Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

employment, and compel them to perform menial services, or starve. It also excludes them from the society of their equals, and from equal privileges in public meetings, at the polls, in public houses, on board public conveyances, in schools, and even in the house of God! Yes; in the temples dedicated to the worship of the Great Jehovah, who declares himself to be 'no respecter of persons,' it excludes them from a seat by the side of their Christian brethren! Alas! how has my heart sunk within me, when I have seen the professed disciples of the meek and lowly Saviour, (who did not scorn to sit at meat even with publicans and sinners,) coming up, one company after another, to receive at the altar the emblems of his dying love; and after all the rest had partaken, the officiating minister announces, Now, we will give our colored brethren an opportunity!' And, equally injurious and oppressive is the practice which provides them seats in the broad aisle, and serves them last of all; so as to force them to feel a sense of degradation. Hear the effect of this cruel prejudice graphically described, by one who has felt its withering influence:*

'No man can really understand this prejudice, unless he feels it crushing him to the dust, because

*Speech of Rev. Theodore S. Wright, a colored gentleman of New York, in the New England Anti-Slavery Convention of 1836.

it is a matter of feeling. It has bolts, scourges, and bars, wherever the colored man goes. It has bolts in all the schools and colleges. The colored parent, with the same soul as a white parent, sends his child to the seats of learning, and he finds the door bolted, and he sits down to weep beside his boy. Prejudice stands at the door, and bars him out. Does the child of the colored man show a talent for mechanics? The heart of the parent beats with hope. He sees the children of the white man engaged in employment, and he trusts that there is a door open to his boy, to get an honest living, and become a useful member of society. But, when he comes to the work-shop with his child, he finds a bolt there. But, even suppose that he can get this first bolt removed, he finds other bars. He can't work. Let him be ever so skilled as a mechanic, up starts prejudice, and says, 'I won't work in the shop if you do.' Here he is scourged by prejudice, and has to go back, and sink down to some of the employments which white men leave for the most degraded. He hears of the death of a child, from home, and he goes in a stage or a steamboat. His money is received, but he is scourged there by prejudice. If he is sick, he can have no bed, he is driven on deck; money will not buy for him the comforts it gets for all who have not his complexion. He turns to some friend among the white men; perhaps that white man had sat at his table at home, but he does not resist prejudice here. He says, 'Submit. 'Tis an ordinance of God—you must be humble.' Sir, I have felt this. As a minister, I have been called to pass often up and down the North River in steamboats. Many a night have I walked the deck, and not been allowed to lie down in a bed. Prejudice would even turn money to

dross, when it was offered for these comforts by a colored man. Thus, prejudice scourges us from the table, it scourges us from the cabin, from the stagecoach, from the bed, wherever we go, it has for us bolts, bars, and rods.'

Is this brotherly love? Is it Christian charity? Is it the feeling which pervades the heavenly ranks? Will the colored man there be directed to the footstool, and forced away from his master's table? In the resurrection, will the celestial ranks be graduated according to the color which they bore in this life? Will the colored man's complexion on earth, dim the radiance of the star in glory? Or will this be the ground of difference between one and another star in glory?

CHAPTER II.

PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED: Color not the real ground of Prejudice. Reasons: 1. Nothing odious in the color of black: 2. Color no ground of demerit: 3. Color no mark of inferiority: Facts: Arts and sciences originated with people of color-Mental capacity of Blacks-Learned and distinguished men of color: Moral traits: Integrity and Veracity-FidelityCourage and Bravery-Nobleness and Generosity-IndustryCleanliness-Good nature, Humanity, Kindness, HospitalityGratitude-Reverence and Filial Piety-Modesty and Chastity -Patience and Capacity of Endurance: 4. This prejudice does not every where exist. True Cause: Caste.

In the discussion of this subject, I shall endeavor to maintain the position that color is not the real ground of the prejudice which prevails so extensively, in this land, against that class of persons to whom God has given a dark skin. And, to establish this position, I submit to the careful attention and candid reflection of the reader, the following considerations:

1. There is nothing in itself odious in the color of black; nor in any of the intermediate colors, which form the numerous varieties of the human species, between black and white. This is evident from the fact, that no prejudice any where

exists against these colors, except when they appear in the skin;* no lady is despised, or regarded as less beautiful, because she attires herself in black, yellow, or any other color which her fancy chooses; and it is thought no disgrace, but often regarded as an ornament, even to possess black hair and black eyes. Why then should it be considered disgraceful to have a black skin? Can any better reason be given, than mere caprice, for the difference of feeling which exists towards a person with black hair or black eyes, and one with a black skin? If not, the true cause of this feeling must be sought for in some thing else besides the color of the skin.

2. The color of the skin, with any other natural peculiarities which may accompany it, constitute no ground of demerit. The variety of colors of the human species has been a matter of much speculation among the learned; and, however unsatisfactory their theories may be, it must be generally admitted that it cannot be owing to any peculiar defect in the bodily organization of particular varieties of the human species; for the word of God declares that He hath made oF ONE BLOOD all the nations that dwell upon the face of

*Cuguano, (for many years a slave, but afterwards an author,) makes this very sensible inquiry, whether it is "more criminal to be black or white, than to wear a black or white coat.'

« ZurückWeiter »