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I am in receipt of your letter and telegram from Tuskegee, 3 calling my attention to the meeting of the Committee of Twelve,4 at the Stevens House on October 12th.5 This is one of the meetings at which I should very much like to be present, and I regret exceedingly that I am tangled up here in a lawsuit which absolutely demands my presence during the whole of this week and very probably into the middle of next week; it is of a nature which does not permit of a substitute and I am therefore compelled to forego the privilege of attending the meeting.
I wish also to acknowledge your brief note calling my attention to the issue of the New York World,6 containing a review of the Atlanta horror.7 I read with great interest Mr. H. G. Wells' article in Harper's Weekly on the "Tragedy of Color", and I think you will agree that my views and those of Mr. Wells are very much the same.8 I do not believe it possible for two races to subsist side by side without intermingling; experience has demonstrated this fact and there will be more experience along that line. Another thing of which I am firmly convinced, in view of recent events, is that no system which excludes the Negro or any other class from the use of the ballot and leaves this potent instrument in the hands of the people who are alien to him in sympathy and interest, can have any healthy effect in improving his condition. No subterfuge of equal qualifi- -2- cations and just application to black and white alike of disfranchising provisions, can overcome the solemn fact which is brought home every day by reading the newspapers that these state constitutions leave the Negro absolutely at the mercy of the white man.
I have never been able to see how any man with the interest of his people at heart could favor those abominations. I know that your heart is all right, but I think your very wise head is wrong on that proposition, and I should regard it as a much more hopeful day for the Negro in this country when you cease to defend them. There is no hope for the Negro except in equality before the law, and I suspect that hope will be deferred for many a day in the Southern States. At the same time I think nothing is lost and everything gained by insisting upon the principle. A man weakens his position immensely when he takes any attitude which justifies or excuses his oppressor.
I notice a great deal has been said by colored people about the Atlanta matter. And of course I have not failed to observe that those best qualified to speak, and whose utterances would carry most weight, have not been in a position to express themselves fully. I appreciate the difficulty of their situation. And so far as the mere matter of speech is concerned, discretion on the part of people who live and work in the South is imperative. I observe that a Georgia editor was expelled from that State for saying a few truthful things about the Jim Crow law in Savannah.9 After all, the Northern press, with a surprising unanimity and vigor, has said the things which ought to have been said, much to the chagrin of the South, much to our satisfaction and I trust much to the enlightenment of Northern readers.
-3-Negro leaders for some time to come are likely to lead a somewhat strenuous existence. They have my sympathy and will have any small support ‸& cooperation that I can contribute.
With best wishes for a successful meeting of the Committee and of the Council, at which you will doubtless be present to exercise a wise and restraining influence,10 I remain
Sincerely yours, Chas. W. Chesnutt.P.S. I presume you have been reading the "Autobiography of a Southerner" in the Atlantic.11 I don't know who wrote it (tho I presume you do.) It is great stuff, & shows a real insight into Southern conditions.
C.W.C.Correspondent: Booker T. Washington (1856–1913), one of the most well-known Black activists of the early 20th century, was born into slavery in Virginia. In 1881, he became the president of what would become the Tuskegee Institute, advocating widely as a speaker and writer for technical education for Blacks, whose entry into American industry and business leadership he believed to be the road to equality. His political power was significant, but because he frequently argued for compromise with White Southerners, including on voting rights, he was also criticized by other Black activists, especially by W. E. B. Du Bois.