Page:Journal of Negro History, vol. 7.djvu/479



an article in the New York Times, a while ago, declaring that the constitutional amendments conferring citizenship on the Negroes were wrong and that the reaction against them in depriving the Negroes of the vote was justifiable; to which I wrote a reply, mostly in the language of Mr. Flemming, a native Southerner who had represented Georgia in Congress, arguing that the amendments were not only justifiable but indispensable, and the Times would not publish it, so that I had to give it to the Post. There is a prevalent opinion that the "carpet baggers" were a sort of monsters. I have known some of them as estimable men and practical public spirited citizens of a very high type: Judge Henderson of Wilcox County, Ala. for example.

Now if you can go to the roots of history in this period and investigate the facts, with biographical sketches of leading men as they actually were and authentic records of things that were actually done, it might help to clarify history.

The incessant whining and propaganda of Southern bigots devoted to the old regime naturally have an undue influence on sympathetic listeners. I am afraid that this influence will not be counteracted as it ought to be till Negro investigators, historians and journalists learn to tell their side of the story with greater thoroughness.

Very truly yours,

15th, 1916

Room 6, Robeson, Bldg.

Washington, D. C.

My Dear Sir:

In reply to yours of the 8th, please find herewith a contribution in the line of my suggestion to Mr. Baker. I did not mean to imply I had much material of that nature, and what is sent is that I could readily find, and would need to take time to go through my papers to really know what I have. If you can use it all right; if not, consign it to the waste basket, and no complaint will be coming.

What I had more in mind was this: In many communities can be found some one person who has contributed services of value to