Bishop Turner: Black Nationalist (1968)

[Music] the scene presented in this house today is one unparalleled in the history of the [Music] world this was a turbulent session of the Georgia state legislature in 1868 the speaker was Henry mcneel Turner speaking for 32 black fellow members because of their race they were all soon to be expelled from the legislature his speech was a passionate plea for justice the great question sir is this am I a man if I am such I claim the rights of a man we have pioneered civilization here we have built up your country we have worked in your fields for 200 150 years you have all the elements of superiority upon your side you have our money and your own you have our education and your own and you have your land and our own too you may expel us gentlemen but I firmly believe that you will someday repent it but after the next election in 1869 the black legislators were expelled from the house for good rejected again Henry Turner lost faith in America and began to dream of migrating to a black independent nation in another land Turner's youth had been remarkable although the child of free Negroes in South Carolina he had many happy times but he worked as hard in the Cotton Fields as any slave Henry persuaded friendly whites to teach him to read even though education for Negroes was forbidden by state law when he worked as an office boy in a law firm he continued his schooling with the help of several young lawyers Henry had a talent for leadership and public speaking along with his interests in history law and religion in the African Methodist Episcopal Church a large and active organization he found an outlet for his energy and talents the church was concerned with both the spiritual welfare of black people and with the social conditions under which they lived at the age of 20 Turner became a minister in 1858 he moved North to do Church work in Baltimore and Washington DC and soon after the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed by President Lincoln to be the first black chaplain in the Union Army Turner was impressed by the courage of black soldiers and deeply disturbed by the Army's discrimination against them black Volunteers 186,000 in all served for many months in segregated regiments at lower pay than their white fellow soldiers after the war Turner worked with the fredman's bureau organized for the Improvement protection and employment of refugee freedmen Turner's varied career had prepared him well for His Brilliant speech to the legislature but disappointed in his brief period in reconstruction politics and horrified by the continuing show of race hatred Turner became the spokesman of a back to Africa movement in 1878 the migration to Liberia began Liberia was an African state founded by the American Colonization Society in the 1820s the Expedition Turner said would take back back to Africa with a culture education and religion acquired here this was the keynote of his African Crusade the American dream must be transplanted to the black man's ancestral home although the migration was underway Turner stayed in the United States a bishop in the church and a leader in the colonization movement in 1883 when the Supreme Court nullify the Civil Rights Act that had been passed during Reconstruction he spoke out in anger clearly outlining his concept of black nationalism this abominable decision he said made the ballot of the black man a parody his citizenship a nullity and his freedom a burlesque it was God's will he said for black people to leave America as the Israelites had left egyp Egypt and the pilgrims had left [Music] England black men could earn respect only by proving themselves capable of founding and Manning a government of their own creation till we have black men in the seat of power respected honored feared hated and reverenced our young men will never rise for the reason they will never look up a democratic all negro nation in Africa Turner felt would give the entire black race a model for advancement for such a mission a limited number of civilized Christian Negroes perhaps a half million altogether would be needed for financial aid he appealed to Congress he estimated that the nation owed Negroes a moral debt of 40 billion for 200 years of Free Labor although Turner's plan had some appeal for thousands of poor and uneducated ex-slaves in the South few black leaders supported him chj Taylor United States minister to Liberia reported that conditions there were degrading newspaper editor Benjamin Tanner said that for Negroes to leave America would be like running from the Sun for both light and Heat Booker T Wasing urged Negroes to stay in the South educate themselves and struggle to earn the white man's respect but after a visit to Liberia in 1891 Turner wrote that the black man there feels like a Lord and walks the same way the Liberian Exodus failed because it lacked money and because most Negroes felt that America with all its race problems was still the negro's home but long after his death in 1915 Bishop Turner's ideas were a strong influence black nationalism was revived in the 1920s by Marcus Garvey who was able to attract a million followers today black nationalists are moving in different ways toward the same goal to control and shape their Destiny in their own way for many black militants to today Bishop Turner is a symbol of the black man's struggle for equality and self-respect [Music] a for