Starting thirty years ago with ownership here and there
in a few quilts and pumpkins and chickens (gathered from
miscellaneous sources), remember the path that has led from these
to the inventions and production of agricultural implements,
buggies, steam-engines, newspapers, books, statuary, carving,
paintings, the management of drug-stores and banks, has not been
trodden without contact with thorns and thistles. While we take
pride in what we exhibit as a result of our independent efforts,
we do not for a moment forget that our part in this exhibition
would fall far short of your expectations but for the constant
help that has come to our education life, not only from the
Southern states, but especially from Northern philanthropists,
who have made their gifts a constant stream of blessing and
encouragement.
The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of
questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that
progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to
us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than
of artificial forcing. No race that has anything to contribute to
the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized. It is
important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but
it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercises
of these privileges.
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