Though I was but little more than a youth during the period of
Reconstruction, I had the feeling that mistakes were being made,
and that things could not remain in the condition that they were
in then very long. I felt that the Reconstruction policy, so far
as it related to my race, was in a large measure on a false
foundation, was artificial and forced. In many cases it seemed to
me that the ignorance of my race was being used as a tool with
which to help white men into office, and that there was an
element in the North which wanted to punish the Southern white
men by forcing the Negro into positions over the heads of the
Southern whites. I felt that the Negro would be the one to suffer
for this in the end. Besides, the general political agitation
drew the attention of our people away from the more fundamental
matters of perfecting themselves in the industries at their doors
and in securing property.
The temptations to enter political life were so alluring that I
came very near yielding to them at one time, but I was kept from
doing so by the feeling that I would be helping in a more
substantial way by assisting in the laying of the foundation of
the race through a generous education of the hand, head, and
heart. I saw coloured men who were members of the state
legislatures, and county officers, who, in some cases, could not
read or write, and whose morals were as weak as their education.
Pages:
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111