"You may expel us, gentlemen, but I firmly believe that you will some day repent it. The black man cannot protect a country, if the country doesn't protect him; and if, tomorrow, a war should arise, I would not raise a musket to defend a country where my manhood is denied. The fashionable way in Georgia, when hard work is to be done, is for the white man to sit at his ease while the black man does the work; but, sir, I will say this much to the colored men of Georgia, as, if I should be killed in this campaign, I may have no opportunity of telling them at any other time: Never lift a finger nor raise a hand in defense of Georgia, until Georgia acknowledges that you are men and invests you with the rights pertaining to manhood." -- Henry McNeal Turner in his speech on the “Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia Legislature” where he stated “I Claim the Rights of a Man” (9/3/1868)
The Georgia Constitutional Convention was held on #tdih Dec. 9, 1867 with 33 African Americans and 137 whites. Turner was one of the elected representatives and delegates who was later expelled. Listen to a reading of Turner's speech by Danny Glover from Voices of a People's History of the United States http://bit.ly/N8hE0l Find resources for teaching about the true and vital history of the Reconstruction era: http://bit.ly/16wihda
Image: blackpast.org
Zinn Education Project
"You may expel us, gentlemen, but I firmly believe that you will some day repent it. The black man cannot protect a country, if the country doesn't protect him; and if, tomorrow, a war should arise, I would not raise a musket to defend a country where my manhood is denied. The fashionable way in Georgia, when hard work is to be done, is for the white man to sit at his ease while the black man does the work; but, sir, I will say this much to the colored men of Georgia, as, if I should be killed in this campaign, I may have no opportunity of telling them at any other time: Never lift a finger nor raise a hand in defense of Georgia, until Georgia acknowledges that you are men and invests you with the rights pertaining to manhood." -- Henry McNeal Turner in his speech on the “Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia Legislature” where he stated “I Claim the Rights of a Man” (9/3/1868)
The Georgia Constitutional Convention was held on #tdih Dec. 9, 1867 with 33 African Americans and 137 whites. Turner was one of the elected representatives and delegates who was later expelled. Listen to a reading of Turner's speech by Danny Glover from Voices of a People's History of the United States http://bit.ly/N8hE0l Find resources for teaching about the true and vital history of the Reconstruction era: http://bit.ly/16wihda
Image: blackpast.org
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
BISHOP HENRY McNEIL TURNER, AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL
LOVE this man, this legendary Bishop Henry McNeil Turner. His A.M.E. POLITY contains stringent literacy and education requirements for our preachers; and for top-to-bottom, Literary Societies in the church. These are practically nonexistent these days, if they ever existed to any extent, when compared to formerly. He was a scholar, an organizer, an African-Christian internationalist, a preacher. Turner launched several AME publications, and trebled the size of our church due to massive increases in the South, after the Civil War. There, the 'fields were white to the harvest, but laborers were too few. He planted the church in Africa. He promoted black artistic conceptions/depictions of prophets and apostles, and once preached a sermon: "God is a Negro." Angell has written a great biography of him.
"You may expel us, gentlemen, but I firmly believe that you will some day repent it. The black man cannot protect a country, if the country doesn't protect him; and if, tomorrow, a war should arise, I would not raise a musket to defend a country where my manhood is denied. The fashionable way in Georgia, when hard work is to be done, is for the white man to sit at his ease while the black man does the work; but, sir, I will say this much to the colored men of Georgia, as, if I should be killed in this campaign, I may have no opportunity of telling them at any other time: Never lift a finger nor raise a hand in defense of Georgia, until Georgia acknowledges that you are men and invests you with the rights pertaining to manhood." -- Henry McNeal Turner in his speech on the “Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia Legislature” where he stated “I Claim the Rights of a Man” (9/3/1868)
The Georgia Constitutional Convention was held on #tdih Dec. 9, 1867 with 33 African Americans and 137 whites. Turner was one of the elected representatives and delegates who was later expelled. Listen to a reading of Turner's speech by Danny Glover from Voices of a People's History of the United States http://bit.ly/N8hE0l Find resources for teaching about the true and vital history of the Reconstruction era: http://bit.ly/16wihda
Image: blackpast.org
Zinn Education Project
"You may expel us, gentlemen, but I firmly believe that you will some day repent it. The black man cannot protect a country, if the country doesn't protect him; and if, tomorrow, a war should arise, I would not raise a musket to defend a country where my manhood is denied. The fashionable way in Georgia, when hard work is to be done, is for the white man to sit at his ease while the black man does the work; but, sir, I will say this much to the colored men of Georgia, as, if I should be killed in this campaign, I may have no opportunity of telling them at any other time: Never lift a finger nor raise a hand in defense of Georgia, until Georgia acknowledges that you are men and invests you with the rights pertaining to manhood." -- Henry McNeal Turner in his speech on the “Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia Legislature” where he stated “I Claim the Rights of a Man” (9/3/1868)
The Georgia Constitutional Convention was held on #tdih Dec. 9, 1867 with 33 African Americans and 137 whites. Turner was one of the elected representatives and delegates who was later expelled. Listen to a reading of Turner's speech by Danny Glover from Voices of a People's History of the United States http://bit.ly/N8hE0l Find resources for teaching about the true and vital history of the Reconstruction era: http://bit.ly/16wihda
Image: blackpast.org
"You may expel us, gentlemen, but I firmly believe that you will some day repent it. The black man cannot protect a country, if the country doesn't protect him; and if, tomorrow, a war should arise, I would not raise a musket to defend a country where my manhood is denied. The fashionable way in Georgia, when hard work is to be done, is for the white man to sit at his ease while the black man does the work; but, sir, I will say this much to the colored men of Georgia, as, if I should be killed in this campaign, I may have no opportunity of telling them at any other time: Never lift a finger nor raise a hand in defense of Georgia, until Georgia acknowledges that you are men and invests you with the rights pertaining to manhood." -- Henry McNeal Turner in his speech on the “Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia Legislature” where he stated “I Claim the Rights of a Man” (9/3/1868)
The Georgia Constitutional Convention was held on #tdih Dec. 9, 1867 with 33 African Americans and 137 whites. Turner was one of the elected representatives and delegates who was later expelled. Listen to a reading of Turner's speech by Danny Glover from Voices of a People's History of the United States http://bit.ly/N8hE0l Find resources for teaching about the true and vital history of the Reconstruction era: http://bit.ly/16wihda
Image: blackpast.org
Zinn Education Project
"You may expel us, gentlemen, but I firmly believe that you will some day repent it. The black man cannot protect a country, if the country doesn't protect him; and if, tomorrow, a war should arise, I would not raise a musket to defend a country where my manhood is denied. The fashionable way in Georgia, when hard work is to be done, is for the white man to sit at his ease while the black man does the work; but, sir, I will say this much to the colored men of Georgia, as, if I should be killed in this campaign, I may have no opportunity of telling them at any other time: Never lift a finger nor raise a hand in defense of Georgia, until Georgia acknowledges that you are men and invests you with the rights pertaining to manhood." -- Henry McNeal Turner in his speech on the “Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia Legislature” where he stated “I Claim the Rights of a Man” (9/3/1868)
The Georgia Constitutional Convention was held on #tdih Dec. 9, 1867 with 33 African Americans and 137 whites. Turner was one of the elected representatives and delegates who was later expelled. Listen to a reading of Turner's speech by Danny Glover from Voices of a People's History of the United States http://bit.ly/N8hE0l Find resources for teaching about the true and vital history of the Reconstruction era: http://bit.ly/16wihda
Image: blackpast.org