Letters and Discussions on the Formation of Colored Regiments,: and the Duty of the Colored People in Regard to the Great Slaveholders' Rebellion, in the United States of America — John Shaqi
Letters and Discussions on the Formation of Colored Regiments,: and the Duty of the Colored People in Regard to the Great Slaveholders' Rebellion, in the United States of AmericaGreen, Alfred M.
History
Letters and Discussions on the Formation of Colored Regiments,: and the Duty of the Colored People in Regard to the Great Slaveholders' Rebellion, in the United States of America
Green, Alfred M.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Participation, African American
I am told the object of the exhibitors at the Great Exhibition in London,
the World’s Fair, in 1851, was to make themselves felt by the exhibition
of their great advancement in Art and Science; the object of those
nations contributing their quota by invitation, was the same. The Fair
was, we are told, a complete success. That should satisfy us, that the
cultivation of peace, of arts and science, will go equally as far as an
unsuccessful war, to produce that high respect we are advised to fight
for. I, for one, am satisfied that other means of making ourselves felt,
at less sacrifice of existence and more beneficial to the desired end,
than wielding the sword, can be found. That impression that awards us
credit, and challenges not only competition as equals, but commands that
respect which an array or force of arms, situated as we are, can never
force upon this or any nation whose interests are immediately identified
with the institution of slavery—and the safety of that depending to an
extent upon the crushing despotism and deprivations visited upon those
dangerous to its progress or stability—is what we want to make ourselves
felt. No unarmed, ununiformed masses of colored men, parading through
the streets, will ever produce or tend to produce such impression.
Mr. G. takes this stand: (I give his own language, word for word, as
follows:) “Now I maintain that, for all practical purposes, whatever
be the turn of the war, preparation on our part, by the most efficient
knowledge of military art and discipline, is one of the most positive
demands of the times.”
As an off-set to that position, I here take my stand: That the
encouragement of every pursuit of industry and education, aside from war
matters, are deserving and should (more especially at this time while the
usurpers of our rights and liberties are engaged in desperate conflict)
meet our most vigorous and undivided cöoperation! That that policy,
adopted, realized, and perfected, alone can produce the requisite means
to establish our claim to the respect we need; to open the many avenues
of wealth, prominence, political and civil equality, without which, no
display of military drill, of hordes of unarmed or armed men, ignorant of
every other necessary qualification as serviceable citizens, will command.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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