George A. Newman Sr.

Editors’ note: This essay appears on the verso of the manuscript of A Miserable Revenge, beginning on the verso of page 391 and continuing through page 409 on the odd page numbers, with a few pages skipped. While the manuscript itself is undated, an article in the Rockingham Register from August 29, 1878 describes Newman as having delivered this speech on August 1, 1878 at an event celebrating the organization of a new masonic lodge called the Grand United Order Independent Sons and Daughters of Purity (identified in the speech by the abbreviation “I. S. & D. P.”).^[1] The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities (1899) by Albert C. Stevens confirms that “this beneficiary and social society was organized at Harrisonburg, VA,” prior to the 1890s, although “none of its Lodges” were “known to be in existence” by 1899.^[2] The Rockingham Register reports that Newman spoke at the event—held in a church in Elk Run—in his capacity as Grand Secretary of the order. However, context clues within the essay suggest a slightly earlier date of composition—specifically an anecdote regarding New York Senator Roscoe Conkling returning “days ago” from Europe to Utica, New York, and remarking that Europe was “dull.” This anecdote suggests that parts of the speech may have been written shortly after August 15, 1877, when Senator Roscoe returned from a trip to Europe and told the cheering crowd in his hometown of Utica that the farther he went in Europe, “the more it seemed to me there was no country like America, no state like New York, no country like Oneida, no city like Utica.”^[3] In the essay, Newman also addresses popular arguments that African Americans should consider emigrating to Liberia or the western territories, most likely a reference to the arguments of such African American leaders as Henry Highland Garnet (1815–82), Alexander Crummel (1818–98), and Henry McNeal Turner (1834–1915), the latter of whom Newman mentions by name in his later essay “Observations on the Negro Problem.”

Dear Friends,

I come before you today as the least among the orators of the day. My subject is “The Truth,” and in talking on this subject I will endeavor to tell the truth. To be truthful implies truth in actions as well as in words. Adam was told not to eat the forbidden fruit—that he would surely die if he did so. He did not believe it, but when the great truth burst upon his mind he was completely overwhelmed. So, we might cite anecdotes illustrating the power of truth from now until night and still leave some untold. When M[artin] Luther proclaimed the truth in regard to the great reformation which took place (1517), he made all Europe tremble. Some have suffered deaths for truth’s sake, while others have been raised far above their former rank.

In addressing this order, I must say that I admire your constitution, but do you realize the truth that is contained in it? I have often thought that the true idea intended to be conveyed in the constitution of some orders as well as states rests in the intention of the author. In a great many instances, words are read as merely written signs conveying no idea whatever. Suppose the declaration that “all men are created equal” had been acted upon as written. Would we be 100 years behind time as we are? No. It is hard for us to try to sum up the truth in this matter. And what untold misery might our foreparents have been saved if the declaration had been carried out to the letter which conveyed to the public a great and grand truth.

Let us aim to be truthful. If we are leaders, be truthful leaders; if we are followers, be truthful followers. The great trouble with our race has been the failure of leaders to be true to us. When first introduced they have vowed eternal constancy to truth and uprightness, but where are some leaders today? Some who used to be with us in every good enterprise? They are gone. They have sunk too low for us to claim them as comrades. Why have they done so? Because truth in her white robe found them to be recreant to their responsible trust and duty. In all ages of the world there ha[ve] been men who betrayed their trusts. But truth caught them at last, and they were compelled to take lower seats on which, in many instances, were inscribed the word “Liar.”

Then keep to the truth. Let your standard and motto be that of the Empire State, “Excelsior.” I love to speak of character. The young of the present day will be the middle-aged of 20 years hence. Therefore, we who are leaders should be careful to so guide their young steps in the paths of truth so as to exclude the necessity of their saying that they were taught to disregard the truth. It seems to me that every demonstration should encourage us to go on to a higher state of perfection and make us all better men and women.

But we have our troubles as all others have had. We are getting to be a people and if we want to be respected we must respect ourselves. The day has passed away when simply to do our work well was all the recommendation we needed, but the day will never come when we will not need truth for a recommendation. We stand today as citizens of the grandest republic the world has ever boasted of, and natives of the renowned “Old Dominion.” When we consider these declarations we feel glad, after all, that we are not in benighted Africa. Today we enjoy privileges that the Hottentot^[4] knows nothing of, and while the inhabitants of Soudan, 10,000,000 in number[,] are engulfed in the deepest ignorance, we are enjoying the free sunshine of the red man’s^[5] native home. The sun of liberty has arisen on this little remnant of Africa’s benighted race, and I trust it will shine forever. Let us live in harmony with the people of good old Virginia, acting upon the grand principles of truth and uprightness and we can not fail to prosper.

The white man has said that he desires us to live with him. He does not favor our transportation to Liberia or anywhere else. A gentleman of this town says that if we are left to our own people, the people of Virginia, we will be of use to the country. I say so too. Some colored men have visionary ideas of going out west and having a territory or two set apart for their especial use, but they have not sought for the truth in the matter. A poet, who had no home, J[ohn] Howard Payne, wrote “There is no place like home”^[6] and I daresay that some of us would agree with him if we were to try life in the Black Hills [South Dakota and Wyoming], where we would soon have no hair on the top of our heads.^[7] For says an old hunter, “The plagued injuns won’t let the hair stay on your head if he can get near enough to cut it off.” One reason why I never wanted to go too far west was that the Indians have a tendency, as the old folks used to have, a desire to possess a lock of your hair, which shows that they would rather have your room than your company. Let us be patriotic then, let us stay in old Virginia. As John Adams said, “Sink or swim, live or die,”^[8] we will stay in the old Commonwealth. If she sinks beneath her debt she will be sure to rise again, but we hope that she will not sink.

I love to see harmony among my people, but harmony is sometimes overcome by prejudice. We are weak and our utmost energies should be bent to help one another, but instead of that we sometimes see divisions and disputes about nothing[—]one society jealous of the popularity of another. I hope it is not so with the I[ndependent] S[ons] and D[aughters of] P[urity]. Your name implies, as we naturally infer, purity in all your dealings with mankind, and I would suppose above all a pure moral character. Our race is not so moral as it should be, and I tell you, now, that you must wake up [and] gird on the armor of morality. And then you can and will be respected by all with whom you have intercourse. Truth will show for itself, and it is impossible for an immoral person to stand on the same footing as a moral one. Young men, do you wish to associate with the respectable portion of the community? Yes, says one. Well, I have but one direction to give you: respect yourself. Young women, are you willing to come up to the standard? If so, respect yourself.

But as a caution, I will say that a man who respects himself will always have a proper regard for others. If you are an educated man, try to impart your knowledge to others. If a man knows something and don’t try to impart that knowledge to others, he is not doing what is right. Selfishness never was a welcome guest to me, for when I got to the truth in the matter, I found that I was wrong. Let us in all of our intercourse with our fellow man try to be unselfish and truthful. Look at Napoleon Bonaparte. He was selfish and ambitious, but in speaking of his battles, victories and final defeat we must revert to the old subject—that when truth flashed upon his unsettled mind he found himself overcome. Truth is everlasting, truth is eternal, and it will stand when nothing else will.

You must excuse me for the anecdote I am about to relate but it contains a truth. Senator Conkling went on a tour to the Eastern continent some time ago and he returned to his home in Utica, NY a few days ago. He brought with him a truth. What was it? Why, we have enjoyed liberty in such a full sense that we want to abuse it now. We speak of dull times but Europe is duller. Let us then try to be content with our lot. It looks as if somebody is alive here for we can have our social gatherings and enjoy ourselves nicely when we try. The main point is to work hard for a high standing. We are not ambitious enough. I don’t want to see a Caesar or an Alexander among our race but we want ambition enough to respect ourselves. We are not wood, we are not stones, but men, and being men we must set our own standard high and then try to climb to the top. What we want is working men and women. We don’t need gentlemen, as some people take that word. We don’t want men who are too good to place themselves with us and help us up higher, but we want whole-hearted men, men who will try to raise the people of the entire community higher, and men whose example your children can safely follow.

Let your watchwords be truth. Suppose that all the great men of former times had locked the truth about some important matters in their breasts. Would the world have been benefited by them? No. But a great many important truths would have remained unknown. You must excuse the broken way in which I have tried to impress upon your minds the power of truth. I had to be somewhat brief as I am attending the teachers’ examination. I hope my words will not all fall to the ground unnoticed, but, that someone will catch the ideas and be benefited thereby. Let peace and harmony reign supreme today, that it may be said that we are improving above all, Sons and D[aughters] of P[urity,] stand by your order as long as life lasts. Try to find the real meaning of the words in your constitution and bylaws, and strive to be what your name implies. I thank you for your kind attention and will detain you no longer as I daresay there are others present better calculated to give you advice than I.^[9]