[94:23] Methodist Protestant, July 28, 1909.
[99:24] Philadelphia Record, May 8, 1916.
CHAPTER V
SEGREGATION OF THE NEGRO
It is hardly to be questioned that since the Civil War the white man and the Negro have been drawing farther and farther apart. Religious teachers, political adventurers, and fortune hunters gave the first great impetus to the movement. The teachers, however, misguided, may have been sincere in their efforts to benefit the Negro; but the carpet-baggers had in mind only personal aggrandizement.
This political separation of the Negroes from the Southern whites was the entering wedge that split asunder the ties that had bound the two races together. Otherwise the Negroes might have divided with the whites between two or more political parties. This would have resulted greatly to their advantage for each party would have bid for their vote.
Upon the passing of the carpet-bag administrations, however, the Negroes lost most of their political importance. Since then it has been further
reduced until it is now almost a negligible quantity.
During the Reconstruction period, the attitude of the Negroes served to alienate their former masters, who undoubtedly would have otherwise been their best friends. Between most of the Negroes and the poor whites of the South, there had always existed a feeling of mutual dislike if not contempt. After the War great numbers of the latter secured wealth and influence. Their dislike of the Negro, however, has increased rather than abated.