beginning of his days of freedom has not yet been committed to paper.
It will require a black writer to perform this deed. But it is within
the limits of truth to affirm that history can furnish no burdens upon
a race's shoulders parallel to those upon the shoulders of the
untutored black man when he was shot out of the mouth of the cannon
into freedom's arena. A Hindoo poet, of English blood, has written a
beautiful poem upon the "White Man's Burden," but it is poetry. "The
Black Man's Burden" is a burden that rests upon his heart, and, like
the deepest feelings of the human heart, it cannot be reduced to cold
type. Thomas Nelson Page describes the untoward beginnings of the
race:

"No other people ever had more disadvantages to contend with on their
issue into freedom. They were seduced, deceived, misled. Their habits
of industry were destroyed, and they were fooled into believing that
they could be legislated into immediate equality with a race that,
without mentioning superiority of ability and education, had a
thousand years' start of them. They were made to believe that their
only salvation lay in aligning themselves against the other race, and
following blindly the adventurers who came to lead them to a new
promised land. It is no wonder that they committed great blunders and
great excesses. For nearly a generation they have been pushed along
the wrong road. But now, in place of political leaders, who were
simply firebrands, is arising a new class of leaders, which, with a
wider horizon, a deeper sagacity and a truer patriotism, are
endeavoring to establish a foundation of morality, industry and
knowledge, and to build upon them a race that shall be capable of
availing itself of every opportunity that the future may present, and
worthy of whatever fortune it may bring."