ng tide of prejudice; unless we can hark back to our old ideals and
old faiths, our very statues and memorials will some day mock us and cry
shame upon us.

National Emancipation was the culmination of a moral revolution, such as
the world has never seen. It was not as Garrison intended, a peaceful
revolution, the unanimous verdict of an awakened national conscience.
Thirty years of fierce agitation and fiercer politics made an appeal to
arms absolutely certain. A conflict of arms brought on by a conflict of
opinion was bound to be followed by a conflict of opinion, whichever
side won. So for fifty years since Emancipation, there has been more or
less conflict over the Negro and his place in the Republic. The results
of that conflict have in many instances been oppressive and even
disastrous to his freedom. Many things incidental to Emancipation and
vital to complete freedom are unfortunately still in the controversial
stages. The right of the Negro to cast a ballot on the same
qualifications as his other fellow citizens is not yet conceded
everywhere. Public sentiment has not yet caught up with the
Constitution, nor is it in accord with the principles of true democracy.
The right of the Negro to free access to all public places and to exact
similar treatment therein is not universal in this country. He is
segregated by law in some sections; he is segregated by custom in
others. He is subjected to many petty annoyances and injustices and
ofttimes deep humiliation solely on account of his color.

The explanation of this reactionary tendency sometimes given is that the
Negro is only a generation from slavery. It should not be forgotten that
individuals of every other race in history have at some time been held
slaves. The bondage of Israel is to-day only an epic poem. The Greek
Slave adorns simply a niche in some palace of art. The Servii of Rome
instructed the masters of the world. The Anglo-Saxon has not only worn
the Roman and Norman collars, but individuals of that race were sold as
slaves in the West Indies as late as the seventeenth century. White men
have enslaved white men, black men have enslaved black men. The place of
human slavery in the divine economy I do not understand, nor do I defend
it; I am glad that the human race has long since passed that stage in
its development. No race has a right to lord it over another or seek to
degrade it because of a history of servitude; all have passed through
this cruel e