d of letters is the brilliant career
of our poet-friend and co-laborer, Mr. Paul Dunbar. It was my great
privilege last summer to witness his triumph, on more than one occasion,
in that grand metropolis of Letters and Literature, the city of London;
as well as to hear of the high value set upon his work, by some of the
first scholars and literati of England. Mr. Dunbar has had his poems
republished in London by Chapman & Co.; and now has as high a reputation
abroad as he has here in America, where his luminous genius has broken
down the bars, and with himself, raised the intellectual character of
his race in the world's consideration.

These cheering occurrences, these demonstrations of capacity, give us
the greatest encouragement in the large work which is before this
Academy. Let us enter upon that work, this year, with high hopes, with
large purposes, and with calm and earnest persistence. I trust that we
shall bear in remembrance that the work we have undertaken is our
special function; that it is a work which calls for cool thought, for
laborious and tireless painstaking, and for clear discrimination; that
it promises nowhere wide popularity, or, exuberant eclat; that very much
of its ardent work is to be carried on in the shade; that none of its
desired results will spring from spontaneity; that its most prominent
features are the demands of duty to a needy people; and that its noblest
rewards will be the satisfaction which will spring from having answered
a great responsibility, and having met the higher needs of a benighted
and struggling Race.

Footnotes:

[1] _Baptism_, for well nigh a century, was denied Negro slaves in the
colonies, for fear it carried emancipation with it. Legislation on
Education began at a subsequent date. In 1740 it was enacted in SOUTH
CAROLINA: "Whereas, the having slaves taught to write or suffering them
to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconvenience, Be
it enacted, That all and every person or persons whatsoever who shall
hereafter teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or
shall use or employ any slave as a Scribe in any manner of writing,
hereafter taught to write; every such person or persons shall forever,
for every such offense, forfeit the sum of L100 current money."

The next step, in South Carolina, was aimed against mental instruction
of _every kind_, in reading and writing.

A similar law was passed in Savannah, Georgia. In