Shadow and Light An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century

The introduction and perpetuation of the Christian religion in Madagascar has been attended with vicissitudes, hopeful, discouraging, and finally permanent. The Catholics were t...

The adaptability of the Negro to conditions that are at the time inevitable has been the paladium that has sustained and multiplied him amid the determined prejudice that has ev...

The accord so generally given to the appointment of ex-Governor Jones, of Alabama--a Gold Democrat, having views on domestic order in harmony with the Administration--to a Feder...

My sojourn on the island was not without its vicissitudes and dangers, and one of the latter I shall ever remember--one mingled, as it was, with antics of Neptune, that capricio...

Early in the year 1858 gold was discovered on Fraser River, in the Hudson Bay Company's territory in the Northwest. This territory a few months later was organized as the Colony...

The Island of Madagascar was discovered in 1506 by Lawrence Almeyda, a Portuguese; but the Persians and Arabs are said to have known it from time immemorial. The island is divid...

In 1874 a constitutional convention was called and a new constitution adopted. At the State convention of the Democratic party for the nomination of State officers Baxter was th...

The immortal bard has sung that "there's a destiny that shapes our ends." At eight years of age, as already stated, two events occurred which had much to do in giving direction...

Among the estimable friendships I made on the Pacific Coast forty years ago was Philip A. Bell, formerly of New York City, one of nature's noblemen, broad in his humanity and in...

In October, 1897, by telegrams from my friends, Nathaniel McKay and Dr. Purvis, of Washington, D. C., I was informed that I had been appointed United States Consul for the islan...

Previous to the exposition at New Orleans in 1885, Mr. Henry Brown, of Oberlin, Ohio, visited the Southern States to obtain information as to the views and desire of leading col...

The passage through the Suez Canal was somewhat monotonous, but a continued reminder of bible history. On either side as far as the eye could reach the desert spread out its san...

There is at present a lowering cloud on prospect of righteous rule in many of the Southern States, but the relative rights and responsibilities of equitable government, enunciat...

In the old family Bible I see it recorded that I was born April 17, 1823, in Philadelphia, Pa., the son of Jonathan C. Gibbs and Maria, his wife. My father was a minister in the...

In 1876 (twenty-five years ago) I was President of a National Convention held at Nashville, Tenn, and of which H. V. Redfield, an able correspondent of the "Cincinnati Commercia...

At the Arkansas State election in 1876 I was selected as Presidential elector, receiving the highest vote on the Republican ticket. The national election of that year was follow...

An event that came under my notice of startling character, attracting national attention, was the arrival of the schooner "Amistad" at Philadelphia in 1840. This vessel had been...

Previous to my resolve to settle in the South I had read and learned much of politics and politicians; the first as being environed by abnormal conditions unstable and disquieti...

Having made myself somewhat presentable upon leaving the steerage of the steamer, my trunk on a dray, I proceeded to an unprepossessing hotel kept by a colored man on Kearny str...

Abraham Lincoln, the President-elect, was the legitimate outgrowth of American institutions; in him was presented choice fruit, the product of republican government. Born in a l...

In 1877 I was appointed by the President Register of the United States Land Office for the Little Rock District of Arkansas. The State was blessed with a valuable patrimony, by...

Leaving Chicago, and having business with the President, I visited him at Canton, was kindly received, and accomplished the object of my visit, little thinking that, in common w...

Never in the history of conventions was there recorded such evidence of unswerving fidelity by an equal number to the nominee of their choice as that shown at the National Conve...

The spirit in which these "schools of trade" have been conceived, and the success of their conduct, indicate they have struck a responsive chord in the communities where local a...

Washington, the American "Mecca" for political worshipers, is a beautiful city, but well deserving its "nom de plume" as "the city of magnificent distances;" for any one with wh...

A rush to newly discovered gold fields bring in view every trait of human character. The more vicious standing out in bold relief, and stamping their impress upon the locality....

The exercise of the franchise at the polls was by "viva voce," the voter proclaiming his vote by stating the name of the candidate for whom he voted in a distinct voice, which w...

April 3, 1901.--It was not without regret, that found expression at a banquet given me on the eve preceding my departure, by Mr. Erlington, the German Consul at Tamatave, that I...

This was my first visit to the land of Wilberforces and Clarksons of the seventeenth century, whose devotion and fidelity to liberty abolished African slavery in Britain's domin...

Taking up the reins of the Administration of the Government, with its complex statesmanship, where a master had laid them down, President Roosevelt, heretofore known for his ste...

The closing decade of the past century was conspicuous for exhibitions of products of nature and skill intended to stimulate a country's consumption, but mainly to increase expo...

Now, on the eve of my departure from Madagascar, and approaching four years of consular intercourse, I have only pleasant memories. My relations with General Gallieni, Governor-...

Howard University was established by a special act of Congress in 1867. It takes its name from that of the great philanthropist and soldier, Gen. O. O. Howard, who may be called...

Appointed by the President in 1877 Register of U. S. Lands--Robert J. Ingersoll on the Benignity of Homestead Law--General Grant's Tour Around the World and His Arrival at Littl...

My Appointment as U. S. Consul to Tamatave, Madagascar--My Arrival in France En Route to Paris--Called on Ambassador Porter and Consul Gowdy Relative to My "Exequator"--Visited...

Lowering Cloud on Righteous Rule--Comparison of Negro Progress--Sir Walter Scott in His Notes on English History--George C. Lorimer, a Noted Divine--Educational Solution of the...

Philip A. Bell, a Veteran Editor of the "Negro Press"--British Columbia, Its Early History, Efforts for Annexation to the United States--Meeting with Lady Franklin, Widow of Sir...

Arkansas Constitutional Convention and New Constitution Adopted--Augustus H. Garland Elected Governor--My Letter from Madagascar on Learning of His Demise--General Grant's Nomin...

Introduction of the Christian Religion--Printing the Bible, Edict by Queen Ranavalona Against It--The New Religion "a Cloth of a Pattern She Did Not Like"--Asked the Missionarie...

An Incident of Peril--My Return to the United States in 1869--Thoughts and Feelings En Route--Entered Oberlin Law College and Graduated--Visit to my Brother, J. C. Gibbs, Secret...

President of National Convention at Nashville, Tenn., in 1876--Pen and Ink Sketch by H. V. Redfield of "Cincinnati Commercial"--Colored Leaders Desire to Fraternize for Race Pro...

Leave-taking, its Jollity and Sadness--Arrival at Camp Aden, Arabia--An Elysium for the Toper--Whisky Was Plenty, But the Water Was Out--Pleasant Visit to U. S. Consul Cunningha...

Effort of Henry Brown, of Oberlin, Ohio, to Establish "Schools of Trade"--Call for a Conference of Leading Colored Men in 1885--Industrial Fair at Pine Bluff, Ark.--Captain Thom...

Cinguez, the Hero of Armistead Captives--The Threshold of Man's Estate--My First Lecturing Tour with Frederic Douglass--His "Life and Times"--Pen Picture of George William Curti...

Presidential Elector in 1876, Receiving the Highest Vote--President Hayes, His Yearnings and Accomplishments--Protest Against Lawlessness by the Negroes in State Conventions--Ne...

My First Entry Into Political Life--Intricacies of the Ballot--Number of Negro Schools, Pupils and Amount of School Property in 1898--Amendment to Constitution and Interview wit...

The Reunion of General Grant's "306"--Ferdinand Havis, of Pine Bluff--Compromise and Disfranchisement--Progress of the Negro--"Decoration Day"--My Letter to the "Gazette"--Commi...

My First Visit to the Land of Wilberforce and Clarkson--Excursion on the Thames--Bank of England--Visited Towers of London--Beauchamp Tower With Its Sad Inscriptions--Arrival at...

Politics and Politicians--Disruption of the Republicans in Arkansas--"Minstrels and Brindle Tails"--Early Canvassing in the South, with Its Peculiarities--Ku Klux Visits--My App...

Cuba and the Philippines--Their Acquisition Under the Plea of Relief From Spanish Misrule--Aguinaldo, Leader of the Filipinos--The Fidelity and Bravery of the American Negro in...

Gold Discovery in British Columbia--Incidents on Shipboard and Arrival at Victoria--National Unrest in 1859--"Irrepressible Conflict"--Garrison and Douglass--Harriet Beecher Sto...

Visit to President McKinley at Canton, Ohio--His Assassination at Buffalo--The Assassin Struck Down by James Parker--President's Death--The Nation in Tears--A Christian Statesma...

Abraham Lincoln President--Rebellion Inaugurated--Success of the Union Army--Re-Election of Lincoln--Bravery and Endurance of Negro Soldiers--Assassination of Lincoln--Lynching...