Part 26 (1/2)

KELLY MILLER

I will never bring disgrace upon my race by any unworthy deed or dishonorable act. I will live a clean, decent, manly life; and will ever respect and defend the virtue and honor of womanhood; I will uphold and obey the just laws of my country and of the community in which I live, and will encourage others to do likewise; I will not allow prejudice, injustice, insult or outrage to cower my spirit or sour my soul; but will ever preserve the inner freedom of heart and conscience; I will not allow myself to be overcome of evil, but will strive to overcome evil with good; I will endeavor to develop and exert the best powers within me for my own personal improvement, and will strive unceasingly to quicken the sense of racial duty and responsibility; I will in all these ways aim to uplift my race so that, to everyone bound to it by ties of blood, it shall become a bond of enn.o.blement and not a byword of reproach.

THE END

NOTES

BIRD, AUGUSTA--Born in Tennessee. On the clerical force of the National a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Colored People. Contributor to the Brownies Book.

BOND, SCOTT--Born in slavery in Mississippi. Now a wealthy farmer in Madison, Arkansas.

BRAITHWAITE, WILLIAM BEAUMONT STANLEY (1878-)--Author and critic; born in Boston. Editor of ”Anthology of Magazine Verse,” published annually, ”The Book of Georgian Verse,” ”The Book of Restoration Verse,”

contributor of literary criticisms to the Boston Transcript and magazines.

BRAWLEY, BENJAMIN GRIFFITH (1882-)--Born at Columbia, S.C. A.B., Atlanta Baptist College, 1901; A.B., University of Chicago, 1906; A.M., Harvard, 1908. Member American Historical a.s.sociation, American Geographical Society; author, ”Negro in Literature and Art,” ”Short History of American Negro” and booklets of verse. Dean of Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga.

BROWN, WILLIAM WELLS (1816-?)--Born in slavery in Kentucky. Escaped in youth to the North. Prominent lecturer in America and England. Author of ”The Black Man,” ”Clotelle,” ”The Negro in the Rebellion,” ”The Rising Sun,” etc.

BURLEIGH, ALSTON W., son of H. T. Burleigh, the well-known composer of music.

CHESNUTT, CHARLES W. (1858-)--Born in Cleveland, Ohio. Admitted to the Ohio Bar, 1887. One of the foremost American novelists. Author of ”The House behind the Cedars,” ”The Wife of his Youth,” ”The Marrow of Tradition,” etc. Contributor to the Atlantic Monthly and Century Magazine.

COPPIN, LEVI J. (1848-)--Born at Frederickstown, Md. Bishop of African Methodist Episcopal Church. In South Africa 1900-1904. Author of ”Observations of Persons and Things in South Africa” and a number of religious books. D. D., Wilberforce University, 1889. Ordained to ministry, 1877.

COTTER, JOSEPH S. (1861-).--Educator, author of ”Negro Tales,” etc.

COTTER, JOSEPH S., JR. (1897-1920)--A youth of great promise who wrote on a sick bed. Author of ”The Band of Gideon,” ”The White Folks'

n.i.g.g.e.r,” ”Out of the Shadows.”

CROGMAN, WILLIAM H. (1841-)--Born on St. Martin Island, West Indies, A.B., A.M., Atlanta University, 1876, 1879; Litt. D., LL.D., Clark University, 1901. For many years a.s.sociated with Clark University, Atlanta, Ga., as president and professor. Member of the American Philosophical a.s.sociation.

CROMWELL, JAMES W. (1846-)--Born Portsmouth, Va. LL.B., Harvard 1874; hon. A.M. Wilberforce University, 1914. Admitted to Bar, District of Columbia, 1874. First colored lawyer to appear before Interstate Commerce Commission. Princ.i.p.al Crummell School, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.; Secretary, American Negro Academy. Author of ”The Negro in American History,” etc.

DOUGLa.s.s, FREDERICK (1817-1895)--Escaped from Maryland as a slave when a young man. Lectured on abolition in England and America. A n.o.ble orator, a clear thinker, and an untiring advocate of the rights of man.

Published an autobiography in many editions.

DU BOIS, W. E. BURGHARDT (1868-)--Born in Great Barrington, Ma.s.s. A.B., Fisk University; A.B. and Ph.D., Harvard. Scholar; editor of ”The Crisis”; author of ”The Suppression of the Slave Trade,” ”The Souls of Black Folk,” ”Darkwater,” etc.

DUNBAR, PAUL LAURENCE (1872-1906)--Born in Dayton, Ohio. Poet; author of ”Oak and Ivy,” ”Majors and Minors,” ”Lyrics of Lowly Life,” ”The Uncalled,” ”The Sport of the G.o.ds,” etc. Dunbar stands in the forefront among American poets.

EDWARDS, WILLIAM J.--A Tuskegee graduate who founded the Snow Hill School, one of most important industrial schools of the country. Author of ”Twenty-Five Years in the Black Belt,” etc.

ELLIS, GEORGE W. (1875-1920)--Lawyer and author. While serving on the American Legation to Liberia, he studied the languages and customs of the tribes of West Africa, and wrote his books on this subject.

FAUSET, JESSIE R.--A. B., Cornell, A.M., Pennsylvania. a.s.sociate editor of ”The Crisis” and the ”Brownies' Book.” Author of short stories and verses.

FISHER, RUTH ANNA--A. B., Oberlin College. Has engaged in teaching and social service work.