COLORED JOURNALISM IN THE SOUTH
Our colored brethren have been by no means lacking in journalistic ambition. Considering the short space of time they have had in which to develop the literary talent, I think they have done remarkably well. There have been many undertakings in this line, and of course a good many failures. Having seen in the Western States a great many ephemeral newspapers, which ran their course briefly and then vanished away, I am prepared to say that the percentage of newspaper failures is no greater among the negroes than the whites. Newspapers are very frail and mortal creatures, and to many of them it is appointed to die. Few of them can lay claim to immortality; like the human race, most of them die in infancy. Yet there are now more than fifty papers published by colored men, mostly in the Southern States. The State of Georgia has five; North Carolina has seven. As the general intelligence of the people increases, the usefulness of these papers also enlarges. There is a good deal of race pride among the colored people, and they greatly enjoy the achievements of their race, whether in the field of journalism or elsewhere. Of course they are not trained to habits of close criticism and literary discrimination. Like all whose education has not been very extensive, they delight in high-sounding phrases and long, sonorous words. Most of their editorials are somewhat open to criticism in this line, yet there are not a few examples of crisp, clear, terse, vigorous English which are refreshing to read in these pedantic days.
As a general thing these papers are edited by the younger generation of men, graduates from the A. M. A. colleges or elsewhere. No others have sufficient ability or perseverance to make a success in this line. They are mostly Christian men, and they print many articles upon temperance and other practical virtues, which are sadly needed here both among black and white. So these papers exert a widespread and generally beneficial influence, going into many homes that have no other reading. Like his white brother, the negro sometimes forgets to “pay the printer,” and hence there is an occasional suspension for lack of funds. So there is in the North as well.
More and more, as they increase in knowledge and in property, there will be a greater demand for good newspapers. The schools and colleges of the A. M. A. are calculated to have a wide influence in this field, training up writers and thinkers who shall through their periodicals exert a great deal of power. Besides preaching and teaching, there is to be in the future of the Anglo-African a vast field of usefulness in journalism. The power of thinking, and of putting thought into effective words, is to be more and more developed in these schools. Here then is a new argument for the thorough and adequate maintenance of the church and school work, to raise up men and women from among this patient race who shall prove, even as many of them are proving now, that “the pen is mightier than the sword.” The occasional crudity of expression, the extravagant adjective and preposterous grammar, must and will give place to true thinking and correct expression, under the steady polishing and mental training of our schools. Fresh vigor, greater power, wider and more salutary influence of the newspaper, will follow the inexact and “scattering” articles which have more or less prevailed, inevitably.
THE KIND OF UNIVERSITY MOST NEEDED IN THE SOUTH.
BY PROF. HORACE BUMSTEAD, ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, GA.
A university, in the old-world sense of the term, is an institution where all the branches of the higher education are taught, and these alone. In our country the name is often adopted by institutions as a prophecy of what they hope to become, while their present work is almost wholly that of elementary instruction—a work which they expect eventually to outgrow.