It also argued that whites would only take advantage of
the Afro-American, and that the separation of the two races was the
only solution. The participants at the Bethel meeting contended that
this propaganda tended to justify racial discrimination.
The claim was also made that the removal of freedmen from America
would only serve to make the slave system more secure, and they
pledged themselves never to abandon their slave brothers. Besides,
while they were African by heritage, they had been born in America,
and it was now their home. Most of the fifteen thousand who did
return to Africa were slaves who had been freed for this purpose, and
the project was acknowledged to be a failure. The Society's own
propaganda contributed to the alienation of many freedmen. One of its
own leaders admitted that lacks could read and hear and, when they
were spoken of as a nuisance to be banished, they reacted negatively
like men.
Widespread racial prejudice, besides creating racial
discrimination, resulted in oppressive legislation. In 1810 Congress
excluded Afro-Americans from carrying the mail.
Pages:
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125