The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-23

and children from starving; and yet you
come here and vote against this bill
which only seeks to guarantee us the en-
toyment of the rights conferred by the
Constitution of your State. Hereafter
we intend to demand them, and we are
going to press them on every occasion,
and preserve them inviolate If we can.
And the day Is not far distant when you
will find on the bench OF the Supreme
Court of the State a man as black as
am. and North Alabama may help herself
If she can.
Lewis continued his remarks in this
vein for some time, but we have not
space for a more extended report.
Mr.. Clark of Perry complimented the
able and unanswerable argument of his
colleague, and said he thought him about
equal to any man who had opposed the
bill. He assailed the weakened Repub-
licans who had not the moral courage to
act up to the principles of their party by
supporting the bill, and rebuked Tread
well of Russell. a colored member, who
had moved to postpone the further con-
sideration of the bill until the 2lst of De-
cember next for his want of apprecia-
ton Of the dignity of his position.
that the negroes of Alabama claim the
right to control the Republican Party OF
the State. And they were then to say
the least of it somewhat disposed to lord
it over their white brethren.
Having failed to pass their Civil Rights
Bill through the Legislature of the
State, and the Sumner Civil Rights bill
having passed the United States Senate.
gomery in June, 1874, in an
Equal Rights Conventton-AlI Ne
groes.
From this convention white RepubI-
cans were excluded The negroes be-
lieVed that their party was in majority
in the State. They knew they were a
majority of their party, and they had met
70 m that what IL
should pursue. We insert the following
account of some of the debates, taken
down on the spot by Mr.. NJ. M. Cooke
and afterwards published In The Adver-
Walker of Dallas, member of the
Legislature, said that this was a Civil
Rights Convention, and that declara-
ton against sending colored boys to the
state University at Tuscaloosa, would be
depriving them of rights and privileges
to which they were entitled. Colored
children should have access to all
schools. He regretted that the colored
children of Alabama were unable to do
as they had done in Mississippi, Louis
lana and South Carolina.
He took the ground that any declara-
tion against mixed schools was equiva-
lent to instruction to Congress to pro-
vide for separate schools, and when
that was done it would soon follow there
would be white schools and no colore1
schools. He was IN favor of teaching
the white and black children together
in the same school. Inc order that the
idea of inferiority of the latter might be
broken up. Unless they were put togeth-
er. there would be no equality of privi-
ieges and accommodations. If the two
races are equal, as the Civil Rights Bill
declares, why should there be any at
tempt made to keep up these differences?
He asked II any colored man was in
suited because the National Government
had colored boys at the National Mill
tary and Naval Academy
Curtis of Perry "a Senator) asked
Walker If any delegate advocated separ-
ate schools?
Walker in reply said he held them to
the resolution, and If the resolutions did
not say that they said nothing. The
colored people were denied admission to
the Agricultural College at Auburn the
State University at Tuscaloosa, and
hundred other things. The colored peo-
pie can lose nothing by demanding all
their rights. Whenever they went on an
equality platform they won, but when