The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-01
SOLD AS A SLAVE.
Rev. G. ID. Olden Tells the Story
Of His Sale.
Put Upon the Auction Block
With His Mother.
WORK OF LINCOLN.
WORK OF
What the Great Emancipation
Has Done For the Negro.
Advancement Made by Black
Man Since Being Free.

auction block of the days of American |
slavery; and the other representing the |
national capitol with Mr.. Liacoln stand |
ing upon the steps with the proclamation |
in his hands and surrounded by a group !
of slaves knee1ing at his feet.
Mr.. Olden an introductory to his |
block and the persons standing upon it, |
represent my mother, a brother and my
self, as we were being sold in front of
the court house in Henderson, Kentucky,
on the 1st day of January, 1859; This was
the third time we were sold. At this sale
US for the sum of $1,000 At that time my
brother being years of age. and |, II
with Al years intervening between that oc-
cssion and its gloomy surroundings and
its glorious prospects presented to the
negro of this generation, l am forced to
sages b i What ats God has wroug g
Through Human fundamentally" Never
were his prospects brighter in everyway
fer the future than they are today. In
common school house and in place of the
negro traders pen We have she academy
Continuing Mr.. Olden said:
'Thirty-six years ago TOD ~ there came
Happy New Year Preetiaa sia te as
nouncement that Abraham Lincoln had
broken their chains of slavery, which had
bound them two hundred and fifty years.
Many are present tonight who experience
ed the sudden change from slaves to free
men soldiers and citizens. Mr.. Lincoln
was to the slave what Moses was to the
Israelites-
MIR. Lincoln was as muchin the hands
Of God, in delivering the negro race from
delivering the children of Israel out of
the hands Of Pharaoh and he was divine,
called him to perform, as was Moses.
tHe possessed heart as large and as
man breast; he believed that in the great
mind of God the color of a mans skin
constituted no barrier against his recog-
a q.
stephen A. Douglas in 1856, he said: Il
is not entitled to all the rights enumer-
ated in the Declaration of Independence,
he is my equal and the equal of Mr.;
Mr. Lincoln, believed that every man
ing for hi himself and family. His Repub-
lican principles did not rest solely on
ana bonds, he had a higher and broader
principle than these he loved humanity.
None but the Prejudiced are SO blind
the negro has made SINCE the day. he was
SGT free; Starting Ing on the race Of Of life in
| whom he had been taken without consent
| OF compensation, he was forced to begin
| hts own in which he could house, his
family from the heat 81 summer and the, the
| he has advanced socially Intellectually
and financially; his improvements along
these lines in the face of social and po-
| litical prejLdice have been marvellous in
the eyes of friend and foe
| Beginning in 1868, pennileSs and ignor-
ant he stands today at the opening of the
J 10th century with millions Of dollars of
! with educational facilities equal to those
provided for the other race Time. the
| folding the fact that the negro is in every
| way capable of the highest citizenship
| emancipation to the present, has been
from superstition and vice to, a higher
| Every law put on the statute books.
prescribing the rights of the negroes as
| them the necessity of acquiring wealth,
| education and the cultivation of race
| cess of any people race without money
| and education can not expect very much
| are In possession of wealth and ali other
| qualifications that make a polished and
i zone among the greatest needs of the
| negro race is to stop fighting themselves
| cumulation of wealth and to the educa-
ton of their children. The average negro
ciaI and political rights denied them, and
! not enough time Is devoted. to those
Of today are not as anxious about the
religious and intellectual development of
Of century ey ag were this IS
allowed to continue it will only be aqu,ss-
a criminal producing race; with our ex-
| cellent educational advantages, there is
no reason or excuse for this lack of in
The negro from an Industrial stand
freedom, by showing that he is. not .indo-
| lent but willing to labor Although de-
| MED by trades-unions to become skilled
laborer in every department. of employ
ment, he Is nevertheless honest trust
| worthy and sober element in the fields
where the chief staples are grown. such
! as rice. cotton, tobacco and sugar, he is
factors in the industrial glass of Ameri-
| can labor. He is not found uttering
he IS not or %nE oo % IN the hen 9t
| vicious men to intercept the progress of
the machinery of our great commercial
law and order. This may be considered
by some as cowardice on his part, but this
/ Is not SO, the negro is not a coward, this
/ has been clearly shown upon every battle
| field on which the negro has. taken a con-
from the day of Bunker Hin to the day
of the bloody charge up San Juan Hill.
The negro can and viii work providing he
! receives a just compensation for his labor.
.Intelleet1 ally the negro has shown
liable pers rs that fuzzy 5000 negro
NAL and collegiate. institutions. are teach
ing boys and girls in the, schools and sem
| fnarieS established for the colored youth
There are IS schools, universities and COL
leges in the. south in which the negro
these are owned and supported by the
negroes themselves, the others are main
! to the relief of the negro as soon as he
| was emancipated.
| graceful to American civilization as was
slavery and the negro stands as much in
need today of an emancipation from this
! curse as he stood in the need of emanci-
/ patton. in 1868. The lynching Of negroes is
4 becoming so common in this country until
a passing notice of burning OF negroes is
alf that is necessary. This light indiffer-
ertce will continue. as long as the negroes
remain silent and Indifferent to the crime
committed by the suspect and the pun
ishment inflicted by mobs in violation of
law We not only see the negro denied
the rights by mob violence to a fair and
impartial trial for the crime charged but
we see, that other rights that are as dear
1 and as sacred to him as life itself are