Keywords: A Tribute For The Negro, Wilson Armistead, Black History
A Tribute for the Negro: Being a Vindication of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious Capabilities of the Coloured Portion of Mankind; with Particular Reference to the African Race: by Wilson Armistead
In reviewing the history of mankind, we may observe, that very
soon after the creation of our first parents in innocence and
happiness, sin and misery entered into the world. The evils of life
commenced in the earliest ages, and subsequent history and
experience testify, that in all their variety of form and character
they have continued to exist in every successive generation to the
present time.
To combat these evils, by endeavouring to effect their removal or
correction, is the most pleasing and useful occupation in which we
can engage ourselves. Providence has wisely instituted, in every
age and in every country, a counteracting energy to diminish the
crimes and miseries of mankind, which the influences of
Christianity have increased, by unfolding to it the widest possible
domain. "At her command, wherever she has been fully
acknowledged, many of the evils of life have already fled. The
prisoner of war is no longer led into the amphitheatre to become a
gladiator, and to imbrue his hands in the blood of his
fellow-captive, for the sport of a thoughtless multitude. The stern
priest, cruel through fanaticism and custom, no longer leads his
fellow-creature to the altar, to sacrifice him to fictitious gods. The
venerable martyr, courageous through faith and the sanctity of his
life, is no longer hurried to the flames. The haggard witch, poring
over her incantations by moonlight, no longer scatters her
superstitious poison amongst her miserable neighbors, nor suffers
