the subject and who had no
remedy for the troubles complained of--have had most to say and they
have generally said it in the most reckless way, regardless of facts.
Only now and then do we have a calm view of the situation with
reasonable suggestions as to the best course to follow.

As we enter upon the twentieth century, it will be well for black and
white to get together and understand one another and ascertain as far
as possible what is best to do in the light of facts before us.

One thing is certain--the white man does not yet know the Negro.
Strange as it may seem, the Northern white man does not know him after
many years of close observation, neither does the Southern white man,
for all the years gone by in which the Negro has lived in his midst.
The observations of both in fact only leave the Negro largely an
unknown quantity to either. I have claimed heretofore that there is a
life that the white man knows nothing of. It is found in the hovel as
well as in the cultured home, in the school and the church. It is a
life in the bud-time of race pride and another race prejudice; and it
is swelling to the blossoming. _What will be the fruit?_

To know the race one must do more than occasionally to visit it
here and there, must see more than even a close examination of
schools and churches, instructed, aided and supported by white
philanthropy, will disclose. The toadying, the servile representatives
of the race, the politicians, the dependent ones--all must be passed
by and the people found. _To know the Negro one must be with him and
become a part of his life--see what he is doing, and above all, to
know what he is thinking._

Go into the schools and churches where there is not a shadow of white
influence to check freedom of speech or tinge thought and what do we
see and hear? In every case we find those from the oldest to the
youngest with some ideas upon the race question and ready to express
them. Not so with white children. They are not thinking about the
color of their skin or the texture of their hair or their rights and
privileges or the deprivation of these rights, the contempt and
ostracism following them everywhere; but the Negro child, on the other
hand, of every shade of color has these almost constantly in mind, for
they are thrust upon him. _He can think of little else._

In such schools, in such communities, the field work, the social
gathering, the literary society, the routine of school or c