HomeMy WebLinkAboutFormer Slave Speaks Out about Confederate MonumentsFormer Slave Speaks Out on the Issue of Confederate Monuments
In 1890 the Mississippi House of Representatives was about to vote on a bill to appropriate
$10,000 to complete the Confederate Monument on the grounds of the State Capitol. During the
debate on the bill, Representative John F. Harris, a Republican representing Washington County,
and a former slave, rose to speak his piece. Here are his words:
"Mr. Speaker! I have arisen here in my place to offer a few words on the bill. I have come from a
sick bed, and was forced to struggle up here leaning on the arm of a friend. I stand here in
considerable pain. Perhaps it was not prudent for me to come.
But, Sir, I could not rest quietly in my room, sick though I am, and allow this discussion to pass
without contributing to it a few remarks of my own.
I was sorry to hear the speech of the young gentleman from Marshall County. I am sorry that any
son of a soldier should go on record as opposed to the erection of a monument in honor of the
brave dead. And, sir, I am convinced that had he seen what I saw at Seven Pines and in the seven
days' fighting around Richmond, the battle fields covered with the mangled forms of those who
fought for their country and their country's honor, he would not have made that speech. When the
news came that the South was to be invaded, those men went forth to fight for what they
believed, and they made no requests for monuments to commemorate their brave deeds and holy
sacrifices. But they died, and their virtues should be remembered.
Sir, I went with them. I, too, wore the gray, the same color that my master wore. We stayed four
long years, and if that sad war had gone on till now I would have been there yet. I know what it
all meant, and understand the meaning of my words when I say that I would have been with my
countrymen still had the war continued until this good day.
I want to honor those brave men who died for their convictions. When my mother died I was a
boy, *%D, Sir, then acted the part of a mother to the orphaned slave boy but my `old missusT
Were she living now, or could she speak to me from those high realms where are gathered the
sainted dead, she 1W *0 me to vote for this bill. And, sir, I shall vote for it. I want it known to
all the world thatlnyWfe is given in favor of the bill to erect a monument in honor of the brave
Confederate dead."
Secondary source: p. 3297, For Dixie Land I'll Take My Stand! By H. Grady Howell, Jr.
(Carnegie History Center, Bryan, Texas).
Primary source: The Jackson ?? Clarion- Ledger, February 23, 1890. (Not found).