Evening star., 1898-12-29
AFRO-AMERlCAN COUNCIL
Opening Session of the National 0rganiza
tion in This City.
Addresses by Prominent CoIored
Leaders. With Race Riots as
Theme-Work Outlined.

The first annual meeting of the Afro
American Council was called to order
shortly before l. o'clock today in the Met
ropoitan Baptist Church, colored, on r
| street between 18th and 18th streets north
| west. A prolonged meeting of the execu-
| tive committee preceded the assembling of
! the convention. Bishop Alexander Walters
| OF New Jersey, president of the council,
! presided. After devotional exercises the
| secretary read the call for the meeting.
which was addressed to: The members
! that were enrolled at the formation of the
| council at Rochester n. Y, September To-
! 1898, and all the signers of the call for
| said meeting, and all who are in sympathy
| with the object of the council (Which is the
amelioration of the condition of the Afro
An erican race, and willing to con-
| tribute s. annually toward the carrying out
| of the purposes of the council
After setting forth the facts leading up
| to the convention, the call recites:
The continuation of brutal lynchings
unjust Determinations on railroads and in
notes, restaurants and labor unions; the
attempted disfranchisement of Afro-Ameri-
| cans in several of the southern states, and
| a host Of other obstacles which are thrown
| In the way of our moral, financial and edu-
! cational progress. make it absolutely neces-
| sary that we organize and perpetuate an
| organization for self protection
| The Press a Unit.
| 'The Afro-American press is almost a
| unit in its demand for national organza-
ton, which has for its objects a fair rep
| resentation in the government of the coun-
try. local, state and national; to resist by
| all legal and reasonable means mob and
lynch law, of which made the spe-
| cial victims, and to insist upon the arrest
| and punishment of all such offenders
| against our legal rights; to resist tyranni-
| Gtaar nd
| other corporations, and the violent and
| insulting conduct of their employees; to
| labor for the reformation of our penal in
| stitutionS, where barbarous, cruel and un-
Christian treatment of convicts is prac-
| ticed; to secure more equitable distribu-
| ton of school funds; to insist a healthy
| emigration from terror-ridden sections to
other and more law-abiding sections; to
encourage all kinds of business enter
| prises etc" The call was signed by Presi-
| dent Walters
With the conclusion of the reading Cal
vim Chase of this city arose and said there
| was nothing in a later call by the president
| concerning the annual fee of So and he
| moved that the item be stricken out. The
| president declared the speaker out of or
| der. but Chase insisted upon being heard.
| While he was appealing from the decision
| of the chair a motion was made that
| committee on credentials be appointed.
| This motion prevailed, and the committee
| was appointed with w. A Pedger as
chairman, Chase taking his seat amid
| great applause.
A sergeant-at-arms was at once appoint
| ed
Welcoming Address and Response.
| The large church auditorium was COM
pletely filled when Rev. l. L. Thomas was
| called upon to deliver the address of well
come. which was an eloquent one. The re-
| Spouse was made by Rev. j. NJ. Henderson,
| DID, of New York, who said:
| We realize that our gathering will be
| worse than vain if are in thought or in
| utterance ore whit below the high plane
| upon which every American must stand
| when viewing the problems that the rapid
| onsweep of civilization is daily presenting
| in new and changing forms. Within day.
almost, We have learned with joy that the
| sectional line has melted and disappeared.
There are no sections now, but one coun-
try. AS citizens particularly interested in
the welfare of the Afro-American and their
| descendants, we hope that some day the
| race line will also disappear.
| Lines make trouble in America, whether
| they be sectional lines, race lines or labor
| lines. They are all un-American and must
| ultimately GO We are one country and we
must be one people. Recent events would
| indicate that there are some Americans
| who do not yet find their sentiments in ac
cord with the manifest destiny of the peo-
pie of America. But the stars and stripes
fioa ting ir glory ever every state and lately
| enriched by the blood of Americans of
| every state is evidence positive that the
| people of America. and not a few people of
America, VIII shape tne destiny OF the ma
| ton.
| Incendiary Utterances Barred.
! I'VE are not here to express nor to listen
| with patience to either the wailings of the
| respondent the incendiary utterances
of the unthinking; we have not come to re-
! hearse grievances nor to breathe out
| threatenings. There is malice in our hearts
| toward none, our souls dsmayed
by a single doubt of the justice of Almighty
God. nor have we the slightest misgivings
| of the nobility of the purpose that sways
| our great nation. We realize that the mis-
| of the law, the recognition of class and
race lines in civil and political life, are not
| in harmony with the spirit of the ma ton
| but are due to circumstances and condi-
| tions which are being steadily and pro-
| gressvely altered. In our deliberations we
| may not all see alike, but we are all equally
| earnest in our desires to promote the one
| great end-the solidarity of American citi-
zenS in civil life. We more mistake the
| cruel spirit of the lawless mob for the spirit
| of the American people than we would mis-
| take the gurgle of a brook for the roar of
! Niagara
| Bishop Walters Address.
| Bishop Walters then began the deliver
I ance of his address, lengthy document, in
! which he reviewed the condition of the
| negroes from the time of the revolution
| down to today. The south, he said must
| treat the negro as 1t would have the negro
| treat the south. The south could no longer
! shield its barbarity to the negro with the
| excuse of protecting its women. Bishop
| Walters could not understand the motives
! Of those members of the race who coun-
| sci inactiOn With President silent in