In all
things that are purely social we can be as separate as the
fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual
progress.
There is no defence or security for any of us except in the
highest intelligence and development of all. If anywhere there
are efforts tending to curtail the fullest growth of the Negro,
let these efforts be turned into stimulating, encouraging, and
making him the most useful and intelligent citizen. Effort or
means so invested will pay a thousand per cent interest. These
efforts will be twice blessed--"blessing him that gives and him
that takes."
There is no escape through law of man or God from the
inevitable:--
The laws of changeless justice bind
Oppressor with oppressed;
And close as sin and suffering joined
We march to fate abreast.
Nearly sixteen millions of hands will aid you in pulling the load
upward, or they will pull against you the load downward. We shall
constitute one-third and more of the ignorance and crime of the
South, or one-third its intelligence and progress; we shall
contribute one-third to the business and industrial prosperity of
the South, or we shall prove a veritable body of death,
stagnating, depressing, retarding every effort to advance the
body politic.
Gentlemen of the Exposition, as we present to you our humble
effort at an exhibition of our progress, you must not expect
overmuch.
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