LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the visit
of Frederick Douglass and the National Convention of Colored Citizens of
the United States to the City of Syracuse, New York, to be celebrated
during Black History Month 2014

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to recognize important
events which remind us of the rich and diverse heritage of our great
State and Nation; and
WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its long-
standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to commem-
orate the 150th Anniversary of the visit of Frederick Douglass and the
National Convention of Colored Citizens of the United States to the City
of Syracuse, New York, to be celebrated during Black History Month 2014,
in Syracuse, New York; and
WHEREAS, On October 4-7, 1864, the National Convention of Colored
Citizens of the United States met in Syracuse, New York, to discuss the
state of the ex-slave post the Civil War; abolitionist and former slave
Frederick Douglass was then President of the organization; and
WHEREAS, The National Convention of Colored Citizens of the United
States' meeting in Syracuse drew delegates from all over the country;
the historic gathering was arguably the largest event related to Afri-
can-Americans' quest for freedom and justice to ever take place in the
city; and
WHEREAS, During the National Convention of Colored Citizens of the
United States' visit to Syracuse, a document modeled after the Declara-
tion of Independence entitled "Declaration of Rights and Wrongs" was
created, read, and subsequently submitted to and accepted by the United
States Congress; and
WHEREAS, 150 years later, the Declaration of Rights and Wrongs is
still relevant today in many ways; and
WHEREAS, In recognition of the significance of this historic event,
this Legislative Body is moved to record the powerful and evocative
words of Frederick Douglass and the National Convention of Colored Citi-
zens of the United States in their Declaration:
"Declarations of Rights and Wrongs
1. As a branch of the human family, we have for long ages been deeply
and cruelly wronged by individuals whose might constituted their right;
we have been subdued, secretly by the power of ideas, and openly by
brute force, and have been unjustly deprived not only of many of our
natural rights, but systematically debarred the privileges, opportu-
nities and advantages freely accorded to other men.
2. We have been made to suffer well-nigh every cruelty and indignity
possible to be heaped upon human beings; and often times for no fault of
our own. We have been manipulated and conditioned via economic, poli-
tical, social, intellectual, biological, emotional and physical warfare,
which has been inflicted upon our people by others fueled by fear and
ignorance and, veiled by position and color of law.
3. We have been taunted by a passive-aggressiveness that suggests our
inferiority and by agencies whose statute-books contained laws inflict-
ing the severest penalties for the exercising of rights assured by our
Constitution and our God; in the past we have been denounced as incur-
ably ignorant and today as incurably violent, and, at the same time,
have been, through subtle manipulations, debarred from taking even the
first step toward self-enlightenment and personal and national
elevation; we have been declared incapable of self-government by those
who refused us the right of experiment in that direction, and we have
been deemed unpatriotic when expressing disdain by men and women who

refused to level the playing field in a way that would provide honest
equal opportunity, causing one to truly be proud to be an American.
4. As a people, we have been denied the ownership of our lives, our
bodies, homes, children, and the products of our own labor; we have been
compelled, under threats of arrest and acts of violence, to submit to
wrongs deeper and darker than the earth ever witnessed in the case of
any other people; we have been forced to silence and inaction in full
presence of the infernal spectacle of our sons groaning under the baton,
our daughters fondled, our wives violated, and our properties vandal-
ized, damaged and destroyed, while we ourselves have been led to the
courts in shackles reminiscent of slave markets and sold under the laws
of the Uniform Commercial Code to the highest bidder.
5. When the nation in her trial hour called her sable sons to arms, we
gladly went to fight her battles: but were denied the pay accorded to
others, until public opinion demanded it; and then it was tardily grant-
ed and today for our veterans shamefully, it remains the same. We have
fought and conquered, but have been denied the laurels of victory. We
have fought where victory gave us no glory and where captivity meant
cool murder on the field, by gunfire or explosion; and yet no black man
ever flinched.
6. We are taxed, but denied the right of representation. We are prac-
tically debarred the right of trial by jury; and institutions of learn-
ing which we help to support are cultural biased and economically closed
against us.
We submit to the American people and world the following Declaration
of our Rights, asking a calm reconsideration thereof:
1st. We declare that all men are born free and truly equal; that no
man or government through colorable law has a right to annul, repeal,
abrogate, contravene, or render inoperative, this fundamental principle,
except it be for crime; therefore we demand the immediate and uncondi-
tional elimination of any attempts of suppression acted upon the people
of urban communities around these United States.
2nd. That, as natives of American soil, we claim the rights of all
others who occupy said soil: and that any attempt to deprive, remove,
eliminate, or compromise our rights in any way is against the will of
the people, and therefore unjust; for here were we born, for this coun-
try our fathers and our brothers have fought, and here we intend to
remain in the full enjoyment of enfranchised manhood, and its dignities.
3rd. That, as citizens of a Republican form of Government, we are able
to enact our rights. We claim that we are, by right, entitled to
.SO DOC A R828 RESO TEXT 2013
respect; that due attention should be given to our needs; that proper
rewards should be given for our services, and that the immunities and
privileges of all other citizens and defenders of the nation's honor
should be conceded to us. We claim the right to be heard in the halls of
Congress; and we claim our fair share of the public domain, whether
acquired by purchase, deed, patent, or judgment.
4th. That, emerging as we are from the long night of gloom and sorrow,
we are entitled to, and claim, the sympathy and aid of the entire inter-
national community; and we invoke the considerate aid of mankind in this
crisis of our history, and in this hour of continued sacrifice, suffer-
ing, and trial.
Those are our wrongs; these, a portion of what we deem to be our
rights as men, as patriots, as citizens, and as children of the common
Father. To realize and attain these rights, and their practical recog-
nition, is our purpose. We confide our cause to the universal and just
God, whose benign aid we solemnly invoke. To him we appeal."; and

WHEREAS, The October 1864 visit of the National Convention of Colored
Citizens of the United States occurred while the American Civil War was
still being fought; and
WHEREAS, The bravery, and the willingness of Frederick Douglass and
the delegates at the National Convention of Colored Citizens of the
United States to raise their collective voices in a call for liberty,
and fight for the well-being of future generations, is deserving of the
highest honor by all defenders of freedom and democracy; now, therefore,
be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the visit of Frederick Douglass and
the National Convention of Colored Citizens of the United States to the
City of Syracuse, New York; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the City of Syracuse, New York.