Reading Response: As The Lord Lives, He Is One of Our Mother's Children - Pauline E. Hopkins

Pauline E. Hopkins

1859-1930

Reading Response: As The Lord Lives, He Is One of Our Mother's Children

This story deals with the race binary being that Negroes were discriminated against harshly, however when a Negro is of a mixed heritage, and his appearance can be taken for being white, then a Negro would be able to exist and bypass some of the harsh discrimination simply because people were not aware of their African heritage.

In this story Gentleman Jim is a man that is hiding out from the mob of committee citizens that accused him of a murder he did not commit.  The real murderer was a white man that lied accusing Gentleman Jim. Gentleman Jim knows that he will not see a fair trial if he is captured because the mob of citizens after him know that he is a Negro.  Being Negro during this time period didn't have any fair connotations attached to it.  If a Negro is even suspected of any wrongdoing much less murder, he would surely be hung.  However, not everyone in this town is familiar with Gentleman Jim.  Gentleman Jim is a Negro of mixed heritage.  He could surely pass for being white.  So when Jim ended up in this town after his escape from being taken alive for something he did not do; his main concern was keeping a low profile out of the mainstream of the townspeople.

When Gentleman Jim is encountered by Rev. Septimus Stevens, he is ill near death and passed out in a river. The reverend takes him in and nurses him back to good health.  The reverend did not have any inclination that Gentleman Jim could possibly be a Negro.  Knowing this, Gentleman Jim recovered of his illness and became good friends with the reverend and his family.  He began working around the reverend's church keeping to himself and never really being in contact with the people of this town.  He was reluctant to tell the reverend his secret for fear of the reverend being angry with him and turning him in to that angry mob of people.  He simply did not know how to deal with the fact that he is wanted for murder, because in his mind, there was nothing that would help his situation.  If a white man said a Negro did it, (whatever it was) that settled it.  There would be no debate about it, no fairness and surely no listening to any other side to the story.

However, contrary to what Jim believed, when the reverend suspected that Jim was the man wanted for murder he did not become angry, nor did he turn him in.  He asked Jim to be honest and tell him the truth.  When he did, the reverend knew what would happen if he turned him in.  He would be lynched without question.  All the reverend could think about was Gentleman Jim's (now only being referred to as the Negro) life in his hand.  In the reverend's eyes the Negro's life was important to save without regard to his Negro heritage being a factor in making that decision.  The reverend was an example of a human being of real moral character.  A life is a life, no matter what your racial background happens to be.  He was not blinded by the hatred of racism and discrimination like the mob of committee citizens and other white people during this time frame.  His generosity did not cease when he learned of the truth.  In fact, he allowed him to stay longer until it was safe for him to move on.  What other reason could there be for him to do this for the Negro?

Gentleman Jim was unspeakably overwhelmed with gratitude.  It was astonishing to him that he did not have to fear being captured and turned in by the hands of Reverend Stevens.  Upon moving on to a new state, he still did not have much interaction with people.  He still felt enormous gratitude toward the reverend and felt the need to do something to show just how much.  Suddenly, it occurred to Jim that the reverend and his child would be on a train passing through the state where Jim had moved to.  However, the train tracks were blocked by an extremely large tree that had fallen due to a storm.  Gentleman Jim could not rest knowing this tree was blocking the train's path and would cause a fatal crash.  He had to do something and he stopped at nothing to remove this obstacle in his path.  His determination and adrenaline must have been key factors in how he miraculously got this tree off  of the track moments before the train arrived.  Although he saved the train from killing it's passengers, he was not able to save himself from being struck and killed by the train.

I don't think he had planned to die that day trying to save the lives of those on the train, but he had more regard for their lives than his own.  He was a man who had probably never experienced generosity much less kindness from a white man that knew he was a Negro.  I think that meant the world to Gentleman Jim and he never really grasped why the reverend had been so kind and did not turn him over to the law.  The reverend had no reason to be, other than genuine human kindness.  In that time period, genuine human kindness toward a Negro from a white person was not a popular occurrence.  He and his friend that had been lynched were exonerated at the end of the story when the real murderer was captured.  I believe the reverend must have felt grateful to have taken this Negro's word for truth value once he learned of his identity and not turning him over to the law as a guilty man.  No matter how bad those times were, people need to know that there were some good hearted whites that did not discriminate against an innocent person simply because of their Negro heritage.