The colored American., 1903-06-13
DIR. DUBOIS LECTURE.

The Y. NJ c. A. People Delighted
Notes.
Memphis. Tenn, Special.-Nearly |
every prominent orator from Fred /
Douglass to the present day has vlsl-
ted Memphis, but with all due defer
ence to those who have come and gone,
the greatest lecture ever hard IN our
city was delivered here under the aus
pices of the y. NJ G. A, at Avery |
Chapel. A NJ. E. Church, Friday even
ing, April 3rd. by DR.. w. E Dubois
Never having been here before Dr. |
Dubois came to our city as a stranger,
little was known of him by the masses
Much credit is due the young men |
who worked up this meeting, the COM |
ing of no man to our city has ever |
been advertised any more extensive |
ly-t than this one. So when the even |
ing came, the people came, and the |
| largest church in our city was almost |
filled TO its utmost capacity. The
large and enthusiastic audience with |
one accord pronounced it the greatest |
/ lecture ever heard there. It was |
mastery effort from every point OF
view-histOrical, or literary
| 1t might be interesting to recall
what appeared TO be some OF the most
! salient points. He made very thor
Tough survey of European history, show
,
people at the beginning of the slave
| trade; after which he turned to an
/ elaborate description of Africa, its
| beautiful mountains and rivers, for
ests, its natural resources, a thorough
! description of the races, degree of their
civilization, the section of the conti-
nent in which each lived. He next
discussed the theory of the origin OF
the Egyptians, in which he showed that
II hn6 OH ID n esa6
lstage of civilization as shown by the
.relicS of architectural manuscripts that
khave been found and that the ralative
position of the races, the character of
the country and ancient historical
Iworks go to prove that these people
lwere more or less of Negro blood
therefore the Negroes are not a nation
snever civilized, but rather a nation
which lost its idenuty-whose ciYiliZa-
ltion was destroyed by the influence of
the African slave trade which caused
them to be overwhelmed by the Euro
spean natiOnS-that the Negroes were
! a degraded. rather than an undevol-
Oped people In his reference to the
aAfrican slave trade he gave a list Of
{ the numbers of slaves captured and
: sold during the different years, with a
history of the part played by all the
nations in the trade. Spanish Dutch.
sEnglish, and American. He remarked
! at length on the horror OF the capture
land shipment of the slaves-how they
/ suffered and died in great numbers, of
filth and cCuta giOuS diseases. mention
/ ing that they were packed in the ships
like sardineS in a box, with hardly
room to turn, and so often and so nu
merous were the dead bodies that were
unclaimed and cast overheard. that
sharks followed the ships in their path
and truly about half of those who
started ever reached their destination
in good health. He called attention
also TO the fact that during these
d times Calvin and Luther lived and
n died-Queen Elizabeth had at first oh
n jected, but soon great was the inf1u
Il ence of public opinion that she wa:
l. soon cOerced into condoning it. The
effect on the whole OF Europe was 81
demOralizing that the nefarious prac
tice was sanctioned by every European
Court He compared circumstance
and conditions of those days and time
in Europe to those connected with tn
history of slavery in America, and tn
United States; showing that presen
attending conditions are only natura
and inevitable outgrowths. These ar
critical times in our history said h'