Memorial of the Colored People of Georgia in Favor of the Sumner Civil Rights Bill

This petition was sent to Congress by a committee "appointed at a mass meeting of the colored citizens of the city of Atlanta, Ga....with power to forward on the [feelings] of eleven thousand of colored citizens of [Atlanta]." They dispute the Georgia Legislature's previous resolutions informing the U.S. Congress "that the colored people of Georgia do not desire the passage of [the] Civil Rights Bill," and instead ask Congress to "speedily pass" it.

Transcript

Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 26th, 1874.

Whereas, Hon. A. H. Stephens in his speech before Congress, January 5th, 1874, said that colored people of the State of Georgia did not desire the passage of the Civil Rights Bill; and whereas, the Georgia Legislature has also adopted resolutions, informing the Congress of the United States that the colored people of Georgia do not desire the passage of said Civil Rights Bill; and whereas, the allegations of Mr. Stephens and the Georgia Legislature are without foundation in fact: therefore,

Resolved, That we, a portion of the colored citizens of Georgia, do most solemnly deny, both the speech of A. H. Stephens, and said Resolutions of the Georgia Legislature, so far as they relate to the colored citizens of this State being adverse to the passage of said Civil Rights Bill.

Therefore, Resolved, That some arrangement be made by this meeting to deny the fact of the said assertions of Mr. Stephens, and the Georgia Legislature.

2. Resolved, That we, the citizens of the city of Atlanta, Ga., immediately inform the Congress of the United States, that we desire a speedy passage of the said Civil Rights Bill; and that we claim it as a right they owe us, as members of the Republican Party, and more particularly as citizens of the United States.

3. Resolved, That we most heartedly congratulate and thank Mr. Elliott, for his able and pointed speech, January 6th, 1874, in the House of Representatives of the United States, in behalf of the passage of the Civil Rights Bill, and in vindicating the ability and patriotism of the colored citizens of this country.

Respectfully, J. O. WIMBISH
W. D. MOORE, SECRETARY,
J. B. FULLER, CHAIRMAN.

Therefore, We, a committee appointed at a mass meeting of the colored citizens of the city of Atlanta, Ga., held on the 26th day of January, 1874, with power to forward on the above expression of eleven thousand of colored citizens of this City, do make this

PETITION:

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives:

We, the undersigned committee, do hereby respectfully petition your honorable bodies to speedily pass the Civil Rights Bill, now under consideration in Congress, as the earnest request of the above stated citizens; wit hthe further request that your honorable bodies will, in view of the unjust manner in which we are now treated by the Legislature and the judicial tribunals in this State, enact such laws as, in your wisdom, are necessary to secure each citizen in the United States, without regard to race, color, or previous condition of servitude, equal civil and political rights, privileges and immunities before the law.

And we your petitioners will ever pray.

Dr. H. E. BAULDIN
REV. ROMULUS MOORE
C. WIMBISH
C. H. MORGAN
JAS. A. TATE.
[label outside bracket] Committee.

We, the undersigned, members of the Georgia Legislature, fully endorse the above Resolutions and Petitions:

T. G. CAMPBELL, SR. Ex. Senator 2d District.
T. G. CAMPBELL, JR., Representative of McIntosh Co.
I. H. ANDERSON, Senator 23d District.
JASPER BATTLE, Representative of Thomas Co.
A. J. NICHOLSON, Representative of Decatur Co.
J. HEARD, Representative of Greene Co.
JAMES B DEVEAUX, Senator 21st District.
JAMES BLUE, Representative of Glynn Co.
A. J. ATKINSON, Representative of Thomas Co.
W. A. GOLDEN, Representative of Liberty Co.