Henry Theodore Johnson--Lux Gentis Nigrae .. ([1903])

8/3/2019 Henry Theodore Johnson--Lux Gentis Nigrae .. ([1903])

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CONTENTS.i Race Infancy and What Implied 72 Opposed but not Friendless 93 Negro Suffrage Justified 114 Problem more National than Racial 135 Nation's Proper Theory and Mission 146 Why the Race Here 187 Problem Grasped only by a Few 28 Scope of Faith Under Ordeals 239 Suggestions of History 25

10 Reassuring Reflections 27n Bareless Charges Answered 2812 Truth and Time Effectual Healers 29


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INTRODUCTION.The Bright Side of the Race Picture! A

fitting subject, it seems to me, for this splen-did little volume Dr. Johnson has so admira-bly written. I beleive in optimism. Duringthe many long years in which the Negro hasbeen subject to oppression and injustice ofone kind and another, the one thing that hashelped him most in his struggle for a higher,nobler and better manhood, has been thehopeful, optimistic spirit with which he hasborne his troubles. Adversities many andpainful has he suffered in his onward struggle,and by it all, he has been more helped thanthe unthinking would suppose. During it allthe Negro has been hopeful; has looked aheadfor the brighter day.To me the future seems full of hope and

promise for the race. True it is that manytrials and discouragements lie ahead, but weare making indisputable, tangible progressprogress that means success. Coming out ofserfdom penniless, uneducated and with noproperty, the Negro has made more rapidstrides toward the higher civilization than hasbeen true of any other race under similar cir-cumstances and conditions. He is acquiringproperty, he is becoming educated in a way


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that makes him a useful law-abiding citizenattainments and tendencies that make his fu-ture hopeful in the extreme.Happy is Dr. Johnson in giving this refresh-

ing little volume, every page of which is red-olent with words of encouragement and hope,to the public at this time, when the RaceQuestion is demanding the thought and atten-tion of thinking, earnest people in all walks oflife. These discussions at times cause manyto look to the future with despair, for too oftenthe tendency is to judge the race by its worstelement, by its shiftless class. And so it isthat The Bright Side of the Race Picture,dealing with the promising phase of the ques-tion, as it does, has an especial mission toperform, and if, by its encouragement andhope, it contributes toward the end of makingthe race stand on its own feet and developeits own resources, if it throws light upon thesolution of an all-important problem, its mis-sion will be performed.

Booker T. Washington.Tuskegee, Alabama.

Oct. 7th, 1903.


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LUX GENTIS NIGRAERACE INFANCY AND WHAT IMPLIED.Every man is the architect of his own

fortune. This truism applies with equalforce to peoples of the same race-type noless than to individuals. No greater harmcan be done the youth who has not triedhis own powers than to furnish him helphe does not need or pamper his hopes withprops that can yield no support in the try-ing- days. Sympathy and instructionshould not be withheld, but help shouldbe withheld to the same wise extent it iswithdrawn from the child who may getalong without it. Aside from picking upthe little one at intervals and setting it torights again, the sensible mother spendsno idle time lamenting over the misfor-tune of the child's falls and cries or inbottling up its tears. Full well she knows


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8 Lux Gentis Nigraethat the ups and downs of childhood arenecessary stages to sure-footed manhood.Its ills may be somewhat humored withoutlays of sweetmeats and caresses attimes, but its falls and heartbreaking out-cries are looked upon as lung-tests andchest-protectors or aids to its bodilygrowth and vigor. From the child'sstandpoint, the estimate of these cross-grained experiences is quite different asa matter of course. But what it takes asserious outside of cramps, colics and suchlike ills, is disposed of as already sug-gested. Little ones who are nursed ashot-house plants rarely amount to much,while those who make the port of creditare usually the ones whom the combinedforces of adversity stormed against invain. Frederic Douglass in childhoodbereft of a name and shorne of a mother'scare, with Booker T. Washington, bothtried metal bearing the stamp of the samemine and mint, are striking examples ofwhat their people must pass through in


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 9their infancy ere the snn shall crown theirlater life and service. Not to man-hood nor success nor greatness is thereany royal road. The shining- outstretchedprize is visible only to the eye of faith, itis open only to the heart of courage, andcan be plucked only by the aspiring, all-endeavoring hand linked to and led by theHand unseen.

OPPOSED BUT NOT FRIENDLESS.The complaint is often heard that the

Negro's friends are not as numerous asformerly and that those disposed to helphim are becoming few and far between.The murmur, though by no meansgroundless, is not an impeachment of ourformer friends, nor in the least indicativethat those interested in our welfare aregrowing less numerous. True it is thatoutward signs of sympathy are not favor-able to the race as in times past. Timethere was when the hand of philanthrophywas outstretched and the voice of friend-ship cheered the new-born race from


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io Lux Gentis Nigraeevery direction. Christianity plead itsMacedonian cry and missionaries flockedfrom their northern homes to cheer anduplift the struggling millions in theirsouthern quarters. Christianity bore tothese needy millions the word of God andtender instructors to expound the same.It built churches and schools and fur-nished books to the illiterate and teacherswithout cost. This it did in the face ofridicule and scorn from boastful superiors,and without a sense of condescensiontoward those it would upraise.

In this noble service of redeeming apeople long neglected and wronged,Christianity found a noble ally in philan-thropy and benevolence of the puresttype. Was the Negro's citizenship afterhis enfranchisement imperilled? Thetruest statesmanship of the day stoodready with armoured shield and sharp-ened lance to rush to his defense. Onthe shining arena of knight errantry in thehalls of Congress in his behalf were such


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 1heroes as Charles Sumner, ThaddeusStevens, General Butler, Roscoe Conklingand others whose names will flourish inundying- glory. They and men of kind-red spirit and statesmanship made it pos-sible for black men to wield the ballotweapon in their own defense. Their in-tercession and support gave the right ofway to every office seat from local Cor-oner to Congressional honors. Thebroad-guaged statesmanship of the timeswelcomed colored men into the highestpolitical councils of the state and nation.It greeted the advent of ex-slaves into theSenate chamber and accorded the Speak-er's gavel to B. K. Bruce, whoshed greater lustre on his countrythan his predecessor, the far-famed Jeff.Davis, the Confederate chieftain, who re-signed its honors and sought its cleavage,or his present day successor, SenatorMoney.

XEGRO SUFFRAGE JUSTIFIED.Those who raise the foolish outcry


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i2 Lux Gentis Nigraeagainst the black man's use of the ballottoo soon forget the splendid service towhich he put this weapon when first heplied it. But for his patriotism at theballot-box as on the battle-field the dis-membered nation and seceeded Statesnever would have been restored. No bet-ter use could he make of the ballot thanwith it demonstrate his knowledge of andlove for what was best for his country'swelfare. His loyal ballot not only broughtback into the Union the disloyal States,but laid the foundation for a bulwark andtemple that would tower and shine to thecredit and safety of generations untold.The public school system of the South-land to-day, whatever its shortcomingswith regard to the quality or quantity ofthe mental ration it doles the children ofcolor throughout that section, was votedinto life by the ancestors of these chil-dren. It was in their power toabuse or tamper with this prerogativeby legislating mixed schools for the races,


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 13as in the North, but this was not done.The failure to do so is but another linkin the chain of evidence as to the con-sideration of the race for its haughty,domineering neighbor, even when power-less to help itself.THE PROBLEM MORE NATIONAL THAN

RACIAL.Ail countries have problems which rack

the brains of their wisest statesmen andablest philosophers. The history of mon-archies and republics alike have everoffered such problems to mankind andwill continue so to do until the light ofthe millenium gilds and girdles our error-smitten and sin-burdened earth. As na-tions like individuals have missions anda destiny to fulfill, it is possible to obscurebut not ignore the divine or ethical ele-ment which demands more than their ac-tivities. No man can repudiate theclaims of the moral code in his careerwith impunity, and history with phil-osophy establishes the same truth in con-


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14 Lux Gentis Nigraenection with governments. Whethertheir operations be on the lowest plane ofdespotism or in a limited monarchy orin the sphere of democracy where the con-sent of the governed is actually or theoret-ically sought as in our own land, certainstandards and regulations are acknowl-edged and applied in all administrationsof justice or manipulation of the machin-ery of law and exercise of national policy.As to whether a nation survive a thous-and years or a decade depends largelyupon the display of wisdom on the partof its founders in the adoption of certainfundamental standards in its constitution,wise or otherwise, and the considerationwith which their successors regard thetrust.nation's correct theory and .mission.The skeleton fingers of overthrown

governments lift their ghastly warningagainst the danger of divorcing the Al-mighty from a nation's organic life oractivities. Happily for the nation and


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 15government of ours, their framers weretrue to the teachings of the past andresponsive to the impulse of the truestphilosophy and the best religion. Thehighest wisdom was displayed when theBible was adopted as the chart of theship of state for the newly united coloniesand belief in the God of the Universe pro-fessed as the compass and sheet-anchor of the infant nation's welfare.Than our Declaration of Independenceno nobler instrument, barring the Deca-logue, was ever drawn. Its inimitablepreamble in world-embracing scope aptlyanswers to Paul's proclamation in evi-dence of the common origin and onenessof the human species. This prime plankin the nation's platform affords a terrafirtna footing on which every comer toour shores may securely trust his weight,the enemy to American laws and institu-tions alone excepted. While the red-handed anarchist is excluded from thehand of American fellowship by character


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1 Lux Gentis Nigraeand creed, the same exclusion is also heldfor the sable citizen by partisan skepticsand sectional colorphobists whose titleto full-fledged citizenship has never beenhalf as clearly established as that of hisdisputed Brother in Black. The denial ofapplication of the phrase "all men arecreated free and equal" to the coloredman had its answer in the philosophy ofthe situation as it obtained when the Con-stitution was promulgated as well as inthe logic of succeeding events. The divin-ity of bondage and racial inferiority weredangerous dogmas to be held by a peo-ple struggling for release from foreignoppression and its assumption of royalsovereignty. The effort to enjoy the sub-stance of freedom for themselves and tor-ment others with the notes and sound ofliberty after the Old Bell had "proclaimedliberty throughout the land to all the in-habitants thereof" was like "running withthe hare and holding with the hounds"on the part of the American people and


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 17it was inevitable that they soon tire ofthe chase. The logic of events fulfilledthe philosophic statement of Mr. Lincolnthat a nation can not exist part slave andpart free, while k also suggests the truthof the couplet

"All men are equal in God's sight.There is no black, there is no white."

In favor of the certain recognition ofthe colored man's rights in common withthose of other citizens are the nation'scosmopolitan dogma of universal equalityand the slow and gradual dissipation ofthe clouds which have stubbornly en-veloped this question. But had the na-tion adopted no world-embracing creed,or had its congenial shores offered noinviting asylum for the refuge-seekingpilgrims of other lands, the divine ele-ment in the problem would yet have re-mained to be reckoned with. While amongthe early settlers were those in quest ofreligious liberty there were those alsowho sought the glory and spoils of states-


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1 Lux Gentis Nigraecraft or who looked for the main chancein slave traffic or in commercial adven-ture. Whoever they were and from what-ever clime, these emigrants came no hide-bound iron-clad enactment decreed theirfate in the new western land of promise.

WHY THE RACE HERE.All but one of the various branches of

the human family represented in the event-ful hegira to the American paradise cameby invitation or journeyed hither of theirown accord. Far different was it the casewith the child of bondage and adversityof sable hue ordained to cut such animportant figure in the life and destinystrange and forbidding environments.Abraham was called of the Almighty toof the virgin nation. Others have beencalled of Heaven to try their fortunes amiddivorce himself from the ties of countryand kinship. While not knowing whitherhe was to go, the hardship of emigrationwas greatly neutralized by the certaintyof the call of Heaven on the one hand and


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 19the promise of an overwhelming- rewardon the other. Only the dark and penalside of the picture seemed visible inthe black man's divorcement from his na-tive land. A providence there was in thecruel fate which tore him from tribe andparental ties in Africa for the slave trafficas it did his offsprings through centuriesof slavery in America, but this provi-dence seemed at the time by far more per-missive than directive. In proof of thelatter claim arguments were speciousand ample on the part of those who sawonly the humane side of the traffic inhuman flesh and who held that the sys-tem was anything but the "sum of vil-lainy," as Mr. Wesley, the founder ofMethodism, charged. The silver liningto the cloud drapery above his head, ifany there was, was left rather for hisdistant descendant with the radiant torchof history and faith to descern rather thanfor himself with an environment, heredityand adversity fettering his vision withthree-fold blindness, to discover.


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20 Lux Gentis NigraeThe sale of Joseph by his brothers into

slavery furnishes a more striking- coun-terpart of the Negro's case than any in-stance covered by ancient or modern his-tory. Think of the tender son of Jacobkidnapped by his brothers, thrust into apit and left for dead ; then recall the tragicstory of the motley-colored coat soakedin gore lending strength to the gruesometale of its wearer's doom from ravenousbeasts ; let the plot thicken as the childof destiny is lifted from the pit and bar-tered to a band of traders, who disposeof their tender prize to an Egyptianbuyer, and the story can but suggest a pre-face and prophecy to the history of Ham'sdescendents in America. The sequel ofthe Negro's history has not yet been writ-ten, but the story of Jacob's son in Egyptmore than likely has its opening key ofanalogy. In the land to which Josephwas sold a '/.ranger he wrought out aroyal career step by step. The pathwayof his upward journey lay through the


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 2l

fires of adversity, but he came forth likepurified gold bearing the assayer's stamp.

It is useless to quarrel with Providencefor allowing our forefathers to be tornfrom their native continent. The Al-mighty hand that rescued them and theirsfrom the horrible pit of slavery has anequally royal goal in reservation for usand ours if only we quit ourselves likemen, enter in and occupy the allotedheritage.PROBLEM GRASPED ONLY BY THE FEW.Perhaps it is only with the more ser-

ious and reflecting minds among our peo-ple that the race question takes on darkand difficult phases. It is not likely thatthe masses are much disturbed about thethings that perplex the minds and depressthe spirit of the more intelligent membersof the race. To be sure, the rank and fileof the masses cannot be indifferent to thewrongs and outrageous treatment they arecalled upon to endure day by day. Theirsense of justice must naturally move them


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22 Lux Gentis Nigraeat least to silently and perhaps sullenlyprotest against the countless unkind andoutlandish things they suffer. To assumethat any one of the multitudinous numberreferred to in the South or elsewhere ac-cepts the grinding situation of servile sub-jection to the domineering race without'in inner resentment to say the least, isto assume such an individual to be de-void of the instinct common to the animalworld. Not less sensible are the massesof the type in question to the monstrouswrongs they bear than were their pro-genitors insensible to the grievous out-rage of slavery. The latter was endurednot so much because of the abject in-ability or indisposition of the victims torid themselves of the oppressor's yoke, asbecause of their instinctive trust in theProvidence that shapes all things right inthe end and because of the exercise ofthat wisdom which cometh from above,which is peaceful and gentle and leads tohope always for the best.


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 23THE SCOPE OF FAITH UNDER ORDEALS.It is to this ever-active inner-working

providence that the leaders and thought-ful clement of the race must now andhenceforth look if we will escape themeshes of the wilderness and enter thepromised land of Canaan. The murmur-ings of those who quarrel with Provi-dence for leading us into the desert outof Egypt must be stopped. The plenti-ful onions and leeks supplied by Pharaohwere good, also quite refreshing were theEgyptian streams which bubbled incopious fullness, but these provisions oftheir bondage state were as far-surpassed by the delectable diet ofHeaven's orderings as a Delmonico bill-of-fare puts to blush the contents of anordinary lunch counter. The hue andcry so often heard that it has never beenso hopeless with the race as now and thatour salvation as a people hinges moreapon going to Africa than upon makingthe most of where we are and of the


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24 Lux Gentis Nigraesituations about us, is but a repetition ofthe rebellious behaviour of ungratefulIsrael of old and must be cured if it takesbiting serpents and fiery judgments to doso. There is no serious danger of themasses provoking the Almighty to angerfrom the sin of rebellion half so much asfrom the sin of forgetfulness and down-right spiritual blindness. It is they whoshould be eves to the sightless multitudewho delay if not imperil their highest wel-fare at the hands of an unerring andever-gracious Providence.Two more thoughts of vital bearing

upon the subject and the conclusion ofthese pertinent reflections is reached.The pilgrimage traversed and obstaclesby the wayside have been disposed of ina referential if not exhaustive way. It isgood for the race to glance backwardsand mark the milestones of its progress.It is also stimulating to its future stridesto be able to review the difficulties al-ready dispersed. The race can do both of


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 25the suggested duties with alacrity andwholesome returns. What of the futureand what of the foe, are the thoughtswhich remain to be reckoned with.As to the adversaries of the race, the

habit of capitalizing them is too often in-dulged. It is to be feared that more timeis lost in exercising concern over this bar-rier to our advancement than the royalend to be attained doth warrant. Whyshould one's foe be made so important asto become formidable and retard ratherthan aid in the onward march of thestruggle upward ?

SUGGESTIONS OF HISTORY.Moses and Pharaoh should serve as

perpetual studies to all race leaders ofdoubtful courage and waning faith. Onehad but a pitiable rod, the other wasarmed with a monarch's sceptre. But inthe eye of God's chosen one the sceptrewas no more than a fragile stick, whilethe shepherd's rod objectified a wonder-working wand. So was David's sling in


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26 Lux Gentis Nigraecontrast with Goliath's spear, and Gid-eon's pitchers with armies of the Am-alekites. The fearful spies were unfit toconduct the march to Canaan for theyfeared the sons of Anak. God's presentday leaders are not to be trusted with afollowing- if they can not muster courageto urge their people to go forward in spiteof wicked men and bristling demons.

But what of the end and will it bemorning or noonday? are questions whichwill not down at reason's fiat or retre insilence at the decree of faith. We wantto know will the Negro race ultimatelysurvive and gain ascendancy. His is theonly race that has looked the daring, dom-inant brother of ashen hue in the face andlived. The Red man contested strengthwith him and soon read his doom in thesetting" sun. The Yellow man rearedtowering walls of civilization that mockedhis dreams for countless centuries, butthose Chinese walls have bowed to thewhite man's masterly tread and to-day he


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Lux Gentis Nigrae 27

is virtually monarch of the FloweryRealm. The Brown man has turned fromthe gauntlet thrown down and contentshimself with what he is allowed to have,ever suing for peace in the reminder toJaphet, "We are brethren."

REASSURING REFLECTIONS.How comes it, and with what assump-

tion does the black man. the youngestchild of the human family, dare aspire toa place by his imperious white brotherand former master? Intolerable gall theysay that black necks once under the heelsof white mastery should seek the orna-mentation of official trusts and govern-mental authority. Alas that the claims ofhumanity and the teachings of historyshould be forgotten or ignored. Theblack man (represented by the aspiringtype) has never reached the ignoble depthin which the ancestral white man reveledfor ages. It was never said of him, atleast as was said of the white man of thepast, that he is too inferior to measure up


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28 Lux Gentis Nigraeto the dignity of slavery. Suppose thatgreat Caesar's reproach of the white manhad been accepted as a standard by himor his descendants. The most resplend-ent eras of the world's history wouldthan have been substituted by eons of bar-barism or the gray dawn of centuries ofsemi-enlightenment for the race.

BASELESS CHARGES ANSWERED.The cheap talk of "Negro inferiority,"

"Negro place" and "white man's country"so current in certain parts of the land isveriest bosh and rot of the driest kind.

Negro inferior ! Shades of Epictetus,the philosopher; Aesop, the moralist;Hannibal and L'Overture, the world'sgenerals; Attucks, the patriot; Allen, re-ligious revolutionist and organizerEuclid and Banneker, mathematician andastronomer; Wheatley and Dunbar, racepoetsall of whom were Negroes devoidof the taint of blood admixture with themuch boasted superior white man.The Almighty Ruler gave the white

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Lux Gentis Nigrae 29man temporary sway, but never perpetualright of empire over the realms of mindand mother earth. Hence all talk of em-igration, separation or deportation assolvents of the so-called race unharmonyis the rankest sort of balderdash. The"white man's country" forsooth ! To hisrapacious, omnivorous, ungodly grasp-ings that means a ruthless stampedeacross the divinely staked-off regions setapart for cycles to the dark or red orolive colored race-varieties. If he hasgained the ascendancy by might he will re-tain it only by righteousness. The earthis the Lord's and the meek shall inherit itrather than proud and haughty nations.

TIME AND TRUTH FINAL HEALERS.Old Father Time, aided by the sover-

eign element of Almighty grace, haswrought wonders in the human familyand will prove an irresistable leveller ofbarriers against this Negro branch, theyoungest member. Let us recall the pastand the accounts must even now be bal-


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Lux Gentis Nisrrae->'anced mightily in our favor. Our achieve-ments have been marvellous and ourstatus as decreed by God and fixed by thesovereign powers ordained by Him is ir-revocable and lofty. The surgings of thesea of human passion may threaten toengulf or strand the bark on which wejourney, but all faithful reckonings bysun or chart or by stars or compass willshow that our course is onward, for theocean's Master, who mapped out ourtrackless voyage knows how to conductthe craft amid unseen rock and treacher-ous elements and bring us all in the end tothe glorious port of victory. Ever andanon the sun may mantle His visage, butHe shines on behind the clouds. "Atevening there shall be light" is the sureword of prophecy and always fulfilled inthe darkest hours of those who trust inHeaven's guidance.


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Henry Theodore Johnson--Lux Gentis Nigrae .. ([1903])