The Colored Girl Beautiful

Excerpt

The Future.

The beautiful part about the colored race in America, is the future. As a mixed race we are undeveloped. We may become whatever we WILL to become.

This race is a growing people. The future is veiled but it may reveal some strange things to the world. What opportunities there are for leadership! If there were only some ways to "squelch" the fakers and arouse the dreamers!

If each would only think out a different plan for race advancement, there would always be followers. Some would be attracted in one way and others reached in another way, and so carry lines of thought.

The gardener is aiming towards better vegetation. Scrubs and dwarfs are sacrificed totally to produce a more perfect plant.

The horse breeder, any animal breeder, the bird fancier, all aim to get a better breed of stock in each generation.

The cry of the hour is "A better breed of babies." As it takes several generations to breed a prize winner, it is time for the colored race to look into these things and prepare for the future colored child, handicapped as it will be. Nature needs assistance in this.

Attractiveness in appearance is a strong factor in success. A pleasing, even, charming personal appearance may be cultivated.

The mind—the gray matter—either fills the body with life or beauty, or it destroys life and beauty, according to the concentration of thought, and resulting habits.

If one were to ask, "Can a leopard change its spots," the reply must always be, "No." But if one were to ask if the Negro could change his appearance, through himself, his own will power, the answer would be, "Yes," because the Negro has a thinking brain. He may become as attractive as he wills to become.

As his taste and ideas of beauty conform to the accepted, so will he grow like these ideals and standards.

Every baby is beautiful to its mother. Every colored baby is generally, only cunning or cute to many of the white race who have their own ideal of baby beauty, which depends mainly upon a white skin.

Beauty is a matter of personal opinion. To a savage African, a baby with a black skin and flat nose is the ideal.

To a Chinese, a plump, yellow, slant eyed baby satisfies.

To the Esquimaux, the round faced, small eyed, black haired little one is the admired type.

A child should be taught to love and be proud of its race and to know the good points of the race.

Colored babies are born with rare physical gifts. First: They are born with the most beautiful eyes in the world. Unlike foreign children who come to this country, they seldom have sore eyes. I have visited about six hundred colored schools and have yet to see a sore eyed colored child.

The obligation of a gift is the preservation and cultivation of this gift. Little colored children should be taught to keep their eyes open and bright with intelligence and clear with good health, because the eyes are the windows of the soul. Their eyes should look straight into the eyes of others with their souls shining through....