Gentlemen of the Abolition Society, those who see the
American citizens of African descent one hundred years hence will be
proud of them, and convinced that the great century struggle that won
their enfranchisement was worth infinitely more than it cost. We are now
leaving politics. We have gained through them the rights and
opportunities they conferred, that could be secured in no other way. We
are devoting ourselves to learning and industry; the attainment of
wealth and manufacture of character. We shall never leave our home.
There are but two facts to be recognized. We are here. The white race is
here. Both share the same rights; make and obey the same laws; struggle
for progress under the same conditions. The logical conclusion of our
birthright and of our proclaimed and perfected equality before the law
is that we shall remain, and remaining strive with equal advantages with
our white fellow citizens for our own good and the nation's welfare.

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY[12]

BY MRS. FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER

FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER _was a distinguished anti-slavery lecturer,
writer and poet, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1825, of free parents.
After the close of the Civil War she went South and worked as a teacher
and lecturer, but later returned to Philadelphia, where she devoted her
time to lecturing and writing for the temperance cause, having charge,
for a number of years, of the W. C. T. U. work among Negroes. "Iola
Leroy, or the Shadows Uplifted," is her best-known work, besides which
she published a number of small books of verses._

[Note 12: Philadelphia, Wednesday, April 14, 1875.]

_Ladies and Gentlemen:_

The great problem to be solved by the American people, if I understand
it, is this: Whether or not there is strength enough in democracy,
virtue enough in our civilization, and power enough in our religion to
have mercy and deal justly with four millions of people but lately
translated from the old oligarchy of slavery to the new commonwealth of
freedom; and upon the right solution of this question depends in a large
measure the future strength, progress, and durability of our nation. The
most important question before us colored people is not simply what the
Democratic party may do against us or the Republican party do for us;
but what are we going to do for ourselves? What shall we do to