Equality Under the Law
February 17, 1906
Summary
A speech fights for equality under the law claiming that “oppression had never righted a wrong or solved a problem.”
Transcription
Equality before the law
In dealing with the broad platform of American institution there is no North no South no East no West, no credal schism or chromatic scheme of color; but the Constitution and the law is in all and above all. (Applause) What profit is it for a nation to gain the whole world and lose its own liberty? Oppression has never righted a wrong or solved a problem in the history of human experience. Equality before the law and behind the law is the surer solvent for all the complexities of this vexed and tangles problem. (applause)
Whatever may have been the shortcomings of the reconstruction governments due in the large part to unsettled conditions of the times, they changed the policy of the South from an oligarchy into a democracy and gave to it the free public schools for all the children, which is the most enlightened and far reaching measure of statesmanship that has ever blessed that fair section.
Again they tell us that the Negro should not be entrusted with the full privilege and opportunity of American citizenship, because he does not appreciate the importance of the prerogative. And yet experience shows that the black man has advocated with voice and vote the wisest men and measures that have ever been brought before the American people from the time of her enfranchisement of the present hour. (Applause)
In dealing with the broad platform of American institution there is no North no South no East no West, no credal schism or chromatic scheme of color; but the Constitution and the law is in all and above all. (Applause) What profit is it for a nation to gain the whole world and lose its own liberty? Oppression has never righted a wrong or solved a problem in the history of human experience. Equality before the law and behind the law is the surer solvent for all the complexities of this vexed and tangles problem. (applause)
Whatever may have been the shortcomings of the reconstruction governments due in the large part to unsettled conditions of the times, they changed the policy of the South from an oligarchy into a democracy and gave to it the free public schools for all the children, which is the most enlightened and far reaching measure of statesmanship that has ever blessed that fair section.
Again they tell us that the Negro should not be entrusted with the full privilege and opportunity of American citizenship, because he does not appreciate the importance of the prerogative. And yet experience shows that the black man has advocated with voice and vote the wisest men and measures that have ever been brought before the American people from the time of her enfranchisement of the present hour. (Applause)
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Lower Right Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Emma Roberts
Citation
“Equality Under the Law,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 14, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/383.