These white
farmers honoured and respected him because he, by his skill and
knowledge, had added something to the wealth and the comfort of
the community in which he lived. I explained that my theory of
education for the Negro would not, for example, confine him for
all time to farm life--to the production of the best and the most
sweet potatoes--but that, if he succeeded in this line of
industry, he could lay the foundations upon which his children
and grand-children could grow to higher and more important things
in life.
Such, in brief, were some of the views I advocated in this first
address dealing with the broad question of the relations of the
two races, and since that time I have not found any reason for
changing my views on any important point.
In my early life I used to cherish a feeling of ill will toward
any one who spoke in bitter terms against the Negro, or who
advocated measures that tended to oppress the black man or take
from him opportunities for growth in the most complete manner.
Now, whenever I hear any one advocating measures that are meant
to curtail the development of another, I pity the individual who
would do this. I know that the one who makes this mistake does so
because of his own lack of opportunity for the highest kind of
growth.
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