Declaration
of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World
The
Principles of the Universal Negro Improvement Association
New York, August 13, 1920.
Preamble
Be
It Resolved, That the Negro people of the world, through their chosen
representatives in convention assembled in Liberty Hall, in the City of
New York and United States of America, from August 1 to August 31, in
the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty, protest against
the wrongs and injustices they are suffering at the hands of their white
brethren, and state what they deem their fair and just rights, as well
as the treatment they propose to demand of all men in the future.
We
complain:
1.
That nowhere in the world, with few exceptions, are black men accorded
equal treatment with white men, although in the same situation and circumstances,
but, on the contrary, are discriminated against and denied the common
rights due to human beings for no other reason than their race and color.
We
are not willingly accepted as guests in the public hotels and inns of
the world for no other reason than our race and color.
2.
In certain parts of the United States of America our race is denied the
right of public trial accorded to other races when accused of crime, but
are lynched and burned by mobs, and such brutal and inhuman treatment
is even practiced upon our women.
3.
That European nations have parcelled out among them and taken possession
of nearly all of the continent of Africa, and the natives are compelled
to surrender their lands to aliens and are treated in most instances like
slaves.
4.
In the southern portion of the United States of America, although citizens
under the Federal Constitution, and in some States almost equal to the
whites in population and are qualified land owners and taxpayers, we are,
nevertheless, denied all voice in the making and administration of the
laws and are taxed without representation by the State governments, and
at the same time compelled to do military service in defense of the country.
5.
On the public conveyances and common carriers in the southern portion
of the United States we are jim-crowed and compelled to accept separate
and inferior accommodations and made to pay the same fare charged for
first-class accommodations, and our families are often humiliated and
insulted by drunken white men who habitually pass through the jim-crow
cars going to the smoking car.
6.
The physicians of our race are denied the right to attend their patients
while in the public hospitals of the cities and States where they reside
in certain parts of the United States.
Our
children are forced to attend inferior separate schools for shorter terms
than white children, and the public school funds are unequally divided
between the white and colored schools.
7.
We are discriminated against and denied an equal chance to earn wages
for the support of our families, and in many instances are refused admission
into labor unions and nearly everywhere are paid smaller wages than white
men.
8.
In the Civil Service and departmental offices we are everywhere discriminated
against and made to feel that to be a black man in Europe, America and
the West Indies is equivalent to being an outcast and a leper among the
races of men, no matter what the character attainments of the black men
may be.
9.
In the British and other West Indian islands and colonies Negroes are
secretly and cunningly discriminated against and denied those fuller rights
of government to which white citizens are appointed, nominated and elected.
10.
That our people in those parts are forced to work for lower wages than
the average standard of white men and are kept in conditions repugnant
to good civilized tastes and customs.
11.
That the many acts of injustices against members of our race before the
courts of law in the respective islands and colonies are of such nature
as to create disgust and disrespect for the white man’s sense of justice.
12.
Against all such inhuman, unchristian and uncivilized treatment we here
and now emphatically protest, and invoke the condemnation of all mankind.
In
order to encourage our race all over the world and to stimulate it to
overcome the handicaps and difficulties surrounding it, and to push forward
to a higher and grander destiny, we demand and insist on the following
Declaration of Rights:
1.
Be it known to all men that whereas all men are created equal and entitled
to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and because
of this we, the duly elected representatives of the Negro peoples of the
world, invoking the aid of the just and Almighty God, do declare all men,
women and children of our blood throughout the world free denizens, and
do claim them as free citizens of Africa, the Motherland of all Negroes.
2.
That we believe in the supreme authority of our race in all things racial;
that all things are created and given to man as a common possession; that
there should be an equitable distribution and apportionment of all such
things, and in consideration of the fact that as a race we are now deprived
of those things that are morally and legally ours, we believed it right
that all such things should be acquired and held by whatsoever means possible.
3.
That we believe the Negro, like any other race, should be governed by
the ethics of civilization, and therefore should not be deprived of any
of those rights or privileges common to other human beings.
4.
We declare that Negroes, wheresoever they form a community among themselves
should be given the right to elect their own representatives to represent
them in Legislatures, courts of law, or such institutions as may exercise
control over that particular community.
5.
We assert that the Negro is entitled to even-handed justice before all
courts of law and equity in whatever country he may be found, and when
this is denied him on account of his race or color such denial is an insult
to the race as a whole and should be resented by the entire body of Negroes.
6.
We declare it unfair and prejudicial to the rights of Negroes in communities
where they exist in considerable numbers to be tried by a judge and jury
composed entirely of an alien race, but in all such cases members of our
race are entitled to representation on the jury.
7.
We believe that any law or practice that tends to deprive any African
of his land or the privileges of free citizenship within his country is
unjust and immoral, and no native should respect any such law or practice.
8.
We declare taxation without representation unjust and tyran[n]ous, and
there should be no obligation on the part of the Negro to obey the levy
of a tax by any law-making body from which he is excluded and denied representation
on account of his race and color.
9.
We believe that any law especially directed against the Negro to his detriment
and singling him out because of his race or color is unfair and immoral,
and should not be respected.
10.
We believe all men entitled to common human respect and that our race
should in no way tolerate any insults that may be interpreted to mean
disrespect to our race or color.
11.
We deprecate the use of the term “nigger” as applied to Negroes, and demand
that the word “Negro” be written with a capital “N.”
12.
We believe that the Negro should adopt every means to protect himself
against barbarous practices inflicted upon him because of color.
13.
We believe in the freedom of Africa for the Negro people of the world,
and by the principle of Europe for the Europeans and Asia for the Asiatics,
we also demand Africa for the Africans at home and abroad.
14.
We believe in the inherent right of the Negro to possess himself of Africa
and that his possession of same shall not be regarded as an infringement
of any claim or purchase made by any race or nation.
15.
We strongly condemn the cupidity of those nations of the world who, by
open aggression or secret schemes, have seized the territories and inexhaustible
natural wealth of Africa, and we place on record our most solemn determination
to reclaim the treasures and possession of the vast continent of our forefathers.
16.
We believe all men should live in peace one with the other, but when races
and nations provoke the ire of other races and nations by attempting to
infringe upon their rights[,] war becomes inevitable, and the attempt
in any way to free one’s self or protect one’s rights or heritage becomes
justifiable.
17.
Whereas the lynching, by burning, hanging or any other means, of human
beings is a barbarous practice and a shame and disgrace to civilization,
we therefore declare any country guilty of such atrocities outside the
pale of civilization.
18.
We protest against the atrocious crime of whipping, flogging and overworking
of the native tribes of Africa and Negroes everywhere. These are methods
that should be abolished and all means should be taken to prevent a continuance
of such brutal practices.
19.
We protest against the atrocious practice of shaving the heads of Africans,
especially of African women or individuals of Negro blood, when placed
in prison as a punishment for crime by an alien race.
10.
We protest against segregated districts, separate public conveyances,
industrial discrimination, lynchings and limitations of political privileges
of any Negro citizen in any part of the world on account of race, color
or creed, and will exert our full influence and power against all such.
21.
We protest against any punishment inflicted upon a Negro with severity,
as against lighter punishment inflicted upon another of an alien race
for like offense, as an act of prejudice and injustice, and should be
resented by the entire race.
22.
We protest against the system of education in any country where Negroes
are denied the same privileges and advantages as other races.
23.
We declare it inhuman and unfair to boycott Negroes from industries and
labor in any part of the world.
24.
We believe in the doctrine of the freedom of the press, and we therefore
emphatically protest against the suppression of Negro newspapers and periodicals
in various parts of the world, and call upon Negroes everywhere to employ
all available means to prevent such suppression.
25.
We further demand free speech universally for all men.
26.
We hereby protest against the publication of scandalous and inflammatory
articles by an alien press tending to create racial strife and the exhibition
of picture films showing the Negro as a cannibal.
27.
We believe in the self-determination of all peoples.
28.
We declare for the freedom of religious worship.
29.
With the help of Almighty God we declare ourselves the sworn protectors
of the honor and virtue of our women and children, and pledge our lives
for their protection and defense everywhere and under all circumstances
from wrongs and outrages.
30.
We demand the right of an unlimited and unprejudiced education for ourselves
and our posterity forever[.]
31.
We declare that the teaching in any school by alien teachers to our boys
and girls, that the alien race is superior to the Negro race, is an insult
to the Negro people of the world.
32.
Where Negroes form a part of the citizenry of any country, and pass the
civil service examination of such country, we declare them entitled to
the same consideration as other citizens as to appointments in such civil
service.
33.
We vigorously protest against the increasingly unfair and unjust treatment
accorded Negro travelers on land and sea by the agents and employee of
railroad and steamship companies, and insist that for equal fare we receive
equal privileges with travelers of other races.
34.
We declare it unjust for any country, State or nation to enact laws tending
to hinder and obstruct the free immigration of Negroes on account of their
race and color.
35.
That the right of the Negro to travel unmolested throughout the world
be not abridged by any person or persons, and all Negroes are called upon
to give aid to a fellow Negro when thus molested.
36.
We declare that all Negroes are entitled to the same right to travel over
the world as other men.
37.
We hereby demand that the governments of the world recognize our leader
and his representatives chosen by the race to look after the welfare of
our people under such governments.
38.
We demand complete control of our social institutions without interference
by any alien race or races.
39.
That the colors, Red, Black and Green, be the colors of the Negro race.
40.
Resolved, That the anthem “Ethiopia, Thou Land of Our Fathers etc.,” shall
be the anthem of the Negro race. . . .
41.
We believe that any limited liberty which deprives one of the complete
rights and prerogatives of full citizenship is but a modified form of
slavery.
42.
We declare it an injustice to our people and a serious Impediment to the
health of the race to deny to competent licensed Negro physicians the
right to practice in the public hospitals of the communities in which
they reside, for no other reason than their race and color.
43.
We call upon the various government[s] of the world to accept and acknowledge
Negro representatives who shall be sent to the said governments to represent
the general welfare of the Negro peoples of the world.
44.
We deplore and protest against the practice of confining juvenile prisoners
in prisons with adults, and we recommend that such youthful prisoners
be taught gainful trades under human[e] supervision.
45.
Be it further resolved, That we as a race of people declare the League
of Nations null and void as far as the Negro is concerned, in that it
seeks to deprive Negroes of their liberty.
46.
We demand of all men to do unto us as we would do unto them, in the name
of justice; and we cheerfully accord to all men all the rights we claim
herein for ourselves.
47.
We declare that no Negro shall engage himself in battle for an alien race
without first obtaining the consent of the leader of the Negro people
of the world, except in a matter of national self-defense.
48.
We protest against the practice of drafting Negroes and sending them to
war with alien forces without proper training, and demand in all cases
that Negro soldiers be given the same training as the aliens.
49.
We demand that instructions given Negro children in schools include the
subject of “Negro History,” to their benefit.
50.
We demand a free and unfettered commercial intercourse with all the Negro
people of the world.
51.
We declare for the absolute freedom of the seas for all peoples.
52.
We demand that our duly accredited representatives be given proper recognition
in all leagues, conferences, conventions or courts of international arbitration
wherever human rights are discussed.
53.
We proclaim the 31st day of August of each year to be an international
holiday to be observed by all Negroes.
54.
We want all men to know that we shall maintain and contend for the freedom
and equality of every man, woman and child of our race, with our lives,
our fortunes and our sacred honor.
These
rights we believe to be justly ours and proper for the protection of the
Negro race at large, and because of this belief we, on behalf of the four
hundred million Negroes of the world, do pledge herein the sacred blood
of the race in defense, and we hereby subscribe our names as a guarantee
of the truthfulness and faithfulness hereof, in the presence of Almighty
God, on this 13th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand
nine hundred and twenty. |
