Newspapers / The Star of Zion … / Sept. 7, 1911, edition 1 / Page 1
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h*V" * V I# v , v ’ Iff 1& 'jifesa>'&!*& «|jFir«ff /:r; - • * "• >t-* • V •&’ v .ftMu 7 ign UNIVERSAL RICES CONGRESS. By Pbof. W. B. Chittenden, A. M. At a meeting of the College of Bitehioips during the last Commence. ment season at lLvongstone College, th« writer, to his great surprise, ■was chosen to associate Bishop Alexander Walters as delegate to the First Races Congress, represent .• jntg at that great gathering, the A, M. E. Zion Connection and Living stone College. *•’ The present writer, feeling that he should not let any lack iof per sonal sacrifice nor any combination of adverse circumstances hinder him from answering this, his first distin guished call to duty by the -Great Church he serves, began to 'make hasty preparations to cross the seas, and when the First Universal Races Congress began its four days session in the city of Lodon, July he was at hand to present this (membership Upon his return, he takes this earliest 'Opportunity to give through the columns of the iStab, a brief ac count of the Congress and the Im pressions he gathered thebeform. Imagine, if yon can, yourself in the great Auditorium of the Uni versity of London. •‘There is gath ered an audience of some five or six hundred earnest men and women, among whom are eminent representatives tQf more than twenty civilizations, therev are men and women of almost’ every hue and color speaking some eight or ten 3; ::they haye aer of the glA jht of sdi ee, mm different lai com^- from evej to. discuss B Und..i pebpies of the West and those of the East, between so-called white and so.caTed colored peoples, with a view to encouraging between them a fuller understanding, thes_ most friendly feelings, and a heartier co operation.” Black and white and red and yel low and brown thinkers and scholars of various peoples mingling most friendly and freely in a kaleidoscopic picture of unusual and wonderful interest. This Congress of Races is but a (part of that World-wide Peace ' Movement, yet, 'indeed, a most im_ portant and elemental part; fior those of the more progressive races oif the earth, as they gathered at the Hague 'to formulate plans and methods by which the Nations of the world might be brought to reason 1 rather than to fight together, found that the first great obstacle to be removed was race misunderstanding and race prejudice. That is how this Congress happened.” Remark able to say, too, it was suggested by an American, Hr. Felix Adler, of New York; so some good things i along the line of race recognition do come out of the Nazareth of , American civilization. About forty-eight or fifty eminent I , thinkers and scholars of different ’ peoples were invited' to contribute papers on subjects coveting nearly every phase that directly or indi rectly affected the inter-relation of races, scientific, ethical, economic, and religious, purposely avoidingl, : however the politics. The papers f were compiled and printed in book form a month or so before the open » ing of the congress and 'copies were given to the active members as they secured their admission card. They were “taken as read,” which mean® ; that the writers did not read them during the sessions, but the topics variously treated in the papers were discussed each day, in five minute speeches, by men and women se. lected for their ability and their knowledge of the subject treated. The sessions were opened by Dr. Seal, an Indian scholar, Principal of Maharajah of 'Gooch Rebars Col lege, Gooch Rebar, India. He sought to define the meaning oi Race, Tribe and Nation; then fol lowed Anthropological and Socio. logical discussions affecting races r and the problems of Race Equality and in the afternoon of the same day, were considered The Influences "of Geographic, Economic, and Po. ' litical Conditions upon races, to gether with such subjects as Inter, racial Marriage, A Comparative ; ^‘Parliamentary Rule, representatives 1 from China, Japan, Turfkey, Persia, ( India, Egypt, Haiiti and Russia, i contributing. ji Perhaps the most interesting, '.aJ©*; ’ fl-uen t and iimpassionelfl' speech jof J the whole (Congress, was that - ^ided livered by iMrs. Besant, a-reilfiM&BB i of India. She spoke in behalf of the people of that country, portray-1; ing in graphic pictures the unjust treatment of the natives by the Eng. , iish who live in contact with them. . Some 'Of her statements could) easily have been mistaken for descriptions ! of conditions that exist in ■gjflgttft; parts of the United Dr. DuiBois, of New was one of the most popum^Htth gates of the ObngresB^piM original .poem at the ope4&n|sf Congress, and, because Of 1 knowledge of So cllpgkJljpijF| oniic Questions!, spake ttcpQn that subject instructi !y, ;The eessio£iiM8Bi the delsgat#Ttr^ with the yemm i p at i on Was tyjgMwpViday ■ af&lr* noon. Dndefgi ern Cohsciend# Questions” 1 p r eqeiSBfv,- "n 11 r*9j$$r 11 Study of the Intellectual Standing of j Different Races, and The Coneoli-! dating and Separating; Influences of ' Language and Religion, The sec. ond day was given to the discussion of the General (Ckm^tioneviof Pro i gress among different races as evi. 'denced by their tendencies towards same Institution. Of these, only Dr. Bu Bois, Mr. Mllhoiland, and Dr. (Scarborough got a (chance to speak, as the 'discussion on the pre- 1 ceding topic ran over time. i It must be 000105304' that from1 the speech of Dr. Du Bois on this occasion., 'considerable 'disappoint ment was felt on the part of some 1 of the delegates from the United States, 'who hoped, from the Dr. i for a clear unequivocal statement of the conditions that Obtain in this country, and from which the Negro suffers. Dr. Du Bois had the op. portunity of a supreme moment, he failed to use it. Mr. iMilholland did not attempt a speech, for the reason that he had spoken often in no uncertain terms of conditions in this country. He always rings true. There is no hypocrisy in his make up, and there is never any mistake as to his position on this question; one cannot help from being impres sed with his earnestness, and from becoming infected with his enthusi asm. Prof. 'Scarborough, who spoke at this time, labored under the disad vantage of a hoarseness and a bad throat, so unfortunately,, could not do himself nor the occasion justice, nor should he be criticized by the Age for his statement that prejudice in America against the Negro, Is greater now than it was forty years ago, if that statement be true. He should hot he censured, because he was not disposed to assume the role of a “Trimmer.” The only regret was the fact that (Dr. Scarborough was physically not himself.. 'It is indeed pleasant, as the Age 'suggests, to hear the history of the Negro’s remarkable achievements, but al though it may be unpleasant, yet, it becomes very often necessary that ■the tragedy of his struggels be hfeard. The one may serve to lull a nation into the sense of a fancied security, but the other is a warning note of a common- danger which is only real. The paper contributed by Dr. Du Biolis for its comprehensive .history of the Negro in America, for its great mass of weighty statistics strikingly so, for the terse, eppigram. matic style in which he disposes of the real grievances of the race in thirteen short sentences and his con cluson of the whole matter is any thing hut luminous, instructive or hopeful—“Whether, at last, the Ne gro will gain full recognition as a man, or be utterly crushed by pre. jud'ice and superior numbers, is the ee y o u n Los |m tH*e if (now tide to of our ■$#D thousand. > The church has been competed and< neatly furnished.' Our - pastor never hesitated to use the hax'mer and saw whenever his help was needed and that was very often •During all these year® he has been a hard student taking a theologcafl > course at the University of Southern California one. of the best schools in tihe Gauntry completing a four years cou-se in three years and re ceiving the dregre of D. D.. And say he has written a very der^htful a/nd elaborate Book on the Prophets. ' - Rev. Speight is an ambitious man and. shouldi be encouraged. We been out .here some years and have labored long and hard in the work especially in Los Angeles. Thus j you see I have a fair insight in re- | gards to the work. The field is I large, but the laborers are few. We can make this a rich paying field with a little sacrifice (our ■' sister Churches have done so.) The way was Mazed years agio by Bishops, Moore Hood and Walters who estab. lisihed a church in San Francisco, Oakland and San JoUp, with a small Mission here in “The City of Ange les.’ Today we have here one of the most beautiful 'Churches in the city white or colored. True there have been some breaks in our ranks here rwhch gives us a small congre gation, hut we manage to pay our preseint pastor Rev. W. D. Spieght $1200 a year. Bishop 'George W. Clinton who succeeded Bishop A. Waiters reor ganized the work and 'much good was accomplished under his leader, ship and1 wise guidance. Missions were established in many small towns and the few Zionites who were scattered here and there were glad to he be housed once more in the Church of their choice. Bishop Clinton served us faithfuly and well and we regretted much his trans fer to other fields., We cannot speak to commendably of him and his work. Bishop J. S. Caldtvcll, OD. D., took up the work where his predecessor left off and under his administra tion the work conttnued ito prosper and expand and today we can jboast of a few staunch and l loyal churches. I wish to mention ■ especially two churches tin the small towns Monrovia church in Southern, California., whose pastor is Rev. D. Mucker. This little church is quite up.to-date and two years ago entertained the Conference. 'Hanford church in Northern Cal., whose pastor some of you know well Rev. George H. Haines. This is a very strong church and enter tained the Conference (last year.. Bishop Caldwell realizing the need of strong men to hold1 these most important charges sent Rev. W. D. Speight to Los Angeles to complete our unfinished Church Building. He found the Building very much un. finished with $18,000 (eighteen thou sand) dollars indebtedness and nine members (and iby the way) these /nine were Trustees. Our pastor gathered together the scattered sheep *nd during the five years of Ms pas. | ’torate our jine-dlbtedness has (been ^reduced from eighteen thousand to op 'Will take him away from us as ■ there are sp many churches Clamor ing for him. We shall part iwith him, amidst many regrets and I worrier if there As another strong man in Zion in the East who would like to give Zion on the Pacific Coast a trial1. Rev. J. J. Byers is doing nicely in Oakland and San Francisco and1 the people are much devoted to him at both points. Rev. W. W. Howard is Presiding Elder for the entire Coast and is establishing Missions as far north as Seattle Washington. iNow Rev Howard is a young man and like our pastor has just com. 'pteled a course at the University of the Pacific at San Jose, Oal. Bishop George W, Clinton paid us a short visit on the 18th of June. We were delighted to see and hear him again. He was not feeling well, but we hope ere this reaches you, he will he quite himself again. (Wo are looking forward with anticipated pleasure to the visit of 3ishop J. S. Caldwell, OD. D., in September. He has .most truly en deared himself in tha hearts of the people out here. Los Angeles, Cal. Work at Avondale. By Rev. T. E. Roach. Please allow me a short space in our shining Star. I was appointed to this, change by our gallant Bishop Alexander (Walters who presided over the Philadelphia and Baltimore Conference in Washington, D. C., with rare skill, grace and dignity. When I arrived in the town I dis covered that the Building .and Loan Association was prepared to employ harsh measures against our elegant brick church. The Secretary of the Building and Loan Association gave me the statement of principal, dues and fines agregating $640.00 In two weeks these .loyal hustling poeple carried out my plan to raise money and reduced the debt to 400.00. We are religiously keeping up the money dues. Zion has a commodious hall in this town built to accoimimodate fes tivals and entertainments. There has been an outstanding debt of $458.00 for years. The writer is mow trying to raise $800.00 by a Big Rally to save the hall. I know that every member of Avondale church will1 'be encouraged to read this. Thanking you for space, respectively Avondale, Pa. Observations and Opinions on, the Shaw Missionary Letter to the Missionary Seer. ;By Rev. J. Francis Lee, A. We have carefully read' the -letter which appears in the August, uiuim per of the. Missionary Seek, from the gen oif the Rev. Dr. Shaw, eu-r mis sionary to the West (Coast of .Africa. Such 'information concerning ' ‘the privations and, sufferings which ia foreign • missionary must - hnow, should stir up the missionary spirit of our Zion-as -nothingvel&e-'ls:. cap. . able of doing. Then, -when, we -re member that it is. the vgloo of our own misisonary, hi® words Should appeal to our perstonai pride.. “ The pastor who serves the home church, thinks that (his. k>1?is a.hard one, and that he doe® not get the consideiatioii due ihinj; true that the hoine.workera make con siderable sacrifice, and .-sometimes his work is too soon forgotten; -yet the most humble mission point in bur American church, is often more inviting than some of the large sta tions in a -foreign tend. ' .vt :/ There are. ibut few of us above thirty who would, he.able to go into the mission- field; there is a -still smaller number posed ti>6 we are: r tivp more ’important than we can do for the foreign field? The writer would make the fol. lowing suggestion:! Let the general church have a Ministerial Rally. ■Let our chief pastors or some one selected by them organize and put the rally in operation. Let the church see to it that every Bishop, Presiding Elder, local Elder, Dea con, Local (preacher and exhorter contribute to this great rally one dollar. Let the money acruing from 'the rally be known as the Bishop J. B. Small Memorial Fund for our African worlk. Such a rally would (bring to us several thousand dollars; it will at the same time set a noble example for laymen of our church. Harrisburg, Pa. A Splendid Convention. By Rev. M. C. MoCellan, The Sunday School Convention and Varick Christian Endeavor League of the Columbia, S. C., dis trict convened July 26.30, 1911, at White Oak, >S. C., with the St. James A. M. E. Zion Church of which Rev. J. H. Thomas is the worthy pas tor. The sessions throughout tihe convention were very interesting as well as profitable. 'With Rev. D. C. Covington, D. D., as presiding elder, ably asso ciated by Mr. W. M. Wallace as District Superintendent of Sunday Schools, Miss Rosa L. Laury as Dis '•riot secretary; and Miss Emma . Epps as district treasurer, for -sev. en years the Sunday School zeal and. interest has been raised and height ened to the desired standard. Among the distinguished visitors .that looked in upon us were, Dr. F. K. Bird, the manager of our Publi. 'cation House, Profs. iR. J. Crockett, Harper and C. T. Hinton. The total amount raised during it his convention for all purposes which was $101.93 eclipses all amounts yet raised. Truly Zion has been awakened aud is now doinig her duty in this section of the Pal metto Conference. Mr. Editor we shall begin very soon to erect out new briclk church, in the 'Capital 'City. Columbia, S. C. I
The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 7, 1911, edition 1
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