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"An Interview Between the Colored
Ministers and Church Officers at Savannah with the Secretary
of War and Major-Gen Sherman" (January 12, 1965). Source: The New York Tribune, February 13, 1865. |
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"An Interview Between the Colored
Ministers and Church Officers at Savannah with the Secretary
of War and Major-Gen Sherman" (January 12, 1965). Source: The New York
Tribune, February 13, 1865.
The
following excerpts are taken from the testimony by Freedmen
leaders to General Sherman as quoted in The New York
Tribune, April 1, 1865.
Third: State in what manner you think you can take
care of yourselves, and how can you best assist the
Government in maintaining your freedom.
Answer: The way we can best take care of ourselves is to
have land, and turn it and till it by our own labor...we can
soon maintain ourselves and have something to spare...We
want to be placed on land until we are able to buy it and
make it our own.
Fourth: State in what manner you would rather live--whether
scattered among the whites or in colonies by yourselves.
Answer. I would prefer to live by ourselves. There is a
prejudice against us in the South that will take years to
get over; but I do not know that I can answer for my
brethren. [Mr. Lynch says he thinks they should not be
separated, but live together. All the other persons present,
being questioned one by one, answer that they agree with
Bro. Frazier.]
Fifth: Do you think that there is intelligence enough among
the slaves of the South to maintain themselves under the
Government of the United States and the equal protection of
its laws, and maintain good and peaceable relations among
yourselves and with your neighbors?
Answer. I think there is sufficient intelligence among us to
do so.
African Americans argue for land
History 122