Ray Stannard Baker — American Journalist born on April 17, 1870, died on July 12, 1946

Ray Stannard Baker was an American journalist, historian, biographer, and author... (wikipedia)

And no book gives a deeper insight into the inner life of the Negro, his struggles and his aspirations, than, The Souls of Black Folk.
Talk of joy: there may be things better than beef stew and baked potatoes and home-made bread - there may be.
The streets and alleys of the ward were notoriously filthy, and the contractors habitually neglected them, not failing, however, to draw their regular payments from the city treasury.
In the beginning I thought, and still think, he did great good in giving support and encouragement to this movement. But I did not believe then, and have never believed since, that these ills can be settled by partisan political methods. They are moral and economic questions.
But steel bars have never yet kept out a mob; it takes something a good deal stronger: human courage backed up by the consciousness of being right.