Literary Column
contributed by Belva Spicer
Seed For Thought
“Sheaves after sowing,
Sun after rain,
Sight after mystery,
Peace after Pain,
Joy after sorrow,
Calm after blast,
Rest after weariness,
Sweet rest at last.
Near after distant,
Gleam after gloom,
Love after loneliness,
Life after tomb,
After long agony,
Rapture of Bliss ,
Right was the pathway
Leading to this!”
Guest Column
13 Against the Odds
(Author Edwin R. Embree
Reviewed by Mary Cottingham
of Hastings, Nebr.
in Speech 10 Class at the
University of Nebraska
A. J. Toynbee writes, “The so
callpd racial explanation of dif
ferences in human performances
and achievement is either in in
eptitude or a fraud, for in the
face of mounting scientific evi
dence it is no longer tenable to
pretend that black people cannot
acquire the fundamentals of civi
lized life.”
A number of years ago, a color
ed boy sang at his work in a
barrel factory down south. A
gentleman passing heard the
boy’s song and was impressed by
the rich quality of his voice. He
invited the boy to take dinner in
his home, then played phono
graph records. For the first time
the lad heard world reknowned
artists. The gentleman turned
to the boy, “Roland, do you think
that you could sing like that?”
“Yes, sir, I think that I could,”
was the reply. The boy moved to
Boston, worked as a bell boy in
a hotel spending all of his leisure
time in the study of music. Years
later, Roland Hays, the great con
cert singer, proved in one beau
tiful concert after another that he
could da it.
Anyone who has read the life
of Booker T. Washington, anyone
who saw Paul Robeson in “Ham
let,” anyone who has listened to
the beautiful music of Marion
Anderson, or anyone who has
seen the finesse of Lena Horne
knows that the Negro is intelli
gent.
Statistics are on file which
prove beyond doubt that given
the same educational opportuni
ties the Negro’s intelligence quo
tient (I. Q.) is the equal of the
white man’s. Africans have been,
and are now doing, things very
much in the same manner as we
find them done by other people
similarly circumstanced. Their
pottery, basket implements, and
weapons show the highest skill
and the keenest appreciation of
the beautiful. They have shown
a capacity in industrial arts be
yond that of anything contem
poraneous in Europe. Evidence
shows that they have equalled—
if not excelled the world in fine
arts, that they possess an unusu
ally artistic mind, and that they
have made significant contribu
tions to the dance, music, and
sculpture. The number of those
attending high school and college
in recent years has multiplied,
and large numbers have reached
the stature of the talented class.
Time and again the Negro has
excelled the poor whites, who
have had more opportunity than
their despised neighbors of color,
but have shown less inclinations
to sacrifice to obtain an educa
tion.
To succeed, Negroes must not
only face all the trials of their
white neighbors, but they must
overcome much greater obstacles
—the degradations recent slav
ery, generations of illiteracy and
dependence, in addition to cur
rent prejudice and discrimination.
While the great mass of Ne
groes are today still below the
American average in learning,
the very fact that so many have
reached the very top of achieve
ment and fame proves their
innate intelligence to the equal
of the white man.
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