BISHOP H. M. TURNER, D.D., L.L.D.
The Most Fearless Defender the Afro-Americans Have
BISHOP H. M. TURNER, D.D., L.L.D.
Bishop H. M. Turner, born at Newbury, South Carolina, February 1st, 1833, is the senior Bishop of the A. M. E. Church. He has been Bishop for thirty-one years, and is quoted as the walking encyclopedia of Methodism, and for this cause the last general conference that convened at Norfolk, Va., on May, 1908, voted unanimously for the good Bishop to be the historian of the African-Methodist Episcopal Church. It is to be remembered that Bishop Turner was the first colored man to be a commissioned officer in the United States Army, which appointment he received from President Lincoln. The Bishop was twice a member of the Georgia Legislature, and also the first of his church to be elected Bishop to Africa.
THE BLACK MAN
FIRST CHAPTER.
“That time changes all things” is a saying so old and so true as to admit of no argument. It is exemplified in so many different ways as to require no comment, and yet when we hear the phrase used glibly and thoughtlessly, every day, it is but natural to wonder if the one who uses it realizes what he is saying, or rather, if he knows what those few commonplace words mean, when used to form that sentence.
It is a foregone conclusion that he does not. He never stopped, “he, of this enlightened age, I mean,” long enough to examine even a little of the abundance of indisputable proof that the saying “Time changes all things” applies to things and conditions, seldom if ever present, to his own narrow mind, and far away and beyond even his meaner and low prejudiced influence. If he did, his retrospective mood, would, before carrying him back to the very beginning, suffer something of a shock, and his attitude would change. Instead of delighting in history, modern, medieval and ancient, his attitude would change so noticeably that an observer would imagine that his only interest was in tearing down and falsifying facts, and concealing records that he could not falsify. When we hear or read the sayings of some of our “misnamed” great men, but in reality disgustingly conspicuous public figures, we are fully justified in making the charge of falsifying and concealing such facts as they are not really ignorant of. One of these conspicuous public characters delights in making the assertion that the Hamite Ethiopian or Negro never amounted to anything, or possessed anything, never occupied an eminence, save to which the Semitic or white man had dragged or driven him up to. If ignorance alone was responsible for this glaring falsehood, a great deal of sympathy would go out to those who make the statement as well as those who believe it to be true because of their ignorance. As harsh as it may seem sympathy would be wasted for a great deal of the self asserted enlightenment of today is but egotism. Much of the so-called wisdom is self praise for successfully concealing, or at least surrounding historical facts with such mystery as to place the descendants of Shem upon an eminence which is not justly his and makes him in his own opinion appear much larger than what he really is. And yet with all the egotism, some knowledge of the true origin of mankind exists, and it is this knowledge that causes the fasifying and hiding as much as possible the true historical records, especially of the black man. It cannot be said that the learned historical writers, the great Divines, Theological students and lecturers of today are ignorant of the history of Ham, the son of Noah, and his descendants, such as Nimrod, the founder of the great ancient city of Babylon, and also Menes the first King of Egypt and the founder of the great ancient city of Memphis.