The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-09-01
SOLUTION OFFERED
sAFRO-AMERlCAN WOMEN WANT
Law STcPPED,

Red Hot MemorIa to President MCKINLEY
From The State edelation-They Claim
/ That Race Prejudice Is Growing Great
In the United States. 81 sss
Detroit, Mich, Aug. 23.-The Fed
Grafton OF Colored Women had an ex-
ceedingly lively debate yesterday on
the subject of whether the prejudice
against Afro-Americans in the United
States is increasing or decreasing. 1t
became very earnest and exciting be-
fore it was finished, and before the
! heat had time to subside a committee
brought in a memorial to- President
Mckinley, which was adopted without
debate unanimously. It read as fol-
lows: .& .@t..s.
To our President, Hon. VIM. Nc
Kinley:-We, the Afro-American
| women of Michigan. having met. in
| convention at Detroit, received a pc
tition from one of our members, ask
ing memorial to be presented to you,
our honored president, in behalf of
the widow and children of the late
Postmaster Baker, of Lake City, S C.
Inasmuch as the government has not
seen fit to provide for her in these
two years; we, therefore, beg of you
to. ask Congress to pay to her the
sum of $4,000 in lieu of the life of
her husband ...
My dear sir, the Afro-American
women all over the United States, feel
deeply for this our sister, and greatly
do we deplOre this affair that has
caused our nation to be looked upon
with scorn by other powers. We do
not forget how quickly our govern
ment demanded Indemnity from
Chile, when some of our sailors were
killed there in drunken row; neither
do we forget how quickly Italy de-
manded redress when some of her
sons were murdered at New Orleans.
We do not tolerate wrong-doing in
our own race. We do not think it
right that Charles sof New Orleans
should have killed those police, nor
should you think it right to uphold
those scums of the earth in killing
every black man they could find for
that one mans crime. But, sir, we
are DEPRESSING; we would like to ask
for a law to be enacted to this effect
that should any state be found guilty
OF mob laws and lynching,; to be ex-
PEELED from the union. The blacks
could then evacuate and all the Negro
haters could have a state of their cwn
wherein they need not see black
face. Thus we solve the NEGRO
problem
In behalf of the Afro American
women of Michigan, we pray you to
show your interest in us as a race by
Immediate consideration of our petit
ton. =
Respectfully signed
MRS. S. CHANDLER COLE,
H. Chairman.
MRS. M. E. MCCOY.
Vice President
MRS. F. PRESTON,
State Lecturer
The bearer u: this memorial is Mrs.
Matte Church Terrell, national presi-
dent OF ColoreG wonlan's clubs of Am
erica.
PREJUDICE is. GROWING.
Mrs. :. H. Lyles, of St. Paul, set the
ball rolling for the debate by reading
a paper 4entltled t.Preiudice Growing
Greater,',, Mrs. Ly1es is president q
the John Brown Monument Society.
She called attention to the splendid
progress the Afro-Americans in Amer
lea have made during the past forty
years, quoting some statistics con-,
corning education and wealth.
with all of this splendid record"
said she, "the prejudice against US
IS growing greater, especially in the
South. The cause is to be looked for
IN the stupidity, ignorance and worth
,lessness of the white trash. Such
worthless men as our beloved friend.
'Pltchfork' Tillman, discuss the race
question and take pride in having
murdered negroes. He should be
hanged higher than Hannah
what may not be the blighting
ettects upon the progress of the race,
arising from depriving the Afro
American of the franchise? Will the
Afro-American remain law abiding
under such treatment? We are not all
alike any more than the white people
are all alike. The south is the natural
home of our people. 1t has witnessed
our degradation and should witness
our elevation. Lawlessnes and lynch
lngs and Acknowledgement must dis
appear, they only hasten the day of
the coming of the Fierce Black
Prophet
Miss Moffat, teacher from Texas,
Endorsed the sentiments of the paper.
Then Mrs. Booker T. Washington was
called for. She said, among other
things: ~ = -
do not think prejudice is on the
increase in the South, but on the de-
crease. The. real difficulty is that a
rev years ago we were, a much more
llght-hearted race, did not expect
much,T and were easily satisfied. Now
we are becoming educated and more
serious. Education has given us finer
Feelings, and we are more sensitive.
We know our affronts and resent
them. <.-:.A =
GREW EXCITED.
Miss Richards, of the PHYLLIS
Wheatley Home of Detroit, immedi-
ate1y told how, on a. recent visit to
washington with a company of De-
trolt teachers, she was prevented from
seeing Mt. Vernon, and could not get
a glass of soda water at a drug store
near the capitol, because she was an
Afro-American. In her opinion preiu-
dice was growing.
Mrs. Maggie Porter Cole, who for
seventeen years has been leading So
prano of the Fiske University Jubilee
singers, spoke with great eloquence
and force on the side Of an increasing
prejudice. She described IN detail the
trials of the company recently in Den
yer, Duray, Atchison and Kansas City.
She told a story Of walking from
hotel to hotel, and from restaurant
to restaurant, being refused every
where, going whole days without food
and sleeping on floors in dirty halls.
The trouble u.s., said she, ssthe