OTD: July 15, 1853: The Colored Convention Project @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

OTD: July 13, 1871: The Colored Convention Project @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

Confrontational and Intersectional Rhetoric: Black Lives Matter and the Shutdown of the Hernando De Soto (I-40) Bridge @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

OTD: July 9, 1853: The Colored Convention Project @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

OTD: July 8, 1853: The Colored Conventions Project @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

OTD: July 7, 1853: The Colored Convention Project. @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

OK next week - we swear! A little preview in the meantime... 👀 👀 👀

Thanks for hanging with us this weekend for 180 posts on the Declaration of Independence! The Colored Conventions deeply believed in the power of saying these words aloud. We need to hear & heed them. Watch this space for grand NEW things coming this *week*!

On July 7, 1853, during the second day of the National Colored Convention in Rochester, New York, the committee on the Importance of Colored Persons Engaging in Commercial Pursuits. @ccp-org.bsky.social ther3project.substack.com/p/otd-july-7...

“The struggle between the old and the new … is no longer a simple conflict between the two sets of industrial principles … but along race lines as well. The self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence invading the old slave states, have divided the house against itself.” +

“If it is a Bill for social equality, so is the Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men have equal rights; so in the Sermon on the Mount, so is the Golden Rules, that commands us to do others as we would that others should do to us”—Frederick Douglass” +

“What benefit do we derive when men are placed in power who are in direct opposition to their execution? But to whom are we indebted for the rights we enjoy?”—Frederick Douglass” — 1872 National Convention of Colored People, New Orleans, LA omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/544

“We have our thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the constitution, but that does not cover all the ground necessary to secure civil rights.”—Frederick Douglass” — 1872 National Convention of Colored People, New Orleans, LA omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/544

“We have had the rights of American citizens since the year 1776. The Declaration of Independence gave us that right, for it says "all men were born free and equal."—Frederick Douglass” — 1872 National Convention of Colored People, New Orleans, LA omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/544

“To this end, I invoke the spirit of our civilization; to this end, I invoke the sentiments of humanity; to this end, I invoke the spirit which inspired the Declaration of Independence; to this end, I invoke those divine sentiments” +

“For the staunch and hearty recognition of the principle laid down in the Declaration of Independence—that "all men are created equal"—and that the thanks of the colored people are due to the press of the country generally, so far as they endorse the same principles.” +

“In that great declaration of human rights proclaimed when our Republic was born…it was avowed that all governments derived their just powers from the consent of the governed.” +

“We presented ourselves to the world in general, and to Great Britain in particular, as one people—not as States, nor as colonies, but as one united people” — National Convention of the Colored Men of America, January 13, 14, 15, and 16, Washington, DC omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/452

“Now the question is, when did this nation begin to be? I assert, and am safe in asserting, that the first breath of life it ever drew was the Declaration of Independence” +

“We should determine and insist upon it that a "republican form of government" is one deriving its powers from the consent of the governed—one in which taxation is the correlative of the right to be represented” +

“These grievances belie the Declaration of Independence by which the American people profess to be governed.” — National Convention of the Colored Men of America, January 13, 14, 15, and 16, Washington, DC omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/452

“Resolved, that we, the colored people … do recommend that said day be observed throughout this land as a proper time to celebrate the practical carrying out of the great principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence.” +

“The Great Proclamation whereby that deed of righteousness was accomplished fitly echoed and supplemented the Declaration of Independence. It became, at once, a new Magna Charter to the enthralled of the land.” +

“Being men, we claim to be of that number comprehended in the Declaration of Independence, and who are entitled not only to life, but to equal rights in the pursuit and securing of happiness and in the choice of those who are to rule over us.” +

“The wise men who established this republic did not hold any such doctrine; and if they did entertain such sentiments at all, they were wise enough, and careful enough, in the performance of the grand and noble work that fell to their lot, to rise above their prejudices” +

“[The founders gave the] Declaration of Independence, and a Constitution for the United States, without a trace of such a weakness, without the stain of such an iniquity, that know no white man, no black man; but embrace in their God-like fold "ALL MEN," and are for the "PEOPLE.” +

OTD: July 6, 1853: The Colored Convention Project. @ccp-org.bsky.social #America250 open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

“Had assembled to… organize to labor, unitedly and successfully, to improve their condition, and secure for them those rights which the Declaration of Independence declares to be unalienable.” +

“Men who but a few months before were slaves, having to use a phrase of politicians, 'no rights which white men were bound to respect,' had assembled to discuss and make known the condition of their people” +

“Inhabitants of this country were oppressed by the Government of Great Britain, and ...they declared war against the mother country, and, presenting to the world the Declaration of Independence, fought to establish the truths therein contained.” +

“Mr. Day spoke at length of the credit thus gained for a race, and then dwelt upon the other grounds or claims upon which colored men rested their claim to the elective franchise or impartial suffrage, referring to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, etc.” +

“We have come to ask that our white fellow-citizens may act as though they believed in their own Declaration of Independence, and especially in its assertion, that all men are equal.” +

“We ask it in the name of the Declaration of Independence, which declares all men to be free and equal born, and "endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” +

“We do not ask them to go outside the great charter of American liberty—the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence—but rather that they should strictly conform to the letter and spirit of those time-honored documents.” +

“We, the colored citizens of South Carolina and of these United States of America, justly claim such rights as are set forth in the above Declaration.” — 1865 South Carolina State Convention of Colored People, Charleston, SC omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/570

“It is said "that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among those rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That the phrase "all men" includes the negro no one will attempt to deny.” +

“In making this appeal to you, we adopt the language of the immortal Declaration of Independence, "that all men are created equal," and that "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are the right of all; … that governments are to protect, not to destroy the rights of mankind” +

“He spoke of impartial suffrage and advocated the right of colored man to the elective franchise, because it is just, and because the Declaration of Independence sets forth that "all men are created equal” +

“All are entitled to equal privileges or "inalienable rights" with which they "are endowed by their Creator," and "among those rights … are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” — 1865 California State Convention of Colored Citizens, Sacramento, CA omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/268

OTD: July 3, 1857: The Colored Convention Project #America250 @ccp-org.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

OTD: July 2, 1883: The Colored Convention Project #America250 @ccp-org.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ther3pro...

“The Declaration of Independence, the great charter or bill of rights of our government, on which is based our National Constitution and all the laws of our country says "all men are created equal” +

“This is the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence; if this sentiment is wrong, why do not the American people blot it from their political creed? If it is right, then we appeal for our natural right to “Equality before the Law.” +

“To secure these rights equally to all men, "Governments are established among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” — 1865 California State Convention of Colored Citizens, Sacramento, CA omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/268

“[The] declaration sets forth that "All men are created equal" in human rights, or have the same natural rights, which man cannot justly invade or take away” — 1865 California State Convention of Colored Citizens, Sacramento, CA omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/268

“We appeal to them upon the principle of man's natural equal rights, as vindicated and set forth in the "Declaration of American Independence” — 1865 California State Convention of Colored Citizens, Sacramento, CA omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/268

“We hail the event with joy and thanksgiving, as turning a bright page in the history of progressive civilization, a triumph of just principles, a practical assertion of the fundamental truths laid down in the great charter of Republican liberty, the Declaration of Independence.” +

“The framers of the Constitution and originators and signers of the Declaration of Independence never contemplated otherwise than a perfect equality before the law to all the inhabitants of the Government.” +

“We claim, then, as citizens of this State, the laws of the Commonwealth shall give to all men equal protection; that each and every man may appeal to the law for his equal rights without regard to the color of his skin” +

“Our right to live here is as good as the white man's, and is incorporated in the Declaration of Independence"—William Wells Brown” — 1859 New England Regional Convention of Colored Citizens, Boston, MA omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/269