THE DESTINY OF PEOPLE OF COLOR (1843)...EXCERPT

"We are an oppressed minority, then, and are men of kindred power with those who oppress us. What has been the fate of oppressed minorities who have resisted oppression? History is full of evidence on this subject.... "It is the law then, that an oppressed minority shall ultimately obtain a ruling influence over their oppressors. This is a startling proposition to apply to the case of our people, yet it is not discordant with probability. It is not probable that like the Jews, we will wield power by the influence of money, for our efforts do not bend that way.... "For we are destined to write the literature of this republic, which is still, in letters, a mere province of Great Britain. We have already , even from the depths of slavery, furnished the only music which this country has yet produced. We are also destined to write the poetry of the nation ; for as real poetry gushes forth from the minds embued with a lofty perception of the truth, so our faculties, enlarged in the intellectual struggle for liberty, will necessarily become fired at glimpses of the glorious and the true, and will weave their inspiration into song. "We are destined to produce the oratory of this Republic; for since true oratory can only spring from honest efforts in behalf of the RIGHT, such will of necessity arise amid our struggle --no holiday speeches in which shall be uttered eloquent falsehoods, garnished untruths, and hollow boastings of a state of things which exist only in the imagination ; but on the contrary, we shall utter the honest pleadings of downtrodden humanity , seeking security from wrongs too long inflicted, no longer to be endured. In fine, we are destined to spread over our common country the holy influence of principles, the glorious light of Truth. And as physical light falls upon and penetrates the dark bosom of the earth, giving light and sustenance to the herbs and plants which yield their increase for the supply of the physical wants of man, even so shall there go forth from our minds, the glorious light of truth, which shall penetrate the hearts of those who oppress us and give life and sustenance to those long dormant germs (of our common humanity) whose kindly fruits shall be brotherly love and Christian Charity." P.56-59, "The Destiny of the People of Color (1843)," THE WORKS OF JAMES MCCUNE SMITH edited by John Stauffer (2006) [NOTE: I find this prophesy of our people to be remarkable in several regards. First, it was written 2 years before Frederick Douglass published his first autobiography in 1845. Second, it was written both before the Civil War and 100 years before the emergence of Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X.]