At one place a considerable colony has settled under the leadership of a former student of Fisk University. He is, of course, a Congregationalist, and desires the best educational advantages for this new and growing colony. What could not be accomplished here during the next few years if only the treasury warranted the outlay? At Greenville, in the heart of this fertile valley, a small Congregational Church, planted and nurtured by the A. M. A., is holding up the standard of intelligent preaching and decent forms of public worship. The Church has no meeting-house, but holds its services in a school building, the property of a colored citizen, who is the editor of the Greenville Herald, a sprightly local paper.
The Mississippi River is making fearful havoc along its banks. At Greenville, fifty feet of ground fell away in a single day. Brick buildings are being torn down and frame buildings hurried back on rollers to save them from the mad waters of the mighty river. Where the streets of the village were, a few months ago, now the river runs more than a hundred feet deep. This is a boom in real estate not thoroughly enjoyed by the citizens. It is attributed to the failure of the River and Harbor bills, and the citizens are very indignant. I am happy to state that our pastor’s home and the proposed site of the new Congregational Church are far back from the river, and no one need withhold his increased contribution to A. M. A., on account of this needy field, for fear the real estate will wash away.
At Vicksburg I found quite a number of A. M. A. graduates. One hangs out the shingle of an attorney and is doing “tolerably well, thank you.” Two are teachers; one of these, a graduate of Straight University, N. O., has done splendid service for his people and won honor for himself. He is Superintendent of the city colored schools, having ten teachers under his direction. He has saved his money and now owns two comfortable cottages and is out of debt; not a bad showing for a young man only a few years out of college.
Louisiana is reaping the harvest of her former seed sowing. Arozelles Parish is agitated over the outrages recently perpetrated against the Hebrews. Witkowsky, it will be remembered, was driven from his home in this parish last fall. Now these outrages are being repeated against others of that same race. I quote from a local paper: “The anti-semitics rode up to the Kahn store and riddled it and the surrounding fence with bullets. Next day Kahn and Bauer were served with notices calling attention to what the mob had done, and warning them to leave the parish at once if they wished to save their lives.”
The Governor of Louisiana is exhorted to stop these outrages. Why? It is only a continuance of the policy of violence and murder that has so often brought disgrace upon this and other Southern States. It matters little whether the victims of these brutal outrages are Negroes or Hebrews. Anyone who chances to be obnoxious to the Lords of the Land may meet the same cruel treatment. But better and brighter days are slowly coming, when all classes can demand and shall receive the impartial protection of the laws. Perhaps this new violence to the Hebrews may arouse the public conscience.