hich was never
done so completely before,--a work which has already told upon the
American mind; and next you have awakened in the Race an ambition which,
in some form, is sure to reproduce both mental and artistic organization
in the future.

The cultured classes of our country have never interested themselves to
stimulate the desires or aspirations of the mind of our race. They have
left us terribly alone. Such stimulation, must, therefore, in the very
nature of things, come from ourselves.

Let us state here a simple, personal incident, which will well serve to
illustrate a history.

I entered, sometime ago, the parlor of a distinguished southern
clergyman. A kinsman was standing at his mantel, writing. The clergyman
spoke to his relative--"Cousin, let me introduce to you the Rev. C., a
clergyman of our Church," His cousin turned and looked down at me; but
as soon as he saw my black face, he turned away with disgust, and paid
no more attention to me than if I were a dog.

Now, this porcine gentleman, would have been perfectly courteous, if I
had gone into his parlor as a cook, or a waiter, or a bootblack. But my
profession, as a clergyman, suggested the idea of letters and
cultivation; and the contemptible snob at once forgot his manners, and
put aside the common decency of his class.

Now, in this, you can see the attitude of the American mind toward the
Negro intellect. A reference to this attitude seems necessary, if we
would take in, properly, the present condition of Negro culture.

It presents a most singular phenomenon. Here was a people laden with the
spoils of the centuries, bringing with them into this new land the
culture of great empires; and, withal, claiming the exalted name and
grand heritage of Christians. By their own voluntary act they placed
right beside them a large population of another race of people, seized
as captives, and brought to their plantations from a distant continent.
This other race was an unlettered, unenlightened, and a pagan people.

What was the attitude taken by this master race toward their benighted
bondsmen? It was not simply that of indifference or neglect. There was
nothing negative about it.

They began, at the first, a systematic ignoring of the fact of intellect
in this abased people. They undertook the process of darkening their
minds.

"Put out the light, and then, put out the light!" was their cry for
centuries. Paganizing themselves, they sought a deeper p