The New Man: Twenty-nine years a slave, twenty-nine years a free man

by Henry Clay Bruce

As parents we are partly responsible for the idleness and unemployed condition of our young men and women, after they have reached maturity and left the schools, by neglecting to utilize the means in our hands for the benefit of our children. After having given them an education which fits them for higher callings than mere ordinary laborers, we fail to create these higher places for them, and the children, as a matter of fact, have been injured rather than benefited by our misdirected kindness and parental love. To a very large extent this accounts for the great number of young men and women marching the streets in idleness, for which we are directly and morally responsible. We have no just cause for censuring the white people for their conduct toward us in refusing us recognition. They have done no wrong; they have only taken advantage of the opportunities we have given them and nothing more. They know that we are a disorganized people, and while in that condition are certainly not in a position to strike back when pressed, and therefore they press us with impunity.

It is not enough to say that the prejudice against us is due to color; while in part that might be true, there is another and a greater cause, which in my opinion, fans and keeps alive that hydra-headed monster, and that is our penniless condition. We are a class of people who represent, comparatively speaking, nothing, and in the business world absolutely nothing, although we are the producers of the wealth in several States, as has already been stated, we have no voice in the barter and sale of it.

The laws are made by and for the business men of all countries and not in the interest of the laboring classes. The business men are the law-makers in this Country and of course shape the laws to suit their own interests. My candid belief is, that more respect will be shown us, when we are represented in the business world, and I think we should make an effort to be represented in the various lines of business as other Americans. We have tried various plans, looking to success, and have not attained it to a very satisfactory degree, and I think the time has come for us to try something new. If we were a distinct race, as some writers who have not given the subject much thought assert, the advice to make an effort would be superfluous, because being a race we would necessarily be a united people, aiding one another in efforts to rise. Circumstances compel us to be a distinct class of Americans, without regard to shades of color; because we have many among us who are as white as any Caucasian, but when the fact is known that they have in their veins the slight admixture of African blood, whether they are of light or dark hue, they are all classed as Colored people, treated as such, and might as well mingle as such, allowing character only to be the dividing line. The fact is this, we are all Colored people and must hold together as such, if we expect to succeed, remembering that in union there is strength, and the old adage which is a good one, that it is better to be a king among dogs than a dog among kings.

I have thus far tried to show some of the causes operating against our progress and the part we have acted or taken against our own best interests, in our blind efforts to succeed. And now as to the remedy.

Our ministers see the necessity of our being more closely united in a business way. They picture the good results that will follow such action, and like Rev. Dr. Seaton, of Georgetown, D. C., heartily approve such a course, and at the same time lay the blame for non-action at the doors of our political leaders, by saying that they should have been advising, urging and educating our people, up to this essential necessity long ago. Our political leaders also see the necessity of such action on our part, and have advised us, whenever they had a chance to be heard, to be more closely united, but they insist that little good can be accomplished until our ministers become interested in the matter. Here it is seen that both classes of leaders see the need of and admit the necessity for such action, and yet both remain comparatively inactive. Not being a minister or a political leader, I feel myself competent to decide this question without prejudice and therefore state that, in my opinion, it is the failure of our spiritual advisers to discharge their whole duty towards their congregations, and I will mention some of my reasons for making this assertion. In the first place our ministers wield a greater influence over the people than any other class of men, and can if they choose, lead them into almost any measure they may wish them to adopt. They have led them to contribute of their meagre earnings, the large sums of money invested in church property, located in every State. It was raised by the untiring efforts of our spiritual advisers, a little at a time; so that it is claimed that the Colored people of the United States, own over two hundred million dollars worth in church property, and support fifteen thousand ministers, at an annual cost of seven and a half million dollars a year.[A]

[A] The above figures are furnished by Rev. F. J. Grimke, of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C., from which I make the estimate of five hundred dollars as the average cost of each minister, which I think very reasonable.

By the payment of such a large sum annually, without a murmur on our part, it would seem quite reasonable that we are entitled to and should have not only the spiritual, but the temporal advice as well, for we need it badly. Again, our ministers are always in touch with their congregations and see their needs, have their undivided attention whenever desired, talk to them, selecting their own subjects every week, about saving souls, and the course they should pursue to accomplish that desirable result. All this is very good, and they love their pastors for showing them the way to eternal life, but it seems to me that while the ministers have their ears, confidence and continued attention, and knowing their divided and thereby weakened condition, should, if they have any genuine pride in them, take advantage of their position and give them some instruction as to the caring for the body, as well as the soul. If they will do this, as though it were really a religious duty, advising them mutually to aid one another with their patronage, they will have rendered their people a lasting service.

There is hardly a doubt, that our ministers have an advantage over our political leaders in this; they have the people before them every week, and therefore have a better opportunity to advise and urge them towards united action, than the political leader, who may not have a chance to address his people more than once or twice in a year, and that at some celebration. I am decidedly of the opinion that the various religious bodies in this country, supported by us, should instruct their ministers and see that they carry it out, to devote more time to the temporal care of their congregations, by teaching and urging upon them the necessity of being more closely united as a people; that in union there is strength; that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Our ministers can unite us, and they alone can. Will they make the effort?

Those among us who have accumulated wealth have done so single-handed and alone, and against great odds, and in nearly every case by dealing with white men, rarely with a majority of Colored customers. I cannot recall a single instance where a Colored merchant, relying solely upon the patronage of his own people, has succeeded. That old idea drilled into them during slavery, that white people are better than Colored people, is still in them, notwithstanding their denial of the fact, for it is shown in their actions, in the purchase of what they need and in the employment of skilled workmen. If the job is a small one, amounting to a few dollars, we may give it to a colored workman, but if it is a large one, we give it to a white man, who will then send, probably, the Colored bidder to do the work, and we are satisfied. And as to our purchases, we act as though the white man’s goods were better than those of the Colored man. In this respect the upper as well as the lower classes of Colored people need training badly, a fact which many of us, who are now or have been in business will confirm.

When we are ripe for it, there will appear Colored men with means ready to enter nearly every line of business, who are now afraid to do so, because of the fact that they cannot rely upon their own people for support.