American Home Mission Society, the American Missionary Association the
Freedmen's Bureau, and the various churches and societies of the North
and South have contributed liberally of their time and means to aid us
in an upward struggle. The South itself has contributed its millions
to the aid of their former slaves; they have given for his schools,
they have aided him in building his churches, and there is scarcely a
single home among us, humble or palatial, that has not been erected
largely by the aid of Southern capital. But for the friendly aid of
these people among whom the great bulk of the American Negroes live,
we could never have climbed as far as we have on the ladder of
progress. The Negro is fast learning that, if he would be free he,
himself, must strike the blow, and he is teaching his children the
gospel of self-help.

The heights are still beyond, but he is slowly rising, and day by day
hope grows brighter. May God continue this progress until he shall
stand shoulder to shoulder with the highest civilization and culture
of the world.




TOPIC II.

WILL IT BE POSSIBLE FOR THE NEGRO TO ATTAIN, IN THIS COUNTRY, UNTO THE
AMERICAN TYPE OF CIVILIZATION?

BY BISHOP H. M. TURNER, D. D., LL. D., D. C. L.

[Illustration: Bishop H. M. Turner.]