The senator handed back the book to Dixon, huffily. “But, you have not answered my question,” he insisted, “I asked, do you believe the black race will ever attain the intellectual standard of the Caucasian?”
“Intellect, whether of civilized or uncivilized humanity, as you know, sir, is elastic in quality. That is, primitive man when transplanted to civilization not only becomes civilized, but sometimes excels some of those whose ancestors have had centuries of culture, and the child of civilized men when isolated among primitives becomes one himself. We would find that the differences between a people who had acquired say three or four generations of beneficient culture, and another who had been long civilized would be about the same as that between the individuals in the long civilized group. That is, the usual human differences would exist. To be accurate we would have to appraise each individual separately. Any comparison between the groups would be inexact.”
“But,” reiterated the other, sarcastically, “you have not answered my question. Do you believe the black man will ever attain the high intellectual standard of the Caucasian? Yes or no.”
“For the most authoritative answer,” responded Dixon in the calm manner of the disciplined thinker, “we must look to modern science. If you don’t mind, sir, I will give you some quotations from scientists of acknowledged authority, all of your own race.”
Dixon drew out his notebook.
“Bah,” said the other savagely, “opinions! Mere opinions! I asked you what you think and you are telling me what someone else says. What I want to know is, what do YOU think.”
“Each of us,” replied Dixon, evenly, “however learned, however independent, is compelled to seek the opinion of someone else on some particular subject at some time. There is the doctor and the other professionals, for instance. Now in seeking advice one usually places the most reliance on those one considers experts, is it not? This afternoon I overheard you quoting from one of Lincoln’s debates with Douglas in order to prove your views.”
Silence.
Dixon opened his notebook, found the desired passage, and said:
“In 1911 most of the leading sociologists and anthropologists of the world met in a Universal Races Congress in London. The opinion of that congress was that all the so-called races of men are essentially equal. Gustav Spiller, its organizer and secretary, voiced the findings of that entire body of experts when, after a careful weighing of the question of superiority and inferiority, he said (here Dixon read from the notebook):
“ ‘We are then under the necessity of concluding that an impartial investigator would be inclined to look upon the various important peoples of the world as, to all intents and purposes, essentially equal in intellect, enterprise, morality and physique.’ ”
Dixon found another passage and said: “Finot, whose findings ought to be regarded as more valuable than the expressions of those who base their arguments on sentiment or on Hebrew mythology, says,—‘All peoples may attain this distant frontier which the brains of the whites have reached.’ He also says:
“The conclusion, therefore, forces itself upon us, that there are no inferior and superior races, but only races and peoples living outside or within the influence of culture.
“ ‘The appearance of civilization and its evolution among certain white peoples and within a certain geographical latitude is only the effect of circumstances.’
“Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto, in his paper before the Universal Races Congress, says:
“ ‘Give the Africans without any mingling of rancor or oppression, a high and humane civilization, and you will find their mental level will not differ from ours. Abolish the whole of our civilization and our minds will sink to the level of an African cannibal. It is not a difference of mentality in the race, but a difference of instruction.’ ”
Dixon closed his note-book and said, “The so-called savage varieties of mankind are the equal of the civilized varieties in this:—there is latent within them the same possibilities of development. Then the more developed peoples have the germ of decay more or less actively at work within them.”
The senator had been awaiting his turn with impatience. Now drawing up his overcoat over his pajama-clad knees, and raising his voice in indignation, he flung at Dixon, apparently forgetting all previous qualms of lowered racial pride, “That’s all nonsense. It is not true of the Negro, for while the white, red and yellow races have, or have had, civilizations of their own, the black has had none. All he has even accomplished has been when driven by the whites. Indigenous to a continent of the greatest natural resources, he has all these ages produced absolutely nothing. Geographical position has had absolutely nothing to do with it, or we would not have had Aztec civilization. Tell me, has the Negro race ever produced a Julius Caesar, a Shakespeare, a Montezuma, a Buddha, a Confucius? The Negro and all the Negroid races are inherently inferior. It is idiocy to say the Negro is the equal of the Caucasian. God Almighty made black to serve white. He placed an everlasting curse on all the sons of Ham and the black man shall forever serve the white.” His face flushed with excitement.
Dixon was apparently unmoved. He responded with courtesy, his well-modulated voice and even tones in sharp contrast to the bluster and hysteria of the other. “The belief that the history of the Negro began with his slavery in the New World, while popular, is highly erroneous. The black man, like the Aztec, was civilized when the dominant branches of the Caucasian variety were savages. You will remember sir, that Herodotus, the Father of History, an eye-witness, distinctly mentions the black skins, and woolly hair of the Egyptians of his day. In Book II, Chapter 104, of his history he says:
“ ‘I believe the Colchians are a colony of Egyptians, because like them they have black skin and woolly hair.’
“Aristotle in his ‘Physiognomy,’ Chapter VI, distinctly mentions the Ethiopians as having woolly hair and the Egyptians as being black-skinned. Count M. C. de Volney, author of The Ruins of Empire,’ says:
“ ‘The ancient Egyptians were real Negroes of the same species as the other present natives of Africa.’
“A glance at the Sphinx or at any of the ancient Egyptian statues in the British Museum will confirm these statements. When I saw the statue of Amenemphet III, I was immediately struck by the facial resemblance to Jack Johnson. I have seen Negroes here and in Africa, who bore a striking resemblance to Seti the Great. The latter was worshipped as the god, Amen, on whose name good white Christians still call. By the light of modern research it does appear as if white-skinned humanity got its civilization from the black-skinned variety, and even its origin. Volney says:
“ ‘To the race of Negroes … the object of our extreme contempt . . we owe our arts, sciences and even the very use of speech I’
“And with reference to the production of great men by the Negro…”
The senator had been fidgeting in his chair. He interrupted testily, “But what about the Negro’s low, debased position in the scale of civilization? Look at the millions of Negroes in Africa little better than gorillas! They are still selling their own flesh and blood, eating human flesh and carrying on their horrible voodoo! All of the white race is civilized and all the other races, to some extent. Consider the traditions of the white man and all it means! Look at the vast incomprehensible achievements of the white man,—the railroads, the busy cities, the magnificent edifices, the wireless telegraph, the radio, the ships of the air,—yes, consider all the marvels of science! What has the white man not done? He has weighed the atom and the star with perfect accuracy. He has probed the uttermost recesses