Historical Romance of the American Negro

by Charles Henry Fowler

Joyful Demonstrations Over the Fifteenth Amendment—Processions in all the Cities of the Land—Departure for Louisville, Ky.—The Journey Thither—The River Ohio—Great Celebration—The Week at Louisville—The Return to Buffalo.

My dear, kind reader, as I have already indicated, the eventful year of 1870 had come, and the Fifteenth Amendment had become the law of the land. From Maine to Texas, from the wild Atlantic waves to the Coast of the Pacific Ocean, the entire colored race abandoned themselves to the most unbounded demonstration of joy and delight. I never saw the tide of delight running so high either before or since, as upon this most august occasion. Great mass-meetings, immense processions, music, dancing, religious meetings for sacred song, prayer and praise were the order of the night and of the day. Indeed, there was no outward form of joy and rejoicing that can either be conceived or described, that was not observed upon this glorious occasion. We read in the Book of Esther about the joy of the whole Jewish nation, when they were all saved by the Lord from the wicked plots and schemes of the evil-minded Haman—the Jew's enemy. So great, indeed, was the impression produced upon the heart of God's ancient people that the feast of Purim is still kept up in commemoration of that terrible crisis through which all Israel had to pass. We ourselves—the colored race in America—had had our experiences in times past, as bad or worse than the Israelites of old. It was now five full years since the close of the war; we had had five years of national freedom; slavery here had lost the day; we could now vote like any other race, and therefore the free exercise of the self-same power was placed in our hands; the spring of 1870 was come, when the entire colored race abandoned themselves to singing, dancing and rejoicing in all ways in general; and, indeed, they had good cause and the right to rejoice, for they had waited a long time for it, and their patience had been sorely tried. Justice was long in coming, but it came at last.

In all the larger towns and cities of the United States, both North and South, immense processions were organized and carried out in the greatest and grandest perfection. It struck me as a truly wonderful thing at the time that the Democratic and rebel element that were so rank and strong even in former days in the North did not take mortal offense at such out-and-out demonstrations, carried out with such a high hand before the noon-day sun!

But our people were discreet, and neither said nor did anything purposely to cause any reasonable person to take offense. Of course, they stood upon their rights, and they claimed their rights of way as much as others, but all the same their lawful demonstration of joy and rejoicing went with a most tremendous swing, and nothing was done by anybody to mar the exultation of the grand occasion. So far as the Republicans were concerned, and all the brave old Abolition school, and every one of that ilk, they were well pleased to see the happy consummation of all their labors and toils.

I do not wonder so much that this tremendous colored demonstration passed off without opposition in the North, but what was really surprising was that the processions and other demonstrations of joy in the cities of the South, in honor of the Fifteenth Amendment, should not have brought on opposition, conflicts and riots. In brief, the entire white race, over all the land, submitted to the inevitable; they submitted to the results of the war. Their consciences at least bore witness that neither race nor color, nor previous condition make men nor unmake them; that one man is as much of a man as another in a general sense, and that the colored race had fought for their equal rights, and deserved them, and all seemed now willing to live in peace.

As we heard that a very great demonstration was to be made at Louisville, Ky., in honor of the Fifteenth Amendment, and as my beloved mother, Tom and myself had been longing for a long time past for a sight of the dear old place upon the Kentucky shore, where we had all been born and brought up, we determined to take the girls and go along to the celebration, and Mr. Sutherland also consented to accompany us. He had never been in Kentucky, and so anticipated that it would be a great treat to him.

It was a fine morning in the spring when we took the road for the railway station, and soon we found ourselves all seated in the train. Mr. Sutherland and the girls were in a great way about going to Kentucky, and the girls had so long desired to see it once more. Ever since they awoke in the morning they had been humming and singing "The Old Kentucky Shore!" Nay, they even played it on the piano, and sang to their own accompaniments. Thus the whole house was ringing that early morning with the sounds of music. But to those of us who were older the children's hilarity, music and song brought other thoughts, for we were no longer children. Many dear old slave ditties had been sung about Kentucky, which was a slave State, as the dear reader knows very well. Thousands of fugitives had escaped over the river Ohio, which bounds all her northern line. Indeed, runaway slaves from States further south usually made for this river, and made their escapes into the free States of the North. Even my own dear Tom and I had made our escape over this river, and my own dear mother had been carried down and over its waters on her way to the Sunny South.

IN DANGER OF THE OVERSEER'S LASH.

Thus our feelings that morning were rather conflicting. Mr. Sutherland and the girls seemed best off, for there were no dark shadows in the immediate past to cloud their brows, like mother, Tom and myself. But all clouds passed away sooner or later, and we happily forgot our old-time experiences in the pleasantness of the new day, the bright and warming sunlight, and even the joyous surroundings that were all around about us on our happy way. The girls having bought a couple of bright new picture books from the book-stand at the depot while we were securing our tickets, all things were now in readiness for our departure. We took our seats in a very contented and flowery state of mind at last, and our brave iron horse set out for the open road along the shores of Lake Erie, and soon we had left the city of Buffalo behind us. The dark shadows of the early morning had indeed departed altogether, and our eyes and thoughts were fixed upon the beautiful country as we flew past, and on the shining waters of Lake Erie, till we came to Cleveland, Ohio. Here we left the lake, and switched away towards the southwest of Columbus, the capital of this State. The rest of us had been over this ground before, as the dear reader will remember; but all was new ground to mother and Mr. Sutherland, who now greatly admired the beauties of the State of Ohio, adorned in all the charms of spring, and with all its fine woods and forests arrayed in their new mantle of green, that set off the beauties of the hills and dales in great perfection. And whatever our thoughts and feelings might otherwise have been, on one point we were all united—we were going back to our dear old Kentucky shore, and the city of Louisville, to behold the glorious celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment to the American Constitution, and to such an outpouring of the colored race as had never been seen in Kentucky. That, indeed, made our hearts light; that was joy enough for all.