INTRODUCTION.

BY PROF. W. H. CROGMAN.


I am requested to write an introduction to this volume of essays,
written by representative men and women of the Negro race and touching
almost every phase of the Negro question. Certainly it is a hopeful
sign that the Negro is beginning, with some degree of seriousness, to
turn his eyes inward, to study himself, and try to discover what are
his possibilities, and what the obstructions that lie in the way to
his larger development. Undoubtedly this is a rational method of
procedure, and the one most likely to reward his effort; for it is
only in proportion as we become interested in ourselves that we enlist
the interest of others, and only in proportion as we respect ourselves
that we command the respect of others. The story is told of a Negro
who, at some time during the War of the Rebellion, being asked why he
did not enlist in the army, replied: "De Norf and de Souf am two dogs
fightin' over a bone. De nigger am de bone and takes no part in de
conflict." That this is not the language of an intelligent Negro is
quite evident, if, indeed, it be the language of a Negro at all. So
common has it been in this country to caricature the black man, to
represent him as a driveler in speech and a buffoon in action, that I
am always loath to accept as his those many would-be-witty sayings
which, too often, originating with others, have been attributed to
him. But be the author of that remark whosoever he may, one thing now