Poles in 1910 from Black American View

[kaima]

In 1910 Booker T. Washington traveled to Europe to look for The Man Farthest Down, a trip that took him to Galicia in Poland and into Austria-Hungary. His observations on the lives of our ancestors are an eye opener to me.

This is Martin Luthor King Jr. Day in America, a holiday that is hard for an American of white European extraction to intimately associate with. A look at this book from 100 years ago may alter that slightly.

For any of us having a hard time relating to Dr. King and his work 50 years ago, I suggest we skip back to 100 years ago and take a look at the view of a famous American black man and his observations on the lives our ancestors lived. He made observations in Galicia and Austria-Hungary that should be of interest to us today.

Booker T. Washington took a sabbatical from the Tuskegee Institute and traveled to Europe looking for
The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe

By Booker T. Washington, Robert Ezra Park



You can find this book on books.google.com for download in either epub or pdf format. You can only search contents online, so you might choose a list of key words and note what pages they appear on in the download. Galcia is found 17 times, Poland is mentioned 20 times, even though it was still partitioned at the time. He traveled to Crakow and "into the mountains" from there, and later "to the Russian border", so it sounds as if he covers RusynLand pretty well.



I found the book sufficiently interesting to read from the beginning and share his route of discovery. I hope some of you also find it interesting , reading the observations of a man of accomplishment and the lowest caste in America and his observations on the even worse conditions in parts of Europe.


This is a good day to celebrate The Man Farthest Down.

Kai
PS. On a personal level my father left us his coin collection with several samples of this coin. His funeral was also attended by 3 or 4 black men who came out to the "lily white" suburbs to pay there respects to a man who treated others as equals. That is when I realized the lesson I had learned from my father's example.

[kaima]

THE MAN FARTHEST DOWN

the Poles, by the nobility of their own race, the masses of the Slavic peoples in southern Europe have lived for centuries out of touch with the life of cities, and to a large extent out of touch with the world. Compared, therefore, with the peoples of western Europe, who are living in the centres of modern life and progress, the Slavic peoples are just now on the horizon.

In the course of my travels through Austria and Hungary I think I met, at one time or another, representatives of nearly every branch of the Slavic race in the empire.

In Bohemia I became acquainted, as I have said, with the most progressive portion of the race, the Czechs. In Galicia I saw something of the life of the Polish people, both in the towns and in the country districts. Again, in Budapest and Vienna I learned something of the condition of the labouring and peasant classes, among whom the Slavic peoples are usually in the majority. At Fiume, the port of Hungary, from which forty thousand emigrants sail every year for the United States, I met and talked with Dalmatians, Croatians, Slovenes, Rutheni ans, and Serbs " representatives, in fact, of almost every race in Hungary. In the plains of central Hungary, and again in eastern Prussia, I saw gangs of wandering labourers, made up of men and women who come to this part of the country from the Slavic countries farther south and east to take part in the harvest on the great estates.

During this time I became acquainted to some extent also with representatives of almost every type of civilization, high and low, among the peoples of southern Europe, from the Dalmatian herdsmen, who lead a rude and semi-barbarous existence on the high, barren mountains along the coast of the Adriatic, to the thrifty and energetic artisans of Bohemia and the talented Polish nobility, who are said to be among the most intellectual people in Europe. I did not, among these classes I have mentioned, see the most primitive people of the Slavic race, nor the type of the man of that race farthest down. In fact, I have heard that in the mountain regions of southern Galicia there are people who make their homes in holes in the ground or herd together in little huts built of mud. I did not see, either, as I should like to have seen, the life of those Slavic people in southwestern Hungary who still hold their lands in common and live together in patriarchal communities, several families beneath one roof, under the rule of a *' house father" and a ''house mother," who are elected annually to govern the community.

What little I did see of the life of the different branches of the race gave me the impression, however, of a people of great possibilities, who, coming late into the possession of modern ideas and modern methods, were everywhere advancing, in some places rapidly and in others more slowly, but always making progress.

One thing that has hindered the advancement of the Slavs has been the difference in the languages spoken by the different branches of the race.

So great an obstacle is this difference of language that some years ago, when a congress of all the Slavic peoples was held at Prague, the representatives of the different branches of the race, having no common tongue, were compelled to speak to each other in the one language that they all professed to hate " namely, German.

Another thing that has hindered the progress of the Slavs has been the inherited jealousies and the memories they cherish of ancient injuries they have inflicted on one another in times past. In general, it seems to be true of the races of Austria-Hungary that each race or branch of the race hates and despises every other, and this hatred is the more bitter the more closely they are associated. For example, there is a long-standing feud between the Polish peasants and the Polish nobility. This division is so great that the Polish peasants have frequently sided against the Polish nobility in the contests of the latter with the central government of Austria. However, this sentiment of caste which separates the two classes of the Polish people is nothing compared with the contempt with which every Pole, whether he be peasant or noble, is said to feel for every Ruthen ian, a people w^ith whom the Pole is very closely related by blood, and with whom he has long been in close political association. On the other hand, the Ruthenian in Galicia looks upon the Pole just as the Czech in Bohemia looks upon his German neighbour: as his bitterest enemy. The two peoples refuse to intermingle socially; they rarely intermarry; in many cases they maintain separate schools, and are represented separately in the Imperial Parliament, each race electing its own representatives.

But all are united in hating and despising the Jew, who, although he claims for himself no separate part of the empire, and has no language to distinguish himself from the other races about him, still clings as tenaciously as any other portion of the population to his own racial traditions and customs.

The Slavic peoples, otherwise divided by language and tradition, are also divided by religion. People speaking the same language, and sharing in other respects the same traditions, are frequently just as widely separated by differences of religion as they could be by differences of race. For example, among the southern Slavs the majority of the Slovenes and the Croatians are Roman Catholics, others are Protestants. On the other hand, the majority of the Serbs, their close neighbours, are members of the Greek Orthodox Church, while others are Mohammedans.

So wide is the division between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Slavs that in some cases members of the Eastern and Western branches of the Church belonging to the same nationality wear a different costume in order to emphasize the differences of religion that might otherwise be forgotten or overlooked.

[kaima]

In Galicia there are not only the Roman and Orthodox branches of the Church, but there are also three or four other minor branches. One of these, the Uniates, which is a compromise between the two and is intended to be a sort of link between the Eastern and Western churches, is now, it is said, just as distinct from both as any of the other branches of the Church. In this region, which has been the battleground of all the religions in Europe, religious distinctions play a much more important role than they do elsewhere, because the masses of the people have not yet forgotten the bitterness and the harshness of the early struggles of the sects. The result is that religious differences seem to have intensified rather than to have softened the racial animosities.

In spite of the divisions and rivalries which exist, there seems to be growing up, under the influence of the struggle against the other and dominant races in the Empire, and as a result of the political agitations to which this struggle has given rise, a sense of common purpose and interest in the different branches of the Slavic race; a sort of racial consciousness, as it is sometimes called, which seems to be one of the conditions without which a race that is down is not able to get the ambition and the courage to rise.

It is the presence of this great Slav race in western Europe, groping its way forward under the conditions and difficulties which I have described, that constitutes, as well as I am able to define it, the race problem of southern Europe.

In many respects the situation of the Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in southern Europe generally is more like that of the Negroes in the Southern States than is true of any other class or race in Europe. For one thing, the vast majority of that race are, like the Negroes, an agricultural people. For centuries they have lived and worked on the soil, where they have been the servants of the great landowners, looked down upon by the educated and higher classes as *'an inferior race." Although they were not distinguished from the dominant classes, as the Negro was, by the colour of their skin, they were distinguished by the language they spoke, and this difference in language seems to have been, as far as mutual understanding and sympathy are concerned, a greater bar than the fact of colour has been in the case of the white man and the black man in the South.

Up to a comparatively few years ago an educated Slav did not ordinarily speak, at least in public, the language of the masses of the people. Doctor Clarke, the head of the Austrian Mission of the American Board in Prague, told me that as recently as thirty years ago an educated Czech did not care to speak his own language on the streets of Prague. At that time the German language was still the language of the educated classes, and all the learning of Europe was, to a very large extent, a closed book to the people who did not speak and read that language.

To-day conditions have so changed, Doctor
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www.forgottenbooks.org/readbook_text/The_Man_Farthest_Down_1000181867/87


* * * * *

I am not a member of the forgotten books, but copied these passages from a link published on another forum in response to my initial posting.

Of course, I must recommend reading the book!

[Jaga]

Kai, you are right. Somehow I overlooked your post. I should probably add a link to your posts in forum from the article. Thanks for a reminder.

[Jaga]

Kai,

the fragments you posted are similar to the ones in the text. I and you know about these differences between Slavs but we are related to the region for so long. For Washington, to be able to do such thorough analysis after not that much time, it is really a very interesting perspective.

as for Slavs not getting together - it is part due to a difference in sizes and influences. Russia is way too big to be accepted as a partner by other countries. Poland is also way to big for Czechs or Slovaks.

Referring to comments about Austrian/ Prussia and Russian part of Poland which is in the article posted online. Austrian part was the poorer, but Russian part was not much better, and Poles in Russian part did not have many national rights. Obligatory work for lords was abolished at the end of XIX century in Russian empire, later than in Prussia or in Austria.
In Prussian Poland economically it was much better, but politically not good, although my great grandma had Polish elementary book that taught about history of Polish Silesian princes at the end of XIX century.

interesting comment below:

++++Up to a comparatively few years ago an educated Slav did not ordinarily speak, at least in public, the language of the masses of the people. Doctor Clarke, the head of the Austrian Mission of the American Board in Prague, told me that as recently as thirty years ago an educated Czech did not care to speak his own language on the streets of Prague. At that time the German language was still the language of the educated classes, and all the learning of Europe was, to a very large extent, a closed book to the people who did not speak and read that language.++++

[kaima]

Mar 30, 2014 23:07:06 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Kai,

the fragments you posted are similar to the ones in the text. I and you know about these differences between Slavs but we are related to the region for so long. For Washington, to be able to do such thorough analysis after not that much time, it is really a very interesting perspective.

Spot on, Jaga! I found his observations very interesting and insightful, and would love to have him as a friend for regular discussions.

Mar 30, 2014 23:07:06 GMT -7 Jaga said:

as for Slavs not getting together - it is part due to a difference in sizes and influences. Russia is way too big to be accepted as a partner by other countries. Poland is also way to big for Czechs or Slovaks.

The strong dis-unity of the Slavic peoples is scandalous and tragic, a topic for leisurely consideration.

Mar 30, 2014 23:07:06 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Referring to comments about Austrian/ Prussia and Russian part of Poland which is in the article posted online. Austrian part was the poorer, but Russian part was not much better, and Poles in Russian part did not have many national rights. Obligatory work for lords was abolished at the end of XIX century in Russian empire, later than in Prussia or in Austria.
In Prussian Poland economically it was much better, but politically not good, although my great grandma had Polish elementary book that taught about history of Polish Silesian princes at the end of XIX century.

First there were the different tribes who coalesced into the Polish people, then the partitions that caused them to diverge in culture, values and language. It seems to be the forging in the fires of the 20th century that developed the (seemingly) unified Poland & Polish people of today.

Mar 30, 2014 23:07:06 GMT -7 Jaga said:

interesting comment below:

++++Up to a comparatively few years ago an educated Slav did not ordinarily speak, at least in public, the language of the masses of the people. Doctor Clarke, the head of the Austrian Mission of the American Board in Prague, told me that as recently as thirty years ago an educated Czech did not care to speak his own language on the streets of Prague. At that time the German language was still the language of the educated classes, and all the learning of Europe was, to a very large extent, a closed book to the people who did not speak and read that language.++++

Yes, it seems many peoples went through this process in the coalescence of their languages, in our common western histories, the old Brits under the Anglo-Saxons, then again under the Normans; the much-splintered Germans slowly unifying their language long after Martin Luther printed his bible, the Prussian Germans under Old Fritz preferring to speak French rather than German, language of dogs and peasants; the Hungarians caught up in nationalism in the mid 1800's and the nobles in the parliament struggling to speak Hungarian, language relegated to the peasants up to that point, rather than German or Latin, and constructing a literary language in their efforts.

The oppression of the various Slavic people under their dominating governments faced the same problems, and the social pressures to appear educated by speaking the dominant language. Hmmm ... as with English and Spanish in the US today? Let us not be side tracked. The Poles and the Russians developed their literary language and literature early, the Czechs also. Of South Slavs I cannot speak. Slovaks were horribly oppressed by the Hungarians, as reading this book by Washington points out. The Slovaks were evidently quite crushed and carried a despondency that was obvious in their carriage and movements. At this point I have a second book in mind as well, another old classic from the web, written by an English woman traveling through the Tatra region in Hungary and Poland. That is a topic for another posting in this thread. She found the Poles across the border to be far freer, cleaner and alive than the severely suppressed Slovaks. Then the Rusyn/Lemkos lived under the most primitive conditions, as described by Washington in his travels from Krakow to a Carpathian village.

By the way, there is a quickly downloadable and apparently more easily read pdf of Chapter XVI, "The Women Who Work in Europe" the book at
www.press.jhu.edu/books/supplemental/booker_t/ch09_04_booker_t_washington_rediscovered.pdf
There are many other references to Women in the book, but this evidently is where he addresses them specifically, in about 24 pages.

The second book I describe is "Magyarland, Travels through the Snowy Carpathians and Great Alfold of the Magyar" by "A Fellow of the Carpathian Society", Nina E. Mazuchelli.

Back to Slavic literacy and language, it is notable that the Czechs had a high rate of literacy, both at home and as immigrants to the USA. They also have a much-repeated and perhaps inflated reputation for having deserted the Austro-Hungarian army during WW I while fighting the Russians. I suspect this high rate of literacy AND the suppression of Czech language and culture had a lot to do with that. But then I am one to wonder that the Blacks in America and the Nisei Japanese-Americans were willing to fight for the USA while we suppressed and discriminated against them. It is quite notable that the Czechs and Slovaks fought quite well once they joined the Allies in France and Italy and Russia, all of which had contingents of the CzechoSlovak Legion. Just as Pilsudski depended upon the Polish Legions and veterans to establish and maintain Poland, the Legion was instrumental in CzechoSlovakia.

[Jaga]

Yes, Poles developed literary language thanks to Kochanowski. Referring to literacy, it looks that all Slavs are good in keeping folks literate, even the poor ones. Education was always important there, even in Soviet Russia and outside.
From what I understand Poland has the highest literacy rate in the world.

I feel for Western Slavs, these from ex Eastern Germany. We knew several of them, my family were friends with them, my parents visited them. Because of German unification they lose their identity, their tradition disappears. Church and community kept these Lusitsian Serbs together.
Poles, Czechs, Slovaks would not disappear soon, but Lusitsian days are counted.