During the time I was a student at Washington the city was
crowded with coloured people, many of whom had recently come from
the South. A large proportion of these people had been drawn to
Washington because they felt that they could lead a life of ease
there. Others had secured minor government positions, and still
another large class was there in the hope of securing Federal
positions. A number of coloured men--some of them very strong and
brilliant--were in the House of Representatives at that time, and
one, the Hon. B.K. Bruce, was in the Senate. All this tended to
make Washington an attractive place for members of the coloured
race. Then, too, they knew that at all times they could have the
protection of the law in the District of Columbia. The public
schools in Washington for coloured people were better then than
they were elsewhere. I took great interest in studying the life
of our people there closely at that time. I found that while
among them there was a large element of substantial, worthy
citizens, there was also a superficiality about the life of a
large class that greatly alarmed me. I saw young coloured men who
were not earning more than four dollars a week spend two dollars
or more for a buggy on Sunday to ride up and down Pennsylvania
Avenue in, in order that they might try to convince the world
that they were worth thousands.
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