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At a meeting of colored citizens favorable to a call for a State Convention, held
in the city of
The undersigned were appointed a committe to prepare and issue an address to our
people.This they submit as A CALL to the Colored
citizens of
Fellow Citizens; We invite your attention to this Call of a State Convention to
be held in the city of
Brethren, we think this meeting ought to be regarded, and hope it will be with peculiar interest by every Colored man and woman among us, and no pains spared to render it interesting and profitable.
Our own, our native land demands, our posterity, our enslaved brethren, and our own interests for time and eternity, demand an immediate effort for our moral and intellectual elevation. The consideration and adoption of the means to these great ends we ought no longer to defer.
As individuals we must mainly achieve our high purposes, yet it is proper and
necessary for us to embody our efforts.—We shall need all the counsel, sympathy,
encouragement and strength of union; and by it, with the blessing of
Come all. A trodden down and peeled people ought not to rest. Oppression is not heaven inherited by any one. Such a condition is not, cannot be consistent with our duties as moral beings. The largest liberty is essential to humanity. The means for our full emancipation are within our reach; and we cannot longer refuse to use them, and be innocent.
The subjects which will come up for consideration and action, are many and great.
In a "Call"
we can of course allude, and briefly too, to but a part of
them.
Next to our personal relations to our
We are identified with the poor, suffering, bleeding slave of the
The baneful influence of intemperance has been felt by multitudes among us. Prejudice is, alas! too strong without any cause. None of us, therefore, by intemperance or any vicious indulgence, should contribute in the least to foster it. Temperance is proving a blessing to all who embrace her. Elevating and purifying, her ways are pleasantness, and her paths peace. And in her ways alone is there certainty of final triumph.
We would also ask your attention to the important subject of the future occupations of our offspring. The employment naturally affects the disposition and mind as well as the condition. Some corrupt the principles; others contract the mind ; while others leave its powers stagnant. If such employments do not degrade they cannot have an elevating tendency. Our aims require that their minds and hearts be guarded from all evil influences; that their occupations be favorable to the developement and cultivation of the mind; consistant with sound principle; such as generate enlarged views and generous sentiments; and such as will render them as useful as their talents will permit. Such desirable employments there are, and some of them are open to us.
It is neccessary that we should have all the statistical information we can procure in regard to our numbers, occupations, and resources, and benevolent and other societies supported among us. And we hope every one will come prepared to give such information.
Brethren, Our enterprise is a great one, and will demand the influence and labor
of every one. None can be spared. And none we trust will increase our difficulties
by their indifference. Our brethren in other States are moving in this cause.
Come, let us take counsel together; encourage each others' heart; strengthen each
others' hand; and planting, in humble relience upon the