St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-02
FIRED BY FREEDOM,
Colored Citizens Royalty Gel
citrate the Anniversary
OF Their resdom.
ForcefuI Speeches and a
Toothful Banquet at Ar
mory Hall.
Archbishop Ireland Would
INCREASINGLY Tear Down
the Color Line.
Rev. S. G. Smith Predicts That
Whites Will Sit at Feet Of
the Blacks.

the Blacks.
The Afro-Amercan League of st.
| Paul last evening celebrated the twenty
seventh anniversary of the emancipa-
ton proclamation by President Lincoln
| in all appropriate manner at the
armory. Speeches were made by dis
| tinguished persons and an elegant ban-
quet was served. Those attending
comprised the leading colored people of
| the city, as we'll as number of other
prominent citizens. Addresses were
delivered from the stage in the armory
hall. Sam Hardy presided over the
! meeting, and, with his usual suave
manner, volunteered neat speech at
the opening OF the exercises, as we'll as
one at the close. Among those having
seats on the stage were:
Archbishop Ireland, Father Harrison, Rev.
S. &. Smith. of the Peoples church, Judge
Louis William Kelly, Rev. D. b. Brown, F.
l.. McGhee.
J. Q. Allen read letters of regret from
Gov. Merriam, Daniel r. Noyes, and
others. The audience joined in singing
america" with j. I'll. Hickman as
leader.
f. l.. McGhee delivered the opening
address and acquitted himself with
credit. He discussed the race problem
and stated that the enlightenment of
the colored people had begun in the
West, and would spread throughout the
land. He made happy reference to
the stand taken by Archbishop Ireland,
Rev. S. q. Smith, and Ignatius Don
nelly as leaders in encouraging the col
ored people to greater progress and
privileges.
j. II. Hickman read the emancipation
proclamation in clear and distinct
voice.
Archbishop John Ireland spoke in an
eloquent strain for half hour. He COM
menced by abiding to the occasion as
being one of which to be proud. as it
was the tWenty-Seveuth anniversary of
the day when the chains of slavery fell
from over three millions of slaves. He
regretted that history had to record that
slavery had ever existed in this country,
as he thought it was sad commentary
on the plan and principles of the gov
ernment of the United States, the whole
theory of which was
Opposed to Enslaving
man by his own kind. Said he:
slavery was not introduced by the
republic. 1t was brought to the colony
OF Virginia by the English in 1920"
The trouble was in that the virus had
been inoculated into the body polite by
a foreign theory. The archbishop al
luded to the statement having been
made that slavery, in the abstract, was
but life contract for labor, and as
serted that in the concrete it was found
ed on principle of ownership OF the
body and soul of the slave. The high
est gift of man was the privilege to
know and to act: but slavery took away
the freedom of the will. Emancipation
began with Christ. and the slavery of
the blacks was against the the
DRY Of the Christian religion.
The emancipation Of the blacks did not
stop at freezing the body, but it is being
extended to-day in a social way. He re-
ferred to tho oStracism from hotels and
GERS, and entered protest against it.
He continued:
slavery was wrong, and we should
do all in our power to cause it to be for
gotten. because it was disgrace. Color
is the merest accident. The color of
the face is made UP Of various shadings
in the races of man. Why select one
color and place a bar upon it?
1t is baseless prejudice" Some
whites were inferior i'll intellect
to some blacks, and he adv coated intelli
gence and social graceS as the basis of
equality"
Give them their opportunity, and If
they are inferior the white people
| will profit by it; if they are superior,
+t,.> ci, 1.>l
! bic to build mp wall of separation in
this country between the whites and
| the blacks. / say admit the blacks on
the same principle that you admit the
| white brother. Let marriage be queS-
ton of taste. The law is not right when
it absolutely prohibits the intermarriage
| of the races. l would make them equal
| socially. | would say let all people
in America be equal socially and
politically"
Rev. S. g. Smith, the next speaker,
| also spoke for a half-hour. He began
10y referring to the absence of IgnatiuS
! Donnelly, who was to have been pres
| ent. and spoke of his election by the
| Farmers Alliance. alluding to the pass
age of Scripture in reference to dancing
in the market place, adding: Mr.. Don
| nelly stood in the market house and
piped to the farmers, and they danced
4 to his music" The blacks had advance
| ment in the past twenty-Seven years,
| aud so had the white people of the
| South; but the blacks had outstripped
| the whites in progress. He continued:
IF this audience was representative
of the colored people of America, the
| problem of their future could be pre-
| dicted, but it is not. You must wait
for the advancement of the Afro
| American"
Zone of the duties-of the colored
| people is to carry the gospel into Africa,
| aud to bring that country forth into the
light of Christianity" Concluding:
1.-The time will come when there will
not be black child born which shall
| not be educated, and when there shall
not be trade or profession in which
they will not be gladly admitted. The
colored people are born orators, and l
have heard it said that they were born
to talk. | predict that one of the great
wonders of the next century will be the
artistic development of the colored
| people. The time will come when the
white people shall take their places at
the feet of the negro and learn of him."
Rev. ID. 3. Brown delivered seuSl-
BILE speech, in which he said he was not
| ashamed of being a colored man. He
| did not ask to be admitted to the homes
of the whites upon equal terms unless
| wanted. He urged his people to ac-
| quire homes and improve opportunities
for culture, and not force themselves
| upon any one, but TO act like honest
| people who had self-pride.
Nelson Russell read The Death of
Slavery" by William Cullen Bryant,
and the audience joined in singing