Part 1

PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE

CONTAINING THE STORY OF THE WONDERFUL ADVANCEMENT OF THE COLORED AMERICANS—THE MOST MARVELOUS IN THE HISTORY OF NATIONS—THEIR PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS, TOGETHER WITH THEIR PRESENT-DAY OPPORTUNITIES AND A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS—THE DAWN OF A TRIUMPHANT ERA. :: :: :: :: ::

A HANDBOOK FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT WHICH LEADS TO GREATER SUCCESS

KELLY MILLER AND JOSEPH R. GAY

ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 100 PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES, ACTUAL SCENES IN REAL LIFE AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

AUSTIN JENKINS CO. Manufacturing Publishers of Subscription Books Agents Wanted Washington, D. C.

COPYRIGHT MCMXIII BY JOSEPH R. GAY

COPYRIGHT 1917 BY AUSTIN N. JENKINS

The Story of a Rising Race Told in Pictures

_PHOTOGRAPHED FROM LIFE_

│INDUSTRY Special Collection A │COMMERCE │FINANCE │INSURANCE

FOREWORD.

“The progressive era” aims to set forth the marvelous achievements of the Negro race in the United States since its emancipation fifty years ago. Its plan is to cover the period of achievements by a series of chapters devoted to the several lines of endeavor. I want especially to commend the chapter on the Education of the Negro. Education furnishes the standard in terms of which the past progress of the race may be measured and its future progress gauged. Of the many elements which must enter into the final solution of the race problem none will be so important as that of education, whose purpose is to fit the Negro for a useful and honorable place in the complex schemes of American life.

This chapter brings together for easy reference information concerning the working of Negro institutions in better form and in fuller detail than has before been attempted in a private publication. Figures are taken from the reports of the Bureau of Education, and their accuracy is vouched for by the authority of the government. Each institution listed was visited by a special agent of the Bureau of Education and its work thoroughly examined and analyzed by educational experts. Over three hundred institutions are described, with the account of the equipment, facilities and course of instruction. There are over sixty photographs containing the fullest pictorial illustrations of Negro schools that has ever been made available in book form. This chapter involves, at once, the feature of a treatise and an encyclopedia, while gaining the general view of the education of the Negro as well. The reader may at the same time gain definite information about any particular school in any part of the country.

No one who wishes to keep abreast of the trend of educational movement of the Negro race, as well as to have at his elbow a compendium of Negro institutions, can afford to be without this work.

KELLY MILLER.

Howard University, Washington, D. C. March 12, 1917.

CONTENTS. PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE

Page The Coming Men of the Race 17 The Turning Point 29 Earning Respect for His Race 31 Increase of Opportunities 37 In the Employ of the U. S. Government 44 The Colored American in the Service of God 49 Leaders of America Whose Ears Are Close to the Ground 53 The Colored American’s Nationality 59 The Four Divisions of Mankind 64 The World’s Congress of Races 67 Progress of the Different Races of Mankind 74 Ethiopia, the Great Black Empire 83 The Genius of Colored Americans 91 Development of the Race in the U. S. 98 The Overground Railroad 108 Physical Training 115 The Four “Learned Professions” 123 The Road to Success 126 Optimism, Pessimism and Indifference 129 Pleasures of the Flesh 132 The Survival of the Fittest 136 The Victory of the Man Who Dares 140 The Wise Man’s Philosophy 149 The Key to Success 152 Opportunity for Business Life 166 Superstition and Luck 180 Progress in Education 215 Introduction by the Editor 215 History of Negro Education 217 Education as a Soldier 224 Public Provision for Negro Education 230 Schools Maintained by Private Agencies 241 Independent Schools 247 Schools Maintained by Independent Boards of Trustees 253 Colored Schools Maintained by White Church Boards 254 Colored Church Boards Maintaining Schools 300 Agencies Interested in Negro Education 313 Hospitals and Nurse Training Schools 325 The Three Important Types of Education 326 The Training of Children 335 Developing Boys and Girls 340 Developing Moral Character 344 Reverence and Respect 354 Duties of Children to Their Parents 359 The Future of the Child, the Future of the Race 364 The Way to Perfect Health 366 General Health Conditions 381 Common Sense in the Sick Room 396 Rules for Accidents and Emergencies 407

THE COMING MEN OF THE RACE Our Young Men Will Be Our Future Leaders

Who are to be our leaders this coming generation?

We have had brilliant and faithful leaders in the past, men who labored under adverse circumstances, but who succeeded in reducing opposition, and brought the race up to a higher standard. They were the pioneers in a great national movement. Their names are honored and will be honored as long as the race exists.

Their preliminary great work done, they passed away leaving its continuation in the hands of other noble men and women, who are still among us.

Remember, we are now in the second generation of uplift, and the mantle of the leaders of the first generation of freedom, passed to those of the second generation, has been spread over a vastly wider field, and shows room for still wider extension.

The history of man shows that in all great human movements for betterment, there have been pioneers who commenced the work, and carried it to a higher point. Then came a succeeding line of leaders who took up the work and carried it higher still.

Neither the pioneers of the Colored people of the United States, nor their successors, the present leaders, could do all or can do all that is to be done in the way of elevation or betterment, because it has grown to enormous proportions.

For this reason we must look about us and see who are to be the future leaders of the Colored Americans.

We now have able leaders, men of great character and ability, men whose loss would be keenly felt, but they know, and we know, that in the course of nature all must pass away, and we have it from their earnest utterances that their great hope is to have successors in the leadership. Many of them are ready to train others to walk in their footsteps. There are thousands of men, children in our schools, youth beginning college life, and young men who have completed their course and are ready to take up a position as commanders in the battle of life.

Here are a few of our present leaders, between whom no invidious comparisons can be made, and to whose number may be added a thousand or more working in more or less conspicuous positions to fit their people to become leaders. They are shining examples of success and merely mentioned to show your own opportunities.

Look at and study this list earnestly, it concerns you:

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS

Rev. S. G. Atkins, President of the State Normal and Industrial College of North Carolina.

Dr. E. F. Boyd, physician and surgeon, Nashville, Tenn.

Hon. H. P. Cheatham, Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia.

Dr. D. W. Culp, A. M., M. D., author of “Twentieth Century Negro Literature.”

W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, editor “The Crisis, A Record of the Darker Races.”

Bishop G. W. Clinton, A. M. E. Zion Church, Charlotte, N. C.

Prof. J. M. Cox, President Philander Smith College, Little Rock.

E. E. Cooper, Editor “Colored American.”

Prof. A. U. Frierson, Professor of Greek, Biddle University.

Prof. N. W. Harllee, Principal High School, Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Lawrence Aldridge Lewis is a rising physician of Indiana, who made the highest record in a competitive examination for the city hospital of Indianapolis against 107 applicants.

Prof. R. S. Lovinggood, President Samuel Houston College, Austin, Texas.

Kelly Miller, Professor Mathematics Howard University.

D. W. Onley, D. D., Dentist, Washington, D. C.

I. L. Purcell, Attorney and Counselor at Law, Pensacola, Fla.

G. T. Robinson, Attorney and Counselor at Law, Nashville, Tenn.

Bishop H. M. Turner, D. D., LL. D., A. M. E. Church, Atlanta, Ga.

Rev. O. M. Waller, Rector Episcopal Church, Washington, D. C.

Prof. H. L. Walker, Principal High School, Augusta, Ga.

Prof. Booker T. Washington, President Tuskegee Institute.

Prof. N. B. Young, President Florida State Normal and Industrial College.

The foregoing are a few leaders in the professions. There are numerous others whose names and deeds have already made history and fame.

The present field of leaders in the professions is large, but there are other fields of leadership in the business world. These men are successful and point the way to others to follow, and they must lay down their leadership with the others:

Charles Banks, Cashier Bank of Mound Bayou, Mound Bayou, Miss.

E. C. Berry, hotel man, Athens, Ohio. Said to keep one of the best hotels in the United States.

Rev. R. H. Boyd, President National Doll Company; also of the National Baptist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn.

William Washington Brown, Founder of the True Reformers’ Bank, Richmond, Va.

Junius G. Groves, “The Potato King.” Edwardsville, Ky.

Deal Jackson, Albany, Georgia, the great cotton king.

John Merrick, founder of the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association, the strongest Negro insurance company in the world; North Carolina.

W. E. Pettiford, founder of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, Birmingham, Alabama.

The following condition of the Colored American opportunities will be of assistance in suggesting fields of leadership:

The number of colored men now engaged in business and professions are as follows:

Agricultural pursuits 2,143,176 Professional occupations 47,324 Domestic and personal service 1,324,160 Trade and transportation 209,154 Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits 275,149

This is close to 25 percent of the entire colored population of the United States.

But this enormous field of opportunity, is not the limit. You have aspirations toward music and the fine arts—singers, painters, sculptors, actors and poets. Here are a few leaders to be followed by you or your children, relatives or friends:

MUSIC COMPOSERS AND PIANISTS

Harry T. Burleigh, New York, composer of “Jean,” “Perhaps.”

Robert Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson, New York, musical setting to Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” “Idyll for Orchestra,” “Dream Lovers,” (operetta).

William H. Tyers, composer of “Trocha,” a Cuban dance and other noted compositions.

Will Marion Cook, New York, “The Casino Girl,” “Bandana Land,” etc.

De Koven Thompson, Chicago, composer of “Dear Lord, Remember Me,” “If I Forget,” etc.

James Reese Europe, founder of the Clef Club Symphony Orchestra.

Among pianists is Miss Hazel Harrison, of La Porte, Indiana, who is making her mark as a student of the piano under the celebrated greatest living pianist, Ferrucco Buconi, of Berlin.

These and other leaders in their art succeeded many illustrious composers. And you are called upon to prepare to follow the present leaders.

VOCAL ARTISTS AND PRIMA DONNAS

Remember the Black Swan, that wonderful prima donna whose voice had a range of three octaves and was frequently compared with Jenny Lind at the height of her fame.

Madam Marie Selika, of Chicago, achieved enormous success in Europe, a marvelous singer whose voice “trilled like a feathered songster,” and whose “Echo Song” has not yet been surpassed.

You have heard the “Black Patti” (Madame Sisseretta Jones) who was a success in Europe, and has her own company of which she is the head, “The Black Patti Troubadours.”

There is Mrs. E. Azalia Hackley, of Detroit. This lady has been a prominent singer for years. She studied in Europe, and is the author of “Guide to Voice Culture.”

PAINTERS

William Edward Scott, of Chicago, should be noted for his extraordinary works in America and Europe. Born in Indianapolis in 1884, he graduated from the high school in 1903. From 1904, when he entered the Chicago Art Institute, until the present time, he has been prolific in paintings, three of which were accepted at the Salon des Beaux Arts at Toquet, and others elsewhere. His work may be seen in three mural paintings which decorate the Felsenthal School in Chicago.

This field is rich in artists of the colored people:

E. M. Bannister, the first Negro in America to achieve distinction as a painter. One of his pictures was awarded a medal at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 (Philadelphia).

Henry O. Tanner, the son of Benjamin T. Tanner, Bishop of the A. M. E. Church, is one of the most distinguished artists of the present day. He resides in Paris but is a native born American. During the past three years his paintings have been on exhibition in the leading art galleries of the United States.

A rising young artist is to be found in Richard Lonsdale Brown, a native of Indiana, but who spent many years of his life among the hills of West Virginia. Not yet twenty years of age, he is on the road to fame and has received the encomiums of artists as a young artist of rare qualities with the precious gift of vision which indicates artistic instinct.

SCULPTORS

The two great sculptors of the colored people are women:

Edmonia Lewis, of New York, now a resident of Rome, where she turns out noted sculptures sought for in the great art galleries of the world.

Meta Vaux Warrick (Mrs. Fuller, wife of Dr. Solomon C. Fuller of South Framingham, Mass.). She first attracted attention by her exquisite modeling in clay in the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art. Rodin, the great French sculptor, took her under his charge, and her work is the admiration of the art galleries of the world.

Mrs. Mary Howard Jackson may also be mentioned as a rising sculptress.

ACTORS AND POETS

Ira Frederick Aldridge, of Baltimore, was a pupil of the great artist Edmund Kean. Aldridge appeared as Othello and other characters, and received a decoration from the Emperor of Russia.

Phillis Wheatley, the first woman white or black to attain literary distinction in this country. While a child she began to write verses, and received the endorsement of the most distinguished men of her time, including General Washington.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, a noted poet born in Dayton, Ohio. He showed poetic ability while at school, and soon became known as a writer of ability.

All the foregoing actors and poets have passed away, but there are many treading and to tread in their footsteps. Success and fame must come to them by utilizing their gifts to the best advantage.

We give you merely the edge of the field to be filled by you or some one you know and hope to see attain it. It is a thickly sown field, and if you cultivate it, you will be rewarded with an astonishing harvest.

INVENTORS

The evidence is accumulating every day that the Colored citizen, under favorable environments, has performed his whole duty in the work of benefiting mankind, whether in arduous labor or advancing the world by his thought.

The records of the United States Patent office show more than four hundred inventors and inventions among the Colored people. Many of these inventions are of the highest value and utility. These inventions are for devices of every conceivable use, from a rapid fire gun, invented by Eugene Burkins, a young colored man of Chicago, down to a pencil sharpener in common use today. In the line of humanity, life saving guards for locomotives and street cars have been invented. All of this goes to show the trend of the Colored man’s mind, and what he can do by thinking and the proper use of his brain.

As an inventor Mr. James Marshall, of Macon, Georgia, has attracted national notice through his novel flying machine which he has had patented. Mr. Marshall has introduced what is called a “Circumplanoscope,” which renders the flying machine non-capsizable, and which will enable it to stand still in the air.

R. W. Overton, a sixteen-year-old student of the Stuyvesant High School, within the past year won the long distance record for model aeroplanes against more than twenty competitors from all the high schools of Greater New York and vicinity.

It was said that the pioneer leaders of our Colored Americans struggled up and carried their people up with them. The questions presented them, the problems they were called upon to solve were new and the lights given them to solve them was somewhat dim. They worked for betterment by this dim light, but the light grew stronger as they advanced, and when they came to lay down the lamp of leadership, it was taken up by their successors burning brightly, and with added wisdom to carry on the great work.

Who can tell then, the names of the leaders to succeed them? They were in process of training, however, just as there are other leaders being trained or growing up to follow in the footsteps of the present leaders. They appeared and have expended and are expending their labors in elevating their fellow citizens, but they will eventually be obliged to lay down their mantle of leadership for others to take up. This means that in the present Colored Americans there are those destined, or who will make themselves fit to become great leaders in every department of uplift.

Conditions have improved during the past generation, and the new generation looks upon an enlarged field, with more varied prospects, greater development, and opportunities that did not exist before, and which have naturally sprung from the gradual progress of the race.

GREAT DEMAND FOR WISE LEADERS

There is a greater demand for a skilled and wise leader now than ever before, and in preparing for that leadership, let each man of the race look to himself as a possible aspirant and successor to the present leaders. The very thought of such a possibility, based upon the necessity for such leadership, is an inspiration, an incentive to action, and a motive to take advantage of the opportunities. The path has been cleared and you can not lose your course.

Let us revert to the question: “Who are the coming men?” Who will take the places of the men now leading the race, when they have done their work, fulfilled their mission loaded with honors and fame? They can not go on forever, for they are human and must yield to the inevitable.

Perhaps you are one of the possible leaders to reach honor and fame. Why not? Many a man living in apparent obscurity has suddenly come forth out of his retirement at the call of demand following opportunity. This is life and the natural progress of the world. You are living under auspicious circumstances, surrounded by events that must cause you to think, and know just what is required to advance along the lines of human betterment.