The daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1889-1890, 1889-09-24
EMANCIPATION JUBILEE.
COLORED ORATORS DII-ATE
ON ITS SIGNIFICANCE.
Rev. j. 4. Price, the Prominent
North Carolina COIOTed Orator,
breaches an Able and CT nserVa-
siYe Sermon.

Rev. j. &. Price, the Prominent
North Carolina COIOred Orator,
breaches an Able and Co HSerVa-
siVe Sermon.
The emancipation celebration i'll Knox
vile is still going on, but closing to-day.
1t has been largely attended, and while
animated and exultant, its tone has been
generally very conservative. Speeches
were made Sunday morning, and at
night the Rev. J. {. Price, of North Caro-
lima, universally acknowledged to be an
eloquent speaker, delivered a sermon at
Staub's theatre, from which we make the
following extracts:
Slavery endcavorcd to crush ont the
human and substitute the brute, but the
hand of God forbade. The opprcssOr
said we had no idea OF religion. The
prayer meetings i'll lonely swamps, friendly
meetings on hillsides. and silent prayer i'll
cotton and corn showed that we were
not given up to degradation. During the
DAYS of slavery the masters said wecould
not learn, and some States passed laws
against teaching us. II was Il crime to
be caught with a book. God brought
deliverance i'll 4 strange, terrible, but
effective way.
The masters mutteringS against Greedy
and Others before the war and during the
war proved to the slaves the twilight of
coming day. What was possible became
active and war with all it's red tongued
fury broke out between the North and
South. God was in that war and his
voice was louder than the cannon. The
conflict was bitter and loss heavy, but it
was the negroes way to deliverance.
Four million bOndSmen came i'll laugh
ing stream from the rice swampS and
cotton and cane plantations. The negro
now has much cause for rejoicing. He is
Il rcputed citizen, Il man and not brute.
MANY OF us are yet slaves of the soul.
We need a moral defense and shield, and
this can only be secured by education.
The danger to all nations is Il lack of in
teligence. In the dark days of the re-
bellon the black mans blood mingled
with the white mans. We cheered the
starving prisoners with our own hands
at the risk of our lives. The sable hand
and log cabin fed many a footsorc
soldier The chastity of the slave owners
wives anu uduSIlSlS > "ttS I'l lllpillSh'
We have been no less magnanimous to
the South than patriotic to the South.
In the name or universal brotherhood
leave us yet not under the influence OF
things we are afraid of, No one doubts
our religious zeal. 1t is deep rooted and
sometimes appears to be tanaticism. We
ask the nation not only to help us in this
country but to remember the land OF
darkness. our hearts go out across the
sea i'll feeling for our brothers Thousands
are dying annually for lack of spiritual
delvcrance. Ignorance and superstition
still bind the soul. God is not done his
work. The same hand that has followed
us thus far, will stay with us to the end:
God is saying to us go and speak to Ebel
Melech in your own and other nations.
Our school houses arc going up, and
churches being erected, and God is stead
lily making this an asylum for the op-
pressed. When the end comes America
will come forth, with all differences set
tied, carrying the harvest shcavcs, and
the despised Ethiopian will be among the
bundles, and it will be well done, good
and faithful servants"