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
It has been shown that no other people on earth indulge so strong a
prejudice with regard to color, as we do. It is urged that negroes are
civilly treated in England, because their numbers are so few. I could
never discover any great force in this argument. Colored people are
certainly not sufficiently rare in that country to be regarded as a
great show, like a giraffe, or a Sandwich Island king; and on the other
hand, it would seem natural that those who were more accustomed to the
sight of dark faces would find their aversion diminished, rather than
increased.
The absence of prejudice in the Portuguese and Spanish settlements is
accounted for, by saying that the white people are very little superior
to the negroes in knowledge and refinement. But Doctor Walsh's book
certainly gives us no reason to think meanly of the Brazilians; and it
has been my good fortune to be acquainted with many highly intelligent
South Americans, who were divested of this prejudice, and much surprised
at its existence here.
If the South Americans are really in such a low state as the argument
implies, it is a still greater disgrace to us to be outdone in
liberality and consistent republicanism by men so much less enlightened
than ourselves.
Pride will doubtless hold out with strength and adroitness against the
besiegers of its fortress; but it is an obvious truth that the condition
of the world is rapidly improving, and that our laws and customs must
change with it.
Neither ancient nor modern history furnishes a page more glorious than
the last twenty years in England; for at every step, free principles,
after a long and arduous struggle, have conquered selfishness and
tyranny. Almost all great evils are resisted by individuals who directly
suffer injustice or inconvenience from them; but it is a peculiar beauty
of the abolition cause that its defenders enter the lists against
wealth, and power, and talent, not to defend their own rights, but to
protect weak and injured neighbors, who are not allowed to speak for
themselves.
Those who become interested in a cause laboring so heavily under the
pressure of present unpopularity, must expect to be assailed by every
form of bitterness and sophistry. At times, discouraged and heart-sick,
they will perhaps begin to doubt whether there are in reality any
unalterable principles of right and wrong. But let them cast aside
the fear of man, and keep their minds fixed on a few of the simple,
unchangeable laws of God, and they will certainly receive strength to
contend with the adversary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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