SAN FRANCISCO, May 30, 1854.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS: DEAR SIR:—Pur
suant to notice, a public meeting of the col
ored citizens of San Francisco, was held on
Wednesday evening, May 24th—and by ad
journment on Monday evening, May 29th—
in the "St. Ciprian Church," to consider the
claims of your valuable paper, and to adopt
measures to extend its circulation in "Cali
fornia."

The meeting was called to order by Henry
M. Collins, on whose motion A. H. Frances
was elected Chairman. On taking the
Chair, he addressed the audience, and said:
"Though not fully informed as to the de
signs of the meeting, it was his pleasure to
serve the people at all times." The meeting
was further organized by the appointment of
Wm. H. Newby and S. Howard as Secre
taries. Messrs. H. M. Collins, J. B. Sander
son, and F. Smithey, were appointed a Com
mittee to prepare business for the meeting,
The Committee having retired, the Chairman
said, "The audience would be pleased to
listen to remarks relating to the object of
the meeting, from any gentleman."

Rev. Thomas M. Ward being called on, re
sponded in an eloquent speech. He spoke
of the able manner in which the Frederick
Douglass' Paper had always been conducted;
the high estimation in which it is held; its
influence at home and abroad; and, finally,
its claims upon the colored man, whose or
gan and advocate it is. The Business Com
mittee now came in and reported the follow
ing resolutions:

1st. Resolved, That we regard F. Doug
lass as one of the ablest and most faithful
advocates of the rights of our people; that
we approve of his course, and appreciate his
labors with voice and pen in our behalf; that
we esteem it our privilege, as well as our du
ty, to sustain him, and we will do all we can
to extend the circulation of his paper in Cal
ifornia.

2nd. Resolved, That we do, on this occa
sion, though late, express our entire approval
of the action of the National Convention of
colored people, held in Rochester, State of
New York, July the 6th, 7th and 8th, 1853;
and in the formation of a National Council
of colored people, with its various commit
tees and their several plans, [vz:?] on Manual
Labor Schools, on an Industrial College, on
Business Relations, on Publications, &c., &c.

We see indications of a growing tendency
among our people to enter any field of hon
orable labor with all other citizens—a course
which must result in working out and estab
lishing our equality; in breaking down preju
dice, and in hastening the day of our entire
freedom.

3d. Resolved, That we protest against the
scheme of the proposed "National Conven
tion," called by Messrs. DelaneyDelany, Martin Robison

Born to a free mother and a slave father in Charlestown, in western Virginia, Martin Robison Delany (1812-85) was an editor, physician, and leading advocate of black emigration. In 1822 Delany's mother moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where his father later joined them, and the young Delany attended a local school. In 1831 he moved to Pittsburgh where he worked as a barber, attended a school run by a black Methodist minister, and studied medicine, upgrading his occupation from “cupper and leecher“ to physician. Between 1843 and 1847, Delany was editor of the Mystery, a black Pittsburgh newspaper. For the next two years he served as co-editor of Doug1ass’s North Star and lectured and traveled extensively to gain new subscriptions for that paper. In 1850-51 Delany attended Harvard Medical College but, owing to protests from white students, was denied admission to the final term needed to complete his medical degree. The following year he wrote The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered (Philadelphia, 1852), in which he argued that emigration was the only remedy for the oppressed state of black Americans. When many black abolitionists, including Douglass, rejected Delany's position, he organized a series of National Emigration Conventions that met in 1854, 1856, and 1858. These assemblies created a permanent National Board of Commissioners, of which Delany was president and chief propagandist. In 1856 Delany moved to Chatham, Canada West, and three years later explored the Niger river valley in Africa looking for possible emigration sites. His novel Blake was serialized in the Weekly Anglo-African from November 1861 through May 1862. During the Civil War, Delany served the North first as a recruiter and examining surgeon and eventually as a major of the 104th U.S. Colored Troops. From 1865 to 1868 Delany was a Freedmen's Bureau officer in South Carolina and later was active in that state's politics, running unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor on the Independent Republican ticket in 1874. Ullman, Martin R. Delany, 52-103, 115-21, 140-71, 211-46; Dorothy Sterling, The Making of an Afro-American: Martin Robison Delany, 1812—1885 (Garden City, N.Y., 1971); Thomas Holt, Black Over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction (Urbana, Ill., 1977), 74-75, 176-77; Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 115-33, 171-83; Martin R. Delany, Blake; or, The Huts of America, ed. Floyd J. Miller (Boston, 1970), ix; DAB, 5: 219-20. , J. G. G.
BiasBias, James Joshua Gould

James Joshua Gould Bias (1807–60) was a physician and preacher living in Philadelphia. Born a slave in Maryland, he learned some medical knowledge while working with a physician there. When Bias obtained his freedom, he moved to Philadelphia, attending the Eclectic Medical School and graduating in 1852. He devoted much of his time before the Civil War tending to the medical and dental needs to fugitive slaves in Southeast Pennsylvania. Bias also was the pastor at the Bethel Church in Philadelphia. He played a leading role in the Colored Conventions movement, holding a number of positions. While Bias endorsed emigration, he rejected the policies of the American Colonization Society, rejecting its White leadership. “Our Philadelphia Letter,”(New York, N.Y.) Weekly Anglo-African, 7 July 1860; George F. Bragg, Jr., Men of Maryland (Baltimore: Church Advocate Press, 1925), 54–55; Michael Dickinson, “Dr. J. J. Gould Bias,” Colored Conventions Project, Coloredconventions.org. , Wm. WebbWebb, William H.

and others, to be held in
Cleveland, Ohio, because we consider the
spirit of the call illiberal in the extreme, and
because it assumes before hand to gag a Con
vention of freemen; because we are opposed
to any and every scheme of general coloni
zation from the United States, at the dicta
tion of our enemies; moreover, there are,
to our knowledge, names appended to that
call that were placed there against the wishes
of their owners; and finally, because we
consider it our imperative duty, and the
most effectual way of serving our brethren
in bonds, to remain with them in the United
States, side by side, suffering and laboring,
believing that thus under God we shall be
instrumental in hastening the abolition of
slavery.

It was voted to accept the report, also to
take up the resolutions in detail. Resolu
tion No. 1, was taken up on motion of Henry
M. Collins, and unanimously adopted. The
2d resolution was taken up; pending its adop
tion, J. B. Sanderson presented an account
of the doings of the National Convention,
the character of the men who composed it,
the impression which its action produced
upon the public mind, &c. It was adopted
unanimously. The 3d resolution was op
posed by Mr. Yates. He was acquainted
with M. R. Delany. Bias was a friend to
them both. Thought the resolve was an at
tempt to drag down one man, to raise up an
other—an imputation against the motives of
the gentleman. The resolution was support
ed by J. B. Sanderson; he thought there was
no intention of questioning the motives of
those gentlemen. The resolution simply
protests against the proposal to emigrate
from the U.S., even in the manner propoesd
by them, and for the reason offered in the
resolve among others. It is at all times the
right of the people to protest against that
which is inimical to their interests. Mr.
Gilbert was in favor of the resolution, which
he sustained in some earnest remarks. The
meeting was also addressed by Mr. F.
Smithey, in opposition to the resolution.—
At this stage of the meeting, in consequence
of the lateness of the hour, an adjournment
took place until Monday evening, May 29th.

Adopted.
The adjourned meeting of citizens was
held on Monday evening, May 29th. A.H.
Frances in the Chair. The meeting was
opened with prayer by Rev. J. Moore. The
Secretary then read the minutes of the pre
vious meeting.

The first business in order, was the subject
of the disposition of the 3d resolution,
considering that the primary object aimed
at in holding these meetings, was to make
some demonstration in behalf of F. Doug
lass and his paper. Resolution 3d was laid
upon the table. It was then voted to ap
point a Committee, to solicit subscriptions
and donations in the meeting for the Doug
lass Paper. Messrs. Yates, H.M. Collins,
and Sanderson were appointed. The Com
mittee reported a list of 28 names, and a
donation of $1,80cts. Henry M. Collins was
appointed an agent to collect and forward
subscriptions for the paper. The everlasting
3d resolution was again called from the ta
ble. Mr. Yates addressed the meeting
against its adoption. He thought it out of
place in a meeting of this character, and un
called for under the circumstances. He be
lieved the movers of the Emigration Con
vention were true friends and faithful labor
ers -- self-sacrificing for the good of our peo
ple, and conscientious in their effors. As
the resolution intimated a doubt of their
honesty, he was opposed to its passage. --
Several gentlemen here attempted to reply
in the midst of a general call for the ques
tion! question! As it was late, it was re
solved to lay the matter on the table for fu
ture consideration. Mr. John Oliver then
offered the following:

Resolved, That having come together to
express our sympathy for F. Douglass and
his paper, we avail ourselves of this occa
sion to declare our love for, and confidence
in Wm. Lloyd GarrisonGarrison, William Lloyd

William Lloyd Garrison (1805-79) was the foremost white abolitionist of the nineteenth century and was credited with the discovery of Douglass as a speaker at an antislavery meeting in Nantucket in 1841. He began his career as an apprentice printer on the Newburyport (Mass.) Herald at the age of thirteen. Garrison became editor of the Newburyport Free Press in 1826, but the paper closed within a year. He was then associated with a series of periodicals in Boston that advocated reform before Benjamin Lundy offered the young journalist the opportunity to write for his antislavery newspaper. Garrison joined Lundy in editing the Genius of Universal Emancipation in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1829, during the last year of the paper's 1821-1830 run. In 1830 a libel suit against the editors forced the paper to close and landed Garrison in jail. After his release, he courted the wealthy merchants of New York and Boston in order to start the Liberator (1831-65), a weekly journal based in Boston in which he advocated an immediate end to slavery. Garrison's brand of abolition condemned any institution that would tolerate the existence of slavery, including churches, political parties. and even the United States itself and any scheme aimed at removing black people from the country. Instead, Garrison hoped to raise the public's awareness that slavery was morally wrong and thereby force its end in an almost millennial moment of emancipation. His approach appealed to both white and black antislavery advocates but earned him many enemies among those only moderately opposed to slavery and slaveholders alike. Seeing the need for greater action and organization beyond the pages of the Liberator; Garrison joined with other abolitionists to form the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1831. Two years later he helped found the larger American Anti-Slavery Society. In 1833 he established ties with English abolitionists after a trip to Great Britain, and he later brought the noted and notorious speaker George Thompson to the United States for a tour. Garrison also dedicated himself to women's rights, encouraging women to enter the public sphere by inviting them, via the Liberator, to form female antislavery societies. In addition to the thirty-three women's antislavery societies that flourished by 1838, Garrison's American Anti-Slavery Society welcomed women as well as blacks into its ranks. However, female delegates were excluded from the World's Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840 in London. The issue of women's participation in the antislavery movement and Garrison's absolute refusal to turn to politics to end slavery caused a division in the American Anti-Slavery Society. Brothers Lewis and Arthur Tappan, who opposed women's acting as speakers and who hoped to use politics toward abolition, broke with Garrison's American Anti-Slavery Society, forming the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, or the "New Organization" in 1841. Garrison's ideas were so closely associated with the "Old Organization" that the American Anti-Slavery Society became known simply as the "Garrisonians." With the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, Garrison believed that he had accomplished his life's work and that of the antislavery movement. He then resigned from the presidency of the American Anti-Slavery Society and closed the Liberator. Wendell Phillips Garrison and Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879: The Story of His Life Told by His Children, 4 vols. (New York, 188589); Henry Mayer, All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery (New York, 1998); James Brewer Stewart, William Lloyd Garrison and the Challenge of Emancipation (Arlington Heights, Ill., 1992); John L. Thomas, The Liberator: William Lloyd Garrison (Boston, 1963); Dictionary of American Biography, 20 vols. (New York, 1928-36), 7:168-72. , the long-tried friend
and advocate of equal rights, is unabated;
and we will not hesitate at all, in open times,
and on all proper occasions, to acknowledge
our sympathy with him, and we pledge our
selves to labor to promote the circulation of
the old Liberator in California.

Mr. Oliver said he thought this a fitting
opportunity to express sentiments in regard
to Mr. Garrison, whose devotion to the cause
of liberty entitles him to our everlasting love
and gratitude. It was with these feelings
(in which he thought all participated) that

he offered this resolution. This resolution
—it being very late—was by vote laid on the
table for future consideration. It was then
resolved to adjourn to meet on the 21st
prox., in the Rev. Mr. Moore's Church.

A.H. FRANCES, Cha'n

WM. H. NEWBY, S. HOWARD, }Sec'ys.