brotherhood of man and true Christianity. They deserve especial mention here. There was Atticus G. Haygood who in "Our Brother in Black" made a stirring appeal to the white people of the South for fairness of treatment. George W. Cable, native and to the manner born, while still a resident of Louisiana, in magazine articles and books, in the "Freedmen's Case in Equity," and "The Silent South," and Lewis H. Blair of Richmond, Virginia, a representative business man, in "The Prosperity of the South dependent upon the elevation of the Negro" took the most advanced ground for identical treatment by the State and National Government to all classes of citizens. Rev. Quincy Ewing, an Episcopal clergyman, in more than one sermon delivered in the heart of the South and published in Metropolitan newspapers, with fiery eloquence, masterly and fearlessly has contended for the equal citizenship of the Negro. So many others there are who have pleaded for the extension of educational advantages at the expense of the property of the State that to make personal mention of a few would do injustice to all. But the operation of these forces to transform civil and political conditions necessarily would be slow and unsatisfactory. Unsatisfactory, because they do not attack the vital weakness of the situation, the moral cowardice of the Republican Party when in power, and the aggressive policy of the Democratic Party as shown by their advocacies when in control, in the matter of Negro citizenship, which is the crux of the whole Southern problem. It all depends on whether or not the Negro is an equal citizen that there is any real difficulty at issue, anything requiring adjustment. The Constitutional League took a step in advance of other movements in raising funds for the enforcement of the laws through an appeal to the Federal Courts, and in carrying to a final issue without the heralding of trumpets, tests to invoke the Federal Constitution for the Negro's protection. The National Society for the Improvement of the Colored People, however, has the most comprehensive program. By means of a national organization with affiliated branches located at various centers of population and a bureau of publicity, a systematic attempt is made to secure a recognition of the rights of the Negro through the courts and friendly legislation and the liberalization of public sentiment. In method it closely follows the spirit of the Anti-Slavery Society which eighty years ago began the aggressive work against the existence of chattel slavery; a work which it kept up for thirty years until the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln was issued and the Thirteenth Amendment to the National Constitution was assured. With this definite cause of action followed with the intelligence, vigor, and persistence of the movement of which William Lloyd Garrison is the central figure, History may repeat itself, and it is among the possibilities that the apostle of this new movement may be Oswald Garrison Villard. XVIII PHILLIS WHEATLEY WHILE the United States of America were subject to Great Britain the descendants of Africa in America were either slaves or the children of slaves, and, except in rare cases, were Negroes, that is, they had little or no traces of white blood in their veins. Only a few generations prior to the Revolutionary War a minister of the gospel of respectable ability (Morgan Godwyn), had actually written a book to prove that the Negro should not be used as a beast of burden without causing remorse of conscience. It was at this period that the intellectual and social circles of both New and Old England had a revelation in the person of a native of Africa of pleasing personal appearance, of charming conversational qualities, an easy and accomplished correspondent, one who could write pleasing verses of poetry that were complimented for their grace and elegance, if not for their depth and profundity of thought. This phenomenon was Phillis Wheatley who was brought to this country from Africa in 1761, when about seven years of age and sold in the streets of Boston as a slave to Mr. John Wheatley, a prosperous tailor and the owner of several other slaves. He desired her as a personal attendant of his wife, as a maid to wait on her in her old age. It was the humble and modest demeanor, especially the pleasing expression of the young child, that attracted Mr. Wheatley's attention. As she had been torn from her home, ten thousands of miles distant, it was not to be expected that she had a very elaborate wardrobe-in fact, she had the scantiest of clothing, an old piece of carpet forming her only dress. When installed in Mr. Wheatley's home the uncommon intelligence of the slave girl was displayed in her frequent attempts to make letters upon the wall with pieces of chalk or charcoal. A daughter of Mrs. Wheatley observing her precocity undertook her education and was astonished by her intelligence, and by the ease and rapidity with which Phillis learned. She mastered the language in sixteen months; carried on with her friends and acquaintances an extensive and elegant correspondence while but twelve years of age; composed her first poem at fourteen, became a proficient Latin scholar at seventeen, and an authoress at nineteen, when we are told that she published her first collection of poems. Although originally intended for menial pursuits, she was reared as a member of the family and not permitted to associate with the other family servants. With her growth in years her mind expanded and such was her progress in her studies that she drew the attention of a large circle of the most cultured people of Boston, who encouraged her by their association and their companionship. At the early age of sixteen she was admitted by baptism into the membership of the Old South Church of which Rev. Samuel Sewall was pastor. Her record as a church member accorded with her reputation in society, in which her humility of character, her elevated tone of thought and her consistent life made her a shining light. Her devout Christian character displayed itself not only in some of her poems, but in her private correspondence. In one of her early poems she says ""Twas Mercy brought me from my pagan land, Some view our sable race with scornful eye- "Remember, Christians, Negroes black as Cain, Unlike very many persons who suddenly become famous in literary circles, she was not given to moods or sullenness. On the other hand, she was accommodating, ever ready and willing to receive all who called on her and to give an example of her marvelous gifts. The subjects on which she wrote showed not only a wide range of reading, but an originality of treatment that established her right to be considered as one of the famous women of her time. The opinion is well supported that her knowledge of composition and the use of a correct style was the result of a familiarity with the best English writers and her association with the most cultivated people of the time, rather than as the result of any systematic instruction in English composition. Frequent classical allusions in her poems display fondness for early Roman and Grecian history. Readers of Virgil may note the influence of the Bard of Mantua in her "Ode to Washington.” In his "Colored Patriots of the Revolution," published more than fifty years ago, William C. Nell, himself a colored author, says: "There is another circumstance respecting her habits of composition. She did not seem to have the power of retaining the creations of her own fancy for a long time in her mind. If during the vigil of a wakeful night she amused herself by weaving a tale she knew nothing of it in the morning-it had vanished in the land of dreams. Her kind mistress indulged her with a light, and in the cold season with a fire in her apartment, during the night. The light was placed upon a table at her bedside, with writing materials so that, if anything occurred to her after she had retired, she might without rising or taking cold secure the swift-winged fancy ere it fled." |