The Women and the World's Fair. The New York Age, Oct. 24, 1891.

Document 2: "The Women and the World's Fair," New York Age, 24 October 1891.

Introduction

In this editorial, the New York Age questioned Mary Cecil Cantrill's qualifications to solicit and organize Black women's exhibits at the Exposition. The editors noted several African American women whom they feel would be better able to accomplish this task. In the conflict between the Black women petitioners and the Board of Lady Managers, the paper’s editors clearly sided with the petitioners. They take no position on whether to organize Black exhibits as a separate section within the Woman’s Building or to integrate them within the larger body of exhibits. Still they are upset enough about the lack of Black representation among either male or female Exposition planners to advise their readers to "have nothing whatever to do with the Columbian Exposition or the management."

 

The Women and the World's Fair.

In another column of THE AGE to-day we publish the statement of the Lady Managers of the World's Fair bearing upon the alleged discrimination practised upon Afro-American women. In the manifesto printed we have the terms "lady" and "woman" all jumbled up in royal shape. Why the term "woman," the strongest in our language as designating the fairest and best of human kind, should not be uniformly used we think of sufficient importance to engage an entire special meaning [meeting] of the Lady Managers.

As to the merits of the controversy we are free to say that we are in sympathy with the "colored women" as against the "lady managers" on general principles. In the first place, a "colored lady" should have been placed on the Board just as a "colored man" should have been placed upon the Board of Commissioners. We don't know Mrs. CANTRILL. We are sure she is a splendid woman, as Mrs. LOGAN and Mrs. BRAYTON vouch for her. But why should she have been placed in charge of the interests of the colored women does not appear on the face of matters. She cannot know as much about our "women" and what they are capable of as Mrs. GEORGE B. RUFFIN of Massachusetts, MRS. PHILIP A. WHITE of New York, MRS. BLANCHE K. BRUCE of the District of Columbia and Indiana, Miss IDA B. WELLS of Tennessee, and a hundred other "women" of the race we could name.

As far as bunching the exhibits are concerned we have no objection to urge. We are all one people. But the whites are greedy, and in the management of the lady as well as the man end of the World's Fair they have grabbed all the honors and all the emolument in sight. They are built that way. They set ...[line unreadable]........ [sep]arate exhibit, no separate management, and then proceed to appropriate all the glory and the profit of the undertaking. We object. We carry our objection so far that if the matter was left to our determination we would advise the race to have nothing whatever to do with the Columbian Exposition or the management of it. We have no responsible representative in the "man" Board of Management or the "lady" Board of Managers. The glory and the profit of the whole thing is in the hands of the white "gentlemen" and "ladies" and in all charity they should be allowed to share all the glory or failure of the undertaking.

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