The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-20
CIVIL RIGHTS.
The Attempt Of Colored Persons to Le'
gally Invade the Opera House.
The Answer Set up by the Defense.

HE Answer SET up ny tne Dcicnscs
The insane desire on the part OF certain
colored persons in this community to force
themselves into places of amusement, and
especially into the Opera House, has been the
cause of no little vexation to managers, and
several law suits for damages have grown out
of attempts on the part Of colored people to
force entrance into those portions Of theaters
which have been specially set apart for the
use of the whites. Recently there seems to
have been settled determination to force the
race issue in the Opera House, and after re-
peated attempts by colored men to obtain
seats in the parquette and dress circle they
have at last decided to test the question before
the courts.
j. E. Staes has gone into the Fourth Dis
that he has been denied the rights guaranteed
TO him by the laws of the State and of the
United States. L. Placide Canonge, ESQ.,,
the manager and lessee of the Opera House.
through his attorneys, has fled his answer,
which we append in full. We regard it as
fortunate that this suit has been brought, in
asmuch as the question had to be settled, and
the sooner the better for all parties.
One thing is certain, neither the opera nor
any other dramatic enterprise can succeed
here if the negroes are to be permitted to
invade those portions of the house set aside
for the whites, and it is absurd to suppose
that in this country the courts will m aintain
that any class of persons shall have the right
to break up and destroy the business of an
other class
The day is very far in the womb of the
future that will either see mixed schools or
promiscuous attendance at the theaters and
operas in this city.
If the colored people will not be content
with the space allowed to them in theaters
and yet desire to witness theatrical and
operate performances, by all means let them
unite to build theaters, engage dramatic and
operate companies and rival the whites if pos
sible. If they complain that they are too few
or too poor to build theaters and sustain
singers and actors, we say that such is not
the fact for one half the money spent by the
negroes of New Orleans in sustaining Kellogg
and his ravenous and INSCRIPTIONS following.
would maintain several places of amusement
where the octoroon, the mulatto and the Afri-
can could enjoy themselves to their hearts
content.
We venture to assert that theater patron
lied by the African levee laborer and field
hand, would possess few charms for such
colored men as Staes, Mary and Dubuclet,
who are persons of education and refined
tastes and who, but for the rule they desire to
have enforced of equality of the races, might
bepersonally unobjectionable in public places
If the objection which exists against the
admission of even the least colored and best
of the African race in places OF public resort
is ever to be overcome, it will be by the soft
ening and ameliorating influences Of time
and not by legal enactm ents. The laws OF
man cannot override the DEGREES of God, and
there are instincts and rcpulsions implanted
by the Creator in the. hearts Of the Caucasian
race against which nor ecclesiastical orders
nor judicial DEGREES can avail.
It is generally accepted now among scien-
fists that the various races OF man which
people the world had different origins, and
that it was the purpose of the all-wise Creator
that each race should have special destiny.
Whether, as Sir Samuel Baker asserts so posi-
lively, the African was intended as slave we
know not, but the fact is patent he was created
the inferior of the Caucasian and of every
other race on the globe.
The attempt therefore to elevate the negro
suddenly into position he was never meant
to occupy, must in the very nature of things
and refined of the African race attempting to
foist themselves where their presence is OBJ
noxious, let them rather devote themselves to
the good work Of ameliorating the condition
and improving the minds Of the members of
their race. There is an ample and glorious
field, field which must be titled and cared
for by some body and why not by themselves
Why should the African look forever to the |
Caucasian to elevate and support his race?
Why is it that all African explorers must be |
white men Where are the African Living |
stons, Bakers, and Murchisons? Before we |
hear more about 'Social Equality" we
should like to hear something about the a.
vancement of the negro in literature, and in |
the arts and sciences.
The Caucasian has toiled for centuries to |
achieve his present status and its social pri-
vileges, and as there is no royal road to
neither is there any fiowery path
to social equality. Some epicure is said to
have remarked that, "the Lord might have
ma! Ms better berry than the strawberry, but
he \Gnt." So we assert that the Lord might |
hav de the negro the equal Of the white