The Journal of Negro History Volume V Part 37

Before the end of the roll call of counties his nomination was made unanimous. In his canva.s.s for election he had the hearty support of the State organization and many of the leading colored and white Republicans in and without his district and State. In 1892 he was unanimously chosen as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, which met in Minneapolis.

As far back as 1883 he was appointed a clerk in one of the Departments at Washington by Secretary Teller. He held this position until under a Democratic administration he was for partisan reasons asked to resign. President Harrison, recognizing his ability, appointed him Postmaster of his city, Fayetteville.

For more than 20 years he was a leader in the party and so recognized by the late Judge Buxton and such men as the late ex-Congressman O. H. Dockery, and Judges Boyd and Pritchard, now on the bench. Outside his State his ability as an organizer and canva.s.ser was recognized by Hon. J.S. Clarkson and the late William E. Chandler and M.S. Quay.

In a letter of April 8, 1919, Bishop N.H. Heard says:

I was born and raised in Elbert County, Georgia (born a slave), June 25th, 1850. I taught school in '69, 70, '71, and '72. Was a candidate for the Legislature of Georgia in 1872. Attorney General Amos J. Ackerman, of Grant's Cabinet, was in the convention that nominated me, and he canva.s.sed and voted for me.

In 1873 I went to Abbeville County, S.C., and taught '73, '74, and '75. Was Deputy U.S. Marshall in 1876 and elected to the South Carolina Legislature.

Mr. M.N. Work has discovered the following:

In the ten years 1876-1886, Negroes were elected to the South Carolina Legislature as Democrats. The Columbia (South Carolina) State in its issue of December 24, 1918, advised that an effort be made to have Negroes enroll in Democratic precinct clubs and partic.i.p.ate in the primaries of the State along with white men.

As a precedent for this, it was pointed out that: "In 1876 when the Democrats redeemed the State from misrule, they appealed to the Negroes to join their party, and a minority of Negroes, more numerous, perhaps than is generally supposed, wore the 'red shirt.' Many of them did valuable service in behalf of respectable government. During the ten years following that time, until the primary election took the place of the convention system in all but two or three of the counties, the Democratic Negroes were given political recognition. From Barnwell, Colleton, Orangeburg, and Charleston Negro Democrats were elected to the legislature and in a number of counties other Negroes were elected to such offices as coroner and county commissioner.

"With the extension of the primary system a racial line came to be drawn in the Democratic organization and it was made very nearly impossible for a Negro to partic.i.p.ate in it. An exception in the party law provided that Negroes who voted for General Hampton in 1876 and who continued to vote the Democratic ticket in succeeding years be allowed to vote in the primaries, but the rules applying to these cases were in a form so rigid that they reduced the Negro Democratic vote."[1]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Columbia State, December 24, 1918.

A SUMMARY OF NEGRO MEMBERS OF SOME RECONSTRUCTION LEGISLATURES

[Transcriber's Note: The following two tables were published as one large, wide table. They have been split into two tables, with the first column repeated, for clearer presentation in this e-book.]

=============+==============+==============+==============+ | 1868-69 | 1870-71 | 1871-72 | +--------------+--------------+--------------+ |Whites|Negroes|Whites|Negroes|Whites|Negroes| -------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+ Alabama | | | | | | | Senate | 32 | 1 | 29 | 4 | 29 | 4 | House | 74 | 26 | 73 | 27 | 86 | 14 | Arkansas | | | | | | | Senate | 23 | 1 | 22 | 2 | .. | .. | House | 73 | 7 | 71 | 9 | .. | .. | Georgia | | | | | | | Senate | 41 | 3 | 42 | 2 | .. | .. | House | 145 | 30 | 149 | 26 | .. | .. | Mississippi | | | | | | | Senate | .. | .. | 29 | 4 | .. | .. | House | .. | .. | 77 | 30 | 76 | 39 | N. Carolina | | | | | | | Senate | 47 | 3 | 47 | 9 | 45 | 5 | House | 102 | 18 | 101 | 1 | 108 | 12 | S. Carolina | | | | | | | Senate | 24 | 9 | 22 | 11 | .. | .. | House | 48 | 76 | 49 | 75 | .. | .. | Texas | | | | | | | Senate | .. | .. | 28 | 2 | .. | .. | House | .. | .. | 82 | 8 | .. | .. | Virginia | | | | | | | Senate | .. | .. | .. | | .. | .. | House | 119 | 18 | 116 | 21 | .. | .. | -------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+

=============+==============+==============+==============+ | 1873-74 | 1874-75 | 1876 | +--------------+--------------+--------------+ |Whites|Negroes|Whites|Negroes|Whites|Negroes| -------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+ Alabama | | | | | | | Senate | 29 | 4 | 27 | 6 | 27 | 6 | House | 73 | 27 | 71 | 29 | 77 | 23 | Arkansas | | | | | | | Senate | 22 | 2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | House | 71 | 9 | .. | .. | .. | .. | Georgia | | | | | | | Senate | .. | .. | .. | .. | | .. | House | .. | .. | .. | .. | | .. | Mississippi | | | | | | | Senate | 28 | 9 | .. | .. | 32 | 5 | House | 60 | 55 | .. | .. | 100 | 16 | N. Carolina | | | | | | | Senate | 46 | 4 | 46 | 4 | .. | | House | 107 | 13 | 107 | 13 | 113 | 7 | S. Carolina | | | | | | | Senate | .. | .. | .. | .. | | .. | House | .. | .. | .. | .. | 70 | 54 | Texas | | | | | | | Senate | .. | .. | .. | .. | | .. | House | .. | .. | .. | .. | | .. | Virginia | | | | | | | Senate | 37 | 3 | 37 | 3 | 37 | 3 | House | 115 | 17 | 112 | 17 | 112 | 13 | -------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+

There were Negro members of the North Carolina legislature to 1899 and of the Virginia legislature to 1891 as follows:

_North Carolina_ _Virginia_ Senators Representatives Senator Representatives 1879 2 6 1876-77 3 12 1881 1 4 1877-78 3 4 1883 3 5 1878-79 3 4 1885 2 2 1883-84 3 8 1887 3 3 1884-85 1 7 1889 2 1885-86 1 1 1891 1 1886-87 1 1 1893 1 1887-88 1 7 1895 1 1888-89 1 7 1897 1 1889-90 1 4 1899 1 1 1890-91 1 3

SPEECH OF WILLIAM H. GRAY BEFORE THE ARKANSAS CONSt.i.tUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1868[1]

William H. Gray, a Negro, and delegate to the convention from Phillips County, rose and spoke as follows:

"It appears to me, the gentleman has read the history of his country to little purpose. When the Const.i.tution was framed, in every State but South Carolina free Negroes were allowed to vote.

Under British rule this cla.s.s was free, and he interpreted that 'we the people' in the preamble of the Const.i.tution, meant all the people of every color. The mistake of that period was that these free Negroes were not represented _in propria persona_ in that const.i.tutional convention, but by the Anglo-Saxon. Congress is now correcting that mistake. The right of franchise is due the Negroes bought by the blood of forty thousand of their race shed in three wars. The troubles now on the country are the result of the bad exercise of the elective franchise by unintelligent whites, the 'poor whites' of the South. I could duplicate every Negro who cannot read and write, whose name is on the list of registered voters, with a white man equally ignorant. The gentleman can claim to be a friend of the Negro, but I do not desire to be looked upon in the light of a client. The Government has made a solemn covenant with the Negro to vest him with the right of franchise if he would throw his weight in the balance in favor of the Union and bare his breast to the storm of bullets; and I am convinced that it would not go back on itself. There are thirty-two million whites to four million blacks in the country, and there need be no fear of Negro domination. The State laws do not protect the Negro in his rights, as they forbade their entrance into the State. (Action of loyal convention of '64). I am not willing to trust the rights of my people with the white men, as they have not preserved those of their own race, in neglecting to provide them with the means of education. The Declaration of Independence declared all men born free and equal, and I demand the enforcement of that guarantee made to my forefathers, to every one of each race, who had fought for it.

The const.i.tution which this ordinance would reenact it not satisfactory, as it is blurred all over with the word 'white.'

Under it one hundred and eleven thousand beings who live in the State have no rights which white men are bound to respect. My people might be ignorant, but I believe, with Jefferson, that ignorance is no measure of a man's rights. Slavery has been abolished, but it left my people in a condition of peonage or caste worse than slavery, which had its humane masters. White people should look to their own ancestry; they should recollect that women were disposed of on the James River, in the early settlement of the country, as wives, at the price of two hundred pounds of tobacco. When we have had eight hundred years as the whites to enlighten ourselves, it will be time enough to p.r.o.nounce them incapable of civilization and enlightenment. The last election showed that they were intelligent enough to vote in a solid ma.s.s with the party that would give them their rights, and that too in face of the influence of the intelligence and wealth of the State, and in face of threats to take the bread from their very mouths. I have no antipathy toward the whites; I would drop the curtain of oblivion on the sod which contains the bones of my oppressed and wronged ancestors for two hundred and fifty years. Give us the franchise, and if we do not exercise it properly, you have the numbers to take it away from us. It would be impossible for the Negro to get justice in a State whereof he was not a full citizen. The prejudice of the entire court would be against him. I do not expect the Negro to take possession of the government; I want the franchise given him as an incentive to work to educate his children. I do not desire to discuss the question of the inferiority of races. Unpleasant truths must then be told; history tells us of your white ancestors who lived on the acorns which dropped from the oaks of Didona, and then worshipped the tree as a G.o.d. I call upon all men who would see justice done, to meet this question fairly, and fear not to record their votes."

In the session of January 29th, he said:

"Negroes vote in Ohio and Ma.s.sachusetts, and in the latter State are elected to high office by rich men. He had found more prejudice against his race among the Yankees; and if they did him a kind act, they did not seem to do it with the generous spirit of Southern men. He could get nearer the latter; he had been raised with them. He was the sorrier on this account that they had refused him the rights which would make him a man, as the former were willing to do. He wanted this a white man's government, and wanted them to do the legislating as they had the intelligence and wealth; but he wanted the power to protect himself against unfriendly legislation. Justice should be like the Egyptian statue, blind and recognizing no color."

Concerning intermarriage between whites and Negroes, Mr. Bradley, a delegate to the convention, having offered to insert in the const.i.tution, a clause "forbidding matrimony between a white person and a person of African descent," on which point nearly all of the members spoke pro and con in that and the following days, Mr. Gray said:

"It was seldom such outrages were committed at the North, where there are no const.i.tutional provisions of the kind proposed. He saw no necessity of inserting any in the present const.i.tution. As for his people, their condition now would not permit any such marriages. If it was proposed to insert a provision of the kind, he would move to amend by making it an offence punishable with death for a white man to cohabit with a Negro woman." At another time he observed on the same subject, that "there was no danger of intermarriage, as the greatest minds had p.r.o.nounced it abhorrent to nature. The provision would not cover the case, as the laws must subsequently define who is a Negro; and he referred to the law of North Carolina, declaring persons Negroes who have only one-sixteenth of Negro blood. White men had created the difficulty, and it would not be impossible to draw the line which the gentleman desired established."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Annual Cyclopedia, 1868, pp. 34-35.

Mr. Monroe N. Work, who compiled the records of the Negro in politics during the Reconstruction period, has received the following interesting letters containing some valuable facts:

1425 MCCULLOH ST., BALTIMORE, MD., Feb. 9, 1920.

_My dear Mr. Work_:

Referring to the "Journal of Negro History" for Jan., 1920, in the letter of the State Librarian of Virginia, page 119, occur these words: "_For the 1881-2 session the almanac has no list of members._"

It so happens that the writer was present, and was an employee of that particular session of the Virginia Legislature, and therefore takes pleasure in supplying the necessary information.

The speaker of the House of Representatives was the Hon. I.C.

Fowler, and the President protem (the Lieutenant Governor, John F. Lewis, being President) of the Senate was the Hon. H.C. Wood.

The Governor of the State at that time was the Hon. William E.

Cameron, from my home town, Petersburg. It was quite a memorable session, and I could almost write a book, with respect to matters as they pertained to the Negro. The Hon. William Mahone was United States Senator, and although a boy, I was much trusted by Senator Mahone; and in many important conferences held in the old "Whig" building, I was quite active in helping to prevent none but "the faithful" from entering.

Upon the a.s.sembling of the Legislature, I was appointed one of the six pages in the House. The other five were white boys. Very soon afterwards, I was promoted to the postmastership of the House. On the Senate side, there were two colored boys as pages, a son of ex-Senator Moseley of Goochland Co., and a son of the late R.G.L. Paige, representative from Norfolk county.

There were three colored men in the Senate Chamber, and two of them were really able and scholarly men, and were among the leading debaters in that chamber. One was Dr. Dan Norton, from the Yorktown District, another was Senator William N. Stevens, representing the senatorial district of Suss.e.x and Greensville counties. Senator Stevens was a speaker of much elegance and grace, and was always listened to with respect and admiration.

Then there was Senator J. Richard Jones, representing Charlotte and Mecklenburg counties.

In the Lower House, there were thirteen colored representatives; the names of two I can not just recall, but the others I will mention.

Norfolk county, R.G.L. Paige.

Princess Anne county, Littleton Owens.

York county, Robert Norton.

City of Petersburg, Armstead Green.

Dinwiddie county, Alfred W. Harris.

Powhatan county, Neverson Lewis.

Brunswick county, Guy Powell.

c.u.mberland county, Shed Dungee.

Prince Edward county, Batt Greggs.

Amelia and Nottoway, Archie Scott.

Mecklenburg county, Ross Hamilton.

Paige and Harris were thoroughly educated men, while Ross Hamilton possessing only limited literary qualifications, was a most remarkable man, and one of the parliamentary authorities of that body. In the preceding session, of which Hamilton was a member, he got to himself great fame by the introduction of the measure known and referred to as the "Ross Hamilton bill." It had to do with the settlement of the Virginia debt, the great issue on which Mahone rode into power.