ation day in which they should discuss among themselves their
condition and their hopes. Among the speeches was an address, some
parts of which are given below. The Secretary of the Association, who
happened to be present, was greatly interested both in the sentiments
and in the way in which they were put, and he thinks our readers will
be likewise interested.

We have assembled to-day to commemorate that event in American history
which brought freedom to the slave; to celebrate a day upon which the
negro was lifted from the darkest depths of human servitude to a
sphere of liberty and life. How dark must have been the times when no
Bibles were read around our family fireside, when few words comforted
the sick and no befitting funeral services were observed for the dead.
We cannot look to the heights which we as a race represent nor can we
rightly consider our place in American life and thought without
reflecting upon the depths from which we have come and upon those who
assisted in making possible for us such large opportunities. We gladly
bow in homage to those noble hearted men and women who sympathized
with us and so lavishly poured out their earnings and sacrificed their
lives for the dawn of a day whose sun will never set. Blessed be the
memory of those who persevered amid prejudice in presenting testimony
against prevailing wrongs and in giving us of their deepest
convictions....

Paramount to all questions extending almost throughout our extensive
domain, is the so-called "negro question." This question has been much
discussed and poorly settled. Because in a few years the negro as a
whole has not become learned, does not possess streets of magnificent
and commodious buildings, has not presidents of railroad corporations
and banking interests, because he has not worked his way to the
highest office in the gift of his people, it is often said that he
cannot embrace American civilization and is entitled to no share in
his country's greatness and protection. Some of our own people have
been made to believe such contention and have begun to consider our
cause a hopeless one.

We know that the place demanded is the place to be earned only by
diligent application and persistent effort.

That we have been true to our country and loyal to its interests is
indisputable. We may point with pride to Attucks, a full blooded
negro, who stepped upon Boston Common and became one of the first
martyrs to die to maintain again