READING AND COUNTING FOR NEGROES.
Once a Georgia Negro carried a letter to Dr. Walker and asked him to read it for him. Dr. Walker complied with his request. Two or three days later, the same man came back and said:
“Doc, you sho did read my letter all right. I took it to two white men since, and dey read the same things dat you did.”
Somewhat later, another colored man came to Dr. Walker and asked him how much was 9 x 70. Dr. Walker told him 630. A few days later the colored man returned and said:
“Doc, you know de uddah day, I axt you how much was 9 x 70, an’ you told me 630. Well, I axt Capt. Jones (a white man) about it and he told me de same thing. I tell you, Doc, you sho knows how to count.”
In telling these stories, Dr. Walker always makes the point that it is very difficult to get the average Negro to believe another Negro unless some white man will endorse what the colored man says. It seems to be an old and foolish way Negroes were taught during slavery.