Oakland sunshine., 1915-08-21
BOSTON HOElj,lS
PHILLIPS MEMORY
Citizens UnveiI Fine Statue
of Noted kbOlhiOniSt.
PATRIOTIC EXERCISES HELD

With Music and Speeches by Eminent
Men, Public Turns Out En- Masse to
Witness Event of National Interest.
w. Monroe Trotter Speaks For Our
Race.
Boston. A few minutes before 9
o'clock on the afternoon of July 5 the
veil fell from.the $4,000 bronze statue
of Wendell Phillips in the Public Gar
den, and a crowd of from 5000 to
5000 acclaimed with cheers and patri-
otic song Daniel Chester French's al
most speaking memorial of Boston's
/ famous orator and abolitionist.
AS the sun was sinking behind rain
/ clouds in the west little John G. Phil
lips, Jr., the great-grandnephew Of
Wendell Phillips, the man who de-
clared that if he lived long enorgh he
would make Boston streets 90 Iure to
bear the footsteps of pfave, pulled
+ the eefd releasing the mantle which
/ for several weeks had yelled the statue.
/ AS the folds fell away from the figure
of the great abolitionist GLORY, Glory,
Hallelujah!'' burst from chorus of
colored singers.
/ Feryent was the prayer of Rev.
H Montrose W. Thornton, pastor of the
| historic Charles Street church and also
| chairman of the executive committee
of the local Equal Rights league
branch; sterling and practical the trib-
ute of the acting mayor, George w.
Coleman, man of Wendell Phillips
principles, as was every speaker.
/ Illuminating and forceful was the
/ life story by Secretary William D.
Brigham. Sweet and inspiring were the
| singing by the colored singers, led by
| DR.. Waiter o. Taylor and j. Therman
Jones, and the music of the brass band
| Of Company L, Sixth regiment of Mas
Y sachusetts militia. Picturesque and
i touching was the encomium by the only
II survivor of the New England abolition
\ lists, Frank B. Sanborn, now eighty-three
/ years old, still active, a coworker with
/ Phillips. Earnest and unqualified was
/ the praise by the spokesman for col
ored Americans, w. NJ. Trotter.
/ Fired with eloquence born of lova
was the eulogy of Ireland's friend and
| friend Of all oppressed by Michael j.
Jordan, son of O'Conpelps island home;
tuneful and noble the paean of the poet
of the occasion. gr;s1dson of Phillips
party leader bearlI.. Ills name, William
| Lloyd Garrison. livery participant was
| an emulator of the Prophet of Libe.ty,
] Champion of the Slave" while the
colored women of the Woman's Relief
| corps held the colors.
The monument. a Iasterpiece by
/ Daniel Chester E'-cnch, the sculptor,
/ represents the great abolitiOnist stand
i ing at reading desk, his right hand
resting upon the desk, his left out
i stretched and hotfiina a bit of broken
/ fetter. Upon tie rarble background,
| above the head pa Ihe statue, are the
| rels, Liberty Knows Nothing but Vie
| tory" On the pedestal, in front, are
| the words in raised bronze letters:
WENDELL PHILLIPS.
1S11-18S4
PROPHET OF LIBERTY.
| CHAMPION OF TIE SLAVE.
i, On the reverse side Of the back
ground is tkks quotation from Phillips:
| Il love aeApressibly these streets of
| BostGt>, over whose pavements my
| mot .er held up tenderly my baby feet,
and If God grants me time enough
will make them too pure to bear the
| footsteps Of slave"
The exercises were opened by Mr..
William D. Brigham, secretary Of the
Wendell Phillips Memorial association,
who introduced the acting mayor,
George w. Coleman. president of the
city council
Mr.. Coleman then introduced, In
turn, four speakers, wb> presented a
verbal panorama Of Wendell Phillips
life. William d. Brigham spoke on
Morning Youth and Vision;" Frank
| lin Benjamin Sanborn on "Noon-the
Abolitionist PERIOD" William Monroe
| Trotter or "Afternoon-Citizens For
| the Colored American" and Michael j.
Jordan "Evening-What Mr.. Phillips
! bId IOE lleliiHu. MI. \ciSIuuIiI
introducing William Monroe Trotter,
said that nothing was so appropriate
as for the colored race to have a
spokesman in dedicating a monument
i to Wendell Phillips and that there
could be no more fit representative
than William Monroe Trotter.
Mr. Trotter said that Wendell Phil
lips was the originator of the north's
policy of reconstruction and a pioneer
advocate of the ballot for colored
Americans. No man had done more for
the cause of human rights, perhaps,
than Wendell Phillips. save Charles
Sumner. Wendell Phillips was among
the first to announce emancipation as
the purpose of the war and to urge
that the people of color should be used
as soldiers to help to save the Union
He was a pioneer In the movement
for suffrage He saw to it that slay-
cry should be torn up by the roots and
that as far as federal law was con-
cerned every man, white and black,
should have citizenship and suffrage
Wendell Phillips believed, as we do,
that the greatest thing is human free
dom, said Mr.. Trotter. and it cannot
be maintained without equality, and
there can he no equality without the