Here in Salisbury, two prominent men are on trial by a military court, for killing a negro, and one of the wealthiest, most refined and respectable young ladies in all this section, is under twenty thousand dollars bonds to appear and answer for shooting a negro woman with her own hands.
Whitelaw Reid: “Here in Salisbury, two prominent men are on trial by a military court, for killing a negro, and one of the wealthiest…”
Editor's note · Context
Reid reports on a military trial involving prominent individuals accused of killing a Black man, illustrating the tensions in post-war justice.
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They should strive for distinction by economy, by industry, by sobriety, by patient perseverance in well-doing, by constant improvement of religious instruction, and by the constant practice of Christian virtues.
In this way they will surely overcome unjust hostility, and convince even the most prejudiced that the denial to them of any right which citizens may properly exercise is equally unwise and wrong.
Never was there a problem more serious or difficult than that which is now before the Nation, as to this race, whose destiny has been confided to the wisdom and honor of our Government.
It has proved, also, that universal suffrage is the surest guarantee and most powerful stimulus of individual, social and political progress.