Dunbar Rowland

“ Without stopping here to discuss the constitutional conflicts which would be brought about between the State and Federal Constitutions, or if it be admitted that there would be no constitutional vice in such amendment because of its class or race distinction, its effect, which would be to take school benefits largely from the negro children, would be contrary to that broad and deep philanthropic spirit that has always moved the great common heart of Christian man and womanhood in Mississippi to a love of justice and fair play toward the weak and needy, whoever and wherever they are. ”

“ The growth of social and political conditions is always slow. It requires generations to make changes for good or evil. It must be remembered that the negro has behind him six thousand years of ignorance and barbarism. Universal suffrage can safely exist only where there is universal education.
Out of the mass of conflicting opinions there have come two great ideas about which there is no difference of opinion in the South. The first is the necessity for the absolute social separation and isolation of the negro. He will never be accepted as an equal no matter how great his future advancement. ”

“ The story of the trials of reconstruction is told not with a spirit of bringing reproach on the men who made them possible by unwise legislation, or by way of apology for the people of the South, but from a purely historical standpoint giving the facts minus prejudiced opinion. The debates in Congress pending the passage of reconstruction measures clearly show that the most conservative and self-contained men of the party then in power were opposed to universal manhood suffrage for the negro. ”

“ When the perilous problems of the South are better understood, when the clouds which political passion create are swept away by a sincere sympathy and a desire to lend a helping hand, when a friendly interest takes the place of unfriendly criticism, when what is right is the aim of all then and not until then can pressing problems be intelligently solved. ”

“ Lincoln and other friends of the colored race—it certainly was mine—that some qualification, such as the ownership of taxable property, the ability to read and write or both, should have been required for the exercise of the right to vote, as an inducement for the acquisition of what is needful on the part of self-governing people. ”

“ There was at the end of the war and is now a strong and steadfast affection between the old slaves of the South and their former masters. If that feeling of confidence had been allowed to continue without the evil influence of the carpet-bagger all would have been well. The Southern white man is the only man on earth who understands the negro character, and he is the only man who is now fitted to solve the intricate race relations of the future. ”

“ The second settled conviction is that the negro will never again be allowed to control the public affairs of a single Southern state.
Good government demands that position.
If there is no higher motive than self interest; that demands that the Southern people do everything in their power to make the negro an industrious, honest, self-supporting citizen. If the people of the North will help them do that in a fair sympathetic way their aid will always be welcomed. ”

“ It will be observed that the foregoing does not disfranchise the negro any more than it does the white man. It simply means that the citizen—black or white—who will not pay all taxes, including the "uniform poll tax of two dollars, to be used in aid of the common school," on or before the first day of February in which he offers to vote, and who is not intelligent enough to read any section of the State constitution, or to understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation thereof, shall not be allowed to vote. ”

“ In dealing with the race problem it must be born in mind that it is the curing power of time aided by intelligent human effort which can cure the ills of the past and promote the good results of the future. ”

“ It must be borne in mind that the negro is our neighbor and is here to stay; that he is the dependence largely of the white people for labor; that it is also in a great measure due to that labor that in the past the South's cotton, sugar and rice industries have brought the section's greatest wealth, and given it a commercial importance in every land and country where the nation's flag protects the American shipping. ”

“ Victor Hugo, the great Frenchman, who made the world better by having lived in it, says that "Poverty is the greatest of opportunities." The men who dominated the world in the past—the great world leaders and nation makers—were not "clothed in fine linen, faring sumptuously every day"; they toiled to the light through the darkness of poverty. ”

“ Some may see the true nobility, calm dignity and Spartan fortitude which the South has shown in meeting her responsibilities, few know what they really mean. The wrongs and mistakes of the past would have driven a less proud and noble race into anarchy. ”

“ There are negroes in Mississippi who are lawyers, doctors, teachers, and a few of them are preachers. They are engaged in the various branches of the mercantile business and in all of the trades. They are blacksmiths, carpenters and shoemakers. When they can do their work as skilfully as the white man they are employed. In the professions, of course, their duties are confined to their own race. ”

“ The people of the South do not fear the clouds which may darken the future. They believe in themselves and in their power to meet and solve the problems which the presence of the negro forces upon them. ”

“ The Republic of Castellar, built on an ignorant white rabble, passed away in a few months to give place to the old ruinous rule of the Bourbons. South America is full of little republics resting on an ignorant suffrage. They are in a perpetual state of revolution, and such conditions will continue until they have an intelligent ballot. ”

“ Reconstruction was the creation of men who knew nothing of conditions surrounding the negro. Instead of adapting him to his new life the measures of reconstruction made the negro a discontented enemy of good government. ”

“ The burden of negro education had been placed upon the people of the South in their poverty. There has been murmuring at the burden in Mississippi, and efforts have been made to confine appropriations of money for negro education to the amount of money raised from negro taxation for the benefit of schools, that plan, however, has never met with popular approval. ”

“ Previous to the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment there was not a Northern state where the negro had the right to vote. Mr. Garfield wanted an intelligent negro suffrage. He said during the reconstruction debates on that question:
"I regret that we have not found the situation of affairs in this country such, and the public virtue such, that we might come out on the plain, unanswerable proposition that every adult intelligent citizen of the United States, unconvicted of crime, should enjoy the right of suffrage." ”

“ After the negro had been clothed with the right of suffrage the Southern people made an honest effort to give him a fair trial. If he proved to be a worthy citizen the fears of the people would be groundless. ”

“ The great body of the people of this Republic want to do right. They want to deal justly. The Southern people know the negro and understand him, let them work out and solve the serious problems surrounding them in a way which shall be of advantage to both races.
The social, political and industrial conditions which now exist in the South can only be properly appreciated by taking a brief backward view of what has gone before. ”

“ If the negro is made to earn his full citizenship by his own efforts it will teach him to take pride in it.
Under the Mississippi system the disfranchisement of a few whites was unavoidable, but it was thought that they should pay the penalty of ignorance rather than endanger the safety of the State. The whites who were disfranchised accepted the situation without a murmur. ”

“ The Southern people have shown their faith in the negro by spending one hundred million dollars for his education during the past thirty years. There are now 1,750,000 negro children enrolled in the public schools of the South. The nine cotton states, where the great mass of the negroes live, that is, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, had in 1860 an assessed valuation of property for taxation of $3,244,231,406. ”

“ He sees the stronger race with infinite generosity and with incredible patience responding to his dependence. He sees the business man giving advice, lending money, (which he knows he will probably never see again) advancing wages and generally assuming a sort of paternal interest in the welfare of his negro hands. ”

“ The boom of batteries in the harbor of Charleston on a beautiful April day in 1861 was the beginning of a bloody fraternal strife which laid desolate the happy homes of the people everywhere, brought about the sacrifice of a half million lives and cost the country ten billions of money. ”

“ It was decided that equal protection of the laws was not denied to colored persons by a State constitution and laws which make no discrimination against the colored race in terms but which grant a discretion to certain officers which can be used to the abridgment of the rights of colored persons to vote and serve on juries, when it is not shown that their actual administration is evil, but only that evil is possible under them. ”

“ The franchise section of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 provides an educational qualification and requires payment of all taxes for two years before the election, and it eliminates all ignorant votes regardless of color, who cannot measure up to the test. The educational test is not exacting and only involves the power to read. It places the right to vote as a reward in the reach of the negro, which may be gained by effort. The negroes are slowly qualifying themselves to become voters, and there is no disposition anywhere to prevent them from doing so. ”

“ Lawyers left their law books, doctors their patients, preachers their sermons, merchants their stores and farmers their fields and formed themselves into a mighty force for the overthrow of misrule. During the time of such intense feeling and excitement many mistakes were made, many irreparable wrongs were committed and many innocent lives were lost. ”

“ The negroes were thoroughly beaten by the revolution of 1875. They never again attempted to vote in large numbers.
A period of mild intimidation continued for fourteen years. That method of preserving white supremacy was never entirely [Pg 11] satisfactory, and Southern leaders and statesmen were anxious to remove the menace of future trouble by constitutional means. It was believed that the continued suppression of the negro vote would promote a feeling among the whites to use the same methods on each other and promote a low tone of political morality. ”

“ It was a time of revolution when the wishes of wise leaders were often set aside to give way to the passions of the hour. There were frequent armed conflicts between the races, and the negroes always suffered most from them. ”

“ He may gain the culture of the schools and acquire something of the polish of polite society, but he can never beat down the barriers between white and black.
The demands of civilization must be obeyed. ”

“ The relative attendance upon the free schools in the white is much greater than in the black counties, and hence, by reason of the fewer schools required for the accommodation of the attending pupils in the black counties affords those counties the use of the funds set apart to the non-attending children therein ”

“ Besides, he is of our citizenship, and being of a weaker race, becomes a ward of the white people of the State, and they should not violate the trust by taking from him the benign influences of education, which help to make him a better man, a better citizen and a better Christian. ”

“ There has been some urgent insistence for the submission by this legislature of an amendment to the Constitution to provide for the distribution of the free school funds between the white and negro schools [Pg 18] of the state, so as to give the benefits thereof to each race in proportion to the school tax which it pays. ”

“ He was a rugged, honest, able and thoughtful man of the humble walks of life, who had carved out a brilliant career from a beginning of poverty and want. Senator George was born in Monroe county, Georgia, October 20th, 1826. His father died when his son was an infant, and his mother moved to the new State of Mississippi that her boy might have a better chance in life. The mother first found a home in Noxubee county, and lived there until her son was ten years old. ”