THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO
PEOPLES OF THE WORLD
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:
I.
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.
II.
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 practised upon our women.
III.
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.
IV.
In the southern portion of the United
States of America, although citizens under the Federal Constitution, and in some states almost equal to the whties 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.
V.
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 familes are often humiliated and insulted by
drunken white men who habitually pass through the jim-crow cars going to the smoking car.
VI.
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.
VII.
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.
VIII.
In 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 and attainments of the
Black man may be.
IX
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.
X.
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.
XI.
That the many acts of injustice 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.
XII.
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 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 citizens, 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 tings racial; that all things are created and given to man as a common possession; that there
should be an equitable distribution and apportionmnet 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 believe 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 tyrannous, 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 whichhe is excluded and denied representation on account of his race or 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 are 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 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 uopn 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 on 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 determinatinon to reclaim the treasures and possession of the vast
continent of our forefathers.
16.
We believe all men should live in
peace 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 heritabe becomes
justifiable.
17.
Whereas, the lynching, by burning,
hanging or any other means, of human beings in a barbarous practice, and a shame and disgrace to civilization, and 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 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 paced in prison as a punishment
for crime by an alien race.
20.
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 preiodicals 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 pictures 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 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 travellers on land and sea by the agents and employees of railroad
and steamship companies and insist that for equal fare we receive equal privileges with travellers 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," shall be the anthen 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 governments
of the world to accept and acknowledge Negro representation 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 humane 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 people.
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 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 the 13th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty.