In
almost every case the meetings have been attended not only by the
coloured people in large numbers, but by the white people. In
Chattanooga, Tenn., for example, there was present at the mass-meeting
an audience of not less than three thousand persons, and I was
informed that eight hundred of these were white. I have done no work
that I really enjoyed more than this, or that I think has accomplished
more good.
These meetings have given Mrs. Washington and myself an
opportunity to get first-hand, accurate information as to the real
condition of the race, by seeing the people in their homes, their
churches, their Sunday-schools, and their places of work, as well as
in the prisons and dens of crime. These meetings also gave us an
opportunity to see the relations that exist between the races. I
never feel so hopeful about the race as I do after being engaged in a
series of these meetings. I know that on such occasions there is much
that comes to the surface that is superficial and deceptive, but I
have had experience enough not to be deceived by mere signs and
fleeting enthusiasms. I have taken pains to go to the bottom of
things and get facts, in a cold, business-like manner.
I have seen the statement made lately, by one who claims to know
what he is talking about, that, taking the whole Negro race into
account, ninety per cent of the Negro women are not virtuous.
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