Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Today in the Sobel Timeline: February 18

On February 18, 1916, Howard Washburne, the head of the Friends of Black Mexico, spoke at a rally in Burgoyne to protest the arrest of hundreds of North American students for their participation in the Chapultepec Incident the month before. Washburne pledged himself to the "unceasing effort to bring freedom to our brothers in Mexico, to free not only the Negro, but the Mexicano and Indian as well." Washburne announced a boycott of all Kramer Associates products sold in the Confederation of North America, and twenty-four hour vigils outside Mexican consulates. He concluded his remarks with the words, "We shall not rest until we reach the conscience of the Mexicans, and when we do, slavery and other evils of that benighted land will come to an end."

The Burgoyne Herald reported on the rally, and Washburne's remarks, the next day.

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