The Washington bee., 1891-04-25
VIII II EN- ANClPATION II AS
DONE.
POLITICAL AND PHYSICAL Slavery &.
NEGRO LEADERSHIP A FAILURE.

Bel " will be read the opening
add ess OF Mr.. w. Calvin Chase,
on The OCCASION of the 29ih anni--
versary of the Emancipation Of
Slaves in the Districi OF Columbia,
April 10, in the Metropolitan Bap
tit CAurch.
Nv fel 'ow citizens, freedom is a
gem; it is full Of pathe'ic love; it
infuseI into man courage That
m .kes him feel that he is he lord
IF creation. Slavery is CRIME. it
wus IA blot on our boasted republic,
it b ctme tie hobby of political
parties. Physical slavery is one
thing and poiltita! slavery another
The N gro Was emancipated from
phys cal slavery, but he soon be-
came The victim OF political slav-
cry lie has been, until recent
years. political slave. To-day,
however, Is the 90 h anniversary
Of the emancipation of slaves in
the District Of Columbia. We
have assembled to celebrate the
emancipation of the Negro from
PHYSICAL slavery; and | suppose
that our next celebration will be
from Political slavery and hypoc-
| racy. -
Physically the Negro is power
ful, politically he ls the foot ball
for political parties Emancipa-
ton, as | understand it, means q
ch luge from worse to better or
from slavery to freedom, If we
are changed from astate that binds
us as slaves to one that makes US
treemen, our condition is improv.
ed. But if we continue to follow
brass bands, and emancipation
chariots, and spend $4,000 for Que
days froic, or demonstrate which
is the biggest man, aud We do this
for 20 years, there can't be much
improvement in our condition
The way to prove that the race
has advanced since its freedom, is
to show what it has done aud
what it can do. That will be
shown in this church this evening.
We propose to show the Negro 10
literature, art, science, etc. You
have never seen tue Negro in elec-
tricity 10 any extent. Have you
seen our boys in the machine shop
making all kind of useful articles?
Have you seen him in the carpen-
ter shop? This is something prac-
tical and beneficial. Instead of
throwing our m )ney in the streets
for street parades, We turn it over
for the "Home for our Destitute
Colored Girls"
This is what emancipation
means. Our condition is improv-
ed, when We can convince our
more fortunate white fellow citl-
zens that we are not beholding to
them; that we are manufactures,
pr ,ducers, as we'll as consumers,
that we can build our own ships,
steam cars, rail roads, telegraph,
telephone; that we can excel in
modern electricity; that we are
owners of large stores where our
boys and girls can be employed,
the sooner will this race prejudice
be eliminated. have no heeltercy
in saying that there are a great
number of negroes in this city
who are unfit to be free. They
disgrace themselves and the strug-
CLING race to which they are iden-
tilted. The philanthopists through
whose instrumentallty the negro
was emsnclpated were of the opin-
ion that he would thoroughly un-
derstand the meaning of emsnci-
patton. There are some people in
this city who are just as ignorant
of what is meant by emancipation
as they ale of the injury that these
street parades do US. There ls but
one way for the negro to advance,
and that is by individual efforts.