Chapter 47

This demand for a Negro journal was first met between 1827 and 1834 by unpretentious sheets in and about New York City. But it was not until 1847 that race journalism became a positive factor, when that intrepid spirit, Frederick Douglass, launched "The North Star." This great man built up a circulation upon two continents and wielded an influence not exceeded by any subsequent race venture. That paper blazed a wide path, and in its path followed enterprise after enterprise, developing the sentiment for liberty and keeping in touch with the newer requirements of the hour. No reliable census of the many race journals has been kept. They have sprung from every state and section, but their span of life in most cases has been so brief and sporadic that only rough estimates have been attempted. To-day, perhaps, three hundred are in existence, a few taking high rank in literary quality--others struggling desperately for maintenance. The majority are printed at a positive loss, as regards dollars and cents. It is doubtful if any of the survivors are supported exclusively from revenues derived from subscriptions and advertising. It is a stinging indictment of our much-lauded "race pride" that the greater proportion of our Negro journalists are compelled to depend for a living upon teaching, preaching, law, medicine, office-holding, or upon some outside business investment. In character and make-up, these papers are as widely varied as the localities and environments from which they spring. Many are crude specimens of the "art preservative," dealing heavily in "boiler plate"--to use a professional term--and very lightly in original matter. A few have taken steps out of the beaten path and are giving striking evidence of what the resourceful and energetic Negro journalist could do under circumstances more encouraging. Our editors are, for the most part, men of strong personality, with standing and influence in their respective "bailiwicks." Without notable exception they speak for manhood, for race elevation, and for material development in every avenue of industry.

How many of us have paused and candidly considered just what Negro journalism is doing for the uplift of the masses? Notwithstanding the hard fact that the editorial work of many writers is done late at night, after protracted hours of labor in other fields; and notwithstanding that where a journalist is able to give his entire time to the business, he is often sole solicitor, clerk, compositor, pressman, collector, office boy, and editorial staff combined--despite all these disadvantages, the beneficent effect of the Negro press is felt all over the land. The dozens of able men and women who are engaged in this noble work, most of them doing so at a tremendous sacrifice, are true patriots, bearing burdens from which the timid shrink, leading cheerily where none but the brave dare follow, contending with malicious opposers, every inch of ground, this sturdy band struggles on year after year, hoping patiently for the "joy that cometh in the morning." Through their efforts Negro writers have been given a fair hearing, and, while the Caucasian journal is giving space to the police court episodes of our lower orders, the alert Negro sentinel finds in the church, the schoolroom, the inventor's studio, the author's desk, and in honorable political or social station, a most fertile field for his operations. Negro newspapers have aroused in us the commercial and industrial spirit, and are giving employment to hundreds of young colored men and women as bookkeepers, stenographers and canvassers. They are lending practical aid in solving the race's labor problem by yearly instructing and providing employment to printers, book-binders, pressmen and other artisans. They are building up a market for Negro labor, and neutralizing to a great extent the baleful influence of the trades unions' hostility. The Negro editor has increased the self-respect of the race by collating and publishing the creditable achievements of our people, furnishing a periodical compendium of history and placing the Negro in his most favorable light before the critics of the world. The truly representative Negro journal reflects the sober judgment of the race upon topics of general interest. It largely fixes our status as thinkers and philosophers of the times. The rights of no people can be ruthlessly invaded whose press is fearless, pure, upright, and patriotic. No people can forever be denounced as ignorant, vicious, and shiftless who support a press that is intelligent, moral, and thrifty.

Let it be remembered here, however, that the picture has its somber tints. Negro journalism, speaking generally, is not a paying investment. The fault does not lie wholly with either the public or the publisher. As a mass we are not a reading people and the bulk of us neither know nor appreciate the value of the work that the race paper is doing. Some of us take and pay for Caucasian journals for their news features--which is eminently fitting and proper--but the Negro journal should not be made to suffer in the unequal competition, for the latter fills a want which the former cannot or does not reach. One dollar to the race paper is often worth as much as ten to the wealthy corporation behind our great metropolitan dailies. It is not alone our illiterates who fail to support our journals. The educated classes are not as loyal to the cause as their means, learning, political interest and race pride suggest that they should be. True, it frequently happens that our papers fall into the hands of characterless adventurers who are "anything for a dollar," and it is felt that the best method of rebuking their self-constituted and erratic leadership is to treat them with silent contempt. To this no thinker can offer a reasonable objection. A journal that does not represent the highest impulses of a community does not deserve support. The personal organ, the scandalmonging sheet, the political and social blackmailer, the confidence-destroying campaign dodger, and the subsidized traitor to racial manhood are all under a ban, and should have no place in the homes of self-respecting Negroes. In this category should also be classed the colorless journal, that smirks in the recesses of cowardice. We should be faithful, however, to those that are honest and straightforward. We should strengthen their arms by our moral and financial resources. Booker T. Washington aptly points out how difficult it is for a needy man to resist the temptation of the bribe-giver, and tells pathetically of the uphill work of making a Christian out of a hungry mortal. Support the right kind of editors and the result will be a press that is progressive, healthful, and fearless--an institution of which all may justly be proud.

Is the ideal race journal attainable? I say, YES--when the two elements necessary to the transaction--the public and the publisher--are able to meet on a common ground, in the spirit of co-operation and fair dealing. The chasm between the journalist and his rightful constituency must be bridged by mutual confidence and mutual sympathy, or neither can reap the great benefits that lie in concentration of forces.

The ideal journal is that one which places racial weal above private gain--which exalts patriotism above pelf. It is controlled by men big enough and broad enough to eschew petty personalities and to avoid cheap sensationalism. It is piloted by men who breathe the atmosphere of freedom, whose inspiration is not drawn from the committee rooms of political parties, and whose course is not dictated by scheming politicians. It is the antithesis of sycophancy. The ideal journal is backed up by men who are far-sighted enough to perceive that success through trickery is short lived, and that character is the only foundation upon which an enduring structure can be built. It is conducted by men who know by experience that genuine worth will ultimately be appreciated, and that refined taste, sound judgment, and a saving sense of proportion will produce a newspaper that may stand as a model to posterity.

Journals of this type, sincere, earnest, and consistent--and in the future their names will be legion--are without question the key-stone in the arch of those forces which make for the permanent elevation of the Negro people. Such journals are prime factors in the race problem.

TOPIC XXIV.

ARE OTHER THAN BAPTIST AND METHODIST CHURCHES ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT NEGRO?

BY REV. GEORGE F. BRAGG, JR.,

REV. GEORGE F. BRAGG, JR.

George Freeman Bragg, Junior, Priest and Rector, was born in Warrenton, N. C., January 25, 1863. Shortly after his birth his parents, George F. and Mary Bragg, removed to Petersburg, Va. It was in this latter place that their son was reared and educated; remaining there until ordained to the Episcopal Ministry, he left to take charge of his first work in Norfolk, Va. Mr. Bragg was educated, first, in the Episcopal Parochial School, then in the St. Stephen's Normal School, and in the Bishop Payne Divinity School, all of Petersburg, Va. His education, however, was supplemented by private tuition by a master in languages, under whom he studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew and philosophy. In 1881 he was appointed a page in the Virginia Legislature, and a little later, by the Speaker, promoted as the postmaster of that body. In 1882, though not of age, he founded and edited the "Virginia Lancet," the first Colored weekly published in the "Black Belt" of Virginia. This newspaper he conducted for some four or five years, and on January 12, 1887, in St. Stephen's Church, Petersburg, Va., he was ordained Deacon by Bishop Whittle of Virginia. He immediately left for Norfolk, Va., where he began his ministry at the head of the little Episcopal Mission of that city. He remained in Norfolk for nearly five years, and during that time formally organized Grace Church, secured the lot, built a new church and rectory and improved the old school building. A very large day Industrial School was carried on by Mr. Bragg in connection with his work. While here, in June, 1887, Governor Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia, appointed him one of the State's Trustees of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, where he served for four years, resigning only because of leaving the State.

In December, 1888, he was advanced to the priesthood by Bishop Whittle in St. Luke's Church, Norfolk, Va. In the Fall of 1891 he accepted an invitation to become the Rector of St. James' Church, Baltimore, Md. The church, although one of the oldest of the connection, had been very much run down. During a ministry there of ten years, he has wrought remarkable improvement. He has increased the communicant list from sixty-three to nearly two hundred, and advanced the church well-nigh to complete self-support. The old church, which was in a Jewish neighborhood, has been sold during the present year, and a handsome brick structure erected in another section of the city. Mr. Bragg, during his residence in Baltimore, has founded a splendid charitable institution, the Maryland Home for Friendless Colored Children, and two young men have been sent into the ministry of the church directly through his efforts. For many years the Rev. Mr. Bragg was Secretary of the Annual Conference of Episcopal Church Workers among the Colored people. And in addition to his many other arduous labors he has found time to edit the "Afro-American Ledger," a weekly of this city, the "Church Advocate," and the "Maryland Home," monthly publications.

Mr. Bragg is a well known figure in all public movements for race amelioration, and is a veteran newspaper man, having been Secretary of the National Press Convention for four years, beginning with the presidency of the late Rev. Dr. W. J. Simmons.

At first the asking of this question is a most natural one, seeing that the great body of Negroes are attached to either one of the above churches, and it would seem at a first glance that these religious organizations are pre-eminently suited to the Negro race. But, we hope to show that not only are other churches adapted to the "present Negro," but one of these other churches meets the Negro's need better than either one of those above mentioned. Of course it is hardly necessary for me to state that our showing is conceived in the very best spirit, and with the fullness of Christian love towards our Baptist and Methodist brethren. Did I not believe that the church of which I am a member is best suited for the Negro, I would at once renounce attachment thereto and embrace most lovingly the one which I thought more efficiently equipped to minister to the complexed and diversified needs of my race. On account of a multitude of reasons, not necessary to state here, Negroes naturally drifted into that form of Christianity presented by the Baptist and Methodist churches. With the innate feeling and strong tendency to warmth, fervor, animation and excitement, it is not at all surprising that people so strongly emotional should gravitate in that direction. Whatever may be my own criticisms with respect to the defects in these two systems, which render them inferior to the church of which I am a member, and therefore less suitable to the needs of the race, I much prefer stating my side of the question and leaving my readers free to draw their own conclusions. That portion of the Universal Church, known in this country as the Episcopal Church, to my mind, is better suited and equipped for the amelioration of the condition of the Negro than any other.

The Negro is specially fond of "regularity" in religious as well as political affairs. In this respect the Episcopal Church comes to him not as something new but as the living exponent of the old-time religion and the old church which has actually descended to him, through all the ages past from the very hands of Christ down to this present time. It has historic continuity and claims none less than the Blessed Master as its founder. She is not founded upon the Bible, for she gave to the world this blessed book. Her sons inspired of God wrote it. And the claim of historic continuity can be established and proven in the ordinary way that we attest other historical facts. The church, then, that Jesus Christ founded and concerning which He said the "Gates of hell should not prevail against it," must of necessity be "adapted to the present Negro."

The Negro needs the faith once delivered to the saints, not in shreds or left to pick it out for himself, but the whole faith. This the Episcopal Church offers him. A complete faith, naturally, is to be found in a comprehensive church. The Episcopal Church is most comprehensive. She believes more in turning in than in turning out. Men are not brought into the fold to be "turned out" for every little thing, but they are brought in to be built up, established and rooted and grounded in Him. The church, then, is adapted to the present Negro because she gives him not opinions and theories, but the living faith of the ages and a living Christ as potential to-day as when He trod this earth clothed in flesh. And this church is most comprehensive, taking in all sorts and conditions of men, and by grace dispensed through sacraments, ordained by Christ Himself, seeks to bring to the fullness of stature as realized in Jesus Christ.

The Episcopal Church is pre-eminently adapted to the present Negro, for the present Negro is most eager to learn, and, above all other religious bodies, she is a _teaching church_. More Scripture is read at one Episcopal service than is ofttimes read in a month in the services of other churches. She has a liturgy which is the sum total of all that is good and grand in the ages past, and the constant and almost imperceptible influence of her most excellent system of public worship, as indicated in the Book of Common Prayer, silently but effectively issues, in moulding and mellowing good Christian character. She teaches not only through the prayer book, but by the yearly round of feast, festival and fast, of which, like a great panorama the acts and incidents in the life of her Lord are constantly set forth before those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. More than that, she teaches through symbolism. Many persons, and a considerable number of Negroes are here included, are endowed with but little brain. But they have eyes, and what they take in with their eyes help to rivet and fasten in their memories what they seize upon with what brain they possess. Our children begin to take in the surrounding objects with their eyes long before their minds are sufficiently developed to act, and the same is true in the present matter. The Episcopal Church, therefore, is especially adapted to the present Negro because she is adequately and sufficiently equipped to touch him at that portion of his being which will respond in unison with what she has to offer for his improvement. Her service addresses itself to his natural senses, as well as to his mental powers, however strong or weak they may be.

The Episcopal Church is adapted to the Negro because her worship is hearty, beautiful, uplifting and inspiring, though simple and easy, furnishing the greatest opportunity for active participation therein by the ignorant as well as the learned. The worship of the Episcopal Church harmonizes most beautifully with the strong religious fervor of the Negro, and as a vehicle for offering up those intense longings and aspirations of his heart, is without an equal.

The Episcopal Church is adapted to the Negro because she believes so persistently and thoroughly in "a change of heart." Of all religious bodies not one lays such emphasis on the absolute necessity of "a change of heart" as does the Episcopal Church. Stamped upon every page of her divine liturgy, and permeating the beautiful prayers of her offices, and inwrought in her hymnology, is this deep and firm recognition and teaching with respect to a change of heart. All her sacraments, disciplinary offices, instructions and the like, are with the design of helping her children, through the aid of the Divine Spirit, in proving the genuineness of their change of heart by a conspicuous, powerful and beautiful change of life.

The Episcopal Church is adapted to the Negro because she offers a government that is congenial and pleasant to his sunshiny nature, and which, while it amply protects him in the enjoyment of all the blessed privileges of religious culture, saves him the disaster and confusion of a democracy, which, when realized, is but another name for anarchy and confusion.

The government of the Episcopal Church is jointly shared by her clergymen and laymen, and the stability and security of its government is firmly attested by the past ages of experience and notable achievements.

In conclusion the Episcopal Church is the church for the Negro, because she is both willing and able to supply his every need, and under her loving nurture and constant training in the end will graduate him into a well-rounded Christian man of symmetrical character and beauty.

SECOND PAPER.

ARE OTHER THAN BAPTIST AND METHODIST CHURCHES ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT NEGRO?

BY REV. JOHN W. WHITTAKER.

REV. JOHN W. WHITTAKER.

Rev. John W. Whittaker, A. M., a prominent Congregational pastor, was a poor boy who made his way up through many hardships. He was born at Atlanta, Ga., December 23, 1860. Of his father he knows very little. His mother was a devoted Christian whose life greatly influenced his character. When old enough, he was put to work to help support the family. While an office boy at Atlanta he met a young man, Lewis G. Watts, a thorough Christian and fond of reading, who cultivated Mr. Whittaker's friendship and took a great interest in him. Whenever with Mr. Whittaker he questioned him in arithmetic, grammar and the news of the day.

In this way a desire for an education was awakened in Mr. Whittaker. He decided to go to school. He began his education in the summer of 1876 in a country school in a suburb of Atlanta. From here he went to the Starr's Grammar School. His examination revealed the fact that he had considerable general information, but it was so unsystematic that it was very difficult to tell to what grade he belonged. He was, however, classified as a senior with conditions and was graduated with honor at the close of the school year. Then he matriculated in Atlanta University, where he studied seven years, completing the college course in 1884. He studied theology at the Hartford Seminary, graduating in 1887.

During these years of study Mr. Whittaker partly supported himself by teaching in the summer and working out of school hours, which was an immense drain upon his strength, and once he broke down under it. Through the kindness of friends he was enabled to spend two summers in the North farming. This change, he feels, was the saving of his life. June 1, 1887, at Springfield, Mass., where he held his first charge, he was ordained. In 1888 he was married to Miss Anna J. Connover, of Hartford, Conn.

Mr. Whittaker educated himself to labor for his people in the South. He was not content to remain in the North. After a very successful year at Springfield, he resigned to accept a call to the Knowles Street Congregational Church of Nashville, Tenn. For three years he was chaplain of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. For seven years and four months he was pastor of the First Congregational Church of New Orleans, La., and three years he had charge of the First Congregational Church of Savannah, Ga. Recently he has been recalled to Tuskegee to be the Financial Secretary of the Tuskegee Institute.

Mr. Whittaker is a preacher of force and power. In every place he pastored he was remarkably successful. He has often been honored by his church with positions of trust and responsibility. He was one of the Louisiana Commissioners of the Negro Department for the Atlanta and Cotton States Exposition.

It would seem from the immense following of these churches that this question would require a negative answer, but it is only in appearance and can be accounted for.

In the days of slavery the Methodist and Baptist churches predominated in the South. The great mass of the slaves attended these churches with their masters and there they were converted and became members. They were thoroughly indoctrinated in the teachings of these churches. At the same time, there were other denominations existing among the slaves: Catholic, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian. In some portions of the United States, where these denominations were in the lead, they have a very large Negro following, whose attachment to these religious sects is so strong that they could be satisfied in no other. They belong to these denominations by birth and training. All that is sacred and dear to them is wrapped up in the history of these bodies. At the present time, it is a fact that the Negro is found in every religious denomination known among men. So it can not be said with truth that no other than Baptist and Methodist churches are adapted to the Negro. The needs of the Negro, from a religious point of view, demand all sects.