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‘Let No Barrier Be Against Mere Color’
Although most statements against racial segregation are rela
tively recent, here is one that is old-more than sixty years old.
It was delivered by Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul on Jan
uary 1, 1891, the 28th anniversary of President Lincoln's Eman
cipation Proclamation. It remains one of the most vigorous chal
lenges to racial segregation ever written.
This is taken from a "Primeron Interracial Justice" by Robert
Senser, Helicon Press, Baltimore, 120 pages. $2.95.
Slavery was horrid. We can
not recall it without sorrow and
shame. Well may the Head
of the Catholic Church, Leo )t-
111, say in a recent letter- that
"slavery is opposed to religion
and to the dignity- of man.” I
know its defenders taking refuge
in the shadowy regions of the
abstract describe slavery- as a
mere labor-contract, covering
a whole life-time.
In the concrete, as practiced
and defended, slavery was ig
nored, who was made to be the
chattel. And how come it. I
could ask in the name of jus
tice, that the unborn child,
whose father ever was a free
man, was shorn w ithout his own
fault or act, of the right to the
free use of the powers of soul
and body? Certain stages of
civilization, it has been said,
rendered slavery a social nece
ssity. Certain stages of barbar
ism they should be called, and
Americans should not have low
ered themselves to barbarism.
SLAVERY is inhuman, It is
unchristian. "There was scar
cely anything,” writes Leo X-
III, "dearer to the Church from
the beginning than to see the
slavery, which oppressed so
many human beings by its mis
erable yoke, removed and
entirely destroyed.”
The Christian religion emp
hasized the brotherhood of man,
the value of the soul, charity-
to the weak and to the oppres
sed. Slavery was the denial of
Christian principles and Chris
tian virtues. It was the denial
of Christian principles and
Christian virtues. It was the
denial of the freedom of the
Gospel, which found access to
the soul of the slave, only as
the master permitted or ord
ained. Let us on this emanci
pation day thank God for the
blessings of Christianity.
LET US do our full duty.
There is work for us. I have
said that slavery has been abo
lished in America; the trail of
This list of Catholic books
released within the past week
was prepared by the Library
of the Catholic University of
America.
BIBLE, N. T. The Universal
Letters. (St. Paul Publications,
Derby, New York. 60f Paper).
Reprint of the 1953 English
edition.
DAUGHTERS OF ST PAUL.
The Great Hero. (Daughters of
St. Paul. $ 2.50). A biography
of St. Paul for children 9-12.
i ELLIOTT, JOHN a The Re
volt Of The Catalans. (Cam
bridge University Press. $12.
50). A highly documented study
in the decline of Spain and the
monarchy between 1598 and
1640.
GILSON, ETTIENNE and
LANGHAN, THOMAS. Modem
Philosophy: Descartes To Kant.
(Random House. $ 10.95. A
further volume in the extensive
documented history of phi
losophy.
FRANCISCAN MEDITATION
(Franciscan Herald Press, $3).
This is Vol. 4 of a series to
be completed in seven volumes.
This covers from Easter Sun
day to Saturday after Pentecost.
the serpent, however, yet marks
the ground. We do not accord
to our black brothers all the
rights and privileges of freedom
and of a common humanity.
They are the victims of an un
reasoning and unjustifiable os
tracism. They may live, pro
vided they live away from us,
as a seprate and inferior race,
with whom close contact is
pollution. It looks as if we had
grudgingly granted to them em
ancipation, as if we fain still
would be the masters, and hold
them in servitude.
What do I claim for the black
man? That which I claim for the
white man, neither more or
less. I would blot out the
color line. White men have their
estrangements. They seprate
on lines of wealth, of intelli
gence, of culture, of ancestry.
But let there be no barrier ag
ainst mere color.
Why is barrier of this kind?
Where can we find a reason for
it? Not in color. Color is the
merest accident in man, the re
sult of climatic changes. The
colors of the human skin are
of many different kinds, the
shading of the so-called white
race are not easily numbered.
Why visit with the ire of our
exclusive pride the black, even
into its lightest shadings, scar
cely discernible to the eye from
the olive dark, a shading most
admired in the white family of
nations ?
NOT IN race. Men are all
of the same race, sprung from
the one father and the one mot-
GRANCIAN Y. MORALES,
BALTASAR. The Oracle .
(Dutton. $1.95). A translation
of "a manual of the art of
discretion".
HOOPER, VINCENT F.
Medival Mystery Plays .
(Barron's Educational Series.
Cloth $2.50; paper, $1.25). A
collection of several plays ac
companied by a general intro
duction.
ABELL, AARON L The Ur
ban Impact on American Pro
testantism, 1865-1900. (Archon
Hamden, Conn. $7.) An hlstori-
> cal anti sociological study ori
ginally presented as a Harvard
doctoral dissertation.
DUBAY, THOMAS E. Sisters
Retreats. (Newman . $4.50). A
guide for priests and Sisters
based on responses from
former retreatants.
ELIADE, MIRCEA. Patterns
In Comparative Religion .
(World. $2.25). Reprint of the
1958 Sheed and Ward edition.
FRANCIS OF ASSISI, SAINT.
Relatos De La Vida De San
Francisco. (St. Anthony Guild.
$2.25). A series of legends
originally published under the
title "Stories About St.
Francis.”
her. Ethmology and Holy Writ
give the same testimony. The
subdivisions of race are but ac
cidental deviations from the
parent stock, which revert to
the first model as easily with
the same length of years as
they diverted from it. The notion
that God by special interposi
tion marked off the subdivisions
of the human family, and set
upon each one an indelible seal
of permanence is the dream of
ignorance or bigotry.
The objection is made that
Negroes are of inferior intelle
ctual parts to the whites. I
reply, that there are white men
inferior on those lines to other
white men, and still no wall of
separation is built up by the lat
ter against the former. Treat
Negroes who are intellectually
inferior to us, as we treat in
feriority in the Negro as com
pared with his white brother,
we can afford to deny it, in
presence of his achievements
in the short years which have
elapsed since restitution was
made to him of his freedom,
and any inferiority which exis
ts, we may attribute to his un
fortunate condition of long cen
turies whether in America
or his native Africa.
WE ARE the victims of fool
ish prejudice, and the sooner we
free ourselves from it, the so
oner shall we grow into true
manhood. Is it to our honor that
we presecute men because of
the social conditions of their
fathers? It is not so long ago
since the proudest peoples of
Europe were immersed in bar
barism. It is not to our honor
that we punish men for the sati
sfaction of our own pride. Why,
the fact that once the Negro was
our slave should compel us to
treat him with liberality extr
aordinary, to compensate him if
possible for wrong done, and to
obliterate in mutual forebea-
ranee and favor the sad memo
ries of years gone by.
The Negro problem is upon
us, and there is no other sol
ution to it, peaceful and perm
anent, than to grant to our color-.
ed citizens practical • and ef
fective equality with white citi
zens. It is not possible to keep
up a wall of sepration between
whites and blacks, and die
the attempt to do this is a
declaration of continuous war.
Simple common sense dictates
the solution. The Negroes are
among us to the number of eight
millions, they will here remain;
we must accept the situation and
abide by the consequences,
whatever pride or taste may
dictate.
I WOULD break down all bar
riers. Let the Negro be our eq
ual before the law. There are
states where the violation in the
Negro of the most sacred per
sonal right secured impunity
before the law. In many states
the law forbids marriage bet
ween white and black - in this
manner formenting immorality
and putting injury no less upon
the white whom it pretends to
elevate as upon the black tor
whose degradation it has no
care.
Let the Negro be our equal
in the enjoyment of all politi
cal rights of the citizen. The
Constitution grants him these
rights: let us be loyal to the
Constitution. If the education of
the Negro does not fit him to
be a voter, and an office hol
der, let us for his sake and our
own, hurry to enlighten.
I would open to the Negro all
industrial and professional av
enues - the test for his adva
nce being his ability, but ne
ver his color. I would in all
public gatherings, and in all
public resorts, in halls and hot
els, treat the black man as I
treat the white. I might shun
the vulgar man, whatever his
color, but the gentleman, what
ever his color, I would not dare
push away from me.
Shall the homes of the whites
be opened to the blacks, shall
all meet in the parlor in per
fect social equality? My answer
is, that one’s home is one’s
castle, the privileged place
where each one follows out his
own likes and his own tastes,
and no one, white or black,
rich or poor, can pass the door
with-out an invitation from the
owner, and no one can pass cen
sure upon the owner's act.
I claim the right I grant to
others - and my door is opened
to men of all colors, and no
one should blame me. Social
equality is a matter of taste;
the granting of it largely de
pends on our elevation above
the prejudice, and the indetifi-
cation of minds and hearts with
the precepts and the counsels
of the Gospel.
,C
Religious Articles for
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