of the race. There is, however, among us too great a
tendency to ridicule the Negro press unreservedly, and though much of
the ridicule may be deserved it remains true that the accumulative
power of the Negro press is hardly appreciated as it deserves to be.
They who write for us and fight our battles are essentially our only
spokesmen, and as ignored as our articles and editorials would seem to
be by the white press, it is true nevertheless that the white
newspapers take close notice of what the Negro writers have to say.
They may not ordinarily deign to appear to take notice, but let any
publication be made in our most humble sheets that seems to them to be
dangerous or too presumptuous to let pass, and it will be seen then
that the white press takes notice and the power of the colored press
will become apparent. I have said that we have not yet produced one
single great paper, nor one great editor, as white papers and editors
are great, and to this I think there can be justly no exceptions
taken, for we are lacking in nearly all the accessories to make such
greatness possible, but we do have a few papers and editors of marked
power. The two most exceptional papers of power that have come under
my notice are the New York Age, edited by Mr. T. Thomas Fortune, and
the Richmond Planet, edited by Mr. Mitchell. These two papers and
their editors have been, and are yet, valiant warriors for the race
and of incalculable benefit to the race. As a terse, caustic and
biting editorial writer Mr. Fortune is hardly surpassed by any one,
and his paper for years has been uncompromising in fighting all
adverse issues in the race question. Almost the same thing can be said
of the Richmond Planet, and more than any other, perhaps, has this
paper been valiant in waging war against lynching. These two papers,
together with a host of others, have set forth the power of the pen
and have accomplished far more to offset the adverse sentiment created
by the white press than can ever be fully determined. There is another
class of Negro writers than those I have mentioned that gets an
occasional hearing in the white papers of the South and is of great
value to the race. Any one familiar with the strictures of the South,
knows that the Negroes themselves have essentially no chance to
discuss through the white newspapers the great questions which are
ever to the front concerning them, and their position in the South,
and also but very little more