been soberly and wisely considered. The question assumed prominence in the Syracuse convention by the attacks and jeers of some evil designing white men. It was in this convention that Hon. Frederick Douglass answered with telling effect some whites, who, after noticing the Afro-Americans passing to and from the hall, sarcastically asked—"Where are those d——d niggers going?"
At this convention the business committee, through its chairman, Rev. Henry Highland Garnett, D. D., reported "A Declaration of Wrongs and Rights;" these were nothing more than a parcel of resolutions introduced and passed. This precedent, once established, was devoutly clung to until 1887, when something tangible was laid before the Afro-Americans all over the country for their consideration and sanction.
Heretofore, resolutions had been introduced in convention after convention, and passed several national and state conventions, setting forth our needs, etc. These resolutions introduced and passed were delivered by delegation to the president and members of Congress, who gave them the following words of assurance: "Gentlemen, we appreciate your position; your case shall have proper consideration." This said, we heard no more.
This state of affairs the black newspaper fraternity decided could not longer exist; accordingly they began to think profoundly, and soon one of the number, Editor T. Thomas Fortune, aroused from his revery and brought from its depths the Afro-American League.
In The New York Freeman of August and September, 1887, Mr. Fortune published a series of articles, stating the cause for organization, the manner of organization, and the results sure to attend its efforts, if properly managed. These articles were considered the ablest treatise on the condition and remedy for race recognition ever published by a black
