Reverdy C. Ransom

“ The boy or girl that has moral, spiritual and intellectual truths planted in mind and heart will stand like some mighty tree of the forest, deep rooted, strong against life's storm, wide branching, a shelter, a protection, a cool refreshing shade, high towering, looming up, being forever in the presence of the loftiest thoughts and sentiments of the soul. But good seed cannot have a prosperous growth if weeds are permitted in their midst. They will choke out and forever hinder the healthiest growth. ”

“ Through the long hours of the night have they gone and communed with Him, in their cabins, and the wind as it whispered through the chincks in the wall, spoke to them of the dawning of a brighter day. God has overthrown one race and nation after another, if we turn from Him He will overthrow us likewise. But if we hold on to God, He will lift us up. ”

“ Let no man, or race or nation fear that posterity will fail to place the proper estimate upon the greatness and value of their achievements.
The final verdict of history cannot be bought, posterity cannot be bribed, neither predjudice, jealousy nor envy can hide from future ages a truth or an achievement that is worthy to survive; nor can wealth or power or boasting pride give immortality to that which is unable to survive.
The verdict of the ages is the high court from which men and nations cannot appeal ”

“ David and Job, Plato and Shakespeare have come down to us as representatives of historic people, to whom they belong. Every nation that has had literature has drawn for posterity an exact picture of itself. The American people may say what they are, but their literature will tell to posterity how little and how great they were. The history of nations tells what they were. These fields our boys and girls are going to enter. God knows what they will be, for we have some aspirations. The Bible is full of the aspirations of the people that lived in the ages that have been. ”

“ Indeed the time is not so far distant when our intellectual endowment was considered so small that it was questioned whether the Negro was of one blood with the other races of mankind. We speak of race soil to-night; races like the soil differ in degree of productiveness, some soil you may plough, and sow, and reap, receiving in return very little for your labor and your pains; while others for the toil bestowed yield rich and abundant harvests. There are some races also that are very unproductive, and among them the Negro is not the least. ”

“ It is in the light of these things, our race should be viewed and judged. What has been the moral atmosphere that has surrounded our race in this land for more than two centuries? Not even one of our enemies will maintain that it has been conducive to a healthy moral growth. Our virtue has been outraged by public sentiment, despoiled by law, the canker of slavery has gnawed at its heart, and religion created for it a standard which must not rise higher than the will of a master ”

“ We have demonstrated our ability as fighting men. You know you must prove yourself everywhere, prove yourself in every field of endeavor. Our ability as fighting men has been demonstrated. A man that will not fight for country, honor and home is no man at all. And as a defender of these things which men hold sacred, we have demonstrated our ability in every test that has arisen. You never heard of a Negro soldier running from any body. ”

“ Some of our historians try to make you believe that you have no past that counts for anything, that you never amounted to anything, that your origin was insignificant, and that you never will be anything. But we have a present and a future, and whatever we were in the past, we are here now, clothed with citizenship and in our right mind. Not only are we told that we have no past, but this country especially tries to make us believe that we have no future. ”

“ He has gone out into the wilderness, out into the thickets, out into the back woods, out upon the frontier. He too has felled the forests, he too has drained the swamps, he too has redeemed the marshes and caused the wilderness to blossom as the rose. By the sea, on the plains, in the primeval forests, everywhere, wherever he has gone he has been a faithful toiler and has caused wealth to fall into the lap of the nation. ”

“ Eloquent of speech, he will plead the cause of God and the welfare of mankind with such tones of power that neither the Rostrum nor the Forum ever heard. His deep emotional nature will be the foe of tyranny and oppression, and as a vehicle of religious truth will carry the triumphs of the King of Kings into the seats of pride and power, and over the dark and barren regions of the globe. The morning stars are paling, because the moral, intellectual, and spiritual night of the Negro is passing away. ”

“ Wise men may smile at his ignorance, the rich may mock his poverty, fools [Pg 49] may despise the color of his skin; but an ignorant man, a poor man, a black man who is thoroughly loyal, is a better and a safer voter than a rich man, an educated man, and a white man who in his heart is disloyal to the Union and who openly violates the Constitution and defies the laws. It is true that conditions have changed and new issues have arisen, but the principles of our government have not changed, nor have the rights guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution been repealed. ”

“ To our country purged by fire and purified with blood, yea, even with the blood of the slain and against the will of a united Democracy the Republican party gave not only emancipation, but also the highest dignity—a race clothed with the sacred right of elective franchise. ”

“ If when our young ladies go out in the streets, especially in the South, there is a crowd of Southern gentlemen on the corner, they make any kind of remark about them they choose and to resent it would mean to precipitate "a race war."
Our womanhood is being degraded and desecrated, and this is one of the devouring lions. When you touch a man's home you are getting around the heart strings of his life. ”

“ There are some of our people that believe just what some of our enemies are trying to make come true—that the Negro has no future as a man in America or elsewhere. Some of our people have believed this lie, and men have left their race because they do not believe in it. They do not believe in its future, they do not believe in its destiny, they do not believe in its power to come to anything. ”

“ A country upon whose shores the tides of two great oceans ebb and flow; a country whose mountains are filled with silver and gold, with coal and with iron, and whose fertile valleys are threaded by the grandest network of navigable rivers on the globe; a country with almost every variety of climate, of fruit and of flower; this is the gem which Columbus snatched from the sea.
NOT A WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY,
But a country reserved for the representatives of every variety of the human race. Old superstitions, old tyrannies and old despotisms perished with the nations that they could not save. ”

“ No more are all races equal. What is true of individuals in the matter of endowment is also true of races. Some races, as we have seen have large spiritual endowment; some great intellectual endowment while others are great in physical power. While in these respects, there are races of mankind whose endowments seem to be very small. Those of you who have read books touching upon the endowment or capacity of races, will recall that when the races of men noted for capacity have been chronicled, the Negro race has ever been placed at the foot of the column. ”

“ The men who produce the wealth of this country, are no longer content to produce and not enjoy. The men and women producing the wealth of this country from the bosom of the earth and from the fields, are coming to the place where they intend to enjoy the fruits which their industry and toil have produced. Thank God, to-night, the Negro as a toiler has never taken second rank, while in the fields of industry he has always kept a place, he has filled it well. ”

“ We are told that if the Negro were given the free exercise of his political powers he would ruin the industries of the South, that Northern capital invested there would be sunk, and finally, that the wealth and intelligence of the South will not submit to Negro rule. Too many have been found ready to listen to this cunning apology for crime. It is true that the Negro has registered no oath of allegiance to the Democratic party, but to the best interests of his country his heart is as true as the needle to the pole. ”

“ This is the day and age of the workingman, this is the day when the toiler is king. This is the day of the common man, and those of you who read history are told to read the signs of the times. Read them in the light of this declaration: that the common man, the toiler who produces all the wealth of this fair world and is making it bloom and blossom, shall enjoy the fruit of his toil. In this country there is hope. ”

“ Coxey has got a great many people scared, but I have this to say about revolutions and upheavals; God Almighty through the ages has written His will in blood. After every sabre's flash, every field of carnage and of blood the common people have come to larger liberty. ”