St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1958-05-16
MANY of ID conyentlona.

AhNAt AAt gkAet NlIH III III
yards shop apparently waiting
10 hear what Adams and Parker
have to say about their talk with
the governor.
They are members OF the Mime
sofa Protective and Industrial
League with headquarters in st.
Paul. The object OF the League Ia
the location Of colored mechanics
and farmers from the South In
this state
The group proposes 70 secure
some blocks OF state land and 10
offer them for sale on easy terms
10 industrious southern Afro
Americans as an inducement for
them 10 come here.
! +. d. Parker is chairman Of the
executive committee Of the league
and is TO push the emigration
feature The league Is not designed.
Parker says, 10 become a political
machine but II win earnestly seek
10 promote the material interests
OF the race az well as 10 protect
them In their political rights
Building associations are also
to be organized so that every in
dustrious colored man in 81. Paul
can own his own home by paying
small monthly payments.
Two st. Paul ministers are In
the group, w. c. Gray. Of Pilgrim
Baptist Church and John NJ. Hem
derson OF ST. James AME Church
OF 81. Paul. st. James was organ
lied In September Of 1870. grow
ing out Of a small group OF Metho-
dists who had for some years met
at various private homes for wor-
ship. The first pastor was the
Reverend Thomas Wise. w. D.
Harding, Dan Johnston, Alonzo
Brown and Horace Carlyle were
the trustees. The Reverends Henry
Marley II simonds, II. Burton,
and w II. Brown. successfully
served the church. ST. James has
a membership Of about 1876 and a
building worth $4,000.
81 James 1926 members and
Pilgrims 100 members might woe
fully small compared TO their men,
bership today, G9bS) but one has
TO remember that In 1858 there |
were less than 100 Negroes re-
siding in St Paul, and there was
little increase In the population |
until 1853, when a steamboat load |
OF former slaves from Missouri and |
other slave states were brought |
from ST. Louis 10 Fort Smelling.
The number OF colorcd voters in |
st. Paul in 1887 was about 1900. !
This number would ordinarily" II
said the 81, Paul Pioneer Press.
represent population OF 8 to |
5000, but the number OF single |
colored men In ST Paul Is very |
large, and the 1900 voters would |
hardly represent much more than |
25o0 inhabitants The figures |
represent a very large increase IN
the colorod population, which 10
years ago tiS72l did not number
much over $50 or 400"
OF course not an OF the Negro
residents Of ST. Paul attend the
two colored churches, Some were
members Of white churches. Mrs |
Davis, the oldest Negro woman |
resident In St PAU as OF 1887. !
was devoted member of the Cen |
trial Presbyterian Church as were |
some others, and some were Cath |
olics
The majority OF the colorcd |
citizens Of St Paul were sober. in |
and frugal people, with |
a strong desire 10 acquire homes
and good incomes. However. thcrc
was the saloon element chiefly
located on Minnesota street that |
caused them some embarrassment !
Nonctholoss, the majority OF the |
race werc able 10 dispcu the en-
roneous general impression that |
colored men have no great ambi- |
ton TO rise from positions as
The group meeting at Hlyurd's
cleaning shop did not nllly ae-
complish It's purposes as suhsc,
quent events revealed, but they
spawned the idea that later pro-
duced the Minnesota Atro-Amcr-
lean League and the American
Law Enforcement League OF Min
nesota paving the way FOR the
eventual organization ot the Ma
tional Urban League and the Ma
uonBl Association for the Advance
mcnt OF Colorcd People.
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