St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1954-02-12
Abraham Lincoln; Man For The Ages

Americans have better appreciation Of the greatness of
Abraham Lincoln the by Certainly this can be SAID
be Of the descendants of American Negro saveswho
so after the Great Emancpators deaare able TO
effectively the and his work
In the period after Lincons assassination up until the
1905 Lincoln by American Negroes than
other figure in history with the possible exception Of Jesus
Christ During that period the freed Negroes made rapid
gains only lose OF them when during the period follow
ing 1876 when northern business interests backing Republican
Rutherford Hayes Of Ohio made Hayes president by deal with
the South In repayment Hayes removed troops and the
xxx took terrong Negroes and northern whites IN the
south the legislatures enacted Grandfather Clause laws and the
Negro headed many souherners thought back slavery
Negroes voting the straight Republican ticket in of
Lincoln voted Hayes and out went their growing freedom
The Southern Negro robbed Of citizenship with
OF Lncons stature stand up for him nevertheless fought
back and through the toruous work of white believers in Lin
coins philosophy and the Negroes themselves SO years after
Lncons death the American Negro has reached point
close To first class citizenship
II fashionable among the growing of American
Negroes in the early l900s be critical Of Lincoln Many Of
them had begun acquire education especially in the north
and could perceive that the real basis for the between the
largely Negroes who settled in the north
especially critical Of Lneon record chiefly because the
Republican party shameessy exploited the ht the fact
that Republican Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves Negro
opinion admittedly grateful that the nation had produced
Lincoln but resented the fact that politicians continually tried
to sell them the idea that the Republican Party o Abraham
Lncoln solely free four million Negro slaves
This plus the ungraeu exploitation Of the Negro voters by
the Republicans from the Sixties up into the early sos dim
med the uster of Lincoln for many Of the counrys Negroes
Whenever politician mentioned Lncon's name during a
campaign, Negroes became suspicious
Strange to say but true Abraham Lincoln is widely
appreciated among Negroes that he early the
fury and that appreciation during the 20 years in which
Democrats in the White House.
II Grover Cleveland Democrat who showed in.
eres in the problems of the Negro than the Republican Pre
dents Of bis II during the administration of FD
that circumstances made Negroes vbranty American
than they had felt before Franklin ID Roosevelt had this
in with Lincoln; Both the sincerely hated
and most widely beloved Presidents the nation had
1t was during Trumans administration when a committee
of distinguished Americans called the Presidents Committee
Civil Rights made study and issued report by which
the improvement in American living for Negroes being
guided All through that if studied closeycoud
be the spirit of Abraham Lnconwho early declared
nation exist half slave and half free
II happy circumstance to find today that Lincoln is NO
longer the public mind the property of political party
Of certain section of the nation Today his work his sacrifices
his great Humanitarian his foresight his courage fully
ognzd and he belongs 10 the people and the Ages
be proud that Il is still frontier which has in power
TO give the world other Lincolns