The Journal of Negro History Volume IV Part 6

WASHINGTON LETTER TO _New York Herald_.

Gorgeously illuminated chromo-lithographs of Kansas scenes have been distributed among the blacks. The gentleman who has seen some of these chromos writes that the most ravishing presentment of rural life in Kansas is depicted. The Negroes look on the State as a second paradise, compared with which old Canaan is a Florida swamp. One of these pictures, ent.i.tled "A Freedman's Home," represents a fine landscape, with fields of ripening grain stretching away to the setting sun.

In the foreground, illuminated by a marvelous sunset, stood the freedman's home. It was a picturesque cottage with gables, dormer windows and wide verandas. French windows reached down to the floor, and through the open cas.e.m.e.nts appeared a seductive scene in the family sitting room. The colored father, who had just returned from his harvest fields, sat in an easy chair reading a newspaper, while the children and babies rollicked on the floor of the piazza. Through the open door of the kitchen the colored wife could be seen directing the servants and cooks who were preparing the evening meal. In the parlor, however, was the most enchanting feature, for at a grand piano was poised the belle of the household, and beside the piano where she was playing stood her colored lover, devouring her with his eyes while he abstractedly turned the leaves of her music. Just to one side of the dwelling appeared a commodious barn and carriage house and workmen busily engaged in putting in order their reapers and mowers for the following day.

In one of these pictures, "Old Auntie" sits on the veranda knitting stockings while she gazes on herds of buffalo and antelope, which are feeding on the prairies beyond the wheat fields. Approaching the gate a handsome colored man is seen coming in from the hunt, with a dead buck and a string of wild turkeys slung over his shoulders. These agricultural cartoons, in vivid coloring, the writer reports are doing much to influence the minds of the more ignorant Negroes.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This appeared in _The Vicksburg Commercial Daily Advertiser_, May 6, 1879.

REMARKS ON THIS EXODUS BY FREDERICK DOUGLa.s.s[1]

WASHINGTON, May 6.

Fred. Dougla.s.s, marshal of the District, is out in a very strong letter, published in the _National View_, the new Greenback organ here, vigorously opposing the emigration of Negroes from the South. He earnestly advises the colored men to remain at home.

The letter has caused a good deal of annoyance among the leading Republicans, who have been vigorously working up this movement, believing that it was a G.o.dsend to them and would be a strong issue in future campaigns.

Fred. Dougla.s.s winds up his letter as follows:

"I am opposed to this exodus, because it is an untimely concession to the idea that white people and colored people cannot live together in peace and prosperity unless the whites are a majority and control the legislation and hold the offices of the State. I am opposed to this exodus, because it will pour upon the people of Kansas and other Northern States a mult.i.tude of deluded, hungry, homeless people to be supported in a large measure by alms. I am opposed to this exodus, because it will enable our political adversaries to make successful appeals to popular prejudice (as in the case of the Chinese) on the ground that these people, so ignorant and helpless, have been imported for the purpose of making the North solid by outvoting intelligent white Northern citizens. I am opposed to this exodus, because 'rolling stones gather no moss;' and I agree with Emerson that the men who made Rome or any other locality worth going to see stayed there. There is, in my judgment, no part of the United States where an industrious and intelligent man can serve his race more wisely and efficiently than upon the soil where he was born and reared and is known. I am opposed to this exodus because I see in it a tendency to convert colored laboring men into traveling tramps, first going North because they are persecuted, and then returning South because they have been deceived in their expectations, which will excite against themselves and against our whole race an increasing measure of popular contempt and scorn. I am opposed to this exodus because I believe that the conditions of existence in the Southern States are steadily improving, and that the colored man there will ultimately realize the fullest measure of liberty and equality accorded and secured in any section of our common country.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This appeared in _The Vicksburg Commercial Daily Advertiser_, May 7, 1879.

THE SENATE REPORT ON THE EXODUS OF 1879

Hearing of the commotion among the Negroes in Louisiana and Mississippi in 1879, Senator D. W. Voorhees, of Indiana, offered the following resolution which was accepted:

Whereas, large numbers of Negroes from the Southern States, and especially from the State of North Carolina, are migrating to the Northern States, and especially to the State of Indiana; and,

Whereas, it is currently alleged that they are induced to do so by the unjust and cruel conduct of their white fellow citizens toward them in the South; therefore,

_Be it Resolved_, That a committee of five members of this body be appointed by its presiding officer, whose duty it shall be to investigate the causes which have led to the aforesaid migration, and to report the same to the Senate; and said committee shall have power to send for persons and papers, compelling the defense of witnesses, and to sit at any time.[1]

Thereupon Senator William Windom, of Minnesota, offered the following amendment which led to the discussion of all sorts of phases of the race problem and finally to a majority and minority report on the exodus:[2]

_And Be it Therefore Resolved_, That in case said committee shall find that said migration of colored people from the South has been caused by cruel and unjust treatment or by the denial or abridgement of personal or political rights, have so far inquired and reported to the Senate, first; what, if any, action of Congress may be necessary to secure to every citizen of the United States the full and free enjoyment of all rights guaranteed by the const.i.tution; second; where the peaceful adjustment of the colored race of all sectional issues may not be best secured by the distribution of the colored race through their partial migration from those States and congressional districts where, by reason of their numerical majority, they are not allowed to freely and peacefully exercise the rights of citizenship; and third; that said committee shall inquire and report as to the expediency and practicability of providing such territory or territories as may be necessary for the use and occupation of persons who may desire to migrate from their present homes in order to secure the free, full, and peaceful enjoyment of their const.i.tutional rights and privileges.[2a]

REPORT

_The Select Committee, appointed by the Senate to investigate the causes which have led to the migration of the Negroes from the Southern States to the Northern States, having duly considered the same, beg leave to submit the following report_:[3]

On the 18th day of December, 1879, the Senate pa.s.sed the following resolution:

Whereas, large numbers of Negroes from the Southern States are emigrating to the Northern States; and,

Whereas, it is currently alleged that they are induced to do so by the unjust and cruel conduct of their white fellow-citizens towards them in the South, and by the denial or abridgement of their personal and political rights and privileges; therefore,

_Be it Resolved_, That a committee of five members of this body be appointed by its presiding officer, whose duty it shall be to investigate the causes which have led to the aforesaid emigration, and to report the same to the Senate; and said committee shall have power to send for persons and papers, and to sit at any time.

In obedience to this resolution the committee proceeded to take testimony on the 19th day of January, and continuing from time to time until 153 witnesses had been examined, embracing persons from the States of North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Indiana. Much of this testimony is of such a character as would not be received in a court of justice, being hearsay, the opinions of witnesses, &c., but we received it with a view to ascertaining, if possible, the real state of facts in regard to the condition of the Southern colored people, their opinions and feelings, and the feelings and opinions of their white neighbors. We think it clearly established from the testimony that the following may be said to be the causes which have induced this migration of the colored people from various portions of the South to Northern States, chiefly to Kansas, and Indiana: That from North Carolina, the State to which we first directed our attention, was undoubtedly induced in a great degree by Northern politicians, and by Negro leaders in their employ, and in the employ of railroad lines.

Examining particularly into the condition of the colored men in that State, it was disclosed by the testimony of whites and blacks, Republicans and Democrats, that the causes of discontent among those people could not have arisen from any deprivation of their political rights or any hardship in their condition. A minute examination into their situation shows that the average rate of wages, according to the age and strength of the hand for field labor, was from eight to fifteen dollars per month, including board and house to live in, garden and truck patches, around the house, fire-wood, and certain other privileges, all rent free.

These, added to the extra labor which could be earned by hands during the season of gathering turpentine and resin, or of picking cotton made the general average of compensation for labor in that State quite equal to if not better than in any Northern State to which these people were going, to say nothing of the climate of North Carolina, which was infinitely better adapted to them.

The closest scrutiny could detect no outrage or violence inflicted upon their political rights in North Carolina for many years past. They all testified that they voted freely; that their votes were counted fairly; that no improper influence whatsoever was exerted over them; and many were acquiring real estate, and were enjoying the same privileges of education for their children, precisely, that the whites were enjoying.

It was also disclosed by the testimony that there existed aid societies in the city of Washington, in the city of Topeka, Kans., Indianapolis, and elsewhere throughout the West, whose avowed object was to furnish aid to colored men migrating to the West and North; and notwithstanding that the agents and members of these societies generally disclaimed that it was their intention to induce any colored men to leave their homes, but only to aid in taking care of them after they had arrived, yet it was established undeniably, not only that the effect of these societies and of the aid extended by them operated to cause the exodus originally, but that they stimulated it directly by publishing and distributing among the colored men circulars artfully designed and calculated to stir up discontent. Every single member, agent, friend, or sympathizer with these societies and their purposes were ascertained to belong to the Republican party, and generally to be active members thereof. Some of the circulars contained the grossest misrepresentation of facts, and in almost all cases the immigrants expected large aid from the government of clothes, or land, or money or free transportation, or something of that kind. Hundreds of them, on given days at various points in the South, crowded to the depots or to the steamboat landings upon a rumor that free transportation was to be furnished to all who would go. It was also disclosed by the testimony on the part of some very candid and intelligent witnesses that their object in promoting this exodus of the colored people was purely political. They thought it would be well to remove a sufficient number of blacks from the South, where their votes could not be made to tell, into close States in the North, and thus turn the scale in favor of the Republican party.

Wages, rents, method of cropping on shares, &c., were inquired into in all of the Southern States mentioned, and the fact ascertained that the aggregate was about the same as in North Carolina. In most of the Southern States, where wages were higher than in North Carolina, expenses were also higher, so that the aggregate, as before stated, was about the same.

One cause of complaint alleged as a reason for this exodus of the colored people from the South was their mistreatment in the courts of justice. Directing our attention to this the committee have ascertained that in many of the districts of the South the courts were under entire Republican control--judges, prosecuting attorneys, sheriffs, &c., and that there were generally as many complaints from districts thus controlled as there were from districts which were under the control of the Democratic officials; and that the whole of the complaints taken together might be said to be such as are generally made by the ignorant who fail to receive in courts what they think is justice.

Your committee found no State or county in the South, into which this investigation extended, where colored men were excluded from juries either in theory or in practice; they found no county or district in the South where they were excluded, either in theory or practice, from their share in the management of county affairs and of the control of county government. On the contrary, whenever their votes were in a majority we found that the officers were most generally divided among the black people, or among white people of their choice. Frequently we found the schools to be controlled by them, especially that portion of the school fund which was allotted to their race, and the complaints which had been so often made of excessive punishment of the blacks by the courts as compared with the whites upon investigation in nearly all cases, proved to be either unfounded in fact or that if there was an apparent excess of punishment of a black man the cause was ascertained to be in the nature of the crime with which he was charged, or the attendant circ.u.mstances.

The educational advantages in the South, the committee regret to say, were found to be insufficient, and far inferior to those of most of the States of the North, but such as they were we found in every case that the blacks had precisely the same advantages that the whites enjoyed; that the school fund was divided among them according to numbers; that their teachers were quite as good, and chosen with as much care; that their schools existed as many months in the year; in short, the same facilities were afforded to the blacks as were to the whites in this respect; and that these schools were generally supported by the voluntary taxation imposed by the legislatures composed of white men, levied upon their own property for the common benefit.

With regard to political outrages which have formed the staple of complaint for many years against the people of the South, your committee diligently inquired, and have to report that they found nothing or almost nothing new. Many old stories were revived and dwelt upon by zealous witnesses, but very few indeed ventured to say that any considerable violence or outrage had been exhibited toward the colored people of the South within the last few years, and still fewer of all those who testified upon this subject, and who were evidently anxious to make the most of it, testified to anything as within their own knowledge. It was all hearsay, and nothing but hearsay, with rare exceptions.

Many of the witnesses before us were colored politicians, men who make their living by politics, and whose business it was to stir up feeling between the whites and blacks; keep alive the embers of political hatred; and were men of considerable intelligence, so that what they failed to set forth of outrages perpetrated against their race may be safely a.s.sumed not to exist. Many, on the contrary, were intelligent, sober, industrious, and respectable men, who testified to their own condition, the amount of property that they had acc.u.mulated since their emanc.i.p.ation, the comfort in which they lived, the respect with which they were regarded by their white neighbors. These universally expressed the opinion that all colored men who would practice equal industry and sobriety could have fared equally well; and in fact their own condition was ample proof of the treatment of the colored people by the whites of the South, and of their opportunities to thrive, if they were so determined. Some of these men owned so much as a thousand acres of real estate in the best portions of the South; many of them had tenants of their own, white men, occupying their premises and paying them rent; and your committee naturally arrived at the conclusion that if one black man could attain to this degree of prosperity and respectable citizenship, others could, having the same capacity for business and practicing the same sobriety and industry.

Your committee also directed their attention to the complaints frequently made with regard to the laws pa.s.sed in various States of the South relating to landlord and tenant, and to the system adopted by many planters for furnishing their tenants and laborers with supplies. We found, upon investigation of these laws, and of the witnesses in relation to their operation, that as a general rule they were urgently called for by the circ.u.mstances in which the South found itself after the war. The universal adoption of homestead and personal property exemption laws deprived poor men of credit, and the landlord cla.s.s, for its own protection, procured the pa.s.sage of these laws giving them a lien upon the crop made by the tenant until his rents and his supplies furnished for the subsistence of the tenant and his family had been paid and discharged; and while upon the surface these laws appeared to be hard and in favor of the landlord, they were, as was actually testified by many intelligent witnesses, quite as much or more in favor of the tenant, as it enabled him to obtain credit, to subsist himself and his family, and to make a crop without any means whatsoever but his own labor. It was alleged also that in many instances landlords, or if not landlords then merchants, would establish country stores for furnishing supplies to laborers and tenants, and the laborer, having no money to go elsewhere or take the natural advantages of compet.i.tion, was forced to buy at these stores at exorbitant prices.

Your committee regret to say that they found it to be frequently the case that designing men, or bad and dishonest men, would take advantage of the ignorance or necessity of the Negroes to obtain these exorbitant prices; but at the same time your committee is not aware of a spot on earth where the cunning and unscrupulous do not take advantage of the ignorant; and cannot regard it as a sufficient cause for these black people leaving their homes and going into distant States and among strangers unless they had a proper a.s.surance that the State to which they were going contained no dishonest men, or men who would take such advantage of them. Your committee feel bound to say, however, in justice to the planters of the South, that this abuse is not at all general nor frequent; and that as a general rule while exorbitant prices are exacted sometimes from men in the situation of the blacks, yet the excuse for it is the risk which planter and merchant run.

Should a bad crop year come, should the Army worm devour the cotton, or any other calamity come upon the crop, the landlord is without his rent, the storekeeper is without his pay, and worse than all the laborer is without a means of subsistence for the next year. It is hoped and believed that when the heretofore disturbed condition of the people of the South settles down into regularity and order, the natural laws of trade and compet.i.tion will a.s.sert themselves and this evil will be to a great extent remedied, whilst the diffusion of education among the colored people will enable them to keep their own accounts and hold a check upon those who would act dishonestly towards them.

On the whole, your committee express the positive opinion that the condition of the colored people of the South is not only as good as could have been reasonably expected, but is better than if large communities were transferred to a colder and more inhospitable climate, thrust into compet.i.tion with a different system of labor, among strangers who are not accustomed to them, their ways, habits of thought and action, their idiosyncrasies, and their feelings. While a gradual migration, such as circ.u.mstances dictate among the white races, might benefit the individual black man and his family as it does those of the white race, we cannot but regard this wholesale attempt to transfer a people without means and without intelligence, from the homes of their nativity in this manner, as injurious to the people of the South, injurious to the people and the labor system of the State where they go, and, more than all, injurious to the last degree to the black people themselves. That there is much in their condition to be deplored in the South no one will deny; that that condition is gradually and steadily improving in every respect is equally true. That there have been clashings of the races in the South, socially and politically, is never to be denied nor to be wondered at; but when we come to consider the method in which the people were freed, as the result of a bitter and desolating civil war; and that for purposes of party politics these incompetent, ignorant, landless, homeless people, without any qualifications of citizenship, without any of the ties of property or the obligations of education, were suddenly thrown into political power, and the effort was made not only to place them upon an equality with their late masters, but to absolutely place them in front and hold them there by legislation, by military violence, and by every other means that could possibly be resorted to; when we consider these things no philosophical mind can behold their present condition, and the present comparative state of peace and amity between the two races, without wonder that their condition is as good as it is.

No man can behold this extraordinary spectacle of two people attempting to reconcile themselves in spite of the interference of outsiders, and to live in harmony, to promote each other's prosperity in spite of the bitter animosities which the sudden elevation of the one has engendered, without the liveliest hope that if left to themselves, the condition of the former subject race will still more rapidly improve, and that the best results may be reasonably and fairly expected.

Your committee is further of the opinion that all the attempts of legislation; that all the inflammatory appeals of politicians upon the stump and through the newspapers; that the wild and misdirected philanthropy of certain cla.s.ses of our citizens; that these aid societies, and all other of the influences which are so industriously brought to bear to disturb the equanimity of the colored people of the South and to make them discontented with their position, are doing them a positive and almost incalculable injury, to say nothing of pecuniary losses which have thus been inflicted upon Southern communities.

Your committee is further of opinion that Congress having enacted all the legislation for the benefit of the colored people of the South which under the Const.i.tution it can enact, and having seen that all the States of the South have done the same; that by the Const.i.tution of the United States and the const.i.tutions of the various States these people are placed upon a footing of perfect equality before the law, and given the chance to work out their own civilization and improvements, any further attempts at legislation or agitation of the subject will but excite in them hopes of exterior aid that will be disappointing to them, and will prevent them from working out diligently and with care their own salvation; that the sooner they are taught to depend upon themselves, the sooner they will learn to take care of themselves; the sooner they are taught to know that their true interest is promoted by cultivating the friendship of their white neighbors instead of their enmity, the sooner they will gain that friendship; and that friendship and harmony once fully attained, there is nothing to bar the way to their speedy civilization and advancement in wealth and prosperity, except such as hinder all people in that great work.

D. W. VOORHEES.

Z. B. VANCE.

GEO. II. PENDLETON.