Extracts From History
January 9, 1904
Summary
African Americans characterize the “Negro-hating” Democratic party as satanic.
Transcription
“The task was rendered all the more difficult because there was an utter lack of cooperation with the whites on the part of educated and respectable Negroes, who persisted in making common cause with ignorance and vice, thus obstructing the work of suffrage reform on one hand and the mental and moral improvement of the Negro race on the other.”- Petersburg Index Appeal
“What else were they to do? What else would you have done? They could not separate the issues without endangering the cause for which they contended. They stood ready to support the intelligent, law-abiding white men against the ignorant and vicious as applied to white and black men, but the white men of virginia would not have it so.” --Richmond Planet
“You are entirely mistaken about this. The white people of Virginia sought the help of “colored” voters in reconstruction days against the carpetbaggers, and it was the Negroes who would have it so. In Petersburg a Democratic common council made overtures to Negro voters by putting “Negroes” on the police, and the Democratic party put Negroes on its ticket for municipal offices. The Negroes not only rejected these overtures, but ostracized and persecuted Negroes who accepted places at the hands of the Democratic party. In some instances, Negroes who voted the Democratic ticket were threatened with expulsion from their churches, and if our memory is not at fault, some were expelled. It is certain that they were ostracized socially and persecuted in business.” --Petersburg, Va, Index Appeal
Our esteemed contemporary has a good memory and for this reason we shall be pleased to refresh it along these same lines, while quoting an amusing but truthful doggerel:
“The Devil was sick
The Devil a monk would be.
The Devil was well,
The devil a monk was he.”
The Negro-hating Democratic Party of Virginia and the Southland has always been to the average colored citizen at least the image of “ His Majesty,” if not the Devil himself, and when that party after a campaign in which the Negro constituted the burden of its song and the object of its abuse was hardly ready to receive it with open arms or believe anything that it was shrewd enough to say.
We are of the opinion that the very success at the polls which gave to the Democratic Party of Petersburg the power of which the Index appeal speaks who brought about by the coalition of Negroes and white folks. Moreover, the intelligent Negroes who were put upon the police force and those who were nominated for municipal offices most assuredly voted the Democratic ticket and urged their friends to do likewise…
“What else were they to do? What else would you have done? They could not separate the issues without endangering the cause for which they contended. They stood ready to support the intelligent, law-abiding white men against the ignorant and vicious as applied to white and black men, but the white men of virginia would not have it so.” --Richmond Planet
“You are entirely mistaken about this. The white people of Virginia sought the help of “colored” voters in reconstruction days against the carpetbaggers, and it was the Negroes who would have it so. In Petersburg a Democratic common council made overtures to Negro voters by putting “Negroes” on the police, and the Democratic party put Negroes on its ticket for municipal offices. The Negroes not only rejected these overtures, but ostracized and persecuted Negroes who accepted places at the hands of the Democratic party. In some instances, Negroes who voted the Democratic ticket were threatened with expulsion from their churches, and if our memory is not at fault, some were expelled. It is certain that they were ostracized socially and persecuted in business.” --Petersburg, Va, Index Appeal
Our esteemed contemporary has a good memory and for this reason we shall be pleased to refresh it along these same lines, while quoting an amusing but truthful doggerel:
“The Devil was sick
The Devil a monk would be.
The Devil was well,
The devil a monk was he.”
The Negro-hating Democratic Party of Virginia and the Southland has always been to the average colored citizen at least the image of “ His Majesty,” if not the Devil himself, and when that party after a campaign in which the Negro constituted the burden of its song and the object of its abuse was hardly ready to receive it with open arms or believe anything that it was shrewd enough to say.
We are of the opinion that the very success at the polls which gave to the Democratic Party of Petersburg the power of which the Index appeal speaks who brought about by the coalition of Negroes and white folks. Moreover, the intelligent Negroes who were put upon the police force and those who were nominated for municipal offices most assuredly voted the Democratic ticket and urged their friends to do likewise…
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Megan Brooks
Citation
“Extracts From History,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 14, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/155.