THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH. 45 



there were but two colored men in the district who could read and 

 write, and the law requires three officers), I have received a number 

 of written applications for the position as teacher, some from gradu- 

 ates of normal schools and universities (?), all with examiners'. certifi- 

 cates of ability, etc., but I do not remember seeing any one of these 

 applications which was grammatically expressed or orthographically 

 correct. Still, as the applicants were capable of teaching the rudiments 

 of education, these trifling defects were never permitted to stand in 

 the way of their employment. It is not asserted that all the gradu- 

 ates of these normal schools and universities are equally deficient ; it 

 is quite probable that the better sort find places in cities, while the 

 country must content itself with what is left. 



The social problem in the South does not so immediately concern 

 the wealthy as it does the poor whites. The rich man can send his 

 children to academies and colleges ; he can seek society wherever it is 

 congenial ; but the poor man, tied to one spot, must be governed by 

 circumstances beyond his control. At present the poor white and 

 black people work together in the fields and shops and live on friendly 

 terms without hitch or jar until the white asserts in some way his feel- 

 ing of superiority, which, both being equal in means, education, and 

 political power, is based on nothing more substantial than the mere 

 color of the skin. Then the negro stands on his dignity, and is ready 

 for combat. In peaceful neighborhoods, there is but little assumption 

 of superiority, and it is only manifested in a silent way by the steady 

 refusal of the white to permit his children to sit at school or in church 

 with the children of the black ; they may play together, work together, 

 and treat each other as equals, until church or school is mentioned, and 

 thei'e the line is drawn. So long as this passive ostracism works his 

 children no absolute evil, the negro, with his own schools and his own 

 churches, cares nothing for it. It is perhaps vain speculation as to 

 the future of this problem ; only it seems certain that if the white 

 children are not educated and taught refinements, and the black chil- 

 dren are, it will be difficult in the future, even if desirable, to main- 

 tain any distinction of classes in the South, and especially any favora- 

 ble distinction, which will be based on nothing more substantial than 

 the absence of color in the epidermis, unless Afx'ican nature is irredeem- 

 ably bad ; unless the vicious qualities attributed to him in this paper 

 are irreparable, it is absolutely certain that, with the aids which now 

 surround him, he will rise greatly in the scale of humanity, and a gen- 

 erous world will show its favor to the intelligent individual, no matter 

 how black his skin, who has lifted himself out of the mire and con- 

 tempt of centuries, rather than extend a helping hand to one who has 

 had the fortune to be bom of a higher race, but who proved unworthy 

 of his lot. 



Scientists and the world admit the natural superiority of the white 

 races over the colored, and it seems incontrovertible that, with equal 



