National Convention of Colored Men.

National Convention of Colored Men.

The Liberator

19th Century U.S. Newspapers

1855-11-23

From the National Anti-Slavery Standard. National Convention of Colored MEN. The following resolutions, among others, were adopted by the Convention of Colored Men, lately held in Philadelphia :~~ Resolved, That Education, the great elevator of mind, is what we need, and what we must have, to place us on an equal footing with other men, and we will improve such opportunites as are afforded us to secure it for ourselves and for our children. Resolved, That, in the first place, our people be made to feel the necessity of securing real estate, and that it requires union with us, as a people, to sustain each other, that we obtain the great object which is in our view, viz: our social, civil and political rights, and that we encourage our people in agricultural pursuits on lands of their own. Resolved, That we rejoice in the legislative aot of Massachusetts, by which her common schools are open to every class of her citizens, believing that the school-room is, when really free, the greatest leveller of all species of prejudice. Resolved, That as no one class can elevate another, so we believe that all the general plans that may be adopted by this and other National Conventions will fail of their purpose, unless the people realize the necessity of individual application and effort. Resolved, That we recommend to our mothers and sisters o use every honorable means to secure for their sons and brothers, places of profit and trust in stores, and other places of business, such as will throw a halo around this prescribed people, that shall, in coming time, reflect honor on those who have laid the corner-stone to our platform of improvement. Resolved, That we use our influence to prevent our boys from taking employment in cities at places of amuesment, where marked distinction on account of color is made the order of exercises. Resolved, That considering our relative posi-tion as a part of the nation, in the capacity of the real producers of the wealth of the nation and this country, we therefore recommend to all our youth, of both sexes, to learn some useful trade or some mechanical art, as a means of doing away with prejudice against color, and thus show to the world that we aspire to, and can arrive at, the highest eminence, from which slavery and civil and social oppression have debarred us. Resolved, That this Convention gladly seize the opportunity of expressing toward Passmore Wil-liamson their sincere admiration for his fidelity to principle, and his heroic devotion to the cause of freedom, and they beg him to accept for himself and his injured and bereaved family assurance of their deepest and most heartfelt sympathy. Resolved, That Mr. Williamson, by his prompt-ness on this, as on all occasions when called upon to fly to the aid of the slave, when striving for his freedom, or despise the chains of oppression. Resolved, That a Committee of five be appointed to wait upon and present to Mr. Williamson this expression of the National Convention. Whereas, every man and woman are by right the owners of themselves, and, except under legal contract voluntarily entered into, or to appease justice violated by crime, this right cannot be alienated, all laws for the holding of slaves, and all Fugitive Slave Bills, to reclaim them to the contrary notwithstanding; therefore, Resolved, That this Convention approve of and honor the conduct of Ballard, Curtis. Braddock, Still. Martin and Moore, who bore off in the face of difficulty, Jane Johnson and her children, from the steamer on the Delaware, and thus secured to her what she had been robbed of, her own and her children's freedom. The following named persons were announced to form the Committee to visit Passmore Williamson: Robert Purvis, Pa.; John S. Rock, M. D. Mass. ; George T. Downing, R. I. : Stephen Myers, N. Y. : and R. H. Freeman, New Jersey. The Project for establishing a Colored College was not approved by the Convention. While the subject was under consideration, Frederick Doug-lass said: 'From the assurances made to me by Mrs. Stowe, I fully expected that one her return we should have sufficient funds to make a start in the college, but the Garrisonian Abolitionists had sent her packs of letters, and used their papers to prevent the con-tribution of funds towards it. They argued that we should not have such an Institution as long as there were slaves in the country, but in this I think they had the cart before the horse, for it is my impression that every blow struck by a black-smith at the North lightens the chains of the three millions held in bondage at the South. He thought that he could collect $ 10,000, but he had not the time, for he had a large weekly paper to control, one that was formerly partially supported by the Abolitionists, but they had withheld their support, because the right to vote as well as to talk was advocated in its columns. Colored peo-ple read the Ledger in Philadelphia, the Herald in New York, but they did not sustain their own papers.' [It is hardly necessary to say that Mrs. Stowe, in the disposition of the fund entrusted in her, has acted in accordance with the dictates of her own judgment and conscience. The insinuation that the 'Garissonians' have interfered in the matter with a purpose hostile to the colored people is a mere [unclear] of Mr. Douglass's unscrupulous malice.- Eds. Standard]

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1855.PA-10.16.PHIL