Page:The Philadelphia Negro A Social Study.djvu/288

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
234
Organised Life of Negroes.
[Chap. XII.

diverted from their better ends by scheming and dishonest officers, and by the temptation of tinsel and braggadocio; their beneficial associations, along with all their good work, have an unenviable record of business inefficiency and internal dissension. And yet all these and the other agencies have accomplished much, and their greatest accomplishment is stimulation of effort to further and more effective organization among a disorganized and headless host. All this world of co-operation and subordination into which the white child is in most cases born is, we must not forget, new to the slave's sons. They have been compelled to organize before they knew the meaning of organization; to co-operate with those of their fellows to whom co-operation was an unknown term; to fix and fasten ideas of leadership and authority among those who had always looked to others for guidance and command. For these reasons the present efforts of Negroes in working together along various lines are peculiarly promising for the future of both races.