The Tennessee Centennial
Its Benefits to the Negro
The people of Tennessee will celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the admission of their State into the Union by holding, at Nashville, the capital, in 1897, for a period of six months from the 1st day of May, a great Centennial and International Exposition.
A structure to be known as the
Negro Building will be one of the most attractive in the exposition, and will occupy a delightful and commanding position on the east bank of Lake Watauga.
The cut on page 28 will give the reader some idea of its magnitude. It is amply sufficient to accommodate the vast variety of exhibits which the Afro-American will have to display to the world. The purpose of this department is to show the progress of our race in the United States from the old plantation days to the present.
This building was erected at a cost of over $12,000, and is the work of the management, without any solicitation or money from the Negro himself, which demonstrates an earnest anxiety for our participation in the event. It is expedient that we respond to the invitation by bringing forward the very best specimens of our merit and progress—not for the sake of the temporary praise which our displays may elicit, but for the more substantial benefits which we hope will follow.
The same capabilities which are in other people exist in us, and only want ampler avenues afforded for their exercise. We have abiding faith in the ultimate amelioration of the present conditions by the best sentiments of the American people. But the influencing of that sentiment to a more favorable attitude is in ourselves, and is accomplished more and more as we cause our usefulness to be seen and appreciated.
We hope that our participation in the great event will contribute largely toward establishing a feeling of more tolerance and consideration. This is the key of the aim. If, as we believe, the best impulses of the people are on the side of struggling humanity, and, when awakened, are easily moved to its succor, then a creditable display from us is bound to lead toward this result, both at home and abroad. If the Southern States afford conditions friendly to its ex-slave element, then there could be no stronger proof of it than an exhibition of the progress of the Negro himself. Such an exhibition would not only verify the claims of our home people, and help displace the stigma which perhaps attaches to them abroad on the race question, but its effect is bound to extend further. It elevates us at the same time it elevates them, and creates a current of good will in the direction of a better understanding.
History and Old Relics
It is intended to make this department one of the most attractive features in the building. All relics of interest that are owned by colored people are wanted on exhibition. All contributions that will tend toward completing the history of the race are solicited for exhibition.
We desire to have:
1. Sketches of the faithfulness and devotion of the Negro.
2. Biographical sketches of every Tennessee nonagenarian and centenarian Negro.
3. A copy of every book, magazine, and paper published and edited by Negroes.
4. Coins of Negro governments.
5. Stamps of Negro governments.
6. Sketches of Negroes by missionaries.
7. Pottery and utensils used by Negroes everywhere.
8. Sketches and photographs of Negroes prominent in Tennessee history, or any other State.
9. Records of houses and localities connected with Negroes.
10. Bills of sales, passes, manumittance papers of Negroes, and laws of cities and states before and since the war, for or against the Negro.
11. Old papers with advertisements of runaway Negroes.
12. Articles on the Negro problem.
13. Relics.
14. The loan of medals awarded by Congress to Negroes for heroism, also votes of thanks.
15. Histories of slave insurrections.
16. The number of acres of land owned by Negroes, and whether incumbered or unincumbered.
17. Catalogues of schools owned and officered by Negroes, or schools where Negroes are being instructed.
Department of Arts
The managers have designated for this department a space sufficient to show hundreds of pictures and pieces of sculpture. The Art Committee is now receiving paintings, sculpture, and other works of the highest quality from owners and artists of the colored race. The high-class works of art in this department will mark the progress of our education.
Mines and Minerals
We propose to display on a magnificent scale the best specimens of our workmanship. It is the intention of this department to obtain an exhibit from the mine or ore bed in which our people are at work, whether it be coal, slate, marble, fine sand and gravel, ore of iron, copper, tin, zinc, silver or gold, or any peculiar geological deposit.
Department of Dentistry
The Afro-American will also make an exhibit of dentistry. In this department will be seen gold plates, porcelain plates, rubber and brass plates, gold and brass crowns, gold and amalgam filled teeth, and bridges of various kinds. We expect that this department will help us to show to the civilized world that the Negro is not a failure, nor is he lagging in any of the skillful and most highly honored professions.
The Woman’s Board
Those of our race who have given their time and energy toward brightening the prospects and bettering the conditions of the Negro have all along advocated equal opportunities and advantages for male and female.
No other course would be consistent. No other line would be logical. If the Negro advocates the idea of equal opportunities and advantages for white and black, he must, to be consistent, urge equal opportunities for male and female. He says by this that every human being should be allowed the same privileges and prerogatives, which carries with it the same possibilities and promise in life for every human, all things else being equal.
Those planning the Negro Department acted wisely in establishing a Woman’s Department.
Besides the departments already mentioned, there will be a number of others equally interesting, such as Department of Clubs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Live Stock, Department of Marble and Stone, etc.
The members of the Negro Department of the Tennessee Centennial earnestly request the encouragement, co-operation, and assistance of the Negroes of the United States and of America. It is very essential that we show to the world what we can do. We have always been willing and ready to help to push the lever of progress, but every one does not see it in that light. This is a way by which we can make the world see, understand, and realize our importance. In the Negro Department we have the privilege of showing our work to such an advantage that it cannot fail to represent us. Therefore we appeal to every Negro man and woman, who has any real pride, to do all in his or her power to make this department a success. Before another centennial celebration others will have our place in the arena of life, and they will love and honor us for this and other examples of patriotism that we may leave on record for their inspiration.
Though the examples we leave them may have been given under adverse circumstances, they will understand it. They will know as well as we that there is no reward without labor, no prize without a struggle, no victory without a battle.
We as a race cannot afford to let this great undertaking fail. We will not let it fail. Do not hesitate to send your exhibits because you feel that they are not perfect. Do the best you can in getting them up, send them, and leave the result of their defects to the Great Judge, who knows the depths from which we have come, the heights to which we are aspiring, and the condition of our environment. We have the ability, the means, and the opportunity is at hand to erect a monument to the race. During the century we are about to celebrate, we acted as heroes for others. Why not play the man for ourselves now? Why not as citizens of Tennessee join in the celebration of the birth of our State? She was born into the Union June 1, 1796. She has been in one hundred years (minus the year of secession), and we, as a race, have been right along with her. Not only have we been connected with Tennessee, but we have been identified with the whole country since 1620, and have assisted in producing peace, prosperity. We have helped to clear the forests, till the soil, level the mountains, fill the valleys, bridge rivers, build railroads, factories, schoolhouses, churches, towns, and cities. We have labored assiduously to make this country bloom as a rose. This fact is admitted by multiplied thousands of the best white people in the whole South. We are not ashamed of our record in the history of our State, neither do we wish it to be ashamed of us.
We have done well, but we can do better. A thousand years shall not erase from the pages of history the part that we have played upon the American stage of action. Do not falter now, my brethren, but rush to the help of the Negro Department with your banners floating in the breeze. We are pronounced an unsolved problem. We are quoted as a vexatious question, and the eyes of the world are upon us. We can solve this problem, we can answer this question, and we can charm the gaze of the world. When? May 1, 1897. Where? In the Negro Building. How? By filling it with suitable exhibits.
We are making history. The historian may neglect us, but there is a hand that is writing upon the wall—not our destruction, neither does it require a Daniel to read it. With the golden pen of time it dips into the crystal fluid of sympathy, and writes us as a nation, making rapid strides
Out of darkness into light,
Out of weakness into might.
It writes us as a nation upon the ocean of time, landing without anchor, oar, or sail. Thirty-three years ago, when we started out from the bonds of slavery with a legacy of poverty and ignorance, the canopy of heaven for our shelter, we were in a miserable, helpless condition. To-day we are a great nation, nearly 10,000,000 strong, with nearly $1,000,000,000 wealth. When the products of our hands are seen in the Tennessee Centennial, our government may be constrained to pay not only the debt of gratitude, but the debt of money that she owes us for the two hundred and forty-four years that we served her. Peradventure, she may be persuaded to protect us better as American citizens, and love us more as her hard-working, earnest, loyal sons and daughters, not of Africa, but of beautiful America, the queen of the world.