Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-19
NEGROES WILL
Be ORGANIZED
into LEAGUE
Republicans a Farce,
Says Leader
Action of Mayor Harper in Stopping
Discrimination Gives Organ
izers Hopes of Greater
Results

E. L. Gaines, 1927 East Fifty-third
street, a prominent negro of Los An
Seles, with the sentiment of local men,
bers of his race behind him, has be-
gun a campaign to organize inde-
pendent political leagues Of negroes
throughout the country and teach them
the rights of citizenship and how these
rights may be obtained. Through these
leagues he hopes to convince the negro
voters of their error in always voting
the Republican ticket, like dumb,
driven cattle, regardless of what the
Republicans will or will not do for the
betterment of the race.
AS an example OF what may be ac-
complished by political independence on
the part of the negro voters he refers
to Mayor Harper's recent action in
stopping the discrimination in certain
public places against the negroes, es-
pecially during Fiesta week.
He says:
by an independent political move
ment the colored voters decided few
months ago to assert their rights as
free men, which right gave to gen.
tleman of broad mind and morals the
chief seat in the management of this
great municipality. That decisive
movement, on the part of the black
vote Of this city gave to them right
TO ask dL the UdHuS OI
tion, that the humiliating actions of
certain insignificant men running bar
rooms and other places licensed for
the patronage of the public be taught
the meaning of the writing in their
permits; so that the grand political
movement started in Los Angeles, the
city beautiful, may extend throughout
the great length and breadth of this
great state and that peace, because OF
equal rights, as are laid down in the
constitution of the state, may flow
through all OF her citizens, remember
ing that There is a time, we know not
when, a place we know not where, that
marks the destiny of men to glory or
despair"
'At the threshold of the century, of
which we shall deal, one great event
stands forth unparalleled in the mem
ory of liberty loving people. The Amer
lean revolution shaped the history of
these United States until the campaign
of the Civil war in 1860. 1t is important,
therefore, to dwell upon this event to
show the part it played in the his
tory of the negro. About 1927 years ago
a few Africans, some fifteen or twenty,
were brought to the coast of Vir-
ginia by Dutch man of war and sold
as slaves. 1t seems incredible to think
that after all our hardship in the years
past-in 1907 we find ourselves 10000,
900 strong-a nation of intelligent men
and women, citizens of these United
States. Slavery introduced, as we have
seen, grew slowly, until the colonial
assembly passed a series of laws try
ing in vain to define the black mans
position, thus a distinction was soon
made between him and the Indian then
held in servitude. And from this time
it was speedily enacted that all
servants not being Christians imported
into this colony by shipping, should be
slaves for their lives. Before the end
of the century a long list of laws so
encompassed the black men with linn
itations and prohibitions that he ceased
to have any rights, and became a per-
sonal chattel.
Negroes Increase Rapidly
"These conditions were brought about
by a people, you must remember, who
Just a few short years ahead, fought
with desperation for principle that
they themselves were Withholding yet
would have to ask this subject from
whom they were keeping the thing
cherished, to help them win upon the
battle field.
"In 1776 the slave population had
grown from Is or 20 in 1920 to 500, ,OOO
nine-tenths Of whom you could find
in the southland.
"Times grew critical between this
and the mother country, and war came
on. During the revolution the uues-
ton of arming the slaves raised bitter
opposition and black men who had upl
to that time received treatment which
made them believe that God was dead
and that hope had flown were now
asked to help his brutal master gain
for himself that which he had always
refused to others. At Newport these
slaves fought with such bravery that
afterward at Point Bridge, n. Y, they
were crowned as heroes.
1.-THE final settlement of the Kan
sas dispute by it's becoming a free
state, the formation and rapid growth
of the Republican party, the division
of the Democratic party into northern
and southern factions, the election of
the immortal Lincoln to the presidency,
the secession of South Carolina-then
came the great struggle of which the
world knows.
Negroes Cause of War
"That war would never have been
waged were 1t not for the negro; and
though his fate was involved in it's
results, 1t must be remembered by
every black man in America, that it
was not commenced solely on his ac-
count, for before the struggle began
Mr.. Lincoln declared If there be those
that would not save the Union unless
they could at the same time save
slavery 1 do not agree with them, and
if there be those who would not save
the Union unless they could at the
same time destroy slavery, 1 do not
agree with them, but my paramount
object is to save the Union, caring not
either to destroy or to save slavery
Gentlemen of my race, this is evil
dence conclusive that the honored
Lincoln had the Union at heart, yet in
tended to make the black man a fac
tor in his own deliverance.
"Mr. Lincoln said, "A house divided
against itself cannot stand; and L
believe this government cannot endure
permanently half slave and half free.
He further states, L do not expect
the Union to be dissolved, 1 do not
expect the house to fall; but 1 do ex-
pect it will cease to be divided, for it
will become slavery to all or freedom
to all; but oppression in any form to
any people at any time Is wrong