Some good friends of the cause we represent fear agitation. They say:
“Do not agitate--do not make a noise; _work_.” They add, “Agitation
is destructive or at best negative--what is wanted is positive
constructive work.”
Such honest critics mistake the function of agitation. A toothache is
agitation. Is a toothache a good thing? No. Is it therefore useless?
No. It is supremely useful, for it tells the body of decay, dyspepsis
and death. Without it the body would suffer unknowingly. It would
think: All is well, when lo! danger lurks.
The same is true of the Social Body. Agitation is a necessary evil to
tell of the ills of the Suffering. Without it many a nation has been
lulled to false security and preened itself with virtues it did not
possess.
The function of this Association is to tell this nation the crying evil
of race prejudice. It is a hard duty but a necessary one--a divine
one. It is Pain; Pain is not good but Pain is necessary. Pain does
not aggravate disease--Disease causes Pain. Agitation does not mean
Aggravation--Aggravation calls for Agitation in order that Remedy may
be found.
* * * * *
Two Italians were lynched in Florida. The Italian Government protested,
but it was found that they were naturalized Americans. The inalienable
right of every free American citizen to be lynched without tiresome
investigation and penalties is one which the families of the lately
deceased doubtless deeply appreciate.
The N. A. A. C. P.
On the one hundredth anniversary of Lincoln’s birth a call was issued
in New York signed by prominent people all over the country for a
conference on the status of the colored people.
* * * * *
The first conference met in New York May 31 and June 1, 1909.
* * * * *
The second conference was held in New York May 12-14, 1910.
The second conference organized a permanent body to be known as the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The
officers of this association are:
National President: Mr. Moorfield Storey, Boston, Mass.
Chairman of the Executive Committee: Mr. Wm. English Walling, New
York.
Treasurer: Mr. John E. Milholland, New York.
Disbursing Treasurer: Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard, New York.
Director of Publicity and Research: Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, New York.
Executive Secretary: Miss Frances Blascoer, New York.
* * * * *
The work of the N. A. A. C. P. can be summarized as follows up to the
present date:
Four mass meetings and ten other meetings have been held to discuss the
status of the colored people and efforts for betterment.
One volume of speeches and 6,000 separate pieces of literature are
being distributed.
A bureau of information has been maintained which has corresponded with
over 500 persons in all parts of the country.
Six articles have been furnished to magazines and eight to newspapers.
Two investigations into educational conditions are in progress.
Effort has been made in three cases to secure legal redress of
grievances.
This Association needs $10,000 for its year’s work. We ask for
donations and we especially want members who pay from $1 to $25 yearly,
according to ability. Anybody may join.
* * * * *
The future plans of the organization include:
The publication of THE CRISIS.
Co-operation with all agencies working for the uplift of colored people.
The holding of mass meetings and conferences.
The issuing of pamphlets at the rate of one every other month or
oftener.
The publication of articles in magazines and in the daily press.
The discovering and redress of cases of injustice.
The systematic study of the present conditions among colored people.
* * * * *
The General Committee consists of the officers and the following
persons:
[A]Miss Gertrude Barnum, New York.
[A]Rev. W. H. Brooks, New York.
Prof. John Dewey, New York.
Miss Maud R. Ingersoll, New York.
Mrs. Florence Kelley, New York.
[A]Mr. Paul Kennaday, New York.
[A]Mrs. F. R. Keyser, New York.
Dr. Chas. Lenz, New York.
Mr. Jacob W. Mack, New York.
[A]Mrs. M. D. MacLean, New York.
Rev. Horace G. Miller, New York.
Mrs. Max Morgenthau, Jr., New York.
Mr. James F. Morton, Jr., New York.
Mr. Henry Moskowitz, New York.
Miss Leonora O’Reilly, New York.
[A]Rev. A. Clayton Powell, New York.
[A]Mr. Charles Edward Russell, New York.
Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, New York.
Prof. E. R. A. Seligman, New York.
[A]Rev. Joseph Silverman, New York.
Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer, New York.
Mrs. Henry Villard, New York.
Miss Lillian D. Wald, New York.
[A]Bishop Alexander Walters, New York.
Dr. Stephen S. Wise, New York.
Rev. Jas. E. Haynes, D.D., Brooklyn, N. Y.
[A]Rev. John Haynes Holmes, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Miss M. R. Lyons, Brooklyn, N. Y.
[A]Miss M. W. Ovington, Brooklyn, N. Y.
[A]Dr. O. M. Waller, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mrs. M. H. Talbert, Buffalo, N. Y.
Hon. Thos. M. Osborne, Auburn, N. Y.
[A]Mr. W. L. Bulkley, Ridgewood, N. J.
Mr. George W. Crawford, New Haven, Conn.
Miss Maria Baldwin, Boston, Mass.
Mr. Francis J. Garrison, Boston, Mass.
Mr. Archibald H. Grimke, Boston, Mass.
[A]Mr. Albert E. Pillsbury, Boston, Mass.
Mr. Wm. Munroe Trotter, Boston, Mass.
Dr. Horace Bumstead, Brookline, Mass.
Miss Elizabeth C. Carter, New Bedford, Mass.
Prest. Chas. T. Thwing, Cleveland, O.
Mr. Chas. W. Chesnutt, Cleveland, O.
Prest. King, Oberlin, O.
Prest. W. S. Scarborough, Wilberforce, O.
[A]Miss Jane Addams, Chicago, Ill.
[A]Mrs. Ida B. Wells Barnett, Chicago, Ill.
[A]Dr. C. E. Bentley, Chicago, Ill.
Miss Sophronisba Breckenridge, Chicago, Ill.
Mr. Clarence Darrow, Chicago, Ill.
[A]Mrs. Celia Parker Woolley, Chicago, Ill.
[A]Dr. N. F. Mossell, Philadelphia, Pa.
[A]Dr. Wm. A. Sinclair, Philadelphia, Pa.
Miss Susan Wharton, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mr. R. R. Wright, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.
Mr. W. Justin Carter, Harrisburg, Pa.
Rev. Harvey Johnson, D.D., Baltimore, Md.
Hon. Wm. S. Bennett, Washington, D. C.
Mr. L. M. Hershaw, Washington, D. C.
Prof. Kelly Miller, Washington, D. C.
Prof. L. B. Moore, Washington, D. C.
Justice W. P. Stafford, Washington, D. C.
[A]Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, Washington, D. C.
[A]Rev. J. Milton Waldron, Washington, D. C.
Prest. John Hope, Atlanta, Ga.
Mr. Leslie P. Hill, Manassas, Va.
[A] Executive Committee.
Athens and Brownsville
By Moorfield Storey
(Extract from speech before the Second National Negro Conference.)