Twentieth Century Negro Literature | Page 9

his books on smallpox and vaccination, consumption, etc., all
of which have done good among the people whose means of
information on the proper care of health are the poorest.
Dr. Culp has good standing with the editors of the leading magazines.
By these he has been invited repeatedly to write articles on the Race
Problem. This invitation he has accepted more than once, and when he
writes, he displays a degree of literary ability that is striking. His
purpose in compiling and editing this book is but one of the several
great plans he has in reserve to publicly demonstrate what he regards as
actual service for the inspiration of his day and generation.

TWENTIETH CENTURY NEGRO LITERATURE.

TOPIC I.
DID THE AMERICAN NEGRO MAKE, IN THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY, ACHIEVEMENTS ALONG THE LINES OF WEALTH,
MORALITY, EDUCATION, ETC., COMMENSURATE WITH HIS
OPPORTUNITIES? IF SO, WHAT ACHIEVEMENTS DID HE
MAKE?
BY MARY B. TALBERT.
[Illustration: Mrs. Mary B. Talbert.]
MRS. MARY B. TALBERT.
Mary Burnett Talbert was born at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1866, her father's
family having gone there from Chapel Hill, N. C. She is descended on
her maternal side from Richard Nichols, who compelled Peter

Stuyvesant to surrender New Amsterdam and who for a short while was
Governor of the State of New York.
She graduated at the early age of sixteen from the Oberlin High School,
and through the generosity of Ex-President James H. Fairchild was
enabled to attend Oberlin College.
When applying for admission to the class in trigonometry, the
instructor doubtfully admitted her, as so many of the High School
pupils had found the subject very hard and preferred a review of other
mathematics. She entered the class, however, on trial, and made a
term's record of 5 per cent, with an examination of 5.5 per cent, 6 per
cent being the highest mark for lessons in college.
During the next term she entered the class of mechanics, and made a
perfect record for term's work and examination.
While attending school she was well liked by her classmates, being
made Treasurer of Aeolian, one of the two college societies for young
women, and was also one of six representatives chosen for Class Day
Exercises. She was given the place of honor upon the programme, and
recited an original poem, "The Lament of the Old College Bell, Once
First, Now Second."
Mrs. Talbert graduated from Oberlin at the early age of nineteen, being
the only colored member of her class after the withdrawal of the late
Lieutenant John Alexander.
She started out in life equipped not only with a great love of learning
but with all the encouragement which made it possible for her to follow
the inclinations of her mind.
In 1886 she accepted a position in Bethel University, Little Rock, Ark.
Some women make themselves teachers, but Mrs. Talbert was a born
teacher. The late Professor John M. Ellis, in writing of her, said: "She is
a lady of Christian character and pleasing address. As a student she has
an excellent record and standing in her class, showing good abilities

and industry and fidelity in her work. She has the qualities natural and
acquired to make a superior teacher."
In January, 1887, she was elected Assistant Principal of the Little Rock
High School, the highest position held by any woman in the State of
Arkansas, and the only colored woman who has ever held the position.
Mrs. Talbert resigned her place after her marriage to Mr. William H.
Talbert, one of Buffalo's leading colored young men, and was urged
after marriage to reconsider her resignation and take up her work again.
Leading educators and literary men, such as Charles Dudley Warner,
Samuel A. Greene of Boston, L. S. Holden of St. Louis, and others who
visited her classes, and, having seen them at work, registered their
names with written comments.
Professor Albert A. Wright of Oberlin writes as follows: "Mary Burnett
received her education in the public schools and college of this place,
where her parents have resided for many years. She has won the respect
and approval of her teachers by her successful accomplishments of the
tasks set before her." Mrs. Talbert received the degree granted to
students of the Literary Course in 1894, and is a member of the
Association of Collegiate Alumnae, being the only colored woman in
the city of Buffalo eligible.
As the hand upon the dial of the nineteenth, century clock pointed to its
last figure, it showed that the American Negro had ceased to be a thing,
a commodity that could be bought and sold, a mere animal; but was
indeed a human being possessing all the qualities of mind and heart that
belong to the rest of mankind, capable of receiving education and
imparting it to