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Welcome Address on Behalf of Louisville Citizens Delivered by Thomas F. Blue to the Kentucky Negro educational Association, April 19, 1923. American Liberty League. 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Digital Library Services, University of Kentucky Libraries Lexington, Kentucky LFP_rblue_2_06_12 These pages may freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Welcome Address on Behalf of Louisville Citizens Delivered by Thomas F. Blue to the Kentucky Negro educational Association, April 19, 1923. American Liberty League. unknown unknown 1923-04-19 Is Part of the Reverend Thomas F. Blue Papers, ca. 1905-1935 housed at the Louisville Free Public Library, Louisville, KY. This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. WELCOME ADDRESS ON BEHALF OF LOUISVILLE CITIZENS DELIVERED BY THOMAS F. BLUE, HE&D COLORED DEPARTS LOUISVILLE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY, TO THE KENTUCKY NEGRO EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION APRIL 19. 1923* It is my happy lot, my very peculiar pleasure, on be- Lo to extend to you a joyous welcome - a welcome as warm, a welcome as genuine, a welcome as hearty as Kentucky1s proverbial hospitality* It is our good fortune to welcome you-to the metropolis of your state, .a city beautiful for situation, Hthe gateway to the North and South," . With.cherished pride, me welcome you to the fairest city in all this southland, A city that is known and admired for itfs altruistic spirit, it's spirit of justice, it's spirit of liberality, it's spirit of "charity for all." We welcome you to a city where there is no race friction, a city where the members of both races dwell together in peace and security. We welcome you to a city which always includes it's Colored citizens when providing for the public welfare. The Whites have splendid public elementary, high,and normal schools, so have we. The Whites have well equipped public libraries in beautiful Carnegie buildings, so have we. Whites have a Y.M.C.A* and a Y.W.C.A. so have we. The The Wh their Boy Scouts, so have we. The Whites have their public agencies for moral and social uplift, so have we. Whi swimming pool and the city is going to give us one too* We welcome you to a city where the weird mask,and the mid-night raid of the Ku Klux Klan is unknown* A city whose chief executive has declared that the Ku Klux Klan is a menace to law and ordert and that they weuld not perform in Louisville while he was .Mayor,- and they have not. We welcome you to a southern city where the "Jim Crow" street car is not seen* Some years ago a certain lawmaker offered a bill requiring "Jim Crow" street cars in Louisville. Happily,the entire city administration rose up against it. The city officials declared they didn't want it, they didn't need it and they wouldn't have it, and they haven't it. We welcome you to a city whose Board of Education gives to it's Colored elementary teachers "equal pay for equal work." A few years ago when Louisville's teachers received a sub- stantial increase in salary, the colored received the same as the Whites. This has always "been true of our Library Board. Last hut not least, we welcome you to a city which was the first to open a colored branch of a public library in a Carnegie building, and the only one that has two colored branch libraries housed in two Carnegie buildings. To all that's good and beautiful and uplifting in Louisville we thrice welcome you. Like Old Kentucky. Louisville may be slower than her neighbors in some ways, But yields no point to any other clime, When it comes to cordial greetings-and you'll find it as we say That her heart is in the right place all the time*