[n.b. - page numbers refer to printed text. Available at https://archive.org/details/blackmansburden0000will ] CHAPTER XVIII For many years the Southern people, living in one of the richest sections of our country, did not develop their agricultural interests as the farmers in the middle West and other sections have done, but in recent years the entire South has been waking up in this respect; all at once it has seemed to realize what it has been losing; consequently it is now showing an interest in the develop- ment of its agricultural resources that is hardly equalled anywhere else in the country. But the greater part of the interest thus far shown has been largely for the bene- fit of white farmers. Especially has this been true of whatever funds have been expended in the interest of agricultural education. So far as I have been able to determine there has been no particular disposition to deprive the Negro of any agricultural rights and priv- ileges, but the deprivation came through neglect. The legislators and public servants in various places seemed all at once to realize how much the South has been losing by not giving sufficient attention to agriculture, and they began to try to remedy the evil all at one stroke. In these rapid improvements the interest of the Negro is too often entirely overlooked. For instance, at a recent meeting of the legislature of Mississippi a law was enacted mak- ing it possible to establish agricultural high schools in every county in the state, but for whites only. This law THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 201 was unconstitutional, as under the reconstruction consti- tution white and colored men were to receive like treat- ment. I thought that older and more experienced men in the state should take the lead in such matters, but no one came forward. Meantime, the schools for whites only were being es- tablished here and there in various counties, and all the people, both white and black, were being taxed for their support. I had watched all-this very carefully and had been trying to find some way by which this neglect of the Negro could be brought to the attention of the proper authorities; but as the white people of my own county had not attempted to establish such a school, I had no. direct way of reaching the matter. At length, in one of the counties a Negro refused to pay his taxes. A suit was brought and the case soon reached the Supreme Court of the state, where the school law was declared unconstitutional; so those counties that had established schools had to cease operations. Then the legislature met again, and the air was full of rumors to the effect that a way would be found within the law to continue the establishment of these white schools with- out making similar provision for Negroes. But the ma- jority of the white people of the state did not sympathize with these rumors. With a sincere wish to see the white schools continued, but with a still stronger desire to see the Negro youth of the state enjoy the same privilege, on January 1, 1gto, I addressed the following open letter, in conjunction with and with the approval of leading white and colored men, to the legislature on the subject: 202 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN “To the Hon. C. E. Franxuin and the HonoraBL_e GENERAL ASSEMBLY, of the state of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi. “Sirs: At the meeting of the last general assembly a bill introduced by Senator Franklin, establishing Agri- cultural High Schools in the state of Mississippi, was introduced and favorably passed upon. “It was afterward discovered that this bill inadver- tently made provision for the establishment of agricul- tural schools for whites only. The right-thinking masses of the people immediately concluded that this was an oversight which was not intended by the author or sanc- tioned by public opinion. As soon, therefore, as the mat- ter could be brought before the supreme court, the law was declared unconstitutional, in accordance with the will of the white people. Naturally, the black people of the state rejoiced at this finding, for it proved conclusively the opinion for which the better class of white people, as well as the better class of Negroes, have contended for many years: namely, that there is no desire on the part of the better class of white people in the state of Missis- sippi to lift themselves up by casting the Negroes down. “But we now have further proof (although further proof is unnecessary) in the new agricultural bill, which I learn from the Jackson Daily News is now in the hands of Senator Franklin, for introduction. “We might as well look matters squarely in the face, and speak the truth without reserve. It is the opinion in sections outside of the state of Mississippi that the Negroes in this state do not get a square deal from their white fellow-citizens. That, being excluded from the ballot, and having no direct representation at the capital, and being, therefore, compelled to take whatever is given THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 203 them, they are, as a matter of fact, deprived of much that they by right ought to have. When I say this opinion 1s pretty general I speak from experience,—experience gained from personal contact with individuals in many of the states from Mississippi to Maine. i. “T think I may venture the assertion that the feeling is not so general among leading Negroes in Mississippi as it is among members of your own race in other states. But whatever may be the facts in the case, this new agri- cultural bill should be enough to remove any doubt from all sincere seekers after the truth. For although no Negro, perhaps, has had any influence whatever upon any one who has had to do with the making of the present bill, its provisions, nevertheless, are such as to convince any right-thinking Negro that the best white people of this state have his interests at heart, as well as their own. “When the masses of the Negroes of this state were deprived of the ballot, and representation, there were many honest men and women who felt that this was a direct blow at the Negroes’ liberty, and some even ven- tured to think that it was an effort to re-enslave them, in spite of the fact that the statesmen of that day fought hard to convince the public that they bore no ill-will toward the black men, and would not re-enslave them if they could. “Mississippi was not allowed, at this time, the benefit of the doubt as to her intentions, as she stood before the bar of public opinion; but was held to be guilty of an effort to re-enslave, as it were, until she should prove herself innocent. But notwithstanding many indiscre- tions of certain types of politicians, I think you will agree with me that this bill which, I understand, is brought into being by some of the best people of Mississippi, and 204 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN which is to be introduced by Senator Franklin, himself one of the bravest of leaders, should be final proof that Mississippi is seeking the good of all her people, black as well as white, poor as well as rich. “But what it, after being introduced, such a bill should fail to pass the Legislature? I do not think I speak rashly when I say that the failure to enact such a measure as provided, simply because it provides agricultural edu- cation for all the people alike, would be almost a calam- ity. For many years thereafter we should stand con- demned before the bar of public opinion. It is for these reasons that I have ventured to address you on behalf of the Negroes of this state, to humbly beg your influence toward the enactment of this agricultural high school bill. “Mississippi’s great treasures are all buried beneath her rich soil; with a million Negroes, untrained in the very methods which this bill seeks to provide, it would be im- possible for her white citizens to extract this great treas- ure so long as they tried to carry this load of Negro ignorance. It would be a veritable millstone about their necks,—a millstone that must remain until it has been loosed by such a measure as is now before us. “T believe you will find it easy to excuse the liberty I may seem to assume in thus addressing you, when you remember that this means of petition is the only way my race has of making its wants known to you. The laws are made by you, my race having absolutely no voice in either the making or the administration of them. We cannot appeal from them, but must accept them, whatever we may think of them. It is for this reason that I appeal for your support of this latest measure which has for its object the enlightenment of a million black citizens who are virtually at your mercy. THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN _205 “Although we are not represented in your general as- sembly, we are with you in every act, in every scheme you may devise for the enlightenment of our farmer classes, and for the development of our state. Believing firmly as I do in your interest in all the people of the state of Mississippi, and believing that the interests of both whites and blacks are conserved in this bill, I again summon the courage to beg your support for the bill as lastly drawn. “Very sincerely yours, “Wwe. H. HoLtzciaw, “Principal the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute, Utica, Miss.” I do not know what effect this letter had, or indeed whether it had any effect at all, but I do know that a bill was passed within a few days authorizing the establish- ment of agricultural high schools in every county in the state for both Negroes and whites. In such efforts as this letter to the Legislature represents I have not worked alone but in codperation with many of the good white people who have been interested in my race and also with many of the leading Negroes of the state, nearly all of whom are anxious about the progress of the Negro farm- ers of the state. So far as I know, very little progress has been made toward establishing such schools as I have just men- tioned for colored people, but that is not the fault of the law. One other incident I may mention that will show how I have tried to help in other directions is in connection 206 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN with the lynching evil. These efforts took various forms, one of them being the following letter, which I wrote to the Governor of the state at a time when lynching had grown to such an extent in various parts of the South that a mob of young Negroes had caught the spirit and had lynched one of our own race in the Mississippi Delta. The strange thing about it, so the papers reported, was that certain white people applauded these Negroes while they did the lynching. I felt this disgrace upon our state so keenly that I submitted the following letter to the Governor: “In these trying days for my race, when so many of them are being put to death without the semblance of a trial and when our state is listed so prominently among the states that have recently suffered from the evils of lynch law, it is difficult for one deeply interested in it* and in all that pertains to its progress, and that of the South generally, not to raise a voice of protest. “News comes to us of persons lynched to the extent of one a day for ten days, and to make it worse, eight lynch- ings happened on the same day. “T am greatly interested in this question, because it is altogether likely that the lynching spirit which has hith- erto been shown by whites only may take hold on the Negroes after a while and manifest itself in ways that will shock this nation. “It is the spirit of lawlessness. The same spirit that swings up a poor, ignorant, degraded Negro in the South and riddles his body with bullets is the identical spirit that dynamites a house in other sections, and occasionally assassinates a high official. It is anarchy, under present THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 207 conditions in disguise, and anarchy is chaos. Committing more crimes cannot be a cure for crime. “T appeal to you, my dear Governor,—not on behalf of those who have suffered so directly from mob violence, but on behalf of the law-abiding Negroes who by sug- gestion may in the end be led to follow this deplorable example of murder to satisfy some real or fancied injury, —I appeal to you to use your great influence to check mob violence amongst us. “Dispatches tell us that only the other day a mob of Negroes lynched one of their own race in Merigold, while they were applauded by white men. It does not need a prophet to tell where such actions will ultimately lead. It is an easy step from lynching a Negro while being ap- plauded by white men to murdering a white man while being applauded by Negroes. “T take the same position in regard to this lynching by «Negroes in Shelby that I take in regard to all lynchings, —that it is absolutely unjustifiable under all circum- stances, is a relic of barbarism, and ought not to be tol- erated ina civilized country. It is vain for civilized men to try to justify so barbarous a practice as that of taking human life without some process of law. “Here in the South white men make the laws, they in- terpret the laws, and they should enforce the law to the last letter, not override it. All the machinery of the goy- ernment is in their hands; they can destroy or defend, and the black man can say nothing but look on, and it mat- ters not what may be his opinion of the white man’s sense of justice. Every time you make a law and fail to abide by it so long as it is on the statute books you have done just that much to undermine the structure of civilized government. 208 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN “People who resort to mob violence as a cure for any evil overlook the fact that ignorance is at the bottom of every crime that provokes the mob spirit. A few hun- dreds.of us, realizing that fact, are working day and night to wipe out ignorance and, consequently, crime from among us, “We deplore the existence of crime among our people, but we have faith that it can be overcome by intelligent training in industry, morality, and Christianity. When every Negro is engaged in some useful and congenial occupation, crime will be reduced to the minimum. I beseech you, therefore, to open the schoolhouse door to every Negro child, as much for the sake of the future of your own people as for mine. If you will lend your great influence to the work of helping us to better the condition of our people, I pledge you the hearty efforts of ten thousand educated Negroes in this state who will see to it (so far as they can) that crime is wiped out and that there shall neither be excuse nor occasion for the mob. “T was born in the South; have lived here and rendered whatever service I could toward its development and progress. I am deeply interested in all that pertains to its welfare. I would not speak or write a single word save for the purpose of helping it forward, and I am writing you this letter because I know that your influence in this state and throughout the country is great, and I feel that a word from you at this time would count tre- mendously in the direction of peace and prosperity in our beloved Southland. “Wittiam H. Hoitzciaw, “Utica, Miss.” THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 209 It is probably not generally known outside of Missis- sippi that we have a class of white people here who are as much opposed to lynching and other forms of evil as are the people in any other state in the Union. The fol- lowing letter, which I received from the Governor of Mississippi, is to the point in this connection: “Mr. W. H. Hoitzciaw, “Utica, Mississippi: “I am in receipt of your letter of the 6th instant in reference to enforcement of law and opposition to lynch law and all forms of crime. In all of this you have my most hearty concurrence. I have done, and will continue to do, everything in my power to contribute to the en- forcement of law, and to the punishment of all who offend. I do not know where the eight lynchings occurred of which you write, nor had I before heard of the lynch- ing of a Negro by Negroes at Merigold. I should be glad to receive some data on this point, and will bring that and all other lynchings in this state to the attention of the courts, with the view of having the offenders pun- ished. I have everywhere said, when speaking of the subject, that the people are in a sad condition when they look upon laws as something to use when it suits them and to defy or evade when it does not suit them, for laws of every kind should be equally and impartially enforced against every offender, and all should receive equal pro- tection of the laws. I have heard of the industrial work in which you are engaged, and am glad to know that you are also stressing the strict enforcement and observance of law. “Yours truly, ORS TH. NOEL: “Governor.” 210 THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN I may add here that this determination on the part of Governor Noel is typical of nearly every governor that Mississippi has had in the past twenty years or more. The white people who wish to see their state rid of this evil welcome help, if it has weight, even when it comes from Negroes. I sent the Governor clippings from various papers telling of the Merigold lynching, and received the follow- ing letter: “Mr. W. H. Hortzciaw, Principal, “Utica, Miss. “Sir: Iam in receipt of your letter of the roth inst. I will take up the matter with the officers and do what I can toward vindicating the law in regard to each of the cases you have mentioned, and I intended doing it before I heard from you as to the Chunkey case. I have no in- formation in regard to the other case, except through you. eH NOEL, “Governor.” In my efforts to help the people I have always had the encouragement of the best white people, not only in Utica but wherever I have been. It is the impression in many places that white people are not interested in the educa- tion of the Negro. This may be true in some respects, but it is not true enough to be made a sweeping state- ment; for I have observed that the white man in Missis- sippi wants to see education count for something tangible, and whenever he can see that education means something to his home, to his community, and to the progress of his THE BLACK MAN’S BURDEN 211 state as well as to the Negro, he is usually found lending assistance to that sort of education. For instance, one day I was booked to deliver an ad- dress to the colored people at the little town of St. Elmo, in Claiborne county, Mississippii—a county which has all its public schools come together annually for public exhibition, graduation exercises, and so on. The meet- ings are convened at different points in the county each year, and this year it was to be at St. Elmo. When my train rolled up to the station early in the morning I was greatly surprised to see that the congregation up to that time was composed of the white people almost entirely, and what is more, these white people were very busy pre- paring the stage on which the Negro students were that day to receive their certificates of graduation. They were not only building a spacious stage with the lumber that they had furnished, but were decorating that stage with various decorations, including red, white, and blue, and with a profusion of United States flags, which hung like a crimson cloud in the distance. I ventured to ask one white man why was all this in- terest being manifested by the white people when the Negroes themselves seemed so disinterested. The answer was that the white people gained quite as much from these general gatherings as the Negroes, and for that reason the various towns were eager to have the gather- ings. Whenever education, educators, and educational processes can produce something that white men want, they favor the education of the Negro just exactly as other men do.