Twentieth Century Negro Literature | Page 7

IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM THE AWFUL TRAGEDY
464
XXXVIII. HOW TO HELP THE NEGRO TO HELP HIMSELF 468

THE EDITOR'S BIOGRAPHY, BY WALTER I. LEWIS.
Daniel Wallace Culp, compiler and editor of this book, was born about
forty-seven years ago, of slave parents, four miles from Union Court
House in South Carolina. His mother, Marilla by name, was an

excellent type of the devout Christian woman of her day; she believed
firmly in that God, whose inscrutable wisdom directed the ways of her
race through paths that were truly hard. She hesitated not to teach her
son Daniel to love, fear and obey the God in whom she trusted, using
whatever light she had.
Christopher Brandon, to whom Daniel and his mother belonged, was
one of those slave-holders in South Carolina who did not believe in the
institution of slavery, but being uncertain as to whether his slaves
would be better off if he freed them, he held them, establishing a sort of
patrimony in which his slaves were allowed such superior opportunities
and advantages that the less favored neighbors styled them "Brandon's
free Negroes." This distinction carried with it its disadvantages as well,
for on account of the ease and comfort allowed them, they were
despised alike by the hard-hearted slave-owners and the less fortunate
slaves. Brandon was kind to his slaves, who were made to work enough
to keep a plenty at home to live upon. He also protected them against
whatever ill treatment begrudging neighbors might be prompted to
offer.
Brandon was a bachelor. He made a favorite and close companion of
Daniel to the extent of having him occupy the same bed with him. This
affection of the bachelor master lasted until his death, which occurred
several years after the emancipation.
It is said that in his expiring moments this good man, Brandon, called
for young Daniel, who was then too far away to be on hand in time to
hear what was to have been said before death ensued. Thus died a man
who was brave enough, in the midst of environments that were exacting
to the extent of active ostracism for his assertion of his belief that the
Negro is a real human being, possessed of a mind, soul and rights to
happiness, and should share in the community of responsibilities.
At an early age Daniel became anxious to know what is in books. This
ambition was fed by his former master, who became his first teacher.
This make-shift tutelage continued until 1869, when this rapid little
learner caught a sight of better intellectual food. Accordingly he left his
rural home, his soul charged with greater things, and entered Biddle

Memorial Institute, now Biddle University, at Charlotte, N. C.
As a student Daniel did not attract any special attention until he had
passed the preparatory and entered the regular classical course of that
institution. It was here that he won great distinction in his faculty for
acquiring a ready knowledge of the languages and the higher
mathematics. So rapidly did he advance in these studies that it was
found necessary to place him in a class alone, none of his mates being
able to keep up with him. This separation was from a class of about
twenty young men from the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia and
Tennessee. For five years he studied, making an advancement that was
frequently a marvel to the teachers, some of whom were at times
puzzled to sustain their place of superiority over him.
In 1876 Daniel Wallace Culp graduated from Biddle University, being
the first graduate from the classical department of that institution, with
the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Having decided to study theology, he, in the fall of the same year in
which he graduated from Biddle, entered Princeton Theological
Seminary. At the same time he entered Princeton College to study the
History of Philosophy and Psychology under the great Dr. McCosh.
The presence of a colored student in the classes at Princeton College
(which has no connection with the Theological Seminary) was
particularly obnoxious to the young men of the South, of whom there
were several then in attendance. This brought on a crisis. The young
white men of the South packed their trunks and left for their homes,
declaring with much emphasis that they would not sit in the lecture
room with a "nigger." But, strange to relate, their parents showed better
sense by requiring them to promptly return. In the meanwhile efforts
were made to have Dr. Culp discontinue his attendance at these lectures,
all of which he positively refused to do. The young men from the South
finally became friendly, and things moved on smoothly, Dr. Culp
winning the respect of all the students by his gentlemanly conduct and
scholarship.
In the Theological Seminary he was