Few people ever stopped, I found,
when looking at his pictures, to inquire whether Mr. Tanner was a
Negro painter, a French painter, or a German painter. They simply
knew that he was able to produce something which the world wanted -- a
great painting -- and the matter of his colour did not enter into
their minds. When a Negro girl learns to cook, to wash dishes, to
sew, or write a book, or a Negro boy learns to groom horses, or to
grow sweet potatoes, or to produce butter, or to build a house, or to
be able to practise medicine, as well or better than some one else,
they will be rewarded regardless of race or colour. In the long run,
the world is going to have the best, and any difference in race,
religion, or previous history will not long keep the world from what
it wants.
I think that the whole future of my race hinges on the question as
to whether or not it can make itself of such indispensible value that
the people in the town and the state where we reside will feel that
our presence is necessary to the happiness and well-being of the
community. No man who continues to add something to the material,
intellectual, and moral well-being of the place in which he lives is
long left without proper reward. This is a great human law which
cannot be permanently nullified.
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