he one they have
marked for his feet is the proper one in which he should walk. There is
but one direction in which the Negro should steadfastly look and but one
path, in which he should firmly plant his feet--that is, toward the
realization of complete manhood and equality, and the full justice that
belongs to an American citizen clothed with all of his constitutional
power.

This is a crucial hour for the Negro American; men are seeking to-day to
fix his industrial, political, and social status under freedom as
completely as they did under slavery. As this nation continued unstable,
so long as it rested upon the foundation-stones of slavery so will it
remain insecure as long as one-eighth of its citizens can be openly
shorn of political power, while confessedly they are denied "life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." We have no animosity against the
South or against Southern people. We would see the wounds left by the
War of the Rebellion healed; but we would have them healed so
effectually that they could not be trodden upon and made to bleed afresh
by inhuman barbarities and unjust legislation; we would have the wounds
of this nation bound up by the hands of those who are friendly to the
patient, so that they might not remain a political running sore. We
would have the bitter memories of the war effaced, but they cannot fade
while the spirit of slavery walks before the nation in a new guise. We,
too, would have a reunited country; but we would have the re-union to
include not only white men North and South, but a union so endearing,
because so just, as to embrace all of our fellow-countrymen, regardless
of section or of race.

* * * * *

It is not a man's right, it is his duty to support and defend his family
and his home; he should therefore resist any influence exerted to
prevent him from maintaining his dependants in comfort; while he should
oppose with his life the invader or despoiler of his home. God had
created man with a mind capable of infinite development and growth; it
is not, therefore, a man's right, it is his duty to improve his mind and
to educate his children; he should not, therefore, submit to conditions
which would compel them to grow up in ignorance. Man belongs to society;
it is his duty to make his personal contribution of the best that is
within him to the common good; he can do this only as he is given
opportunity to freely associate with his fellow-man. He should,
therefore, seek t