[1] This appeared in The Vicksburg Commercial Daily Advertiser, May 6, 1879.
REMARKS ON THIS EXODUS BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS[1]
Washington, May 6.
Fred. Douglass, marshal of the District, is out in a very strong letter, published in the National View, the new Greenback organ here, vigorously opposing the emigration of Negroes from the South. He earnestly advises the colored men to remain at home.
The letter has caused a good deal of annoyance among the leading Republicans, who have been vigorously working up this movement, believing that it was a godsend to them and would be a strong issue in future campaigns.
Fred. Douglass winds up his letter as follows:
"I am opposed to this exodus, because it is an untimely concession to the idea that white people and colored people cannot live together in peace and prosperity unless the whites are a majority and control the legislation and hold the offices of the State. I am opposed to this exodus, because it will pour upon the people of Kansas and other Northern States a multitude of deluded, hungry, homeless people to be supported in a large measure by alms. I am opposed to this exodus, because it will enable our political adversaries to make successful appeals to popular prejudice (as in the case of the Chinese) on the ground that these people, so ignorant and helpless, have been imported for the purpose of making the North solid by outvoting intelligent white Northern citizens. I am opposed to this exodus, because 'rolling stones gather no moss;' and I agree with Emerson that the men who made Rome or any other locality worth going to see stayed there. There is, in my judgment, no part of the United States where an industrious and intelligent man can serve his race more wisely and efficiently than upon the soil where he was born and reared and is known. I am opposed to this exodus because I see in it a tendency to convert colored laboring men into traveling tramps, first going North because they are persecuted, and then returning South because they have been deceived in their expectations, which will excite against themselves and against our whole race an increasing measure of popular contempt and scorn. I am opposed to this exodus because I believe that the conditions of existence in the Southern States are steadily improving, and that the colored man there will ultimately realize the fullest measure of liberty and equality accorded and secured in any section of our common country.
Footnotes:
[1] This appeared in The Vicksburg Commercial Daily Advertiser, May 7, 1879.
THE SENATE REPORT ON THE EXODUS OF 1879
Hearing of the commotion among the Negroes in Louisiana and Mississippi in 1879, Senator D. W. Voorhees, of Indiana, offered the following resolution which was accepted:
Whereas, large numbers of Negroes from the Southern States, and especially from the State of North Carolina, are migrating to the Northern States, and especially to the State of Indiana; and,
Whereas, it is currently alleged that they are induced to do so by the unjust and cruel conduct of their white fellow citizens toward them in the South; therefore,
Be it Resolved, That a committee of five members of this body be appointed by its presiding officer, whose duty it shall be to investigate the causes which have led to the aforesaid migration, and to report the same to the Senate; and said committee shall have power to send for persons and papers, compelling the defense of witnesses, and to sit at any time.[1]
Thereupon Senator William Windom, of Minnesota, offered the following amendment which led to the discussion of all sorts of phases of the race problem and finally to a majority and minority report on the exodus:[2]