The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States
VIII
ORATORS.--DOUGLASS AND WASHINGTON
The Negro is peculiarly gifted as an orator. To magnificent gifts ofvoice he adds a fervor of sentiment and an appreciation of thepossibilities of a great occasion that are indispensable in the work ofone who excels in this field. Greater than any of these things, however,is the romantic quality that finds an outlet in vast reaches of imageryand a singularly figurative power of expression. Only this innate giftof rhetorical expression has accounted for the tremendous effectssometimes realized even by untutored members of the race. Itspossibilities under the influences of culture and education areillimitable.
On one occasion Harriet Tubman, famous for her work in the UndergroundRailroad, was addressing an audience and describing a great battle inthe Civil War. "And then," said she, "we saw the lightning, and thatwas the guns; and then we heard the thunder, and that was the big guns;and then we heard the rain falling, and that was drops of blood falling;and when we came to git in the craps, it was dead men that wereaped."[2] All through the familiar melodies one finds the pathos andthe poetry of this imagery. Two unusual individuals, untutored buthighly gifted in their own spheres, in the course of the last centuryproved eminently successful by joining this rhetorical faculty to theirnative earnestness. One of these was the anti-slavery speaker, SojournerTruth. Tall, majestic, and yet quite uneducated, this interesting womansometimes dazzled her audiences by her sudden turns of expression.Anecdotes of her quick and startling replies are numberless. The othercharacter was John Jasper, of Richmond, Va., famous three decades agofor his "Sun do move" sermon. Jasper preached not only on this theme,but also on "Dry bones in the valley," the glories of the New Jerusalem,and many similar subjects that have been used by other preachers,sometimes with hardly less effect, throughout the South. When one madeall discount for the tinsel and the dialect, he still would have foundin the work of John Jasper much of the power of the true orator.
[Footnote 2: Reported by A. B. Hart, in "Slavery and Abolition," 209.]
Other men have joined to this love for figurative expression theadvantages of culture; and a common characteristic, thoroughly typicalof the romantic quality constantly present, is a fondness for biblicalphrase. As representative might be remarked Robert B. Elliott, famousfor his speech in Congress on the constitutionality of the Civil RightsBill; John Mercer Langston, also distinguished for many politicaladdresses; M. C. B. Mason, for years a prominent representative of theMethodist Episcopal Church; and Charles T. Walker, still the mostpopular preacher of the Negro Baptists. A new and telling form of publicspeaking, destined to have more and more importance, is that just nowbest cultivated by Dr. DuBois, who, with little play of voice orgesture, but with the earnestness of conviction, drives home his messagewith instant effect.
In any consideration of oratory one must constantly bear in mind, ofcourse, the importance of the spoken word and the personal equation. Atthe same time it must be remembered that many of the most worthyaddresses made by Negroes have not been preserved in accessible form.Again and again, in some remote community, with true eloquence has anuntutored preacher brought comfort and inspiration to a strugglingpeople. J. C. Price, for years president of Livingstone College in NorthCarolina, was one of the truest orators the Negro race ever had, andmany who heard him will insist that he was foremost. His name has becomein some quarters a synonym for eloquence, and he certainly appeared onmany noteworthy occasions with marked effect. His reputation willfinally suffer, however, for the reason given, that his speeches are notnow generally accessible. Not one is in Mrs. Dunbar's "Masterpieces ofNegro Eloquence."
One of the most effective occasional speakers within recent years hasbeen Reverdy C. Ransom, of the A. M. E. Church. In his great moments Mr.Ransom has given the impression of the true orator. He has little humor,is stately and dignified, but bitter in satire and invective. There is,in fact, much in his speaking to remind one of Frederick Douglass. Oneof his greatest efforts was that on the occasion of the celebration ofthe one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Garrison, in Faneuil Hall,Boston, December 11, 1905. Said he, in part:
What kind of Negroes do the American people want? That they must have the Negro in some relation is no longer a question of serious debate. What kind of Negroes do the American people want? Do they want a voteless Negro in a republic founded upon universal suffrage? Do they want a Negro who shall not be permitted to participate in the government which he must support with his treasure and defend with his blood? Do they want a Negro who shall consent to be set aside as forming a distinct industrial class, permitted to rise no higher than the level of serfs or peasants? Do they want a Negro who shall accept an inferior social position, not as a degradation, but as the just operation of the laws of caste based on color? Do they want a Negro who will avoid friction between the races by consenting to occupy the place to which white men may choose to assign him? What kind of a Negro do the American people want? ... Taught by the Declaration of Independence, sustained by the Constitution of the United States, enlightened by the education of our schools, this nation can no more resist the advancing tread of the hosts of the oncoming blacks than it can bind the stars or halt the resistless motion of the tide.[3]
[Footnote 3: Quoted from "Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence," 314-5.]
Two men, by reason of great natural endowment, a fitting appreciation ofgreat occasions, and the consistency with which they produced theireffects, have won an undisputed place in any consideration of Americanorators. These men were Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington.
Frederick Douglass was born in 1817 and lived for ten years as a slaveupon a Maryland plantation. Then he was bought by a Baltimoreshipbuilder. He learned to read, and, being attracted by "The Lady ofthe Lake," when he escaped in 1838 and went disguised as a sailor to NewBedford, Mass., he adopted the name _Douglas_ (spelling it with two_s's_, however). He lived for several years in New Bedford, beingassisted by Garrison in his efforts for an education. In 1841, at ananti-slavery convention in Nantucket, he exhibited such intelligence,and showed himself the possessor of such a remarkable voice, that he wasmade the agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. He nowlectured extensively in England and the United States, and Englishfriends raised L150 to enable him regularly to purchase his freedom. Forsome years before the Civil War he lived in Rochester, N.Y., where hepublished a paper, _The North Star_, and where there is now a publicmonument to him. Later in life he became Recorder of Deeds in theDistrict of Columbia, and then Minister to Hayti. At the time of hisdeath in 1895 Douglass had won for himself a place of uniquedistinction. Large of heart and of mind, he was interested in everyforward movement for his people; but his charity embraced all men andall races. His reputation was international, and to-day many of hisspeeches are to be found in the standard works on oratory.
Mr. Chesnutt has admirably summed up the personal characteristics of theoratory of Douglass. He tells us that "Douglass possessed, in largemeasure, the physical equipment most impressive in an orator. He was aman of magnificent figure, tall, strong, his head crowned with a mass ofhair which made a striking element of his appearance. He had deep-setand flashing eyes, a firm, well-moulded chin, a countenance somewhatsevere in repose, but capable of a wide range of expression. His voicewas rich and melodious, and of carrying power."[4] Douglass wasdistinctly dignified, eloquent, and majestic; he could not be funny orwitty. Sorrow for the slave, and indignation against the master, gaveforce to his words, though, in his later years, his oratory became lessand less heavy and more refined. He was not always on the popular side,nor was he always exactly logical; thus he incurred much censure for hisopposition to the exodus of the Negro from the South in 1879. For half acentury, however, he was the outstanding figure of the race in theUnited States.
[Footnote 4: "Frederick Douglass," 107-8.]
Perhaps the greatest speech of his life was that which Douglass made atRochester on the
5th of July, 1852. His subject was "American Slavery,"and he spoke with his strongest invective. The following paragraphs fromthe introduction will serve to illustrate his fondness for interrogationand biblical phrase:
Pardon me, and allow me to ask, Why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice embodied in that Declaration of Independence extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
* * * * *
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that had wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.[5]
[Footnote 5: Quoted from Williams, II, 435-6.]
The years and emancipation and the progress of his people in the new daygave a more hopeful tone to some of the later speeches of the orator. Inan address on the 7th of December, 1890, he said:
I have seen dark hours in my life, and I have seen the darkness gradually disappearing, and the light gradually increasing. One by one I have seen obstacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all the elements that make up the sum of general welfare. I remember that God reigns in eternity, and that, whatever delays, disappointments, and discouragements may come, truth, justice, liberty, and humanity will prevail.[6]
[Footnote 6: Quoted from Foreword in "In Memoriam: FrederickDouglass."]
Booker T. Washington was born about 1858, in Franklin County, Virginia.After the Civil War his mother and stepfather removed to Malden, W. Va.,where, when he became large enough, he worked in the salt furnaces andthe coal mines. He had always been called Booker, but it was not untilhe went to a little school at his home and found that he needed asurname that, on the spur of the moment, he adopted _Washington_. In1872 he worked his way to Hampton Institute, where he paid his expensesby assisting as a janitor. Graduating in 1875, he returned to Malden andtaught school for three years. He then attended for a year WaylandSeminary in Washington (now incorporated in Virginia Union University inRichmond), and in 1879 was appointed an instructor at Hampton. In 1881there came to General Armstrong, principal of Hampton Institute, a callfrom the little town of Tuskegee, Ala., for someone to organize andbecome the principal of a normal school which the people wanted to startin that place. He recommended Mr. Washington, who opened the school onthe 4th of July in an old church and a little shanty, with anattendance of thirty pupils. In 1895 Mr. Washington came into nationalprominence by a remarkable speech at the Cotton States Exposition inAtlanta, and after that he interested educators and thinking peoplegenerally in the working out of his ideas of practical education. He wasthe author of several books along lines of industrial education andcharacter-building, and in his later years only one or two other men inAmerica could rival his power to attract and hold great audiences.Harvard University conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts in1896, and Dartmouth that of Doctor of Laws in 1901. He died in 1915.
In the course of his career Mr. Washington delivered hundreds ofaddresses on distinguished occasions. He was constantly in demand atcolleges and universities, great educational meetings, and gatherings ofa civic or public character. His Atlanta speech is famous for theso-called compromise with the white South: "In all things that arepurely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the handin all things essential to mutual progress." On receiving his degree atHarvard in 1896, he made a speech in which he emphasized the fact thatthe welfare of the richest and most cultured person in New England wasbound up with that of the humblest man in Alabama, and that each man washis brother's keeper. Along somewhat the same line he spoke the nextyear at the unveiling of the Robert Gould Shaw Monument in Boston. Atthe Chicago Peace Jubilee in 1898 he reviewed the conduct of the Negroin the wars of the United States, making a powerful plea for justice toa race that had always chosen the better part in the wars of thecountry. Mr. Washington delivered many addresses, but he never reallysurpassed the feeling and point and oratorical quality of these earlyspeeches. The following paragraph from the Atlanta speech willillustrate his power of vivid and apt illustration:
A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: "Water, water; we die of thirst!" The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: "Cast down your bucket where you are." A second time the signal, "Water, water; send us water!" ran up from the distressed vessel, and was answered: "Cast down your bucket where you are." And a third and a fourth signal for water was answered: "Cast down your bucket where you are." The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River. To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next door neighbor, I would say: "Cast down your bucket where you are"--cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded.[7]
[Footnote 7: Quoted from "Story of My Life and Work," 165-6.]
The power to realize with fine feeling the possibilities of an occasionmay be illustrated from the speech at Harvard:
If through me, an humble representative, seven millions of my people in the South might be permitted to send a message to Harvard--Harvard that offered up on death's altar young Shaw, and Russell, and Lowell, and scores of others, that we might have a free and united country--that message would be, Tell them that the sacrifice was not in vain. Tell them that by habits of thrift and economy, by way of the industrial school and college, we are coming up. We are crawling up, working up, yea, bursting up--often through oppression, unjust discrimination and prejudice, but through them all we are coming up, and with proper habits, intelligence, and property, there is no power on earth that can permanently stay our progress.[8]
[Footnote 8: Quoted from "Story of My Life and Work," 210-11.]
The eloquence of Douglass differed from that of Washington as does thepower of a gifted orator differ from the force of a finished publicspeaker. The one was subjective; the other was objective. Douglassswayed his audience, and even himself, by the sweep of his passion andrhetoric; Washington studied every detail and weighed every word, alwayskeeping in mind the final impression to be made. Douglass was anidealist, impatient for the day of perfect fruition; Washington was anopportunist, making the most of each chance as it came. The one voicedthe sorrows of the Old Testament, and for the moment produced the moretremendous effect; the other longed for the blessing of the NewTestament and spoke with lasting result. Both loved their people andeach in his own way worked as he could best see the light. By hisearnestness each in his day gained a hearing; by their sincerity bothfound a place in the oratory not only of the Negro but of the world.