I have not always been able to distinguish one class
from the other, and have therefore been quite reticent
about my life and treatment at West Point. I have, too,
avoided the newspapers as much as possible. I succeeded
in this so well that it was scarcely known that I was
at the Academy. Much surprise was manifested when I
appeared in Philadelphia at the Centennial. One gentleman
said to me in the Government building: "You are quite
an exhibition yourself. No one was expecting to see a
colored cadet."
But I wander from my theme. It is a remarkable fact
that the new cadets, in only a very few instances,
show any unwillingness to speak or fraternize. It is
not till they come in contact with the rougher elements
of the corps that they manifest any disposition to
avoid one. It was so in my own class, and has been so
in all succeeding classes.
When I was a plebe those of us who lived on the same
floor of barracks visited each other, borrowed books,
heard each other recite when preparing for examination,
and were really on most intimate terms. But alas! in
less than a month they learned to call me "nigger,"
and ceased altogether to visit me. We did the Point
together, shared with each other whatever we purchased
at the sulter's, and knew not what prejudice was. Alas!
we were soon to be informed! In camp, brought into
close contact with the old cadets, these once friends
discovered that they were prejudiced, and learned to
abhor even the presence or sight of a "d--d nigger.
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