patriotic, courageous. He can be useful in the community in which he
lives. He can be as good as anybody else. No one doubts that he can be
as meritorious as any other. Geographical lines cannot prevent the
Negro from being meritorious. Now, if he is meritorious, will he be
treated according to his merits in both church and state? Is it
possible in this country that he will be treated according to his
deserts? I take this to be the gist of the question, and it is a hard
one to answer. The prejudice against the Negro is more severe than
that against any other people, and the prejudice grows stronger. Even
the Christian churches are yielding to it. I remember that the
Plebeians in the Roman Empire, though of the same blood as the
Patricians, were excluded from the Comitia, the Senate and all civil
and priestly offices of the state for several hundred years. Though of
the same color, the statute of Kilkenny prohibited the Irish and
English from intermarrying in the fourteenth century. Prejudice ran
high, and has not ended yet. The wail of sorrowful Ireland continues
to go up before England for justice. I remember the sad story of
Kosciusko and the Poles. The Poles were white.

Here we are of a different color, ex-slaves, poor, beaten back by
prejudice. Who can tell our future? We can only hope and give the
reason for the hope that is in us.

I believe it is _possible_ for us to succeed in America. I should
despair if I did not believe this. Why do I believe it? Here is my
ground for hope: First, the Negro is the only race that has ever
looked into the face of the blue-eyed Anglo-Saxon without being swept
from the face of the earth. There is that docility, that perseverance,
that endurance, long-suffering patience and that kindness in the Negro
which rob the pangs of the hatred of the white man of much of their