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210

THE CRISIS

HISTORIC DAYS IN MARCH

1. Sumner's Civil Rights Bill signed, 1875.
2. Missouri Compromise passed, 1820.
3. Freedmen's Bureau established, 1865.
4. James Forten, Negro anti-slavery worker, died, 1842.
5. Crispus Attucks fell in the Boston Massacre, 1770.
7. Danial Webster's 7th of March Speech, 1850.
8. Frederick Douglass advocated an industrial college 
   for the education of negroes, 1853
9. Massachusetts ratified Fifteenth Amendment, 1869.
12.Charles Sumner spoke against annexation of San Domingo, 1871.
13.Union armies forbidden to return fugitive slaves, 1862.
14.Menelik became Negus of Abyssinia, 1889.
15.President Lincoln urged the ballot "for some of the colored people," 1864.
17.The Republic of Texas prohibited African slave trade, 1836.
20.New York legalized enlistment of Negroes, War of Revolution, 1781.
23.Slavery abolished in Porto Rico, 1873.
24. Negro troops mustered into Confederate service, 1865.
25. British Parliament abolishes slave trade, 1807.
26. Richard Allen, first bishop of African M. E. Church, died, 1831.
28. French National Assembly gave suffrage to free persons of color in San Domingo, 1790.
29. Napoleon issued decree against slave trade, 1815.
30. Thomas Clarkson, English abolitionist, born, 1760.
Special message of President Grant on the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment:
"To the Senate and House of Representatives:
"It is unusual to notify the two houses of Congress, by message, of the promulgation by proclamation of the Secretary of State, of the ratification of a constitutional amendment.  In view, however, of the vast importance of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, this day declared a part of that renewed instrument, I deem a departure from the usual custom justifiable.  A measure which at once four millions of people voters, who were heretofor declared by the highest tribunal in the land not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so (with the assertion that, 'at the time of the Declaration of Independence, the opinion was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white race, regarded as an axiom in morals as well as in politics, that black men had no rights which the white man was bound to respect'), is indeed a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day.
"Institutions like ours, in which all power is derived directly from the people, must depend mainly upon their intelligence, patriotism and industry.  I call the attention, therefore, of the newly enfranchised race to the importance of their striving in every honorable manner to make themselves worthy of their new privilege.  To the race more favored heretofore by our laws I would say, withhold no legal privilege of advancement to the new citizen.  The framers of our Constitution firmly believed that a Republican government could not endure without intelligence and education generally diffused among the people.  The 'Father of His Country' in his farewell address, used this language: 'Promote then, as a matter of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.  In proportion as the structure of the government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.'  In his first annual message to Congress the same views are forcibly presented, and are again urged in his eighth message.
"I repeat that the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came into life.  The change will be beneficial in proportion to the head that is given to the urgent recommendation of Washington.  If these recommendations were important then, with a population of forty millions, and increasing in a rapid ratio?
"I would, therefore, call upon Congress to take all the means within their constitutional powers to promote and encourage popular education throughout the country, and upon the people everywhere to see to it that all who possess and exercise political rights shall have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will make their share in the government a blessing and not a danger.  By such means only can the benefits contemplated by the amendment to the Constitution be secured."
L. M. Hershaw.

WHAT TO READ
[[An image of a person reading from a scroll]]
Conducted by JESSIE FAUSET
"On the New-time Negro." Mary White Ovington in the Century for January, 1912.
This is a sympathetic drawing of a parallel between the old and the new Negro.  Miss Ovington shows that it is only fair to suppose that the loyalty, the gentleness, the love for service, which were found in the Negro in slavery times, are still to be found in him to-day.  Only now they are turned toward his own race.  Are his qualities then less admirable?
"The Upbuilding of Black Durham, N. C."  W. E. B. Du Bois, in The World's Work for January, 1912.
Here is an interesting account- hopeful and sane-dealing with the phenomenon of an ambitious, successful and tolerated group of Negroes in a Southern city.  Here one may find a colored insurance company, a hosiery mill, a planing mill and even a small bank, run, it is true, under "rather lenient banking laws." A number of citizens have built themselves comfortable homes, but there is no display-the only item of unusual expenditure is the sending of children away to school.  But what a significant item! 
Most important of all, Durham is in the South and these people are only a few Negroes in the midst of many whites.  The attitude of the latter, however, has not only been in a few cases actively helpful, but is, in the main, passively tolerant.  The Negro has been given a chance.  Surely this is the solution.
"Flower o' the Peach."  Percival Gibbon.  The Century Co.
So much that is favorable has been said of this book that it is unnecessary to dwell an further on its merits here.  The significant thing is that at last a dispassionate presentation of color-prejudice-its baselessness and its shamefulness-has found its way into modern literature.  And, behold! the book sells.
Of course, there is the inevitable love-motif, but one is much more interested in the adventures of the Kaffir  It is he who holds our interest next to and almost along with Miss Harding.  Hardly anyone can fail to wish that his path may be finally made straight.  In a word, whether Mr. Gibbon, who is very discreet, means it or not, the book comes as near having a black hero as

[[Image depicts African American women making cotton clothing]]
HOSIERY MILL IN DURHAM, N. C.