The Athenaeum. (Atlanta, GA) 1898-1925, November 01, 1923, Image 19
THE ATHENAEUM
45
Mississippi for instance, there are more Negroes than whites;
yet the Negroes are dominated by the whites. In Atlantic City, N. J.,
where the negroes outnumber the whites, they have a commission
form of government; yet, the Negroes are afraid to make an attempt
to nominate a member of our race for office. These are the things
we are trying to blot out by bringing about more race co-operation a-
among the students, who in turn will carry this message to their
mothers and fathers.
Have you heard, that Negroes lack race pride?
If white students should get in a controversy with the average
colored student and ask him why he is proud of his race, I doubt
seriously whether he could tell him.
Do you know that Phyllis Wheatly, the great writer, was a colored
woman? Do you know that Fredrick Douglass, the writer and Or
ator, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar were Negroes?
Do you know that the highest earned degree conferred by Un
iversities, that of Doctor of Philosophy, (Ph.D.) has been conferred
upon twenty-five Negroes, and that we have forty-seven Negroes,
who have been received into the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity conferred
by the outstanding universities on under-graduates who are among
the best scholars? It is necessary to maintain an average of ninety
or over throughout your college year to be in this fraternity.
We also have Negro businesses which we should be proud of. The
Citizens Trust Company, Brown and Stevens Trust Company of
Philadelphia, Liberty Life Insurance Company of Chicago, North
Carolina Mutual and Standard Life Insurance Companies. I could
name many larger things to make us proud of our race. Let me
implore you to read the history of our race. What are you doing to
stimulate race pride?
Do you know that not enough of our group is being educated I
will give you some statistics on this important question so you can
see the need of helping to stimulate education:
“In 1920 there were in the United States, according to the census
report, 3,796,957, Negroes, children 5-20 years of age inclusive.
2,030,269 or 53.5 per cent were enrolled in school. According to the
same report there were in sixteen former slave states, Oklahoma, and
the District of Columbia, 3,471,277 Negro children 5-20 years of age
inclusive. Of these 1,761,794 or 50.7 per cent were enrolled in school.
You can see that there are a million or more Negro school children
out of school.
The only way we will be able to accomplish anything is to start
the Negro to thinking. This must be done through education. We
are planning to start a national drive to link up all delinquent
school children, and have them put in school. These children are
the hope of our race.