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Title: The Educated Negro and His Mission
The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 8

Author: W. S. Scarborough

Release Date: February 11, 2010 [EBook #31255]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The American Negro Academy.

OCCASIONAL PAPERS NO. 8.

The Educated Negro
and His Mission.

BY W. S. SCARBOROUGH.

PRICE FIFTEEN CENTS.

WASHINGTON, D. C.:
Published by the Academy,
1903

The Educated Negro and His Mission.

Human thought is like a pendulum. It sways from belief to belief, from
theory to theory, from plan to plan, and the length of its vibrations is
governed by a multitude of contending forces operating from both within
and without. Two of these influences, in the present age, are all
potential. One is the ardent desire to find the best ways and means by
which the human race may hasten on its varied development, and the other
is the strenuous determination to discover what may be styled the
"Northwest" passage to that coveted result.

The consequence is that, in this determined reach for all that humanity
craves for itself and for its civilization, the oscillations of thought
and endeavor are oftimes marked by notable extremes. Especially has this
been true in lines of education. Again and again has it been sought to
wheel the educational car upon new tracks where exaggerated views,
revolutionary ideas, radical methods have caused the eyes of the world
to be focused upon the attempt, and no movement within the arc that the
world's opinions have traversed has been unnoticed.

These changing sentiments in regard to education have been most
noticeable in their bearing upon the Negro race. It is conceded that
material tendencies are characteristic of the present age. Romance,
sentiment, idealism in life and letters, struggle as they may, are swept
aside by the vigorous commercialism that has t