The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-02-20
THOUSANDS OF NEGROES
AGAINST THE SOUTH
At Cooper Union They Cry That They Are Losing
Their Suffraee Rights.

New York, Feb. 19-Spirited and
earnest speeches were made at ne
gro mass meeting held tonight at the
Cooper Union. The meeting, which
was for the purpose of protesting
| against the disfranchisement of the ne
gro in the South, was held under the
auspices of the 100000 colored voters
in New York state and to raise money
for legal contest of the new constitu-
ton of Virginia before the United
States Supreme Court. Among the
speakers were Bishops Derrick and
Walters, M. D. Conway and John i.
Mulholland. When reference WAS made
to President Roosevelt by several of
the speakers, the widest enthusiasm
prevailed, and the cheers were deafen-
ing. Resolutions were passed and a
letter from Susan B. Anthony was
read. In her letter Miss Anthony said:
ITO refuse to grant women and col
ored men the right to suffrage and to
still count them in the basis of repre-
sentation, is to add insult to injury,
and is as unjust as it is unreasonable.
THE trouble, however, is further
back and deeper than the disfranchise-
ment of the negro. When men DELHI
erately refuse to include women on the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments
to the national constitution, they leave
the way open for all forms of injustice
to other and weaker men and peoples.
When men fail to be just to their
mothers, they cannot be expected to
be just to each other.
1.-THE whole evil comes from the fail
ure to apply equal justice to all man
kind, male and female alike; there
fore, l am glad to join with these
who are like sufferers with
my sex, in a protest against counting
in the basis of representation in the
Congress of the United States, or in
the state Legislature, any class or sex
who are disfranchised."
The resolutions in their preamble re-
cited that the South has halted at no
crime to strip from the negro the priv
ileges gained as a result of the Civil
War, shooting 25,0 900 black men from
1868 to 1880, and from 1880 to 1890 perpe
trating ballot frauds to disenfranchise
negroes. 1t further recited that the
South after 1890, sought to disenfran-
chise colored men in various states by
constitutional amendment, administer
ed so that illiterate white men are al
lowed to vote, while the educated ne
groes are excluded from the polls. The
conclusions of the resolutions follow:
Resolved, That we. the negro citi-
zens of New York and vicinity in mass
meeting assembled at Cooper Union,
Feb. 10, 1903, do hereby commend the
negroes of Virginia for rendering the
nation a patriotic service in contesting
before the Supreme Court of the United
States, the revolutionary constitution OF
Virginia. recently proclaimed a law.
without having been submitted to the
people for ratification; that we pledge
them our every proper support, and call
upon colored men everywhere to con-
tribute literally to this cause.
Resolved. That we heartily indorse
the national negro suffrage convention
TO be held at Louisville, KY, July 7.
1903, and call upon our towns, cities
and states, churches and societies to
organize and send full representations
10 voice the sentiment Of the race upon
the question OF negro suffrage.
Resolved. That we urge the Repub-
lican Senate IN the name Of 100000 ne
groes In the state Of New York, 70