“Whereas the Boston Herald has lately shown that the degrading superstition of Voodooism, as well as its practice, exists here in Boston to some extent among a few illiterate and ignorant persons of our race; and whereas the sentiment among the better class of coloured people is that no one should be swifter to condemn any kind of foolish race superstition or disreputable practice than the coloured people themselves; and whereas it should everywhere be the aim and desire of the coloured people to welcome any information that may show the need of greater race enlightenment, or that shall stir us up to more earnest efforts for the general elevation of our people; be it resolved that the League places itself on record as being both anxious and willing to strike hands with the Herald, or any one else, in condemning, discountenancing, and stamping out Voodooism or any other ‘ism’ hurtful to the physical, moral, or spiritual elevation of the coloured people; and that the League calls upon good coloured people everywhere to set their face like a flint against every kind or evil superstition, habit, practice, custom, or belief, whose tendency, if encouraged, might be to degrade, belittle, or harm the coloured people in public estimation.”

I may add that, not perhaps at Boston, but certainly in the South, and especially in Louisiana, Voodooism exists to-day. I pass on to criminal statistics as they concern the negro.

I will first take some suggestive statistics concerning the State of Mississippi, one of the “blackest” States in the Union, the population, according to the Census of 1880, having been—white, 479,398; coloured, 650,291. In the State Penitentiary on December 1, 1885, there were 103 white and 676 coloured males. Of the coloured people 113 were mulattoes, and the total number of coloured criminals in Mississippi in 1885 would be still further augmented if the number of judicial and irregular executions could be ascertained. As it is, it is clear that an unduly large proportion of criminality is furnished by the negro and negroid population. Mr. H. S. Fulkerson, who has written an interesting pamphlet on “The Negro” (Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1887), was induced by these startling figures to go further into the subject, and to examine the gaol register of Vicksburg, Mississippi, from March 1st, 1886, to February 28th, 1887. He found the commitments for the year to have been 446, as many as 426 of the prisoners being coloured, and only 20 white. The population of Vicksburg in 1880 was—whites 5,975; coloured, 5,836. He also examined, for the same period, the register of Vicksburg Workhouse, an institution in which violators of the city ordinances, &c., are confined. Of 1,416 persons committed 992 were coloured and 424 white. In 1889, in Charleston, 2,202 coloured persons were arrested, as against only 1,250 whites. Most of the arrests during the year were made for the following offences:

And here, to put the matter in a nutshell, are the relative proportions, as gathered from the United States Census of Prisoners, of black to white criminality in half a dozen States:—Massachusetts, 2¾ to 1; Indiana, 6¼; to 1; Illinois, 2·4 to 1; Tennessee, 5 to 1; South Carolina, 6¾ to 1; and Georgia, 7·8 to 1. Thus in Tennessee the coloured man is five times as prone to criminality as the white, and in Georgia nearly eight times. And it must be borne in mind that these figures deal only with that portion of the total criminality which finds its way into prison. They do not, and no official figures can, take into account the criminality which is summarily punished by the operation of lynch law; and every one who knows the South knows also that, out of every fifty persons who are lynched there, at least forty-nine are of coloured complexion. Of lynching, however, I shall speak later, for it is mainly reserved as a punishment for one particular crime, the prevalence of which has a most important bearing upon the position of the Southern white.

Educationally, the coloured man has undoubtedly made great progress since his emancipation. In the slavery days ignorance was imposed by law upon the slave. Says the South Carolinian statute of 1834:—“If any person shall hereafter teach any slave to read or write, or procure any slave to be taught to read or write, such person, if a free white person, shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars for each offence and imprisonment not less than six months; or, if a free person of colour, shall be whipped not exceeding fifty lashes and fined not exceeding fifty dollars; and, if a slave, shall be whipped at the discretion of the Court not exceeding fifty lashes; the informer to be entitled to one-half the fine and to be a competent witness.” And up to the day of emancipation the slave was, with scarcely an exception, kept in the densest ignorance. From the close of the war to the taking of the tenth census only fifteen years elapsed. In that period the adult negro had not greatly advanced, but the negro youth had made an amount of progress which, though by no means startling, was, I think, distinctly encouraging. The following table shows (1) the illiteracy of the male adult negro, and (2) the illiteracy of the whole negro population of the Black Belt in 1880:—

Thus, while the proportion of male adults who could read and write was, roughly speaking, only one in four, the proportion of coloured people of all ages was one in two. I have been informed at Washington that the eleventh census is likely to show that in these States seven coloured people out of every ten have escaped the imputation of illiteracy; but at the same time I have been warned that “writing” necessarily implies nothing more than ability to laboriously trace a signature, and that “reading” does not involve the ability to mark, learn, and inwardly digest anything more abstruse than a sentence in monosyllables. As Judge Tourgée has said:—

“One of the encouraging phases of the present situation is the fact that a coloured man is proud of the distinction of being able to read and write. It is to him a sort of patent of nobility. It shows to the world that he has gone above the level, that he has come up above the mass of his fellows, and is worthy of distinction and consideration in this respect if in no other. Because of these facts the statistics of illiteracy among the coloured people are peculiarly unreliable.”

We may accept them as such, and yet regard them as encouraging. The level of education is rising. It has not risen high, and the number of negroes who possess such an education as is the property of a senior boy at a London Board School may probably, even now, not mount to six figures. But there is promise in the fact that the race supplies for its own improvement over 16,000 school teachers. An educated negro has supplied some statistics on the subject of coloured education in the South:—

“In 1887–88,” he writes, “there were 15,000 public schools, having 1,118,556 pupils; 16 normal schools, 119 teachers and 3,924 pupils, with property valued at $992,350; 31 schools for secondary instruction, 247 teachers, with 6,555 students, and property valued at $843,100; 11 colleges of arts and sciences, 79 teachers, 922 students, and property valued at $1,443,000; two schools of science, 29 teachers, 840 students, and property valued at $50,000; 16 theological schools, 77 teachers, 833 students, and $489,500 in property; 4 law schools, 16 teachers, 81 students, and $40,000 in property; 3 schools of medicine, 48 teachers, 165 students, and $80,000 in property; while there were 2,081 pupils in schools for the blind and dumb, making a total of 16,430 teachers, 1,139,904 pupils, and $3,934,950 in school property.”

Unfortunately there are no symptoms whatever that the spread of education among the negroes is causing, or ever will cause, the diminution of white prejudice against the race.

Concerning the material position of the negroes opinions vary greatly. There is no doubt, however, that they are gradually acquiring property, and, in a few cases, accumulating capital. It was recently declared that coloured people owned a million acres of land in Texas alone, paying taxes there on twenty million dollars’ worth of property, and there were in the State twenty-five coloured lawyers, one hundred coloured merchants, five thousand coloured mechanics, and fifteen newspapers conducted by coloured people. Somewhat similar statements have been made, by negro speakers and writers chiefly, concerning the progress of the race elsewhere. Says one journal:—

“Georgia’s coloured people are making a good record for thrift and industry. In 1879 their property was valued at $5,182,398; but in 1887 the valuation was $8,939,479, showing a gain of 72½ per cent. during the nine years. In the same time the valuation of white men’s property had risen from $229,777,150 to $332,565,442, a gain of only 44·6 per cent. approximately. These figures simply prove what the intelligent representatives of the negro race have said about the progress made, and go to illustrate anew that the negroes are working out their own future. The richest coloured woman in the South, Mrs. Amanda Ewas, who has a snug fortune of $400,000, lives in Atlanta.”

On the other hand, the Charleston News and Courier points out that in Charleston the negroes stand just where they did in 1860; that the value of the property held by them to-day is just about the same as that held by the free negroes twenty-eight years ago, and that, strange to say, the coloured property holders are of the same class as in 1860, namely, the descendants of negroes who were free before the war.

I have had an opportunity of examining the assessment rolls of Chatham County, in which the city of Savannah, Georgia, is situated. These, as compiled in the summer of 1889, give the following results:—

The negroes and coloured people, therefore, who constitute 61 per cent. of the local population, hold only 2 per cent. of the local wealth.

On the same subject the New Orleans Times-Democrat says:—

“We doubt whether the value of property held by coloured men in New Orleans is any greater to-day than that held by the freedmen of colour in 1860, and yet both in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana the negro has been improving his condition steadily. It takes more than one generation, however, to raise a race held in bonds of slavery to the condition of property holders. When the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been paid the negroes in wages and the millions wasted by them in the veriest trash are considered, it seems strange that so few dollars have been invested in land, houses, or any permanent property. The freedmen of colour who inherited land or houses have held on to them, or at least to a portion of them. The negroes engaged in any very profitable trade or business may have laid aside something and own some little property, but the great majority of the race, who are simply farm hands, labourers, or domestic servants, have acquired no permanent property of any kind.”

As a further illustration of the relative status of blacks and whites in what may be regarded as a representative section of the Black Belt, I append some interesting and detailed official statistics of Richmond County, Georgia, a county which had a total population in 1870 of 25,724, and in 1880 of 34,665, and which is one of the most populous and well-to-do counties in the State. In it, moreover, the races are almost equally divided.

Polls for 1889—White 5,069, coloured 4,029; total 9,098. Polls for 1888—White 4,923, coloured 3,844; total 8,767—an increase of 331.

Lawyers in 1889—White 50, coloured 1; total 51. Lawyers in 1888—White 48, coloured 1; total 49—an increase of 2.

Doctors in 1889—White 53, coloured 1. In 1888—White 46, coloured 2—an increase of 6.

Dentists in 1889—White 11, coloured 1; and the same for 1888.

Acres of land owned in 1889—White 180,332, coloured 4,943; total 185,275. Acres in 1888—White 180,835¼, coloured 4,661; total 185,496¼—a decrease of 221¼ acres.

Aggregate value of land in 1889—White $1,571,550, coloured $64,440; total $1,638,990. In 1888—White $1,619,720, coloured $66,810; total $1,686,530—a decrease of $47,540.

Aggregate value of city or town property in 1889—White $9,713,140, coloured $438,940; total $10,152,080. In 1888—white $9,364,150, coloured $416,620; total $9,980,770—an increase of $371,310.

The number of shares in State or national banks is the same for 1888 and 1889, and is 20,300, and they are all owned by the whites.

The value of shares of such bank stock for 1889 is returned at $887,000, and for 1888 was returned at $1,002,000, showing a decrease of $115,000.

Property owned by gas or electric light companies is all owned by whites, and is valued in 1889 at $203,840, and for 1888 was returned at $215,250, showing a decrease of $11,410.

Amount of money and solvent debts, notes, accounts, etc., for 1889—whites $1,358,890, coloured $150; total $1,359,040. In 1888—whites $1,491,630, coloured $150; total $1,491,780—a decrease of $132,740.

Merchandise of every sort for 1889—whites $1,260,550, coloured $5,730; total $1,266,280. In 1888—whites $1,278,290, coloured $5,680; total $1,283,970—a decrease of $17,690.

The capital invested in shipping and tonnage is all white, and for 1889 is $16,200. In 1888 it was $27,620—a decrease of $11,420.

Stocks and bonds are all white, and for 1889 are returned at $1,209,120, and for 1888 at $1,400,630, showing a decrease of $191,510.

Cotton manufactories are all white, and are returned for 1889 at $4,023,300, against $3,946,000 for 1888—an increase of $77,300.

Iron works, foundries, etc., are all white, and are returned for 1889 at $33,500, against $35,500, showing a decrease of $2,000.

Value of household and kitchen furniture, pianos, organs, etc., for 1889—White $570,690, coloured $17,990; total $588,680. In 1888—White $550,300, coloured $14,490; total $564,790—an increase of $23,890.

Watches, silver plate, and jewellery for 1880—White $74,020, coloured $50; total $74,070. In 1888—White $77,950, coloured $50; total $78,000—a decrease of $3,930.

Horses, mules, hogs, sheep, cattle, etc., for 1889—White $200,140, coloured $12,820; total $212,960. In 1888—White $199,430, coloured $13,580; total $213,016—a decrease of $50.

Plantation and mechanical tools, law or other library books, pictures, etc., are all returned by whites, and for 1889 are $63,100, against $71,650 for 1888, showing a decrease of $8,550.

Cotton, corn, crops, and provisions held for sale on April 1st are all white, and are returned for $350 in 1889 and $2,000 in 1888, showing a decrease of $1,650.

Value of all other property not before enumerated for 1889—White $405,170, coloured $4,440; total $409,610. In 1888—White $343,430, coloured $3,960; total $357,390—an increase of $52,220.

Aggregate value of whole property in 1889—White $21,590,560, coloured $547,560; total $22,138,120. In 1888—White $21,635,550, coloured $521,340; total $22,156,890—an aggregated decrease of $18,770.

In view of facts like these, it is hard to know what to make of the favourite negro declaration that the coloured people will, in the not distant future, be as powerful in the South in the matter of wealth as they already are in the matter of numbers. I believe, nevertheless, that it may be accepted that the material improvement in the coloured man’s condition is more noticeable than his improvement in any other direction. He lives more comfortably and dresses better than he did eight or ten years ago; and, as his main ambitions are physical and material rather than intellectual and æsthetic, he is entitled to congratulate himself.

The general progress of the negro does not, however, satisfy those who once cherished the highest hopes on his behalf. Here is a suggestive, and, as I happen to know, a true paragraph, dated Atlanta, Georgia, June 1, 1889, which I clip from a Southern newspaper:—

“A celebrated English philanthropist was buried here yesterday, having died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Booth. John Glazebrook was his name, and he was a citizen of Manchester, England. He was a man of great wealth, and becoming interested in the abolition of slavery in the United States, spent thousands of pounds in aiding the agitation. He paid the expenses of lecturers, had runaway slaves exhibited before English audiences, and placed his fortune in the scales to accomplish the abolition of human servitude. A few months ago he decided to visit this country for the purpose of seeing whether the negro had improved. He died with the declaration that he had wasted his money, and that freedom had brought no benefit to the negro.”