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Business and Professional Communication 3rd
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Testbank Questions
Title/Author: Beebe-Mottet
Chapter Number: 1
Question Counts Required:
Multiple Choice – 10 questions @ Bloom’s level: 10
Understanding
Multiple Choice – 15 questions @ Bloom’s AAE 15
Short Answer – 5 questions @ Bloom’s AAE 5
Essay – 5 questions @ Bloom’s AAE 5
Total questions per chapter: 35
Note: Here starts 10 Multiple Choice Understanding level questions
Question
M/C Question 1
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question The person who keeps things organized and emphasizes accomplishing
Stem specific tasks in an organization is called a(n)
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. manager. X
b. leader. Consider This: This person is
appointed to coordinate and
facilitate organizational
processes.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
Answer leadership quality of
Choices influencing others through
communication is an art
c. decoder. Consider This: This person is
appointed to coordinate and
facilitate organizational
processes.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
d. encoder. Consider This: This person is
appointed to coordinate and
facilitate organizational
processes.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
Learning LO 1.3: Examine how the leadership quality of influencing others through
Objective communication is an art
Topic/Conce
Leadership: Influencing Others Through Communication
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 2
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question Which ability does communication competence enhance?
Stem
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Leadership X
b. Relational Consider This: This ability
helps to influence others
through communication.
Answer
LO 1.1: Review how
Choices
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
c. Transactional Consider This: This ability
helps to influence others
through communication.
LO 1.1: Review how
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
d. Professional Consider This: This ability
helps to influence others
through communication.
LO 1.1: Review how
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
Learning
LO 1.1: Review how communication skills determine leadership qualities
Objective
Topic/Conce
Communication and Leadership
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 3
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question Which process is more sophisticated than just sending and receiving
Stem messages?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Human communication X Consider This: This is the
process of understanding
everything that happens in
Answer this world, and sharing that
Choices understanding with others
with the help of verbal and
nonverbal messages.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
b. Encoded communication Consider This: This is the
process of understanding
everything that happens in
this world, and sharing that
understanding with others
with the help of verbal and
nonverbal messages.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
c. Task dimension Consider This: This is the
process of understanding
everything that happens in
this world, and sharing that
understanding with others
with the help of verbal and
nonverbal messages.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Relational dimension Consider This: This is the
process of understanding
everything that happens in
this world, and sharing that
understanding with others
with the help of verbal and
nonverbal messages.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 4
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question Which process helps us to connect to others?
Stem
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Sharing sense X
b. Making sense Consider This: This is the
process of using words and
nonverbal cues such as
facial expressions, clothing,
gestures, etc., to
communicate our thoughts
and ideas to others.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
c. Creating meaning Consider This: This is the
process of using words and
Answer
nonverbal cues such as
Choices
facial expressions, clothing,
gestures, etc., to
communicate our thoughts
and ideas to others.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Sharing meaning Consider This: This is the
process of using words and
nonverbal cues such as
facial expressions, clothing,
gestures, etc., to
communicate our thoughts
and ideas to others.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty Easy
Level
X
(mark X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 5
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question
What messages do you send and receive simultaneously?
Stem
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Transactional X
b. Encoded Consider This: This is when
you communicate with a
person who is physically
present.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Answer c. Decoded Consider This: This is when
Choices you communicate with a
person who is physically
present.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Relational Consider This: This is when
you communicate with a
person who is physically
present.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 6
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question
________ can be verbal or nonverbal.
Stem
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Symbols X
b. Decoders Consider This: These
represent thoughts,
concepts, objects, or
experiences.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
Answer audience
Choices
c. Channels Consider This: These
represent thoughts,
concepts, objects, or
experiences.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Feelings Consider This: These
represent thoughts,
concepts, objects, or
experiences.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 7
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question Which component of communication is related to the physical, historical,
Stem and psychological communication environment?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Context X
b. Source Consider This: This is one of
the components of
communication such as
Answer
source, message, channel,
Choices
receiver, noise, and
feedback.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
c. Task Consider This: This is one of
the components of
communication such as
source, message, channel,
receiver, noise, and
feedback.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Content Consider This: This is one of
the components of
communication such as
source, message, channel,
receiver, noise, and
feedback.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 8
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question
Which type of report provides updates on the status of a project?
Stem
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
Answer (x)
Choices a. Progress X
b. Memorandum Consider This: This report
contains information about
whether a project is within
budget.
LO 1.1: Review how
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
c. Formal Consider This: This report
contains information about
whether a project is within
budget.
LO 1.1: Review how
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
d. Business Consider This: This report
contains information about
whether a project is within
budget.
LO 1.1: Review how
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
Learning
LO 1.1: Review how communication skills determine leadership qualities
Objective
Topic/Conce
Communication and Leadership
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 9
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question The process that allows the speaker to adapt the communication to ensure
Stem listeners understand the message is called
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. responding. X
b. hearing. Consider This: This process
is one in which listeners let
the speaker know how well
they understood the
message, how the message
affects them, and whether
they agree with the
message.
LO 1.4: Describe the five
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
communication and
leadership skills
c. writing. Consider This: This process
is one in which listeners let
the speaker know how well
Answer
they understood the
Choices
message, how the message
affects them, and whether
they agree with the
message.
LO 1.4: Describe the five
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
communication and
leadership skills
d. interpreting. Consider This: This process
is one in which listeners let
the speaker know how well
they understood the
message, how the message
affects them, and whether
they agree with the
message.
LO 1.4: Describe the five
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
communication and
leadership skills
Learning LO 1.4: Describe the five fundamental principles to effectively increase
Objective communication and leadership skills
Topic/Conce
Leading Others: Applying Communication Principles at Work
pt
Difficulty Easy
Level X
(mark X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 10
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Question _________ is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and
Stem reacting to verbal and nonverbal messages.
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Listening X
b. Hearing Consider This: During this
process, we accept the
message, decode, or assign
meaning to it, and then let
the other person know it
was received.
LO 1.4: Describe the five
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
Answer communication and
Choices leadership skills
c. Responding Consider This: During this
process, we accept the
message, decode, or assign
meaning to it, and then let
the other person know it
was received.
LO 1.4: Describe the five
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
communication and
leadership skills
d. Interpreting Consider This: During this
process, we accept the
message, decode, or assign
meaning to it, and then let
the other person know it
was received.
LO 1.4: Describe the five
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
communication and
leadership skills
Learning LO 1.4: Describe the five fundamental principles to effectively increase
Objective communication and leadership skills
Topic/Conce
Leading Others: Applying Communication Principles at Work
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand
(mark X
the
where
Concepts
applicable)
X
Note: Here starts 15 Multiple Choice Apply, Analyze, Evaluate level questions
Question
M/C Question 11
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Peter and Arnold are in graduate school. They are assigned a project and
meet at the library to discuss the specifics. Peter shares the information he
Question
had collected during his research while Arnold listens and tries to
Stem
understand what Peter is saying. In this scenario, what role is Peter
playing?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Source X
b. Receiver Consider This: This person is
the originator of the
expressed ideas and
feelings.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Answer c. Channel Consider This: This person is
Choices the originator of the
expressed ideas and
feelings.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Leader Consider This: This person is
the originator of the
expressed ideas and
feelings.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
(mark X
where Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate
applicable) the What You It It
Concepts Know
X
Question
M/C Question 12
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Joseph, manager at Mottola, Inc., calls a meeting with his team to discuss a
Question new project. In the meeting, he motivates his team members, sets their
Stem work agenda for the project, and alleviates any concerns about the
schedule. In this scenario, what role is Joseph playing?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Leader X
b. Communicator Consider This: A manager
takes up this role when he
or she influences the group
in new and creative ways.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
Answer c. Receiver Consider This: A manager
Choices takes up this role when he
or she influences the group
in new and creative ways.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
d. Interpreter Consider This: A manager
takes up this role when he
or she influences the group
in new and creative ways.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
Learning LO 1.3: Examine how the leadership quality of influencing others through
Objective communication is an art
Topic/Conce
Leadership: Influencing Others Through Communication
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate
(mark X
the What You It It
where
Concepts Know
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 13
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
A marketing team is worried about an upcoming project because it entails
using numerous technologies they have just learned. The team’s manager
Question explains how to approach the project, specifically identifying the terms and
Stem the people in other departments to go to for help. The team is reassured
and decides to follow her tips. In this scenario, which role are the
employees playing?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Follower X
b. Receiver Consider This: This person
has more power and
influence in the organization
than what he or she
perceives.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
Answer leadership quality of
Choices influencing others through
communication is an art
c. Leader Consider This: This person
has more power and
influence in the organization
than what he or she
perceives.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
d. Decoder Consider This: This person
has more power and
influence in the organization
than what he or she
perceives.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
Learning LO 1.3: Examine how the leadership quality of influencing others through
Objective communication is an art
Topic/Conce
Leadership: Influencing Others Through Communication
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate
(mark X
the What You It It
where
Concepts Know
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 14
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Paul is a high school English teacher, and after several months at a new
Question school, he realizes the students are not effectively able write and talk when
Stem interacting with their teachers. They also failed to perform in their written
and verbal exams. What skills do the students lack?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Communication X
b. Leadership Consider This: Studies have
Answer shown that the lack of this
Choices skill appeared to be a major
stumbling block for new
entrants into the job
market.
LO 1.1: Review how
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
c. Transactional Consider This: Studies have
shown that the lack of this
skill appeared to be a major
stumbling block for new
entrants into the job
market.
LO 1.1: Review how
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
d. Nonverbal Consider This: Studies have
shown that the lack of this
skill appeared to be a major
stumbling block for new
entrants into the job
market.
LO 1.1: Review how
communication skills
determine leadership
qualities
Learning
LO 1.1: Review how communication skills determine leadership qualities
Objective
Topic/Conce
Communication and Leadership
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate
(mark X
the What You It It
where
Concepts Know
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 15
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
After working hard and earning honors during his first year in a difficult
engineering program, Andrew was awarded the best student in his group.
While handing him the certificate, his professor said, “Well done,” without
Question
any enthusiasm, and Andrew also noticed the professor didn’t meet his eye.
Stem
From the professor’s reaction, Andrew knew he was not happy with him for
some reason. Which dimension of communication message is implied by the
professor?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Relational X
b. Task Consider This: This
dimension offers cues about
emotions and attitudes of
the speaker toward others.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Answer c. Feedback Consider This: This
Choices dimension offers cues about
emotions and attitudes of
the speaker toward others.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Noise Consider This: This
dimension offers cues about
emotions and attitudes of
the speaker toward others.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate
(mark X
the What You It It
where
Concepts Know
applicable)
X
Question
Title M/C Question 16
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Palash and Viktor were working on their company’s new product launch
Question together. Viktor begins by sharing his ideas about how to prepare for the
Stem launch. After he finishes explaining, he asks Palash if he understood and
agrees with his ideas. In this scenario, what role is Palash playing?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Receiver X
b. Communicator Consider This: This is the
person who interprets the
message and determines if
the interaction is successful.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Answer c. Leader Consider This: This is the
Choices person who interprets the
message and determines if
the interaction is successful.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Manager Consider This: This is the
person who interprets the
message and determines if
the interaction is successful.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
(mark X
where Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate
applicable) the What You It It
Concepts Know
X
Question
M/C Question 17
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
A manufacturing company wants to organize a meeting to discuss the
quality of their new product with various customers. The head of the
Question
marketing department is asked to tell all of the customers the time and
Stem
place of the meeting. What method of communication should the employee
use, and why?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Media-lean; it is used X
when the information is
routine and
noncontroversial.
b. Media-rich; it is used Consider This: This method
when the message is is used when one wants to
highly detailed and convey simple messages to
complicated. many people in a short span
of time.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
Answer
communication is an art
Choices
c. Nonverbal; it creates Consider This: This method
powerful ideas with is used when one wants to
greater impact than convey simple messages to
words. many people in a short span
of time.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
d. Verbal; it consists of Consider This: This method
symbols and a system of is used when one wants to
rules that is easy for convey simple messages to
people to understand. many people in a short span
of time.
LO 1.3: Examine how the
leadership quality of
influencing others through
communication is an art
Learning LO 1.3: Examine how the leadership quality of influencing others through
Objective communication is an art
Topic/Conce
Leadership: Influencing Others Through Communication
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate
(mark X
the What You It It
where
Concepts Know
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 18
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Marcos is handling a new project, for which he recruits 15 new employees.
All the team members are new to the company and project, so Marcos calls
Question a meeting to explain the details. At the meeting, he first introduces the
Stem company and the systems they use. Then, he explains the nuances of the
project and the company’s expectations. Which term best describes the
principle of communication that Mark is following, and how is it helpful?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. X
Leaders are aware of their
communication with
Answer
themselves and others; it
Choices
provides awareness of
one’s own thoughts,
assumptions,
communication behavior,
as well as the behavior of
others.
b. Leaders effectively use Consider This: This principle
and interpret verbal is all about being conscious
messages; it makes it of one’s interactions with
possible for people to colleagues while at work.
understand each other
LO 1.4: Describe the five
effectively.
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
communication and
leadership skills
c. Leaders listen and Consider This: This principle
respond thoughtfully to is all about being conscious
others; it helps one to of one’s interactions with
know the needs and colleagues while at work.
requirements of others.
LO 1.4: Describe the five
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
communication and
leadership skills
d. Leaders appropriately Consider This: This principle
adapt messages to is all about being conscious
others; it helps one’s of one’s interactions with
messages to have an colleagues while at work.
impact.
LO 1.4: Describe the five
fundamental principles to
effectively increase
communication and
leadership skills
Learning LO 1.4: Describe the five fundamental principles to effectively increase
Objective communication and leadership skills
Topic/Conce
Leading Others: Applying Communication Principles at Work
pt
Difficulty
Level Easy Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate
(mark X
the What You It It
where
Concepts Know
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 19
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Daphne needs to resolve an urgent issue with a client project. She visits her
Question boss’ office to discuss the problem, but her boss is occupied and doesn’t
Stem have much time to chat. What type of communication should Daphne use to
limit or end the conversation?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. Verbal X
b. Nonverbal Consider This: It is the
message you actually say.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Answer
Choices c. Transactional Consider This: It is the
message you actually say.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. Relational Consider This: It is the
message you actually say.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty
Level Moderate Difficult
(mark X
X
where
applicable)
Skill Level
Apply Analyze Evaluate
(mark X
What You It It
where
Know
applicable)
X
Question
M/C Question 20
Title
Assessment
Multiple-choice
Type
Anneliese is an HR manager at Fisher Corporation. One Friday, she conducts
a game for the employees, where she explains a situation that involves
Question feelings and emotions. One person has to act out the given situation in a
Stem way that another employee is able to understand what type of emotion the
first employee is exhibiting. In this scenario, how do the participants
communicate emotions and feelings?
Answer Correct Feedback
Answer
(x)
a. By sharing sense X
b. By creating meaning Consider This: It is through
the process of
communicating
understanding of our
experiences that we connect
to other humans.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
c. By making sense Consider This: It is through
Answer
the process of
Choices
communicating
understanding of our
experiences that we connect
to other humans.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
d. By encoding feedback Consider This: It is through
the process of
communicating
understanding of our
experiences that we connect
to other humans.
LO 1.2: Recognize that
communication occurs only
when it reaches the desired
audience
Learning LO 1.2: Recognize that communication occurs only when it reaches the
Objective desired audience
Topic/Conce
Communication: Making Sense and Sharing Sense
pt
Difficulty Moderate Difficult
Another random document with
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adage, that “the business of an opposition is to oppose.” The man
and his efforts historically considered deserve some recognition.
James E. Wigg, was born at Linden Park, Bluffton, Beaufort
District, South Carolina, March 25, 1850, the son of a colored
woman by a white man. As a small boy he attracted the attention of
Gen. David Hunter, upon whom he waited at Hilton Head, who, after
the war, took him with him to Washington, D. C., and placed him at
Whalen Institute. He was said to have been well versed in theology,
and “an earnest follower of Swedenborg.”[242] His work in the
Convention was marked by a distinct exhibition of intelligence. He
submitted a draft for a constitution which was creditable, and he
proposed an ordinance, to the Committee on Finance and Taxation,
of distinct merit. It constituted politics of a high order. It was a bold
challenge to the white majority, on a line hard to defend the
unfavorable report of the Committee in response to.
Wigg’s ordinance was as follows:
“Be it ordained by the people of South Carolina, in convention
assembled, that the Comptroller General, County Auditors, County
Treasurers and all persons charged with the collections of State or
municipal taxes, be and are hereby required, to keep separate and
distinct accounts of all tax returns and taxes paid by white and colored
taxpayers and that the same be always open for public inspection.”
The Convention voted this down, although the subject is known to
be one upon which much loose generalization is continually indulged
in as the basis of political appeals to voters.
But Wigg struck a more telling note than this. The concluding
clause of Article 1, Sec. II being reported:
“After the adoption of this constitution any person who shall fight a
duel or send or accept a challenge, for that purpose, or be an aider or
abettor in fighting a duel, shall be deprived of holding any office of
honor or trust in the State, and shall be otherwise punished as the law
shall prescribe.”
To this Wigg suggested the simple addition, “or any one engaged
in lynching.”[243] The amendment was voted down, but in what
position did the vote so disposing of it place the law-making whites?
How does it read today?
Wigg’s speech on the suffrage clause, from the standpoint of his
race, was also a strong presentation of the subject, pitched upon a
high plane, eloquent and dignified. No extracts from it will do it
justice. To be appreciated at its full value, it must be read as a whole.
In it was none of that amusing buffoonery, which in another colored
delegate’s remarks so captivated the press representatives; but it did
contain not a little biting sarcasm. It is a speech well worth the
perusal of the careful student of history, who is desirous of informing
himself of the various styles of men, our institutions and our
practices have evolved. But with all that has been stated, yet the
most interesting incident connected with this colored man’s service
in the Convention, was his clash with the strongest and most
influential member of that body, in an impromptu debate, arising
almost accidentally, in which, by no stretch of imagination, can the
colored man be said to have been worsted. That he owed his
triumph to the weakness of the position of his adversary was his
fortune, and he used it to effect.
As has been before suggested, by passing such a law to restrain
the egress of the Negroes, as the new regime had done in 1890, the
inconsistency of declarations concerning the dangerous
characteristics of the race had been made manifest, and in the full
tide of his progress as leader of the Convention, Senator Tillman
found himself on a shoal from which it took some floundering to get
again into natatory water.
As reported in the press the incident appears as follows:
“Senator Tillman said he would preface his remarks by reading from
his first or inaugural message, when he advocated township
government.... ‘At that time we were hampered by this Sinbad’s old
man, the Negro. He is here and he is going to be here and we must
look out for the nigger in the wood pile.’”
Mr. Wigg (a young colored man) asked Senator Tillman:
“Do I understand that you object to the presence of the Negro in
South Carolina?”
“Senator Tillman: Not a bit, but I would place no restraint upon his
emigration.
“Mr. Wigg: Did you not sign a bill calculated to prevent his leaving?
“Senator Tillman: I never signed such a measure.[244]
“Mr. Wigg: I mean the act imposing a tax on emigration agents.”
To this distinct specification of the act passed while he was
Governor Tillman at first hastily claimed that it had been passed
during his predecessor’s term of office; but later, on reflection, made
a point of informing the Convention that he found he had signed it
and desired, “to apologize to the State for having done so.”
The author of the Act, a cotton planter from Marlboro, W. D.
Evans, then arose and also apologized for it, and a verbal pledge
was given, that the Act should be repealed. At that time the Act was
in its amended form, only operative for one-half of the year. But so
far from being repealed, the only action concerning it, was the
making of it operative for the whole year as originally drawn, license
reduced.
As dissatisfying as such a statement may be to those to whom the
injustice of it, and the disregard of a promise given under such
solemn conditions, is repugnant, it must be borne in mind, that
similar legislation of the State of Georgia had been, in the mean
time, reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States, and
sustained upon the grounds inter alia, that—
“If it can be said to affect the freedom of egress from the State or
the freedom of the contract, it does only incidentally and remotely.”[245]
The Supreme Court of the United States, therefore, shares with
the Lower South the responsibility for this harsh and unwise
restriction of the right of labor to its fullest wage, as well as the denial
to a peculiarly ignorant and helpless mass of the population, of an
assisted egress from localities where they are said to be such a
menace from their extraordinary numbers, that a setting aside of all
law and depriving of individuals of life without law by mobs is
sometimes by some people justified.
But, while arguing for labor its right to go where it wishes to win its
highest wage, we need not shut our eyes to the rank selfishness of
the industrial agencies, which sweep out of a community the bulk of
the able-bodied males and leave only the dependent women and
children as a burden on it. That, however, could and should be met
by legislation preventative of the breaking up of families simply to
meet the demands of industrial slavery. But the right of the laborer to
all that his work can earn should be protected, nevertheless.
As fruitful as the incidents of this extraordinary Convention were,
in illustration of phases of the Negro question, the most remarkable
of all, however, remains yet to be narrated. It has been previously
stated, that in 1865, when the States of the then defunct
Confederacy endeavored to rehabilitate themselves, as members of
the Union, after Emancipation, but before Reconstruction, both
South Carolina and Mississippi adopted codes, in which were the
provisions that “every person who may have of Caucasian blood
seven-eighths or more shall be deemed a white person,” thus
separating such from “persons of color”, a denomination including all
Negroes and mixed blood having less than seven-eighths of
Caucasian blood, who were declared at the same time, “not entitled
to social or political equality with white persons.”
This would appear to have been only another way of stating that
those who did have seven-eighths or more of Caucasian blood were
entitled to social and political equality with the whites. But
Reconstruction, as has been shown, swept this legislation out of
existence, in the attempt then made to place all upon one plane of
social equality, and to punish as severely as a law could be framed
to, such as might be accused of any discrimination of a social nature.
This preposterous piece of legislation was in its turn done away with
when Reconstruction passed away, and in its place there was
enacted the law which penalized marriage between whites and
Negroes. In the South Carolina convention of 1895, an attempt was
made to so frame the law, as to make it conform to the view held in
South Carolina and Mississippi in 1865; but to this there was
opposition in the shape of an amendment reading as follows:
“Sec. 34. The marriage of a white person with a Negro or mulatto
person who shall have any Negro blood, shall be unlawful, and the
parties to such marriage, upon conviction shall be punished as the
General Assembly may direct.”[246]
Over this amendment to the report of the committee much
discussion arose and among other expressions of opinion, was one
from Mr. Sligh of Newberry, that it would be better to allow any one
with only one sixteenth of Negro blood to raise white, rather than
force such, to raise colored children. Sentiment was, however,
against his view, and the proposed amendment was accepted as
above outlined.
But in two weeks, after many renewals of discussion as to the
wrong and injury which might result from accusations apt to be
based upon a proportion so indefinite, according to press report:
“On motion of Mr. W. D. Evans, Sec. 34, was recurred to, and
trouble began. Mr. Evans proposed to amend the section by providing
that the miscegenation law shall not apply to persons of mixed blood,
whose status is that of white people. Mr. George Tillman stated, that
he was very feeble, but that he felt compelled to say something on this
subject. For one, he had felt ashamed when the delegate from
Beaufort had clapped his hands, and declared that the coons had a
dog up a tree. He was further mortified to see that the gentleman from
Newberry (Mr. Sligh) and the gentleman from Edgefield (Mr. B.
Tillman) goaded and taunted into putting in the constitution, that no
person with any trace of Negro blood should intermarry with a white
person and that for such marriage the Legislature should provide
punishment even beyond that of bastardizing children and adulterizing
marriage. Mr. Tillman said the Mississippi law forbidding marriage
between white people with those with more than one-eighth Negro
blood is the old South Carolina law. If the law is made, as it now
stands, respectable families in Aiken, Barnwell, Colleton and
Orangeburg will be denied right to intermarry among the people with
whom they are now associated and identified. At least one hundred
families would be affected, to his knowledge. They had sent good
soldiers to the Confederate Army, and are now landowners and
taxpayers. He asserted, as a scientific fact that there was not a full
blooded Caucasian on the floor of the Convention. Every member had
in him a certain mixture of Mongolian, Arab, Indian or other colored
blood. The pure blooded white man had needed and received an
infusion of darker blood, to give him readiness and purpose. It would
be a cruel injustice and the source of endless litigation, of scandal,
horror, feud and bloodshed to undertake to annul or forbid marriage
for a remote, perhaps obsolete trace of Negro blood. By the rule of
evidence traditional notoriety was admissible in proving pedigree. The
doors would be opened to scandal, malice and greed; to statements
on the witness stand, that the father or the grandfather, or
grandmother had said that A or B had Negro blood in their veins. Any
man who is half a man would be ready to blow up half the world with
dynamite, to prevent or avenge attacks upon the honor of his mother
or the legitimacy or purity of the blood of his father. He moved the
restoration of the section to its original form.”[247]
Mr. George D. Tillman’s effort was successful, and the section, as
finally adopted stands:
“Art. III, Sec. 33. The marriage of a white person with a Negro or
mulatto or person who shall have one eighth or more of Negro blood
shall be unlawful and void.”
FOOTNOTES:
[232] Bryce, The American Commonwealth, Revised Edition
(1910) p. 503, V. 2.
[233] Harper’s Weekly, January 31st, 1891.
[234] News and Courier, September 15th, 1890.
[235] Ibid. October 16th, 1890.
[236] Geo. William Curtis, Letter to Author, Jan. 21st, 1891.
[237] Statutes South Carolina, Vol. 20,—p. 1084.
[238] Ibid. Vol. 21, p. 429.
[239] News and Courier, September 17th, 1890.
[240] Theo. D. Jervey, Migration of the Negroes, pp. 1-2.
[241] Journal of S. C. Constitutional Convention 1895, p. 476.
[242] S. H. Rogers, Letter to Author, December 9th, 1910.
[243] News and Courier, October 3rd, 1895.
[244] Ibid. October 26, 1895.
[245] Supreme Court Reporter, Williams vs. Fears Vol. 21, pp.
128-130.
[246] News and Courier, October 4th, 1895.
[247] Ibid. October 17th, 1895.
CHAPTER XI
But if, in the personalities of Wigg and others, illustrations had
been afforded of the advancement of the Negro in refinement,
culture and morals, in the mass, the race was by no means fit to
discharge the full duties of citizenship in the South. Even as the most
active and progressive moved out and into other regions, they
seemed to bring to bear upon the question, in propria persona, an
argument which was inclining the inhabitants of the North and West
more and more to the vociferous expression, that the Southern white
man best understood the Negro; that the Negro was better off in the
South than elsewhere; and that the South was the natural home of
the Negro.
However else the whites of the North might differ, as Republicans
or Democrats, philanthropists or politicians, there was almost
unanimity of opinion, that the Negro was not wanted in the North. But
he was pushing in.
Despite all his other claims to greatness, therefore, the fact, that
he and his policy furnished the most effective means and instrument
for retaining the Negroes in the South, contributed immensely to the
late Dr. Booker T. Washington’s remarkable hold on Northern
sentiment, for with his rise to fame and financial power, the Negro
question took on a new phase. He had a mission and it is generally
considered to have been to lead the Negroes to manual and
industrial training, which it was in the main, but also its aim in part
was to keep the Negroes in the South; for that is the meaning of:
“Cast down your bucket where you are.”
Booker T. Washington came first prominently into view by the
speech from which the above extract was taken, delivered by him at
the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition, in Atlanta, Georgia, September
18, 1895. What D. H. Hill had urged for the Southern whites in 1866,
Washington now urged for the Negroes. The Northern people were
growing somewhat weary of the Negroes’ continual appeals for
political recognition and this speech, avoiding such and couched in
the most conciliatory phrases concerning the Southern whites, was a
surprising departure. It struck a popular chord. It was written up in
the very best vein by the most celebrated journalistic correspondent
of that period, James Creelman, then in the zenith of his career of
feature writing, as an “epoch making oration.” This writer,
commanding the pages of the most widely read New York paper of
that day, ranked—
“Professor Booker T. Washington, President of the Tuskegee
(Alabama) Normal and Industrial Institute, as the foremost man of his
race in America.”[248]
But Creelman did not stand alone. The editor of the Atlanta
Constitution telegraphed to the North that “the address was a
revelation.”
The Boston Transcript declared: “It dwarfed all the other
proceedings and the exposition itself.”[249]
President Cleveland was even quoted as affirming that “the
exposition would be fully justified if it did not do more than furnish the
opportunity for its delivery.”[250]
The key-note of the speech has been before noted. In addition it
contained two specific declarations, which constituted “the
revelation”:
“1. In all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the
fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.
[251]
2. The wisest of my race understand, that the agitation of questions
of social equality is the extremest folly and that progress in the
enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us, must be the result
of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.”[252]
When to these expressions was added the further declaration:—
“that we shall prosper as we learn to dignify and glorify common
labor.”[253]—
it was scarcely surprising that the speech was generally accepted in
the South as a renunciation of all hopes of social equality, and an
acceptance of a position for the Negro very near to that which
Calhoun had assigned to him—“the best substratum of population in
the world” for it would be one—“upon which great and flourishing
commonwealths could be most easily and safely reared.”
What fault then could the superficial Southern thinker find with
such a policy? It certainly fitted very admirably with that which
Senator Butler had declared some five years previously it was “not a
common thing to hear men say,” viz., the Negroes make “a good
peasant class.”
It is true the Senator had warned his fellow countrymen “that there
is no such thing as a peasant class under our form of government”;
but Washington’s remarks were so much more soothing to the South
than Butler’s warning, that the average Southern man put away from
his contemplation the possibilities dormant in the great mass of
Negroes packed in the South.
And if the Southern man is willing to chance these possibilities,
what reasonable being can blame the more sensibly sectional
Northern man, for his cheerful readiness to finance the experiment?
That, in turning the attention of the race to manual and industrial
training, Washington performed a great work is not to be denied.
That, in influencing many of his people to follow him in such a
program, he has raised the ambition of not a few to a much higher
plane than the race had shown itself heretofore capable of, must be
admitted, and these are great achievements. But it is an error to
imagine that Washington ever made for himself or his race any
renunciation of the aspiration for social equality. He condemned the
agitation, not the aspiration for it. In the opinion of Dr. Washington,
“color prejudice” was incompatible with true greatness of soul, and
the highest praise he could bestow upon a man was that he was
destitute of “color prejudice.”
Writing of President Cleveland, he said:
“Judging from my personal acquaintance with Mr. Cleveland, I do
not believe he is conscious of possessing any color prejudice. He is
too great for that. In my contact with people, I find that as a rule, it is
only little, narrow people, who live for themselves, who never read
good books, who do not travel, who never open their souls in a way to
permit them to come in contact with other souls—with the great
outside world. No man whose vision is bounded by color can come in
contact with what is highest and best in the world. In meeting men in
many places, I have found that the happiest people are those who do
the most for others; the most miserable are those who do the least. I
have also found that few things, if any, are capable of making one so
blind and narrow as race prejudice.”[254]
Although of very different temperaments, between the two colored
men Booker T. Washington and T. Thomas Fortune, there seemed to
be quite a sympathy. Washington in his autobiography avers it:
“In the summer of 1900, with the assistance of such prominent
colored men as T. Thomas Fortune, who has always upheld my hands
in every effort, I organized the National Negro Business League.”[255]
T. Thomas Fortune is a man of education and ability. As the editor
for many years of the leading colored paper in the United States, its
columns indicated that he certainly upheld the hands of Dr.
Washington. Indeed he did not hesitate to belabor without stint the
heads of such colored detractors of Dr. Washington as Monroe
Trotter of Boston and others, even administering a rap or two to
Professor W. E. Burghardt DuBois, when the latter failed to keep
step with the Washington procession. But T. Thomas Fortune was of
too independent a nature to be restrained from the expression of his
own view, and shortly before his surrender of his position as editor of
“The Age”, he published the following declaration:
“The question of the right to marry and give in marriage is at the
bottom of the whole life of the Republic. The Afro-American who says
he does not desire social equality is an unmitigated fool or an
outrageous blackguard, who sacrifices what he should know to be a
primal right to a subservient purpose.”
Can it be believed that a man sufficiently fearless to make this
declaration and feeling obliged to do so, would uphold at all times
the hands of an unmitigated fool or an outrageous blackguard? It is
difficult to believe it. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that while
Washington, with “the wisest” of his race understood: “that the
agitation of questions of social equality was the extremest folly,” he
nevertheless cherished the aspiration. And indeed it would be most
unnatural if he did not.
Bearing all the possibilities in mind, the question is, however,
whether any policy which tends to keep massed in the South so
many of the Negroes as are banked there, is to the best interest of
the South, or the Nation, or conducive of the greatest good to the
greatest number?
But Washington did not stand as the unrivalled leader of his race.
Two other members of it criticised his leadership with arguments
which could not be brushed aside too lightly. The first of these
compiled in 1899, what was the most thorough investigation into the
conditions enveloping the Negro at the North, which had been
printed up to that time. The author of “The Philadelphia Negro” is
thus introduced by Dr. A. Bushnell Hart:
“The most distinguished literary man of the race W. E. Burghardt
DuBois—an A. B. and Ph. D. of Harvard, who studied several years in
Germany, and as Professor of Sociology in Atlanta University has had
an unusual opportunity to study his people.”[256]
Dr. DuBois’s book was an entirely different style of work from the
popular “Up from Slavery” published a year or two later, “with the
painstaking and generous assistance of Max Bennett Thrasher”, as
the autobiography of Washington.
DuBois’s book, “The Philadelphia Negro” is a most carefully made
sociological investigation.
Later in 1903, Dr. DuBois published another volume entitled: “The
Souls of Black Folk”—in which after a preface opening with:
“Easily the most striking thing in the history of the American Negro
since 1876, is the ascendency of Mr. Booker T. Washington.”—
followed by a fine tribute to his worth, the author declares:—
“the time is come when one may speak in all sincerity and utter
courtesy of the mistakes and short comings of Mr. Washington’s
career, etc.”
The criticism is this:
“His doctrine has tended to make the whites, North and South, shift
the burden of the Negro problem to the Negro’s shoulders and stand
aside as critical and rather pessimistic spectators; when in fact the
burden belongs to the nation, and the hands of none of us are clean, if
we bend not our energies to righting these great wrongs. The South
ought to be led by candid and honest criticism to assert her better self
and do her full duty to the race she has cruelly wronged and is still
wronging. The North, her co-partner in guilt—cannot salve her
conscience by plastering it with gold.... The black man of America has
a duty to perform, a duty stern and delicate, a forward movement to
oppose a part of the work of their greatest leader. So far as Mr.
Washington preaches Thrift, Patience and Industrial Training for the
masses, we must hold up his hands.... But so far as Mr. Washington
apologizes for injustice, North or South, does not rightly value the
privilege and duty of voting, belittles the effect of caste distinctions,
and opposes the higher training and ambition of our brighter minds,—
so far as he, the South or the Nation does this,—we must unceasingly
and firmly oppose them.”[257]
Between “the most distinguished literary man of the race” and “the
most eminent man whom the African race has produced” there was
then a profound difference, for what could be considered, by many,
as the essential element of greatness in the policy of Washington,
was that, for which this critic took him most severely to task, viz, his
willingness that the burden of the Negro problem should be shifted
from the shoulders of the whites to those of the Negroes.
Admitting, for the sake of argument, that the willingness of
Northern and Southern whites, that it should be shifted is not to their
credit, there is a virility in the promulgation of a policy for the
Negroes by a Negro, which seeks to force the Negro “to stand upon
his feet and play the game”, which offsets many imperfections, and
for that Dr. Washington must get credit.
William Hannibal Thomas, 1900
Free Person of Color—Ohio, 1860
The second of the two Negro thinkers who questioned Dr.
Washington’s leadership, has also been quoted by Professor Hart;
but of William Hannibal Thomas, one of the few Negroes of distinct
intellectual force as before narrated, who participated in the
struggles of Reconstruction in South Carolina and emerged,
uncriticised, Dr. Hart has but two allusions.
Of the author of—“The American Negro; What he was; What he is;
and What he may become,” Professor Hart, in his own strong book,
only says, first:
“He has made admissions with regard to the moral qualities of his
fellow Negroes which have been widely taken up and quoted by anti-
Negro writers.”[258]
Second:
“Thomas, himself a Negro, asserts that the sexual impulse
constitutes the main incitement of the race, and is the chief hindrance
to its social uplifting.”[259]
In these two temperate utterances, as put, Professor Hart conveys
what might be understood as disapproval; yet it can be urged in
defense of Thomas’ criticism of his race in the last particular, that it is
paralleled by the assertion of Professor Lombroso, himself an Italian,
concerning Italians, when contrasting them with the English; while,
with regard to the first, it would be difficult to find a paragraph framed
by Thomas more suited for quotation by anti-Negro writers, than the
following in Professor Hart’s book:
“The Negro preachers are universally believed to be the worst of
their kind, and very often are. If things that are regularly told by the
white people and sometimes admitted by the colored, are true, the
majority of the Southern Negroes, rural and urban are in a horrible
state both physically and morally.”[260]
Yet whatever the Negro preachers may have been, there is good
reason to believe that, in the cities, their moral tone is improving, and
there, now, high exemplars of morality can be found.
Again, despite his apparent pessimism, the future holds for
Thomas a hope denied to not a few, who are impatient of his probe.
Where can be found anything rising higher in optimism that the
following:
“We believe American Christianity has in the person of the Negro,
an unmeasured wealth of latent spiritual energy which will be aroused
and consecrated, when the notion of sacerdotalism is scattered from
before his clouded vision, when transmitted ethnic fetichism is
eradicated from his religion and the virility of his nature, bared of
empty forms of righteousness, is breathed upon by the spirit of God,
himself.”[261]
The truth concerning this matter is, that Thomas had gone too
deeply into it to be readily understood by those who have not had
their powers of perception quickened by that daily contact, which
teaches so much. Therefore, while Thomas’s book may seem
extremely pessimistic; yet, when his philosophy is boiled down, it is
not very different from what Dr. Washington is thought to have
preached, that God helps him who helps himself, or as Thomas puts
it:
“Every endowment of manhood and womanhood is within the reach
of every human being, who puts integrity before material gain, and self
respect before mendacious folly.”[262]
“When, therefore, the Negro race acquires in the broadest and best
sense an industrial education, there will come a radical regeneration
of Southern social economy, and Negro education will stand then for
home life, domestic industry, public integrity and national welfare.”[263]
To some extent, therefore, the difference between Washington and
Thomas was temperamental. Washington’s optimism led him to
declare:
“Despite superficial and temporary signs, which might lead one to
entertain a contrary opinion, there never was a time, when I felt more
hopeful for the race than I do at the present time.”[264]
What these superficial and temporary signs leading to the contrary
opinion were, Washington did not disclose; but Thomas did:
“I am firmly rooted in the conviction, that Negroism, as exemplified
in the American type, is an attitude of mental density, a kind of
spiritual sensuousness; but that each of these characteristics, though
endowed with great persistency and potency, is nevertheless
amendable to radical treatment.”[265]
According to Max Nordau, spiritual sensuousness is by no means
a characteristic or state interfering with great achievement; for he
credits Ignatius Loyola with it.
But now to consider the view of this Northern Negro.
With the possible exception of Alfred H. Stone, it is doubtful if, up
to this date, any individual has proven himself better equipped for the
discussion of the Negro question than William Hannibal Thomas. A
comparison might warrant the statement, that if Mr. Stone has
enjoyed the wider range, Thomas has been able to make the more
exact study. If Stone has the stronger mind, and it is still further
strengthened with a fuller culture, Thomas has the more judicially
balanced temperament. Thomas’ work is done. Stone’s has not yet
reached its fullest development. We can, therefore, get a clearer
idea of Thomas’ view in its entirety than we can obtain of Stone’s.
No man has drawn more from his experience than Thomas, and
few have possessed such varied experiences to draw from. Simply
and modestly as he sketches his life and pedigree, the brief recital
indicates opportunities for observation which were most unusual,
and, had he kept a diary, it would have been simply invaluable.
Should he ever publish his impression of the men he has met and
the events he has been connected with, it could not fail to be a most
interesting and instructive book; for to powers of observation, which
are unusual, he unites judgment which is distinctly admirable. Some
brief extracts may put the man and some of his views before the
reader.
His book opens with an explanation, indicative of that which he
thinks distinguishes the Negro from the white, characteristic traits
rather than color, after which he briefly states his own pedigree and
life history, as follows:
“None of my ancestors were owned in slavery, so far as my
knowledge goes. On my mother’s side I come from German and
English stock. My maternal grandfather, the son of a white indentured
female servant by a colored man, was born at Bedford, Pennsylvania,
about the year 1758. My maternal grandmother was a white German
woman, born in 1770, and brought up at Hagerstown, Maryland. This
branch of my ancestry emigrated to Ohio in 1792; and settled near the
town of Marietta, where my mother was born in 1812. On the paternal
side my grandparents, who were of mixed blood, were Virginians by
birth. My father, who was born in 1808, near Moorfield, in Hardy
County, removed to Ohio before attaining his majority. I was born on a
farm, in a log cabin, on the fourth day of May, 1843, in Jackson
Township, Pickaway County, Ohio.”[266]
After reciting the recollections of his youth, his father’s active
interest concerning, and his own sympathy for, the “Underground
railroad”, and his efforts to educate himself, Thomas asserts that at
the outbreak of hostilities he tendered his services in 1861 to the
Government, but was refused admission to the army on account of
color. In a civil capacity, however, he entered the 42d. Ohio Infantry
Regiment, and—
“was in the Big Sandy campaign with General Garfield, and during the
summer of 1863, with the Union forces at Cumberland Gap,
Tennessee.”
In the fall of that year he joined the 95th. regiment, with which he
remained, until the capture of Vicksburg, when, returning to Ohio, he
enlisted in the 5th United States colored troops, and was appointed
sergeant, and after service in the Department of the James, was in
the assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, and lost an arm in the
capture of the city of Wilmington.
Going South to teach, he took up his residence first in Georgia,
later in Newberry, South Carolina, in 1873, and was appointed a trial
justice. In 1876 he was elected a member of the legislature, and
after the fall of the radical governments of the South, “gave up the
practice of law and withdrew from active participation in politics” to
devote his attention to the educational advancement of the
freedmen, in pursuit of which, he “visited every Southern State and
community.”[267]
Certainly such a one would seem admirably equipped for the task
of discussing most interestingly and instructively the Negro question,
as a perusal of his book clearly indicates. Why then, is the book not
more popular in the North, where is to be found the great reading
public of the United States?
Despite the advanced civilization of that section, its enlightenment,
and its assimilation of British ideals, with the growth of the material
prosperity of its people, there has grown a belief that money, if given
with sufficient liberality, can cure any trouble. This is more than
hinted at in “The Souls of Black Folk.”[268] How then can it be other
than extremely distasteful to those, so conscious of their great
generosity, to read in place of the encomiums with which the
assisted writings of Washington abound, the following audacious
criticism:
“Our Northern philanthropists, with no trustworthy knowledge of the
conditions of the freedmen, have neither sought nor acquired capable
insight into the needs and wants of Negro life. Having been influenced
by the special pleading of interested advocates, and their own
imperious convictions, it is consequently small wonder that they have
hitherto failed to deal with the problem in the most satisfactory
manner.”[269]
It is true that in considering:
“The two antagonistic forces which germinated at about the same
period in the Western world at Jamestown and Plymouth,”
Thomas thinks the product, as well as the seed, of the latter is far
superior; but, to the residents of that portion of our common country,
that has long been axiomatic and does not wipe away the offense of
making admissions with regard to the moral qualities of his fellow
Negroes, which have been widely taken up and quoted by anti-
Negro writers.
Almost it might seem in anticipation of this, Thomas says:
“In this age of realism illusions should have no place and especially
in a question of such perplexity as this and one involving such vital
issues. The Negro above all others should welcome honest criticism,
for in so doing, he will discover that those who point out faults are not
always actuated by vindictive sentiments and he may learn that timely
reproof and wise guidance may be derived even from the censure of
enemies.”[270]
With regard to the possibilities of improvement, Thomas believes:
“That rural work constitutes a basis for character building
incomparably beyond that of any agency within his (the Negro’s)
reach.”[271]
While Thomas’s view concerning the injury to the South of the
presence in it of the Negro is more strongly put it is the view
expressed by Senator Butler in 1900, and of Senator Barnwell in
1803, in all probability; yet it is a striking fact that in South Carolina,
since emancipation, after thirty years of experience, we came back
to the view expressed in 1865, and this, in spite of the fact that, as
stated by a great authority on the subject:
“It is very convenient for the Southern white man to include
everybody with a trace of Negro blood under the general race
designation.”[272]
Mr. Stone cannot include South Carolina as contributing to what
he styles:
“The combined influence of Northern and Southern white men and
of Negroes and mulattoes to perpetuate an absurd and unscientific
fiction,”[273]
for the South Carolina law with regard to intermarriage between
the races does not include every one with a trace of Negro blood as
a Negro. And this brings us up to a consideration of this phase of the
question.
The view of T. Thomas Fortune, on the intermarriage of persons of
different races, has been cited.
DuBois’s, expressed with temperance, is as follows:
“Among the best classes of Negroes and whites, such marriages
seldom occur.”[274]
Yet he maintains that:
“Any legislation against it, is inconsistent with the principle of
freedom of choice in a matter exclusively pertaining to the individual.”
Twenty years later, in “The Comet”, he allowed his fancy fuller
play.
When Thomas reaches this point in his discussion, we find neither
the extravagant expression of Fortune, nor the apparently varying
views and fancies of DuBois. Thomas says:
“There is no doubt that judicious race amalgamation is capable of
exercising a profound and far reaching influence upon inferior types of
people. Degenerate people are always improved by an infusion of
virile blood; but the benefits derived from wise race admixture are to
be found in transmitted capacity not color.... The redemption of the
Negro is impossible through any process of physical amalgamation; it
is possible and assured through a thorough assimilation of the
thoughts and ideals of American civilization.”[275]
Now, as has been shown, Washington thought a color prejudice a
thing to be lamented, and yet he preached for years for the Negroes
to remain in the South; where Thomas says: