t in the faith. In the faith we feel
that, as American citizens, we are entitled to the same rights and
privileges as other citizens of the Republic. In this faith we are to
stand, and stand fast. We are not to give it up; we are not to allow
anyone, white or black, friend or foe, to induce us to retreat a single
inch from this position.

(3) We are exhorted to quit ourselves like men, to be strong. And by
this, I understand, is meant that we are to stand up in a manly way for
our rights; that we are to seek by every honorable means the full
enjoyment of our rights. It is still true--

"Who would be free himself must strike the blow."

And, if we are ever to be free from invidious distinctions in this
country, based upon race, color, previous condition, we have got to be
alive, wide-awake to our own interest. If we are not, we have no right
to expect others to be; we have no right to expect anything but failure,
but defeat. And we deserve defeat if ours is the spirit of indifference,
of unconcern. We are not going to secure our rights in this land without
a struggle. We have got to contend, and contend earnestly, for what
belongs to us. Victory isn't coming in any other way. No silent
acquiescence on our part in the wrongs from which we are suffering,
contrary to law; no giving of ourselves merely to the work of improving
our condition, materially, intellectually morally, spiritually, however
zealously pursued, is going to bring relief. We have got, in addition to
the effort we are making to improve ourselves, to keep up the
agitation, and keep it up until right triumphs and wrong is put down. A
programme of silence on the part of the race is a fool's programme.
Reforms, changes in public sentiment, the righting of wrongs, are never
effected in that way; and our wrongs will never be. A race that sits
quietly down and rests in sweet content in the midst of the wrongs from
which it is suffering is not worth contending for, is not worth saving.

This is not true of this race, however. We are not sitting down in sweet
content, let it be said to our credit. I thank God from the bottom of my
heart for these mutterings of discontent that are heard in all parts of
the land. The fact that we are dissatisfied with present conditions, and
that we are becoming more and more so, shows that we are growing in
manhood, in self-respect, in the qualities that will enable us to win
out in the end. It is our duty to keep up the agit