The Washington bee., 1898-02-26
OUR WOMEN.
MEETING OF THE AMERICAN WOMEN
SUFFRAGE ASSoCIATIoN.-MRS.T TER
RELL'S ADDRESS.

MEETING OF THE AMERICAN WOMEN
| SUFFRAGE ASsoCIATIoN.-MRs.T TER
RELL'S ADDRESS.
There was distinguished audience
present al the Columbia Theatre on
last Friday evening to listen TO the
address by Mrs. Mary Church Terrell.
She spoke without manuscript and her
logic and eloquence were very affec-
tive. Mrs Mary Church Terrell's ad-
dress was in part as follows:
Fifty years ago meeting such as
this planned, conducted and address
ed by women, would have been an
impossiblity Less thrn forty years
ago, few sane men would have pre-
dicted that slave or one of his de-
scendants would in this country at least
address such an audience in the ma
tion's capital at the invitation of wo-
men representing the highest, broad
est and best type of womanhood that
can be found any where in the world.
Thus to me this semi-centenial of the
National American Womsn's Suffrage
Association is double jubilee, re-
iolcing as do not only in the partial
enfranchiSement of my sex, but also
in the emancipation of my race.
From the day their fetters were
broken and their minds released from
the darkness of ignorance till tonight,
colored women have forged steadily
ahead i'm the acquisition of knowledge
and in the cultivation of those virtues
which make for good. To use a
thought Of the illustrious Frederick
Douglass, if judged by the depths from
which they have come, rather than by
the heights to which those blessed
; with centuries of opportunities have
attained, colored women need not
hang their heads in shame
, Though the slaves were liberated
less than forty years ago, pennlless
t and ignorant, with neither shelter nor
food, so great was their thirst for
knowledge and so herculean were
their efforts to secure it, there are
= today hundreds of negroes, many OF
hem women, who are graduates of the
e foremost schools and colleges of the
> land With tireless energy and ardent
zeal colored women since their eman-
S cipation have been prosecuting the
f work of educating and elevating their
race. OF the teachers engaged in in
n structing the colored youth, it is no
. Iexaggeration to say that fully ninety
per cent are women. In rhebackwoods,
s remote from the civilization and the
: comforts of the city or town, on the
plantation, reeking with ignorance and
t vice, our colored women may be
, found battling with the evils which
u such conditions always entail
0 Through the National Association of
Colored Women which was formed by
union of two large organizations in
4 July 1896 and which is now the only
national body of colored women, much
Z good has been done in the past and
: more will be accomplished in the
. future, we hope Believing that it is
only through the home that the
e people can become really good and
truly great the National Association
has entered that sacred domain.
Homes, more homes, better homes,
, purer homes is the text upon which
our sermons have been and will be
preached. Under the direction of our
clubs all over the country, colored
girls are taught the art of cooking,
sewing and housekeeping. Talks on
social purity and the proper method
of raising children are made for the
, benefit of mothers who in many in
stances fall short of duty, not because
they are vicious and depraved, bnt
because they are ignorant and poor.
This work has been prominently push
ed forward by the Tuskegee, Ala. club.
In New York City mission has been
established and is entirely supported
by colored women under supervision
of the New York City Board. 1t has
in operation kindergarten classes in
cooking and sewing, mothers meeting,
mems meetings, reading circle and a
manual training school. Much the
same kind of work is done by the
Colored Woman's League and the
Ladies Auxiliary of this city, the
) Kansas City, (Mo.) League, the Wo-
mans League of Boston and other or
ganizations too numerous to mention.
The Phyllis Wheatley club of New
Orleans has In two short years Sue
ceeded in establishing sanctorium
and training school for nurses. The
success of this undertaking has been
marvellous. Among the charitable in
stitutions either founded, conducted or
supported by colored women may be
mentioned the Hale Infirmary of
Montgomery, Ala, the Carrie Steel
Orphanage, of Atlanta, The Reed
Orphan Home of Covington, the Har-
ris Industrial school of Augusta, in the
State of Georgia; home for the aged
of both races at New Bedford, Saint
Monica's Home of Boston, Old Folks
Home of Memphis, Tenn. and home
in Louisville, KY. Mount Meigs In
stitute, situated at Waugh in the black
belt of Alabama; is an excellent exam
pie of work originated and carried into
successful execution by colored
1 Nf =
given in this school suited TO the
needs of the surrounding population.
Girls are tTught everything pertaining
to the arrangement of the home and
boys learn practical farming, carpen-
tering, wheelwrighting and black
smithing. Having started this institu-
ton eight years ago with practically
nothing, the trustees of the school now
own nine acres of land and five build
ings in which two thousand pupils
have received instruction.