The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-03-04
Social Equality.

Know Nhab they expect from the f
Fifteenth Amendment. IF the state |
ments of their public speakers
can be relied on. they do not /
expect nor desire SOCIAL equal
ity. Those who think they will Sc
cure favor with the colored voters by
officiously thrusting social equality
upon them, greatly mistake the peo-
pie whose good opinion they are so
anxious to secure.
At the colored convention held last
month. in Frankfort, Kentucky,
several very able speeches were made
by eolored men, who declared very
emphatically what their race desired
and expected. Rev. Geo. W. Dupee,
Of Paducah, one of the speakers,
gave utteranee to the following sensi.
BILE words:
Two parties would be disappointed
by the action of this convention if we
did not properly qualify ourselves,
and with Divine help make ourselves
worthy of the great boon of citizen
ship. We wish to make friends, not
enemies. In the words of the great
loyal chieftain, let US so act that we
may have peace; let there be no ap-
peal to prejudice or passion. Let US
strive to make our course upward and
onward, and win for ourselves honor
in the land we may have to live in-I
should say In the land we live in.
[Applause.l He denied the assertion
that the colored man desired social
equality with the white man. He felt
that he was dumbfounded and out of
place when surrounded by white PEG.
pie, and no negroes present. We
want only our rights before thei 1T, and
simple justice. We don't ask for So
ciGt equality; zoe aCGRt only our legal
and political rights. We are all made
of the same blood and bone, and are
equal before the Lord. He had paid
the same railroad fare to Louisville
from Illinois as the white man, and
wasn't that equality? When he got
TO Jeffersonville the white man was
j put inside the omnibus and he was
put on top. Wasn't that equality?
Laughter
He wanted to inform the white
man that all that he wanted was equal
rights before the law when we paid
taxes, and an equal right to our share
of the benefits. What have we re-
eeived from the school-tax2 lCheers
and answers of nothing."1 He
thought we were entitled to the bene-
fits of the pauper tax, having paid our
proportion thereto, but we have not
had them. The speaker referred to
his slave days and feelings, and was
not surprised that the black man had
thirst for Office, when he had been
so intimate with the white man, whe
had displayed the same desire. Ho
wanted our action to be creditable te
the great party that, through God, hao
brought liberty and equality to thd
black man. And we don't want to
make those who were our mas
tiers ashamed Of those who were
their slaves, either. Cheers.
Dont't go back to the past;
you will not make friends by it.
Be liberal in your speeches and
resolutions. Let the past be forgot
ten, and start in the new path of IL
erty and citizenship opened up. t
depends upon US whether we are o
be worthy of the kindness and respect
which comes to us from cur friends.
He was as good Democrat as there
lived. When asked to define it, he
said his Democracy was that which
knew no former condition of situa-
ton or color, and when he fulfilled
contract, he wanted the same pay as
any other man would get. Laughter
and cheers. Let us cultivate friendly
feelings, and If any man is our enemy,
let the cause of that enmity be in his
own breast. We must give no offensc
to any man. and if any one desires to
be our enemy, it will be because he
wants to be! Applauae.l Be re-
spectful and manly, and do right. In
so doing you will force your opponents
to respect you. Applause
Elder Young, of louisville, said,
as we learn from the report of the pro-
ceedings Of the convention:
He thought that the inference
drawn from our demand for equal
rights, that we should have social
equality, was folly; it was not philo-
sophical. He demonstrated the i'm
possibility of such results - social
equality would regulate itself. We
had it among ourselves, from the man
as black as myself to the man as white
aS any DOuy. IOuCS1s.1 1nO WAAlC
negroes in our circle showed that some
one In Kentucky had been a practical
amalgamationist but there was none
of it in his veins.
Rev. 7. T. Boaz. of Frankfort,
made an eloquent speech. in the
course of which he referred to the
social equality question. He said he
did not endorse it. He only wanted
ciUi1 equality.
These expressions from the leading
spirits of the convention, held at
Frankfort. show that social equality
is not the expectation, nor is it the
desire. of the newly made colored
voters. What they want is equality
under the law-civil and political.
This secured, they will be content.
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