An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called AfricansChild, Lydia Maria
History
An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans
Child, Lydia Maria
Antislavery movements -- United States; Slavery -- United States
A friend of mine lately wished to have a colored girl admitted into the
stage with her, to take care of her babe. The girl was very lightly
tinged with the sable hue, had handsome Indian features, and very
pleasing manners. It was, however, evident that she was not white;
and therefore the passengers objected to her company. This of course,
produced a good deal of inconvenience on one side, and mortification on
the other. My friend repeated the circumstance to a lady, who, as the
daughter and wife of a clergyman, might be supposed to have imbibed
some liberality. The lady seemed to think the experiment was very
preposterous; but when my friend alluded to the mixed parentage of the
girl, she exclaimed, with generous enthusiasm, "Oh, that alters the
case, _Indians_ certainly _have_ their rights."
Every year a colored gentleman and scholar is becoming less and less
of a rarity--thanks to the existence of the Haytian Republic, and the
increasing liberality of the world! Yet if a person of refinement from
Hayti, Brazil, or other countries, which we deem less enlightened than
our own, should visit us, the very boys of this republic would dog his
footsteps with the vulgar outcry of "Nigger! Nigger!" I have known
this to be done, from no other provocation than the sight of a colored
man with the dress and deportment of a gentleman. Were it not that
republicanism, like Christianity, is often perverted from its true
spirit by the bad passions of mankind, such things as these would make
every honest mind disgusted with the very name of republics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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