University of Virginia Library

Black Unity

Mr. Davis continued, citing examples
of lack of black unity, such as Nat
Turner's rebellion, and then began to
criticize current fallacies and
misconceptions of Black communication,
in history books and in English language,
where "60 unfavorable synonyms for
black exist."

"Maybe the university can save
America," he remarked. "We need
socio-economic facts and communication
to break down walls between men, to
change the black man's image, to help
blacks become true men and to give the
white a chance for understanding. We
must realize that it is better and nobler to
have relationships between men than to
live in worlds of our own.

"Black arts and artists are of essential
value in the change needed. Black art is
revolutionary, in a sense profound,
because it changes and set of values by
which men judge themselves, their others,
and the world.

"Blacks must be taught to think,
reason, be logical, to find the truth and to
have the courage to live by it. We must
dare to build a new society with an image
of humanized man. This society will be
like a rainbow-with all different colors,
but still a whole, consisting of man
unified, one Humanity."