ted; and there is no depth of
degradation to which we may fall to which I should not feel myself
individually dragged. In a word, I am an American citizen. I have a
heritage in each and every provision incorporated in the Constitution
of my country, and should this heritage be attempted to be filched
from me by any man or body of men, I should deem the provocation
sufficiently grievous to stake even life in defense of it. I would
plant every colored man in this country on a platform of this
nature--to think for himself, to speak for himself, to act for
himself. This is the ideal citizen of an ideal government such as ours
is modelled to become. This is my conception of the colored man as an
independent force in our politics. To aid in lifting our people to
this standard, is one of the missions which I have mapped out for my
life-work. I may be sowing the seed that will ripen into disastrous
results, but I don't think so. My conception of republican government
does not lead me to a conclusion so inconsistent with my hopes, my
love of my country and of my race.

I look upon my race in the South and I see that they are helplessly at
the mercy of a popular prejudice outgrowing from a previous condition
of servitude; I find them clothed in the garments of citizenship by
the Federal Government and opposed in the enjoyment of it by their
equals, not their superiors, in the benefits of government; I find
that the government which conferred the right of citizenship is
powerless, or indisposed, to force respect for its own enactments; I
find that these people, left to the mercy of their enemies, alone and
defenseless, and without judicious leadership, are urged to preserve
themselves loyal to the men and to the party which have shown
themselves unable to extend to them substantial protection; I find
that these people, alone in their struggles of doubt and of prejudice,
are surrounded by a public opinion powerful to create and powerful to
destroy; I find them poor in culture and poor in worldly substance,
and dependent for the bread they eat upon those they antagonize
politically. As a consequence, though having magnificent majorities,
they have no voice in shaping the legislation which is too often made
an engine to oppress them; though performing the greatest amount of
labor, they suffer from overwork and insufficient remuneration; though
having the greater number of children, the facilities of education are
not as ample or as