The Washington bee., 1907-06-08
lett. the orator of the dav.

lett, the orator of the day
Another year has passed, and we are
again assembled to pay homage to the
sacred dead who fought in defense of
our country" the speaker said. And
we are here to express our gratitude to
those brave veterans who are still with
US Many who were with US a year ago
have answered the last roll call and join
ed the innumerable throng in the world
beyond Decoration Day, which was
once oserved by a single organization, is
now set apart as national holiday, and
is observed by Americans in all parts Of
the world where they reside. In our pub
lie institutions Of learning only those
books are used that give little or no ac-
count OF the heroic deeds of the Negro
in the different wars in which our coun-
try has been engaged, and It is on oc-
casions ike this that we should instruct
our people concerning the Negro as a
citizen at the time of the ratification of
the articles OF confederation, before the
adoption of our Constitution, and also
Of his patriotism and bravery, not only
in the war Of the rebellion, but also in
every war in which our country has been
engaged"
The speaker paid a tribute to the
mothers, wives and sisters who willingly
gave up sons, husbands and brothers that
this might remain a united country.
Many of the colored veterans, he said,
never knew mother. love, never had
fathers care, never felt the caress of
dear sister, never enjoyed the COM
panionship of a brother. Cruel slavery
had robbed them of all of the pleasures
Of the family and the home. They re-
membered the cruelties of slavery, they
remembered those they had left in bond
age, and determined to strike a blow that
would for all time seal the fate of slav-
cry. He paid a glowing tribute to the
bravery of the colored soldiers at Wag-
ner, Port Hudson, Helena, Mobile, Fort
Fisher, Ouluste and Fort Pillow He
spoke of the manhood of the colored
soldiers in refusing to receive any pay
from the government for over a year,
until they were paid the same pay as
white soldiers, thereby establishing their
right to be regarded not expressly as
cOlored soldiers, but as men. After call
ing attention to the fact that the first
blood shed in defense of this country
was that of Crispus Attucks, a Negro
and runaway slave, he spoke of many
instances in which the Negro had dis
tinguished himself in the Revolutionary
War, the War of 1872 and the Spanish
American War. The speaker added:
In spite of our record as soldiers and
sailors, the door of hope at West Point
and Annapolis has been shut in our faces.
The sons of those who fought to destroy
the Union are welcomed where the sons
of those without whom our cause would
have been lost are not only not welcom-
ed, but are not allowed. Battle-Scarred
veterans are driven from the army in
disgrace, hen it is plain to every fair
think man that they are innocent vic
TINS of a well-laid scheme to harass the
Negro and insist that he as a soldier
shall not be quartered in some sections
of our country. He contended that all
the Negro had accomplished as citizen
was made possible by the heroism of the
Negro soldier"
The choir, under Prof. Layton, sang
another selection, and at the close the
bugler sounded taps" The services
ended with benediction, pronounced by
Chaplain Washington