Demonstration Held by Colored Citizens
From The Indianapolis News, Wednesday, January 2: A large audience was in attendance at Tomlinson Hall yesterday afternoon, under the auspices of the Interdenominational Alliance of Colored Ministers, in a significant emancipation celebration and patriotic demonstration. Attorney Robert L. Brokenburr read the Emancipation Proclamation and Mayor-elect Charles W. Jewett reviewed the past record of African Americans in the service of the United States during war-time. He related several instances in the current war, made known through French officers, of the gallant part African American soldiers have already played. Rev. Charles Sumner Williams, pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church, gave a summary of the history of African Americans in this country, dealing especially with the progress that has been made in the last half century. The commemorative gathering recalled a significant event within the memory of many African Americans at the meeting.
“Demonstration Held by Colored Citizens,” The Indianapolis News, 2 January 1918, p. 12:1
