The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-01-02

To the white people whose ideas OF the
negro race are confined 10 an understand
ing Of conditions existent IN the u.s.
meeting held LAST night in q. a r bah.
Hlnckley building, would have been
revelation. There the colored people OF
Seattle. assisted by number from Ia
coma celebrated the anniversary or Lln-
coins ema ncipation proclamation. II was
a meeting httingly held in the Co A X.
halE-ths hall IN which assemble the vet
Grams who fought gainst slavery. The
speeches all showed an advanced inteli-
rence and the audience appreciated the
points made.
Looking in the faces Of those speakers
and their auditors. II was hard 10 realize
the picture drawn b. one elderly man or
the degradation IN which their forefathers
had laborsa IL was hard ID imagine that
3 people with such flashing dark eyes had
once endured patiently slavery not last
ing days or months. but years The odd
negro and the new negro" These were
the new negroes and they gloried in the
title Their speakers told them that in
emancipation a new race had been horns
and that they were its representatives.
The applause showed the spirit OF these
new negroes. II greeted mention Of Ne
Kinley and reference 10 struggling Cuba,
and struggling Cuoa's murdered leader,
Antonio Maceo. Music by a choir filed
the interludes between addresses. At the
close Of the intellectual part OF the pro-
gramme all adjourned TO another room,
where q good old-fashioned turkey and
chicken dinner was served
When at half past o'clock I. I. Walker.
master Of ceremonies. rose TO open the
meeting a prolonged sh-h-h sounded
through the room, and the little groups
whispering about settled back TO listen.
The song America" was announced. the
audience rising 10 Join in the familiar
tune. Many fine voices were noticeable.
A blessing on the assembly and on the race
was invoked by Rev. S. J. Collins, OF
Tacoma.
The object OF the meeting was stated by
Mr.. Walker. He said il was not the in
tention TO go back go years and bring up
all the horrible scenes through which the
negroes had passed from the time they
had been taken from the shore Of Africa
and placed on American soil. 1t should be
the enfeavor nf the speakers to show that
a race had been freed which was worth
freedom and equal to any and all races
that inhabit the globe. (Applause.) An
Idea would be given of the new negro.
his progress and possibilities. The oppo-
sition would be shown which exists 10 the
negro because of his color and previous
condition. In we'll chosen language the
master Of ceremonies declared that If all
the martyrs Of freedom were before him.
If all their graves could be contained In
the hall. he would put first a bouquet on
the grave of Lincoln. (Applause) Next
would come John Brown then the i'm
mortal Fred Douglas Lovejoy and Harriet
Beecher Stowe. Nor should be forgotten
the soldier who marched TO the field mus
ket in hand and gave his blood for free
dom.
The proclamation of emancipation was
then read by Miss Daisy Anderson.
Rev. A. G. Bailey, OF this city, an ell
DERBY man, presented memories OF the
past wildly before his listeners-memorie
Of happenings. 70 said. which occurred
before many of the audience had been
born. but which. nevertheless. affected
their present condition He went back only
as far as 1868. when the negro was re-
garded as a beast or chatteI He told
of the efforts of the negroes to take their
part in the war, and how the whites
lal ehed, calling the negroes towards
With voice trembling with emotion he
told how this stigma was wiped out by
bravery on the field. He wished the
young ones present 10 know and feel
what their forefathers had suffered suf-
ftred, suffered to realize from what n
condition of degradation the race had
risen. The world was watching the prog
ress OF the race, he declared, progress
unknown in human annals. 1t had been
inpeded in every way. but II was still
forcing Itself IN.
The next speaker was Lawrence Sledge,
an eloquent young negro OF Tacoma His
subject was Slavery and Its Abolition"
He traced the history Of slavery. He de-
ciared slavery "a cancer, an unmitigated
curse 10 the new world" He spoke OF the
war, which had resulted in salvation 10
the Union aud freedom 10 the slaves.
Now there was no man who could call
himself master or another his slave. 1t
was said that slavery was necessary be-
cause OF circumstances and conditions.
This was a falsehoOd which would never
stand in the light OF Gods truth His
closing words were followed by hearty
applause.
The address Of the evening was by H
K. Cayton on "The New Negro" II was
long ard contained evidences OF careful
study. when the immortal Lncoln.s
emancipation proclamation fell upon the
civilized world Ike a clap OF thunder from
a clear sky he said. there dawned a
new race OF human beings. not only in
America, but wherever there perchanced
TO be a man or woman through whose
veins flowed drop Of African blood, and
this race was christened the New Negro.
Adapting himself 10 the surroundings ne
soon began 20 cope with his once proud
oppressors in every business avoca ton"
lie spoke OF Abraham Lincoln as the
legal father and Mrs. Harriet Beecher
Stowe as the legal mother Of the New
Negro. lie described the wretchedness
OF the American negro when first nb-
Grated, and their development In inteui-
gence and importance.
The much mooted race question" he
said. which promised TO so badly dis
turo the social conditions of this country.
and probably plunge it into n var more
bloody than the one that had freed the
negro is fast adjusting itself and A
happy solution az the social perplexity is
being gradually worked out by she negro
himself"
Speaking OF the political status Of the
negro Mr.. Cayton advanced the idea that
in the recent campaign Of education the
coiored population was responsible FOR the
election OF Mckinley. He supported this
ny figures Of the white and colored votes
in various states.
A duet by Miss Barbara Davis and Mrs.
Eertie Jones. and brief remarks and bless
ing hy the Methodist Evangelist Mexican.
az Kirkland closed one portion or the en-
terfsinmeuE. TIE consumption Of the sub
stant-al dinner followed.
~STF Down. CoUESr'