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- Description:
- This slightly yellowed paper envelope contained a 4-page letter that was written by lawyer, D. Augustus Straker. The front of the envelope has a handwritten title, "The Present, Past and Future of the Colored Race in Detroit," on the left side and is signed "D. Augustus Straker, Attorney at Law, Detroit, Michigan." The envelope is dated, "December 31, 1900."
- Date Issued:
- 1900-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Detroit Historical Society
- Collection:
- Detroit Anniversaries
- Description:
- This 4-page letter was handwritten in black ink on slightly yellowed paper by lawyer, D. Augustus Straker. The paper has the watermark, "Riverside Paper Company." The text of the letter has been transcribed as follows: "December 31, 1900 Detroit, Michigan To the Hon. William Maybury Mayor of the City of Detroit, Mich. "The past, present, and future of the colored race in Detroit." Sir, none who have lived the allotted time of human life within the confines of our beautiful city can fail to notice the changes, and events which have marked the 19th century, and especially so as relates, to the colored race of people, living and who have lived in Detroit. The 19th century found the colored people of Detroit a race of slaves although slavery is not known ever to have had a foot hold here. The incoming of the 20th century finds every man, and woman, and child of the colored race enjoying complete freedom under the law. The 19th century found the colored race in Detroit ignorant, uneducated, poor, and unenlightened, save with few exceptions. The 20th century dawns upon us with every school door in the City of Detroit wide open, welcoming within its walls every colored as well as white child of our common citizenship, and from whose precincts have come educated and well equipped colored men and women who have filled high honor and trust. The 19th century found laws upon the statute books of our state which deprived the colored man and woman of employment of every civil, and social privilege participated in by our white fellow citizens. The 20th century finds the colored citizens of Detroit in the employment and right to go and enter every public place established for public accommodation. the 19th century found the colored race poor and in many instances homeless, because of the low wages and restricted opportunity to labor and receive adequate wages. The 20th century finds a large percent of the colored race in Detroit the owner of their residences. In the past, enough was not earned for any part to be saved. On the incoming of the 20th century a large number of our colored citizens are depositors in our savings banks and some carry a fair commercial account in the transactions of their business. The moral status of the colored race in Detroit with the advantages afforded compare most favorably with that of any other race of people similarly situated. No laws discriminate between the races on account of color. These achievement have been brought about by the pioneer energy of such veterans among the colored race as William Lambert, Ben De Baptiste, John Richards, George Parker, and others. And now as to the future of the colored race in Detroit. If we should augur from the past and present, we have the brightest expectation for the future. Two elements must enter into the future progress of the race. One by the white race and the other by the colored themselves. This element is equal opportunity. This and this only remains to test the true development of the race. In the past this was wholly desired by the colored race, in the present it is but partially employed. We look to the future for its completion. We ourselves must be ready for the wider opportunity to come. May one hundred years hence find us in the full enjoyment of those rights and privileges which prejudice now deny us. A prejudice does now exist on the fringe of the 20th century. I predict that the sunlight of a more perfect understanding of man will drive out the demon prejudice and when the 21st century arrives he will find no resting place in the beautiful city of the straits. D. Augustus Straker"
- Date Issued:
- 1900-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Detroit Historical Society
- Collection:
- Detroit Anniversaries
- Description:
- One poster entitled "The Lime Kiln Club." The poster shows a color caricature drawing of a group of African American men who are seated in a large meeting room which has the name, "Paradise Hall," shown on a sign over the door. Two men are standing in front of the group near the left side of the drawing and appear to be speaking. Another man is seated near the lower left corner and appears to be the recording secretary. A copy of "The Weekly Detroit Free Press" newspaper is resting on the floor in the foreground. Printed text beneath the title along the lower left edge shows "Copyrighted by Calvert Lith. Co., Detroit, 1882."
- Date Issued:
- 1882-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Detroit Historical Society
- Collection:
- General History
- Date Issued:
- 1985-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Critical Arts
- Description:
- This essay attempts to analyse the role and organisation of the North American delegation at the Seventh Pan African Congress held in Kampala, Uganda, from April 3-8, 1994 within the context of current political movements in the United States. Particular attention will be paid to more recent events taking place in the United States, such as the Million Man March, to elucidate the current crisis in African-American leadership. I will argue that this crisis has very real implications with regard to fostering solidarity and redefining a Pan Africanism that is shaped by the needs and aspirations of the producers who make up the overwhelming majority of the African diaspora and the continent.
- Date Issued:
- 1996-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Notes:
- Added title-page: Patty Gray's journey to the Cotton Islands. A series of books for children.
- Date Issued:
- 1870-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Eloise Ramsey Collection of Literature for Young People
- Notes:
- Letter to James Anderson, manager of the White House Plantation from George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, from Mt. Washington. The letter concerns the management of the properties, sale of livestock, and the behavior of one of the slaves.
- Date Created:
- 1806-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Notes:
- Letter from Civil War soldier Wells C. Morrill to friend E. B. Payne with an account of promotions in Co. H of the Illinois 37th Infantry, and his negative reaction to negro suffrage.
- Date Created:
- 1865-11-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Notes:
- This diary is the second of three kept by physician John Bennitt of Centreville, Michigan describing his experience as a Civil War surgeon for the 19th Michigan Infantry Regiment. The second volume (Feb. 9, 1864-Jan. 13, 1865) continues the account of his work as head of the General Hospital in McMinnville, Tennsessee, and of his Regiment's transfer to the front for the Atlanta and Savannah campaigns under Gen. Sherman. Bennitt details life in the encampments at the time of the fighting in Georgia, and his daily routine as a surgeon and physician to soldiers and civilians. The volume ends with Bennitt's trip to Cincinnati for an examination by the Army Medical Board. The last pages of the volume include cash accounts and memoranda of soldiers treated, their condition, and outcome. The volume ends on Dec. 31, 1864, but Bennitt uses the first pages of the diary for his Jan. 1-13, 1865 entries.
- Date Created:
- 1864-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
- Collection:
- Part of collection with correspondence published by Wayne State University Press, Detroit as I Hope to Do My Country Service: the Civil War letters of John Bennitt, M.D., Surgeon, 19th Michigan Infantry
- Notes:
- Receipt from William Florville (Billy the Barber), for money received from the estate of E.S. Rohly for services rendered. Florville was Abraham Lincoln's African American barber in Springfield, Ill.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Valley State University. University Libraries