Friday, April 28, 2017

E.C. Beddingfield Explains Why North Carolina Must Settle Race Problem by Taking Vote From Negroes, 1900

Roanoke Beacon, Plymouth, N.C., April 13, 1900

One Object of the Amendment by E.C. Beddingfield

There is only one object that is desired to be obtained by this amendment and that is to cut off a portion of the ignorant negro vote and prevent a recurrence of such events as transpired during the last campaign. If I did not believe this was best for the colored race as well as my own I would oppose it, but I am fully convinced that it is best for all that it be made impossible for vicious colored men ever again to dominate Eastern North Carolina. Those who were there during the last campaign know that our people stood on the brink of a racial riot which seemed at times unavoidable, and if it had come would have been bad enough for the white race and awful in its consequences to the poor deluded negroes. Such a condition must never again occur. We must have the race problem to solve. We must face it. The responsibility is upon us. The adoption of the amendment will solve it and will settle the whole question quietly, peaceably and without one drop of bloodshed. It will be a spur to the coming generations, both white and colored, to secure an education, to improve their minds and fit themselves for citizenship. It will be a blessing to the whole people and its beneficent effects will be at once perceptible. Life and property will be safe, capital will seek investment, good government will be assured and a better feeling between the races fostered.
            --E.C. Beddingfield

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