I knew, too, that while
the greater part of my audience would be composed of Southern
people, yet there would be present a large number of Northern
whites, as well as a great many men and women of my own race.
I was determined to say nothing that I did not feel from the
bottom of my heart to be true and right. When the invitation came
to me, there was not one word of intimation as to what I should
say or as to what I should omit. In this I felt that the Board of
Directors had paid a tribute to me. They knew that by one
sentence I could have blasted, in a large degree, the success of
the Exposition. I was also painfully conscious of the fact that,
while I must be true to my own race in my utterances, I had it in
my power to make such an ill-timed address as would result in
preventing any similar invitation being extended to a black man
again for years to come. I was equally determined to be true to
the North, as well as to the best element of the white South, in
what I had to say.
The papers, North and South, had taken up the discussion of my
coming speech, and as the time for it drew near this discussion
became more and more widespread. Not a few of the Southern white
papers were unfriendly to the idea of my speaking. From my own
race I received many suggestions as to what I ought to say.
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