The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919. Various
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toil, than among us, but idleness accompanied by extravagance produces suffering and want here as elsewhere.
Your committee believes that the legislation of our States should be shaped so as to foster habits of industry among the colored people, elevate the standard of social morals, and improve and preserve our common school system.
Diverse views have been expressed by parties equally desirous of reaching the same conclusion: To ascertain grievances and apply as far as it can be done by us, the proper redress. If the single purpose of all was to accomplish this result, without the influences which our past experiences have engendered to expect it, this might be done; but it can only be done with full knowledge of all the facts. That errors have been committed by the whites and blacks alike as each in turn have controlled the government of the States here represented, may be safely admitted. Disregarding the past, burying its dead with it, standing upon the living present, and looking hopefully to the future which is before us, your committee think their duty accomplished when they have adopted and reported these resolutions:
Resolved, That the interests of planters and laborers, landlords and tenants are identical; and that they must prosper or suffer together; and that it is the duty of the planters and landlords of the States here represented to devise and adopt some contract system with laborers and tenants by which both parties will receive the full benefit of labor governed by intelligence and economy.
Resolved, That this convention does affirm that the colored race has been placed by the constitution of the United States and the States here represented, of the laws thereof, on a plane of absolute legal equality with the white race; and does declare that the colored race shall be accorded the practical enjoyment of all rights, civil and political, guaranteed by the said constitution and laws.
Resolved, That, to this end, the members of this convention pledge themselves to use whatever of power and influence they possess, to protect the colored race against all dangers in respect to the fair expression of their wills at the polls, which they may apprehend may result from fraud, intimidation or "bull dozing," on the part of the whites. And as there can be no liberty of action without freedom of thought, they demand that all elections shall be fair and free and that no repressive measure shall be employed by the colored people to deprive their own race of any part of the fullest freedom in the exercise of the highest right of citizenship.
Resolved, That the unrestricted credit system pervading the States here represented, based upon liens and mortgages on stock and crops to be grown in the future, followed by a failure of that crop, has provoked distrust, created unrest, and disturbed their entire laboring population. All laws authorizing liens on crops for advances constituted on articles other than those of prime necessity at moderate profits, where such advances are made by landlords, planters or merchants, should be discontinued and repealed.
Resolved, That this convention call upon the colored people here represented to contradict the false reports circulated among and impressed upon the more ignorant and credulous; to instruct them that no lands nor mules nor money await them in Kansas or elsewhere without labor or price and to report to the civil authorities all persons engaging in disseminating any such reports.
Resolved, That it is the constitutional right of the colored people to migrate where they please, and to whatever State they may select for their residence; but this convention urges them to proceed on their movement towards migration as reasonable human beings, providing in advance, by economy and effective labor, the means for transportation and settlement, and sustain their reputation for honesty and fair dealing, by preserving intact until completion the contracts for labor and leasing, which they have made. If, when they have done this, they still desire to leave, all obstacles to their departure be removed; all practicable assistance will be afforded to them, and their places will be supplied with other and contented labor.
Your committee believe that if the views employed in the foregoing resolutions are practically carried out by the people of both races, in good faith, the disquiet of our people will subside. We appeal to the people of both races, in the States here represented, to aid us in carrying these resolutions into effect, and to report to the authorities all violations of the laws and all interference with private rights.
Gov. Foote moved to amend by substituting other resolutions, and addressed the convention in support of his motion.
Speeches were made in favor of the original resolutions by Judge Simrall, Hon. James Hill, Capt. W. B. Pittman, Mr. Robinson, of Arkansas, and Col. Nugent.
At the conclusion of Col. Nugent's address the resolutions were adopted unanimously and the convention adjourned sine die.
HOW THE NEGROES WERE DUPED 68
Washington Letter to New York Herald.
Gorgeously illuminated chromo-lithographs of Kansas scenes have been distributed among the blacks. The gentleman who has seen some of these chromos writes that the most ravishing presentment of rural life in Kansas is depicted. The Negroes look on the State as a second paradise, compared with which old Canaan is a Florida swamp. One of these pictures, entitled "A Freedman's Home," represents a fine landscape, with fields of ripening grain stretching away to the setting sun.
In the foreground, illuminated by a marvelous sunset, stood the freedman's home. It was a picturesque cottage with gables, dormer windows and wide verandas. French windows reached down to the floor, and through the open casements appeared a seductive scene in the family sitting room. The colored father, who had just returned from his harvest fields, sat in an easy chair reading a newspaper, while the children and babies rollicked on the floor of the piazza. Through the open door of the kitchen the colored wife could be seen directing the servants and cooks who were preparing the evening meal. In the parlor, however, was the most enchanting feature, for at a grand piano was poised the belle of the household, and beside the piano where she was playing stood her colored lover, devouring her with his eyes while he abstractedly turned the leaves of her music. Just to one side of the dwelling appeared a commodious barn and carriage house and workmen busily engaged in putting in order their reapers and mowers for the following day.
In one of these pictures, "Old Auntie" sits on the veranda knitting stockings while she gazes on herds of buffalo and antelope, which are feeding on the prairies beyond the wheat fields. Approaching the gate a handsome colored man is seen coming in from the hunt, with a dead buck and a string of wild turkeys slung over his shoulders. These agricultural cartoons, in vivid coloring, the writer reports are doing much to influence the minds of the more ignorant Negroes.
REMARKS ON THIS EXODUS BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS 69
Fred. Douglass, marshal of the District, is out in a very strong letter, published in the National View, the new Greenback organ here, vigorously opposing the emigration of Negroes from the South. He earnestly advises the colored men to remain at home.
The letter has caused a good deal of annoyance among the leading Republicans, who have been vigorously working up this movement, believing that it was a godsend to them and would be a strong issue in future campaigns.
Fred. Douglass winds up his letter as follows:
"I am opposed to this exodus, because it is an untimely concession to the idea that white people and colored people cannot live together in peace and prosperity unless the whites are a majority and control the legislation and hold the offices of the State. I am opposed to this exodus, because it will pour upon the people of Kansas and other Northern States a multitude of deluded, hungry, homeless people to be supported in a large measure by alms. I am opposed to this exodus, because it will enable our political adversaries to make successful appeals to popular prejudice (as in the case of the Chinese) on the ground that these people, so ignorant and helpless, have been imported for the purpose of making the North solid by outvoting intelligent white Northern citizens. I am opposed to this exodus, because 'rolling stones gather no moss;' and I agree with Emerson that the men who made Rome or any other locality worth going to see stayed there. There is, in my judgment, no part of the
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