The Journal of Negro History Volume V Part 7

Sect. 4. The said commissioner shall, as soon as is convenient, after his appointment, cause a registration to be made, on the basis of the general registration of the State, of all the members of the several tribes, specifying the parentage and date of the birth of each, as near as can be ascertained, and the date of all marriages of parties now living, with all the particulars, that are now required of town clerks, by the laws of the State, and having completed the same, up to the time required by law for the last preceding return to be made, he shall, thenceforward make and keep a true registration of all the births, marriages, and deaths, in each of the said tribes, and shall annually make due return thereof, the whole to be done in the same manner as is required of town clerks, and under the same liabilities and conditions that are, by law, imposed upon them.

Sect. 5. The said commissioner shall, in concurrence with the proper officers of the Gay Head tribe, cause a survey of all the land held in severalty, by the members of said tribe, setting out the same to each, by betes and bounds, and, when the survey is complete, shall cause a record of the portion of each proprietor to be made in the registry of deeds, of the county of Dukes County, and thereupon, the legal t.i.tle shall vest in the several proprietors thereof, their heirs, and a.s.signs, forever: _provided, however_, that no land on the plantation shall ever be alienated from the tribe or be held or possessed by any person who is not a member thereof; and when ever the family of any proprietor becomes extinct, the real estate of said proprietor shall revert to said tribe and become the property thereof, in common. And whenever, hereafter, any common land shall be taken up to be occupied and possessed in severalty, by any member of the tribe, having the concurrence of the tribe therein, the same shall be surveyed, set forth, and recorded, under the supervision of said commissioner, as is above provided; and no t.i.tle to any common land, to be held in severalty, on said plantation shall be acquired in any other manner.

Sect. 6. The said commission shall cause a survey to be made of the Indian plantation at Fall River and the bounds thereof to be renewed, agreeably to the surveys made by order of the State in one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three. He shall ascertain to whom the several lots belong by hereditary descent from the proprietors to whom they belonged in one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, so far as descendants of said proprietors still remain, and shall designate the same by the numbers of the lots respectively; and in the same manner, he shall designate the several lots, if such there be, of which the families of the former proprietors have become extinct, and shall make return of the same to the governor and council, for the use of the legislature, and shall report such other facts connected therewith as may be useful to them, and shall recommend such disposition of the land remaining in common, as in his judgment, shall be most conducive to the welfare of the Indians, and of the State.

Sect. 7. The said commissioner shall, as soon as the performance of the duties of his office shall have made him sufficiently acquainted with the necessities and wants of the Indians, and with the other facts necessary to qualify him for the service, prepare a bill embodying a system for governing, managing, and regulating the affairs of the several tribes, as nearly uniform in its provision respecting them severally, as the circ.u.mstances of the different tribes will permit, as a subst.i.tute for the present laws on that subject, and report the same to the governor and council for the consideration of the legislature, accompanied by the reasons on which the several provisions therein recommended are sustained.

Sect. 8. The Indians and people of color on Gay Head, and the officers by them appointed for the purpose, shall have the same powers in the management of their munic.i.p.al affairs, and in relation to the employment of teachers, and the making and enforcing of all rules for the regulation and government of their schools, that by law are exercised by the inhabitants and corresponding officers of the several towns of the Commonwealth: _provided, however_, that this shall not be construed to authorize the alienation of any of the territory of the plantation: and _provided, further_, that no person shall be authorized to vote in munic.i.p.al affairs, except natives of the Gay Head tribe, natives of other Indian tribes of this State married or having been married to a Gay Head woman and resident on the plantation, or such other person resident on the plantation and married or having been married to a Gay Head woman, as shall have the right conferred on him by a vote of two-thirds of the voters of the plantation.

Sect. 9. All acts and parts of acts heretofore pa.s.sed, so far as they conflict with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

Sect. 10. This act shall take effect from and after its pa.s.sage.

If the legislature should decide not to authorize the appointment of a single commissioner for the State, I would propose the pa.s.sage of the same Bill with the following amendments:--

Strike out the whole of section 3.

Strike out in section 4 the words "said commissioner shall, as soon as is convenient after his appointment," and insert the words--clerks of Marshpee, the guardians of the several plantation tribes, and the clerk of Gay Head shall.

In section 5, strike out the words "said commissioner," and insert the words--guardians of the Chappequidd.i.c.k and Christiantown tribes. Also, in the latter portion of the same section, strike out the word "commissioner" and insert the word--guardian.

In section 6, strike out the words "said commissioner," and insert the words--guardian of the Troy or Fall River tribe.

Strike out section 7, entire.

Alter the numbering of the sections after 2, to correspond to the changes.

Insert the following section after section 8:--

Sect. --. No person shall be ent.i.tled to support by any tribe in the State, of whose parents, one only was an Indian, and whose residence was not on the plantation of the tribe at the time of his birth, unless the rights of himself or parents as members of the tribe, shall have been subsequently recognized by the tribe.

SOME NEGRO MEMBERS OF RECONSTRUCTION CONVENTIONS AND LEGISLATURES AND OF CONGRESS[1]

No systematic effort has. .h.i.therto been made to save the records of the Negro during the Reconstruction period. American public opinion has been so prejudiced against the Negroes because of their elevation to prominence in southern politics that it has been considered sufficient to destroy their regime and forget it. As future historians will seek for facts beyond those compiled by biased investigators now writing monographs in this field, a few persons realizing the importance of preserving the records in which the actual facts are set forth, are now directing the attention of the country to this neglected aspect of our history. These lists of suggestive names of the men who figured conspicuously in this recent drama will be decidedly useful in the collection of facts adequate to the presentation of both sides of the question. These lists are far from being complete. This is but a step in the right direction and persons in possession of such facts are earnestly urged to cooperate in collecting them.

It has been extremely difficult to determine the race of the members of the various Reconstruction bodies. The lists of members as published in the Journals of the legislatures do not indicate the race. This has to be determined by contemporary information. The methods used by other persons and agencies in identifying the race have been various. The Negro members of the North Carolina General a.s.sembly, for example, were indicated by the figure 37 in the State Manual listing all persons who had been in the a.s.sembly. Where no such information could be obtained from printed matter, it has been necessary to rely upon information obtained from individuals who partic.i.p.ated in the Reconstruction.

NEGRO MEMBERS OF THE ALABAMA CONSt.i.tUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1867[2]

District Name County 1st John Carraway Mobile Ovide Gregory Mobile 6th Thomas Diggs Barbour 7th B. F. Royal Bullock 13th Washington Johnson Russell 15th Peyton Finley Montgomery 16th H. Stokes Dallas J. Hatcher Dallas 17th J. Wright McLeod Marengo 18th Benjamin Inge Sumter 19th Samuel Blanden Lee 21st Thomas Lee Perry 22nd J. K. Greene Hale B. F. Alexander Greene 42nd Lafayette Robinson Madison C. Jones Madison 43rd J. T. Rapier Lauderdale

NEGRO MEMBERS OF THE ALABAMA CONSt.i.tUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1875[2]

District Name County H. A. Carson Lowndes 25th A. H. Curtis Perry 21st G. S. W. Lewis Perry

_Senate_[3]

Session 1872-1874

Name County Jeremiah Haralson Dallas J. W. Jones Lowndes Lloyd Leftwich Greene B F. Royal Bullock

Session 1874-1875 and 1875-1876

Name County A. A. Curtis Perry J. K. Greene Hale Jeremiah Haralson[4] Dallas J. W. Jones Lowndes Lloyd Leftwich Greene B. F. Royal Bullock

_House_

Session 1868 and 1869-1870

Name County Benjamin Alexander Greene J. H. Alston Macon Matt Avery Perry Samuel Blandon Lee N. A. Brewington Lowndes John Carraway (Speaker of House) Mobile George c.o.x Montgomery Thomas Diggs Barbour Joseph Draun Dallas J. K. Greene Hale Ovide Gregory Mobile George Houston Sumter Benjamin Inge Sumter C. Jones Madison G. S. W. Lewis Perry David Law Barbour Jeff McCally Madison H. W. W. Rice Talladega James Shaw Mobile Lawrence S. Speed Bullock Holland Thompson Montgomery William V. Turner Elmore Latty J. Williams Montgomery Henry Young Lowndes

Session 1870-1871 and 1871-1872

Name County H. Craig Montgomery A. H. Curtis Perry Thomas Diggs Barbour John Dozier Perry William D. Gaskins Lowndes Ned Gee Dallas J. K. Greene Hale Jeremiah Haralson Dallas R. L. Johnson Dallas Lawrence S. Speed Bullock Henry St. Clair Macon Holland Thompson Montgomery Mansfield Tyler Lowndes Latty J. Williams Montgomery

_House_

Session 1872-1873 and 1873-1874

Name County W. E. Carson Lowndes T. J. Clark Barbour Mentor Dotson Sumter John Dozier Perry Hale Ellsworth Montgomery Samuel Fantroy Barbour J. H. Goldsby Dallas J. K. Green Hale R. L. Johnson Dallas Reuben Jones Madison G. S. W. Lewis Perry Perry Matthews Bullock January Maul Lowndes G. R. Miller Russell Willis Merriweather Wilc.o.x S. J. Patterson Autauga George Patterson Macon Robert Reid Sumter Bristo W. Reese Hale Lawrence S. Speed Bullock Henry St. Clair Macon Lawson Stelle Montgomery F. H. Threat Marengo J. R. Treadwell Russell Thomas Walker Dallas E. A. Williams Barbour Latty J. Williams Montgomery William V. Turner, _a.s.sistant Clerk_ Elmore Phillip Joseph, _Engrossing Clerk_ Mobile W. H. Council, _a.s.sistant Engrossing Clerk_ Madison C. O. Harris, _a.s.sistant Enrolling Clerk_ Montgomery Stephen Russell, _Page_ Montgomery

_House_

Session 1874-1875 and 1875-1876

Name County Elijah Baldwin Wilc.o.x W. H. Blevins Dallas Matt Boyd Perry H. V. Cashin Montgomery Elijah Cook Montgomery Charles f.a.gan Montgomery W. D. Gaskin[5] Lowndes Captain Gilmer Montgomery C. E. Harris Dallas A. W. Johnson Macon Samuel Lee Lowndes G. S. W. Lewis Perry Jacob Martin Dallas P. Matthews Bullock G. W. Allen Bullock Willis Merriweather Wilc.o.x George Patterson Macon Bristo W. Reese Hale Robert Reid Sumter C. S. Smith Bullock Manly Wynne Hale H. A. Carson[6] Lowndes E. W. Locke[6] Wilc.o.x

NEGRO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FROM ALABAMA

Year Name County Congress 1871-1873 Benjamin F. Turner Dallas 43rd 1873-1875 James T. Rapier Lauderdale 43rd 1875-1877 Jeremiah Haralson Dallas 44th

James H. Alston was a member of the Alabama Legislature for Macon County, 1868 and 1869-79. He was a shoemaker by trade and had formerly been a slave. It was reported that before the war there was a Military Company in the town of Tuskegee. The members of this company desired to have a drummer, and for this purpose they sent to South Carolina and bought James H. Alston. It was thought that he came from Charleston.

Henry Young was a member of the Alabama Legislature about 1868 and 1869-70. He was a slave who could read and write, having been taught by his master's children. He would, somewhat like Frederick Dougla.s.s, spell out the words on letters that he was called upon to deliver or to get from the post office, and in this way he also increased his ability to read.

CONWAY, ARK.,--October 14, 1916.