me of William Lloyd Garrison will
live.

Those who would honor Garrison and perpetuate his memory and his fame
must meet the problems that confront them with the same courage and in
the same uncompromising spirit that Garrison met the burning questions
of the day. Those who would honor Garrison in one breath, while
compromising our manhood and advocating the surrender of our political
rights in another, not only dishonor his memory, not only trample the
flag of our country with violent and unholy feet, but they spit upon the
grave which holds the sacred dust of this chiefest of the apostles of
freedom.

The status of the Negro in this country was not settled by emancipation;
the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, which it was confidently
believed would clothe him forever with political influence and power, is
more bitterly opposed to-day than it was a quarter of a century ago.
The place which the Negro is to occupy is still a vital and burning
question. The newspaper press and magazines are full of it; literature
veils its discussion of the theme under the guise of romance; political
campaigns are waged with this question as a paramount issue; it is
written into the national platform of great political parties; it tinges
legislation; it has invaded the domain of dramatic art, until to-day, it
is enacted upon the stage; philanthropy, scholarship, and religion are,
each from their point of view, more industriously engaged in its
solution than they have been in any previous generation. If the life and
labors of Garrison, and the illustrious men and women who stood with
him, have a message for the present, we should seek to interpret its
meaning and lay the lesson to heart.

The scenes have shifted, but the stage is the same; the leading
characters have not changed. We still have with us powerful influences
trying to keep the Negro down by unjust and humiliating legislation and
degrading treatment; while on the other hand, the Negro and his friends
are still contending for the same privileges and opportunities that are
freely accorded to other citizens whose skins do not happen to be black.
We, of this nation, are slow to learn the lessons taught by history; the
passions which feed on prejudice and tyranny can neither be mollified
nor checked by subjection, surrender, or compromise. Self-appointed
representatives of the Negro, his enemies and his would-be friends, are
pointing to many diverse paths, each claiming that t