The San Francisco call., 1896-01-02
OF. THE NEGRO,
Afro-American Leagues Ce1ebra.
tion Of Emancipation
Day.
Names Of Abraham Lincoln, John.
Brown and Frederick Douglass =
Are Honored =

= :."Afl, the great scandals are not on negro
preachers" =: -:
=. Thiswas the utterance which came from
the lips of Bishop Alexander Walters,
DID, at: the African Metho list Episcopal.
Church last night IN his impassioned
eulogy: OF the negro race, and the effect
upon the audience was electric. The re-
sponse.t to- his: stentorian tenor tones was.
a mighty shout of exultation and wild
:outburst of laughter and applause.
. There was. a great: deal of meaning in
this under the circumstances, for it was
the celebration Of Emancipation day by
the Afro American Leagues of this City
and Oakland, and among. the. speakers
whose names. were:down on the printed
programme was that Of Rev: co.
Brown, DID. DR.: Brown was not present.
Bishop Walters was dilating upon the
moral <advancement:o his race. He is
born orator and knows how=to strike the
proper.chord at the right time. He said
much more than this anent. the subject OF
morals, but of course no. personal allusion
was made to the man who says he is.a VIC
tim of blackmailers. =: ".-.. -
The church was crowded for the, celebra-
tion. Above the platform were the stars
and stripes, stirmounted by a crayon: por-:
trait: of. Abraham Lincoln on ! a shield.
Similar portraits: Of .Iincoln adorned the
walls OF the church at Intervals, and
+ the: ceiling: was festooned with the Ma
tronal colors.. About the. altar were also
t portraits of john Brown and Frederick
/ Douglass. " Lincoln, John Brown and.
| >Douglass were the bright. stars of liberty
/ ito which the: jublfant Afro Americans
were doing. honor. 4 here was a1so@a- COPY
I@of p PresidentI lincoln S proclamation in a
frame and another picture that was an
fallegorical Representations Of the overthrow
OF slavery. ~: =:
E.>:: Occupying. the platform. W ere: Bishop
| Walters. Rev E.. T.: !Cottman, Rev.. George
/; Ed ackson; Rev. j. Allen; Rev R o.bert
BardWell. OF. Paso Robtes.A lien. a. Connor,
t=John j. .;*Sul hyan; WI i 0glesby, w. g.:
/ NJ addox; Mrs. ada L..sBalfou and. Miss
I Lizzie Jackson, besides the. president..of
+ chairman Of the committee was. William
/: Il. Henderson, of this City, and the secre-
/ tary, George rE. Watkins of al lameda. :: -
t. There was lnu sic and sin ging, of course
.es well~as. good>speakl klng--mu usic and sing
i ing"of 4 the'most:patriotfc kind by: the:full
lchoir-andcthe Battle" HY mn of the Repub-
| lic was: sung blythe entire audience. The
! BattleHy YIN n was a surging wave: of grand
I"hdrmo onY. =: III:
!. =: After Rev. e. T. Cottman's Invocation,
President Morton ade, observation-disclosures
| address, and: w: c.: Maddox read the
| Proclamation Emanoipa ton: signed by
president Lincoln; ON january /; 1863. Mr..
| Morton took care to. giye-:the- Republican
/ party credit for theliberation and enfran-
chisement of the neero race. Then euio-
/ gies oil: John Brown and Frederick Douglass
! followed, and Bishop: Walters. delivered
! hisoration:
f. The Bishop-he is the youngest of col
ored bishops of. the Methodist church
! gave resume of the abolition movement,
and then extolled the progress of his race
| from 1863, when their financial condition
was without cent until the last United
States census was taken, when it was
shown that the property owned by the
| negroes OF the United States amounted to
almost $500, 100000 He gave a table of
! States to show how the negroes had pros
pered In financial sense. He spoke also
OF the intellectual progress. There are
now 25, GOO colored teachers and 1,520. 800
celored pupils preparing to become
teachers. He provoked much laughter by
! observing: "Whyit was predicted that we
would all die out, but | am told that ZOO
negro babies are born every day."
Alluding TO California in the great
struggle he said: f'The fight that stag
| gered the brain of Calhoun and nerved the
1 arm OF Zachary Taylor was whether Cal
ifornia should be admitted as a slave State
or Z free State, but thank God it was ad-
mitted as free State"
Before Bishop Walters speech Miss
Lizzie Jackson delivered an original poem
appropriate to the occasion.
Collections were taken up for the John
Brown and Frederick Douglass Monument
funds.