The times., 1899-04-17
THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE NEGRO Race
A Notable Address by Henry
P. Cheatham.
Emancipation Celebration at the
Second Baptist Church.
The Results of Thirty-Four Years of
Freedom-Many Prominent
Speakers Present.

Emancipation Day was celebrated with
appropriate exercises at the Second Bap-
tlst Church last night. A large audience
was present, and many stirring addresses
were delivered Resolutions were pre-
sented by R. w Thompson, editor of the
"Colored American" testifying to the
grateful memory in which the occasion
was held by the colored people of this
country. The resolutions were unanimous
ly adopted.
The speaker of the evening was Henry
p. Cheatham, Recorder of Deeds for the
District of Columbia. who said in part:
This is day OF great rejoicing. We rejoice
over the emancipation of the colored race IN The
District of Columbia The chord vibrates
through the hearts of the over the entire
land As we look down the line from 1855 to
the present, and behold the marvellous develop
ment and progress along all lines of human ae-
tivity, made by people so recently iiberated
from the thraldom of $50 years of slavery, we are
made 10 rejoice all the more. With us the heart
Of the whole nation should rejoice that the doors
Of liberty, of happiness, and Of prosperity are
opened TO all mankind throughout our borders,
for nothing should be ennobling and edify-
ing TO a great Christian nation like ours, than
TO all OF its inhabitants. from the ignorant 10
the learned. and from the poorest to the richest,
abounding and rejoicing in happiness, in peace,
and in prosperity, serving and worshiping one
and the same God, and that, too, under their
own vine and fig tree. Bondage in its mildest
form, even of the inferior animals is cruelty. to
say the least and yet but few people at the
present day realize the far reaching importance
TO humanity Of the simple fact OF emancipation
or freedom; but one only needs to compare the
awful condition of the actual slave OF a few
years ago in this country with the present condi-
tion of the same people TO find cause for thanks
giving and for great rejoicing.
There is every reason why should observe
this day of deliverance from thraldom with
thanksgiving and praise Slavery hampered the
development Of manhood and womanhood; it re-
pressed the nOblest aspirations of humanity; it
stiled the sweet voices OF sympathy and con-
science, and fostered fear and violence and cru
city and robbery. ] can lift up my voice and
invite all my fellow citizens, of all races, OF all
parties, OF all colors. of all creeds, to come with
us TO this our festival of JOY and OF thanksgiving
that our country is now land Of liberty. land
OF knowledge, land OF progress; and that our
Republic has at last become in fact what the
Revolutionary fathers intended ii should be, for
ever and forever.
| prefer TO call your attention to the creditable
and magnificent results achieved by our people
since their freedom rather than to the horrors of
the dark days of slavery, which gone To re-
turn no more, for ] sure that we shall find
something there TO animate and encourage us in
our onward march. Though our pathway may
seem thickly beset with many enbarrassments and
cur horizon darkened with the fercest opposition
we must remember that no great evil was ever
fected in an hour, and a We are hut in
fants in history The progress OF individuals may
be in certain instances direct and rapid; that of
great bodies of men is always indirect fitfil ana
slow. II may be said that as a race we have NOT
yet wandered our forty years in the wilderness 10
be pnrged OF the evils OF slavery's Egvpt and
that we should fairly and frankly face the truth
as ii is But let us if may not find much
in the history and progress and achievements M
the colored in America to give the nation
satisfaction and hope in our future and IN in
spire us in our cropping ont OF the shadows of
the dead past into the sunlight of the future
The colored man is agricultural factor in The
United States The South largely through his
skill and industry raises and exports IL 900 900
bales Of the finest cotton on the worlds market
which is used as an exchange for about $500 O0o
600 per annum and is paid in gold The sam. ;s
true as TO his skill and industry in connection
with the great tobacco product, from which il
added 10 our wealth s24, 5s00 600 per annum to
say nothing OF the immense cereal crops produced
and exported from the Southern States WELDING
and swelling with vast amounts the wealth of the
land. The negro is easily the superior of ,uv
similar laboring population in tropical or semi
tropical countries, where the largest agricultural
Yields are had, and upon which the world depend.
for its food
In the first place. this is true from n climatic
standpoint There is no race on the earth which
can successfully take our place on the rice and
cotton plantations Of the South especially on ar-
count OF the poisonous gases arising from the
swamps and lowiands Of the palmetto districts