Alfred m green biography 1861 speech
The speech given by Alfred M. Green in Philadelphia in April contains a dynamic and potent message calling African Americans to enlist in the Union Army.
Alfred M. Green discusses the concept of slavery and freedom in regard to the enlistments of African Americans in the Northern military regiments....
Alfred M. Green, Let Us Take Up the Sword (1861)
Alfred M.
Green was an African American schoolteacher working in Philadelphia during the Civil War.
Let Us Take Up the Sword
In the following speech, delivered at a meeting of African Americans in Philadelphia in April 1861 (the first month of the Civil War), Green urges blacks to join the Union army and fight to abolish slavery in America.
The time has arrived in the history of the great Republic when we may again give evidence to the world of the bravery and patriotism of a race in whose hearts burns the love of country, of freedom, and of civil and religious toleration.
It is these grand principles that enable men, however proscribed, when possessed of true patriotism, to say, “My country, right or wrong, I love thee still!”
It is true, the brave deeds of our fathers, sworn and subscribed to by the immortal Washington of the Revolution of 1776, and by Jackson and others in the War of 1812, have failed to bring us i