I am often asked to express myself more freely than I do upon the
political condition and the political future of my race. These
recollections of my experience in Atlanta give me the opportunity to
do so briefly. My own belief is, although I have never before said so
in so many words, that the time will come when the Negro in the South
will be accorded all the political rights which his ability,
character, and material possessions entitle him to. I think, though,
that the opportunity to freely exercise such political rights will not
come in any large degree through outside or artificial forcing, but
will be accorded to the Negro by the Southern white people themselves,
and that they will protect him in the exercise of those rights. Just
as soon as the South gets over the old feeling that it is being forced
by "foreigners," or "aliens," to do something which it does not want
to do, I believe that the change in the direction that I have
indicated is going to begin. In fact, there are indications that it
is already beginning in a slight degree.
Let me illustrate my meaning. Suppose that some months before the
opening of the Atlanta Exposition there had been a general demand from
the press and public platform outside the South that a Negro be given
a place on the opening programme, and that a Negro be placed upon the
board of jurors of award.
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