And then comforted, she cried out triumphantly—
"Didn't my Lord deliver Daniel,
Then why not every man?"
Many have told me their struggles, and I know of others who even suffered death rather than submit to the outrage of chastity. One poor mother with three beautiful baby girls, driven to despair by realizing their probable doom if allowed to live, sent them back to the God who gave them and then took her own life.
Thus the colored women and girls lived before the war.
How have they fared since Freedom?
Have they had a fair chance in the race of life? No. They have met caste-prejudice, the ghost of slavery, at every step of their journey during these years of freedom. They have been made to feel that they are a separate species of the human family. The phrases "Your people" and "Your place," do not so much designate their race identity, as the fixed status in the sisterhood of races. This idea, as harmless as it may appear, or as much as it is used, with varied phrases of meaning, according to the attitude of the speaker, has been one of the greatest barriers to the progress of the Negro, especially of the women and girls. It has colored everything they have to do. Their place, like the ebony of their skin, is a dark place. In the home, and in social life, "their place" is confined to colored society, colored schools and colored churches. Be it understood, I am not reflecting upon colored society, but am pointing out the limitations that no other race in this country has to contend with, in its efforts to rise.
The higher the plane of culture the colored women and girls reach, the more sensitive they become, and the more keenly the effects of ostracism are felt. In wages it does not matter how capable she may be, she must not aspire. I have asked several persons, "What is the greatest need of the colored woman and girl?" and many have replied, "To be good servants." Assuming that this is her highest need, can good servants be had without good wages?
In education, her place is the colored school, if there is one far or near, and if there is no school for colored youth, (as is sometimes the case) the no-school is her place. In religious life, her place is the colored church. No matter how her soul may long for a more intelligent Gospel than perchance surrounds her, she must find it there.
Her place in the work of reform, if she has fallen or desires to reform, is the public street. I could relate many incidents which have come under my personal observation in Washington, (and Washington is far ahead of many places in the South) to illustrate how our fallen sisters have suffered worse than death, because doors have been shut against them. Several cases have been brought to me this year, one since writing this paper, but my sisters, the sad fact is like the advent of our blessed Lord, there is no room in the inn for her.
What is the true place of our women and girls? It is that place which is not circumscribed by the mere accident of birth and race, where she can rise just as high as she has the ability to reach and sustain. My five years' experience in Europe as a Jubilee Singer gave me a taste of the sweets of true womanhood, unfettered by caste-prejudice and by a low estimate of my position. There my complexion was not a target for insult and ostracism. Our needs are not only those common to other races, but are in a vast measure greater, because of the past and present difficulties. The masses furnish the most difficult problem to solve. How can we rescue them from poverty and illiteracy, and not pauperize them? How can we prevent crime, check immorality and decrease mortality? The answer lies in giving to them better home life, more elevating social surroundings, better educational advantages in school and industries, and a higher type of Christian life and worship.