Page:A defence of the negro race in America from the assaults and charges of Rev. J. L. Tucker.djvu/34

 And now I trust these facts will serve to convince Dr. Tucker that Northern people "know a Negro when they see him!" And I beg to add, if he has any doubt of these historical facts, he can easily verify them by any " of the United States of America."

Dr. Tucker may also learn from this that Northern people have had some experience in the endeavor to civilize and elevate the black race; and so, when they come South on such a mission, they will come, not as novices, but as adepts. In every State North they can point to schools and churches, to intelligent and thrifty communities, nay, in same cases, to wealthy and learned colored men, the result of the endeavors of their fathers to elevate a wronged and injured people, and to redress a dark and shameful past. When the South has done as much for the Negro as the North, then it will be unjust as well as absurd to say that "Southern Missionaries barely know a Negro when they see him!"

For my own part, I differ toto cœlo from Dr. Tucker. I rejoice in the aid of all sorts of Christians in this great work. I am glad to have the assistance not only of Northern, but also, and especially, of Southern white missionaries. When, with their other knowledge of the Negro, they come to a recognition of him as a, then they will make the very best missionaries to the Negro. This was the case of old with the Abolitionists. None were so true to the Negro cause as the Grimkes, the Birneys, the Brisbanes, and others.

But I must say, with all candor, that the deliverance of the black race South into the hands exclusively, of Southern whites, has its dangers. I would not, for the life of me, say one word in the least derogatory to Southern white men. They are just the same—no better, no worse—than other men. They are in no way responsible for the acts nor the sentiments of their forefathers. Nay, their fathers themselves were the heirs, not the creators, of the heritage