lightenment and manly ambitions.

But, when his culture fits him for something more than a field hand or a
mechanic, he is to have an open door set wide before him! And that
culture, according to his capacity, he must claim as his rightful
heritage, as a man:--not stinted training, not a caste education, not a
Negro curriculum.

The Negro Race in this land must repudiate this absurd notion which is
stealing on the American mind. The Race must declare that it is not to
be put into a single groove; and for the simple reason (1) that _man_
was made by his Maker to traverse the whole circle of existence, above
as well as below; and that universality is the kernel of all true
civilization, of all race elevation. And (2) that the Negro mind,
imprisoned for nigh three hundred years, needs breadth and freedom,
largeness, altitude, and elasticity; not stint nor rigidity, nor
contractedness.

But the "Gradgrinds" are in evidence on all sides, telling us that the
colleges and scholarships given us since emancipation, are all a
mistake; and that the whole system must be reversed. The conviction is
widespread that the Negro has no business in the higher walks of
scholarship; that, for instance, Prof. Scarborough has no right to labor
in philology; Professor Kelly Miller in mathematics; Professor Du Bois,
in history; Dr. Bowen, in theology; Professor Turner, in science; nor
Mr. Tanner in art. There is no repugnance to the Negro buffoon, and the
Negro scullion; but so soon as the Negro stands forth as an intellectual
being, this toad of American prejudice, as at the touch of Ithuriel's
spear, starts up a devil!

It is this attitude, this repellant, this forbidding attitude of the
American mind, which forces the Negro in this land, to both recognize
and to foster the talent and capacity of his own race, and to strive to
put that capacity and talent to use for the race. I have detailed the
dark and dreadful attempt to stamp that intellect out of existence. It
is not only a past, it is also, modified indeed, a present fact; and out
of it springs the need of just such an organization as the Negro
Academy.

Now, gentlemen and friends, seeing that the American mind in the general,
revolts from Negro genius, the Negro himself is duty bound to see to the
cultivation and the fostering of his own race-capacity. This is the
chief purpose of this Academy. _Our_ special mission is the encouragement
of the genius and talent in our own race. W