The Athenaeum. (Atlanta, GA) 1898-1925, November 01, 1923, Image 19

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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.