Speaker or author: Francis, Abner H.
Newspaper or publication: North Star
Eulogy for John Quincy Adams stressing the high points and low points of his career. The speaker compared the state of the country to the Roman Empire in its last days.
Description of file(s): PDF 19 page, 4,143 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Green, Alfred M..
Newspaper or publication: Presscopy -- Foner and Walker, Eds. -- Proceedings of the Black State Conventions 1840-1865, (1979) Vol. 1, pp. 139-166
Eloquent, rational, and meaningful speech delivered before the Convention of the Colored People of Pennsylvania expressing a legal argument for civil rights. The speaker asked that African Americans be given their civil rights, be allowed to vote, hold jobs equal to those of the white population, and be given the opportunity to prove themselves worthy citizens of the U.S.
Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 480 word document (text and image)
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Title: Anglo-African - December 23, 1865
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Anglo-African (1863 - 1865)
The writer comments on the proceedings of the first session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress. Debate about laws and civil rights for the newly freed slaves after Reconstruction made this session an important one.
Description of file(s): two scanned newspaper pages (three columns)
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Title: Anglo-African - November 11, 1865
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Anglo-African (1863 - 1865)
The writer offers his views regarding the current governmental ideas on Reconstruction after the Civil War. He tells his readers that he speaks for all African Americans in saying that the country should work towards ensuring freedom for all and providing all American people with the rights of citizenship regardless of color.
Description of file(s): two scanned newspaper pages (three columns)
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Title: Anglo-African - October 7, 1865
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Anglo-African (1863 - 1865)
The writer expresses the fears that permeate African American communities that the white slaveholders will demand a return to the system of slavery, and be granted this by the government. The majority of African Americans, however, are determined to resist and not allow this to happen without a fight.
Description of file(s): two scanned newspaper pages (three columns) (blank sections throughout)
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Title: Anglo-African - September 3, 1865
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Anglo-African (1863 - 1865)
The writer offers an overview of the situation in the British West Indies after emancipation. Although the feared violence never manifested, the growing tension between the newly freed slaves and former slave-owners was more pronounced than previously believed.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
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Title: Anglo-African - September 3, 1865
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Anglo-African (1863 - 1865)
The writer responds to a note published in another newspaper saying that free African Americans will not be content to rank themselves among those newly freed slaves who that author believes do not yet have the "rudiments of civilization."
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
Speaker or author: Augustus William Hanson
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
Rambling speech regarding the inherent rights of human beings in a free society regardless of race.
Description of file(s): PDF 13 page, 3,785 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Steward, Austin
Newspaper or publication: Presscopy -- Onondaga County Public Library [Coles, Howard W., The Cradle of Freedom, (1941), pp. 23-26]
At the termination of slavery in the U.S., the speaker reflected on what had been an accepted economic mainstay in the system of slavery and what potential for change was now available for all U.S. citizens. He urged his audience to take advantage of the opportunity to prosper by adopting a Christian lifestyle, avoiding "hard spirits," and focusing on civil rights.
Description of file(s): PDF 10 page, 2,307 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Stewart, Austin, fl. 1840
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
Speech given at the opening of the Albany Convention with emphasis placed on the political and civil rights of free people of color.
Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 466 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Stewart, Austin, fl. 1840
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
Speech given during a convention held to adopt measures to ensure the franchisement of the free people of color in the free states. Attendees were encouraged to exercise their rights even if they didn't succeed in order to continue the struggle toward total political and social freedom.
Description of file(s): PDF 3 page, 791 word document (text and images)
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Title: Black Republican - April 15, 1865
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Black Republican (1865)
The editor discusses the right of suffrage and a recent government petition regarding this signed by five thousand African Americans.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
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Title: Black Republican - April 22, 1865
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Black Republican (1865)
The writer discusses two candidates who are running for Governor and Lieutenant Governor in Rhode Island, a state that offers African Americans the right to vote.
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page
Speaker or author: Ray, Charles B. (Charles Bennett), 1807-1886
Newspaper or publication: National Anti-Slavery Standard
Speech against the idea and goals of the American Colonization Society.
Description of file(s): PDF 5 page, 1,464 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: National Anti-Slavery Standard
This speech is a continuation of a previous speech (not included). Speech addresses the wording of the Constitution in that it does not include provisions for slavery. Also addressed are issues regarding women's rights and inequality based on race and sex.
Description of file(s): PDF 5 page, 1,309 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Brief speech in which the speaker expressed his belief that emancipation had failed. He believed that new states entering the Union should do so only on "...the basis of free suffrage, free religion and free social and civil rights."
Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 167 word document (text and image)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Speech given in a public meeting which included debate among several abolitionists regarding the current state of abolition and emancipation. Emphasis is placed on the role of government and a comparison is made with the progress of abolition in other countries.
Description of file(s): PDF 11 page, 2,920 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Speech given in Limmerick, Ireland regarding the injustice of slavery, in order to elicit support for abolition and emancipation of slaves in the U.S.
Description of file(s): PDF 4 page, 1,088 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
Speech delivered denouncing the legal decision made by Judge Taney. The speaker encouraged his audience to adopt the motto, "No Union with Slaveholders." He said he would rather see the union divided than to give up the fight for freedom and the cause of human liberty.
Description of file(s): PDF 4 page, 960 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Liberator
The speaker denounced the "Two Years' Amendment" that Massachusetts had established. The amendment stated that immigrants must wait two years before they can vote. The speaker emphasized that while the Democratic Party had compared this with the fact that black citizens could vote after one year, both of these stipulations were prejudicial.
Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 239 word document (text and image)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Anti-Slavery Bugle
The speaker's topic was "Prejudice against Color." He emphasized that he had not experienced prejudice during his travels in Europe, but had encountered it only in the U.S. He believed prejudice to be "unnatural" and that a human being should be recognized for his character and moral worth instead of the color of his skin.
Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 334 word document (text and images)
Speaker or author: Remond, Charles Lenox, 1810-1873
Newspaper or publication: Legion of Liberty and Force of Truth
Speech given in Dublin regarding the irony of slavery in a country (America) which stresses freedom and equality above all else. Emphasis is placed on the hopeless and helpless condition of every slave living in the U.S.
Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 454 word document (text and images)
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Title: Colored American - April 15, 1837
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
The writer apologizes for the crowd of protestors who gathered around and near the trial of fugitive slaves held earlier that week. He admonishes the protestors and askes them to cease such actions. But he also offers his contempt for the men who would hunt and capture those who they call "fugitives."
Description of file(s): one scanned, one columned, newspaper page
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Title: Colored American - April 19, 1838
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
The writer stresses the benefits of civil rights. While they live in a racially restricted society, most African Americans in New York are not taking advantage of the civil rights they do have. He also stresses the benefits of farming and owning land.
Description of file(s): one scanned, one columned, newspaper page
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Title: Colored American - April 22, 1837
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Colored American (1837 - 1842)
The writer gives an account of the experience of a black American minister who was refused passage from Europe to the U.S. on an American ship. He was forced to travel to his home country aboard a British ship.
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page