The Saint Paul globe., 1900-04-30
70 IEST LOUISIANA LAW
NEGRO CITIZENS RAISE A FUND TO
HELP THEIR SOUTHERN
BRETHREN
WHOSE RIGHTS ARE MENACED
Enthusiastic Meeting Held Last
Night at st. James African M.
e. Church for the
Cause.

e. church last evening. The church was
well filled. The meeting was for the pur-
pose OF collecting funds to pay the ex-
United States supreme court brought to
test the validity OF the recently adopted
constitution of the state Of Louisiana.
Rev. ]. G. Anderson, the pastor of the
church, made few Introductory remarks
and welcomed the league He said:
'"This is a worthy and noble cause that
we are assembled for here tonight and
] hope that you will see this matter in
the right light"
Jasper Gibbs, president of the league
made few remarks and read the fol-
lowing letter Of regret from William r.
Morris. of Minneapolis, who was to have
spoken:
am panied to inform you that can
not be present at the meeting this even
ing, and fill my place on the programme.
L am specially grieved because the pur-
pose of the meeting is a worthy and noble
one, and l deem it the duty of every
loyal member Of the race and lover of
Justice and right to assist our brethren
in Louisiana in securing and maintaining
that which of right belongs to them. I
thing of interest, benefit and profit. May
the meeting be highly successful in every
way and may the day soon come when
clt1ZenS in every state of the union shall
enjoy despite race or color the fullest
possible measure of American citizenship.
sudden and severe illness in my family
prevents my presence with you. Enclosed
please lind my contribution to the cause.
Fraternally yours, William R. Morris.
Mr.. Gibbs said. '"The question with us
tonight is, what are we going to do with
our present opportunities? And even
though our friends in the past had much
to live and even die, for, 50 have we
things to live and, if necessary, to die
for. There is nothing to stop us from
making the best of our opportunities.
If 1t was within my power to do so,
every man, whether white or black,
should have right not only to the bal
lot box, but to enjoy equal civil and polit1-
cal rights.
Observation-Disclosures of the negro of
Louisiana or any other state means the
taking away Of his highest right of eiti-
zenship. 1t means government without
the consent of the governed, the lower
ing OF his manhood and destroys his dig
nifty as a man. 1t stultifies his ambition
and inpedes his progress. 1t exeites sus-
p1cion and destroys his confidence in
the ability Of the government to fulfill
dts obligations to him as a citizen 1t
makes of him an allen and not a citi-
zen. We are to remember while we owe
much to the nation, the nation owes us
much more. The history of the negro
and his relation to this country is such
that the debt or obligation due him is
even greater than to many of those who
claim a higher preregative over him, be-
cause 1t is due to the loyalty of the ne
gro that we have a nation or country
knoWn as the United States of America
When some who now boast of their su-
.perfority over, the negro and are trying
to take away from him a right which
by natural law is his, and by worth and
valor he earned, We're trying by all their
might and influence TO destroy the Unon;
if the words Of Abraham Lincoln are
te be believed, through the assistance of
1S3, coo negroes they were prevented, and
/ assert that without the assistance Of
the negroes as soldiers and Worl1men the
federal army would have been defeated
and the cause lost"
Mrs. J. H. Hickman was next intro
duced and said:
Like yourselves, I have come to feel
the pulse beats and to hear the heart
throbs of the life that ebbs and flows
through every son Of Black America. I,
too, expect to catch a brand from the
fires of our burning protest that shall
eventually ignite and set afame the
breast of every truly American citizen.
1t was Louisiana that gave birth to that
hydra headed monster, and acknowiedg
ed her hideous offspring when she
christened it the Louisiana State Lot
terry, and from its nest poisonous venom
was struck to the heart of the nations
youth. In the annals Of crime she
marches to the fore with her scarlet flag,
emb1azoned with the emblems of her
shame, of her victory over Righteousness,
stifie It's babes-will throttle its old men
will dishonor its manhood and violate
it's wemanhood. Who can say that we
have not suffered? Who will say that
we do not suffer at the hands of that re-
vengeful ungrateful and anti-Christian
people?"
F. L. McGhee spoke on the value of suf-
frage and said: "The question with us to-
night is: Is 1t worth the money we con-
tribute to this cause? What Is a vote
worth? Perhaps the best way to answer
that question is to ask, how much did 1t
cost to get a right to vote? Who can
count us the numbers OF the men who
died on the battlefield in the interest of
the cause Of preserving the Union and
giving to our race the right to vote? It
was the plan, when our government was
organized in the first place, that any citi-
zen should be eligible to the highest Office
Louisiana met for the purpose of dis
franchising the negro vote they openly
declared in their convention that they
wanted white mans rule in that state,
and didn't want any negroes, where they
could be stopped, to have right to vote,
Once this right is taken away, my
friends, in Louisiana, how long would it
take them to get it back again. Remem-
Der that In the city of Brooklyn the col
ored children are not allowed to go to
the same school with the white children,
and sometimes are compelled to walk
twelve to fifteen blocks and possibly pass
two or three schools on the way. In
these Southern homes of Louisiana,
where they would take away their rights.
these people say to us, friends Of the
North, will you help us to keep our
rights2 If the supreme court of the
United States affirrns the state court of
Louisiana, then, my friends, we might as
well go with our eminent bishop to Africa.
We cannot, my friends, see these things
as they are, because they affect you and
I as we'll as our friends in the South"
UNITY CHIIRCH THRONGED