"My own observation has convinced me, for example, that in those states where the leaders of the Negro have been encouraged to turn their attention to politics the masses of the people have not made the same progress that they have made in those other states where the leaders, because of racial prejudice or for other reasons, have been compelled to seek their own salvation in educating and building up, in moral and material directions, the lowly members of their own people.
"I do not wish to make comparisons, but I think I can safely say, by way of illustration, that in no other part of the United States have the masses of Negroes been more completely deprived of political privileges than in the state of Mississippi, and yet there is, at the same time, scarcely any part of the country in which the masses of the people have built more schools and churches, or where they have gained a more solid foothold on the soil and in the industries of the state.
"In calling attention to this fact, I do not intend to offer an excuse for depriving any members of my race of the privileges to which the law entitles them. I merely wish to emphasize the fact that there is hope for them in other and more fundamental directions than ordinary party politics. More especially I wish to emphasize one fact--namely, that for the Negroes, as for other peoples who are struggling to get on their feet, success comes to those who learn to take advantage of their disadvantages and make their difficulties their opportunities. This is what the Poles in Germany, to a greater extent than any of the other oppressed nationalities in Europe, seem to have done."
P. 294-295, "A Russian Border Village," THE MAN FARTHEST DOWN: A RECORD OF OBSERVATION AND STUDY IN EUROPE by Booker T. Washington and Robert E. Park (1912)
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
THE MAN FARTHEST DOWN, EXCERPT
"My own observation has convinced me, for example, that in those states where the leaders of the Negro have been encouraged to turn their attention to politics the masses of the people have not made the same progress that they have made in those other states where the leaders, because of racial prejudice or for other reasons, have been compelled to seek their own salvation in educating and building up, in moral and material directions, the lowly members of their own people.
"I do not wish to make comparisons, but I think I can safely say, by way of illustration, that in no other part of the United States have the masses of Negroes been more completely deprived of political privileges than in the state of Mississippi, and yet there is, at the same time, scarcely any part of the country in which the masses of the people have built more schools and churches, or where they have gained a more solid foothold on the soil and in the industries of the state.
"In calling attention to this fact, I do not intend to offer an excuse for depriving any members of my race of the privileges to which the law entitles them. I merely wish to emphasize the fact that there is hope for them in other and more fundamental directions than ordinary party politics. More especially I wish to emphasize one fact--namely, that for the Negroes, as for other peoples who are struggling to get on their feet, success comes to those who learn to take advantage of their disadvantages and make their difficulties their opportunities. This is what the Poles in Germany, to a greater extent than any of the other oppressed nationalities in Europe, seem to have done."
P. 294-295, "A Russian Border Village," THE MAN FARTHEST DOWN: A RECORD OF OBSERVATION AND STUDY IN EUROPE by Booker T. Washington and Robert E. Park (1912)