New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-04-25
"CURsED BE CANAAN.v
Lecture By Rev. Alfred M. Green.

st. James Chapel, on Roman street, be-
tween Cnstomhouse and Bienville, was
filed last night with a large and appreci-
alive audience who had assembled to hear
the lecture of Professor A. NJ. Green on the
subject Of Cursed be Canaan"
The proceeding opened with hymn,
'Before Jehovah's Awful Throne" in which
the entire congregation joined in singing
with excellent effect. The hymn having
broken the ice, the throng were all the
better prepared for the lecture which fol-
lowed.
The song being concluded, blessing was
invoked by Rev. Mr.. Thomas, and the Lord
was called upon TO open free schools and
shed the light of intelligence over people
who had SO long been held in slavery.
Then the lecturer was introduced. The
lecturer began by abiding to his indisposi-
ton, which had well nigh prevented him
from keeping his engagement. When he
had wandered through the Customhonse
this morning" had he been as successful in
finding Mr.. T. Morris Chester as he was
now, he would have called upon him as q
substitute.
The drift of the first part of the lecture
set toward the historical fact of the first
appearance Of the African in 1903, since
which time the words Cursed be Canaan
had been rung from one end Of the land to
the other as justification of holding the
slaves in bondage. The pedigree of the
original Canaan was touched upon, and the
numerous progeny that flowed from his
loins, the lecturer remarking such facts
were not worthy of the learned men of the
age. The origin of the white race from
Japhet was not called into question by
the white sages, but every negro in
the land was said, by pulpit ora
tors to fall under the cursed be Canaan
dogma. God was the common father of
all, and man was brotherhood. More
than the fifty-fourth generation Of Canaan
having passed away before the keel Of
Columbus ship was laid; the biblical Ian
guage confined the curse to the third or
fourth generation; the anathema had
reached it's limit. The imprudence of Noah
in the DAYS when total abstinence societies
were scarce, was also touched upon. The
old man, growing near to the decline of
life, couldn't tell Canaan from Ham in the
condition he was in; indeed, the white
people had often said "they couldn't
tell one niger from another even
conceded, found in biblical lore,
it was impossible to conceive how upon this
curse could be built an apology for holding
the African in bondage, especially IN this
age Of enlightenment. Curses from the
mouth of God flow on all the features, all
the characteristics OF slavery. compared
with which the curse of Canaan is as moth
ing;
tribute to U. S. Grant, and coming back to
the subject of ''cursing" he traced the his
tory of His wrath from the time Of Adam
through the incident of the first murder
down to the time of Noah, where he fingered
describing the character of the age of the
deluge when the Lord, for the crimes of the
wicked world, had concluded to destroy
it. Cursed be Canaan was the con-
sequence of the ridicule of Canaan, the
black son of white father, at seeing his
father in such condition he couldn't get
up again-not that he had committed any
great crime, stolen sable child from It's
cradle or any other heinous transgression.
Willis Salisbury, Congressman, could prob
ably illustrate the condition in which the
"old man. was in. The lecturer devoted
some time to an assault on the Canaan
theory, in which he showed the desire of the
white philosophers to heap historical argu-
ments ON the head of the negro. while they
are silent on their own ancestors of the same
time and age.
The lecturer spoke of the age of the Mes
siah, the most glorious of all the epochs IN
the procession of the ages. Here, in this
time, even Canaan was blessed; the Lords
mission was to open the prison doors, letting
the captive 90 free to bind up the wounds
of the broken-hearted, yet help came to all
except to the race of Canaan, according to
the High Church reasoners. Next to the
age of the Messiah. came the age of the
Mahomet, but it was characteristic of the
creed Of Mahomet that all races were equal
before the altar, where there is no distlnc-
ton between those who worship. OF all
the mighty and grand empires, Tyre and
Sidon, Nineveh, Assyria, Babylon, not one
of them had fallen by reason OF the curse
Of Canaan. The crimes and fires Of the
French revolution, nor all the deeds of vii
lainy SINCE could be attributed to this curse.
ColOred men, mindful of the truth "Ethio
pia shall stretch out her arms" offered
their services in the war, but time after
time in the history of the rebellion they
were refused, the cry rising from the pulpit
"cursed be Canaan but at last this sophls-
try could be no longer used to prevent the
service of the colored men in the cause OF
their country, and they entered the lists.
Here the lecturer closed, and Rev. Mr..
Thomas asked for collection.