If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.
Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.
And thus goes segregation which is the most far-reaching development in the history of the Negro since the enslavement of the race.
This assumption of Negro leadership in the ghetto, then, must not be confined to matters of religion, education, and social uplift it must deal with such fundamental forces in life as make these things possible.
In fact, the confidence of the people is worth more than money.
The strongest bank in the United States will last only so long as the people will have sufficient confidence in it to keep their money there.
They still have some money, and they have needs to supply. They must begin immediately to pool their earnings and organize industries to participate in supplying social and economic demands.
This assumption of Negro leadership in the ghetto, then, must not be confined to matters of religion, education, and social uplift it must deal with such fundamental forces in life as make these things possible.
Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.