New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-12-11
SPEECH
Senator Pinchback,

Senator Pinchback,
Ga AK ns the Chair .. tie yAaaaL Eg.L
Rights ca-rsa.Oa.
Mr.. Pres,deai and Gentlemen Of The Coursaiioa !:
/ To be selected president Of a national
convention at any time is great honor, and
one that should prize very highly, but to be
/ selected at such time and by snch n couven-
lion, having among its members so many
able and experienced gentlemen, who per-
| haps were justly entitled to this distinction,
is an honor that inspires mo with feelings Of
the deepest gratitude, and for which tender
my most sincere thanks.
When recall the facts that an one OF q
race which until recently has been SO op-
pressed; that entered upon life with no
adventitious aids, but numerous hindrances;
that I have, nevertheless, been elected a
member of a State constitutional convention,
| State Senator, Lieutenant Governor Of a
| State and United States Senator, feel VEN
Grafton for our political institutions, and
gratitude to the Republican party for their
efforts to elevate my people, which cannot
fully express.
Gentlemen, will eudeavor to So preside
over your deliberations as - command the
confidence and respect So essential TO the
preservation of order and the transaction OF
business aud feeling the humility inspired
by n just appreciation Of the dignity and diff
ficulties of my position, earnestly asks your
cooperation.
A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH
Of the colored race in AmaricI will help us to
an intelligent consideration Of the objects
that have brought us together.
The first Introduction Of our people into
the Colonies that now constitute q part Of
/ this great union of State. was in the
month of August. l620. \ Dutch ship en-
tered the James river, III Virginia, with
twenty African slaves The Kings and
Queens and authorities IN general OF Great
Britain fOstered tho trade from that year up
! to the period o! the Revolutionary war. The
Dutch and other foreign flags were used to
| protect this nefariOus traffic, in conjunction
with the British Government and the several
United Colonies, so that at the Declaration
Of Independence more than half a million
Africans were held in bondage in the Colo
MES, composed of the captives taken in the
various wars waSed by the independent tribes
or nations Of Africa, sometimes embracing
/ the royal families Of the conquered people.
! Tradition has it that our present estmablc
Lieutenant Governor {. G. Antoine, Of Lou
1
marks Of the African, conjoinod with great
! spirit and intelligence, is a dcsccndent Of one
of tho royal captves.
| Passing over the barbarities practiccd upon
/, our forefathers, in The transit from their ma
tive shores across the Atlantic, we found a
home in the New World, though as captives
and bondsmen. It's worthy Of note, without
! reference to details, that the legislative
action, State and Federal, initiated at differ
ent periods, will show the estimate placed
upon us, from the time whom we were re-
garded as chattels to the present, when we
citizens of the United States.
This varying legislation proceeded upon
the suppositiOn, first, that We were property,
to be controlled and disposed of as such ;
then that we were human beings, with life
and other personal rights demanding protec-
ton; then that we were
MEMBERS OF SOCIETY,
with the marital and parental relations to be
regarded then as an industrial clement,
competing with FREQ labor and originating the
fight over the Introduction Of slavery in the
Territories; then rs a political element, being
tia basis Of political representation and the
laws, State aud Federal, and the political
controversies have changed and shifted for
the last half century, as these separate and
distinct views have obtained and been at
issue, until the conflict Of ideas, morals, and
industries eliminated in the great civil war
just closed. which not only broke up the
prejudices of Il century and made way for the
future growth Of our great country, but broke
the shakes that bound four millions Of people
and put their energies and forces 10 the great
national venture OF America for Americans,
without respect to race, color, or previous
condition.
The political, civil, and personal rights
belonging to US as an ennancipatcd and en-
franchised people have been recognized and
protected in the constitutions and laws Of
several OF the States in which slavery lately
existed and in many other Of the States OF
the Union.
These rights have been fully recognized in
the Constitution OF the United States and in
the Federal statutes, with the exception Of
our civil rights. We now ask the Govern
ment that has freed and cnfranchised u by
national enactment, II protect US in our
rights in the public schools, and when we
shall travel upon the public highways, and
at the hotels, thcaters, aad other places Of
public resort. We ask for no exclusive, but
common privileges. To this point, rendered
hopeful by the efforts Of tried friends in the
past and by the suggestions made in the able
message Of our houored President Of the
United States, just submitted TO Congress,
we now come. Successful effort to accom-
plish this object must DC preceded Icy right
estimate of cur people in this country. To
be understood, we must be contemplated
from the urovideutial standloints furnished
-, l. - IL,