absence of physical pro
pinquity, but not so easy in the physical presence of a
dominant race that will on no account admit the rights
of personality for its own sake regardless of race, color
and previous condition of servitude.
4. In this whole discussion what has been said of
our duty to evangelize the negro and our duty of prac
ticing Christian love is all right, but we must remember

248 mace i)rtbodO£? in tbe @outb
that neither Christianity alone nor science alone can
solve a problem like this. We need the motive of the
Christian and the method of the man of science.
Another member of the club made some trenchant
remarks as to the unfitness of the Episcopal church to
deal with the emotional negro. But it was pointed out
that the English church does deal with them successfully
in Uganda, in Jamaica and elsewhere, and that the
Roman Catholics know how to deal with them. Be
sides this, as our guest well said, the Episcopal church
need not impose on the negro the exact liturgical and
dogmatic culture that it bestows on its white members.
Other worth-while remarks were made by other mem
bers, but the scribe was not forehanded enough to get
them down.

III. THE NEGRO FROM THE PHYSICIAN'S
POINT OF VIEW
(Syllabus prepared at the request of a prominent physician.)
"It would be impossible, as well as unnecessary, in a
contribution of this character to review in detail the
general physiological peculiarities which distinguish the
negro from the white man. The same general complaint
must be entered here as in dealing with other phases of
the comparative study of the race — ^viz., the abundance
of personal impressions and lack of actually recorded
facts."— Rudolph Matas, M.D., "The Surgical Peculiari
ties of the Negro," in "Transactions of the American
Surgical Association," 1896, p. 504.
The following are a few samples of the kind of. ulti
mate questions that need to be asked from the point of
view of the scientific and practical physician who believes
that the settlement of the negro question is dependent in
large measure on the physical possibilities of the negro
race: I. Is the negro becoming adapted to his environment,
physical and social? Does he show adaptability superior
to that shown by other backward races? Is there any
indication in his physiological functions and in his
anatomical structure that he is capable of standing the
strain of civilization? In his physical nature is there
any indication that he will be unable to found an inde
pendent civilization of his own?
249

250 mace ^rtbodo£? in tbe ^outb
2. Is he showing physical improvement or is he de
generating? If the latter, is the degeneration due to
his inherent unfitness or is it due to preventable causes?
Is there any indication that the process of degeneration
can be arrested by proper hygienic and sanitary meas
ures? 3. What are the differences between negroes and
whites that seem to have a bearing on the general ques
tion? (Color and hair, for instance, seem to be more
stable than feature.) How far are the differences struc
tural and how far functional? (For instance, cranial
sutures and their alleged premature ossification.)
4. Has the negro any strong potentialities as a race?
Is it true that he has physical qualities that fit him for
some particular phase of the world's work and progress ?
5. What are the real effects of admixture of white
blood? Is it likely that mixture of negro with Mongo
lian would have good results? (The Japanese, for in
stance, are thought to have negro blood. ) Can anything
really definitely scientific be ascertained as to the stamina
of the mulatto? As the mulatto merges into the negro
through successive darkenings, does the resultant mix
ture show improvement or does it show physical weak
ness or degeneration?
6. Through the processes of natural selection will
the negro rise by means of the superior qualities of the
minority of the race or will the majority assimilate the
minority to itself, with a final result of degeneration?
7. Is there anything in the medical and surgical
aspect of the question that will throw light on the negro's
educability? Does he stand the confinement and the
strain of education as well as the white race does ? Does
he really show a slowing down of intelligence at the

jQegro from Pbgsician's point of J^ieto 251
stage of adolescence, or is this true only of a certain
proportion of the race?

SPECIAL QUESTIONS
I. DIATHESIS, TEMPERAMENT, ETC.
I. Temperament. What real facts go to show that
the negro has a racial temperament (lymphatic, accord
ing to Matas and others) ? Is there something of the
"peristaltic" about the negro's movements and reactions?
Are his apparent indifference and laziness in part due to
this peristaltic type of reaction? Is he losing his primi
tive "temperament"? Has his apparent "fibroid diath
esis" anything to do with his "lymphatic temperament,"
or are both these expressions vague guesses ?
2. Characteristic Diseases. Can a connection be
traced between the negro's supposed temperament and
the kinds of diseases relatively peculiar to him? Is he
losing his supposed peculiarities with regard to charac
teristic diseases? Does he show any peculiarities with
regard to stimulants and narcotics? Does his "temper
ament" show itself in his behavior under the influence
of drugs? Has he "favorite medicines"? Is there any
indication that he needs to be treated medicinally in a
different way from white people?
3. Degeneration. Does he show characteristic ab-
normaHties? Are they in any wise diathetic? Are his
stigmata of degeneration as pronounced as in the case
of the whites? Does he increasingly show a tendency
to develop these stigmata? How does he compare with
the whites as to idiocy and insanity? Is there any real
indication that the so-called strain of civilization is tell
ing on the negroes? Is there much difference in this

252 mace ^rtbodoxp in tbe ^outb
respect between the negroes and the mulattoes? (Com
parison of negroes and mulattoes is implied in all these
questions. )
4. Vitality. Is the loss of fertility among the ne
groes an indication of degeneracy, or simply due to such
causes as are normal to civilization? Is this loss in
creasing, decreasing or stationary ? If the negro retains
his "lymphatic temperament" (admitting, for the sake of
argument, that the race naturally has such a temper
ament), is it likely to characterize a race that has such a
diathesis as the negro has? Is the negro's strong sex
uality and the supposed "freshness" of the female geni
tals a factor in fertility? If so, is there reason to believe
that the negro will increase in fertility when he becomes
more hygienic?
Is there any relation between fertility and vitality and
stamina? Is the negro's supposed loss of stamina due
to causes not inherent in his raciality, but rather due to
temporary maladjustment to his environment? Is he
holding his own well, as to stamina, fertility, etc., con
sidering his handicaps? Would the white race do any
better under similar circumstances?
Is the negro's continence increasing or decreasing?
Is there any relation between degeneration and incon
tinence? Is there indication that prostitution is on the
increase, and that a measure of the decrease in fertility
is due to this cause?
5. Development. Does the negro show any peculiari
ties with regard to adolescence, senescence, the climac
teric, etc. ? What are the facts with regard to the sup
posed arrest of brain development at puberty?

iQegro from Pbpsician's point of mt\si 253
II. VITAL STATISTICS
Will it be possible to study a group, of negro house
holds intensively, so that some approximation may be
made to a qualitative explanation of its vital statistics?
Figures often are susceptible of misinterpretation unless
we can check them through intensive study of small
groups. Some of the data that should be studied intensively:
Birth rate, infant mortality, death rate, mortality of
mulattoes as compared with approximately pure negroes.
See Willcox in "Bulletin of U S. Census for 1910,"
also in Stone's "American Race Problem."
III. ANTHROPOLOGICAL
Under this head would it be possible to study a small
group of school children intensively, and perhaps a hos
pital group and a family group? Such data as skeleton,
skull, lung capacity, hair, color, muscular and glandular
development, and the like.
No ethnological and anthropological study of the in
tensive type has ever been made. Such a study would
prove immensely suggestive, would lead to special studies,
would check the evidence from statistics, and so on.
IV. HYGIENIC AND SANITARY
Here, again, would it be possible to study a group of
homes, so that exact data could be obtained? In this
and other studies could the cooperation of colored physi
cians be obtained and their statements duly checked?
Could prominent negroes be got to cooperate in some

254 mace flDrtbodoip in tbe Soutb
such investigation, or could the thing be done without
their full cooperation ?
Here are some of the points: Personal hygiene; diet;
clothing; ventilation; disposal of refuse; heat and cold;
sleep; sexual habits; endurance in work and play; hy
gienic treatment of children, especially infants and ado
lescents.
V. PSYCHOLOGY
Could medical practitioners collect important psycho
logical data such as come within their scope, such as
the self-control, energy, foresight, excitement, emotion,
etc., of the negro? Also such traits as are shown in
telling symptoms, obeying directions, nursing, criminal
ity, childishness, hoodlumism, and the like?
The most useful psychological facts are those that are
most evidently connected with bodily condition. Hence
the physician's data ought to be the most useful to the
psychologist, if they are exact and minute. Psychologi
cal facts are of little use unless they are microscopically
exact and are recorded at once. Experiments show that
the memory cannot be trusted in these matters.
The above questions are, of course, intended simply
to connect this phase of the study with a general point
of view and to indicate some of the things that those of
us who have been studying this question a long time want
to know.

IV. THE NEGRO AND THE EPISCOPAL
CHURCH
(Prepared at the request of a well-known clergyman.)
I. Nature of the negro.
II. What the church has done.
III. What the church is doing.
IV. What the church might do.

NATURE OF THE NEGRO
I. Instinctive Tendencies of the Negro (see paper
by T. P. B., read before Southern Psychological So
ciety at Chattanooga, Dec, 19 lo.) // the negro is sen
sational rather than relational, emotional ("affective")
rather than intellectual; if science, law and theology are
not his strong points; if he has to be trained to them in
a way not necessary with the Caucasian race, — is the
ordinary machinery of the Episcopal church likely to
do much for him?
Is the negro gregarious, appropriative and expressive,
rather than responsive, perceptive and assertive (and so
on with higher tendencies) ?
2. Psychological Processes of the Negro. Does the
negro show strong affective qualities (pleasure, pain,
sensitivity, emotion) ? Is he weak in intellect (imagina
tion, imitation, assimilation) ? Is his so-called imitative
ness nothing but gregariousness? Is his supposed im-
255

256 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ^outb
aginativeness only expressiveness? Is his power of as
similation, such as it is, only the mere associative process
connected with innate appropriativeness ?
Is he weak in attention power, persevering endeavor,
constancy in pursuit? If so, he is deficient in will.
Does he show the deep character attitudes of interest,
belief and anticipation? For instance, is his "interest"
in heaven a real power of imagination and anticipative
hope, or is it a merely sensuous complex of organic sen
sations ?
If the negro shows unbridled affectivity rather than
intellectuality and volition, is this due to his immaturity
or is it due to innate weakness?
Whatever the cause, if we attribute lack of intellect
and will to the negro, will it be possible to Christianize
him by predominantly intellectual and volitional culture?
In discussing this question must we make a decided
difference between real negro and mulatto? Are negro
Episcopalians nearly all mulattoes? Are negro church
men prevailingly low church, making due allowance for
circumstances, or do they simply "ape" the whites ?
II
WHAT THE CHURCH HAS DONE
I. How much do we know of the real Christianity
and churchmanship of the negroes under slavery? Did
the clergymen of antebellum times use different methods
for the negroes than those employed for the whites?
Was their churchmanship merely personal or was it really
institutional? Was it manners and morals, due to do
mestic training, or was it in any sense spiritual? Did
the negroes show any tendency under slavery to break

^bt iSegro and tbe episcopal Cburcb 257
away from the Episcopal church and go to other com
munions ?
2. Did the church change her methods when the
negroes were freed? Was change advisable? Have
missionary methods been extensively used in the evan
gelization of the negroes by the Episcopal church ? Has
the Episcopal church ever been aggressive in work among
the freemen? If so, where and what were the results?
Has there been any study of negro character on the part
of the church which is supposed to adapt her work to
the culture state and race characteristics of various
peoples? Ill
WHAT THE CHURCH IS DOING
I. In considering the needs of the negro — racial
bishops, etc. — ^has any account been taken of the negro's
characteristics ? Has there been any careful effort made
to determine (i) what the negro needs, and (2) what
the negro wants? Is anyone suggesting any changes
in the church's cult in adaptation to the negroes? Do
we really know anything much with regard to the "per
secution" of negro Episcopalians by their brethren of
other churches? Do negro Episcopalians have any con
fidence in the adaptability of the church to the negro
race? Is any study being made as to the methods of
the Church of England in the mission field ? What were
the methods in Uganda, for instance, and how much
real success did they achieve? How about other parts
of Africa and the West Indies ? When Church of Eng
land and other churches have an equal chance at the
negroes, which church gets hold of them best, and which

258 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
produces most satisfactory results in practical life and
character ? IV
WHAT THE CHURCH MIGHT DO
What might the church do? Make a careful study —
an exhaustive, detailed, expert study of results in one or
two parishes ? Try various discreet evangelistic methods
especially adapted to the negroes ? Get la3mien to cham
pion church work among the negroes? Prove to lay
men that the money put into negro schools and churches
is really bringing results that are better worth while than
the results would be if put into some other venture in
behalf of the negroes or of whites that do not know the
Episcopal church?
2. Can any "white" church do anything for the ne
groes in this country so long as the whites insist on keep
ing the negroes in a state of spiritual subordination?
Will white churchmen permit the church to offer the
negro full spiritual freedom in the future, a freedom
that applies to the whole man, — "privileges," such as the
full ecclesiastical suffrage, included? Do whites regard
the suffrage, social recognition of worthy individuals,
etc., as "privileges" to be accorded by one race to an
other, when it suits the convenience of the dominant race
to accord them? Are we asking the negro to live in a
fools' paradise that we would not be willing to live in
ourselves? Are we doing to them as we would have
them do to us? If not, why not? Shall we ask of them
a degree of "humility" and "patience" that we would
not ask of whites of similar grade of culture? If so,
why? Do we suppose that we can win the negroes by
segregating them absolutely in the church and then ex-

€^bt ii^egro and tbe episcopal Cburcb 259
pect them to obey our bishops and General Convention?
Are we willing to trust them with the espiscopate, which,
in its present form, is a product of Caucasian develop
ment? 3. Will the church leave the study of the negro ques
tion to purely secular agencies that care nothing about
the negro's soul? Is the church trying to get more
money for the work among the negroes when she does
not know what she can do for the negro, whether she
is doing anything worth while, or whether more money
is likely to produce better results ? Is it better to go on
"blindly" in the old ways, or spend some money studying
results, methods, character, and making a few careful
experiments under proper experimental conditions ? Are
the ecclesiastical and scholastic experiments being made
now really supervised so that real results can be studied ?
If so, where are the reports that go exhaustively into
the subject instead of dealing in large generalities or
picking out a few "typical" cases?
Shall we do as one of our bishops advises — do as we
are doing and leave "results" in the hand of Providence,
or shall we take it that Providence expects us to be provi
dent and foresighted and scientific in the Lord's work?
Shall our "faith" lack insight as well as sight? Have
we no faith in (jod's truth as declared by science ? What
results can we plead for the "Episcopalian" brand of
evangelization and education when we ask for money
for the negroes?

D. Negro Education: The Thought and the
Thing.
I. EDUCATION AND RACIAL EQUALITY
(Paper read before Southern Educational Association, Dec. 29,
1910, Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Education frees the soul of man. Freedom makes for
equality based on personal worth. Worth cannot main
tain itself unless its right to the pursuit of happiness is
unimpeded. The essence of happiness is social commun
ion. Communion in the social sphere is primarily based
on family life. The family rests on marriage. Hence
intermarriage of free, equal, worthy social individuals
is the natural or generic end of education. The Italian
peasant's grandson, educated in free America, and show
ing himself intellectually, ethically, economically and
aesthetically fit, marries the daughter of an old American
family. There is none to say nay. But a man of appar
ently equal character in every respect, except that he has
one-sixteenth negro blood in his veins, is debarred from
wedding his apparent equal if she belongs to the white
race. So long as the man with negro blood in his make
up knows that there is a great gulf fixed between him
and individuals of another race that seem to be of equal
or inferior character, he is not a free man. He is in
ferior in spite of his seeming superiority or equality, and
such a status is the veriest slavery of the soul. He is
deprived of his supposedly inalienable right to the pur
suit of happiness. In fine, all our higher life and all our
happiness are conditioned by fundamental biological facts.
Freedom to marry otie's personal equal is fundamental
260

education and macial Cqualit? 261
equality. Deprivation of this freedom is relegation to
the ranks of inferiority. The educated negro may say,
"I prefer the woman of my own race." Yes, but con
sider the Italian; he, too, naturally prefers to marry an
Italian. But make the Italian conscious of impending
marital inferiority for his descendants to the fourth and
fifth generation, let him realize that his inferiority is
not something that can be done away with through time
and education, and you are forthwith telling him that he
is being unfairly dealt with, for everyone knows that the
Italian race is one of the great races of the earth.
How is it with the negro? He cannot claim lineage
that is high. He cannot point to the great things that
his people are now accomplishing as an independent na
tion; one cannot tell him that science regards his race
as even potentially the equal of the white race. But one
does in effect say unto him, "Brother in Black, you are
brother only by conventional religious terminology; the
prejudice against you cannot be overcome because it has
a real biological basis."
And so we come to the nerve of the negro problem.
We promise the negro freedom through education, on
the one hand, and we take away from him the very
basis for equality and self-respect, on the other.
No real man pines because of not having social com
munion with people that do not welcome him, for he ordi
narily knows that the refusal to admit him into a given
social circle is but a superficial matter. Let him acquire
wealth, or polish, or fame, or something else that so-called
exclusive circles value, and he that was once rejected will
be welcome.
Many a humble man knows that his educated children
will rise to social heights not vouchsafed to him, and
he is therefore content with his lot, for he lives again

262 mace SDrtbodojp in tbe ©outb
in his children. But the negro's children have no fu
ture, except that bound up in their own race. Put him
where he will not be subject to treatment that brands
him every moment as a social inferior, and he can for
get the apparent arrogance of the white man. But a
definite status of inferiority, felt in daily contact, is one
that can be tolerated in patience and equanimity by no
free man. Negroes may say that they do not want con
ventional social recognition ; but if they mean what they
say they are proving their inferiority, and if they do
not mean what they say, there is no reason why we
should listen to their asseverations.
What I have been saying is, of course, predicated on
the assumption that all forms of equality are associated
in the free life of citizenship, and that in the long run
all depend upon social equality and intermarriage. In
order to take a test case, let us ask ourselves whether
political equality, which is being taken from the negro
with a pretense of legal fairness, is organically associ
ated with the general tendencies toward association and
fellowship ?
No one has studied democracy more fundamentally
than did Alexis de Tocqueville, whose great work on
American democracy is still a classic. Let us hear him
speak from several angles, in order to catch his full
thought :
"At the present time civic zeal seems to me to be
inseparable from the exercise of political rights. . . .
It is impossible that the lower orders should take a part
in public business without extending the circle of their
ideas, and without quitting the ordinary routine of their
mental acquirements. ... A government retains its
sway over a great number of citizens far less by the
voluntary and rational consent of the multitude than by

education and macial equality 263
that instinctive and to a certain extent involuntary agreo
ment which results from similarities of feelings and re
semblances of opinion. I will never admit that men
constitute a social body simply because they obey the
same head and the same laws. Society can only exist
when a great number of men consider a great number
of things in the same point of view; when they hold
the same opinions upon many subjects, and when the
same occurrences suggest the same thoughts and impres
sions to their minds. . . . Let us suppose that all the
members of the community take a part in the govern
ment, and that each one of them has an equal right to
take a part in it. As none is different from his fellows
none can exercise a tyrannical power : men will be per
fectly free because they will be entirely equal; and they
will all be perfectly equal because they will be entirely
free. To this ideal state democratic nations tend. . . .
The passion for equality penetrates on every side into
men's hearts, expands there, and fills them entirely. . . .
The great advantage of the Americans is that they have
arrived at a state of democracy without having to en
dure a democratic revolution; and that they are born
equal instead of becoming so. . . . If the object be to
have the local affairs of a district conducted by the men
who reside there, the same persons are always in con
tact, and they are, in a manner, forced to be acquainted,
and to adapt themselves to one another. ... If men
are to remain civilized, or to become so, the art of asso
ciating together must grow and improve in the same
ratio in which the equality of conditions is increased.
. . . When a people, then, have any knowledge of pub
lic life, the notion of association, and the wish to coal
esce, present themselves every day to the minds of the
whole community: whatever natural repugnance may

264 mace ^rtbodO]c? in tbe ^outb
restrain men from acting in concert, they will always be
ready to combine for the sake of a party. Thus politi
cal life makes the love and practice of association more
general; it imparts a desire of union, and teaches the
means of combination to numbers of men who would
have always lived apart. ... If at all times educa
tion enables men to defend their independence, this is
most especially true in democratic countries."
These and many like words of the great student of
spontaneous democracy brand our attempts to force de
mocracy with the arm of the law as peculiarly futile. De
Tocqueville evidently thought that democracy produced
"entire equality" and all that goes with it. And South
em instinct needs only to be translated into philosophic
language to say just what De Tocqueville meant and
said. Now, the time for argument about theoretic racial
equality has passed, not only at the South, where it
hardly ever existed even in the minds of the few, but
also in other parts of the country, which are rapidly
coming to take the Southern view of the whole matter.
Under these circumstances it is not surprising that many,
if not most, Southemers feel doubtful about the advis
ability of educating the negro for an unknown future.
When they say that what the negro needs is industrial
education they somehow feel that such education will fit
the negro for his "place," which, in their view, is some
thing akin to a status of peasantry. The South has little
heart in educating the negro. The North is suffering
from moral lassitude as to the whole subject. Some say,
both at the South and at the North, "Let the question
alone; it will solve itself." Perhaps so, but will it solve
itself so as to make the most of the South and at the
same time do the negro justice? And is it solving itself,

education and macial equality 265
either at the North or at the South? Two headlines
from a recent issue of a well-known metropolitan paper
will reply. The first reads thus : "To Segregate Negro
Homes." But perhaps it is Southern "prejudice" that
makes Baltimore strive to segregate the negro, no mat
ter what his education. Here is an extract from the re
port to the Baltimore Council that would be amusing
were it not tragic : "No fault is found with the negroes'
ambitions, but the committee feels that Baltimoreans will
be criminally negligent as to their future happiness if
they suffer the negroes' ambitions to go unchecked." A
modern instance is this of the little nursery dialogue :
""Mother, may I go out to swim?'
"Yes, my darling daughter;
Hang your clothes on a hickory limb,
But don't go near the water !' "
If the Supreme Court of the United States should de
cide against the Baltimore ordinance, the whites have
plans in plenty whereby their purpose may be effected.
Here is one from New York City, which I introduce as
the second of the two newspaper headings above re
ferred to :
"$20,000 To Keep Negroes Out. Harlemites Sub
scribe that Amount to Save West 136th Street."
Man's inhumanity to man, we say, until the "am
bitious" negroes move into our street!
We may sum up the discussion thus far somewhat as
follows :
Education is a function of democracy and hence spells
equality of status. To offer education is to offer generic
equality of individual with individual. Equality of op
portunity is opportunity for equality of all kinds. If

266 mace aPrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
we deny the possibility of equality, to offer the oppor
tunity that leads naturally to equality is to insult human
intelligence and perpetrate a cosmic joke. For what
else means opportunity without satisfaction except re
bellion, or retrogression, or despair? Shall we open the
door of hope to the negro only to usher him into the
outer darkness of disillusion, or else to invite him in
to partake of the feast of citizenship, and then crush
him against the very doorpost of social opportunity?
If we owe the negro an education — and we do — how
shall we give him real, unforced, natural opportunity?
When closely questioned Southern people admit all
the ideal principles of the rights of man, equality of
opportunity and the like. Humanitarianism and democ
racy are not strange notions to them. But they agree
with the maxim, "might till right is ready," and they
are not convinced that negroes should exercise all their
rights now. Nor do they think it self-evident that the
negro should have equality of opportunity here. The
Reverend Edgar Gardner Murphy, who has thought
deeply on this subject in his "Basis of Ascendancy," tells
the South to be content with an economic status less high
than that of other parts of the country. But I do not
believe that anyone should ask the South to be damned
even relatively, for its black brethren's sake, unless no
feasible way can be found out of the difficulty.
A man high in dignity and reputation told me only
yesterday, when I confronted him with the facts of hu
man nature as they are: "I agree with the saying, 'Damn
your facts !' " But, however much we might like to
damn the facts, it is they that are in the habit of doing
the damning and the blessing. A fact is a sacred thing
from the hands of God, and must find its place in our
practical philosophy of life, even though our "principles"

education and macial equality 267
may refuse to shake hands with it. Until we become
disembodied spirits we must try to square biological and
psychological phenomena with the higher facts of our
spiritual nature as best we can. So long as the world is
wide and the negro question is not studied, we have no
right to compel a choice between the utilitarian and the
ideal motives of our consciences. For self-sacrifice is
noble only when ethically necessary. And, until a hurt
ful necessity is actually known to be such, we are simply
quixotic, if not foolish, in bowing to the alleged obliga
tion to give the negro full equality of opportunity, which
naturally leads to opportunity for all equality, including
social equality, at the expense of the South's develop
ment. The esteemed gentleman just referred to told me,
almost in one breath, ( i ) that the South is obscurantist,
medieval, and (2) that the South ought to leave the
issue of the race problem to Providence. In other words,
he seems to think it reactionary for one to doubt the
practicality of applying the abstract doctrines of the
rights of man in certain definite temporal and spatial
ways, but not reactionary to turn over to Providence a
problem that we have not yet scientifically investigated.
The South may well be pardoned for believing that
everything must be "left to Providence," because not a
sparrow falleth without divine responsibility; and that
nothing must be left to Providence, without effort on our
part, because we are told to work out our own salva
tion in fear and trembling.
But why this suspicion of biological and psychological
science? Why this pitting of science against religion?
Is there any reason for believing that because Israel was
a "Chosen People" there was no "natural selection" in
her case? Have we failed to realize the implications of

268 mace f>rtbodO]E? in tbe ^outb
the soul's not being able to express and realize itself in
time and space except through the body, and especially
the nervous system? Have we forgotten that even cer
tain noble phases of the master passion, love, have been
reached by the spiritualization of a natural appetite?
I was not surprised to find that a certain distinguished
New Yorker "didn't know" but that amalgamation might
solve the negro problem if the races remained in contact
long enough. Nor was I surprised to hear him say that
the next great epic poet would have negro blood in his
veins. After all, those who want us to "wait" on the
problem and are not disposed to urge the scientific study
of it may well be suspected either of being deeply logi
cal in their subconsciousness, and therefore dimly ex
pecting and perhaps hoping that the "natural" or biologi
cal solution through amalgamation may come about in
time; or else of looking forward to a permanent status of
spiritual, if not economic, serfdom for the negro. The
amalgamationists realize that race prejudice is not primar
ily instinctive, and that the breaking down of the fashion
that proscribes the negro will leave nature free to solve
the problem in the only way she uses to solve such prob
lems without war, actual or potential ; the subordination-
ists know that if they can keep the stigma of inferiority
fastened on the negro the negro cannot rise higher to
ultimate intermarriage.
I have tried to suggest the nature and difficulties of
our problem as fairly and dispassionately as can be
done by one who is a humanitarian and an American
and at the same time a Southerner of the Southemers.
We must not give up our broad American principles.
But we must bring them into contact with the facts of
the situation as well as we can.
We must face the facts, whatever our philosophy, and

education and macial equality 269
thus work out the high designs of Providence. We must
study the negro problem, would we educate the negro
intelligently. We must find out as nearly as we can
what "place" we are fitting him for. Even the broken
lights of science are better than a blind faith. For real
faith has insight. "We know in whom we have be
lieved." And much of our social knowledge, and some
of the most usable parts of it, comes from the vigorous
scientific method of to-day.
Granting, then, that we as educators should do our
best to urge the study of the negro question and help
on that study when it shall have been started in a well-
organized way, what shall we say about our attitude
toward the education of the n^ro?
I. We must educate him because he is a man, and
a man must be educated in some sense, no matter what
future lies before him.
2. We must educate him because ignorant men are
dangerous, especially to a democracy pledged to educate
all men.
3. We must educate him for the protection of our
own health and our own moral character, for ignorance
spreads disease and vice.
4. We must educate him so that he may help to
solve his own problem, for we have no right to impose
our "solutions" on the negro without giving him a chance
to understand.
5. We must educate him would we have him stand
alone; and whatever his fate he must ultimately stand
through his own strength.
6. We must educate him because the public opinion
of the civilized world demands his education, and if we
pay deference to a world view we cannot consistently
deny to it some degree of reason and righteousness.

270 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ©outb
7. We must educate him because he wants to be edu
cated, and we can give him no satisfactory reason for
refusing him this boon.
8. We must educate him because he earns his edu
cation through his labor and his efforts to educate him
self. 9. We must educate him for the sake of the admit
tedly worthy remnant, and in order that the worthy few
may have followers who can be intelligently led and will
intelligently follow.
Doubtless there are other good reasons why the negro
should be educated : those given will serve our present
purpose. But, while we are educating the negro and assisting
him to educate himself, let us tell him and his friends
at the North and at the South a few wholesome things.
I. A scientific study, especially of negro character
and its possibilities, should be made in order that the
education of the negro should have an objective point,
and in order that uneasy dread of the future on the part
of Southern whites may be allayed as far as possible.
2. Assimilation through intermarriage is not to be
considered as a feasible or as a righteous solution of the
problem. 3. Northern and Southern opinion are approximat
ing each other. Both tend to lose interest in the negro.
The gulf between the races is widening at the North as
well as at the South.
4. Unless, or until we know to the contrary, the
negro is to be regarded simply as a relatively inferior
race, inasmuch as science has not pronounced him hope
lessly inferior for all time.
5. The ultimate "peasantry" solution is not to be
countenanced, inasmuch as it is un-American and in-

education and macial equality 271
human, and would injure the white people morally and
economically. 6. Equality of opportunity should come to the negro
somehow, some time, somewhere, provided the white
people's supremacy in their own land is not endangered.
Let science and the natural course of events determine
where, when and how.
7. In the meantime, while the negro should abate
none of his claims to complete manhood, let him, like
Brer Rabbit, "keep on sayin' nothin'." Patience now
means opportunity in the future. Agitation now may
precipitate disaster. There are enough friends of hu
mankind in the country to keep a care of the negro's
future if he will prove himself worthy.
8. The negro must develop his own civilization and
social self-consciousness.
9. Whatever the final solution may be it must not
cause permanent retardation of the South's complete
development. This means that the inferior race must
never be favored at the expense of the superior race.
10. Conditions will improve when "preternatural
suspicion" is allayed by the adoption of a definite policy
by the country, whereby generous justice is done the
negro without upsetting the rational race orthodoxy of
the South.
II. We need to be more pessimistic as to present
conditions and more optimistic as to the ultimate future,
provided we agree to have a carefully organized, national,
non-partisan, cooperative study of the race question.
12. The scientific study may modify some of the
above conclusions. Unless we have open minds our
study will simply show us what we want to see.
13. As long as the races live together on the same
soil, the negro, individually and collectively, will be

272 mace SDrtbodoip in tbe ^outb
treated as inferior, and therefore cannot hope for spirit
ual freedom.
14. It would be the part of wisdom to facilitate segre
gation of the races in as many ways as possible, pending
the results of a scientific study of the negro problem.

II. A NEGRO RURAL SCHOOL
(July 1912. Report on two Negro Summer Schools, Tate
County, Miss.)
We started, the County Superintendent and I, at half-
past eight in the morning on a hot day in August. The
school was four miles distant from the county seat. On
the way we met negro children of various sizes and com
plexions wending their leisurely way to school. When
we were returning, at about ten-thirty a. m., some of
the pupils were still unconcernedly straggling to school.
At the schoolhouse I saw several groups come in. None
showed the slightest embarrassment. All said, Good
morning. Their coming in and their greeting produced
no effect whatever on either teacher or pupils. The
county superintendent did not seem to think it in the
realm of possibility to bring about any improvement in
punctuality. The parents are "free American citizens."
If hurried or harried on the subject of punctuality, they
usually, it is said, prefer having their children quit school
to having themselves or their children hurried.
We passed several houses with litters of pickaninnies
on their porches. One cabin porch held six children, all
apparently under seven years of age. Along the road
came several tots of kindergarten age, "going to school."
At the schoolhouse I saw a fully developed woman who
was one of the pupils. I hope she was in the highest
grade — say the "negro" equivalent of the advanced fourth
grade of a fair country school. When she dropped her
273

274 mace SDrtbodoip in tbt %omb
book on the floor and scattered its pages over a consider
able area she picked up the leaves without the slightest
sign of haste or disquiet.
The schoolhouse is in a pleasant grove, close by a negro
church. The County Superintendent told me of its pious
name, and then gave the following partial list of some
of his negro schools : St. Paul, St. Peter, Paradise, Zion
Hill. The church and the schoolhouse were apparently
substantial buildings. Although the windows of the
schoolhouse were not higher than a tall man's chin, they
extended to the floor, and, with the aid of front and back
doors, gave fairly good ventilation. There were no
desks. The children sat on wooden benches, some of
which were grouped in the rear of the room and some
placed along the windows. The children "lined up" to
recite. Each one had a "number" given him or her.
The reason for this could not be discovered, for no ref
erence was made to the numbers after they had been
assigned, except that the teacher became rather severe in
his language if a pupil could not give his number when
called on for it. Perhaps he was trying to teach atten
tion and obedience to command.
I have already intimated that the range of ages in the
three or four approximate grades of the school was be
tween four and eighteen. The teacher said that sixty
were in attendance; I suppose he meant that there were
sixty "a-comin' and a-gwyne" !
Some of the children were atrociously filthy and
ragged; others were fairly neat and clean. Most of
them were African in color and feature. However, prac
tically none of them looked like the pictures of the lower
African type that one sees in popular books on ethnology.
Not a few had fairly pleasing, regular features, though
of the higher African type. No difference in mental

3 Ji^egro mural ^cbool 275
brightness could be detected between the pure negroes
and the mixed types. The most intelligent face I saw
was that of an apparently full-blooded little negro girl.
There was not a harsh voice in the room ; the tones were
full, soft and musical. The children seemed to pay little
attention to the presence of white strangers. Sometimes
a child would "study out loud," but seemingly without
disturbing the work of others. The children moved
around freely, but noiselessly, without asking permis
sion. In fact, they were unconventionally easy in their
manners. Apparently not a ripple of interest was ex
cited when a boy came in with a bundle of able-bodied
switches which he handed to the teacher, who selected
one and used it as a pointer. I could detect no mischiev
ous talking and laughing. Perhaps there had been a let-
ting-off of steam before we entered. And perhaps our
presence and the timely appearance of the switches pro
duced the effect of salutary peace.
One of the most noticeable phenomena I observed, one
which is constantly to be noted, was the unhurried flow
of the children's movements, without sign of articulate
sharpness or angularity or self-conscious awkwardness.
The thought came to me. How impossible is it to decide
how much of the negro's assumed lack of resentment is
due to his easy, smooth "Brer Rabbit" manners! How
easy it is for us to misunderstand an alien people ! There
is such a quality as tactful and astute childlikeness.
The teacher was very methodical as to ritual, and
absolutely without intellectual method. He lined up the
children ; he numbered them ; he was punctilious in plac
ing the reciter in front of the class and in requiring the
rhythmic following of the leader as he sang: "Twenty,
twenty-one, twenty-two, etc.; thirty, thirty-one, etc.;
forty, forty-one, etc." No attempt was made to count by

276 mace SOrtbodoip in tbt %omb
tens; most of the time was wasted in going over the
digits, with which all were familiar. About half the class
would make absurd mistakes with the sequence of tens.
One put ninety after twenty. Another went back to
forty after having safely reached sixty. The class re
peated the errors in chorus, after which the teacher al
lowed corrections. By means of some intuition which I
do not understand, the teabher would announce from
time to time to the reciter : "That's as far as you can go ;
that will do." I did not see any blackboard work.
There was a very small piece of blackboard of some
description in one corner of the room. Here, as in other
respects educational, the negro gets his minimum — "good
enough for niggers." If the white men of the county
were asked whether the schools of the negroes had
enough blackboard space, they would be likely to reply
— as some have replied : "Enough for the kind of pupils
and teachers that use them."
The reading of a "third reader" class was instructive
— to me. The seven children had one and a part books.
To all appearances, there was not a third enough books
in use in the school. The teacher said that "the books
had not come." I don't believe that the books had any
intention of coming. My friend the superintendent told
teacher and pupils very plainly that nothing could be
done without at least the reading books. He suggested
that a halfday of work by one of the children would buy
a book. But why should one work when one doesn't
have to?
The teacher spent most of the reading period in having
the children spell out the new words from the reader as
the book was passed from hand to hand. If the teacher
himself had a reader, he did not use it, but stood behind
each pupil as the child tried to read. However, the chil-

a Begro mural ^cbool 277
dren could read a little. I wonder why ! And the super
intendent says that this teacher who, with great difficulty,
after several trials, succeeds in getting the lowest (third-
grade) certificate, teaches about as well as the holders
of first-grade certificates. I was told that the teacher
was a reputable, excellent fellow, — and he looked the
part. I want to find out from him how he can dress so
well on less than one hundred and twenty dollars a year.
His shining laundered collar and cuffs, glistening alpaca
coat, striped trousers, well-blacked shoes, would have
passed muster anywhere. Although he came out to
meet us as we arrived, and accompanied us to the
buggy as we were leaving, the superintendent did not
present him to me; nor was any word of farewell ut
tered. In some Southern cities the negro principals are called
"Mr." and are duly introduced to strangers; but my
friend, the county superintendent, was natural and logi
cal in making no pretense of departing from the social
facts of the case; who should blame him? And who can
blame him for spending on the negro schools propor
tionally only from one-tenth to one-twentieth of his time ?
His chances for reelection would be faint indeed if he
"wasted his time on niggers." He is a compassionate.
Christian man ; but facts are facts, "niggers are niggers,"
and the belief of the average Southerner in the literary
education of the negro is less than half-hearted. Most
Southerners are perfectly willing to be "shown" that the
negro should be educated; but attempts to prove this by
pointing out the absence of a select class of negroes from
the penitentiary does not convince them. The alleged
existence of a higher percentage of bare literacy in the
penitentiary of South Carolina, for instance, than exists

278 mace €>rtbodO£p in tbe ^outb
outside in that state, more than offsets what one might
urge in favor of a crude smattering of literary education
for the negroes.
I think that this rural negro school is fairly typical;
in some respects (building, for instance) it is superior
to most of the negro country schools that I have seen.
Now, if you ask me frankly whether the kind of educa
tion I see in a school like this is really worth anything, I
find it hard to reply, although I believe in the education
of every human being to the limit of his capacity. Surely
it would be worth while to prove to the Southerner that
the education of the negro masses is worth while, and
that it would pay the South and the country at large to
spend vastly more than we do in training negro rural
teachers and in equipping negro rural schools. But I
confess that the proof is neither self-evident nor
easy. Why should a believer in universal education feel him
self become so unsettled after seeing a few inefficient,
grotesquely inefficient negro schools? Well, for several
reasons : ( i ) Because the white people want to "keep the
negro in his place," and educated people have a way of
making their own places and their own terms; (2) be
cause a Southern man, even if the best type, shows in
terest in negro education only with bated breath; (3)
anything that makes the negro a better competitor of the
white man tends to increase race feeling; (4) education
is a mockery in the case of people who are fundamentally
unfree, who are held in the position of a permanently
inferior social caste, who are deprived of the normal
accompaniments of citizenship; (5) because, if liberated
minds do not claim their due, they are contemptible and
are not worthy of education, and, if they do claim their
rights and thereby cause interracial strife, they are dan-

a JQegro mural ^cbool 279
gerous to the community. So thinks the average white
man. Now, I do not give these reasons as my own convic
tions, but as thoughts that arise in my mind when I study
a negro school and then note the attitude of its white
neighbors toward it. Not for one moment do I give
up the belief in universal and adequate education for all
men ; but again and again is the conviction forced on me
that education is not a thing apart, but is economically,
religiously, juridically, politically, and, above all, socially
conditioned. Separate education from the normal Amer
ican principles that should accompany it, and I for
one dare not predict what its result will be. Here,
as usual, we come back to our primary contention, if
we are disinterested students of the negro question:
until a "solution" is in sight, the Southern whites will
not apply the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity
to the negro ; such a solution must not be such as to inter
fere with the fundamental Southern view of the negro's
social position ; a solution that will not attempt to reverse
Southern sentiment, but which at the same time will be
true to the principles of Christian democracy, cannot be
arrived at with the data we have in hand, or without a
careful, long-continued, scientific study. Nor must it
be forgotten that in a study that is radically psychological
ability to interpret human instinct, habit, custom, usage,
feeling, attitude, prejudice — in a word, ability to inter
pret subjective, qualitative data, is indispensably neces
sary, and cannot have its place taken by laboratory ex
periments, anthropological measurements, economic sta-
tistics and historical deductions, important as these are.
(Diice more, the psychology of the white man's mind and
a~psychological knowledge of the negro's capacity and

28o mace ©ttbodoip in tbe ^outb
ability are absolutely essential if the solution of the negro
problem is even to be sought intelligently.*
? In this paper and the following actual conditions are portrayed,
but these two papers are not intended to suggest that there are no
good negro schools. Indeed the author has recently visited negro
schools of a fair order of efficiency — mostly in the cities and the
larger towns of the South.

III. SHADY GROVE
notes of shades and shadows in a first grade negro
teacher's school and a negro institute
The school was called Shady Grove, apparently on
the well-known principle of "contrary suggestion," for
there was neither grove nor shade near the school. But
there was a church near by, and there was shade — ^intel
lectual and ethical shadow — inside the schoolroom.
There were two teachers working in the same room, and
apparently in no wise disturbing each other. The prin
cipal was loud and the assistant very quiet. This con
venient division of labor brought about a popular aver
age. In most respects the school was similar to Zion
Hill, the subject of a preceding sketch. No desks, in
conspicuous blackboards, etc. Ninety-six on the roll;
seventy-one in attendance. We visited the school in the
afternoon, hence the phenomena of unpunctuality were
not in evidence.
The superintendent tells me that over half the negro
schools of his county are in churches. Sometimes the
county offers to help build a school, but the negroes in
variably decline to deed the building and site to the
county, although their local board has complete use of
the property. In all cases the local trustees are negroes.
The only desks in the negro schools of the county are
in the larger towns, except that there are a few rough
home-made desks in a few rural schools.
The teacher is of the Bantu type. His face and form
281

282 mace Drtbodoip in tbe ©outb
are dignified. He talked for our benefit, and spoke of
us as distinguished educators. He is the holder of a
first-grade certificate and is a teacher of twenty years'
standing. His education showed itself in his greater
facility of speech, which was sometimes of involved
rhetorical nature. Among other things, he called our
attention to the "Tyro Class." I thought he meant a
class from Tyro, one of the villages of the county. When
I expressed surprise that a Tyro class should be there,
he relieved my trouble by telling me that he meant the
primer class. The incident was typical.
The children were black or dark brown in color, for
the most part; but there were two children that might
have passed for white. A year or two previous, when
a negro woman was in charge of the school, the superin
tendent, seeing several apparently white children in the
room, said to the teacher : "You have some of the wrong
children here, haven't you?" She replied, with the tact
characteristic of her race : "Their mother associates with
the qplored folks." This case of concubinage is excep
tional — the only one in the county, I am informed. Even
in this instance the association is not open. If it were,
there would be trouble, no doubt. The two "white"
children were the most restless in the room; but seemed
on perfectly natural and intimate terms with the blacks.
Looking very closely for signs of self-consciousness, I
thought, as often before, that the lack of "white" signs,
such as blushing and angular awkwardness, accounts
largely for the apparently easy manners of the negroes.
One black girl in this school suffered a sort of undulat
ing squirming wriggle that "ran all over" her when she
was embarrassed at missing a question. When the county
superintendent stood up to count the children there was
almost painful silence in the room, though a moment be-

^badg (Drobe 283
fore the children seemed to be paying no attention to the
white visitors.
The recitation in physiology consisted of reading the
text (one book to every four pupils) and then proving
incontestably that nothing had been learned. The only
child that seemed to know anything was a lank chap,
very black, of the Guinea type, and the perfect picture of
good humor and amiability. He was probably the best
specimen of a "white man's nigger" in the room : good-
natured, docile, respectful and willing. The highest class
studied the fourth reader.
On the way back I questioned the county superin
tendent with regard to a comparison between the country
and the town schools among the negroes. Though the
town schools are better equipped and have better teachers,
often excellent teachers, according to the superintendent,
the net result for character is about the same. "There is
no moral uplift and no relation between the school and
life," said the superintendent. And most of the county
superintendents seem to agree with my friend's state
ment. When the negro teachers talk of practical and moral
matters to the children in the presence of the whites their
speech has a hollow, unreal sound. Perhaps some of them
speak more earnestly when the whites are not around.
But I am afraid that the neat and dignified dress of the
teachers — 'for in my experience the two schools we
visited in this county are typical so far as the dress of
the teacher is concerned — is not the outward and visible
sign of priestly helpfulness, for it would seem that the
teacher very seldom got close to the hearts of the chil
dren. This school, though better off as to teachers than
the Zion Hill school, was perhaps even more depressing,
not only on account of the presence of the little octoroons,

284 mace ©rtbodOEp in tbe ^outb
but also because of the "depressed dignity" of the teacher,
who evidently felt that he had something of the gentle
man in him that we whites did not appreciate.
In discussing negro traits the superintendent illus
trated the "ingratitude" of the negro by telling me of a
negro girl who had been in his household for twelve
years (from five years old to seventeen) as a nurse girl.
When her people wanted her to go home she wept copi
ously and took a long time to decide that she could
break away. But after she left she seemed to have no
further interest in the family, although at the parting
she had been given additional food and raiment and
money in her purse.
But was this a case of ingratitude? The county super
intendent, being a careful man and knowing that nobody
understands the negro, would not venture to make a
dogmatic statement.
At a negro teachers' institute next day I asked the
negroes to tell me what they thought about the common
accusation of the whites that the "average" negro lacked
sympathy toward his kind, gratitude, resentfulness and
intellectual curiosity. Most of them would not express
an opinion; nor did I blame them. Those who talked
were afraid that the "lower types of colored folks" did
have the traits attributed to them. The white conductor
of the institute, although he treated these negro teachers
as if they had been sixth grade children, sturdily de
fended the negroes from the accusation of ingratitude
and lack of sympathy. Nevertheless, though he spoke
of the sympathy and gratitude of negroes toward him,
his contention simply bore out the statement of Rev.
Dr. Hedleston of the University of Mississippi, namely,
that negroes are often kind and sympathetic toward
whites in far greater degree than they are toward their

^badp <S>robe 285
own kind. Their respect for the whites, and their "op
timism" (as my friend, the conductor at this institute,
put it), which makes them feel that "there's nothing really
the matter with that (supposedly sick) nigger," may in
part account for the phenomenon. I have authentic in
formation of a negro who faithfully nursed a negro
woman that was sick in a house several miles away, but
who neglected the same woman when she was sick in his
house, so that she died. I asked my informant to ex
plain the anomaly. He, too, is a cautious man and
would not commit himself, but suggested that the negro
appreciated the "company" he found at the house several
miles off, and didn't find the nursing interesting or heroic
at his own home. Who knows? How pitiably little we
know about the brother in black. And how necessary
it is that we understand his traits of character if we are
going to educate him, and if we are to solve the negro
problem. A year of "microscopic" psychological work in Missis
sippi, if carried on by people who knew what the valuable
facts were and could sympathetically and scientifically
interpret them, would be worth all the books on the
negro question put together, not because some of these
books are not valuable, but because they tell us nothing
internally real about negro character and the psychology
of race prejudice. And these things are the "facts" we
most need to know in solving any human problem that
pertains to racial contact and racial efficiency. The mania
for deductive statement and premature generalization has
prevented first-hand minute study of the little things of
character that science has need of. The "little knowl
edge" of the average intelligent white Southerner may
ultimately prove even more deadly to the negro and to
the white also than do even the sentimental vaporings of

286 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ©outb
benevolent idealists without practical knowledge. First
of all, men need and want justice: and the first requisite
in doing a man justice is to appreciate his common hu
manity and his capacity for progress. This "justice"
the negro seldom gets. Perhaps there is little hope that
he can as a race "stand alone" ; but dogmatic insistence
that he can or cannot do this or that is neither kind nor
scientific, though it may be popular and profitable in a
political way for some of the "leaders of public opinion
in our beloved Southland," who are neither better nor
worse than the other politicians of the world.
Wishing, as I do, that there was not a negro on Amer
ican soil — though there are many negroes whose charac
ters I esteem — nevertheless no "prejudice" can make me
or my kind blind to the evident fact that the negro has a
right to be understood sympathetically and scientifically
before we attempt to declare what education is good for
him, or what his fate shall ultimately be. It is, however,
even more important that we understand and appreciate
the Southem white man's point of view.
When we came out of the institute above referred to
my white companion said : "Only one of those negroes
was impudent." He referred to the teacher of Bantu
type, who evidently resented being treated as a child by
saying very deliberately that his reason for not knowing
a problem was that he — had — probably-^— not — given —
sufficient — study. I hope that my friend the conductor
forgave him for his attempt to express his valuation of
his own manhood!

IV. A COUNTY INSTITUTE FOR NEGRO
TEACHERS
(Report of the conductor of Negro Institute, Yalobusha County,
Miss., held at Cofleeville, Sept., 1912.)
Custom has decreed that, although white people may
not teach negroes in the South * without loss of social
prestige, one may conduct a negro institute, presumably
because there are so few negroes that can do such work,
and, perhaps, also because one need have no sort of social
contact with the negroes. Apparently the average white
conductor of a negro institute seems to think it ad
visable to "take the negro as he finds him"; pay little
attention to punctuality and regularity of attendance;
give the negroes copious opportunities to spell and to
"work examples" or have them worked by the conductor ;
and talk to the teachers occasionally in a way that will
help the negroes to "keep their places" and teach their
pupils to obey this one commandment without which let
all negroes be accursed! Intending to do nothing that
will alienate from me the entire confidence of my own
race as represented by the white people of the South,
nevertheless I am fully persuaded that these same white
folk have to the full the humanitarian principles and feel
ings possessed by any other people, and that they wish
the negro well, provided he "keeps his place," and pro
vided he and his friends do nothing to endanger "white
supremacy." Hence I determined to have this institute
?Except in Charleston, S. C. (?)
287

288 mace laDrtbodoxp in tbe ^outb
make for the betterment of the negro, and at the
same time have him realize even more than he does
that his fate is in the hands of his white neighbors, so
far as any people's future can be under the control of
another people.
The nation as a whole is tired of the negro and the
negro question, and is greatly inclined to leave the whole
matter in the hands of the white people of the South.
So long as the dominant race knows that one who is
working to help the negroes is not simply a "philan
thropic" upholder of abstract human "rights," but be
lieves that all rights — at least in their expression — ^must
be subordinate to the public welfare, no hostility toward
his work need be feared. Many abnormally suspicious
Southern whites are in their heart of hearts inclined to
think that ultimately the race problem will be settled by
"amalgamation"; and this dread of the future unsatis
factory solution makes them look askance on any sort
of relation between whites and negroes that may even
possibly give the negro the impression that the funda
mental tenet of the Southern racial faith may in some
wise be relaxed ultimately.
Although I am one of those who believe that inter
marriage between the races will never come, and that
illicit admixture is on the decrease, I nevertheless deem
it wise to guard with the utmost care all presumably
possible approaches to any sort of assertion of negro
"equality." Abstract human rights are one thing; the
assertion of them and attempt to have them function
here and now are quite other things. The white race is
in control ; and hence its welfare must be first considered
when questions of public concern arise. Whatever the
theory of the matter may be, the negro must, under pres
ent conditions of racial contact, be willing to be treated

a Count? Unstitute for Jl3egro Ceacbers 289
as a people under tutelage, and trust to the real man
hood of good men in the South.
Were it not that citizenship in a democratic state is
ultimately based on at least potential social equality, it
would be possible to give the negro all rights of citizen
ship; but under the circumstances he must ask for a
child's right of protection and guidance rather than for
adult justice. That such a status bears rather heavily
on divers individuals of the negro race is undoubtedly
true. But the superior negroes must be content to "die
that they may live." Such is the solidarity of race and
such the inclusiveness and vigor of the vague instinct
underlying "race prejudice" that each negro must sub
mit to be ranked as a representative of his race rather
than as an independent man in full possession of indi
vidual human rights.
The race platform written by the conductor of the
institute and unanimously adopted by the teachers at
tempts to conserve both the ideal principles of human
nature and the real facts of the racial situation at the
South. Hence I am here stating my attitude, so as to
show the temper in which I conducted the work.
The organization of the institute was substantially the
same as that adopted at a white institute held a few
weeks before by myself. Three phases of work were
attempted: (i) Methods and other professional help
given through the lectures of the conductor; (2) round-
tables, presided over by some of the more experienced
teachers, in which round-table discussions the teachers
had an opportunity to exchange views and gain help
from one another, and in which the conductor took care
that only useful lines of discussion had the right of way ;
(3) informal talks occasionally by the conductor in
which he attempted to show the moral and religious bear-

290 mace SDrtbodoip in tbt ^outb
ing of education in the development of character. Of
course, the last-named feature, in the case of this negro
institute, was adapted to the actual moral and religious
needs of the negroes, and had special reference to their
racial status. Each feature of the institute seemed to
meet the needs of the teachers. When the conductor
offered to devote some portion of the time to text-book
work the leading teachers asked him to adhere to his
original plan, saying that the teachers ought to "get up
their examinations themselves," and not expect the in
stitute to help them get their licenses. In order that the
young teachers might have some help in getting ready
for examination, some of the older teachers gave them
practical help immediately before the morning session,
during the midday intermission, and after the afternoon
session. The negroes, both teachers and taught, did this
voluntary work cheerfully and faithfully.
I was told that it would be of no use to attempt to
exact punctuality and regular attendance. Nevertheless,
I had the roll called at each session, and was delighted
to find that the negroes would practice punctuality and
regularity when properly incited to do so. They saw
that I wanted to help them and that I was genuinely in
terested in their welfare. If the teacher is perfunctory,
the pupils will be so likewise. But all races and people
respond to human kindness if it be judicious, practical
and firm.
The attendance increased as the institute progressed,
though it was supposed that the negroes would not re
main for the full week. All sorts and conditions were
represented among the littie band present. There were
several teachers of long experience — one or two had
taught for thirty years. Then there were several who
had not taught a day. There were ex-slaves and there

9 Count? anstitute for Jl3egro Ceacbers 291
were representatives of negro. colleges. At least one of
the teachers had been prominent in politics during Recon
struction times. But the unity of spirit was remarkable ;
and no less striking was the dignity of character, the
self-control and yet perfect naturalness and spontaneity.
All seemed to be fond of fun and laughed heartily at
times. They joked one another freely during the round-
table discussions. Nevertheless, their docility and their
quickness to appreciate the proprieties were very notice
able. I found them entirely frank as to the characteristic
weaknesses of the masses of their race. What might
have seemed pomposity or bumptiousness proved to be
childlike expressiveness, or dramatic make-believe, when
more closely observed. It is strange that many of the
observers of negro character so easily charge these
people with bumptiousness when it is so evident that
most of them delight in playing a part and in "showing
off" as children do.
They evinced a most interesting combination of un-
conventionality and politeness. Indeed, the better ne
groes in the South are really a very adaptable and ver
satile people, possessed of a certain kind of social tact
that helps to explain why they are not "accommodating
enough" either to give up in despair or to commit con
stant errors of behavior toward the white people.
The negroes seem to be a cautious race; hence the
whites are inclined to doubt the negro's belief in his own
rights. I doubt whether we have a right to call them
unrevengeful and ungrateful, and so on. For their ap
parent lack of resentment is clearly due in many cases to
caution, in other cases to amiability, and not seldom to
the thorough way in which they have been trained to
respect white people. True, they do not as a rule seem
to possess the sullen, steady, deep-seated revengefulness

292 mace ©rtbodoxp in tbe Soutb
popularly ascribed to the American Indian ; but, then, the
negro, in spite of being so close to "savagery," usually
has an eye for results. He may be unthrifty; but he is
certainly capable of remarkable self-control, as well as
of painstaking thrift. Although I have observed negro
character all my life, I find a great difference between
the conventional observations of my youth and the more
disinterested and discriminating study of the last nine
years, during which my observation has been more direct
and careful. The negro's lack of dignity of character
has always been a source of lack of confidence in the
race; but although the teachers in this institute repre
sent a higher grade of negro character, they do prove
to my satisfaction that the term negro by no means con
notes shallowness and futility in the deeper emotional
life. I shall never forget the mingling of constraint,
pathetic sense of gratitude, and childlike expressiveness
of some of the young women when with faltering lips
they strove to express in open institute their appreciation
of what the conductor had striven to do for them. The
calling down of God's blessings on one's head by these
simple folk is an experience that I should like some of
our Southern radicals to experience. The young women
in the institute evidently felt the strangeness of speaking
in terms of gratitude of a white man, but, nevertheless,
were not to be deterred from expressing their feelings.
The result was pathetic in its poignant humanness.
One night, at the request of the institute, I spoke to
the colored people generally at one of their churches. I
took two prominent white citizens along with me as
"witnesses." Experience has warned me that above all
things an investigator of the negro question must avoid
even the appearance of evil in talking to the negroes
with regard to their relations to the whites. The gentle-

9 Count? institute for jQegro Ceacbers 293
men just mentioned avowed S5Tnpathy with everything I
said to the negroes. Although both men were above
suspicion as to their Caucasian and Southern orthodoxy,
they nevertheless thought it best to tell no one that they
had gone to the meeting. In other words, they avoided
the necessity of making explanations.
During my speech I reviewed the disasters of Recon
struction and drew a rather dark picture of the status
of the negro at present; but I did not refrain from ex
pressing my firm belief, as part of my belief in God, that
the negro folk, somehow, somewhere, in God's good time,
would have the opportunity of the fullest development
of which they as a people were capable, although they
must be content with a subordinate place as long as the
two races dwelt together. One of the leading negroes
said to me afterwards : "You carried us so deep into the
darkness that I was 'most afraid you wouldn't get us
out!" This remark is typical. It combines humor, pa
tience, cheerfulness, faith and childlike expressiveness.
As among the whites, discipline proved to be the most
popular topic. The discussion of corporal punishment
reminded me of similar discussions in white institutes
thirty years ago. However, it was interesting to know
that some of the oldest teachers, ex-slaves, had found
out the dangers and inutility of constant corporal pun
ishment. One teacher put on the board as a recipe for
good discipline the single word, "kindness." I amended
by prefixing the word "firm." I think that this sugges
tion, perhaps partly because the incident was a little
dramatic, made a deeper impression on the institute than
anything else I did. At any rate, several teachers men
tioned it at the last, and especially thanked me for show
ing that kindness and firmness must go together in dis
cipline. I reminded them that sometimes one must be

294 mace SDrtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
even rigid in order to be kind, and that they must so
regard some of the treatment their white friends be
stowed on them; Indeed, it is sometimes necessary to
run the risk of hurting the feelings of the whole negro
race in order to keep down the foolish and dangerous
effervescence of some misguided negroes. "Whom He
loveth He chasteneth" has been said of the Deity Him
self. And the negroes must learn that their true friends
are not necessarily those that tell negroes of their ab
stract rights, but rather those that remind them of their
duties of patience and self-control and humility. If
ever a race needed to conquer by serving, the negro race
is such a one. No good will ever come to the negroes
from their "leaders" speaking of the "so-called negro
problem," and so on. These leaders must learn to
realize that there is always a problem, a most serious
and deadly one, when one race holds another in spiritual
bondage, without intending to give that other the free
rights of citizenship, because of the inevitable connec
tion of all human rights with the only worth-while
rights of free manhood, — 'liberty, equality and frater
nity. To assume that the negro's thrift and soberness and
the like will make him a citizen and the possessor of
freely acknowledged spiritual freedom is a most dan
gerous error. There is no observable tendency on the
part of the Southern whites to allow the negroes as a
race to become complete citizens; nor is there any ten
dency to treat individual negroes as individuals rather
than as members of a race. To suppose that the ac
quirement of thrifty habits and facility in a trade will
spiritually free the negro is an absurd blunder held, I
hope, by no one. Industrial education and the like are
good in themselves, but economic and intellectual growth,

9 Count? institute for Jl3egro Ceacbers 295
even along with moral and spiritual development, will
not necessarily change one iota the social status of the
negro. Although negroes may not seek to mingle so
cially with the whites, they remain unfree as a race just
so long as the race barrier is raised against them so
cially, just so long as higher types of negro individuals
are treated simply as representatives of an inferior race.
Granted that this will always be so under the general
conditions as they obtain to-day, and one grants that
there is a most stupendous race problem to be solved, —
the problem of spiritual slavery versus spiritual free
dom. To separate social rights from political and re
ligious and civic rights is to do what nature and his
torical democracy have never done. The mixing of
blood has always solved social problems. Granting that
blood is not to be mixed, how is the problem to be
solved? I confess that it seems to me necessary for the
negro race to be regarded as inferior and subordinate
until a more complete segregation of the races is effected.
In the absence of a probing investigation, however, this
segregation solution must be put forth only tentatively.
The above remarks may seem to go far afield, but the
thoughts they convey continually suggested themselves
to me as the negroes discussed the discipline of their
own children. Must we not treat in general the negroes
as children? And do not all children have the same
general status, in spite of vast individual differences
among them? Can we dare to treat a few children as
if they were too grown-up to be called children? And
may it not be with a race as with children generally,
that a "long infancy" leads to better intellectual results
than does a precocious development? I am unable to
answer these questions definitely, and most questions
with regard to the negro problem; but I think that it is

296 mace Drtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
important to ask them, and to put them as variously as
possible, in order that we may the better see the prob
lem in all its bearings.
I noticed no "impudence" and very little "servility"
among these negro teachers. A few of them showed in
their street manners a little exaggeration of courtesy.
In all such cases the individuals had been reared under
the regime of slavery. Some of the whites seem to like
the "Massa" style of politeness in negroes. For my
part, I detest it. I can hardly understand how any real
American should enjoy the manifestations of a servile
spirit. Nor do I think that there is a real humility in
this show of "the white man's nigger" exaggerated re
spect for the dominant race ; but even sickening servility
is safer than social assertiveness and "independence" in
demeanor. Most negroes are naturally astute in deal
ing with the white man, and most of them have a sense
of humor that is anything but servile. I doubt whether
the negro that always has the word "Boss" on his lips
is either especially polite or especially humble; rather
he is habituated to the use of servile words, or else
cunning enough to know that they serve as a convenient
mask. I have expressed this doubt to several repre
sentative "polite" negroes, and the look of deep intel
ligence on their face when the matter was broached was
very illuminating. "Playing 'possum" seems to be a
device of natural selection in the interests of survival.
Many of us who belong to the white race, however, feel
nothing but humiliation and shame when we find that we
are causing negroes to adapt themselves to our arro
gance by the use of pseudo-humble words and a de
meanor of pretended servility.
Let me repeat here, what I have often said before, that
it is one thing, and an entirely proper thing, to depre-

9 Count? institute for i3egro Ceacbers 297
cate all social intercourse between the races, and a very
different thing to deny the democratic principle that a
man's worth depends on his character and not on his
race. Let every white man oppose with all his might
anything that may be construed by negroes as an ap
proach to social communion between the races; but let
him at the same time take this attitude conscientiously,
because it seems best under the circumstances, and not
because he wishes to humiliate "niggers." It is well if
our "instincts" go with our conscience in this matter of
drawing the color line; but race enmity should not enter
into our attitude, and we should not forswear our demo
cratic principles simply because wise and foreseeing ex
pediency, perhaps fused with natural feeling, tells us
to block all approaches to "social recognition" for ne
groes. However, let me not be misunderstood. I believe that
our attitude in drawing the social color line is distinctly
different from that in our minds when we keep certain
"undesirable" white persons in their "place." I believe
that it is right to let every negro understand fully and
clearly that we refrain from giving him social recog
nition not because he is individually unsuitable, but be
cause he is a negro, and it is not wise or seemly to treat
even the highest negro as if he were on the same footing
with any type of white man whatsoever. I may be will
ing to grant that he is personally much superior to certain
white men; but his social status is one, so far as social
mingling is concerned, different in kind from that of
the humblest white man; for the white man's grand
children may win our fullest social recognition, and the
negro's descendants cannot advance one step toward the
welcome that we extend socially to white individuals
who have shown themselves to be fit for the higher social

298 mace flJrtbodoj? in tbe ^outb
life. I am willing to tell the negro that he is able to
become socially "equal" to anything he may hold up as
a standard; but that admission will not abate one tittle
of my rigidity in contending that all possible social com
munion between the races must be regarded as anath
ema. For instance, following the custom in vogue
among the white people of Memphis in school circles, I
called the negro teachers "Mister," etc. ; but I was care
ful to tell them that the title was official only. One may
regret to have to make any such declaration; — ^but here
again we have a case where apparent cruelty is real
kindness. Not a few negroes put a false construction
on any indication of unusual courtesy. Most whites in
the South realize the dilemma of the Kentucky Colonel
who was at a loss as to what to call Booker Washington,
and compromised by dubbing him "professor" !
After the negroes had unanimously adopted the "plat
form" that I had prepared at their request, they asked
for permission to express themselves with regard to the
institute. Of course their expressions took the form
of appreciative statements with respect to the work of
the conductor. Their "tongue-tied simplicity" would, as
I have already said, have softened the hearts of various
white radicals had these been present. Practically all
the teachers present were childlike believers in Jesus as
the Christ, the Son of the living God ; and as they spoke
in childish accents of their respectful gratitude I could
not but think of the saying of that same Jesus : "Whoso
shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,
it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about
his neck and that he were drowned in the depths of the
sea." In calling attention to the following platform
which the teachers adopted after debate and reference
to a committee, I do not wish to have it thought that I

9 Count? institute for ji3egro Ceacbers 299
attribute any extraordinary value to the document it
self ; but I do frankly think that it has a typical value in
showing how the two racial points of view can be recon
ciled at the present, pending a full and worthy study of
the whole question of the relations between the races.
After a week's work with these colored teachers two
impressions were deepened in my mind: First that we
white folk, especially those of us that are Southemers,
should ever ponder in our hearts the idea of the meaning
of such phrases as "noblesse oblige," "chivalry," "the
grand old name of gentleman" ; and, second, that while
we must do all in our power to render ultimately justice
and freedom rather than mere pity and condescension,
we must do nothing to make the least white man feel that,
as a white man, he is at a disadvantage as compared with
the loftiest type of negro. Let the "higher" negro's life
and character shame the "lower" white man, and stimu
late him into greater exertion to prove himself worthy of
his race; but let not this same white man feel that any
of us are willing that he should go down beneath the
negro because of the latter's superiority in apparent char
acter and prosperity. "The Jew first."

V. PLATFORM OF PRINCIPLES AND
PROMISES
(Sept., 1912. Prepared at request of institute.)
We, the colored teachers of Yalobusha County, Mis
sissippi, in institute assembled at Coffeeville, hereby
adopt the following platform of principles and promises,
and pledge ourselves to put these resolutions into prac
tice as far as we are able, God helping us :
I. Whatever else we may do as teachers, we promise
to teach our pupils the dignity of all honest labor and
the meanness and dishonesty of idleness and vagrancy;
the sense of responsibility, especially staunchness in carry
ing out their promises and other obligations, and in
attention to punctuality, neatness and accuracy in all their
work, whether in school or elsewhere ; the duty of prompt
obedience to parents, teachers and all in authority over
them; respect for law and cheerful willingness to aid
in the suppression of vice and crime ; the value of physical
and moral cleanness, and the horrible danger and wretch
edness brought about by wild passions and lack of sober
self-control. We call upon our ministers and other in
fluential people, including the white people who regard
us as God's humble children, to aid us in teaching the
children of our race to be self-respecting but modest,
patient but hopeful, thrifty but generous. However un
fair it may seem to call our race childish and yet expect
full-developed conduct from us, we realize that we must
300

Platform of Principles and Promises 301
be more than usually worthy in order to gain the respect
of the world and soften its prejudice against us.
Believing that much crime and misery are due to bad
health, and that the progress of our race is endangered
by reason of the carelessness of our people as to the
health of their bodies, we promise to teach practical
hygiene and sanitation as if it were a part of our re
ligion, an aspect of godliness rather than "something
next to godliness." We ask our white friends to help
us maintain proper health conditions not only because
we believe that the white people as a rule wish us well,
but also because their health and their children's is en
dangered by our diseases.
No religious faith is worth while unless it renews our
characters and renders our daily conduct purer, more
dutiful and more thoughtful. We therefore promise to
teach our pupils, and influence others to believe, that the
"good ground of an honest and a good heart" is the
proper seed-plot for the gospel, and we ask our ministers
to help our people always to associate religious feeling
with upright, clean and noble conduct.
We pledge ourselves to do our utmost in having home
and school and church work together for the practical
principles above set forth, and we promise faithfully to
teach our young people the sacredness of home ties and
home life, and to set them a true example by our own
honorable and scrupulous conduct.
II. We urge our fellow teachers to trust in our white
friends everywhere, especially in the South, believing,
that while our white friends regard it as necessary to
treat us as a subordinate race in a state of tutelage, they
will use their utmost endeavors to give us, in God's good
time, every opportunity for development that all of God's
children should have, especially in a democratic country.

302 mace ffl)rtbodO]E? in tbe %ioutb
To this one end we express the fervent hope that the
race question will be taken out of politics, and studied
with the motive of Christianity and the method of sci
ence. We hope and pray that God will put it into the
heart of good men somewhere to bring about a dispas
sionate study of the race question in order that our
white friends may be free from anxiety and in order
that we may look our future in the face intelligently.
Although we believe that the worth of every indi
vidual should be estimated in accordance with his char
acter, we realize the dangerous stupidity of making
claims for abstract equality; for some abstract rights
have no practical standing as compared with the wel
fare of society, and a dominant race must be expected
to interpret the idea of social welfare in terms of their
own success and happiness, first of all. It should be
enough for our race that we practice social equality
among ourselves as far as such practice is feasible. If
the present condition of affairs in the South tends to
stunt our full development as men and citizens, we be
lieve that our Southern friends, noted for their chivalrous
regard for the weak, will sooner or later help us to gain
our full spiritual freedom in some way. For their God
is our God, and our God is their God.
Ill, Whatever our fate as a race, we need to be
prepared for our future. If the education given us does
not produce right results, let the education be changed
so that it will prepare us for life. Let dispassionate,
scientific men show that all the members of our race
are fitted for nothing but manual labor, and we will
acquiesce in the decision. But so long as men of science
believe that individual differences are as pronounced in
our race as in other races, and as long as our race stands
in need of professional services from our own people,

Platform of Principles and promises 303
we believe that the more gifted among us should re
ceive an education that will enable them to serve their
race in various professional capacities.
Nevertheless, it is the opinion of educational leaders
among the whites and among our own people that we
especially need industrial education. As teachers of
Yalobusha County we therefore promise to carry out
the following scheme of activities through our individual
efforts, and through our teachers' association, our insti
tutes and in every other feasible way :
I. The formation of corn clubs, tomato clubs, and
the like.
2. Attempting to ascertain whether it is feasible for
our county colored people to have the services of a
teacher of domestic science and art, after the manner of
the arrangement about to be made with Copiah County
by the Jeanes Fund.
3. Correspondence with the colored industrial schools
at Okolona, Utica and elsewhere.
4. Working toward the establishment of an agricul
tural high school in our county, with the full concur
rence and support of the white people of the county.
5. Trying to have at least a few of our more talented
pupils of good character enjoy greater educational op
portunities than the present educational facilities of the
county afford.
Unanimously endorsed September 20, 19 12.

E. The Caste of the Kin.
I. SOME SUPPOSED RACIAL TRAITS OF
THE AMERICAN NEGRO
(Read before Southern Psychological Society, Chattanooga, Dec,
191a) The psychologist of to-day believes in the practical
value of his science and desires to see it influential in
the affairs of everyday life without losing aught of its
dignified belief in itself as an admirable academic dis
cipline. There is thus no need that I should apologize
for putting forth a few rough notes of a social-psycho
logical or character-study nature before a body of men
who are none the less interested in Southern problems
because of avowed interest in psychology. Nor is it
necessary to introduce the coming science of psychology
of character to men who know full well that the appli
cation of psychology to the principles and practice of
education constitutes the most important task that the
mental and social sciences must set themselves.
The negro problem is in great need of characterologi-
cal (ethological) treatment, for are we not continually
saying that what the negroes need is education that shall
cultivate their social, moral and industrial tendencies and
talents? And is not the claim often made that the
negro's religious and aesthetic instincts are distinctive?
Consider, too, how true it is that the race question may
be called one of consciousness. Prejudice, pride, enmity
— what are these but material for the ethologist to study ?
I say the ethologist rather than the psychologist, because
304

Supposed macial Craits of Begro 305
the former, the student of character, is especially con
cerned in seeing the national, human and educational
bearings of the study.
If, as seems likely, the apparent drift away from ille
gitimate amalgamation of the two races is conditioned
by a growing spirit of enmity; if the Southerner's aver
sion to anything even remotely associated with possi
bilities of social communion between the races is becom
ing more and more the fashion in all parts of the country ;
if the Southerner is becoming inclined to narrow the
economic sphere of the negro — and all these assertions
are made with some show of reason — an ethological
study of negro traits, even when avowedly based on
prevailing popular judgments by the white folk, may
have some value in stimulating the more careful study
that, in my earnest opinion, is even now the bounden
duty of the people of this country.
Watching the trend of events and discussion, one sees
only two so-called "solutions" of the negro problem that
at present appear to deserve careful consideration : first,
that of a parallel civilization, with more or less segrega
tion locally for the negro people; secondly, that of a
carefully planned organization of a scheme for coloniza
tion of the negroes to be carried out during a period of,
say, fifty years. If either of these plans is finally
adopted, the negro must be appropriately educated. Espe
cially necessary is it that those habits and instincts in
him be trained that will develop initiative and pioneer
qualities of every kind. Sooner or later he must cut
himself loose from the leading strings of the dominant
race. His racial self -consciousness must be stimulated.
His race distinctiveness in the psychological realm must
be brought to view. Are his characteristics such that he
he may safely dwell in the future within striking dis-

3o6 mace ^rtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
tance of the white man's masterful arm? Will he be
able to maintain himself, after a reasonable period of
tutelage, without the white man's helpful care? Of
course these questions have already been answered off
hand, in opposite ways, by "negro-lovers" and "negro-
haters" — if I may be allowed to disguise these easy gen-
eralizers under uncouth names. But sober men of sci
ence ought to set an example of sober statement, without
show of sentimentality and without lack of moral ear
nestness. I shall therefore be pardoned for a brief dis
cussion of the popular view of negro traits, because of
my strong conviction that the scientific student of char
acter must become a leader in any worth-while study
of America's most imminent and distressing ethical
problem. I
Allow me, for the sake of brevity, to select six leading
tendencies of a primitive sort from my working ethologi
cal scheme. Inasmuch as these tendencies are all noted
in popular appreciation of character, no harm will be
wrought by my use of terms that I cannot stop to ex
plain. The six tendencies I divide into two groups : the first
group contains three sensational or instinctive tenden
cies, and the second three relational or habitual ten
dencies. The sensational tendencies under consideration
are : appropriative, tendencies to take, seize, grab, pick
up, acquire, appropriate ; the expressive tendencies, those
that lead to gesture, vocal expression, garrulousness,
show of feelings, strutting, showing off, fashion, and
the like ; the gregarious tendencies, hunger for company,
liking for a crowd, sociability of the indiscriminate kind,
mass tendencies in general.

Supposed macial Craits of Begro 307
The relational tendencies are the following : the asser
tive are crude manifestations of will, animal initiative,
impulses leading to resentment, vindictiveness, and so
on; the responsive — crude altruism, animal sympathy,
the impulse to be en rapport, and other impulses of like
nature; perceptive — impulses of curiosity, observation
and so on. These too brief characterizations must suf
fice to hint at the general nature of the tendency norms
of characterization used by popular thought. It will be
noted that the sensational tendencies lend themselves to
the shallower, more concrete forms of impulse and feel
ing, whereas the relational tendencies are more intellec
tual and volitional.
How does popular observation judge negro character
with respect to these primitive trends of character?
II
Appropriative. Popular judgment makes a joke of the
negro's supposed inclination to "just take" things. He
is supposed to purloin after a childish fashion. South
erners never tire of descanting on the "bucket brigade."
Petty thieving is practically expected from the servants
in many households. Many curious illustrations are
given of negroes that "take" little things without show
ing any disposition toward large thefts. It is freely
asserted that the lower grade of negroes show no sense
of guilt when detected in these petty pilferings. Many
identify the average negro's proclivity to live from hand
to mouth with this native tendency to appropriate what
he can lay his hands on.
Gregarious. The negro is supposed to have a passion
for company. It is thought that funerals and weddings
and crowds of all kinds "put him in his element." The

3o8 mace ^rtbodO]r? in tbe ^outb
whites aver that negroes will follow a leader even to the
point of showing much bravery, especially if the leader
is a member of the dominant race. The negro's religious
fashions are also brought up as illustrations of this pro
pensity. When the negro cares little for his church,
it is averred, he more than makes up for his lack of
church attendance and religious mass emotionalism by
his fondness for all sorts and descriptions of lodges and
associations, whose prime attractions are their general
sociability and sense of mass solidarity. In his careful
study of external negro traits. Dr. Howard W. Odum
makes much of the negro's sociability, thus confirming, in
a measure, the popular opinion.
Expressiveness. Some say that the negro does not
sing and dance as he used to. But nearly everyone calls
attention to the negro's boisterous laughter, his love of
show, his tendency to strut and show off, his demonstra-
tiveness in greeting and in grief, his garrulousness, his
love of big words, his bumptiousness, and so on. Of
course, reference is here had to the "natural animal,"
not to the sophisticated negro on his guard in the pres
ence of whites or anxious to show his respect for social
convention. His so-called imitativeness is thought to be
largely his love of fashion, which is in part a mani
festation of the expressive instinct, when crudely dis
played. The negro's method of collecting money in
church, as described by Dr. Odum, is apparently another
instance of this trait.
Let us now turn to the negro's supposed characteris
tics with regard to the relational tendencies.
Assertive. Nearly all observers agree that the negro
is not resentful. They admit that he may be roused to
fits of anger quite easily, but seem to think that he does
not cherish vindictiveness and other deeply based pas-

Supposed macial Craits of Ji3egro 309
sions of the assertive sort. On the other hand, it is
thought that he does not show any great degree of
initiative; that he lacks the "do or die" characteristics;
that his egotism is superficial and childish and not firm
and masculine. His vanity is regarded as expressive
rather than assertive.
Responsive. Although claiming that the negro is so
ciable, many observers deny his capacity for sympathy,
gratitude, and habitual altruism. It is claimed that he
does not look after his sick as he should; that he has
littie real sympathy for his children; that he has little
talent for friendship, though inordinately fond of com
pany. He is said to remember kindness no more easily
than injury. His deeds of daring in behalf of white
people whose commands he is accustomed to take and to
whose circle he "belongs," as an humble retainer of "our
folks," are contrasted with his callousness toward his
own color.
Perceptive. Popular character study does not take
much note of this trait. But those who have spoken
about it seem inclined to deny that the negro is observ
ant and full of curiosity about things in general. One
observer tested several negroes that worked for him, and
clauns to have found that they failed to show the natu
ral curiosity that the average white child would have
shown. "They don't notice things unless their desire to
appropriate or to be like other people, or something of
that kind, is aroused," says the observer. Visitors to
negro schools sometimes say that the children are likely
to observe the external features of the visitor's make-up,
but show little interest in what he has to tell them. Some
students of negro character contrast unfavorably the
negro's mild powers of observation with the American
Indian's keenness of perception.

3IO mace ©rtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
Analogous judgments are expressed with respect to
the negro's mental processes that underlie and enter into
his character tendencies. Thus it is claimed that he is
sensational and affective rather than volitional and in
tellectual. His emotions are regarded as "peripheral"
or sensational rather than as strong in relational and the
more deeply based impulsive elements. His imagination
is looked upon as merely concrete and sensuous; his
assimilative powers as lacking in analysis and compari
son, except through superficial analogy; his imitative
ness is regarded as mimetic rather than intellectual like
that of the Japanese. There is complaint on account of
his feebleness of voluntary attention, sustained endeavor,
enthusiastic and continuous pursuit of things intellectual.
The assertion is made that at adolescence, when the
average white child's powers undergo a rapid growth,
especially in the intellectual and volitional and deeper
affective directions, the negro youth becomes stupid with
an access of sensuality, instead of the higher powers
of mind. Ill
How far are these popular notions scientifically cor
rect? No one, it seems to me, is in a position to reply,
for there has been practically no serious study of negro
character by the trained psychologist and ethologist. Nor
has much been found out as to the negro's nervous sys
tem. Dr. Bean's study of the negro brain that appeared
a few years ago in the American Journal of Anatomy
(Vol. IV) goes far to bear out the common judgment
as to the average negro's characteristics. He thought
that he found the negro brain strong on the sensational
side and weak in association fibers.*
*Dr. F. Boas, however, holds that Bean's conclusions have been
refuted by Mall in Aim. Jour, of Anat., Vol. IX.

S)upposed macial Craits of jQegro 311
Granting that the popular opinion is correct — simply
for the sake of argument — does it follow that the usual
conclusion with regard to the negro's innate intellectual
and volitional weakness is in any deep sense true? Is
the negro's trouble simply lack of development? Is his
social status such that his character has little stimulus
for development? Are the better grades of negro brains
that have been examined in any wise the product of edu
cation? Must the negro's education be carried on in a
fashion to develop his particular kind of brain? Are we
stunting him by subjecting him to the white man's system
of culture?
These questions, and many like unto them, do not
answer themselves. Even Southern gentlemen and ladies
who "know all about the negro" are scarcely capable of
speaking in terms of scientific accuracy with regard to
the immensely complex facts of an alien people. Nowa
days the whites very seldom have anything to do with
the real negro as he is spontaneously in the setting of his
natural social environment. Nor is anything gained by
repeating the statement, so weary from overworking,
that negro frontal sutures close prematurely, and thus
stop brain development. Who knows that the sutures
in the negro do, as a general rule, close "prematurely" in
negro development, even granting the truth of the asser
tion that they do close at a calendar age earlier than in
the case of the whites? And who knows that this sup
posed premature closing of sutures produces the fearful
effects attributed to it? Further, do the sutures close
early while active education is going on? These are
only a few samples of questions that should be asked and,
if possible, answered with regard to the most time-
honored of all anatomical statements with regard to the
negro race.

312 mace £)rtbodO£? in tbe @outb
To those who claim that the negro is essentially and
hopelessly sensational, sensual, superficial, lacking in con
centration and initiative, and all the rest of it, we may
well say, "Important if true." But popular psychology
cannot decide such questions. And, when most important
results may depend on our judgment in such a matter,
it seems heartless and stupid to neglect the scientific
ascertainment of the truth, or as near an approximation
to the truth as the scientific methods of to-day will
allow. Here is at once home and foreign missionary
work for the psychologist. Will he get to work? Will
an appreciable amount of money and time and talent be
given to the scientific study of a problem that affects
the whole theory of modern civilization and the weal
or woe of the Southern states, to say nothing of the
negro race itself?
We may not be able to solve the negro problem by
means of psychological and ethological and other kinds
of scientific research. But it does seem clear that such
study must contribute to the solution if one is possible.
Even though investigation should not be productive of
very important results, it is sure to throw some light upon
this dark and troubled problem.
When the Greeks were woefully afflicted by a plague
that swept off the flower of the youth during dense
gloom that hid the animating beams of the sun, this was
their prayer : "O Father Zeus, if we must die, let it be
in the light!" And this ought to be the prayer of the
South to-day in the deeper truth-loving spirit of our
twentieth century civilization in this great western land
of freedom and democracy.

II. RACE SYMPATHY AND RACE
ANTAGONISM
(Based on studies made at Memphis and New York City, 190^
1911.) "Who was that person that was so abused some time
since for saying that in the conflict of two races our
sympathies naturally go with the higher? No matter
who he was. Now look at what is going on in India —
a white, superior 'Caucasian' race against a dark-
skinned, inferior, but still 'Caucasian' race — and where
are English and American sympathies? We can't stop
to settle all the doubtful questions; all we know is that
the brute nature is sure to come out most strongly in
the lower race, and it is the general law that the human
side of humanity should treat the brutal side as it does
the same nature in the inferior animals — tame it or crush
it. The India mail brings stories of women and children
outraged and murdered; the royal stronghold is in the
hands of the baby-killers. England takes down the Map
of the World, which she has girdled with empire, and
makes a correction thus : Delhi. Dele. The civilized
world says. Amen." — "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table."
Had the babes murdered at Delhi been French, our
natural sympathies would have been less aroused; had
they been Chinese, still less; had they been American,
much more ; had they been Australian blacks, very much
less than in the case of Chinese. We sympathize with
the higher race because we are "higher" and sympathize
313

314 mace S)rtbodo£? in tbe ^outb
with our like. Our abstract ethical sympathy is far less
intense and far less "natural" than our sympathy due to
responsiveness to our very special kind. We do not on
this account discount the worthiness of ethical sentiment ;
we simply note the patent fact that all our higher faiths
and feelings root themselves in natural instincts and
tendencies ; we realize the truth that the highest morality
is more or less factitious, if not fictitious, unless rooted in
healthy animal and human sociality. New Testament
morality grows out of the ethical norms of the Old
Testament, even as the relatively high morality of the
prophets grew out of the natural ethnic ethics of the
"natural man." "First the natural man and then the
spiritual man." To reverse this order is to invite senti-
mentalism and moral decay that come from unnatural
ness of every description. And this principle is not con
fined to racial sympathies. It is likely that the loss of
normal sexual sensitiveness in higher types of human
beings provokes disaster to civilized life, especially when
it shows itself in women, who are probably by nature
generally far more passive than man in their sexual
feelings. So, too, no matter how high a race's morality,
a loss of the crude animal fondness for offspring that
makes a mother a very panther in defense of her children
is a real menace to civilization. Natural appetites for
simple food and drink ; natural liking for play and vigor
ous uncomplicated exercise; natural patriotism that
would fight for fellows be they right or wrong; natural
reverence for the Mysterious Higher in man and na
ture : these instincts and many like unto them are essen
tial to the usefulness, happiness and success of indi
viduals and nations. We dare not kick from under us
the steps that enable us to ascend the steeps of enlight
enment. Mere intellectualism has ever meant, will ever

mace ^?mpatb? and antagonism 315
mean, decadence. Even tiiat most recent fetish of
American thought, "Efficiency," must acknowledge at
last that there is an efficiency of feeling and sentiment
that will wreak vengeance on all who subordinate it to
merely intellectual and volitional "results." Pragmatism
is false to the core unless its philosophy of results takes
into account the emotional balance in life.
Dr. W. Cunningham, in his recent little work on
"Christianity and Social Questions," clearly recognizes
the personal-social aspect of all morality. Even with
regard to work which the prophets of efficiency are in
clined to depersonalize to the utmost, he has this very
old-fashioned but salutary definition: "Work is the ac
tive effort to give effect to the will of God" (p. i86).
Realizing the essential unpredictableness of the feeling
side of personality, he says (p. 209) : "The attempt to
interpret the ground of other people's actions is only
likely to be an unconscious revelation of dominant mo
tives in our own minds." We are sometimes astonished
at the behavior of those who make a point of minimiz
ing the personal aspect of public service, and yet at
the same time do not hesitate to make war upon the
work of public servants because of acts committed by
the latter which would be inefficient or insincere if done
by the critic or investigator, but which may be fairly
efficient and perfectly moral to the consciousness of
the actors themselves, whose temperaments and training
may be very different from the critic's.
"A duty changes its character when it is done under
state compulsion," is another of Cunningham's thoughts
that deserves close attention nowadays. There is an edu
cative loss, as he well says, when men are relieved of
responsibility through paying taxes, through compulsory
education laws, and the like. Certainly the present ten-

316 mace ©rtbodoj? in tbe ®outb
dency is to compel men to be moral through law or sys
tem or other forms of "control." Machinery is good
and necessary, but it is a doubtful help if it attempts to
take the place of personal responsibility or to depre
ciate the ethical value of unforced, natural, "affective"
morality. Since these things are so, it will be well for us, in
discussing the sympathy and the antagonism shown in
the contact of diverse races with one another, to inves
tigate the real character values of the primitive impulses
of social man. Such a procedure is especially necessary
for those that would understand the attitude of South
ern whites toward negro individuals and the negro race.
Attention has often been called to the claim that North
erners like the negro race but dislike the negroes indi
vidually considered, whereas Southerners like individual
negroes but are antagonistic toward the race as such.
When we consider that Northerners like the negro race
in the South, and are disposed to share Southern liking
for individual negroes that "keep their place," the dif
ference between the attitude of the sections amounts to
very little. Northerners whose early Southern experi
ence brings them into contact with negro irresponsible-
ness are prone to dislike negroes individually and racially,
for they have not been brought into touch with the more
amiable characteristics of the negro and fail to realize
that efficiency is a very relative term. And so the phe
nomena of sympathy are very complex and difficult to
understand. Indeed, some of us have seen individuals of
the white race portray every kind and degree of sym
pathy and antagonism toward the lower race within the
period of a single year. Some of us experience in our
selves all shades of sympathetic or of antagonistic ten
dencies, in accordance with changes in mood, economic

mace ^?mpatb? and antagonism 317
contact, change of surroundings, and the like. Unless
we analyze the various kinds of sympathy and try to
ascertain the essential meaning of the sympathetic im
pulse itself, we shall find ourselves in a psychological
tangle that will tend to trip us up continually in our at
tempts to generalize.

THE KINDS OF SYMPATHY
I. Ethical Sjmipathy. We sympathize with the op
pressed, with those that are making a brave fight against
great odds, with those who are contending for a prin
ciple. This sympathy has been felt for people like the
Japanese, the Armenians, the Cubans, the Poles, the
Finns, the Balkan allies. It is evidently based on im
aginative construction that is ordinarily rather fragile.
I have known men to change in their sympathies from
the Japanese side to the Russian after forming the
acquaintance of one Russian gentleman. It is doubtful
whether Calif ornians shared the sympathy felt for the
Japanese by the rest of the country. Not a few South
erners grew lukewarm in their sympathy for the "op
pressed Cubans" as soon as they were told that the in
surgents were for the most part negroes. I have noted
that a whole roomful of company disclaimed sympathy
for the Boers when a traveler described how filthy in
their habits many of the Boers were. Northerners very
often become antagonistic toward the idea of "poor,
down-trodden negroes" when these same Northerners
really know the happy-go-lucky blacks in the South.
Underlying this form of sympathy is evidently a kind
of imaginative expressiveness. Most of us have ro
mantic and generous sentiments on tap. The tales of

3i8 mace ©rtbodoi? in tbe Soutb
other people's sufferings or heroism stir our sympathy
or our enthusiasm. We vaguely picture these aliens as
like unto ourselves. When the imaginary bond of kin
ship is cut away we are apt to lose the verve of our
interest and sympathy; for our imaginative expressive
ness seems to depend on our native responsiveness to
our kind for any really permanent tap-root. John Brown
was probably insane, but certainly consistent in his sym
pathy for the negroes. Perhaps extremes of incon
sistency and of consistency are alike pathological!
Brown kissed a negro child, and that kiss indicated that
his ethical attitude, such as it was, and distorted as it
seems to some of us, was based upon vital responsive
ness, real sympathy, though associated with lack of sym
pathy for his own people.
I do not deny that men may experience highly intel-
lectualized forms of ethical sympathy; but with the loss
or the pathological exaggeration of the feeling element
goes much of the instinctive and effective naturalness of
the sentiment. And when a sentiment has become simply
a mildly modulated principle, men cease to die for it or
live for it. Hence one pays little attention to the ethical
sympathy begotten of reading and palace car touring.
In order to be really ethical, a sentiment must have the
ingredients of the ethical impulse. One of these, one of
the most important, is natural, spontaneous responsive
ness, which at bottom is diffused consciousness of kin
ship, and is due to psychological and biological likeness.
Some reader will naturally ask the question, "Is there
no truth in the story of the Good Samaritan?" Very
much, I reply. Many a modern good Samaritan would
take care of a wounded dog, which, after all, is an ani
mal with sensitive nerves such as we have. "Who is my
neighbor?" is a question answered in very catholic fash-

mace ^?mpatb? and antagonism 319
ion by the Buddhist. The humanity of the Samaritan is
not hard to understand : the real puzzle is the inhuman
conduct of the priest and the Levite! I believe that
Jesus was trying to call attention to the childlike native
responsiveness to distress shown by the Samaritan as
contrasted with the inhuman ceremonialism of the priest
and the Levite. If a Samaritan can be kind to a Jew,
how much more should a Jew show loving kindness to
his own people.
However, most so-called ethical sympathy is not based
on immediate appeal to childlike instincts, but is, as we
have suggested above, a product of imagination and re
flection. You remember the story of the negro tramping
through the Northern states and how he was informed
of his right to "equality," but got neither food nor prac
tical s)Tnpathy. The story goes on to say that on one
occasion the negro rang a front door bell and was ac
costed by the master of the house with this vigorous
command : "You black rascal, why don't you go round
to the kitchen door and get your dinner!" Well, this
would not ordinarily be regarded as a case of "ethical
sympathy," but I doubt not that the negro was sincere
when he replied, with his hat in his hand, "Thank God !
I done foun' a Southern gentleman !" We may eliminate
the implied invidious comparison without losing the les
son of the story. The Southern gentleman made no
pretense of being ethical: he was simply a good, in
stinctive, childlike, natural, human animal!
The white light of conscience is a blend of ethical colors,
in which the many delicate moral tints all come from a
few primary instincts. Let us take heed that we dog
matically lay no claim to ethicality that does not ground
itself in childlike instinctiveness. There is much truth
in the Socratic statement : "No man does wrong will-

320 mace IH:tbodoi? in tbe ^outb
ingly." We sometimes sin against truth and humanity
in our supposed sympathy with "oppressed" people, in
that we fail to sympathize with our own kind whom we
ignorantly brand as "oppressors." Ethical humanitarian
ism is to be found among all enlightened and not a few
unenlightened people. It is always well to play fair,
to hear the other side — and eminently well to heed Dr.
Holmes' sympathy with the man who "naturally" sided
with the higher race, other things being equal or doubt
ful or unknown !
2. Racial and National Sympathy. This form is evi
dently based on responsiveness of like to like. Make an
American of English descent realize that the English are
his nearest of kin among foreigners, and it will be very
difficult to have him take sides with the Russians or the
French as against the English. He may be alienated by
the abrupt or haughty conduct of a given Englishman;
but get him to discount this and appreciate his kinship
to the mass of Englishmen, and you have his pro-Eng
lish sympathies well in hand. Hence I should like to
insist on the coming inevitableness of the Northern
white man's sympathy for his white brother of the South,
without regard to the metaphysical ethicality of the
Southern white man's cause. The Northerner may not
understand the Southerner's apparent disregard of the
negro's rights, but solaces himself with the thought, "Did
I live South I guess I would act as the Southemers do."
And indeed he would! Should this sympathy for the
Southern whites make the Northerner oblivious to the
black man's welfare? By no means, no more than it
should so affect the Southern white man. Let the North
erner say to himself, "If my Southern brother is so situ
ated as to be compelled to choose between two evils; if
he has to act in an ethically distorted way because of

mace ^?mpatb? and antagonism 321
distorted conditions amid which he finds himself through
no fault of his ; if people of my own kind are forced to
act as if they disregarded the rights of man and the first
principles of democracy — then we should all work to
gether so to remedy conditions as to help the black man
without injuring the whites. But let me be careful about
interfering, or let me avoid gratuitous advice and the
assumption of superior sanctity on our part: for the
Southerner is doubtiess doing as well as he can under
the circumstances, and is quite likely to be as good a
man as I am." How much more of a "Union" we
should have if Northerners were uniformly responsive
to their brethren at the South! How much happier we
should all be did we realize that the South is humani
tarian at heart and that her apparent disregard of human
rights is a subject to be patiently investigated, sympa
thetically pondered and studied, and not simply inveighed
against or made the recipient of unbrotherly sarcasm. It
stirs a Southem white man's indignation to the depth of
his heart to have the Northern brother "take sides"
against his own race and nation, without a knowledge
of the facts, and therefore without appreciation of the
distressing complexity and difficulty of the actual situ
ation. We may rest assured that, if we love not our brethren
whom we ought to understand because of likeness and
kinship, we stand a poor chance of loving intelligently
an alien people whom we know practically nothing about
and who cannot be socially incorporated into the national
life. We shall be at least healthy in our national moral
ity if we are careful to give free play to our natural
responsiveness to those who are most like us. Kinship
loads the dice of sympathy. The world would be worse

322 mace ©rtbodoi? in tbe ©outb
did it not. It is better for love to be blind than to be
either hypercritical or hypocritical.
3. Associational Sympathy. We tend to sympathize
with those that we "go with." Indeed, we are apt to
become assimilated to our company and therefore to
sympathize with our like. It is evident that responsive
ness and gregariousness underlie this variety of sym
pathy. Husband and wife, when not ill mated, tend to
acquire the same tastes, to use the same sets of concepts,
to adopt the same mental attitudes; in truth, they even
tend to resemble each other physically. Children attend
ing the same school, members of the same church, part
ners in business, persons that belong to the same social
set; all these and other like social groups tend to acquire
sympathy for one another. They respond and go with
one another, and the responsiveness and gregariousness
in turn bring about greater likeness. In such cases, sym
pathy gets very deep roots.
4. Utilitarian Sympathy. We say that we sympa
thize with those that will help us or who are useful to
us. But such a relationship, while adjuvant to sympathy
and furnishing occasions for its exercise, is not really
sjTiipathetic. Labor union men may think that they
sympathize with the Southem viewpoint; but such sym
pathy is shallow unless it has beneath it some degree of
native responsiveness and consciousness of kinship. One
cannot depend on sympathy for Southern whites at the
North when the supposed sentiment is due simply to a
desire to retain the status quo at the South for economic
reasons. However, given some degree of responsiveness
and company sense, utilitarian considerations may power
fully aid in the development of sympathy.

mace ^?mpatb? and antagonism 323
THE NATURE OF SYMPATHY AND
ANTAGONISM
I. Responsiveness and Unresponsiveness. We are
ordinarily drawn to our like, provided there is sufficient
variety in the likeness; on the other hand, we are re
pelled by observation of unlikeness in others, especially
when we esteem those others to be lower than ourselves.
Antagonism becomes amused contempt when the lower
race is seen to be slavishly copying the higher and when
the higher race believes that the lower prefers the higher
to its own race. Responsiveness and antagonism are
always more profound when based on connate likenesses
or differences, respectively, of physical appearance and
nervous structure. When the unlike lower race seems to
"fit in" with the life of the higher, and spontaneously
and sincerely takes up a station avowedly subordinate,
then the consciousness of difference sometimes lends a
certain charm to life and a certain dignity and kindly
condescension to the behavior of the higher race. This
point is well illustrated by the following occurrence
which came under my observation in New York City:
Two very intelligent young men, both of Northern birth
and rearing, were chaffing each other. A said to B —
"Whom would you prefer to have as a tentmate during
a hunting expedition in the woods, a filthy, low-grade
white immigrant or a filthy, low-grade negro?" B re
plied — "The negro." Then, after a pause, he added —
"But I should prefer a dog to either of them." The
negro's supposed "humble" subserviency seemed to fit
in with B's comfortable sense of dominion, whereas he
would have felt that the white immigrant was implicitly
demanding some sort of social recognition, or ought to
do so. There was no social problem at all with regard

324 mace Drtbodox? in tbe ^outb
to the dog! B could respond to the dog's overtures for
friendly contact, because there was no implication of
equality nor of competition. Like responds to like of
the lowest degree of likeness, when the principle of the
competitive struggle for existence and the survival of the
fittest does not come into operation. Like responds to
like of the higher grade even with competition and pro
fession of equality, when both parties acknowledge real
or implicit or feasible equality. One white man of high
grade may listen with equanimity to claims of equality
from another white man of low grade, because he realizes
that his humbler brother is biologically and psychologi
cally capable of becoming his social brother, or that the
humbler brother's blood has in it the promise and po
tency of social equality.
Why is it that so many intelligent people insist that
educated and refined specimens of the negro race should
have accorded them a kind of recognition ordinarily ac
corded to white men of the same degree of worth and
culture? Do they fail to realize that social recognition
has a biological basis? Do they not realize that even
Jesus the idealist first ministered to His own people?
Was He simply jesting when He spoke of the heathen
as "dogs," to whom the children's bread was not to be
given? Did he not accept racial distinctions in His
social life? In becoming cosmopolitan do we cease to be
national? Can we coerce ourselves into reversing the
law of nature and grace that the natural man precedes
the spiritual man? We may discount our native respon
siveness and inhibit antagonistic conduct based on native
antipathy ; but we had better be very careful not to inter
fere too much with even the jots and tittles of the laws
of nature. They, too, must all be fulfilled. And he is
least in the kingdom of Heaven that neglects and he

mace ^?mpatb? and antagonism 325
greatest that does them ! Lincoln was true to nature and
true to his own sincere conscience when he asserted vigor
ously that he was not as responsive to negroes as to
whites, that he did not believe in anything that would
lead to social equality between the races ; that he would
side with the whites did he have to choose between the
races. Whatever our attitude toward other races, it be
hooves us to be true to our fundamental instinct of re
sponsiveness and not attempt to substitute unhealthy sen
timentality of self -consciousness for the native childlike
ness of unforced sympathy toward our next of kin. The
Southerner insists on racial solidarity, and guards all
approaches toward it; for he instinctively feels that sen
suality on the one hand and sentimentalism on the other
are ever threatening race purity, the "conscience" for
which is primarily based on habitual responsiveness of
the biologically like toward one another.
2. Gregariousness vs. Exclusiveness. Responding to
our like, we naturally company with them. Feeling no
coercive responsiveness to those racially unlike us, equally
as naturally we do not "mix" with them socially. Inas
much as social mingling is intimately associated with all
forms of social intercourse, whether economic, political,
religious or cultural, our gregariousness tends to con
fine itself to those whom we feel that we or ours may
actually or potentially (through descendants) mingle
with. Our exclusion of those "not of the kin" is not
unfeeling or cruel. Indeed, when exclusiveness asserts
itself in a high-bred gentleman he experiences acute pity
for individuals from whom he feels that he must cut
himself off. He allows his native instinct of exclusive
ness to operate freely because he knows that it is best in
the long run to make association with an individual of a
lower race a matter of race rather than a matter of

326 mace Drtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
individuality. To make exceptions would be to mistrust
nature and science. The Southern gentleman does not
wish to inflict pain ; but he does wish to be both natural
and ethical; and his ethicality, in this instance, must be
based upon higher utilitarian considerations and not on
sentimentality, which is sentiment cut off from its native
roots of responsiveness and gregariousness belonging to
a certain time and place. One asks, however, this seem
ingly pertinent question : "Why not graft on the natural
stock the shoot of a higher humanitarianism?" The
answer is : "We are continually doing that, but only on
the condition that the stock has its own natural roots!"
3. Expressiveness vs. Indifference. A tap-root of so
cial expressiveness also is responsiveness. We love to
talk with our like, to exchange views, on the basis of
real or possible social equality. Unless our companions
are sufficiently like us to rouse at least incipient admira
tion, even though it be only reflected qualities of our
own that arouse our appreciation, our expressiveness be
comes condescending or uncomfortable. Physical dif
ferences, when too great, are very likely to counteract
any native tendency toward expressiveness. The South
erner likes the negro "in his place," because he does not
feel called on to express himself to a quasi equal, and
knows that the negro, however superior he may be, ex
pects only the kindly and courteous humanitarian treat
ment extended toward the worthy of his race, and does
not expect the Southern white man to relax his assump
tion of superior status.
Likeness, then, real or implied, is the healthy and
natural basis for social sympathy that makes for the
common cooperative life of democratic citizenship. It
cannot be forced. Lincoln rightly says that we must
take into account a universal attitude whether it be right

mace ^?mpatb? and antagonism 327
or wrong. Indeed, the question is not one of senti
mental morality, but rather one of adaptability, feasi
bility, congruousness, utilitarianism, naturalness, inevi
tableness. Extemal forms of sociality imply to the sincere
mind certain bases of responsiveness, gregariousness and
expressiveness. To make a show of treating a man as
a potential equal when one feels that he isn't, or that
he ought not to be treated differently from his race,
which race one does not believe ought to be assimilated,
is to invite hypocrisy in the higher race and dangerous
social self-assertion in the lower race.
If an inquirer should ask whether it is healthy and
right for two diverse peoples to live on the same soil
without becoming assimilated to one another and with
out the promise of ultimate equality, I should unhesi
tatingly say, No! The present situation at the South is
abnormal, and ought not to be continued. Men ought
to be so situated that no one asks questions regarding
race. But given present conditions at the South, the
Southemer's social attitude toward the lower race is
safe and sane, because wise and necessary and natural.
Every decent Southerner believes in the rights of man
and wishes it were possible for the negro to get all the
development and recognition that he deserves as an in
dividual or as a race. After all, however, the safety of
society and the healthiness of its social life are of more
intrinsic importance than the feelings of certain worthy
negroes. Our social actions must always take into ac
count the tendencies toward which they lead. South
emers know from experience that it is unnatural, forced
and meaningless to pretend that we should treat an in
dividual negro as if we knew nothing as to his racial
extraction. We also know that the average low negro
regards himself as potentially at least the equal of every

328 mace ffl)rtbodO£? in tbe ®outb
cultured negro and entitled to all the recognition that
any "nigger" gets. White antagonism at the South, ex
cept in the case of negro-haters, whose attitude is of no
importance for our present purposes, is not toward the
negro race or the negro individual, but rather toward the
pretended recognition of individuality as apart from
race, and toward the unnatural and dangerous policy that
would lead the mass of the negroes to claim any sort of
equality with the whites, except the equal right to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Even these natu
ral rights are only relative. If the higher race is con
vinced that its right to happiness is endangered by grant
ing the negro the right to the pursuit of happiness, we
may be sure, as in case of the "right" to intermarry, that
the white man will interpret negro rights differently than
in the case of the same rights as claimed by the whites.
If a thousand white aliens wished to marry a thousand
negroes on South Carolina soil, the South Carolinians
would not allow it, even though the alien whites had not
become naturalized citizens. The Congress of the United
States did not hesitate to interfere with the Mormon
elder's right to the pursuit of happiness through marry
ing several wives. The Southern white regards inter
racial marriages as inexpedient and immoral. The real
question to be asked is not. How to get the Southern
whites to treat the negroes as individuals and to give
all the negroes their constitutional rights ; but rather this.
How can we bring about a salutary change that will give
the negro what he needs without interfering with the
progress of the South in the long run, and without at
tempting to suppress perfectly natural, inevitable and, on
the whole, useful reactions of the Southern whites toward
the negroes? The failure to appreciate the meaning of
the Southern white's attitude, his failure to explain his

mace ^?mpatb? and antagonism 329
own feelings properly, his tendency to allow people to
interpret his conduct in an undemocratic and inhuman
sense: these are some of the distressing aspects of the
problem that have been largely overlooked even by close
students of the subject. Admitting the general ration
ality of the account thus far given, what shall we say
of Dr. Holmes' antithesis, tame or crush?
The taming process is what the average Southern
white means by the sensible "educating the negro for
his place." To tame the negro is to make him give up
all pretense of ever claiming to be the white man's equal
in any respect. What shall we say to such a proposition ?
Only one thing can be said by true Americans. There is
no "place" in this country for a peasant class: it hurts
the lower and the higher race alike, and particularly the
higher. What remains ? A struggle and the ultimate crushing
of the negro through violence or through the slow de
cadence of a race that has lost all hope and self-respect?
True Americans will assuredly demur to such a solution
as this. We do believe in the rights of man; in the
preciousness of every human life; in the essential soli
darity of the human race ; in the fair fight and the square
deal. Let Americans generally show their sympathy for
their fellow Americans of the dominant race in the South
by helping them to cast off in some way a fearful incubus,
and not waste time, treasure and force in attempting to
secure for the negroes supposed rights and blessings that
the Southern whites will not allow the negroes to have
in a "white man's country." Let us assume that the
Southern whites know something of democracy, but must
act in the interest of the safety and moral health of so
ciety in order that American principles may remain alive
long enough to grow and fruit. In fine, let us study this

330 mace ©rtbodoip in tbe ^outb
question on the assumption that the solution must be such
as to injure the dominant race in no serious way, and
on the further assumption that the attitude of the better
Southern whites toward the negro must not be inter
fered with unless these men of race conscience are shown
that their views are unnatural and wrong, that their
fears are foolish, that the negro can become a full-fledged
citizen without danger to the South, and so on. But,
be assured, no "snap judgment" of the doctrinaire or the
politician or the philanthropist can settle these questions
offhand. Patient, organized, long-continued research
alone will bring out truth that will command the atten
tion of all the people. North and South.
If our popular psychological account is right in hold
ing that Southern white attitude toward the negroes
cannot be naturally and fully consistent with higher eth
ical insight as long as the races are occupants of a com
mon soil, because natural amalgamation is execrable and
colonization is impracticable, what shall we do? We
should at least make sure that colonization is imprac
ticable, or that there is no other solution possible, before
we acquiesce in present conditions of unhealthy moral
strain and retarded progress.

F. Freedom Through the Truth.
THE EXPERIENCE OF A STUDENT OF THE
NEGRO PROBLEM : THE NEED OF A
NEW FREEDOM
(Suggested by various discussions held at conferences with
leading Mississippi schoolmen in the summer of 1913.)
I. THE STUDENT'S EXPERIENCE
Bom within sight of Southern rice fields, educated
wholly in his native state, inheriting from his English
blood respect for facts and reverence for tradition, and
from his French blood quickness and versatility of sym
pathy and intuition, the Student began as a boy of nine
to puzzle over the Southern interracial situation. The
"academy" where he took his high school course had
been founded by aristocratic indigo planters in the middle
of the eighteenth century. The state university where
he worked up from sophomore to professor was a center
of purest Southernism. Yet the Student's education
knew nothing of sectional bitterness. His father, a Con
federate veteran, used to speak of secession as a right
eous mistake, of state rights as a geographical incident
and yet an eternal principle, of slavery as an economic
and ethical blunder that under Providence retarded the
development of the South in order that she might become
the instrument of ultimate spiritual conservation of the
Union. Brought up during reconstruction times, our Student,
as a "red-shirt boy," took part in two political processions
331

332 mace ©rtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
in honor of Wade Hampton. He remembers hearing his
father say on election day of 1876: "I have told John
(the mulatto butler) that he must vote for Hampton if
he wishes to keep his place ;" and he will never forget his
father's look of sadness and discomfort as this remark
was made. The Student understood his father's feelings
later, when he himself was obliged, on occasion, to chas
tise "impudent" negroes that disputed the sidewalk with
him or made insulting remarks about the white people.
But he used to wonder vaguely why white Republicans
were regarded as "scalawags" without much hope of
redemption in this world or the next, and why "demo
cratic negroes" were always in danger of being "beaten-
up" by the rest of the negroes.
In his county, during the eighties, whites and negroes
used to "divide up" the county offices. The negroes got
the unimportant offices, like that of school commissioner !
And the Student has been able to watch the gradual
elimination of the negro from politics; the loss of sym
pathy between the races ; the hardening of the hearts of
the Southern whites as certain atrocious crimes began to
show themselves among the negroes; the rise of the
"common people" of the South, coincident with the fall
of the negro ; the growing sense of white solidarity along
with the formation of political factions in each Southern
state ; transient breakings away from "the Democracy,"
and subsequent return to the two-partitioned Democratic
fold with its guarantee of political independence through
the white primary, etc., etc.
The Student can never forget the political rendering
of a popular religious ditty: "Hold the fort for Hamp
ton's coming!" And yet he lived to see that same Hamp
ton turned out of the United States Senate by a new
political "savior" — this time of the "common (white)

€:bt Jf3eed of a Ji3eto Jfreedom 333
people." White supremacy had become strong enough
to dare to divide ; but so completely coherent had become
the racial orthodoxy of the South that not even the bitter
factional fights among the whites were able permanently
to divide the Democratic party. In the midst of all these
movements one thing has remained constant: the pas
sionate dogma of white supremacy.
I need not go into details of the Student's personal
history. His six years' sojourn on the Pacific Coast
allowed him to look at another set of interracial rela
tions. He was also able to see what the negro problem
meant in the great cities of the North.
From the beginning of his graduate university work
our Student had concentrated his interest and attention
on the psychology of character, and especially the psy
chology of public opinion and social movements. Hence
it is not surprising that his special studies and his con
tact with racial problems on both sides of the continent
should conspire with a conscience somewhat sensitive to
Christian-democratic principles to awaken in him a
whole-souled desire to do what he could to throw light
on a problem that was a constant challenge to men of
good will everywhere, and which was evidently inter
fering with the free development of his beloved South.
Perhaps the Student was stupid in thinking that cool
science and ethical fervor could work together success
fully in one human heart !
When the Student was offered an important post in a
Southern state university, under conditions that showed
a spontaneous and heartily sympathetic demand for his
services on the part of the teachers of the state, he thought
that a "call" had come to him. And his resolution to
heed the summons was rendered firmer by the advice of
an American psychologist and educator of international

334 mace ©rtbodoi? in tbe ©outb
standing. As soon as he had settled in his new place he
began the systematic study of the negro question, and
especially an investigation of the psychology of so-called
race prejudice. He organized a graduate seminar for
the study of the negro question, collected data from all
quarters, read widely, and soon had the satisfaction of
seeing one of his students devote himself to the same
study and publish his doctor's thesis on negro traits
under the auspices of two of America's greatest univer
sities. One morning, immediately upon his return from mis
sionary educational work in his adopted state, after a
twenty-mile trip over a wretched road, he was almost
overwhelmed with surprise and indignation to find that
the board of trustees of the university, by a bare ma
jority vote of little more than a quorum of the board,
had tumed his department out of the university. The
state teachers' association, by a unanimous standing vote,
and the entire student body of the university, through a
practically unanimous petition, requested the board to
restore the department to the university. Soon tele
grams, letters, interviews and so on so focused public
opinion that the board, four weeks after dropping the
department of education from the university, by a unani
mous vote, with an almost full board, reinstated the de
partment. The ostensible meaning of the board's first
action was the desire for "economy"; but people gen
erally thought that the board's elimination of the depart
ment was an attempt to get rid of a student of the negro
problem who insisted on holding fast to democratic
Christian principles as applicable to all men. Now, our
Student had always been entirely "orthodox" in his racial
stand as to "social" and "political" equality. He had
always stood up for "white supremacy." He had always

€^bt Jl3eed of a Ji3eto Jfreedom 335
insisted that the Southern people were behaving as ethi
cally under the circumstances as any other people would
have done. He had blamed the situation rather than his
people. He had insisted on holding open no illusory
"doors of hope" to the negro. But he had nevertheless
maintained, although feeling and professing great sym
pathy even for extremist views, that the Southern people
should not be complacentiy satisfied with holding another
people in spiritual subjection for all time. Hence he had
advocated careful systematic investigation of the prob
lem, in order that the Southern people and the nation
should be able to look the situation squarely in the face
and take appropriate action. Personally he could see no
solution of the problem except ultimate colonization of
the negro by means of a carefully prepared plan that
would not disrupt economic conditions and would play
fair with the negroes.
Not a single member of the university board had ade
quate first-hand knowledge of the Student's views and
work; if certain ones had wished to punish the Student
they had acted "on suspicion." True, there was need of
economy at the university ; nor would one have the right
to say that some of the "economists" did primarily act
on account of the student's supposed views on the negro
question; but it is an assured fact that some of them
avowed their feelings of suspicion toward the Student,
and were willing to restore him to his place only because
his recall was demanded by the teachers of the state, the
students of the university, and the public opinion that
was powerfully influenced by the united teachers and
students. The Student, believing that the people of his state had
endorsed his work, continued his study of the negro
question, and continued to express his views modestly

336 mace flDrtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
and frankly. Although he had opportunities to go
North, he decided to remain South and continue the work
that was so close to his conscience. During several years
ensuing he could at times see some of his friends become
cold and suspicious ; he was bitterly arraigned by a promi
nent newspaper; his friends' timidity "prevented" re
ports of some of his negro question speeches from being
reported in the newspapers lest such reports might "in
jure" him; the university authorities confessed that his
race question work was embarrassing to the university.
But time will do its perfect work. Very gradually, first
the leading schoolmen of the state and then the people
generally came to see that our student was the kind of
"friend" that the South needed, because his "defense"
of the South was not special pleading, and was free from
fire-eating, braggadocio, arrogance, side-stepping, in
volved sophistry, appeals to the gallery, and the like.
Some of the leading "extremists" (including the pictur
esque and magnetic Vardaman) offered to help the Stu
dent with his work when he afterward corresponded with
some of them from New York City.
The Student has had many vicissitudes of fortune.
An accumulation of shocks and crises endangered his
nervous stability during several years. Although several
prominent and influential men attempted to get him the
opportunity to concentrate his attention on the problem
he had at heart, but had failed in their efforts ; although
he found apathy or opposition to the study of the ques
tion — both North and South; although he still suf
fers at times from the old canard that had originally
operated against him; although he has seen even men
of limited intelligence and rather mediocre consecration
preferred before him and gain recognition for minor
services in behalf of the South : nevertheless, his faith

^bt il3eed of a j^eto jfreedom 337
in his people's fairness and justice and loving kindness
and open-mindedness — yea, faith even in the most nar
row-minded and ignorant of them — has grown year by
year. At heart these Southern people are tolerant and
charitable, frank and sincere.
Without a talent for attracting financial support for
his own investigational efforts, — in the face of a preju
dice toward the study of race-prejudice, — in spite of the
dangerous optimism that wants to "wait" and let things
drift, — the Student dares to hope that the South her
self, poor as she is, and suffering from anxiety and un
rest with regard to the race problem, will help the Stu
dent and his friends to organize the investigation of this
imminent question. Even now the educational leaders
of the state are arranging to utilize over half of the Stu
dent's time next year, making him a sort of university
extension professor-at-large for the state. And he has
already been able to start a little fund that may prove to
be the nucleus of an opportunity for a Southern study of
Southern problems.
If the Student were asked whether he thought that the
investigation of the negro problem should be merely a
Southern venture, he would reply most decidedly in the
negative. Southern sensitiveness, which has a real rea
son for being, looks askance toward studies of this prob
lem that are not vouched for by their own trusted lead
ers; but to accuse the South of obscurantism and bour
bonism that she could dispense with is unfair and unkind.
Indeed, the Student has yet to find a single man in the
South, even among professional politicians, that did not
sooner or later respond to his appeal in behalf of the
dignity of the human soul. Some extremists pretend at
times that the immeasurable worth of a negro's soul is
an idea not to be taken seriously; but even these, espe
cially when they can be got to take their alleged Christian

338 mace flDrtbodoip in tbe ©outb
principles seriously, are compelled to admit that the negro
is a true man and has the rights that a real man has,
even though under present circumstances, and probably
as long as the races are together in the same territory,
the negroes must remain completely subordinated in the
interests of public peace and the proper pride of race.
Thus the Student is more than hopeful that his South
ern compatriots will welcome and support all well-
directed efforts to solve the race problem, and in his own
person has been able to prove that free speech as well
as independent thought is possible at the South. So
vitally necessary is the preservation of racial orthodoxy
in the South that racial heretics — and all those who insist
that negroes must be treated as individuals rather than
members of a race are racial heretics — should not expect
to enjoy their life in the South. Does this mean that
Southerners do not believe in the individual worth of
the human soul? I have just insisted that they assuredly
have such a belief. But they regard their racial treat
ment of negroes as racial representatives rather than as
free men simply as the less of two evils. They are per
fectly willing that negro individuals should be fully
recognized in accordance with their character — some
where else than on our American territory. And they
rejoice that the Christian negro can sustain his spirits by
believing that God sees his real worth and is no respecter
of persons. For they know, nevertheless, that the divine
care for each human soul does not conflict with the
equally divine course of human history with its Chosen
People lording it over the lesser tribes without the law.

^bt I3eed of a Beto Jfreedom 339

II. THE NEED OF A NEW FREEDOM
Since our Southern people are normal Americans, and
perhaps the tmest American stock, conserving much that
the country needs, can we say at the South, "It is well
with our souls"? No! The South is not free. Our
Student fights for his freedom.
I need say little with regard to negro unfreedom. Bad
as it is that these "freedmen" (not freemen) should
be deprived of political rights; bad as it is that they
should have to bear the stigma of imputed inferiority
just because of the accident of race ; bad as it is that they
can have no rational hope of complete citizenship in the
United States of America unless public opinion under
goes a change of which I am able to see no "primitive
streak" ; far worse is it that the white people of the South
are not free to develop fully.
After all, much of our sympathy for the negro is
wasted. The average "darkey" is perfectly content with
being an inferior and with recognizing the overlordship
of the whites if people will let him alone and give him
a fair share of protection against the sharks among the
whites. The small percentage of high-grade negroes
and mulattoes that really care for full spiritual freedom,
which, of course, includes all the rights of citizenship,
can leave the country if they want to, and few will cry
about it. Southerners will admire their pluck, wish them
well, and help them generously. The masses of the ne
groes could probably be educated to make a tolerably
good peasantry. If the mulattoes would emigrate or
breed back into the ranks of the negroes, the unthinking,
careless, happy-go-lucky average negro would get along
with the whites first rate, provided some machinery be
found to supervise them carefully in the interests of law

340 mace flDrtbodoi? in tbe Soutb
and order, and protect them in their reasonable rights as
an inferior race living under tutelage.
If vast masses of white people in Europe have lived
for centuries the life of a contented peasantry; if the
forces of nature operate in their usual ways and ulti
mately bring down the rate of negro population so that
the "problem" becomes easier as the years go by; then
there is no reason why we should weep over the situa
tion. For the upper tenth of the negroes can go where
they may obtain true freedom, and the nine-tenths do
not need it and do not know what to do with it. True
it is that all good men would prefer to have all the
American negroes lifted up and fully developed. But
even if nine million negroes, plus some more millions of
the future, should fail to rise, there will be left enough
negroes on earth to make a good experiment in African
eugenics. The excellent racial traits attributed to negro
blood by some of the friends of the child races still have
a fair chance in Africa, and perhaps elsewhere, if the
friends of humanity will be a little foresighted with re
gard to them and prevent certain aspects of white civiliza
tion from ruining them. In other words, the unfreedom
of the negroes, though tragic enough when viewed in
the light of the higher ethics, does not necessarily mean
the failure of the negro race as such.
On the other hand, how is it with the white man?
Many whites seem to be fully satisfied with negro peas
ant labor, in spite of evidence that white labor is superior,
and that it is the glory of free America that her generous
life brings out the real man in the European peasant, thus
proving the superiority of a peasantless regime. Some
go so far as to satisfy themselves with the thought that
the South need not, with negro labor, remain hopelessly
behind the rest of the country, but will lag — well, just

€^bt Ji3eed of a Ji3eto jfreedom 341
moderately ! Does the believer in negro labor, however,
pretend that the South would not be better off economi
cally if negroes were ultimately displaced by a higher peo
ple ? Does anyone suppose that the present economic life
of a Yazoo-Mississippi Delta is going to be the typical
industrial life of the South? And is the South to trust
her hopes of a high economic development to the absurd
declaration, long ago worn out, that "Cotton is king"?
Even the boll-weevil has done its little best to teach the
South some sense in this regard! With white labor in
the cotton mills, in spite of its greater expensiveness and
assertiveness, how can it be said that the South of the
future can hope for good things from negro labor?
Science and practical sanitation and hygiene, along with
everyday experience, have destroyed utterly the old no
tion that the "white man can't stand the hot sun." As
a matter of fact, he is standing it, and frequently much
better than the negro does. Tropical medicine has taught
us that there is great hope of a future of the white race
even in the tropics — and the South is by no means a
part of the tropics.
Every keen observer knows that agricultural, domestic
and other forms of efficiency are vitiated by the ways and
work of the negro. So much is this the case that in one
Southern town — and there are many like it — white ladies
no longer speak apologetically because of having to do
their own domestic drudgery. The educated negro do
mestics and other laborers "go North," or set up for
themselves — white farms and homes get little benefit
from them. Surely one must expect that trained negroes
will not submit to the double yoke of "labor" and
"race" if they can find some way of escaping the one or
the other. And the presence of white student waiters
at a number of Southern colleges indicates that the whites

342 mace flDrtbodoj? in tbe ^utb
are beginning to shake off the shackles of dependence
on irresponsible labor and getting rid of absurd lack of
respect for "menial" work in itself. Nevertheless the
coming industrial independence of the white man is very
slow in developing. In some localities, because of the
difficulties of keeping white immigrants down South in
the midst of a negro population, there may be relapse
toward dependence on the negro. The very existence
of a lazy, shiftless, incompetent, irresponsible mass of
laborers that require the closest supervision all the time
necessarily lowers the economic energy and standards
of the white people. Many a white man excuses his easy,
sauntering way of transacting business by speaking of
the ridiculous rush and hurry-scurry of the North. But
much of our Southern lassitude is caught from the ways
of the negro rather than the wiles of the hookworm. I
speak somewhat dogmatically ; but I think that investiga
tion will show that the regions of the South with sparse
negro populations are as a rule more energetic than are
those with a much larger percentage of negroes, other
things being equal. At any rate, when a man says to him
self, "One cannot expect a negro servant to do more
than one-third of what is easily done by a Chinese," he
will find himself using a standard of efficiency below his
best. In a thousand ways negro economic inefficiency
retards the development of the South. And this constant
doing of less than our best, this easy-going lack of re
gard for time, this willingness to put up with inefficient
service and to overlook small pilferings because one "ex
pects that from a negro" — what is all this but an insidious
form of psychological economic unfreedom?
We are no better off in politics — 'rather worse. The
existence of a "Solid South" is a form of political slav
ery for the South itself. Southerners say — and rightly

^bt Ji3eed of a Ji3eb3 jfreedom 343
— We dare not divide. But when supposedly free men
say that they dare not act politically as they want to;
when they suffer even socially if they do not vote the
Democratic ticket ; when they are driven to vote for men
rather than measures ; when discussion of national issues
on the stump often sounds like a solemn and tedious
joke; when political thinking has nothing to stimulate it,
because Southerners must think alike on the main issues
— what have we but political unfreedom? Last fall I
heard dozens of men say that they would like to have an
opportunity to vote for Roosevelt, but that it "wouldn't
do" ; some of us who had no yearning desire to vote for
the Colonel felt nevertheless a perverse sensation of pro
test because we were "expected to" vote for Wilson or
not at all. While Wilson was our choice, we did not
want to be obliged to vote for him. Is such a feeling
unreasonable ?
Naturally, Southerners are independent in politics.
Like other people who live in warm climates, they would
ordinarily tend to split into small groups rather than to
vote in solid ranks. But who would suppose that South
erners had any sense of political independence? Shall
Southern children be brought up to believe that inde
pendence in voting is disloyalty, if not treason? Such
is the lesson of things as they are. Why should I have
to teach my children that at the South the terms white,
Democratic, gentleman and Christian meant pretty nearly
the same thing in popular parlance? Remember, I am
not railing at the South. I share all the limitations of
her citizens in my own conduct. I blame a wretchedly
anomalous situation, and not our sane, broadly demo
cratic and Christian people.
Even in religion does the black blight of unfreedom
appear. To say nothing about the existence of denomi-

344 mace SDrtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
nations with "South" or "Southern" tacked onto them,
and the straying apart of religionists that should be
growing together in the general trend toward Christian
unity, how absurd it is that even those whites who wish
to help the negroes in their religious life are likely to
do more harm than good in their efforts. Who can
blame a negro for not desiring the help of a people who
allow so much "arrogant indifference toward the feel
ings, to say nothing of the rights, of human beings"?
Let a preacher in a Southern pulpit begin to plead for
the negroes, and he at once endangers his popularity if
not his support. Preachers do thus plead, on occasion,
and are generously called "courageous" by some of their
friends. Why should a minister of the church be "cour
ageous" when he reminds his parishoners of the funda
mental principle of Christianity, the priceless value of
every human soul? And yet I should personally advise
nine out of ten clergymen to leave this negro question
severely alone. If he wants to correct injustice or arro
gance or cruelty, let him work with the individual. Yet
I know that I am advising a man to act slavishly — in the
interest of peace and because he cannot hope to do good
by his exhortations unless he has remarkable tact or
wonderful powers of mind and heart. If a special stu
dent of the negro question must submit to being called
"brave" because he gently insinuates that, according to
Christianity, negroes have immortal souls and that Christ
died for those souls, although he has prefaced his re
marks with a stiff statement of his adhesion to "South
ern" principles, is it surprising that the people should
want their ministers to keep clear of a subject which
they ordinarily have not studied? On the other hand,
I have heard esteemed and godly ministers make heart
less remarks about negroes, remarks so cruelly harsh and

^bt J3eed of a s^tto jfreedom 345
unsympathetic that they aroused my indignation that
alleged ambassadors of the Most High should speak so
sHghtingly of any of God's children.
It is needless to insist that healthy theological thinking
is difficult in a land which finds itself compelled to use
thought fashions of a bygone age. In my judgment, the
theological conservatism of the South has been in many
respects a good thing for the country, and has acted as a
sort of national religious balance wheel ; but it is humili
ating to listen to much of the childish ignorance and
rabid narrowness that one still hears in the South after
it has long departed from other parts of the country.
When men must use certain thought molds in politics,
and must fear the effects of disturbing a bristling racial
orthodoxy, it is natural that they should not be free in
religion. The amount of underground "heresy" in the
South is remarkable. I find it in numbers of young
collegians especially, even in those coming from denomi
national institutions. These young folk have got into
the habit of weighing the social and political results of
differing from the common opinion: the result is that
they suppress doubts that ought to be aired and sunned.
I speak not as a so-called "liberal" Christian, but as one
to whom the Nicene Creed is still the best expression of
the highest Christian theology, making due allowance
for historical differences in modes of speech. Again I
am not blaming the Southerners — my people — but an un
toward situation.
Shall I go on? What is the use? We need a new
freedom in the South. We need freedom to vote as we
please without accusation of disloyalty. We need free
dom to work as we please, even though our work be
"nigger's" work, without being in danger of losing caste;
we need to discuss religion and churches as we please,

346 mace ©rtbodoi? in tbt ^outb
even to the extent of expressing our preference for
"Northern" rather than "Southern" Presbyterian, Bap
tist or Methodist forms of belief or worship or govern
ment. We even need freedom to use our own enlight
ened judgment as to how we treat our racial inferiors
without being accused of preaching or practicing "social
equality." We need freedom to teach the truth without
fear or favor in our universities, without having our
official heads endangered because some people are dis
pleased with a second-hand account of our belief in the
value of American principles and the reality of the
Christian faith in its application to all men.
Now, for myself I can say that I do not value very
highly the subjective subtleties of German higher criti
cism; that I am a Democrat in politics from reasoned
preference; that I prefer running no risk of displeasing
white extremists in racial matters just in order to make
a few superior negroes feel the dignity of their souls
a little more acutely; that I conform to our Southern
traditions and manners because I like many of them and
believe that most of them are the best for the present
situation. But I for one want freedom — relief from
the "situation" itself. The Southern people are good
enough for me. The situation is atrocious in that it
prevents the Southern people from developing freely as
they would like to and deserve to.
But the worst has not been told. The veriest slavery
of the spirit is to be found in the deep-seated anxiety
of the South. Southerners are afraid for the safety of
their wives and daughters and sisters; Southern parents
are afraid for the purity of their boys; Southern publi
cists are afraid that a time will come when large numbers
of negroes will try to vote, and thus precipitate race
war. Southern religionists are afraid that our youth

€^bt Ji3eed of a Ji3eto jfreedom 347
will grow up to despise large numbers of their fellow-
men. Southern business men are afraid that agitation
of the negro question will interfere with business or
demoralize the labor market. Southern officials are
afraid of race riots, lynchings, savage atrocities paying
not only for negro fiendishness but also for the anxiety
caused by fear of what might be.
Then, too, there is the whole wretched brood of hates.
The humble white hates his negro competitor. The
white woman hates a race that is a constant temptation
to the lustful passions of white men. The uneducated
white hates tiie negro "upstart" that struts around with
an "education" not vouchsafed to the white man's chil
dren. And so on.
Yes, we Southerners need a freedom from suspicion,
fear, anxiety, doubt, unrest, hate, contempt, disgust, and
all the rest of the race- feeling-begotten brood of viperous
emotions. If I speak strongly it is not because of either
lack of self-control or because of fondness for rhetoric.
To me Christianity and democracy are eternal realities.
Liberty, equality and fraternity are still of the substance
of my aspirations. I want my own people to have the
chance to show the world their really splendid qualities
of head and hand and heart. At present they are so
often tempted above that they are able, and God's grace
seems hardly sufficient for them !
This is the lesson of our student's history and this the
lesson of the papers collected in this book: Since our
democracy and our Christianity are fettered in their
exercise on account of an abnormal and unnatural situa
tion, we of the South, at least those of us who see the
situation clearly and see it whole, are asking the help
of science, of study, research, investigation — call it what

348 mace flDrtbodoi? in tbe @outb
you will. We have not solved and are not solving our
problem. Whoever you are that love mankind and
your fellow citizens of the South, come over and help
us, not with bayonets turned in our favor rather than
against us; not merely with your money to educate the
head and hand without helping the situation that ener
vates the heart! — but come with the agencies of truth,
with that scientific method which is transforming the
earth; with the scientific temper that keeps the brain
clear of clouds; with scientific facts that no one can
honestly doubt. And when you come or send let your
coming or your sending be in the spirit of brotherly sym
pathy toward your fellow Americans. Do not treat
Southerners as foreigners or as curious psychological
specimens. We Americans need freedom from corporation domi
nance; we need freedom from the professional politics
that binds all grafters together in a "party" without a
name ; we need freedom from unsettled and cumbersome
financial systems or lack of systems! And so on. But
let us never forget that the greatest slavery is that of
fear of the future and fear of the fullest and freest dis
cussion of all questions whatsoever. The worst slavery
is spiritual unfreedom.
Give this naturally open-hearted, genial, loving, gener
ous, free-spirited South of ours freedom to be her own
true self. Thus should the South call on generous men
of this country and elsewhere. But we can, perhaps,
best have our plea listened to if we begin the effort of
unraveling our own difficulties for ourselves. True, the
Pacific Coast begins to understand us ; and the Northern
cities are catching a glimpse of a race problem at their
doors. And we should gladly welcome all honest, sym-

^bt Jl3eed of a Ji3eto Jfreedom 349
pathetic help that comes to us. Let us, however, begin
the work of understanding our own situation for our
selves; and we may be sure that we shall not lack the
cooperation of our fellow Americans and of the civilized
world in general.

APPENDIX
I. ANCIENT ROME AND THE SOUTHERN RACE
PROBLEM: AN HISTORICAL PARALLEL
(Prepared for graduate seminar in the University of Missis
sippi.)

Coulanges' "The Ancient
City."
Social state controls ideas.
From Ethnic religion
came law and institu
tions, pp. II and 12.
The past never completely
dies for man. Much time
needed even to modify be
lief, 13.
Hearth-fire and Divine
Dead, 30, 32, 35f. Do
mestic religion of blood-
kin, 42. Religion propa
gated only by generation,
45. Marriage the most
sacred institution, 53, 55,
62.
Religion, family, property,
72, 89, 105. Ancestors —
family — posterity.

Southern States, U. S. A.
All "equalities" ultimately
based on social equality,
actual or potential. South
ern "religion" is race soli
darity and prestige.
Idealized past ever present
to the South. The over-
throw of "Reconstruc
tion" strengthened faith
in past.
Southem home and South
ern heroes. States'
Rights, patriarchal so
ciety, faith of fathers.
"This is a White man's
Country." Sanctity of
home. Rural life.
"This is a White Man's
Country." South is solid.
Declines to break with
past.

350

ancient mome and tbe @outb 351

Family did not receive its
laws from the city, iii.
The alien cannot receive the
cult, 124.
Piety the all inclusive virtue,
125, 129b.
The gens is an enlarged fam
ily, etc., 136, i4of., 144.
Taking nourishment pre
pared on an altar brings
about indissoluble bond
between co-partakers, 157.
We cannot modify belief at
will. It tells us to obey
and we obey, 174.
Religion regulates every act
of life, 209, 22of .

Religion binds all things to
gether, 222-231.
He who has no family wor
ship can have no national
worship, 247.
Law bom of religion, not of
justice. Different re
ligion, different law, 24.

If a citizen renounced his
religion, he renounced his
rights before the law, 24.
Special tribunal for alien.

Essence of Southern
"States' Rights."
"You weren't born and
raised in the South."
All inclusive race-conscious
ness.
"We, the people of the
United States," means en
larged "home folks."
A home-meal is racially
sacramental and typical of
all equalities. Other meals
so by association.
Belief in race is coercive
because fundamentally
vital.
Race feeling pervades all
life. The "Solid South"
is religious dogma. Our
fathers not theirs, our
government not theirs.
Nationality ultimate-
ly based on kinship.

Only citizens equal before
the law. Others may be
protected by the law, es
pecially when patrons
stand sponsor for them.
Rights — including free
speech — only for the ad
herents of Southern or
thodoxy. Heretics dan-

352 mace 2Drtbod03E? in tbe ©outb

257-261. Tomb of slave
sacred; not so tomb of
foreigners. Beyond local
bounds other gods
reigned, 258ff.

Action right whenever use
ful to country, 263-5.
Religion founded and gov
erned society and gave
man his character, 281,
283f.
Religion not due to political
machinations of the aris
tocracy, who were them
selves embarrassed by
their religion, 283 f.
The orator began his speech
with invocations to the
gods and heroes, 290.
On questions touching re
ligion a man must take
sides or be exiled. Toler
ance unpatriotic, 293, 295.
A man had no chance to
change his beliefs, 296.

Ancient Religion is State
plus Church, 299.
Lower classes counted for
nothing, 300.
Clients have no religion be-

gerous to society. Ku
Klux, Lynch Law, etc.
Affection for "old-time"
negroes. Hatred for
Northern doctrinaire phil
anthropists. "Mason and
Dixon's Line."
"Preservation of our insti
tutions." ("White Su
premacy.")
"Never forget, my child,
that you are a Southern
er."
For "Religion" read "race-
consciousness," " r a c e-
prejudice.'

"Lee, Jackson, Davis," et al.,
put orator en rapport with
audience.
Side with your color, or else
you are endangering
"white supremacy."
"Go with us or from us."
"There is only one
party." "White Suprem
acy."
Bishop Polk as general and
General Capers as Bishop
are types.
"Only a nigger." (All
classes of whites drawing
together.)
Whites have little respect

ancient mome and tbe ^outb 353

cause not of the kin, 303-
305-
Laws in behalf of plebeians
not respected, because not
religious, not of the kin,
311-
Touch of plebeians was
contaminating, 3i2f.
Without patrons, no justice
for clients; no recourse
against patricians, 345.
Plebeians held back by a
habit of respect. No lead
ers, 361.
Plebeians gained religion of
their own and self-re
spect. Equality followed,
367f.

Man of noble family mar
ries with plebeians.
"Marriage confounds the
races," 370.
Thought of the plebeians
just before they brought
the patricians to terms :
"Where we find liberty
there our country is.
Rome to us is nothing."
389.
Plebeian and Patrician had
apparently nothing in
common. Could not live
together; could not live

for negro's "imitations" of
whites.
Treatment of the isth
Amendment.

Touch of "free nigger," es
pecially contaminating.
So to a great extent in
Southern trials. Negro
must be vouched for by
patron.
So negroes in the South.
This has warded off ca
tastrophe.
South inclined to ridicule
negro pride of race and
assumption of s e 1 f-r e-
spect. "Keep your place,
and don't put on airs. Be
humble." Otherwise
equality creeps in .
Senator Tillman avers that
this will occur if anti-
amalgamation laws are re
pealed.
Some few of the negroes so
express themselves. Oth
ers, who feel thus, keep
their feelings to them
selves.

Is this what some astute
friends of the negro hope
for ? Ultimate amalgama
tion?

^354 l^a« fl)rtbodoi? in tbe Soutb

apart. Made a treaty,
391-
Patricians were half-con
quered when their prerog
atives as a class ceased
to be a matter of faith.
Equality and union fol
lowed. Law made by all
was applied to all, 400-
403-
Plebeians said: "Withdraw
your law against inter
marriage. You are free
to choose whom you will."
The law was withdrawn.
Intermarriage follows. —
(i) Discounting of caste.
(2) Repeal of law. (3)
Intermarriage, 404 ff.
As soon as equality was
conquered in private life,
the great obstacle was
overcome, and political
equality naturally fol
lowed, 407, 409.
New social state caused
change in law. Social
equality naturally associ
ated with political equal
ity, 416, 418, 423.
Suffrage for all tends to
suppress faith in the sa
cred blood, 426, 429.
After the hereditary religion
of blood had been de
stroyed, only distinction
of wealth remained, 431.

Will all this not come to
pass in the South if the
"Caste of the Kin" and
its faith are undermined?
The "Color Line" is a
racial Rubicon.

Occasional de facto inter-
marriages in many a
Southern community
point to at least a decided
possibility in this direc
tion. Grand juries and
white-caps show a ten
dency to break up these
de facto relationships.
The South instinctively feels
that one form of equality
implies the other, no mat
ter which comes first. Po
litical equality breeds de
sire for other equalities.
So South feels that political
equality incites social
equality.

"Contract" tends to destroy
"status." But "no man
liveth unto himself," etc.
So loss of white solidarity.
Color vs. Money.

ancient mome and tbe ^outb 355

Aristocracy of wealth hon
ors labor and intelligence
and destroys religious dis
tinction of blood, 433.
Public interest of all leads
to democracy and equal
ity, 437-

Booker Washington's advice
to the negroes is most
astute, if history is to be
trusted.
Hence the South will not
admit the negroes as citi
zens and declines to grant
interracial democracy.
Whites very democratic
among themselves.
Because of the lack of this
principle, "reconstruc
tion" failed.
So the South believes, as
suming the single stand
ard of race-valuation.
Hence to free the individual
is to superinduce associa
tion. The individual can
not be emancipated apart
from the race.
Southerners decline to have
assimilation of the negro
race and hence stand res
olutely by the religion of
the kin, even though the
finer parts of morality
may have to suffer.
[Comment Appendix 3]
COMMENT ON PARALLEL
Coulanges' "Ancient City" may lay undue stress on the
religion of the "ancient city." But most competent authori
ties agree that kinship and respect for ancestors are basic
principles in early civilization.
Are these principles outworn creeds? Has "contract"

Suffrage must come organir-
cally and impose obliga
tion, 444, 449.
Plato says laws are just only
when they conform to
human nature, 478.
Stoicism, by enlarging hu
man association, frees the
individual, 479.

Conclusion — L o s s of Re
ligion of the kin changed
all things and brought on
assimilation.

356 mace ffl)rtbodoj? in tbt %omb
taken the place of "status"? Recent writers on social,
economic and political subjects seem to be less enamored
of Sir Henry Summer Maine's "Status to Contract" theory
than were writers of a generation ago. The contract theory
of marriage, for instance, has not produced the best re
sults. And it is significant that one of the most progressive
of the Southern states of to-day. South Carolina, goes so
far in its allegiance to the status idea of the marriage re
lation as to prohibit remarriage after separation. This
same state has no law requiring marriage licenses.* The
religious ceremony is paramount. And yet this state of af
fairs produces no legal tangles. It is also significant that
South Carolina is said to have a larger percentage of
church members than any other state in the Union.
Is South Carolina going to set an example of moral seces
sion from the prevailing mores of the United States ? Will
she show to the world that there is precious worth in the
status theory of the caste of the kin?
These questions may be fanciful, but South Carolina
and the Southem states generally are well worth studying
in the light of the study of the "Ancient City."
Evolution may yet be shown to be conservative of the
fundamental attributes of the past. It may be that the
principle of biological kinship must be steadfastly adhered
to by the nations {natus — born). We may find that de
mocracy dare not reject the fundamental principles of aris
tocracy — kinship is the basis of assimilation. We may yet
find that territorial common occupancy does not constitute
a nation. Some men are becoming cynical about the claims of "de
mocracy." The present writer is not one of their number.
He has a passionate belief in the rule of the people. But
who are the people? Laws and institutions and constitu
tions do not make a nation. Tis the nation that makes
these.

? Law since passed.

ancient mome and tbe ^outb 357
Caucasians of Teutonic-Celtic descent were the citizens
who made the laws and institutions of this country. The
"people of the United States" were born such bodily and
psychically and have subsequently added to their number
others who could be biologically assimilated. The doors
are shut against "Mongolians" and open to "persons of
African descent." Why this strange discrimination?
Would it have occurred had there not been negroes by the
million who had to be "called" citizens?
Now, in the light of the foregoing study and comments,
let us ask ourselves the question : Are Christianity and
the Moral Law and Humanitarianism to be regarded as
forces working in a psychological vacuum? Or must we
admit that the most sacred principles are conditioned in
their application by time, place and circumstance, and es
pecially by the Laws of Life? Practical men believe in
Newton's Laws of Motion, but, in applying them to the
practical affairs of life, do they not take into account the
resistance of the air?
At this time of the world's history when the conscious
ness of race is becoming more acute; when race-friction is
increasing the world over; when men of science are dis
covering the immense sweep of the principle of heredity;
when the unity and solidarity of all social institutions are
becoming more and more evident — I say, at such a time as
this, is the South's radicalism as to race a phenomenon en
tirely out of touch with modern life?

II. NEGRO TRAITS AND THE NEGRO PROBLEM
(These notes embodied suggestions based on a collection of data
pertaining to negro character. The facts were gathered by Doctor
H. W. Odum, who was at the time doing graduate work at the Uni
versity of Mississippi under the guidance of the author. The most
important collection by Dr. Odum were the negro songs- In
asmuch as Dr. Odum's subsequent book on Mental and Social Traits
of the Southern Negro did not include some of the material out
lined in this paper, I have thought that the suggestions involved in
this outline might prove interesting, especially since they are related
to other papers in this book, as well as to portions of Doctor
Odum's book where reference is made to the present writer.)

OUTLINE OF ARGUMENT ON THE RACE PROB
LEM IN GENERAL:
Negro life is now, and will be, determined by the negro's
character tendencies, psychical and social; by his environ
ment (including all the forces that make or mar civiliza
tion), and by that special correspondence between his char
acter and his surroundings involved in the relations
between whites and blacks and their attitudes toward one
another. Hence the proper interpretation of negro life depends
upon an estimate of negro character as it is under present
circumstances and as it tends to become if the present
forces affecting it remain essentially unchanged. But the
negro's future is so largely in the hands of his white
neighbors that we must understand the significance of so-
358

jeegro Craits and tbe jQegro problem 359
called^ race-prejudice in order to forecast the scope of the
negro's development. Having grasped the meaning of the
forces at work in and on the negro, it is proper to en
quire into the fitness of education to develop him within the
limits set by the whites as well as the limits set by the
negro's own nature.
It thus happens that we must not only ask the pregnant
question: What is to become of the negro? but also. For
what kind of future shall we educate him?
The study of race-prejudice will show that the whites,
while admitting the abstract righteousness of the various
forms of equality — social, economic, political, religious,
legal — admitting that character is not to be judged by
such extemal accidents as color, in practice refuse to grant
to the negro an actual right to equality of treatment based
on character. We shall find that this affirmation of the
right of equality carries with it a check in that the whites
implicitly and instinctively hold that all forms of equality
are at bottom based on at least the possibility of social com
munion, and that social communion holds out the possibil
ity of intermarriage. Now intermarriage between the
races is held to be taboo, and hence all that tends toward it
is likewise under the ban. Therefore all forms of social
recognition are withheld from the negro and in proportion
as they tend to connect themselves with social communion
("social equality"). Individual negroes, however excel
lent in character, are also members of a race that cannot
share the community life of the whites, and hence, though
respected for their character, they are "outside the kin," and
must socially, politically and in other modes ultimately
connected with social communion be treated as negroes
rather than as excellent characters. There seems to be
much historical justification for this implicit theory of the
dependence of all forms of social communion on the implied
right of intermarriage. (Plebeians and Patricians, Nor
mans and Saxons, etc. N^atively : Jews, G)rpsies, Turks
or Greeks.)

36o mace SDrtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
Shall we, then, counsel the negro to submit to his fate
as an "outcast," and become educated to fill his place in our
civilization as a subordinated race? Shall we educate him
for a maimed citizenship? Is the present order, which
seems to be the only feasible one just now, the best possible
for either race ultimately? Such a situation is unameri-
can and indefensible before the bar of the civilized con
science, unless we are sure that the negro is incapable of
exercising the rights of developed human nature. And
even if the negro cannot rise by his own efforts to any
great heights of civilization, it can hardly he said that the
presence and work of a race of serfs will be good for the
economic and moral development of the higher race.
If the negro is to develop freely, though not at the ex
pense of the whites, shall he have a civilization of his own,
parallel to that of the whites, tho' not touching it at any
point? This is the present tendency. Such an outcome is,
of course, not practicable unless the negroes are segregated,
perhaps under a separate state government with full rights
of citizenship. Even then the federal relation would still
remain and open all the doors to the evils that now exist.
Moreover, the cry of the whites. North and South, would
soon be: The territory is ours. This is a white man's
country." (Compare attitude toward the Indians.)
What remains? Life for the negro under his own na
tional government, or colonization in various parts of the
earth where he can secure free development, or emigration
by individuals to lands where they will be welcome, or all
of these movements combined.
The question, can he maintain himself apart from the
white race, is hardly relevant. He has done so in Haiti and
Liberia for several generations. If he has escaped abso
lute failure under such untoward conditions as in the case
of the above unfortunate experiments, he stands a far bet
ter chance of success if future experiments are scientifically
carried out after careful and long continued planning and

jQegro Craits and tbe Ji3egro problem 361
education. At any rate we cannot do more than our best
for him and for the whites. Nor should we do less.
If the negro is to remain we must make the most of
him for the sake of the whites if not for the sake of the
colored man himself, granting him such political privi
leges as will not endanger white supremacy. If the
negro is to leave this country, however gradually, his edu
cation should prepare him for the pioneer Iffe that is be
fore him. The older negroes, as a rule, need not be con
sidered, they will stay where they are. But if the people
of this country once decide on this solution of the prob
lem, the younger negroes can be compulsorily educated
and forced to "go where they are sent," though it will be
far better to secure their free consent and enthusiastic co
operation. The vital necessity of studying negro life and character
now becomes apparent. What we shall do with him de
pends upon what he is, what he may be, and whether he is
in any sense assimilable as a man and as a citizen. If, as
urged here, all forms of assimilation depend on social com
munion, and that in tum on intermarriage, and if — ^as
seems certain — amalgamation will not be permitted ; and if,
finally, the negro cannot remain in this country without
endangering his own and the white man's future, then
all the more does our shidy of this unfortunate people be
come our bounden duty, for we cannot help them establish
himself unless we know his capacities and potentialities.
In any case we must educate him, and this we cannot do
without understanding his nature.
The crux of the question is "the physical presence of the
negro." Once we decide that his presence is temporary,
we shall all, in South and North, work together not only to
educate the black man for his destiny, but also to prepare
the South gradually for a monoracial rather than a bi-
racial civilization.

362 mace ©rtbodoi? in tbe ^outb

GENERAL PLAN OF STUDIES
I. Negro character as related to the present surroundings
of the negro and as influenced by the attitude of the
whites. II. Race Attitude (Race-prejudice) and its effects on the
negro's probable future.
III. The education of the negro, scholastic and institu
tional, as dependent on a knowledge of his character, actual
and potential.
IV. Comments on the concrete studies. Suggestions for
further study.
I. Traits, etc., as shown in negro songs (mostly secular).
Considered psychologically and sociologically (processes
and tendencies). Traits depend on psychical processes.
Data on Songs gives psychological material as well as so
ciological. Superficial glance shows an apparent contrast
between songs and the tendencies sketched in the rest of the
material. Fuller study shows unity. Folk-ways and Folk-
mind. I. a. Tendencies. Expressiveness : Abuse, "bluff," in
decent language, love of display, music, inactivity and
superficiality, lying, care for churches, emotionalism, exag
geration. Appropriativeness: Love of money, desultory work,
(taking whatever comes along) . Gregariousness : Sexual
morality, sociality, law-abidingness, imitation and original
ity, honesty. More inclusive traits, spontaneity as shown
in expressiveness, gregariousness and appropriativeness
working together. Vagrancy, wandering, sense of depen
dence, lack of restraint, provincialism, childishness, moral
earnestness (lack of).
b. "Weak" tendencies. Assertiveness. Competition
with whites, lack of resultfulness. Responsiveness (sym
pathy) not gregarious. Irreverence to age (ingratitude
charged by many) .

JI3egro Craits and tbe Ji3egro Problem 363
Perceptiveness. Curiosity and observation power — not
indicated by data, but probably characteristic.
2. Psychological Processes. Analysis of "sporting"
songs.* Feeling. Sensuality. — If I get drunk, who's goin'
to cjirry me home? Brown skin woman, she's chocolate to
the bone. Leam me to leave all women alone. Clothes all
dirty and ain't got no broom. Ole dirty clothes all hangin'
in de room. Satisfied (women, whisky and brag). Don't
you let my honey catch you here. Wonder where my
honey stay las' night. C^t a baby; don't care whar she
goes. Biscuit, gravy an' potato pie.
Sensuous feeling. — If this ain't the Holy Ghost, I don'
know. It just suits me. You have hurt my feelings but
I won't let on. Good momin', judge, done killed my man.
Intellect. Imitation. — Dere's one little, two little, three
littie angels (from the whites, but adapted). If I git
drunk, etc. (adapted from similar songs of the whites). I
wouldn't have a yaller gal (original from the whites, but
much changed). Slow train run thro' Arkansas (partially
from the whites). (Probably many other instances, but in
all cases adapted and changed by the negroes.) Fatalism. —
'Taint no use o' me a-wukkin' this mornin', cause I ain't
goin' to work no mo'. Good mornin', judge, etc. (Prob
ably others.) — Concreteness. — ^Dere ain't no gamblers in
heaben. R. R. Songs. Joe Turner and the chain-gang.
Song of the "hand-out." Ev'y since I lef ' dat country farm,
ev'ybody been down on me. (Train song with mimicry.)
Obscene songs in general,
Humor. — Ole satan weah a i'on shoe. Adam an' de
rooster had a fight. Stagolee. Good mornin', judge, done
kill my man. Joe Turner and the diain-gang. When you
think I'm workin', I'm walkin' the street (pun?). Ev'y
body been down on me. Greasy, greasy, Lawd ! I killed a
man, killed a man. Nobody to pay my fine. Goin' to

*The titles are first lines of negro songs collected by Mr. H.
W. Odum.

364 mace SDrtbodoi? in tbt ^outb
raise hell roun' de pay-cab do'. Went up-town on Friday
night, went to kill a kid, reached my han' in my pocket,
nothin' to kill um wid. Wonder whar my honey stay las'
night. Watermelon smilin' on de vine. Chicken, don't
roos' too high for me.
Will. Inertia, etc. — Take yo' time. I ain't bother yet.
When you think I'm wukkin' I ain't doin' a thing. "Hand
out" song. Still I ain't bother none. — Elasticity of spirit. —
Slide me down, I'll sho slide up again.
Irresponsibleness. — Went up-town to give my trouble
away. Got a baby; don't care whar she goes.
General character attitude, temperament. Bumptious
ness. — 'Taint nobody's business but my own. Goin' to
raise hell around de pay-cab do'. My pahdner fall spraw-
lin'. I ain't goin' to tell how he died. Went up-town to kill
a kid, etc. Coon songs. Stagolee, etc.
Irresponsibleness (under will, add the following) : I
ain't bother yet. Still I ain't bother none. Good morn
in', judge, etc. Wonder whar my baby stay las' night.
Anthropomorphism. — Ole satan weah a i'on shoe. O
God, don't talk lak a natchral man. Do, Lord, remember
me. Religious songs in general. (Songs concerning ani
mals.)
SUMMARY OF TRAITS.
From the sociological study in general: provincialism
(lodges, churches, songs, fashions, etc.), dependence (re
ligion, attitude toward whites, gregariousness in general),
lack of restraint (religion, social and family life, sexual
morality, etc.). From the psychology of the songs:
Bumptiousness, anthropomorphism, irresponsibleness.
Sense of humor seems to be a katharsis for all of these
characteristics. The traits go in pairs : Bumptiousness and
provincialism, the hoodlum characteristics ; anthropomorph
ism and dependence, the savage element; irresponsibleness
and lack of restraint, the chUd ingredient. Tends to be

J19egro Craits and tbe ji3egro Problem 365
hoodlum in his pleasures: savage in his intellectual proc
esses; child in will. Hoodlumism the danger. Child and
savage normal ; hoodlum abnormal and criminal.
Restlessness, loafing, love of excitement, sensuality — be
setting sins. Hoodlumism the refuge of the submerged
tenth. Bodily traits. Not specifically dealt with in data.
"Peristaltic" in bodily temperament. Use of fundamental
rather than finer accessory elements. Not jerky, smooth
and flowing, animal gracefulness even when awkward.
Body not degenerate. Large death rate mostly due to
ignorance, carelessness, filth and poverty. Probably not yet
adapted to high pressure city life.
Brain undeveloped rather than deficient. Associative
systems meager. Bean's investigations show a fair num
ber of negro brains up to and beyond lower level of whites.
Frontal suture idea overworked and without sufficient
authority. Qosing of frontal suture may be largely func
tional and hence easily affected by development of the
brain. Negro not an aberrant form of white; nor a hopelessly
arrested form of anything. His character shows great
plasticity and not a little promise. His most exploited
fault, sensuality, seems to have been a common one among
the Corinthian "saints" to whom St. Paul wrote. Shake
speare's day seems to have been quite sensual, etc. Fashion
and custom in sexual morality. Negroes develop a system
of conventions, and are beginning to practice social ostra
cism for sexual irregularities.
Another fault often referred to is laziness. Compare
Prof. Barrett Wendell in Boston Transcript for Feb. 5,
1908, where he describes the work of certain white la
borers in the north. Laziness is human, especially when
climate is languorous and one knows nothing, is regarded
as nothing and has nothing to live for.
Their religion is often spoken of as peculiarly savage.
Perhaps so, but compare the older revival scenes, love

4^-

366 mace flDrtbodoi? in tbt ^outb
feasts, class-meetings and the like. Nevertheless, tho' the
negro's hope of development as a race is by no means to
be sneered at, he differs from the white not only in develop
ment but in kind. The lowest whites have the defects of
whites, not negroes; the highest negroes have the good
qualities of negroes, not whites. Many of these differences
are indefinable; but a consideration of the songs (for in
stance) of low grade negroes will show at once character
istic differences in temperament that will keep whites and
blacks apart for all time.
PSYCHOLOGY OF RACE-PREJUDICE
Will follow the lines indicated in "Outline of Argument."
Race-enmity, race-pride and race-conscience will be dis
tinguished. The relation of political, religious and other
forms of "equality" (communion) will be shown and their
connection with intermarriage. The ground will be taken
that the whites will never permit any form of equality in
practice (communion). Whites are beginning to withhold
land from negroes. As soon as the idea takes root in the
mind of the white masses, this is a white man's country!
will become a reality in a still greater degree than it is
to-day. Present status of negro only feasible one if he
remains in South. Race feeling spreading rapidly all over
the English-speaking world. "Nation" has ever meant
"birth" to the Teutonic consciousness. And social utility as
judged by the ruling population is the supreme test of the
moral rightness or wrongness of a people's attitude toward
putting abstract humanitarianism into practice among peo
ple who can never be "of the kin."
III. Education, etc.
Interest on the part of whites will hardly increase unless
it is decided that negroes are ultimately to go. In such case

iQegro Craits and tbe Ji3egro Problem 367
all the latent humanitarianism of the South and the whole
country will be aroused. At present, the tendency is:
Hands off; let the South settle its own problem.
The whites could do a great deal for the negroes and for
themselves by training negro servants. Such efforts will
increase when once it is believed that negroes will not re
main and that whites must become self-dependent. White
doing of "chores" is now rapidly on the increase, as well
as doing of all work on small farms by whites. Negroes
will leam to respect chores when whites show the real
nobility of honest handwork of any kind.
Whites can help negroes in education by church and
lodge only on condition that negroes are believed to be no
permanent part of population. Negroes show the germs
of social cooperation in their management of their institu
tional affairs. Social settiements among negroes by better
class of colored folk ought to be organized on a scientific
basis. If the negroes are to be here only temporarily, the
social help of whites will not be put under the ban as at
present, inasmuch as it will be seen that only humanitarian
motives and results are in evidence.
The mulattoes present the hardest educational problem,
for they tend to desire human (white) education. But the
better ones can be led to cooperate when they see that a
solution of the difficulty is in sight. If the negro is
to have an independent future, the apparently opposing
views of Washington and DeBois will really prove to be
complementary.
IV. STUDY OF THE NEGRO QUESTION
General comments on method and special comments on
the concrete studies with suggestions for future studies.

III. THE RACE QUESTION AND SOUTHERN
DETERIORATION
(Part of letter to the author from a North Carolina gentleman)
 There (in the South) is the White Lamb to lie
down side by side with the Black Dog, and the Puritanical
Pharisee (always from afar off, however) is to bless the
Union. Unlike Christ, they think it is only meet that "the
children's bread" should be cast to "Dogs."
Only fifteen or twenty years ago, despite the orgies of
reconstruction, a majority of the blacks (it is safe to except
Beaufort, S. C, and Asheville, N. C, not to mention
Washington, D. C), when addressing white people, would,
as a rule, use those old terms of courtesy, — "Sir" and
"Mam"; and now and then, though rarely, even touch the
cap; but now these outward signs of deference are nearly
always positively omitted. If words of this sort are ever
now employed by blacks, it is when one of your servants
announces that a "gentleman" or a "lady" wishes to see
you. We all know now perfectly well when these words are
used it means a negro man or woman ; but if, instead, they
said simply "man" or "woman," we are never in doubt as to
the color, that always designates a white person, not a
black. Evidently, the intent is to assert that the black is
not only the equal, but the superior of the white; and
tho' I have overheard this sort of thing a thousand times,
I cannot recall a single instance in which the servant was
reprimanded. Indeed, the whites, on the other hand, are, either
368

^outbern Deterioration 369
through policy or fear, so anxious not to antagonize nig-
gerdom, that one rarely hears them speak of the blacks
(that is, in their presence) save as "colored people," "nig
ger" is tabooed. This implies a certain deference towards
their pretensions of at least an approximation to social
equality; a claim that even in Reconstruction Days would
have been resented. Some might insist this is really a very
unimportant matter, but it very clearly indicates not only a
change in conditions, but what is more important by far, the
direction in which we are drifting; and such movements
are characteristic 
In the South to-day, as of old, the inside of the sidewalk
was always accorded to the fair sex; at least in communi
ties where the New Woman and the Suffragette have not
abundantly satisfied us that she isn't a bit better or more
refined than a "Mere Man." Stand to-day on the pavement
of any street in a Southern town, that is, where it is not
crowded (then "to the right" as mere matter of necessity,
has to be the custom), and watch the passers, blacks and
whites. In nine cases out of ten, the negroes, both men and
women (more especially the latter) will very persistently
endeavor to monopolize the inner side; even the negro
children show what are their home teachings by their ef
forts in this direction. There is, it is true, a very consider
able difference in this, even in towns not very far apart.
At least, less than ten years ago, the negroes in Greenville,
S. C, accepted the white man's "right of way," but at the
same time, in Spartanburg, S. C, hardly over 30 miles
further east, time and again, I have seen negroes forcing—
practically — even "ladies" to take the outside.
On the other hand, while the whites, say some twenty
years ago, would have resented this, they now usually
acquiesce without the faintest protest (the men, too) ; as
they do in ignoring intentionally many other little imperti
nences on the part of the blacks ; none of very aggressive
character, but always very evidently intended, not only as
assertions of independence, but of racial equality, and per-

370 mace f>ttbodoi? in tbe ^outb
sonal, too. It is quite sure that when they effect this with
out any resentment being shown by the whites, it inspires
the average negro with the conviction that he has got the
better of his betters ; and this is not calculated to make him
as satisfactory a factor in the labor problem. Your darkie
who is continually striving to show truculently his in
dependence, as a "dependent" (and in vast majority of
cases he cannot hope to rise above that) makes usually a
very unsatisfactory sort of laborer.
No doubt millions of New Englanders would laugh at my
contention, and insist that such negroes were only showing
a praiseworthy and manly spirit, — ^yet the better classes, at
least, at the North would never dream of permitting a
white servant to take the liberties that black servants at
the South insist on as one of their privileges. I have
seen Yankees in Florida who would address a white la
borer as an inferior, and yet in intercourse with the com
monest blacks would use the deferential titles of "Mister"
and "Mrs." ....
There is no race of people more prone to personal vanity
than the negro; none more certain to grab an ell if you
grant them an inch : therefore when the whites yield in what
would be usually called "trifles," they may some day dis
cover that little by little these trifles have grown into
"thunder-bolts." The serious part of all this is the sense of
a moral victory that the negro feels and believes he has
won over the — at least nominally — superior race: all this
is a two-edged weapon that cuts both ways; it encourages
that truculent vanity, which is one of their wily racial
traits, and at the same time it lessens, fraction by fraction,
that sense of self-esteem which really helped of old the
Southerner to be what he pretended — a man of the highest
race. That faith in ourselves is made up partly of conceit there
can be no doubt, but in practical affairs in real life it has
often effected greater results than some of the noblest
virtues. And when any race loses faith in its own powers

^outbern Deterioration 371
of achievement, when it begins to even only suspect that
Its "superiority" is merely a sham, that people will never
win the prizes of this life, however much their humility may
entitie them to "many mansions" in Heaven.
On the other hand, what of the whites ? In 1861 — if the
South could have placed equal numbers in the field as the
Northerners, is it not manifest that in a year or two almost
the war would have been decided in our favor ? Yet, were
"Yankees" really more deficient in courage than South
erners? Not a bit of it. But the Southerner, just because
he was master of an inferior race, had come to feel and
honestly believe that he was of the highest type of man
kind; and this conviction (conceit you may call it) helped
at any rate to make him a nobler being, certainly, than had
he felt that he was only posing, an empty pretender to
virtues he did not possess.
But under present conditions, and conditions that have
persisted for over forty years, the race, in all its nobler
qualities, could not fail to deteriorate. When we have
to truckle to a people that we know are our inferiors,
whether it be from policy or as a matter of necessity, it can
not but fail to weaken our moral fiber.
And we do tmckle to the "Heroic Hottentot," and its in
fluence is even worse, because, as a rule, it is done less from
fear than from policy. The larger land-owners (not the
one-horse farmer), the employers of labor, want to keep on
good terms with that class on whom they must depend
largely to cultivate their crops. Any able-bodied negro,
however ignorant or brutal, is an important factor in the
cotton-patch; and if another man's tenant this year, next
year he may be mine. Then there is the country merchant,
the "storekeeper," who really makes the best of his profits —
not out of the whites, who are shrewd and given to saving,
but out of the blacks, who are gullible, who forget the past,
never give a thought to the future — and what they make
this month is next either on their backs or in their bellies.
He is really the Tradesman's Treasure-trove, and without

372 mace SPttbodoi? in tbe Soutb
him they would rarely climb up, as they often do, to the
position of "leading citizens." They are our "Captains of
Industry," and in all these the "acquisitive instinct" is the
one great virtue under the Commercial Code. The highest
development of some of the higher faculties gives us a
genius ; the highest development of the lowest faculties gives
us a Morgan and a Rockefeller.
Now then two influential classes, the large landholders
and the country merchants, the one needing the negro for
what he calls (I think mistakenly) his "cheap labor"; the
other, really depending on him, as his "best customer" —
these two, I say, were an exodus of the black race inau
gurated, would be the first to bitterly oppose any such
course. In such an event, the lordly landlord and the lu
crative tradesman would grow eloquent in their declaration
of devotion to the darky. This is his country as well as
ours (except on "Election Day," of course) ; it is our duty
("duty" comes in so conveniently as a substitute for the
omnipotent dollar) to encourage and help them. Back to
Africa? Never. Our "colored people," no, they must
never leave us! The Devil, you know, is never seen can
vassing openly "on the stump," but always dodging — behind
it. Satisfy the landlord and the merchant that as blacks
go out whites will come in, and that with this immigra
tion of a better class of people, land values will enormously
increase, and "business" steadily advance, then, I am quite
sure, even these two classes will help to "speed the parting
guest." Now, here at the South to-day, nearly every State, in fact,
I think all of them, are spending liberally to educate the
negro; that is, to increase the negro vote (which is and al
ways will be a Republican asset) in this section. To effect
this, too, as compared to the North, though poor, we are
taking the pennies out of the pockets of poor whites, whose
own children are very imperfectly educated, to eductte the
blacks ; though it is very evident the more highly we educate
them the less likely they are to remain contented with a sub-

Soutbern Deterioration 373
ordinate position racially or individually. Indeed, if we
really intend to persist in exacting this racial subordination,
it is an injustice to the negro, because by reenforcing his dis
content, we, of course, lessen his chances of happiness. It
is true, here and there, by this method, we may evolve a
"Booker Washington" (that is out of the mongrelized por
tion of the negroes), but surely the vast majority of them,
if never to be accepted as equals of the whites, had much
best remain fairly contented plowboys than thoroughly
disaffected, disgruntled professors or parsons ; all the more
so — as there would be, in any case — probably not one "Du
bois" to a thousand laboring darkies. It is both foolish and
unfair to encourage methods that benefit (even if that be
not doubtful) a very few, and practically punish the many.
No doubt even many Southemers believe that the very
liberal assistance given to educational institutions for the
blacks in the South is an evidence of honest philanthropy;
but this, as a rule, is altogether a mistake. Instead of being
an evidence of the deep interest the Yankee takes in the
negro's welfare, it very clearly shows their shrewd recogni
tion of the fact that the best way to protect the Northern
States from an undesired and undesirable class of colored
citizens is to make them better satisfied with their condi
tions in the South. Of course, just as the Southern planter,
who is really after "cheap labor," prates about his friendly
interest in his black hirelings, so the wealthy and far-
sighted Pharisee of New England covers his "exclusion
policy" with the broad mantle of philanthropy. Nor can I
blame him. Everything, including, of course, too, the
"other fellow" should be sacrificed to maintain the racial
purity of the white man. That once lost, there can be no
hope of regeneration.
. . . I have no hopes of getting rid of all of our
"brothers in black"; the "poor we shall have always with
us," but the swollen swells, the "gentlemen of color," who
are haughty, and the "ladies of color," who are very gen
erally naughty, these, and the really discontented, it is

374 mace )©rtbodoi? in tbe ^outb
safe to say, would avail themselves of free tickets to
a show where the whites, at any rate, would have no
"showing." . . .
. . . Depriving the negro of his vote by tricks can
never prove a really satisfactory triumph. It is now only
winked at because the lesser of two evils. . . .
Even the Indians, a much nobler race than the Africans,
recognized the white man's primacy. They have a saying —
even to this day — among the Cherokees in western North
Carolina : "First, white man ; next, Indian, then Indian dog,
then — nigger !"
As I have explained, the changes from year to year are
so very slight that those who live in the "Black Belt" fail
to recognize them at all; nor perhaps should I, but as for
some twelve years past I have lived — at least usually from
April to November — in the mountains of western North
Carolina, where the blacks in rural neighborhoods are
hardly ever seen; and in winter usually far south in
Florida, which is less infested by "colored gentlemen" than
by Yankees, just because only at comparatively long inter
vals am I brought in contact with conditions here, I can
perceive the changes which the resident flatters himself
haven't occurred.
But they "have occurred," and when the drift is always
and steadily in one direction such changes will eventually
entirely revolutionize conditions. The negro will never — as
a pure blooded black — dominate, it is true; but the white
man will deteriorate and become mongrelized.
A summer boarder who occupied one of my two cottages
near Hendersonville last season, spoke in almost eulogistic
terms of a "colored" doctor in their little town; and she
mentioned that a cousin of mine (now dead), also a doctor
in same place, often called on him for "consultations."
Though of old Southern stock, she held this quite right and
proper. A wise and witty Frenchman has said: "It is only the
first step that costs." Once you stoop, whether it is from

^outbern Deterioration 375
necessity or policy or convenience, you will find that the
oftener you do it the less you will feel its degradation.
The big planter who objects to any negro exodus, because
it will lessen his supply of labor, knows perfectly well that
if socially he and his escape to a large degree the racial con
tamination, his poor neighbors do not. This now may con
cern him very little, but in the next generation the sons
of that very poor neighbor intermarry with his own, and
sooner or later the deterioration of one class will affect
imperiously a higher and better one. Try as we may, we
can never in this country build up a really "privileged
class" who will not suffer for the sins of those nominally
below them.

IV. SYLLABUS OF TENTATIVE AND SUGGES
TIVE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE NEGRO
AND NEGRO PROBLEM
I. Anthropology
(See Haddon. Study of Man, Appendix A: The An
thropological Sciences — Brinton's Classification.)
I. Somatology. — Craniology (celebrated frontal suture
hypothesis, which keeps on getting stated uncritically in
book after book) ; myology ; "peristaltic" action of negro
muscles (T. P. B.) ; splanchnology (peculiarities of sexual
organs, etc.) (Broca).
2. Anthropometry. — Data collected by Hoffman taken
as a basis and greatly extended. School children, white and
black. Experimental building up of children of both races
with physical culture and proper dieting.
3. Psychology ("Laboratory"). — Sensation, reaction-
time, etc., effects of emotion, etc. (See later for Psychol
ogy of Character.)
4. Developmental and Comparative Heredity. — Traits
running through negro families — how far biological and
how far "social" inheritance. "Spontaneous variations."
"Rapid mutations." Ethnic anatomy, physiology, pathology.
So-called pubertal arrest of development. How far is it
associated with bad sexual and other habits? Comparative
nosology and medical geography (immunity, susceptibility,
adaptability to climate, etc. See references by Tillinghast,
et al.). Hookworm, pellagra, etc. Vital statistics. Fer
tility and sterility. Causes and tendencies. Zones of fer
tility and zones of morbidity. Mulatto and black. Habits
and hygiene. Artificial sterility. Concubinage vs. prostitu-
376

S?llabus of ^uggestibe ^tud? 377
tion (Hoffman). Criminal anthropology. (Native or en
vironmental. Consciousness of being outcasts.)
II. Ethnology
I. Social. — (jovemment, African, American. Tutelage
in African colonies and West Indian negro states. Ethical
standards: morality vs. religion (a hoary contrast that
needs critical examination : the indications are that the most
religious negroes are the most moral, and vice versa).
Marriage relations. (How much due to slavery, how
much to white prestige, scom and lust.) Women working
for men (Cp. S. Africa).
Social classes and institutions. Negro aristocracy, how
far imitative, how far does it draw color line between mu
lattoes and blacks?
Development of societies, lodges, etc. (H. W. Odum).
2. Technological. — Tool-making. (Study of "nat
ural" artisans and their devices — not much "necessity"
to stimulate technological invention in the jungles of
Africa). Music, how far spontaneous; what are its differentise?
Games — variations from those of whites. (Place to study
latent possibilities of inventiveness. See Groos : Flay of
Animals and Play of Man.)
3. Religion. Is it emotional or is it excitable? Moral,
immoral or non-moral? Are there many temperamental
types, as among whites? Negro Presbyterians, Episco
palians, Congregationalists, Roman Catholics, "Northern"
Methodists, etc., as compared with independent negro
churches. Peculiarities of theology. Idea of a "Saviour."' "Jus
tification." "Heaven and Hell." Religion, rhythm, and
sex. 4. Linguistics. — Vocal peculiarities. Africanisms. La
bials vs. gutturals. "Gullah" (coast of S. C. Sewanee Re
view, 1909). "Negro laugh." Poetry and rhythm.

378 mace ©rtbodoi? in tbe ®outb
5. Folk-lore.— "Uncle Remus" variations : Georgia, Vir
ginia, Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana. How far do negroes
live in folk-lore stage ?
(6. Esthetic.)
(7. Moral.)
(8. Institutional, etc.)
III. Ethnography
I. General. — Migrations toward alluvial regions, toward
cities, etc. Town vs. city families and individuals. Is
Stone right in calling negroes migratory? Is this neces
sarily a bad trait?
2. Special. — Relation of African to Mediterranean race.
Japanese and mulattoes. (Ripley, Sergi, et al.)
IV. ArchcBology
Why is there no tropical African archaeology? Heredity
vs. Environment. Is there a jungle archaeology an)rwhere?
Primitive Negro Industries (Bras, Ripley's bibliography.)

A. Psychology of Character
I. Negro as (i) child, (2) savage, (3) hoodlum, (4)
tramp, (5) criminal. Consciousness of being an "outcast."
II. Tendencies, instinctive and habitual: Gregarious,
Appropriative, Expressive, etc. (Ethological system of T.
P. B.)
III. Character in Song (see notes in Odum's materials).
IV. Temperament. Is there a typical negro tempera
ment ? E.g., are all negroes "emotional" in any sense of the
word? Are there sub-racial types of temperament?
V. Psychological phases and stages (assimilation, imi-

^?llabus of ^uggestibe ^tud? 379
tation, imagination, attention, endeavor, pursuit, interest,
belief, anticipation, etc.) (T. P. B.'s Psychology of Char
acter). Do the psychological phases square with the im
pulsive tendencies?
"Stock traits" : Unresentful, ungrateful, sensual, lazy, un
observant, shiftless, emotional, shallow, patient, etc. Cjreat
need of critical working over of concrete cases. (E.g., Is the
negro usually unresentful because of his amiability, his shal
lowness, his caution, etc. ? Does he control his anger better
than the American Indian does? Is the Indian as resent
ful as he used to be? etc., etc.) Collect "stock traits" from
farmers, merchants, housekeepers, writers Hke Hoffman,
Tillinghast, Stone, Thomas, Keane, Ratzel, etc., and com
pare with collections of concrete cases critically and "bio-
graphically" studied.
B. Psychology of Race Prejudice
1. Plebeian vs. Patrician. "Blood."
2. Slave vs. Freeman.
3. Unlikeness: (a) physical; (b) social; (c) intellectual;
(d) moral, etc.
4. "Rights," "Equalities."
5. Biological and psychological bases of democracy.
C. Study of Suggested "Solutions" of Race Problem
I. Amalgamation. (White and Negro, Mongol and
Negro, Indian and Negro, etc. South America. Cp. Teu
tonic vs. Romanic amalgamation with negroes.)
2. Peasantry. (A. H. Stone, et al.)
3. Parallel civilization. No geographical segregation.
4. Segregation, local and sectional.
5. Colonization: commercial, benevolent, etc., vs. pre
pared and scientific.
6. Degeneration. Dying out.
7. Race War. Extermination, etc.

38o mace i)rtbodO£? in tbe ^outb

AA. Some Reasons for Studying the Negro Problem
I. Understand the past and then do justice to slave
holder, abolitionist, etc.
2. Seeing things as they are and thus allay bitterness;
discourage dilettante dogmatism; inhibit senseless agita
tion ; remove anxiety.
3. Prepare the way for a solution and mark out plans
for carrying it into effect.
4. Scientific spirit of the age taking hold of all such
problems. Correlation of scattered data obtained by the
biological, anthropological, psychological, and social sci
ences. Cooperation of students of Race Problems.
5. Bringing North and South together in a non-senti
mental, intellectual, moral, scientific and humanitarian
study. 6. Duty to the negro.
7. Saving the South's best self from anxiety, arrogance,
etc. 8. Utilizing the South's resources by removing doubt
and suspicion, etc., encouraging white immigration and dis
couraging white emigration.
9. Direct education: physical, mental, moral, industrial.
10. Prevent amalgamation.
II. Prevent strife.
12. Help solve the world's race problems.
BB. Some Questions That Need to be Answered
I. Does the negro show potentialities evincing high pos
sibilities as a race? Can these possibilities be made kinetic
under present conditions? Is the negro really adaptable,
or is he parasitic? Is his slowness of development due to
deep-lying anatomical and physiological causes or to envi
ronmental causes ?

^?llabus of ^uggestibe ^tud? 381
2. Is the negro deteriorating? If so, why? Is civili
zation killing him, or is it neglect, ignorance, slum life,
etc. ? Is his peculiar proneness to certain diseases con
nate? If so, why did it not develop in slavery? Is the
progress of the few a permanent gain correlative with a
stable, physical basis, or is there physical deterioration go
ing on in the "best families" ?
3. Is the negro developing his own civilization? Can
it stand alone? Has he enough talented individuals? Can
the few save the race? Is his morality deeply based, or is
it merely conventional?
4. Where does he fit in? Will the Southern whites al
low him to develop freely? Should they do so, and be
content with a lower efficiency than might come to a purely
white population? If the negro should develop a worthy
parallel civilization, can it stand permanently without bio
logical assimilation of the races?
5. Are the "equalities" all based on potential social
equality? Is social equality possible or advisable in a de
mocracy without intermarriage? What would happen if
race enmity could be put out of the mind of the Southern
masses? If the gap between the races is growing, should
we expect the problem to "solve itself"?
6. Should people be educated in the dark without ref
erence to their future? Will the Southern whites give the
negro "industrial education" at the expense of the white
children ? Should the negro elite be as well educated as the
superior individuals among the whites ? If education gives
freedom and initiative and calls for liberty, equality, and
fraternity, shall we expect negro education to act in some
exceptional way? Is there any probability that Southern
whites will ever grant the negroes all the equalities that
free human souls ought to have ?
7. Is there greater danger in drifting than in organizing
a national study of the question? Is now always the day
for foresight as well as "salvation," or is the Southern
situation sufficiently satisfactory for all practical purposes ?

382 mace i)rtbodoi? in tbe ®outb
Shall our Southern children of the dominant race be al
lowed to grow up in an atmosphere of contempt and arro
gance and hatred and our men and women suffer from
chronic uneasiness and anxiety and a divided conscience, or
is the present situation morally and economically satis
factory ?

V. TENTATIVE SUGGESTIVE SYLLABUS OF
STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE NEGRO
Method
I. Comparative data as to whites, negroes and mu
lattoes. II. Following leads indicated by cross-classification. For
instance, in studying number of rooms in houses, follow
up suggestions as to biological effects (disease, maldevelop
ment), social conditions, economic bearings, moral results
and the like. Reduce qualitative data to quantitative and
explain quantitative by qualitative.
III. Many observers to study one topic, and one ob
server to study many topics. Check off results of one ob
server by those of another; one locality by another, etc.
Fresh study of Philadelphia to compare with Du Bois'; of
Columbia, Mo., to compare with Elwang's; of Covington,
(ja., and Oxford, Miss., to compare with Odum's; and so
on. IV. Concrete studies of localities to be compared with
general census and other statistical results.
Topics (Divisions Not Mutually Exclusive)
I. Biological and Pathological. — ^Vital statistics. Num
ber of rooms and persons in room. Articles of diet, and
methods of food preparation. Amount and kinds of exer
cise. Amount of sleep and rest. Consumption of liquor,
tobacco, etc. Diseases. Use of drugs and patent medi-
383

384 mace Drtbodoi? in tbe Soutb
cines. Insanity and feeble-mindedness. Strength, vitality
and physical efficiency tests. Care of bodies; teeth; bath
ing. Efficient children of inefficient parents and inefficient
children of efficient parents. Longevity. Negro types:
Senegambian, Guinea, Bantu, "Arab," etc. Percentage of
negroid characteristics.
II. Economic and Industrial. — Per capita taxes, due, col
lected; poll-taxes; relation of tax to income. Ownership
of land and homes. Mortgages and Hens. Savings ac
counts. Kinds of expenditure. Relative amounts spent for
food, clothing, amusements, and the like. Buying on install
ment plan. Hours of work and play. "Basket brigade."
Vagrants. Tramps. Length of engagements of servants
and laborers. Care of stock, tools, utensils, implements.
Insurance: fire, life, funeral; companies, societies, fra
ternal orders. Investments. Farming arrangements: ad
vances, interest paid, crop-sharing and the like. Peonage:
"moral" cases not reached by law. ("Inside information —
not for publication," except statistically.)
III. Social and Ecclesiastical. — Churches: Number,
membership, real and nominal, finances, money spent on
buildings, charities, missions, converts, backsliders, "repeat
ers." Societies : fraternal, social, economic, and so on.
Marriages and divorces. Migrations : time, place and cir
cumstance (a typical illustration of cross-classification).
Men supported by women. Memberships in labor unions.
Exclusions from labor unions and fraternal orders. Keep
ing rules of church and society. Number attending institu
tions supported by whites; shifting of membership. Pref
erences in song, story, jokes, Bible texts and the like. Col
lection of songs, proverbs, etc. Spontaneous vs. adapted or
imitated. Social circles due to shades of color. Segrega
tion in cities, towns, and country. Servants living in serv
ants' rooms or servants' houses vs. number living at homes
— preference shown. Composition of households. Com
parison of numbers as to childlike, savage, hoodlum, va-

^?llabus of statistical Stud? 385
grant, tramp, criminal. Giving and receiving presents.
(These are only a few samples of topics.)
III. Psychological and Moral. — Crimes. Prostitutes
and concubines. Illegitimate births. Abortions. Infanti
cide. Social and religious taboo for immorality. Ideas of
moral turpitude in crimes, sins, wrongs, mistakes. Gam
bling. Rape: black victims and white victims. White
rapists and negro women. Amalgamation: city, town and
country. Classification of crimes by motive, kinds, etc.
Recidivants. Kinds of criminal temperament, disposition,
etc. Cruelty to animals and children. Neglect of old peo
ple and children. Pilfering. Instances of usury, especially
ratio of mulattoes to blacks. Kindness to whites. Grat
itude vs. ingratitude. Revenge. Preference for money
vs. preference for playtime. Relative preference in at
tending funerals and weddings. Average wait between first
and second marriages. Payment of debts. Proportion of
those progressing as compared with those retrograding or
standing still.
IV. Legal and Political. — Verbal accusations vs. written
preferment of charges. Litigation. Voters ; public officials
(increase and decrease in proportion to population and lit
eracy) . Owning and carrying weapons. Kinds of weapons.
Proportion saved from arrest or jail by white people. Poll-
taxes paid by whites and relation to votes. Negroes killed
without notice being taken by law. Convictions and acquit
tals in cases of blacks against whites and vice versa. Num
bers deprived of votes illegally.
V. Intellectual and Educational. — Illiterates and unlet
tered. Mental arrest at puberty. Scholastic data, especially
ebb and flow of attendance. Number and kinds of school
houses and playgrounds. Manual training, music, physical
culture. Methods of discipline, corporal punishment. Effi-

386 mace SDrtbodoi? in tbe Soutb
ciency of graduates. Consulting palmists, astrologists,
mediums, etc. Classification of superstitions, magical prac
tices, etc.
Percentage who pass examinations as teachers, lawyers,
doctors. Number of newspapers, books, magazines in pro
portion to literacy. Percentage of talent in music, art, sci
ence, etc. Pioneer qualities.
Relation of illiteracy to crime.
Favorite phrases and expressions. Characteristic gram
matical, and rhetorical and logical and observational errors.

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