SPEECH OF
ROSCOE SIMMONS
THE NEGRO'S SPOKESMAN
A MAN IN TEXAS
By C. F. Richardson in the
(HOUSTON INFORMER)
It has been my good pleasure to hear Colonel Roscoe Conkling
Simmons, the peerless and interpid orator and publicist, on many
occasions in different sections of this country and under different
circumstances and amid different surroundings and environments.
I have sat and listened to his eloquence in snow-bound temples
of worship in the frigid cities of the Midwest and I have heard him
when the chilly breezes from Lake Michigan were howling, wolf¬
like, and making it very unpleasant even for his auditors.
It has been my good pleasure to hear him speak in the balmy
Southland, when the mercury was going skyward and trying each
succeeding moment to break all previous records and establish a
new one; and, then Dame Fortune has smiled upon me and kindly
permitted me to hear him under conditions altogether different from
the ones hereinbefore cited.
I have leaned upon his wisdom and feasted upon his eloquence
and prolific logic when Mars was wreaking havoc to civilization and
threatening to engulf humanity into an abyss of eternal darkness
and hurl all the accumulated wisdom of the ages into the cesspool
of moral depravity. His stentorian voice, sounding as the clarion
calls to arms, confronted and encouraged us in the times that tried
men's souls and as a patriotic speaker he was always equal to the
occasion.
On the other hand I have heard "our Roscoe" orate when the
dove of peace was holding sway over the American commonwealth
and when men were crying, "Peace! Peace!" and there was no
real and lasting peace—only a cessation of the clash with carnal
weapons, at the same time the same men were quietly and in¬
geniously planning and preparing for a mightier conflict which is
inevitable.
But last Sunday Colonel Simmons broke all of his previous
records in his able and masterly presentation of the subject, "Should
the Negro Vote?" This speech was delivered to several thousand
SHALL THE NEGRO VOTE?
Delivered in the City Auditorium
Houston, Texas, April 17, 1921
people in the City Auditorium and was withal pregnant with ripe
and profound thought.
The colonel delved into history never oefore heard in this part
of the moral vineyard and conclusively demonstrated to the vast
concourse of humanity that he knew his ground and despite the
fact that it was holy, he was unafraid and undismayed to stand
thereon and proclaim the Jeffersonian doctrine and democracy,
"Equal rights to all, special privileges to none!" while vociferous
and volcanic cheers greeted his utterances as he grew eloquent and
forensic in his plea for justice to all Americans, everywhere.
In a manner peculiarly his own, he brought forth applause even
from the white citizens present and after the program one of the
city's most aristocratic white characters said to us, "He is the finest
speaker I have ever listened to and I have heard him every time
he has spoken here. He's the best that comes to Houston."
Despite several counter attractions in the city last Sunday,
thousands came to hear, see and cheer "Roscoe" and he was never
in better form nor finer fettle.
He supported and substantiated his position from both sacred
and secular history and by quoting or rather reading sections from
the constitution of Texas and its bill of rights, he plainly showed
that disfranchisement and discrimination because of color was
fundamentally at variance with the written law of the state, which
was written, adopted and promulgated without the aid of a single
colored citizen.
Dr. C. K. Brown, pastor of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church,
had the honor of introducing the speaker of the occasion and our
local pulpiteer was equal to the emergency, likening himself to the
tugboat and the colonel to the ocean liner. Chas. N. Love, editor
of the Texas Freeman acted as master of ceremonies, while Rev. J.
R. Burdette, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, invoked divine bless¬
ings upon the occasion.
The colonel's visit to Houston was under the auspices of the
Houston Forum of which Hon. J. B. Grigsby is president and all
the net proceeds will be employed to push the case before the higher
court in demanding the right to vote in all primaries and elections,
municipal or otherwise. It was a remarkable occasion with a more
remarkable American delivering a most remarkable dissertation
upon constitutional rights and citizenship privileges.
SHALL THE NEGRO VOTE?
Delivered in the City Auditorium
Houston, Texas, April 17, 1921
HOUSTON, TEX.—The long prom¬
ised fighl of tlie southern Negro to
emancipate himself in the political
life of the section his labors and sac¬
rifices have helped to make was
launched in this city Sunday.
The determination of the Negro,
his platform and his plan, and the end
of the struggle in which he is now
newly engaged was expressed in a
speech by Roscoe Simmons, who re¬
sponded to the call of Texans to fire
the opening gun and speak to the
southern white people in language that
would be expressive, but not offensive
in the forum.
Thousands assembled in the great
City Auditorium cheered their spokes¬
man every step of the way. White
men of distinction sat side by side
with black Texas to listen to the path¬
finder and apostle of peace lay down
ihe law.
His Best Effort.
Of all the speeches Col. Simmons
has ever made in Texas in the course
of his campaigns to advance the Amer¬
ican Negro this speech surpassed all.
lie took his time.
For eloquence, for knowledge of the
history of his country and for breadth
of view he was both advocate and
statesman.
Public opinion has undergone a
great change since the spokesman
for the masses of the people laid
their cause before those in authority.
"If you will hear me now," cried
Roscoe, "1 will hear you when you
call in time of tears and distress. I
was told to knock, and I now knock.
I was told to seek and now I seek in
the name of millions whose tongue
cannot yet carry the language of their
heart."
Case Still Before Court.
The great meeting was held to raise
funds to carry on the tight of the
Negroes of Houston, led by J. B. Grigs-
by, l'has. N. Love, Neuman Dudley,
C. J<\ Richardson, Campbell Gilmore,
Will Dj vis and W. P. Nickerson, to
break down the wall erected by the
Democratic primary that prevents the
Houston colored people from having
any voice in the government they are
taxed to keep up.
Richard D. Evans, the Waco lawyer,
has the case in hand, and it is pre¬
dicted that the higher court will hand
down an opinion sustaining Evans.
"You look after the law," Col. Sim¬
mons said to Evans, "and I will take
care of the people and the raising of
funds."
As part of the stenographic report
of the masterly speech delivered by
the master speaker follows:
"The effort to rob the American
Negro of a freeman's rights and a
freeman's privileges in the United
States, is the effort also to cut
the heart out of the United States.
Days like these in which we live
and move and contend are the
marked beginning of the end of
oilier republics in earlier and also
stirring times. The mystic hand
of divinity still overshadows all
with hopes and fears and strug¬
gles of man.
"I am here today to answer the
question, 'Shall the Negro vote?'
That is not the question at all. The
question is, will our white people
so conduct themselves and our
government as to make it useless
for anybody to vote after awhile?
"Before me are gathered the
thousands of my race; the blood
and sufferings of my race, too. 1
might declare, and be within my
rights, that mingling with my
thousands there should be thou¬
sands of what we call the white
race, the leading people of our
civilization and country. The
consideration of any matter af¬
fecting or disturbing the life of
one people is the consideration of
ail matters affecting all the lieo-
ple.
Two Documents.
"Under my eye as I speak to
you there are two documents;
first, the constitution of the Unit¬
ed Slates as proposed in 1787, and
the other, constitution of the State
of Texas as proposed and ratified
exactly one hundred years there¬
after. Upon these documents I
s and today as upon firm founda¬
tion and storms do not disturb
me.
"The fathers wrote the constitu¬
tion in the dying days of the
eighteenth century. Included in
that document as you find, is the
assumption that the Negro is but
three-fifths man. As I understand
it, the democratic party of Hous¬
ton declares that the Negro is
even less than that three-fifths
yielded to the Negro when slavery
sat king upon a throne of the pros¬
trate hopes of a nation. The story
of the entrance of the Negro into
the constitution of the country is
one of the romances of the story
of the progress of constitutional
government.
Jefferson and the Negro.
"Thomas Jefferson, gifted figure
of the terrible, the struggling, the
trying and the glorious days of
the beginning of American liberty,
had drafted the declaration of in¬
dependence—that challenge upon
which untried men rode to war.
Hand in hand and heart to heart
were Winthrdp, Franklin, the wiz¬
ard, and Rogers Sherman, whose
hand had already been affixed to
the declaration of rights—the ab¬
breviated chapter of the first
books of American resistance to
the tyranny of distant kings. It
was Jefferson, founder of what we
now call the democratic party, who
freed his slaves that he might
more easily write the opening
lines of the great charter. Are
those lines unrecalled? Does the
democratic party of Houston so
easily forget? Are not men
afraid of the wrath of the light¬
ning, when they hold high the
banner of Jefferson with one hand
and choke the life out of free men
with the other? Suppose that
Jefferson could walk unannounced
into a meeting of gentlemen gath¬
ered in the name of that democ¬
racy of which that great Virginian
is the father.
"It may be in their haste to undo
me; in the mad hours of their
powers that they have forgotten
the words that were heard around
the woild and have become a tes¬
tament to all the earthly hopes of
man. He said that he held these
truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created free and equal,
and endowed with certain rights
no man can take from them, and
that among those rights are lib¬
erty, life and the pursuit of happi¬
ness.
Vi/~ *A/cre There.
"The rb.oiuuun was fought. In
that great contest those for whom
I speak today were there. Some
were fettered, but they were there.
Some were chained, but they were
there; many in tears, but they
also were there. What tliey did
there is a part of the record as
proposed and written by the faith¬
ful hand of the great historians of
that remarkable conflict.
"I enter into no detailed story
of our prowess. Th^ devotion on
the battlefield that was then and
still is the wonder of men observ¬
ing slaves, fighting to give liberty
to those already free, while they
themselves remained in chains.
"The constitutional convention
was called following the defeat of
British arms. In whispered con¬
ference the decision was reached
to recall Benjamin Franklin from
scenes in Europe and dispatch in
his stead, to ancient courts and
ruffled monarchs, the father of de¬
mocracy, the author of the Decla¬
ration of Independence, the found¬
er of a university, the apostle of
human liberty upon this continent
—Thomas Jefferson.
"I, Too, Tremble."
"Said Jefferson at one time, 'I
tremble for my country when I
think that God is just.' And so I
say today, I tremble for the future
of a country no less mine than
Jefferson's, when I think of the
sons of Jefferson standing upon
his memory defying the mandates
that moved him when he spoke
liberty into the hearts of a despon¬
dent and a hopeless people. Jeffer¬
son returned to his home shortly
after the last state had ratified
the new constitution. Franklin and
Washington met with him in
Philadelphia. 'I note,' said Jef¬
ferson, 'that we have written into
our constitution that the Negro
is but three-fifths man.' The
eiders sought to soothe his trou¬
bled heart in the assurance that
they found it necessary to strike
a compromise with slave-holding
states.
The Great Question.
"Then came the great question
directed to Washington, the grand¬
est figure in all the annals of free
men: 'But, general,' asked Jeffer¬
son, 'can you compromise with
God?' Sixty years passed. The
unfinished constitution was car¬
ried to the battlefields and the
writing was erased for a new writ¬
ing in blood and, as predicted by
Jefferson the three-fifths clause
was amended by the sword of
Grant, and the pen of Lincoln as
we road today in the three com¬
pel ing amendments to the great
document.
"Splice we accept the word of
Jefferson as the heart of democ¬
racy, why not also accept his bat¬
tle cry as. command to his follow¬
ers? I am a- republican. I have
always been a republican. That
cradle gave me birth. The belief
of that political party is the es¬
sence and l'ruit of my faith. Its
principles fed me to life, its poli¬
cies stood me on my feet, its
written enactments placed for the
first time the- word woman above
I he mothers of my people and yet
I am not unmindful of the prin¬
ciples and the teachings as enun¬
ciated by Jefferson. What was his
battle cry? Have the democrats
of Texas forgotten it? Have they
removed the words from their ban¬
ners?
The Battle Cry.
"The battle cry was, 'Equal
right to all, special privileges to
none.' When loyal black men of
Houston knock on the doors of the
courts of justice of Texas with a
request that the primary rule of
local democracy be annulled and
disregarded, in so far as that rule
prohibits all American citizens
from having a part in any primary
o ■ election involving the citizen¬
ship of a state, they stand on the
memory of Thomas Jefferson and
shame those who traduce this the
gentlest name in all the story we
can I ell of how men rose and stood
and defied the mightiest king the
world has seen since the days of
the Caesars.
"It is a denial of equal rights to
all and a special privilege when
the r qiublican party of Texas can
say that no white men of Texas
may participate in its affairs. I
'■harge that it is also and a partic¬
ular denial of equal rights to all
an.i practice of special privilege
to some, wh"n the democratic
party of Houston and Harris
('oiMit;> can say that no black man
may pariic'patc in ihe affairs of
tiie democratic party of Texas.
The fathers said that 'Taxation
wit hunt representation is tyranny.'
His Challenge to All.
"1 stand under my own vine and
fig tree beneath the stars that
gave me bifth, near the waters
upon whose banks I was born.
Let him step from mansion or
come with wealth in his hand and
I will challenge any man to prove
that his love of country is above
mine, or establish that his knowl¬
edge of the story of my country is
deeper than mine. Bring to this
platform this afternoon the best
man that you know, and I will en¬
gage him in any discussion that
does not include the American Ne¬
gro, and speak him into silence.
Therefore, I advance the challenge
that taxation and enforced, silence
011 me and mine are worse than
tyranny; it is a scandal upon
the fair name of the American
white man, whom I have delighted
to call chief and wnose record I
have maintained upon one thou¬
sand platforms and whose deeds I
have recited before kings. I seek
to save the American white man
to the leadership that is his and
for which 1 do not contend. I
must save him in order that I
might be saved; for if he goes
down I and mine are forever lost.
"The record is new; time is
young; the day is still upon weep¬
ing women and eager men. White
men north and white men south
started across the ocean to main¬
tain the dignity of. this nation
and present to flying colors on the
battlefield the only flag that never
touched the ground. They turned
to the Negro and said, 'Come and
go with me.' I sent back the re¬
ply that those you have called can
neither read nor write. Then, the
American- white man instructed
me to tell them that the question
was not upon thier ability either
to read or write, but upon their
courage and their ability to han¬
dle the gun of war, and I declare
that any hand good enough to pull
a trigger on the battlefield, is good
enough to pull a lead pencil across
a ballot in Texas or New York in
a primary to choose a nominee or
in any election to choose a ruler.
Negro Must Fight.
"The situation I have carefully
examined into, and I have read the
books of time. Instructions of
wise men 1 have fed upon as
bread of life. I see how men have
risen since man began to rise, and
I conclude that as men have
fought to obtain the prize of lib¬
erty the American Negro, too,
must fight, and as others have
overcome through struggle and
patience so must he overcome.
Except the way in my mind, and
upon my tongue today, there is
no way. Who can stay our feet?
Who can speak the word nay to
our hopes and plan? None that
I see.
"Thinking that he can obstruct
the path of the American Negro
the opponent of my plans and to
my march obstructs only the path
of progress; and whoever dares
that chariot invites the wrath of
gods and pity of angels. I look
about and discover that nobody is
in the way of the American Negro
except book-crazed men fretting
against a situation that should in¬
vite men to prove that they are
men. Can I hope to ascend on a
ladder of tears?
Let Him Bring His Charge.
"Speaking for the American Ne¬
gro I speak also for the American
white man. Have I asked him to
step aside? Do I contend with
him for rulership of country? Have
I failed him in war or peace? Let
him bring his charge against me
and face me in the courts of men.
Standing in the heart of Texas, but.
a tear's shadow from San Jacinto
and an evening's breath from the
Alamo, I advance to the eminence
and unbosom my desire. I an¬
swer the challenge that the south¬
ern white man is the Negro's best
friend in the admission of that
fact and by rejoining that the
Negro is not only the white man's
best friend, but the Negro is the
white man's only friend, as he
shall find further on.
"I gaze upon the Constitution
of Texas, state document of the
foremost commonwealth of Dixie.
Proposed by white men and by
white men drafted; ratified by
white men and by a white gover¬
nor promulgated as the law of the
land, I accept it in the spirit,
though others accept it in words
alone. Who phrased the opening
lines in the Bill of Rights declar¬
ing that this Constitution was
drawn in strict conformity to the
Constitution of the United States?
Other wrote it, but God handed
me the alphabet and placed in my
hand a pencil where once I held
a hoe. A little I can read; read¬
ing I, too, understand.
"Denial of the Negroes of Texas
the right to participate in any
political endeavor is a clear de¬
sertion of the Bill of Rights of
Texas and an affront to the spirit
of the Constitution of the United
States; a desertion and an affront
that I might accept from any men
save those who claim the blood
and wear the name of chiefs who
chained Santa Anna to his own
chariot, robbed the stars of good
pleasure and erected on Texas soil
the freest state in this Union.
Shall We Flee?
"Shall I be silent? Shall I flee
my native land and seek comfort
among strangers? Must I crouch
like a slave and like a slave steal
away in the night? I do not know
of others, but for myself I have de¬
termined to knock on the golden
heart of the southern white man
at home, waiting to inquire of him,
not in bitter speech of denuncia¬
tion, but in the language of com¬
radeship and expectation. The
voice I hear is destiny calling to
white and black alike. The flag
above me is the flag that white
and black alike will maintain
though hell should speak and foes
appear as numerous as the stars.
White Man Will Inquire.
"War prepares the bridle and
gain the stirrup. Look at the
clouds in the distance. The prom¬
ise is of war and women's tears.
When the drums beat and the
bugle calls again the American
white man will ask me again,
where are your peoplQj? I will re¬
ply, Sir, they are where you were
that day I stood in Houston and
spoke for law and love—they are
scattered!
"Let other complain and cry like
babies. In the midst of the humble
among my people I stand and
seem to scan the approach of the
appointed time when my change
comes, and the spirit of Lincoln
will say to us, The flower in your
hand is the bitter bud they gave
you when fate hastened me away.
"I will not ask the American
white man to stand by me. I shall
continue to stand by him. In His
time God will send the American
white man to me for shelter from
a world aroused against him be-
cause of his genius. I do not ask
any white man to plead my causes.
My request is simple. I ask him
to sit down in patience for
briefest hour, and I shall plead
own cause.
the
my
His Work Replies
By CHARLES NORVELL LOVE
In the TEXAS FREEMAN
Dear reader, The Freeman, in calling attention to Colonel Ros-
coe Conkling Simmons' masterly address at the City Auditorium
last Sunday, pauses and digresses long enough to say: He came;
he saw; he conquered.
Not only that, the people, the common people, if you please,
heard him gladly.
Naturally, the critics, cynics and fault-finders, too, were there,
along with others, but they who have made it a point to hear and
criticise every speech Colonel Simmons has made in Houston since
he started in June, 1918, making four in all, concede that the speech
last Sunday was the "finest and best ever."
All say they have never heard anything like it, and all say it is
easily the timeliest and most appropriate address any public speak¬
er, without regard to race, has ever made in Houston on the race
question.
The people heard more about the Declaration of American Inde¬
pendence and the Constitution of the United States and the Consti¬
tution of the State of Texas last Sunday than they ever heard before.
They heard more about the men who wrote these documents and
more real history of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and
George Washington, authors of the Federal Constitution, than they
ever heard or dreamed of.
They got clearer insight into the life and character of Abraham
Lincoln than they had before, together with a different conception
Df the Emancipation Proclamation than they had before, and they
appreciated more fully the efforts of Frederick Douglass Coleridge
Taylor and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, whose contributions to Ameri¬
can life, music and literature are as immortal and as fixed as the
stars.
Roscoe Conkling' Simmons is a statesman as well as scholar and
orator, and, no doubt, he is the oracle of the colored race.
More than 2000 people paid 50 cents each Sunday to hear him
at the Auditorium. They did this in spite of the movies, church
rallies, baptizing, special drives, brass bands and baseball games,
which shows unmistakably the power and force of personality.