Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/504

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496
THE AFRO-AMERICAN PRESS.

(which is generally admitted among us as a fact) that the entire North has been our friend and the entire South our enemy. This the author considers a very erroneous view of the matter. Let us consider it in the light of past and present circumstances, and see if we can not find men, both in the North and South, who take a friendly view of the Afro-American. We do not propose, however, to question the belief that the majority of the Afro-Americans' strongest friends are in the North; but in both the North and South we assert that the Anglo-Saxon newspapers and individuals may be divided into three distinct classes,—the friendly, the semi-friendly, and the unfriendly. The majority of the white citizens, North and South, thank God, are friendly to us. The friendly class of editors are of that humane and Christian sect that recognize the Afro-American as a man, created in the image of God, susceptible to the same improvement as any other race, and entitled to a fair chance with others in the ways of life, especially, in the necessary educational advantages of which he was so recently unlawfully deprived; and also to a filial consideration from those for whom they labored so long, without even a kind word or a pleasant look for a reward,—whose families they protected from harm or danger, while "Master" was unable to protect them himself. They are those editors who encourage the education of the black man, justice and equality to him as a citizen, with a fair chance for the exercise of suffrage, upon the plea that he is a man, a brother, and a citizen, regardless of the educational ability, en masse, for such exercise. The friendly editors waste not their time and talents in advocating the disfranchisement of the black man, when he is daily increasing in literary ability, wealth, and social importance. They are those who have the good sense to know that twenty years after such rights have been granted the Afro-Americans, it is positively foolish to advocate their nullification