The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-03
OBJECTED TO THE PICTURE.
Row of the Placing of Portrait of
 Booker Washington,

Louisville, Ky, July 2-The Afro-Amer- ican Council today elected the following
 officers: President. T. Thomas Fortune,
 New York; Vice. Presidents. W. A.
 Kentucky; J. O. Adams Minnesota; J.
 H. Guy. Kansas; c Hunt. New York;
 Colonel James Louis. Louisiana: Mrs. R.
 J. Griffin, Oregon; Mrs. R. J. Jeffrey.
 New York, and J. H. Lewis, Massachu-
 setts. Secretary. Cyrus Field Adams, Chi
 cago; Financial Secretary. F. L. McGe-
 hee. Minnesota; Corresponding Secretary.
 Chaplain. L. Jordan. Kentucky; Treas
 urer, John W. Thompson, New York.
 Executive Board, Emmett J. Scott. Ala
 bama; Mary Dethidge, c. F. Adams, Illi-
 nois; W. H. Steward, Kentucky; w. L..
 Cohen, Louisiana; Bishop J. W. Hood,
 North Carolina; J. c. Napier. Tennes-
 see: Charles Stewart. Maryland: M. M.
 Lewey. Florida.
 The election was not accomplished un-
 til a stormy debate had swayed the au-
 dience for more than an hour. There
 was lively objection to placing the pie ture of Booker T. Washington on the
 stage, but the delegates were pacified by the bringing out of a large painting of
 ]. c. Price. a Southern educator. now
 dead. and placing it alongside the Wash ington canvas.
 The differences arose over a factional fight between the industrial, the higher education and the political divisions in the gathering. but the industrials won out. The first sign of dissension came when Fannie Barrier Williams of Chicago read the report of the literary bureau in which
 she treated principally of Booker Wash ington and his work. emitting. however. any reference to a charge frequently made that Washington was creating sen- timent against the higher education of the negro. Just as she finished and Washington himself was seen to enter the hall. a man stepped from the wings
 and placed large painting of Booker T. Washington on the stage. This aroused the New England delegates, w. H. Fer riss. of Boston. asking permission to speak. President Fortune, however, de- clared that the hour for adjournment had arrived. He permitted a white delegate. however, to advise the colored people that they ask President Roosevelt to ePk
 Congress to cut down Southern repre- sentation in Congress, and the meeting adjourned far the morning.
 At the afternoon session Ferris of Bos-
 ton wanted to know why the picture of gether with a picture of Tuskegee In-
 stitute. while there were no pictures of colleges established by other educators
 or champions of political rights. He ob-
 jected in a fiery speech to this .favorit- ism. Mir. Fortune explained that the l presence of the pictures was merely an
 incident. 1t having been painted by a negro woman of Louisville. and charac- terixed the discussion as rnseemly and
 unfortunate. In a few minutes slps- pie
 ture of J. C. Price. the founder of Liv-
 ingstone College, North Carolina. was | brought out and placed beside the paint | ing of Washington.
 The greatest excitement. however. was | caused when the report of the nominat- | ing committee was heard. There were | two reports. the minority naming l. B. Scott of Louisiana for president and
 Mrs. A B. Carey of New Jersey for secretary. The majority report was ob- | jected to because the name of Mir HayA of Virginia was not on it. The motion
 to adopt the majority report naming T,
 T. Fortune as president, was then put
 and the report was adopted amid cries
 of foul play.