M.M. Madden--Reconstruction of the Negro Race (187-)

8/2/2019 M.M. Madden--Reconstruction of the Negro Race (187-)

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RECONSTRUCTIONof the NEGRO RACEBYM. M. MADDEN, Supreme President of theNational Court of Protection, Terre Haute, Ind.

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INTRODUCTION.

1. First, the reconstruction of the ra.ce.

2. Eleven million of people misled for over a half centurywith reference to their citizenship in the U. S.

3. Special representation in Washington, which you areentitled to by virtue of the constitution failing to provide foryour citizenship.

4. The first and second article of the 14th Amendmentstate the object of the amendment but not its completion.

5. The cause of Abraham Lincoln's death.6. Mobilizing the negro for the purpose of petitioning

to the government to create the position for the race to havea representative.

7. For the race to have the intelligence to fill the positionby selecting a man that is qualified for the same.

8. To petition the government to colonize the race andgive us self government, which is wisdoms roots, since the tworaces disagree so far, we do not ask for citizenship but colon-ization. We believe that greater opportunities would presentthemselves.

These are the outlines of Dr. Madden's address to a largeaudience in the fairgrounds at Muskogee, Okla. After thisaddress Dr. Madden received a charter from the state of Okla-homa, to perfect an organization known as the National Courtof


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Reconstruction of the Negro Race.As fast as in fears, nature of regulation will always exist,

when the human family was small, and only consist of twopeople it was not necessary to give ten rules of regulation.You had no need for the Ten Commandments at that time.One charge was sufficient to take care of the situation, Theday in which you eat therefore, you shall surely die. Thattook care of the human family for a long time. But as fast asthe people multiplied so did their sins, and the day did ap-pear when there were ten inferior qualities which existedamong the people, and a rule of regulations provided.

There was a law written upon stone by the hand of nature,and handed down to the human family. That took care of thesituation for a good long time, but as fast as the peoplemultiplied so did their sins. Under that very same method ofsin, the wages of sin became death, and it took the gift of Godto be eternal life, and the rule and regulation provided nograver question than the race question is today confrontingthe American people. The white man's promise to the negrowhen he could vote was just as' munificent as a cross sectionof the Ten Commandments edge with the 'Pilgrims Progress.'But since you have ceased to become a political factor youare today rapidly becoming to realize your real position.Placing your feet upon that new plane of knowledge. In agreat measure you are able to work out what the future holdsin store for you and your off-springs. This is a great raceof ours. Your being in number today (one tenth) of thepopulation of the American people, giving you a population ofeleven million (11,000,000) people with no enterprise, noteven seeking the material, civil, nor moral welfare of thiscountry and of the South in particular. There is not a peo-ple in America, that can disregard this element of our popu-


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tation. Every people in the U. S. is represented with the ex-ception of the negro race. There is a law tree setting in thecenter of this government that was set by George Washing-ton, representing a straight pole in the ground from earthssorrow to heavens glory that meant equal rights to all men.Every time that congress has met since the death of GeorgeWashington and legislated, they have not set another polethey only make an amendment and attach it, which representsa limb on the law tree. Just as many times as Congress hasmet and legislated, since the death of Washington, there arejust that many limbs on the law tree today.

There is a limb going out in favor of every Indian by tribePolish, Slavish, and Hungarian, town incorporations, rail-roads incorporations oil trusts, tea trusts, every thing that isoperated in these U. S. is made mention of on the law treewith the exception of this 11,000,000 negroes. You are notmade mention of on the law tree of which you are living un-der by reason of the fact you have never been represented byanybody. You can go to Washington today or tomorrow, youwill find five big Indians sitting there representing the five bigIndian tribes of this country; a big Jap representing the vi-tality of Japan, a Mexican representing the vitality of Mexicojust as all other nations have given their vitality to theircountry, you will find a man representing that people, con-stantly preparing bills, presenting them to congress; gettinglegislation for his people. You can not find a negro there anywhere, outside of a janitor. Every law that is made in thiscountry is made as an act of congress and if you havent anyone there to prepare a bill and present it to Congress to act on,tell me, how could you hope to get legislation. Is it not truethat there is a certain percent of every man's business that ab-solutely belongs to him.

There is no one going to take care of the obligations of yourhome but you. There is a certain per cent of every race'sbusi-ness that absolutely belongs to them. Anytime you think thatanother race will take up the interest of your race and fosterit before this government, you have overlooked your hand.Fifty-two years should teach you that fact. You never knewan Indian to press the claim of a Chinaman, and you neverknew of a Chinaman pressing the claim of a Jap, and younever knew of a white man who pressed the claim of theNegro. Every race presents its own claim. Then why has the


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standpoint has been advocating some white man's cause, andthis race going to hell swapping ends, drawing on our imagina-tion, telling us that the time will come, that you can take ateaspoon and dip the sea dry; that time will never be. Theyhave told you that the time will come when you will not tella black man from a white man, that time will never come.They have told you that the time would come that God in hisInfinite wisdom would so arrange it that the lamb and theleopard would lay down together. They are laying down to-gether now, but mark you, when the leopard gets up the lambis always IN the leopard.

Every effort that you have ever made to take care of your-selves in this government, rather than relieve the situation,you stronger demonstrate that you are not able or capable ofself government. You have been sending delegates to Wash-ington ever since you have been a free people. You haveno business sending a delegation where you have no represen-tation. You have no one there to send a man to or a set ofmen to. They will go up there and give the bill to some one,they know not who; just as apt to be a janitor as any one else.They will never show you your mistake, you must find yourown mistakes to be able to profit thereby. They will look onthe heading of that bill and see that it is headed with somelittle auxiliary of a church or fraternal order, however it's anindividual affair and does not mean the race.And they will say all right John, we'll take this and takecare of it for you. And it goes on the table, and from on thetable it goes under the table, and from there to the wastebasket and from there in the fire. Then you are ready to saythat your man went up there and sold out, when he had noth-ing on God's earth to sell out but that piece of paper and hecould have sold that to you before he could have sold it to anyone there, because you are always buying something that isworthless. Any man or any set of men that represents this11,000,000 Negroes should be an authorized indignant of thispeople, all over the U. S.When the day comes that you would voice yourselves in onesentiment and let one man's voice be the sentiment of the raceyou will not only attract the attention of this government, butany other government under the sun. You will get anythingthat you ask for that is right, fair and just. I don't want youto ask for more and I


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of the Negro in America. The thirteenth, fourteenth, andfifteenth amendment of the constitution of the U. S. did notcomplete the citizenship of the Negro. The 13th amendmentset him free; the 14th amendment only created a position bywhich he was to become a citizen. Final steps taking advant-age of that amendment to make him a citizen were nevertaken.The 15th amendment guaranteed the right of citizenship.The white man makes the law, he interprets the law, he en-

forces the law, and all that the negro does is abide by the law.This is what should have grown out of the 14th amendmentof the Constitution, all persons of African blood of the vitalityof Africa to the U. S. shall from this day and date be knownas adopted citizens of the U. S. and their ancestors shall beborn bona fide. They shall have all the rights of suffrage andprivileges of citizenship. There shall not be a state in theunion that shall reserve a right to abridge their rights.Due to the fact that we did not have a man authorized bythe race, neither qualified to prepare such a bill and defendthe same before the government, your rights stop right there..You might search this country just as Sodom and Gomiah\vere searched, to see how many Negroes you would find inAmerica that knew the cause of Abe Lincoln's death, and youwould not find as many Negroes in America that knew thecause of that man's death as you found righteous people inthat city. Abe Lincoln, died for the same cause that I am talk-ing to you on tonight. He says, "I must adopt these people ascitizens of the U. S. to protect this government further downthe road. These people are ignorant now but they will notalways be so. They have learned to imitate. They are goingto educate, and in that they will seek the very highest marksof intelligence, you can fool some of the people all the time,and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool allof the people all of the time. These Negroes will understandthat they were enslaved for 228 years upon the ground thatthey were property. After which we have contradicted ourown statement and declared them people. They will under-stand that if they were people then they must have been peopleto start with. They will also understand that it must havebeen an error in the government. They will further under-stand that any government that is not responsible for the sameis incapable of establishing statuatory laws, in that they


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impose military service upon any man who was not a citizen.If we could have imposed military services upon people whetherthey had been citizens or not, without a question that 4,000,-000 Negroes would have had to gone on to war to start with.But it was unconstitutional to start with, was it not also un-constitutional to end with. But simply because it became amilitary necessity, military services were imposed upon that4,000,000 Negroes who had always been counted somethingless than a human. And in plain violation to every law therewas in the world 1,500,000 of these Negroes died on the bat-tle field for the liberty that they today enjoy, this governmentwas responsible for these dead men and the race should havebeen paid for it. But we can adopt them right here as citizensof the U. S. and have them to become a part of the government,and in that they will never reserve a right to issue an in-demnity against it. The white man arose in arms against AbeLincoln and says, "No," We have bought the country beyondthe price of money. We have bought it by blood, every dollarthat we are worth in this country is invested here, either ina business manufacture, or a home industry and to suffer aninvalid people who have had only fifty odd years of civilizationto whose capital does not amount to a dollar, to come in andshare an equal right with us, hold positions over our head thatwould be of such a nature as to govern our home and saywhat we should do with our wealth, why ignorance would bebliss; and it would be folly to be wise. Prosperity has be-come a naught, investment would be wiped out of existencebefore we would suffer such a thing to be, we will kill theman that is advocating such a cause, and that will stop thesituation in its bud.

For that cause they killed Abe Lincoln, then there came asecret organization among the white people, never to let thisNegro know but that he is a citizen. He can not read orwrite. The only way that you can get him to understand isto "get him told." Tell him that he is a citizen and to estab-lish this fact with him, you will have to allow him all of theprivileges of citizenship of a white man. Let him eat andsleep with you for a while It's not going to hurt you. Lethim vote with you for a while. Let him ride on the trainwith you for a while. When you get him thoroughly educatedto the place where he thinks he's a citizen, and will never


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at today?" The worst has not come to you if you do not wakeup to a sense of your duty. Every right that you have in theU. S. is donated to you without a title. Any right that theconstitution does not provide for, you have no protection of thesame. As the case stands today, every state in the union canabridge your rights without violating the constitution of theU. S.

To make this statement more clear I will interpret the Thir-teenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendment of the FederalConstitution, as follows: The 13th Amendment of the Con-stitution says that no slavery shall exist in the Union. Thatsimply prohibits the white man from owning slaves. It alsoprohibits the five civilized tribes of Indians from owningslaves. But when this amendment was enacted there was anIndian in this country known as the "Creek Indian." Theyadopted their slaves. After which that slave is known todayupon the record as an adopted citizen. He became a citizen byvirtue of his adoption.You also had an Indian in this country who refused toadopt their slaves, known as the Chottow Indian, but undercertain acts of the 3rd and 4th articles of the 66th treaty theygave them 40 acres of land which was home. After whichthat slave is known today upon the record as a Chottow freed-man. If the 13th amendment made him a citizen, why is heknown as a Chottow freedman. The white man failed also toadopt his slaves, when the fox of the wood had holes, and thebirds of the air had nests. They turned that Negro loosewithout his adoption and without a place to lay his head. Soyou are known today as American freedman, not one Negroout of 10,000 knows that. I spoke in the Hampton Universityat Marshall, Texas. I asked the professor of that school whatsupported that school. He said, '"The Freedmen Bureaus ofthe North."

I asked him what did the "Freedmen Bureaus" consist of.He said, "An organization of white men appropriating moneyto educate Negro freedmen of the south." I said to him thenyou are known as a freedman "instead of a citizen," are younot. He said to me, "Judge I hadn't thought about that." Wehad a Negro to get in jail in Mexico. He reported to thegovernment of Mexico that he was an American citizen fromKentucky. The Government of Mexico wired to the governorof Kentucky, and told him that there was a negro in jail here,


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any black citizens. You may turn him loose. He is ourFreedman, he thinks he is a citizen." That completes thethirteenth amendment of the Federal Constitution.Do you see anything in that that provides for a Negroe's

citizenship? Now the fourteenth amendment of the FederalConstitution which says, "All persons born or naturalized inthe U. S. shall be a citizen of the same, or in the state whereinhe resides." Born or naturalized, there is a technical pointthat you could not only drop the state of Indiana in but youcould drop the U. S. in it and never find it. The constitutionof the 11. S. readily provides for three classes of citizens. 1stadopted; 2nd bona fide; 3rd an alien. The alien citizen has nolight that the bona fide citizen has a right to respect; and itie impossible for your child to be born bona fide without thenaturalization of their fore-parents. You have two classes ofheirs in the home. One *s an illegitimate and the other is abona fide child. All children that are born to you out of wed-lock are illegitimate, by the reason of the fact the fore-parentsof that child have never complied with the law in adoption andmatrimony.

All that are born to you in wedlock are known as legitimate,which means a bona fide right to your inheritance. Then it isimpossible for your child to be legitimately birthed to youuntil you have met the requirement of the law. On the otherhand for citizenship, if the Negro race had been adopted citi-zens into the U. S. when they were declared people instead ofproperty you would have been born a bona fide citizen to thiscountry by virtue of your fore-parents adoption.

But as they were never adopted and your interest has al-ways been neglected, it brought you illegitimate by birth inthe U. S., known as an alien by birth. So that completes thefourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. Do yousee anything in that that provides for a Negroe's citizenship?Remember that this did not become a U. S. until the south hadsurrendered to the North.

Then the two governments had become united, (which wasknown as the U. S.) Prior to that time this was known asAmerica, or the New England states. There vas no law pro-vided for allegiance in this country until the 14th Amendmentwas enacted. So the 14th Amendment provides for all races

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marrying any one thate. You can not complete your workthere. So generations are only stepping stones into an educa-tion. White people have had 5,000 years to become what theyare, and are making improvements all the time.You have only had fifty years, so you can only hope to getyour experience as the years come and go. Ignorance is nota fault, but rather an affliction. So this race is badly afflicted,yet by virtue of its short coming. Now getting back to whatthe race has got to ask for, you have more to ask for than anypeople under the sun, and you are asking for less. Is it nottrue from history that this country is made up from the vi-tality of other countries. Every man or woman who hascome to this country has come of his own free will, theirown knowledge and consent.

Did the Negro come that way? The question answers it-self, "NO!" You are the only people that have been capturedin your own country and then forced to come to this country;after which they have forced you to clear the forest; driveback the great beast, built the railroads; make the bread andpay for the college education of the white man. And what didyou ever get for it, the meanest name, the cruelest treatment,that hell itself could devise, has been poured out upon youwithout being mixed with the least degree of mercy. If youhad voluntarily left your home and country and come to


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is responsible for your home. Every man with a teaspoonfullof sense would say "Yes." The reason why you have not gotit is, you have never ask for it. If Negro organization wouldhave stood for anything we would have been in a home longago. The government is ready and willing to comply withsuch a request; but you must come through the proper channel,and that is through a representative in Washington. That isnot all that you have to ask for. You have served the coun-try 228 years, without compensation, upon the ground thatyou were property, instead of people after which they con-tradicted their own statement and declared you people insteadof property. If you were people then were you not people tostart with? The question answers itself, "Yes." Then whomade the error. It was the government beyond all question.Any government that is not responsible for the same is in-capable of establishing statutory laws. Then if this govern-ment is a worthy object of making its own laws, without aquestion, they are subject to indemnity to this people for 228years of servitude. The reason why you never got anything is,you never ask for it. A thing that is not worth asking for,is not worth having.

That is not all you have to ask for, at the beginning of thelate rebellion of this country, it was unconstitutional to imposemilitary service upon any man who was not a citizen. If theycould have imposed military services upon people whether theyhad been citizens or not, that 4,000,000 of Negroes would havehad to have gone into war to start with. The other fellowwould have stayed at* home.

But it was unconstitutional and they could not do that.Then if it was unconstitutional to start with, was it not alsoto end with. But simply because it became a military neces-sity, military services were imposed upon that 4,000,000 ofNegroes, that had always been counted something less thanhuman. One million and a half of your fathers have perishedon the battle fields of this country in plain violation to everylaw that there was on earth. This government was responsiblefor those men's lives and this race should have been paid forthem. And the reason why you were never paid you neverask for anything. I hope that you may see into this that,Negro organizations are not standing for anything. That isnot all that you have got to ask for, and I hope you will mark


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DR. MADDEN,Who will represent the Negro Race at Washington,


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an application to this government to colonize you to yours-elves.

Chickens and gardens are not healthy together. A lamband a leopard will never socially communicate together,spiders and flies never build their dens together. Water andoil will not agree. Vinegar and soda will never quietly andpeacefully mix. Neither will you ever harmonize the racequestion with the two races together.

If God almighty ever su


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pier, life will be worth living, and the world at large will bebetter. Is that any reason why this race should be colonized,any fair minded person would say "yes."2nd Reason. That is not the only reason, the next reasonis, we do not believe that the white man's literature willever give the black man a complete education. It will openthe eyes of the white man, and blindfold the Negro. I do notmean to say that it will not give you some advantage. Any-thing that is subject to criticism is not complete. The spiritof the literature teaches that your color is a curse, and thateverything in heaven is white, and if you are ever to get thereyou will have to go to your grave or somewhere else and turnwhite. They forget to tell you that there is a rainbow thatencircles this element, that consists of seven colors. And Godhas just as much glory in one color of that rainbow as he hasin another, because it is all a part of his creation. And if Ithought I would have to go to my grave or somewhere else andturn white before I would be a fit subject for my father's King-dom after being a part of his creation, I would by far rathergo to a devil's hell, yes a thousand times than to see such a-God as that. But there is not a word of that true. There wasa man that spoke through inspiration a little better than sixthousand years ago. He knew nothing of this* literature. Hesays, "You shall know each other in heaven even as you areknown on earth." I know my brother on earth is a black man,then to see him in heaven as a white man, would I have anyreason to know him. And what does that make of the litera-ture that you are teaching the children, as fast as they becomeadvanced in the literature of this country, teaching thesuperiority of the white man and the inferiority of the blackman, it only suffers your grievances to go up and over shadowyour opportunity.The past rises before me. I see my dear old mother comingright up out of servitude, uneducated as they might have been,unfortunate as it might have been for my race of people, butthat dear old mother understood from an animal instinct thatit was her duty to move the little children on their career oflife a little better than the producer was. In that I see thatdear old mother standing over the wash tub from early in themorning until late at night. Standing over the ironing boarduntil she fell asleep. I saw her as she wades through the


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man, she also learns that her father and brothers are of aworthless race, and in that she would rather be a white man'swoman than a Negro man's wife. The time has not got tocome but is here now that an undoubted loyalty should be de-manded of every Negro in America, both inside and outsideof fraternalism. The elevation of every people on earth de-pends upon the credit of your women.Then if your women don't amount to anything your racedon't amount to anything. Is that any reason why these tworaces should be separated. Any fair minded man would say"yes."

SUBJECT OF ORGANIZATION.Every people in the U. S. are organized with the exception

of the Negro, and you have organized, and organized, and or-ganized until you are discouraged. Thirty-three secret or-ganizations are hanging on the walls of this country today, andevery one of them claim to be a iDower in Europe, Africa, andAustralia. You may be a power I am not in a position to sayyou are not, but I am in a position to say this, "If you are apower you are not standing for anything." In the last 42years that you have been catering to those worthless thingshanging on walls of this country, you have lost everything thata race would loose. You have lost your recognition as a man;you have lost your redress to court; you have lost your seat intrains and in waiting rooms; you have lost your road to theballot box; you have lost protection to yourselves, your familyand your property. If you live in the world from now untilGod Almighty bid you dust to rise, you have all to win andnothing to loose. Is that any evidence that you are carryingdead men's bones.

Thirty-three secret organizations only have a tendency toput you farther apart. Take a stick the size of your finger,you can break it with all the ease in the world, but bind ascore of them together, can you break them? No, you can-not. It is even so with us as a race. You can break one man,however great he may be, but it is impossible to break a greatrace of 11,000,00 of people co-operated together for the up-building of laws and justice. That co-operated unity, thatconcerted action is necessary for all the people who wouldseek the light of better days. Is that any reason why this


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murdering that without the law, without jury and withoutjudge. I see his own fellow men going on disinterested, "Ihaven't anything to do with that he couldn't give me anyPythian sign." I see another one hanging to a limb, with 500bullet holes through his body, his tongue hanging below hischin, his eyeballs laying out on his checks, and his own fellowmen going on seemingly disinterested. "I haven't got anythingto do with that. He could not give me any Odd Fellows sign."

I see another one tied to a stake with fifty gallons of coaloil poured on him, the blaze going fifty feet above the man'shead, and the groans going up to God that cannot be uttered.The earth has opened up its mouth and swallowed the man'sblood as a testimony against civilization, and I see these samemen saying, "I haven't anything to do with that. He couldnot give me the Masonic sign." What kind of a sign can adead man give more than a dead man's sign. Before you willever be a race of people on this earth that will amount to thesnap of your finger, you have got to come to this one particu-lar place in life, whenever one Negro man or woman is mis-treated let every drop of Negro blood be insulted. Everythingon earth ought to stand for something. If you are a man ofa family and the father of a home stand for that, be just asgood a father, just as good a husband, just as good a providerfor that home as any other man can be, then your wife will nothave to quit you to try another one. If you are a minister ofthe Gospel stand for that by going right down into the factsof God's eternal truths, and bringing up things both old andnew. Analyze them to the world, and feed the people of God.How many ministers have you got out in the world today thatcan not say enough about the Kingdom of Heaven to induceyou to want to go there. They can not say enough about theLord Jesus Christ to induce you to love Him, yet they arepreachers. They are not standing for anything, they arenothing more or less than professional bums.

If you are a farmer then stand for that, let your professionvouch for your living. Don't tell me you are a farmer thenevery spring wear out a sack under your arm hunting for seedpotatoes. You are out there in a farmers way, but you are notstanding for anything. Now what does your organizationstand for, one says I am going to be a Pythian. "What do youwant to be a Pythian for John?" Answer, "All these railroad


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don't hang Odd Fellows." Right then he has some one pickedout that he is going to shoot, and that is what he stands for.Another says "I want to be a Mason," and he is ask why, andhis answer is why if you are a Mason a white man will shakehands with you any place in the world. Then all he standslor is shaking hands with a white man. Not long ago I wasin California and I saw some little white boys going fishing,they entertained that same ambition that all white people en-tertain they threw in a nickle a piece and hired a Negro boyto go along and wait on the crowd. The Negro boy put hisbait in a small can, stuck it in his pocket and away they wentto the river. He was going along giving all of the boys bait.Near by there was a log that stuck out into the river at oneend of this log the water was possibly eight feet deep the lit-tle Negro was running in and out on this log, and he wentto the end of this log to make his turn, his foot slipped andhe went head foremost into the river. His little white com-panions saw him go down, he threw off his coat and cap andinto the water he went, he came up swimming with one handand the Negro boy in the other. It was not long until he wasall right but one of the other white boys called Jake and says,''I did not think that there was a white boy on earth thatthought that much of a Negro boy; suppose you had ofdrowned that water was eight feet deep." He then said I don'twant to play with you any more. Jack scratched his head andfrowned then explained, "That was not it, he had the bait."So when ever you see a white man shaking hands with aNegro, whenever you see a white man buggy riding a Negro,whenever you see a white man going arm and arm with aNegro, that is a another Negro that has got the bait. He hassurely got something that that white man wants. You havegot to stand for something. Congress has got to create theposition for you to have the representation there. Such aposition has never been created yet by the U. S. government.But 11,00,000 of people can get any law created that theywant that is right and fair, whenever you take the sufficientendorsement as much as 12 men out of every state in theUnion, twelve men out of every state means 576 men wouldconsist of your cabinet and go with you to Washington. Seatthat body of men before congress and President, they get upand make your: "Honored President of the U. S. and worthyCongress of America, I represent this body of men. They


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American Congress Hall to vouch for the interest of the race.We have an interest in this government that must be takencare of and can only be cared for by representation..The same being the hinges by which hang the right of allthe people. We could not hope to be taken care of any otherway. We also understand that such legislation must bethrough the recommendations of the President to congress, sowe pray that the President would recommend Congress tocreate such a position. I am today solely at your mercies."The President seeing that you have come with the proper en-dorsements will recommend Congress to create such a positionand they will create the position by a unanimous vote. Thenyou get two rooms in the lobby of the White House with allthe other lobbyist of the nation. Then when you get ready tosend your delegates to Washington you have some one to sendthem to and they will not be so liable to give that bill to' ajanitor. Then you can prepare a bill and present it to Cong-ress recommending that some thinly populated part of the U.S. be set apart as a reservation for the Negro and condemnedas a colony. The government appraised negro propertythroughout the Union and pay for it. After which negro prop-erty becomes property of the government. It would naturallybring in return the same money it would require to condemnit. Move them all to this new colony where they would re-serve a right to make their own laws by treaty with the U. S.At the same time he takes an oath of allegience to protect theconstitutional laws of the U. S. When the U. S. flag is insultedthe negro is insulted, he becomes a factor in the powers ofwar. Then the two races would spread forth the emblems ofeternal peace, and be friends forever. That is the only solu-tion under the sun for the race question. I would like to callattention to something that happened in the mail departmentin Washington. They separated the white from the coloredin the mail department. The colored people partitionedagainst it and sen* a delegation before the President Wilson.Mr. Trotter the editor of a Boston paper, was the speaker ofthe delegation and when Mr. Trotter told the President thatall he was asking for was the rights of a bona fide citizen thePresident became highly insulted and ignored Mr. Trottercompletely. The President told Mr. Trotter that he had losthis head and that he would not hear him any further. Healso turned to the delegation and said, "If you ever have any


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the progress that you are making, but the thing that is to besought by you people from this government is a complete in-dependence of the white people. The white people are will-ing to do anything possible to assist you. What more couldMr. Wilson have said, he simply meant for you to get to your-selves and transact your own business, so all Negroes who wantto be Negro leaders should get into this movement and playthe part of Moses and Aaron, and if you die on the way Godwill prepare another Caleb and Joshua.The race is suffering today from the want of a leader. TheNegroes that you call leaders today are followers. Thepreacher never gets to a place until you all get there. TheDoctor never goes until you all get there, the lawyer nevergoes until you all get there, all that I have made mention ofare following you, so now where is your leader?The race has been trying to colonize ever since it has beenfree, by setting up the lower parts of the city which is called"Negro quarters." In many parts of Oklahoma you have ex-clusive Negro towns especially Boley, Oklahoma, a town withinhabitants of 3,000 negroes. They have their own banksand stores, and out of the 3,000 negroes there was not onequalified to vote. They call that colonization, but I wouldcall it "Bunching up." I will take time to explain to you thedifference between colonization and segregation. Segregationmeans for the Negro to eat in the kitchen, and the white manin the dining room; it also means that you must ride togetheron the train or walk.

Colonization means that a certain portion of the country isset aside for you, and each one of you have a certain portionof land, each one of you draw a certain proportion from thegovernment. If the Negro had known what colonizationwas every one of them would be in a colony today. The whitepeople highly favor this movement and the act is plausible.And without a question any negro who expects to make a liv-ing with his hands and be the support of his family will favorthis movement. While this is a public talk I am making, andif you desire to know the further details of this movement,we would ask you to come and cast your lot with the Nationalcourt of protection, and if there is anything written in thisbook that you do not understand I will be glad if you will calland see me for further satisfaction.


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ahead of you; so what star of hope can you see rising overthe pathway of that weary footman of color. But I am hereto tell you that a new morning star has risen, a brighter dayis dawning. God Almighty has always prepared a man for theday, and a man for the hour. When women were packingmortar on the walls in Egypt, little infant babies were tiedto their mothers back as she was following the ox through thefield, the groans of that people went up to God that could notbe uttered and troubled the Master on the throne. And Godcame down in the image of fire and halted Moses on the moun-tain and said, "Moses take off thy shoes for the ground whichyou stand on is holy." I have a holy communication to makewith you, the groans of my people have come up before me, Iwant you to go down into the land of Egypt and tell Mr.Pharoah if he cannot use my people to a good advantage thatI have a land prepared for them. One man lead the childrenof Israel to victory. I look down the line of life a little nearer,I saw 4,000,000 of people sold at the poles and whipped at thepost, little infant babies pulled from their mother's breastand sold to foreign emigration. In that I see all that fondrelation of mother and father, brother and sister buried be-neath the feet of mighty. All that was done here under thisbeautiful flag of the free. I saw those dear old people hover-ing in the back yards of their masters covering their headsto keep from being heard, yet they were praying to a Godthat was millions of miles away, but God Almighty heard theirprayers and sent us another Moses in the person of AbrahamLincoln. At one stroke ot a goose quill he liberated 4,000,000of people. No wonder John the Revelator said, "I saw a newheaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earthhad passed away." Any time there are 4,000,000 souls leap-ing for joy if that is not heaven where are you going to findit, since the Kingdom of God is in the hearts of men. I lookdown the line of life a little nearer, I see 11,000,000 of peoplewho have fought in every war that this nation has ever hadhas been a factor in the power that has won every victory thatthis government has ever ask for. This same government thatwe fought, bled and died for has left us unprotected to our-selves, our families and our property. But God Almigthy hasalways prepared a man for the day and the hour. The darkesthours of your life are just before day, a new morning star hasrisen, a brighter day is dawning.


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thirst." The answer came back, "Cast down your bucketwhere you are." The third and fourth signal for water wasanswered, "Cast down your bucket where you are." At lastthe captain of that distressed vessel heeded the instructionand cast down his bucket, and to his great surprise it came upfull of fresh sparkling water right from the mouth of theAmazon river. To those of my race who depend upon better-ing your condition in a foreign land, or who under estimatethe importance of cultivating that friendly relation of thewhite man, which is your next door neighbor, I would say,"Cast down your bucket where you are," cast it down in mak-ing friends, in every manly way of the people of all raceswhom you are surrounded. Cast it down in agriculture, castit down in commerce, cast it down in domestic services, and inprofession. The greatest danger is in that great leap fromslavery to freedom, you may overlook the fact that the massesof us are to live from the production of our hands. You failto keep in mind that you shall prosper in proportion as youlearn to dignify and glorify common labor. You shall prosperin proportion as you learn to draw that line between the super-fluous and the substantial, the original gulgo of life as well asthe useful. No race can prosper until it learns that there isas much dignity in tilling a field as there is in writing a poem.It is at the bottom of life where you must begin, and not atthe top. Neither should you permit your grievance to over-shadow your opportunities. We who think, and understandthat the agitation of questions of social equality is of extrem-ist folly all the blessings and all of the privileges that wouldcome to you must be the result of constant and severe strug-gles, rather than artificial forces. No race can have anythingto contribute to the markets of this world as long as in anydegree ostracized. It is right and fair that all of the privilegesof the law be ours. It is vastly more important that you areprepared for the exercise of these privileges. So an oppor-tunity to earn a dollar just now in a factory is worth infinate-ly more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in a operahouse. That being true let us put forth our best efforts in theforest and fields, in mines, and in factories, and much goodwill come. Yes far above and beyond that material benefitwill be that higher good. Then when you have done all thathas been assigned to your hands to do, let the praying part ofour people pray that God will come in the blotting out of the


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your differences you will need in a large measure in the yearsthat are to come the help, the encouragement, the guidancethat the strong can give the weak, so it is very necessary thatwe all are bound together in that great fraternal world inorder that we might assist each other and soon throw off theshackles of racial prejudice and hatred and rise as it is risenour beloved country, above the clouds of ignorance, narrow-ness, and selfishness unto that atmosphere, into that puresunshine where it would be your highest ambition to serveman our brother, regardless to race, color, or previous con-ditions.Now if you will be faithful over these few things which areeasy to believe, some day you shall be transported into thatregion that is more vast where you shall be face to face, thefulfillment of task, a thousand times greater than you everwitnessed in this life.

Your present life and its requirements are only steppingstones into vast temples where you shall see the spring of allpowers, that center of all good, that fountain head of all glory.


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Documents

M.M. Madden--Reconstruction of the Negro Race (187-)