Robert W. Woodruff
Library
Gift of
Randc11 K. Burkett
EMORY UNIVERSITY
Special Collections & Archives
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
The Boston Massacre.
THE NEGRO
AMERICAN HISTORY
MEN AND WOMEN EMINENT
IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE
AMERICAN OF AFRICAN
DESCENT
BY
JOHN W. CROMWELL
Secretary of the American Negro Academy,
Washington, D. C.
WASHINGTON
THE AMERICAN NEGRO ACADEMY
1914
Copyright, 1914, by
JOHN W. CROMWELL
4. F. TAPLEY CO.
NEW YORK
DEDICATION
Oh! Sing it in the light of freedom's morn,
Tho' tyrant wars have made the earth a grave;
The good, the great, and true, are, if so, born,
And so with slaves, chains do not make the slave!
If high-souled birth be what the mother gave,—
If manly birth, and manly to the core,—
Whate'er the test, the man will he behave!
Crush him to earth, and crush him o'er and o'er,
A MAN he'll rise at last and meet you as before.
—A. A. Whitman.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
I Discovery, Colonization, Slavery 1
II The Slave Code 6
III National Independence and Emancipation ... 10
IY Slave Insurrections 12
V Some Early Strivings 17
VI Abolition of Slave Trade 18
VII From 1816 to 1870 19
VIII Slavery—Extension and Abolition ..... 21
IX Civil War and Reconstruction ...... 23
X Educational Progress 25
XI The Early Convention Movement 27
XII Reconstruction Fails 47
XIII Negro as Soldier, a, 1652-1814 50
XIV Negro as Soldier, b, 1861-1865 ...... 54
XV Spanish-American War 57
XVI Negro Church 61
XVII Retrospect and Prospect 71
XVIII Phillis Wheatley 77
XIX Benjamin Banneker 86
XX Paul Cuffe, Navigator and Philanthropist . . 98
XXI Sojourner Truth 104
XXII Daniel Alexander Payne 115
XXIII Henry Highland Garnet 126
XXIV Alexander Crummell 130
XXV Frederick Douglass 139
XXVI John Mercer Langston 155
XXVII Blanche Kelso Bruce 164
TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
XXVIII Joseph Charles Price 171
XXIX Robert Brown" Elliott 179
XXX Paul Laurence Dunbar 188
XXXI Booker Taliaferro Washington 195
XXXII Fanny M. Jackson Coppin 213
XXXIII Henry Osawa Tanner 219
XXXIV John F. Cook and Sons, John F., Jr., and
George F. T 228
XXXV Edward Wilmot Blyden 235
APPENDICES
Appendix A—Holly 241
Appendix B—An Early Incident of the Civil War . . . 242
Appendix C—The Somerset Case 245
Appendix D—The Amistad Captives 245
Appendix E—The Underground Railroad ....... 246
Appendix F—The Freedmen's Bureau 248
Appendix G—Medal of Honor Men 249
Appendix H—The Freedmen's Bank 253
Bibliography 255
Reports 260
Chronology 261
Index 267
ILLUSTRATIONS
Boston Massacre Frontispiece
FACING
PAGE
Branding Female Slave 2
John Brown on Way to Scaffold 22
Reading Emancipation Proclamation by Union Soldier in a Slave
Cabin 24
Colored Congressmen 46
Battle of Bunker Hill 50
Paul Cuffe Monument 98
The Libyan Sibyl and Sojourner Truth 112
Bird's Eye View of Livingstone College 170
Wilberforce University—Typical Buildings 122
Douglass, Payne, Dunbar, Washington 114
Crummell, Tanner, Blyden, Garnet 126
Douglass Monument at Rochester 152
Negro Industry, Tuskegee View 206
Price, Wheatley, Coppin 212
Christ and Nicodemus 222
George F. T. Cook Normal School No. 2, Washington, D. C. . . 234
FOREWORD
It is not my purpose to write a history of the United States
nor of any period of that history. The Negro is so interwoven
with the growth and development of the American Nation that a
history of him as an important element, during little more than
a century of which he has been a factor, becomes a task of pe¬
culiar difficulty. In the few pages that follow, mine is a much
more simple and humble task—to indicate some of the more im¬
portant points of the contact of the Nation and the Negro; to
tell how the former in its evolution has been affected by the pres¬
ence and the status of the latter; and to trace the transfor¬
mation of the bondman and savage stolen from Africa to his
freedom and citizenship in the United States, and to his recog¬
nition as such in the fundamental law, and by an increasing
public sentiment of the country.
The rise to eminence of representative men and women in
both Church and State, as educators, statesmen, artists, and men
of affairs, will be cited for the emulation of our youth who are
iso liable from the scant mention of such men and women in the
histories which they study and the books they read, to conclude
that only the lowest and most menial avenues of service are open
to them.
Well nigh ten years ago Mrs. Charles Bartlett Dykes, formerly
of the Leland-Stanford, Jr., University, while an instructor in a
Summer School at the Hampton N. & A. Institute, gave this re¬
sult of studies made with six hundred colored pupils in certain
near-by primary schools. She had asked two questions that were
fully explained:
xi
xii
FOREWORD
(a) Do you want to be rich? If so, why? If not, why not?
The answers were almost without exception, "No." The
reason given was "because we cannot go to Heaven."
(b) Do you want to be famous? If so, why? If not, why not?
The answers were almost uniformly, "No, because it is
impossible."
This voiced the despair of the average colored child in the
common schools right under the guns of Fortress Monroe, where
the first schools for colored children in the Southland were
opened nearly forty years before.
A test somewhat similar, in several of the public schools in
"Washington produced practically the same result. The remedy
suggested by Mrs. Dykes for such a condition was the preparation
of "a first book in American history, in which the story of at
least twelve of the really eminent men and women of African
descent" would give a stimulus to tens of thousands of youth in
our schools, who in their formative period learn little or noth¬
ing of their kith or kin that is meritorious or inspiring. This
necessity formally set forth by Mrs. Dykes, confirmed by my
own conclusions based on an experience in the schoolroom cover¬
ing twenty years, leads me to attempt the publication of a book
which shall give to teachers and secondary pupils especially
the salient points in the history of the American Negro, the
story of their most eminent men and women and a bibliography
that will guide those desirous of making further study and in¬
vestigation.
The author has not been handicapped by dearth of material
in the selection of the men and the women whose careers he
has aimed to trace, his main purpose having been to consider
representative types whose careers afford side-lights of the
growth and development of the American Negro and who at the
same time are worthy of emulation. Others, perhaps, quite as
conspicuous, might be preferred by some as equally deserving
FOREWORD
xiii
of notice, yet on the whole we think it will be the verdict of
competent and impartial judges that none herein named could
have been excluded from consideration. Obviously only those
still living could be the subjects of notice who have reached the
acme of their career. The preeminence of Booker T. Washing¬
ton, because of the establishment of Tuskegee and the recog¬
nized place of industrial training in the public mind, is a fact,
while the art of Tanner is conceded in salons and art galleries
of America and Europe.
To Dr. James R. L. Diggs of Selma University, Chaplain
Theophilus G-. Steward of Wilberforce University, T. Thomas
Fortune, L. M. Hershaw, Wm. C. Bolivar, Daniel A. Murray of
the Library of Congress and A. A. Schomburg, he acknowledges
indebtedness for many helpful suggestions in the development,
progress and completion of this work.
John W. Cromwell.
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN
HISTORY
I
discovery, colonization, slavery
The discovery and colonization of America was primarily for
greed, and this dominant principle was illustrated in different
stages of the growth and development of the country. Spain,
which in the sixteenth century was not only a world-wide power,
but one of the greatest of modern times, bore a very important
part in the conquest and settlement of the New World. It was
mainly her capital, her merchantmen, that plowed the main,
her capital and the patronage of her sovereigns that led. The
Dutch and the English followed in the rear. Settlements in
North America and the West Indies were made by her sons
early in the sixteenth century, but it was one hundred years
after, at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, that the English made
the first permanent settlement within the continental limits
of the United States of America.
In the early voyages it was not at all remarkable that Negroes
were found as sailors, though slaves. It is well authenticated
that in the explorations of Narvaez and among the survivors of
the Coronado expedition was Estevan, a black, who was guide
to Friar Marcoz in 1539 in the search for the Seven Cities of
Cibola. The celebrated anthropologist Quatrefages in "The
Human Species" strongly intimates that Africa had its share
l
2
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
in the peopling and the settlement of some sections of South
America.
The exception but proves the rule that the Negro came to the
New World as a slave. He was stolen from or bought on the
West Coast of Africa to add to the wealth of America by his
toil as bondman and laborer.
Slavery was first introduced in America on the island of
Hispaniola (Haiti) where the aborigines of America and the
West Indies had been found not sufficiently robust for the work
in the mines and the plantations. Large numbers of Negroes
were imported by the Portuguese, who owned the great portion
of the African coast then known, into Europe a half century
before the discovery of America.1 To Las Casas who pleaded
the cause of the poor American Indian who had been enslaved
in the New World, large responsibility for importing the Afri¬
can must be given notwithstanding the opposition of Cardinal
Ximines, then regent of Spain. Las Casas lived to regret the
part he played by his fateful suggestion.
To supply this labor the Slave Trade, as it became known,
was begun. La Bresa, a Flemish favorite of Charles Y having
obtained from the king a patent containing an exclusive right
of annually importing four thousand Negroes into America, sold
it to some Genoese merchants who first brought into a regular
form the commerce for slaves between Africa and America.2
Sir John Hawkins made three trips to America from the
West Coast of Africa between 1563 and 1567, taking with him
several hundred of the natives whom he sold as slaves. Queen
Elizabeth became a partner in this nefarious traffic. So elated
was she at its profits that she knighted him, and he most happily
selected for his crest a Negro head and bust with arms tightly
pinioned. It was a lucrative business and though it at first
shocked the sensibilities of Christian nations and rulers, they
1 Bancroft, Vol. I.
2 Spanish Conquest of America, Vol. I.
Branding a Female Slave.
DISCOVERY, COLONIZATION, SLAVERY 3
soon reconciled themselves not only to the traffic, but introduced
the servitude as part of the economic system of their depend¬
encies in America. That it became a fixture after its introduc¬
tion in these colonies was due to the prerogative of the Home
Government rather than to the importunities of the colonists,
especially because it was a source of revenue to the Crown.
Within twelve years after its settlement, a Dutch man-of-war
landed in September, 1619, a cargo of twenty slaves at James¬
town in Virginia.
Beginning with this introduction in Virginia slavery gradually
made its way into all the thirteen colonies, and received the
sanction of their several legislatures. Contrary to general belief,
''Negro Slavery in the colonies never existed" nor was it origin¬
ally established by law, but it rested wholly on custom.3
"Slavery where it existed, being the creature of custom, required
positive law to establish or control it." In Virginia the acts
first passed were "for the mere regulation of servants, the legal
distinction between servants for a term of years (white im¬
migrants under indenture), and servants for life (slaves)."
The civil law rule as to descent was adopted by statute December
14, 1662. Eight years later, October 3, 1670, servants not Chris¬
tians imported by shipping were declared slaves for life.
Slavery was thus legalized in this colony.
In Maryland, slaves were first mentioned incidentally in a
proposed law of 1638, four years after its settlement. The
Swedes prohibited its establishment in Delaware, but the Dutch
introduced it and gave it its first legal recognition in 1721,
though it had existed in the colony as early as 1666.
In North Carolina white slavery was provided for in the
Locke Constitution of 1673.4 In South Carolina the first legis¬
lation respecting it was February 7, 1690, before the two colonies
were separated. The charter of Georgia prohibited slavery at
s Lalor's Cyclopedia, Vol. III. Holmes Amer. Annals, Vol. I.
4 Locke Brittanica Encyclopedia.
4 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
the time of the establishment of the colony by Oglethorpe in
1733, but owing to popular clamor this prohibition was re¬
pealed in 1749 and the first legislative recognition of slavery
was in 1755.5
Although slavery existed in Pennsylvania from the establish¬
ment of the colony, and was due to the Germans rather than
the Quakers, a protest against it was made in 1688 by the Ger-
mantown Quakers. This was the first formal action against
slavery since its introduction. In 1700 the legislature forbade
selling beyond the borders of the State without the consent of
the slave.
The Dutch have also the responsibility of bringing slavery
into New Jersey, where it received its first legal recognition in
1664. It was in 1626 while New York was the Dutch colony
of New Netherlands that African serfdom was introduced, but it
received legal recognition in 1665.6 The traffic was never di¬
rectly specifically established in Connecticut by statute, and the
time of its introduction is unknown.7 In Rhode Island, May
19, 1652, the first act for the abolition of slavery was passed,
but the law was not enforced.
In Massachusetts slavery was incidentally recognized in 1633.
In 1636, a Salem ship began the importation of slaves from the
West Indies, but in 1641 it was forbidden in the fundamental
law. The statutes of New Hampshire show only two legal recog¬
nitions of slavery, by acts of 1714 and 1718, to regulate the
conduct of servants and slaves and masters.
There was some difference between slavery in the North and
in the South. This may be attributable to economic rather
than to any moral causes. The African was fitted for service
only as an agricultural laborer, and the character, size and loca¬
tion of the farms in New England and the Middle States in-
8 Lalor's Cyclopedia.
®Lalor's Cyclopedia.
7 Slavery in New York, an historical sketch, A. Judd Northrup.
DISCOVERY, COLONIZATION, SLAVERY 5
hibited the rapid growth and extension of chattel slavery in
this section, whereas the raising of tobacco in Virginia, rice in
South Carolina, also cotton, favored the employment of a large
number of slaves in the southern section of our country. In
both North and South the status of the slave was the same. In
the eyes of the law he was a thing, a piece of personal property,
and the laws recognizing and regulating it were framed with
rigidity and executed with severity. By 1775 more than 300,000
Negroes were in the colonies along the coast from Maine to
Georgia, distributed as follows: In New England, 25,000; New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, 50,000; in the
remaining colonies of Virginia, Maryland, North and South
Carolina and Georgia, 425,000. Relatively there were at this
time 4'2 whites to 1 black in New England, 13 whites to 1 black
in the middle colonies, while in the five southern colonies last
mentioned the slave population was more than that of the
whites.8
While the objection to the idea of property in man was the
prevailing rule, it was by no means universal. Protests against
it were by individuals rather than by communities and classes.
Exception must be made as to the Quakers, whose protest in
Germantown has already been instanced. They followed this up
by an appeal in 1696 against any of their religious belief
bringing in any more Negroes, and by their action at intervals
in the eighteenth century. The majority of the men who cried
aloud and spared not were the followers of George Fox. The
circulation of the celebrated tract, "The Selling of Joseph" by
the Colonial Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, was also a great factor
in the growth of sentiment against slavery.
8 Estimated. See The Status of the Slave, 1775-1789, J. It. Brackett;
The Const. History of the American People? Vol. I, F. R. Thorpe.
II
the slave code
The Slave Code embodies statutes which show in an unmistak¬
able manner the attitude of the colonies in different times and
sections toward the enslaved African. So great a shock to the
Christian religion was the idea of holding property in man
when first suggested, that one of the first excuses was that the
African was a heathen whom slavery would convert; then when
the injustice of holding a fellow Christian, in bonds was apparent,
it was affirmed by statute that "conversion to or acceptance of
Christianity does not presume or effect manumission either in
person or posterity" so legislated Maryland in 1692, and Vir¬
ginia in 1705 endorsed the doctrine. An act was passed in 1706
to encourage the baptizing of Negro, Indian or mulatto slaves
and although a Virginia statute of 1682 had freed Negroes
"born of Christian parents in England, the Spanish colonies,
the English colonies and other Christian lands," it was virtually
repealed by an act of 1705.
In the statutes of the colony of Virginia we note, "The Ap¬
pearance of Negro, Indian and mulatto slaves after nightfall
in the streets without a lighted candle was forbidden and none
were permitted to absent themselves from a master's plantation
without written certificate." This law was published every six
months at the county court and the parish churches. It was
specially designed to prevent the possibility of servile insur¬
rections. Slaves accompanying their masters to free territory
did not become free, ruled Lord Hardwicke and Lord Talbot
in 1729; but forty-three years later Lord Mansfield in the
6
THE SLAVE CODE
7
Somerset ease declared that as soon as a slave set foot on the
soil of the British Island he became free.
The emancipation of the slave in many colonies was impossible
only in meritorious cases except by permission from a governor
for which a license had to be issued. Such an instance was
where "Will" was emancipated by the General Assembly of
Virginia because he had been signally serviceable in discover¬
ing a conspiracy of divers Negroes in the county of Surry for
levying war on the colony of Virginia. He was the slave of
Elizabeth, the widow of Benjamin Harrison. The similarity of
the name to that of one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, the father of one of the Presidents and the great¬
grandfather of another, is at least suggestive.
Not only was emancipation thus carefully guarded, but to
steal a slave was a capital offense punishable by death. Should
a slave, who resisted his master or one acting under his authority
while administering punishment, meet with death, the master
or his agent was not guilty of a felony. The carrying of arms
either for defense or offense without special written certificate
was punishable with a penalty of from 20 to 39 lashes.
A statute was passed in 1764 ordering collars to be put on
slaves to prevent their escape. Two unique advertisements
further indicate the low estimate placed on the bondman. One
from the London Gazette advertises for Col. Kirk's runaway
black boy upon whose silver collar the inscription was, "My
Lady Bromfield's black in Lincoln Inn Fields" and in the
London Advertiser of 1756 a goldsmith in Westminster an¬
nounces that he makes silver padlocks for blacks' or dogs' collars.
It could not be expected that the slave would be permitted
to read and write, yet in 1744 Dr. Bearcroft1 of South Carolina
refers to the purchase of two young Negroes when thoroughly
qualified to become schoolmasters among their fellows. One
such school was actually opened in Charleston, S. C., in which
i Special Report U. S. Com. of Education 1870, p. 363.
8
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
more than " sixty young Negroes were put under instruction,
two-thirds of whom were sent out annually well-instructed in
religion and capable of reading their Bible, who may carry
home and diffuse this same knowledge which they shall have
been taught among their poor relations and fellow slaves. And
in time schools will be opened in other places and in other
colonies to teach them to believe in the Son of God who shall
make them free." But ninety years after, in the same State
it was enacted, "If any person shall hereafter teach any slave
to read or write such person if a free white person, shall be
fined not exceeding one hundred dollars for such offence, and
imprisonment not less than six months; or if a free person of
color, shall be whipped not exceeding fifty lashes and fined not
exceeding fifty dollars; and if a slave to be whipped at the
discretion of the court, not exceeding fifty lashes, the informer
to be entitled to one-half of the fine, and to be a competent
witness. And if any free person of color or slave shall keep
any school or other place of instruction for teaching any slave
or free person of color, he shall be liable to the same penalties
prescribed by this act on free persons of color and slaves for
teaching slaves to write."2
Slaves were prohibited under the penalty of death from the
preparation or administering of any medicine whatever save with
the full knowledge and consent of masters.
There was a relaxation of these strict regulations in some of
the Northern colonies. As early as 1643 and. 1646 several
Negroes appear on the records of New York, then under the
control of the Dutch, as land patentees.3 When enfranchised,
as was possible even in those early days, he might and did obtain
a freehold.4 Many scarcely appeared to know they were in
bondage as they danced merrily as the best in kermis at Christ-
2 PayneV "Seventy Years."
3 Dunlop's History of New Netherlands,. Vol. I, 59.
4 Brodhead's 748.
THE SLAVE CODE
9
mas and Pinkster. This, however, was exceptional. Without
going into particulars the general condition was, as it has been
summarized in Stroud's Slave Law: "as the incidents of
slavery—
First.—The master may determine the kind and degree and time
of labor to which the slave shall be subjected.
Second.—The master may supply the slave with such food and
clothing only, both as to quantity and to quality as he may
think proper or find convenient.
Third.—He may exercise his discretion as to the kind of punish¬
ment to be administered.
Fourth.—All power over the slave may be exercised by himself
or another.
Fifth.—Slaves have no legal rights of property in things real
or personal; whatever they acquire belongs in point of law
to the master.
Sixth.—Being a personal chattel the slave is at all times liable
to be sold absolutely or mortgaged or leased.
Seventh.—He may be sold by process of law for the satisfaction
of the debts of a living or a deceased master.
Eighth.—He cannot be a party in any judicial tribunal in any
species of action against the master."
Ill
national independence and emancipation
The events that led to the Revolution and the formation of the
Union quickened the public conscience and crystallized the feel¬
ing against slavery to such a degree that public men were out¬
spoken against it, societies were organized, and the work of the
abolition of slavery was begun.
The principle in the Declaration of Independence that "All
men are created equal and endowed by the Creator with certain
inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness," certainly exerted a most powerful influence. The
colony of Vermont, claimed in vain at intervals both by New
York and New Hampshire, and which was practically independ¬
ent of the thirteen, adopted a constitution in 1777 abolishing
slavery. In 1780 Massachusetts framed a constitution contain¬
ing a provision construed by the courts as destroying human
bondage, while Pennsylvania in the same year provided for
gradual emancipation, though the last slave in this common¬
wealth did not die until nearly the middle of the nineteenth
century. New Hampshire followed the example of Massachusetts
in 1783. Ehode Island and Connecticut passed gradual aboli¬
tion laws in 1784. Thus five of the original thirteen colonies
prior to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 placed them¬
selves before the world as free States, to which must be added
New York and New Jersey, the former in 1799, the latter in
the following year, copying their example.
From the general sentiment of the time as voiced by such men
as "Washington, Jefferson and Franklin, nothing seemed more
10
NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE AND EMANCIPATION 11
certain than that slavery would in a very few years be doomed
to extinction. In the Continental Congress March 1, 1784, Jef¬
ferson proposed a draft ordinance for the government of the
Territory of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi ceded already
or to be ceded by individual States, to the United States, "that
after the year 1800 there should be neither slavery nor involun¬
tary servitude in any of the said States otherwise than in punish¬
ment of crime."
Owing to opposition of the planting interests, led by South
Carolina and Georgia this proviso was lost. But three years
later when Jefferson was in Paris on a foreign mission, the ordi¬
nance of 1787, by the provisions of which slavery was to be
prohibited in the territory north of the Ohio, which now includes
the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,
was adopted by the unanimous vote of the Continental Congress
of the thirteen colonies.1
i Critical Period—Fiske.
IV
slave insurrections
Slave Insurrections were a constant menace to the safety and
security of slavery and the laws provided against the personal
liberty of the slave; his freedom of locomotion; his right to as¬
semble in large numbers except under the supervision of the
master class; his right to purchase fire arms or weapons of deadly
warfare—all were enacted and enforced to prevent the possi¬
bility and the effectiveness of outbreaks for freedom.
Notwithstanding these repressive measures upon the slave, the
tendency of which was to make their bondage more complete
and secure, there were about twenty-five recorded instances of
Negro Insurrections previous to the Revolution. Among these
there was one in 1687 in the Northern Neck of Virginia. As
early as 1710 one was suppressed in Virginia. In 1740 one was
discovered in South Carolina and what was known as the New
York Slave Plot was discovered in 1741.
In 1800 the insurrection of General Gabriel was only timely
prevented. It was on discovery found that fully 1,000 slaves
were involved and those concerned were scattered through a large
section of territory.
In 1822 the Denmark Vesey plot in South Carolina was only
prevented from disastrous effects by the confession of a slave.
So carefully had it been planned, so trustworthy, so faithful to
the purpose of its promoters, that it was with extreme difficulty
that the authorities could secure enough evidence to identify and
to bring to trial those accused. Denmark Vesey whose name
is given to this outbreak, was a most remarkable character. He
12
SLAVE INSURRECTIONS
13
was a great organizer, a man of rare intelligence, with wonder¬
ful knowledge of men and a born leader. He was also one of
the last men to be suspeeted by the whites as bent on such a
scheme. He exercised a dread over the blacks that facilitated
the development of his plans and the confidence reposed in him
by the whites never caused him to be distrusted.
Peter Poyas, his chief lieutenant, was scarcely second to Den¬
mark in ability to select, drill and command. One hundred and
thirty-one arrests were made, as a result of which 67 were con¬
victed, of whom 35 were executed and 37 banished beyond the
limits of the United States.
Notwithstanding, the effect of the outbreak was wide reaching.
In "Right on the Scaffold or the Martyrs of 1822," No. 7,
Negro American Academy papers, Mr. Archibald H. Grimke
has given a most thrilling description of the principal partici¬
pants, the events leading up and flowing from this tragic plot
of slave life in South Carolina.
The prompt punishment of the participants in the Denmark
Yesey Outbreak did not stamp out the spirit of resentment on
the part of the most restless spirits among the slaves; for nine
years afterwards, came the Nat Turner Insurrection in South¬
hampton County, Virginia.
Nat Turner was born October 2, 1800, the slave of Benjamin
Turner. The father who escaped from slavery finally migrated
to Liberia. In his early years Nat had a presentiment that
largely influenced his after life. His mind was restless, active,
inquisitive, observant. He learned to read and write without
apparent difficulty. He was deeply religious, he could manu¬
facture paper, gunpowder, pottery and other articles in com¬
mon use, and his skill in planning was universally admitted.
As late as the beginning of the Civil War, there were tradi-,
tions of his keen devices and ready wit. He was below the ordi¬
nary stature, compact in physique, with strongly marked phys¬
ical features. Contrary to general impression he was not a
14 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
preacher. His personality was not that of a criminal but of an
austere, reserved and contemplative.
In 1825 he said he discovered drops of blood on the corn as
though it were dew from heaven, that he found on leaves in the
woods hieroglyphic characters and numbers with the forms of
men in different attitudes, portrayed in blood and represent¬
ing the figures he had previously seen in the heavens.
July 4, 1831, was the time ■ on which he had planned to
begin his work, but he hesitated until the reappearance of signs
in the heavens determined him to begin Sunday, August 21, at
which time he met six men. Hark, Henry, Sam, Nelson, "Will and
Jack and long after midnight, after a long feast in the woods,
they began the work. Armed with a hatchet Nat entered his
master's chamber and aimed the first blow of death but the
weapon glanced harmless from the head of the would-be victim,
who then received the first fatal blow from Will, a member of
the party, who without Nat's suggestion got into the plot. Five
whites perished here. Four guns, several old muskets, a few
rounds of ammunition, were seized. The party were drilled and
maneuvered at the barn after which they marched from planta¬
tion to plantation until the attacking force numbered sixty, all
armed with guns, axes, swords and clubs, and mounted. Late
Monday afternoon they had reached a point about three miles dis¬
tant from Jerusalem, the County Seat, now known as Courtland.
Against Nat's judgment they halted and awaited reinforce¬
ments. This delay proved the turning point in his attack. Nat
started to the mansion house in search of his stragglers and on
his return to the road, he found that a party of white men from
the countryside, who had pursued the bloody path of the in¬
surrectionists, had dispersed the guard of eight men left at the
roadside. The white men numbered eighteen under the com¬
mand of a Capt. Alex P. Peete.
Although these men were directed to reserve their fire until
within thirty paces, one of their number fired on Nat's crowd
SLAVE INSURRECTIONS
15
at about one hundred yards and half of them beat a precipitate
retreat, when Nat ordered them to fire and rush on them. The
remaining white men stood their ground until Nat was within
fifty yards when they too retreated. Nat pursued, wounded and
overtook some of them and would have slaughtered the entire
party but for the timely arrival of a company of whites in
another direction from Jerusalem. With a party of twenty Nat
baffled capture and endeavored to cross the Nottoway river,
attack the County Seat from the rear, and procure additional
arms and ammunition. This was a vain procedure. A mid¬
night attack at his rendezvous at which point he had recruited
his strength, left him with less than a score of followers. The
sudden firing of a gun by Hark was the signal for an ambush
which caused the retreat and flight of his force. Dismayed but
not disappointed, Nat endeavored once more to rally his men,
but the discovery of white men reconnoitering near his rendezvous
convinced him that he had been betrayed and further aggressive
steps were useless.
For nearly six weeks the entire county sought his capture
which was finally accomplished only by accident. His trial, con¬
viction and punishment followed. Fifty-five white men were
killed but not a single Negro was slain during the attack.
Seventeen of the insurrectionists were convicted and executed,
seven convicted and transported, ten acquitted, seven discharged
and four sent on for further hearing. Four of those convicted
and transported were boys. Only four free men were brought to
trial, of whom one was discharged and three acquitted. Not
only Virginia, but the whole country was stirred. Rumors of
similar outbreaks flew thick and fast. Distant cities were put
under military defense, arrests of suspects were made months
after. Governor Hayne issued a proclamation in South Caro¬
lina ; Macon, Georgia, was aroused at midnight by rumors of an
impending onslaught. Slaves were arrested by the wholesale,
were tied to trees while militia captains took delight in hacking
16 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
at them with swords. In brief, the reprisals were bloody, ter¬
rific, in a few eases most pathetic; white sympathizers suffered in
the revenge.
The next session of the Virginia Legislature occasioned a pro¬
longed debate on the evils of slavery, which Henry Wilson "Rise
and Fall of the Slave Power," pronounced to be the ablest, most
eloquent and brilliant in the entire history of state legislation.
In this discussion all the arguments for and against abolition
were given as strongly and as eloquently as anti-slavery orator or
agitator ever enunciated or formulated, but more rigorous laws
against the free Negro and the slave were enacted and enforced,
"not only in Virginia but North Carolina, South Carolina and
other States."
Y
some early strivings
It was near the close of the eighteenth century before the
first signs of social life appeared in the American Negro.1 The
Free African Society of Philadelphia was formed April 12, 1787.
Among the organizers was Richard Allen, who became the or¬
ganizer and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal
church in 1816, and president of the first National Convention
of colored men held in Philadelphia in 1830. Absalom Jones
(founder and first priest of St. Thomas Episcopal Church),
was another. The first African Lodge of Free Masons, with
Prince Hall as its worshipful master, was opened in Boston, its
warrant bearing date September 29, 1784. In Williamsburg,
Va., the first African Baptist Church was organized in 1776, and
as a result of the labors of George Liele, a Negro evangelist,
African churches were formed both in Augusta, and Savannah,
Georgia, in the same decade.2
These were exceptional incidents in the life of a people, num¬
bering more than a half million who had hitherto no social bond,
nothing in common but that they were the victims of oppression
and injustice.
1 Johnston's High School History of the U. S. Thorpe—History of the
American People, p. 88. The Negro Church—Atlanta Univ. Publications.
The Negro Mason in Equity—S. W. Clark.
2 All race organizations were then styled African.
17
VI
abolition of the slave trade
After the Revolutionary War, when the colonists tried to form
a Constitution they found themselves hopelessly divided over the
question of one or two houses in the legislature and the basis
of representation. The presence of the Negro in large numbers
in the South where slavery was steadily on the increase oc¬
casioned much of the trouble. Two of the three great com¬
promises which made the Constitution a possibility bore directly
on this unequal distribution of free and slave, white and black
population. By the terms of the second compromise five slaves
in the basis of popular representation were to be counted as
equal to three white men. The third compromise permitted the
foreign slave trade to continue for twenty years.
The moral effect of the abolition of the African slave trade
by the United States, which was determined by an act of March
2, 1807, to go into effect the first day of the following year,
is borne out by the action of several European countries. Great
Britain, on March 25, same year, followed the example of the
United States. Sweden was the next, in 1813; the Dutch and
France did the like in 1814, the latter as the result of a treaty
with Great Britain, though it was not in full operation until
June 1, 1819. Spain lingered until the next year, and Portu¬
gal, which had legislated for absolute abolition in January,
1815, had the time for the cessation of the trade extended to
January 21, 1823, and finally to February, 1830. To Denmark,
however, must be given the honor of having pioneered in the
movement for the abolition of the slave trade, a royal order hav¬
ing been issued May 16, 1792, to be enforced throughout her
dominion at the end of ten years.
18
VII
from 1816 to 1870
The year 1816 witnessed the beginning of two divergent move¬
ments with, respect to the black population of the United States.
The first was the organization by the whites of the American
Colonization Society, the adoption of its constitution, December
31, and the election of its officers, January 1, 1817. Henry
Clay presided at the first meeting, which was held at the Capitol,
December 21, 1816. At the adjourned meeting held in the hall
of the House of Representatives the constitution was adopted
with fifty men as charter members. Bushrod Washington, a
nephew of George Washington and one of the justices of the
Supreme Court, was elected first president. This movement,
paradoxical as it may be, was held to be both in the interest of
slavery and freedom—of slavery, because by the contemplated
removal of the free people of color from the country it would
destroy the unrest and dissatisfaction of the slave with his servile
condition; in the interest of freedom, because the free Negro
would be transported to a land in which he would have free
scope for all his activities, energies, and aspirations, unfettered
by the prejudice of race and unequal competition.
The other epochal event was the creation of the African Metho¬
dist Episcopal Church denomination of colored Methodist societies
in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and the adjacent country.
The black worshipers in the first-named city had been ordered
up from their knees while in the act of praying, and in other
places they were otherwise restricted. To save their self-re¬
spect they established churches composed entirely of their own
19
20 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
race, and in this year was the first step towards connectional
union.
The movement to remove systematically the free men of the
country was the first step to atone for the purchase of the
twenty Negroes landed at Jamestown two hundred years be¬
fore. The twenty had become in 1810, 1,369,864, of whom
183,897, were free. The Nation gave moral support to the col¬
onization movement. Colored men desirous of going to Africa
were not subjected to certain disabilities. They could receive
educational facilities denied other colored Americans, and they
enjoyed more of the freedom of locomotion. Yet during the
entire period of the colonization movement from 1820, the time
of the first settlement in Africa, the numbers who have gone to
Liberia, including 5,722 recaptured Africans, up to the close of
the nineteenth century were not more than 22,119, and their
descendants in that country did not at the beginning of the
twentieth century, amount to more than 25,000.1 On the other
hand, the A. M. E. Church has grown rapidly from the begin¬
ning. In 1912 it had a membership of 620,234.2 The A. M. E.
Zion Church, established largely for the same reasons in 1820,
had the same year a membership of 547,216,3 distributed
throughout the continental part of the United States.
1 Liberia Bulletin No. 16.
2 Dr. H. K. Carroll, Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in
America.
3 Ibid.
VIII
slavery—extension and abolition
In 1820 a battle royal was fought in Congress in which the right
of determining whether new territory should be free or slave
was the issue. After a prolonged debate the Missouri Com¬
promise, as it is known, became a law. Missouri was admitted
as a slave, Maine as a free State, and thereafter neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude should be permitted in the United
States north of 36° 30'. It was believed so far as Congress was
concerned that the Slavery Question had been settled. Three
events, however, the Denmark Yesey Insurrection of 1822, the
Nat Turner Insurrection of 1831 and the organization of the
American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833 at Philadelphia, kept the
Slavery Question before the country. The Amistad Captives,
who in 1839 overcame the slave traders who were bringing them
from Africa to this country to sell them into slavery,1 also held
the popular attention. The persistent warfare of John Quincy
Adams in the House of Representatives in behalf of the right of
petition; the rapid increase of slave population in the South,
due to the smuggling of slaves and the struggle of the Slave
Power to keep pace with the rapid growth of the Middle West
and the annexation of Texas, brought the elements together again
in conflict in 1850. After another prolonged debate, another
compromise was adopted, by which among other things,
First.—California was to be admitted as a free State.
Second.—A more rigid fugitive slave law was passed.
i Slavery and Anti-Slavery, W. Goodell.
21
22 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Third.—The organization of the Territory of New Mexico with¬
out any restriction as to slavery.
Fourth.—The prohibition of domestic slave trade in the Dis¬
trict of Columbia.
The sentiment of the North was decidedly against the enforce¬
ment of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the South, on the other
hand did not keep faith with the Compromise of 1820, which
by her solid delegation in Congress, aided by a strong contingent
from the North she defied by the enactment in 1854, of the Kan¬
sas-Nebraska Act. Here was an irrepressible conflict, which was
accentuated by the Dred Scott Decision of the U. S. Supreme
Court in 1857, delivered two days after the inauguration of
President Buchanan. In Kansas the conflict was bitter and
persistent, and in the end Freedom won. Both sides of the
struggle between Freedom and Slavery were engaged in a polit¬
ical duel in Illinois, where Lincoln represented the idea of the
National power of the country to cheek the westward extension
of slavery, and Stephen Douglas championed the right to make
a territory either free or slave at will. In 1859 another insur¬
rection, this time led by John Brown, a white man, with .22
followers, at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, thrilled the country.
It had most wide-reaching and permanent results, dooming
slavery to extinction, although its leader and his associates paid
the penalty of their lives on the scaffold.
John Brown on His Way to the Scaffold. After Hovenden.
IX
civil war and reconstruction
With the Democratic party divided, 1860 witnessed two rival
presidential tickets; as a result of which Abraham Lincoln and
the Republican party obtained a decisive victory in the electoral
college.
The triumph of the Republicans gave the South the pretext
that it was seeking. The civil war followed and resulted in
the triumph of the Union and the abolition of slavery. On
April 16, 1862, slavery was abolished in the District of Colum¬
bia by the payment of $993,406.35; and notice having been given,
September 22,1862 of his intention, if those supporting the Rich¬
mond government did not return to the Union within one hun¬
dred days, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclama¬
tion, January 1, 1863, declaring all slaves in the seceded States
and Territories except in sections in the control of the Union
armies henceforth and forever free.
The ass'assination of President Lincoln, April 15, 1865, follow¬
ing so closely upon the Fall of Richmond and the Surrender of
Lee at Appomattox, precipitated a long and bitter conflict be¬
tween Congress and Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's successor in
office. April 9, 1866, a Civil Rights Law was enacted, confer¬
ring certain fundamental civil rights upon the emancipated race
—the right to sue and be sued, to hold property, and to testify
in the courts. The States lately in rebellion passed vagrant acts
which virtually reenacted many of the objectionable features of
the Slave Code, and Congress decided to protect by legislation
and constitutional enactments those freed by the sword. The
23
24 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Thirteenth Amendment, constitutionally legalizing emancipa¬
tion, became a part of the Constitution, December 18, 1865; the
Fourteenth Amendment, defining citizenship and declaring all
Negroes to be citizens of the United States and of the States in
which they reside, became incorporated in the Constitution July
18, 1868. The right of franchise was given the Negro, first in
the States that were engaged in rebellion by the Reconstruction
Act organizing the seceded States, which passed March 2, 1867,
and through the Fifteenth Amendment, preventing any denial
of the right of suffrage on account of race, color or previous
condition of servitude. This amendment was ratified March 30,
1870, and applied to the entire country. With its em¬
bodiment in the fundamental law and the restoration of
all the States lately in rebellion to their constitutional rights
and representation within the Union, the work of reconstruction
was supposed to be complete.
Reading Emancipation Proclamation by Union Soldier in a Slave Cabin.
X
educational progress
One of the laws most rigidly enforced south of Mason and
Dixon's Line was that prohibiting the teaching of colored people
to read and write. There was no greater, no more ardent desire
on their part than to obtain an education. Every artifice to
evade this law and to obtain by stealth an education was em¬
ployed. During the Civil War philanthropic associations fol¬
lowed victorious armies, and schools were opened in the centers
of Negro population all over the South Old and young flocked
to these, all eager to get an education. "While not under the oper¬
ation of positive law, they enjoyed, nevertheless, a kind of n£u-
. tional governmental supervision—that of the Freedmen's
Bureau.1 The teachers as a rule were Northern young men and
women, especially the latter, who were fired with enthusiasm
for the work and exhibited the self-denying consecration of the
foreign missionary. The progress of the pupils in these schools
was phenomenal. The establishment of normal schools and acad¬
emies at which the brightest of the colored youth could be pre¬
pared for the work of teachers rapidly followed. Almost about
the same time Howard University at Washington, Atlanta Uni¬
versity in Georgia, Fisk University at Nashville, Straight Uni¬
versity in New Orleans, Shaw University at Raleigh, Colver Insti¬
tute in Richmond, Va., Wayland Seminary in Washington—
these last two now merged in the Union University at Richmond,
Va., and Hampton Institute, were established—all the outgrowth
of missionary effort or philanthropy. In faculty and other equip-
i See Appendix.
25
26 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
ment these sehools matched the secondary institutions at the
South for the whites. Thus was laid the foundation for the
schoolteachers, the doctors, lawyers and ministers of the gospel
needed in the popular instruction, professional work, the religious
and secular leadership of the Negro. From the private philan¬
thropy that maintained these schools were evolved the Peabody,
Slater and Hand Funds, and in later years the General and
the Southern Educational Board and the Jeanes Educational
Fund.
The common schools of the South came into being with the
reconstruction of the new State governments, and may be said to
have had a fair beginning with the year 1871. Four of the
State Superintendents of Instruction in the period of Reconstruc¬
tion were colored men, Rev. now Bishop J. W. Hood in North
Carolina, Thomas W. Cardozo in Mississippi, William G. Brown
in Louisiana, and Rev. Jonathan G. Gibbs of Florida. It may
be claimed without fear of successful contradiction that the es¬
tablishment of the common school in the South is attributable to
the political forces which the Negro's vote placed in power.
XI
the early convention movement
With the period immediately following the Second War with
Great Britain, begins a series of events which indicate a pur¬
pose of the nation to make the condition of the free man of
color an inferior status socially and politically. That this was
resisted at every step, revealed more clearly the national aim and
purpose
In 1820 the passage of the Missouri Compromise permitted
the westward extension of slavery and as far north as 36° 30'.
Local legislation, harmonizing with this national action against
extending the domain of freedom and making the country unde¬
sirable for the colored freeman, followed. Two years after the
enactment of the compromise, "the martyrs of 1822" went
bravely and heroically to their fate in South Carolina. In
1827, the Empire State completed its work of emancipation of
the slave, begun 28- years before, and saw the birth of Free¬
dom's Journal, the first Negro newspaper within the limits of
the United States, edited by John B. Russwurm1 and Samuel E.
Cornish. In 1831, Virginia was convulsed and the entire South¬
land shocked by the Insurrection of Nat Turner. In the State of
Ohio along the Kentucky border, the feeling against the free
Negro had become acute. Mobs occurred, blood was shed and
the people were compelled to look to some spot where they could
abide in peace.
In these stirring times the Convention Movement came into
i First college-bred Negro, Bowdoin College, one year after Longfellow
and Hawthorne.
27
28 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
existence. The forces which, it evoked were conserved and corre¬
lated until the dynamics of Civil Revolution had wrought desola¬
tion and destruction far and wide, sweeping away forever what
had been a basis of the social and political strength of the Na¬
tion.
A glance at the list of the officers of this pioneer deliberative
convention of colored people of which we have as yet any data,
shows that the men who led in this meeting were among the fore¬
most colored citizens whose names have come down to us from
that distant past.2 James Forten was President, and Russell
Parrott, the assistant to Absalom Jones at St. Thomas, P. E.
Church, was the Secretary. Prominent also in this anti-coloniza¬
tion convention, were Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Robert
Douglass, and John Gloucester—the first settled pastor of a
colored Presbyterian Church.
This Convention of 1830 was the first conscious step toward con¬
certed action and was in no sense local in its conception, its con¬
stituency or its purpose.
The prime mover was Hezekiah Grice, a native of Baltimore.
In his early life, he had met Benjamin Lundy, and in 1828-9,
William Lloyd Garrison, editors and publishers of The Genius
of Universal Emancipation, published at that time in Balti¬
more. In the spring of 1830 he wrote a circular letter to prom¬
inent colored men in the free States requesting their views on
the feasibility and imperative necessity of holding a convention
of the free colored men of the country, at some point north of
Mason and Dixon's Line, for the exchange of views on the ques¬
tion of emigration or the adoption of a policy that would make
living in the United States more endurable. For several months
there was no response whatever to this circular. In August,
however, he received an urgent request for him to come at once
2 The first public demonstration of hostility to the colonization scheme
was made January 24, 1817, by free colored inhabitants of Richmond, Va.
Garrison's "Thoughts on African Colonization."
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT
29
to Philadelphia. On his arrival there he found a meeting in
session, discussing conflicting reports relative to the openings
for colored people as emigrants to Canada. Bishop Richard
Allen, at whose instance he was in Philadelphia, subsequently
showed him a printed circular signed by Peter "Williams, the
rector of St. Philip's Church, New York, Peter Vogelsang and
Thomas L. Jennings of the same place, approving the plan of a
convention. This approval decided the Philadelphians to take
definite action, and they immediately " issued a call for a Con¬
vention of the colored men of the United States to be held in the
city of Philadelphia, on the 15th of September, 1830."
"When the time came the Convention assembled in Bethel
Church, the historic building in which was laid the foundation
of the A. M. E. denomination. The Convention was organized
by the election of Bishop Allen as President, Dr. Belfast Burton
of Philadelphia and Austin Steward of Rochester, N. Y., as Vice
Presidents, Junius C. Morell, Secretary, and Robert Cowley,
Maryland, Assistant Secretary.
Seven States were represented by duly accredited delegates as
follows:3
Pennsylvania—Richard Allen, Belfast Burton, Cyrus Black,
Junius C. Morell, Benjamin Paschall, James Cornish, William
Whipper, Peter Gardiner, John Allen, James Newman, Charles
H. Leveck, Frederick A. Hinton; New York—Austin Steward,
Joseph Adams, George L. Brown; Connecticut—Scipio Augus¬
tus; Rhode Island—George C. Willis, Alfred Niger; Mart-
land—James Deaver, Hezekiah Grice, Aaron Willson, Robert
Cowley; Delaware—Abraham D. Shadd; Virginia—Arthur M.
Waring, William Duncan, James West, Jr.
Besides there were these honorary members:
Pennsylvania—Robert Brown, William Rogers, John Bowers,
Richard Howell, Daniel Peterson, Charles Shorts; New York—
Leven Williams; Maryland—James P. Walker, Rev. Samuel
s Anglo-African Magazine, 1859.
30 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Todd, John Arnold; Ohio—John Robinson; New Jeeset—Samp¬
son Peters; Delaware—Rev. Anthony Campbell and Dan Caro¬
ls Hall.
They may well be called the first ''forty immortals" in our
Valhalla.
The question of emigration to Canada West, after an ex¬
haustive discussion which continued during the two days of the
convention's sessions, was recommended as a measure of relief
against the persecution from which the colored American suffered
in many places in the North. Strong resolutions against the
American Colonization Society were adopted. The formation of
a parent society with auxiliaries in the different localities repre¬
sented in the convention, for the purpose of raising money to
defray the object of purchasing a colony in the province of Upper
Canada, and ascertaining more definite information, having been
effected, the convention adjourned to reassemble on the first
Monday in June, 1831, during which time the order of the con¬
vention respecting the organization of the auxiliary societies had
been carried into operation.
At the assembling of the convention in 1831, which was fully
reported in The Liberator, the officers elected were, John
Bowers, Philadelphia, President, Abraham D. Shadd and Wil¬
liam Duncan, Vice Presidents, William Whipper, Secretary,
Thomas L. Jennings, Assistant Secretary.
The roll of delegates reveals the presence of many of the
pioneers. Hezekiah Grice did not attend—in fact he was never
subsequently a delegate, for two years later he emigrated to
Haiti, where he became a foremost contractor. Richard Allen
had died, after having completed a most remarkable career.
Rev. James W. C. Pennington, who for forty years afterward
bore a conspicuous place as a clergyman of sound scholarship,
was a new figure and thenceforth an active participant in the
movement.
This convention aroused no little interest among the foremost
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT
31
friends of the Negro and was visited and addressed by such men
as Rev. S. S. Jocelyn of New Haven, Benjamin Lundy and Wil¬
liam Lloyd Garrison. In the "Life of Arthur Tappan," by his
brother Lewis Tappan, we find the following:
"A convention of people of color was held in Philadelphia in 1831
of delegates from several States to consult upon the common interest.
It was numerously attended and the proceedings were conducted with
much ability. A resolution was adopted that it was expedient to es¬
tablish a collegiate school on the manual labor system. ... A com¬
mittee appointed for the purpose made an appeal to the benevolent.
. . . New Haven was suggested as a suitable place for its loca¬
tion . . . Arthur Tappan purchased several acres of land in the
southerly part of the city and made arrangements for the erection of a
suitable building and furnished it with needful supplies in a way to
do honor to the city and country . . . The people of New Haven be¬
came violently agitated in opposition to the plan. The city was filled
with confusion. They seemed to fear that the city would be overrun
with Negroes from all parts of the world ... A public meeting
called by the Mayor September 8, 1831, in spite of a manly protest
by Roger S. Baldwin, subsequently Governor of the State and U. S.
Senator from Connecticut, adopted the following:
"Resolved, by the Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council and free¬
men of the city of New Haven, in city meeting assembled, that we will
resist the establishment of the proposed college in this place by every
lawful means."
The attempt at the founding of a college in Connecticut was
abandoned. The Prudence Crandall incident disgraced the name
of Connecticut at the same period.
What was a kind of National Executive Committee, and known
as the Convention Board, issued the calls for the conventions
from time to time.
When the next convention was held in 1832, there were eight
States represented with an attendance of thirty delegates, as fol¬
lows: Maryland had 3; Delaware, 5; New Jersey, 3; Pennsyl-
32 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
vania, 9; New York, 5; Connecticut, 2; Rhode Island, 1; Massa¬
chusetts, 2.
Beginning June 4th, it continued in session until the 15th.
The question exciting the greatest interest was one which pro¬
posed the purchase of other lands for settlement in Canada; for
800 acres of land had already been secured, two thousand indi¬
viduals had left the soil of their birth, crossed the line and laid
the foundation for a structure which promised an asylum for the
colored population of the United States. They had already
erected two hundred log houses and 500 acres of land had been
brought under cultivation. But hostility to the settlement of the
Negro in that section had been manifested by Canadians, many
of whom would sell no land to the Negro. This may explain the
hesitation of the convention and the appointment of an agent
whose duty it was to make further investigation and report to a
subsequent convention.
Opposition to the colonization movement was emphasized by a
strong protest against any appropriation by Congress in behalf
of the American Colonization Society. Abolition of slavery in
the District of Columbia was also urged at the same convention.
This was one year before the organization of the American Anti-
Slavery Society.
There were fifty-eight delegates present when the convention
assembled June 3, 1833. The States represented were Pennsyl¬
vania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Con¬
necticut and New York. Abraham D. Shadd, then of Washing¬
ton, D. C., was elected President.
The usual resolutions and addresses to the people were framed
and adopted. In addition to these, the law of Connecticut, but
recently passed, prohibiting the establishment of literary insti¬
tutions in that State for the instruction of persons of color of
other States was specifically referred to, as well as a resolution
giving the approval of the mission of William Lloyd Garrison to
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT
33
Europe to obtain funds for the establishment of a Manual Train¬
ing School.
The emigration question was again thoroughly discussed. A
committee was appointed to look into the matter of the encourage¬
ment of settlement in Upper Canada and all plans for coloniza¬
tion anywhere were rejected.
A general convention fund was provided for, also a schedule
showing the population, churches, day schools, Sunday Schools,
pupils, temperance societies, benevolent societies, mechanics and
store-keepers. A most significant action was one recommending
the establishment in different parts of the country of Free Labor
Stores at which no produce from the result of slave labor would
be exposed for sale.
The next year, 1834, the convention met in New York, June
8th, with Henry Sipkins as President. There were seven States
represented and about 40 delegates present. The usual resolu¬
tions were adopted, one commending Prudence Crandall * to the
patronage and affection of the people at large; another urging
the people to assemble on the fourth of each July for the purpose
of prayer and the delivery of addresses pertaining to the con¬
dition and welfare of the colored people. The foundation of so¬
cieties on the principle of moral reform and total abstinence from
intoxicating liquors was advocated. Moreover, every person of
color was urged to discountenance all boarding houses where gam¬
bling was permitted.
At the same convention the Phoenix Societies came up for
special consideration and were heartily commended. These
planned an organization of the colored people in their municipal
subdivisions with the special object of the promotion of their
improvement in morals, literature and the mechanic arts. Lewis
Tappan refers to them in the biography previously referred to.
The 1 'Mental Feast" which was a social feature, survived thirty
years later in some of the interior towns of Pennsylvania and the
* See Appendix.
34 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
West. General Superintendent Christopher Rush of the A. M.
E. Zion, was the president of these societies. Rev. Theodore
S. Wright, the predecessor of Rev. Henry Highland Garnet at
the Shiloh Presbyterian Church, New York, and who enjoys the
unique reputation of claiming Princeton Seminary as his Alma
Mater, was a vice president. Among its directors were Boston
Crummell, the father of Alexander Crummell, Rev. William Paul
Quinn, subsequently a bishop of the A. M. E. Church, and Rev.
Peter Williams. These names suggest that the Phoenix Society
movement was a somewhat widespread institution. Unfor¬
tunately, there was lost during the excitement of the New
York Draft Riots of 1863, nearly all the documentary data for an
interesting sidelight on the Convention Movement, through the
study of these societies.
With 1835, the Convention returned to Philadelphia; June 1-5
was the time of its sessions. There were forty-four delegates en¬
rolled, with Reuben Ruby of Maine, as president, John F. Cook of
the District of Columbia, was Secretary.
Speaking of its proceedings "The Liberator" says:
"Its pages offered abundant testimony of the ability of this body
to set before the Nation a detail of the wrongs and grievances to
which they are by custom and law subjected, and they also exhibit a
praiseworthy spirit of manly and noble resolution to contend by moral
force alone until their rights so long withheld shall be restored."
Among other specially notable things, Robert Purvis and Fred¬
erick A. Hinton were appointed a committee to correspond with
dissatisfied emigrants to Liberia and to take such action as would
best promote the sentiment of the colored people respecting the
work of the Colonization Society; the students of Lane Seminary
at Cincinnati were thanked for their zeal in the cause of aboli¬
tion. Temperance reform was advocated in a stirring address
to the people; and the free people of color were recommended to
petition Congress and their respective state legislatures to be ad-
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT 35
mitted to the rights and privileges of American citizenship, and to
be protected in the enjoyment of the same.
William Whipper advocated that the word "colored" should be
abandoned and the title "African" should be removed from the
name of the churches, lodges, societies and other institutions.
In 1836, in the columns of The Liberator appear calls for
two conventions; the regular annual convention was called to
meet in Philadelphia, June 6, by Henry Sipkins of the Conven¬
tion Board, and the urgent language of the call implies doubt
in the interest of the people or the probability of their prompt
response to the call. William Whipper issued the call, through
the same medium, for the Convention of the American Moral Re¬
form to meet August 2, 1836, also in Philadelphia. Careful
perusal of the files of The Liberator fails to disclose a com¬
ment on the proceedings of either convention. But the per¬
sonnel of the officers of the American Moral Reform shows the
influential men of the Convention Movement at their helm.
James Forten, Sr., the Revolutionary patriot, was the President,
Reuben Ruby, Rev. Samuel E. Cornish, Rev. Walter Proctor and
Jacob C. White, Sr., of Philadelphia, were Vice Presidents,
Joseph Cassey was Treasurer, Robert Purvis, Foreign Cor¬
responding Secretary and James Forten, Jr., Recording Sec¬
retary.
The address was drawn up by William Watkins of Baltimore,
who two decades later was an able colleague of Frederick Doug¬
lass in the conduct of The North Star.
In 1837, the Convention of the. American Moral Reform was
again held in Philadelphia, August 19th, in which William
Whipper, John P. Burr, Rev. John F. Cook, who delivered an
address on Temperance, and James Forten, Jr., were leading
spirits.
Sufficient has been stated to show that the convention move¬
ment was deeply rooted in the thought of the disfranchised
American. The fact that there was a lull does not at all dis-
36 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
prove this contention. The conventions were great educators,
alike of the Negro and the American whites. They taught the
former parliamentary usages and how to conduct deliberative
bodies. They brought to light facts pertaining to the Negro's
status which tended to establish that he was thrifty and steadily
improving as a moral and economic force; while the American
whites had in them an object lesson from which they learned
much. In his ''Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro," Samuel
Ringgold "Ward4 says: "A State or a National Convention of
black men is held. The talent displayed, the order maintained,
the demeanor of the delegates, all impress themselves upon the
community. All agree that to keep a people rooted to the soil
who are rapidly improving, who have already attained consider¬
able influence and are marshaled by gifted leaders (men who
show themselves qualified for legislative and judicial positions),
and to doom them to a state of perpetual vassalage is altogether
out of the question."
The work of unifying the race along right lines now pro¬
ceeded with the holding of State Conventions. There was a
state Temperance Convention of the colored men of Connecticut,
held at Middletown, 1836, followed by a call for a New England
Convention at Boston in October. Reference to its proceedings
shows a prior convention held at Providence, R. I., in May. At
the Boston Convention a ringing appeal was made to the people,
for total abstinence from all intoxicants, and almost immediately
thereafter, local meetings were held for the purpose of putting in
practical operation the principles enunciated. Not only in New
England, but in the Middle and "Western States, local conven¬
tions were held during this and the next decade.
The following extracts from a letter dated Dec. 21, 1901 from
the veteran educator, Peter H. Clark, of Cincinnati and St. Louis,
Missouri, shed a flood of light upon this early movement:
* Pronounced by Daniel Webster "the ablest thinker on his legs before
the American public."
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT 37
My Dear Sir :—
The people of Ohio held conventions annually for more than thirty
years. Usually they printed their proceedings in pamphlets.
A peculiarity of the Ohio conventions was that they were meant to
improve the condition of the colored people of that State. The con¬
ventions of those residing in the more eastern States were simply anti-
slavery conventions, and their memorials and protests were aimed at
slavery. The first conventions of the men of Ohio were self-helpful.
By their own sacrifices and with the help of friends, they purchased lots
and erected school houses in a number of towns, or they organized
schools and located them in churches.
Active in this work were the Yancy's, Charles and Walter, Gideon
and Charles Langston (brothers of John M.), George Carey, Dennis
Hill, and chief among them, David Jenkins. Walter Yancy was the
agent of these men, traveling and organizing societies and schools, col¬
lecting funds, etc.
As a result of this self-helping movement, a number of farming
communities were established, some of which accumulated large areas
of land, and in Cincinnati, The Iron Chest Company accumulated funds
and in 1840 erected a block of buildings which still stands.
Later, the action of the Convention was directed against the Black
Laws of Ohio. These were repealed in 1849, and colored children were
permitted to share in the benefits of the school funds, though in sepa¬
rate schools. The same legislature elected Salmon P. Chase to the
United States Senate. The movement thus detailed was the result of a
bargain between the Democrats of Ohio and the Free Soilers.
Afterwards the force of these conventions was directed against
discriminations against colored people which still existed on the statute
books. Sometimes this force took the shape of petitions, memorials,
protests, and after the organization of the Ohio Equal Rights League,
it took the shape of legal proceedings, etc.
One of the most memorable of these conventions was held in 1852,
when John M. Langston delivered the best speech of his life, defending
the thesis, "there is a mutual repellency between the white and black
races of the world."
The materials for the speech were collected by Charles Langston,
38
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
but John made the speech. Time has vindicated the position taken by
Mr. Langston in that memorable address. It was the beginning of the
Emigration Movement in which Dr. Martin R. Delaney afterwards be¬
came prominent.
Effective national conventions have not been numerous in the past
fifty years.
One of the most notable met at Rochester in 1853. Frederick
Douglass presided and I had the honor of being the secretary.
It was reported that Mrs. Stowe desired to give a portion of her
earnings from "Uncle Tom" for the founding of a school for the bene¬
fit of the Afro-American, and this convention was called to formulate
an advisory plan.
The plan when formulated, was practically what Mr. Washington
realized many years afterwards at Tuskegee. . . .
The Rochester movement came to naught, but its influence upon
the colored people of the country was wide spread, chiefly because of
the character of the men who composed it.
Its proceedings were published in the "North Star," and so far as I
know, nowhere else. The files of that paper were destroyed with Mr.
Douglass' Rochester house, and, unless in the Congressional Library,
no copy now exists.
The convention at Syracuse, 1864, was another note-worthy assem¬
blage. It was the formulation of a plan of organization known as the
National Equal Rights League. The rivalry between Mr. Douglass
and Mr. Langston prevented the wide usefulness of which the organiza¬
tion was capable.
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois organized auxiliary State leagues,
and in each State much good was done. Mr. Langston, president elect
of the National Organization, never called it together. . . .
It will take time and thought for the compilation of such a list.
The men who officiated in the conventions of which I have written,
were mostly small men, great only in their zeal for the welfare of
their people.
Within these ten years from 1837 to 1847, a new figure ap¬
pears on the scene, a man, though not born free like Paul,
yet like the chief captain, obtained it at a great price. The
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT 39
career of Frederick Douglass was but preliminary prior to his
return from England, and his settlement at Rochester, N. Y.,
as editor of The North Star. By a most remarkable coin¬
cidence, the very first article in the first number of The
North Star published January, 1848., is an extended notice
of the National Colored Convention held at the Liberty Street
Church, Troy, New York, October 9, 1847. Nathan Johnson
was president.
There were 67 delegates. From New York, 44; Massachusetts,
15; Connecticut, 2; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Kentucky and Michigan, 1 each.
The presence of one delegate, Benjamin Weeden, from a large
constituency, Northampton, Mass., whose credentials stated the
fact that a large number of white citizens sympathizing with the
objects of the call had formally expressed their endorsement
of the movement, was a signal for hearty applause.
A most spirited discussion arose on the report of the Com¬
mittee of Education as to the expediency of the establishment
of a college for colored young men, which was discussed pro
and con by arguments that can not be surpassed even after a
lapse of more than half a century. The report gives unstinted
praise to the chairman5 of the committee for his scholarly style,
his choice diction and his grace of manner.
The next year, September 6, 1848, between sixty and seventy
delegates assembled at Cleveland, Ohio, in the National Conven¬
tion, the sessions alternating between the Court House and the
Tabernacle. Frederick Douglass was chosen President, John
Jones of Illinois, Allen Jones of Ohio, Thomas Johnson of Michi¬
gan and Abner Francis of New York, were Vice Presidents, "Wil¬
liam Howard Day was the Secretary, with William H. Burnham
and Justin Hollin, Assistants. At the head of th« business com¬
mittee stood Martin R. Delaney. The line of policy was not de¬
flected. As in previous conventions, education was encouraged,
5 Alexander Crummell.
40 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
the importance of statistical information emphasized and temper¬
ance societies urged.
As showing the representative character of the delegates, the
diversity of occupations, employment and the professions fol¬
lowed, the fact was developed that there were printers, carpenters,
blacksmiths, shoemakers, engineers, dentists, gunsmiths, editors,
tailors, merchants, wheelwrights, painters, farmers, physicians,
plasterers, masons, college students, clergymen, barbers, hair¬
dressers, laborers, coopers, livery stable keepers, bath-house
keepers and grocers among the members of the convention.
But of all the conventions of the period, the largest, that
in which the ability of its members was best displayed in the
broad and statesmanlike treatment of the questions discussed
and the practical action which vindicated their right to recog¬
nition as enfranchised citizens, and the one to which the at¬
tention of the American people was attracted as never before,
was the one held in the city of Rochester, N. Y. With greater
emphasis than at prior meetings, this convention set the seal of
its opposition against any hope for permanent relief to the con¬
ditions under which the colored freeman labored by any com¬
prehensive scheme of emigration. Because of this, it directed
its energies to affirmative, constructive action.
In the enunciation of a philosophy able, far-sighted and states¬
manlike, contained in the address to the American people, we
behold the wisdom of a master mind—one then at the prime of
his intellectual and physical powers, Frederick Douglass, the
chairman of the Business Committee.
Among the important things done by the convention might be
enumerated. It says:
"We can not announce the discovery of any new principle adopted
to ameliorate the condition of mankind. The great truths of moral
and political science upon which we rely, and which press upon your
consideration, have been evolved and enunciated by you. We point
to your principles, your wisdom and your great example as the full
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT 41
justification of our course this day. That all men are created equal;
that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is the right of all; that
taxation and representation should go together; that the Constitution
of the United States was formed to establish justice, promote the gen¬
eral welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to all the people of the
country; that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God—are American
principles and maxims, and together they form and constitute the con¬
structive elements of the American government."
1. The plan for an industrial college on the manual labor plan, was
approved, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was about to make a visit
to England at the instance of friends in that country, was authorized
to receive funds in the name of the colored people of the country for
that purpose. The successful establishment and conduct of such an
institution of learning, would train youth to be self-reliant and skilled
workmen, fitted to hold their own in the struggle of life on the con¬
ditions prevailing here.
2. A registry of colored mechanics, artisans and business men
throughout the Union, was provided for, also, of all the persons will¬
ing to employ colored men in business, to teach colored boys mechanic
trades, liberal and scientific professions and farming, also a registry
of colored men and youth seeking employment or instruction.
3. A committee on publication "to collect all facts, statistics and
statements. All laws and historical records and biographies of the
colored people and all books by colored authors." This committee was
further authorized "to publish replies to any assaults worthy of note,
made upon the character or condition of the colored people." This
was in keeping with what had actually been done by the colored peo¬
ple of the State of New York the year previous, after its Governor,
Ward Hunt, had substantially recommended the passage of black laws
which would have forbidden the settlement of any blacks or mulattoes
within its borders and placed further restrictions on those at that time
citizens. The charge of unthrift against the Negro was utterly dis-
proven by a comparative statement showing that in those places in
which the conditions were the worst, New York, Brooklyn and Williams¬
burg, the Negro had increased 25 per cent, in population in twenty
years and 100 per cent, in real estate holdings.
42 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
In thirteen counties the amount owned by colored persons
was ascertained to be $1,000,000.
Capital in Business.—New York, $755,000; Brooklyn, $79,-
200; Williamsburg, $4,900. Total $839,100.
R.tsat, Estate Exclusive of Incumbrance.—New York, $733,-
000; Brooklyn, $276,000; Williamsburg, $151,000. Total $1,-
160,000.
The convention crowned its work by a more comprehensive
plan of organization than those of twenty years before.
A national council was provided for to be "composed of two
members from each State by elections to be held at a poll at
which each colored inhabitant may vote who pays ten cents as a
poll tax, and each State shall elect at such election delegates to
State conventions twenty in number from each State at large."
The detail of this plan shows that the methods of the Afro-
American Council of 1895, is an almost exact copy of the
National Council of 1853. The chairman of the committee
which formulated this plan was William Howard Day and other
members were Charles H. Langston, George B. Yashon, William
J. Wilson, William Whipper and Charles B. Ray, all of them
men of more than ordinary intelligence, information and abil-
ity.
But those who saw only in emigration the solution of the evils
with which they were beset, immediately called another con¬
vention to consider and decide upon the subject of emigration
from the United States. According to the call, no one was to
be admitted to the convention who would introduce the subject
of emigration to any part of the Eastern Hemisphere, and op¬
ponents of emigration were also to be excluded. Among the
signers to the call in and from the States of Pennsylvania, New
York, Michigan, Indiana, Canada and California were: Rev. Wil¬
liam Webb, Martin R. Delaney, Pittsburg, Pa., Dr. J. J. Gould
Bias and Franklin Turner of Philadelphia, Rev. Augustus R.
Green of Allegheny, Pa., James M. Whitfield, New York, William
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT
43
Lambert of Michigan, Henry Bibb, James Theodore Holly of
Canada and Henry M. Collins of California.
Douglass in his paper The North Star, characterized the
call as uncalled for,—unwise and unfortunate and prema¬
ture. As far too narrow and illiberal to meet with acceptance
among the intelligent. "A convention to consider the subject
of emigration when every delegate must declare himself in favor
of it beforehand as a condition of taking his seat, is like the
handle of a jug, all on one side. "We hope no colored man will
omit during the coming twelve months an opportunity which
may offer to buy a piece of property, a house lot, a farm or any¬
thing else in the United States which looks to permanent resi¬
dence here."
James M. Whitfield of Buffalo, N. Y., the Negro poet of
America, and one of the signers of the call, responded to the at¬
tacks in the same journal. Douglass made a reply and Whitfield
responded again, and so on until several articles on each side
were produced by these and other disputants. The articles were
collected and published in pamphlet form by Rev. and Bishop
James Theodore Holly of Port au Prince, Haiti, making a valu¬
able contribution to literature, for I doubt if there is anywhere
throughout the range of controversial literature anything to sur¬
pass it.
Bishop Holly gives further information respecting this con¬
vention. In a private letter he says:
"The convention was accordingly held. The Rev. William Munroe
was President, the Rt. Rev. [William] Paul Quinn, Vice President,
Dr. Delaney, Chairman of the Business Committee and I was the Secre¬
tary. . . .
"There were three parties in that Emigration Convention, ranged
according to the foreign fields they preferred to emigrate to. Dr.
Delaney headed the party that desired to go to the Niger Valley in
Africa, Whitfield the party which preferred to go to Central America,
and Holly the party which preferred to go to Hayti.
44
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
"All these parties were recognized and embraced by the Convention.
Dr. Delaney was given a commission to go to Africa, in the Niger Val¬
ley, Whitfield to go to Central America and Holly to Hayti, to enter
into negotiations with the authorities of these various countries for
Negro emigrants and to report to future conventions. Holly was the
first to execute his mission, going down to Hayti in 1855, when he en¬
tered into relations with the Minister of the Interior, the father of
the late President Hyppolite, and by him was presented to Emperor
Faustin I. The next Emigration Convention was held at Chatham,
Canada West, in 1856, when the report on Hayti was made. Dr. De¬
laney went off on his mission to the Niger Valley, Africa, via England
in 1858. There he concluded a treaty signed by himself and eight
kings, offering inducements for Negro emigrants to their territories.
Whitfield went to California, intending to go later from thence to
Central America, but died in San Francisco before he could do so.
Meanwhile [James] Redpath went to Hayti as a John Brownist after
the Harper's Ferry raid, and reaped the first fruits of Holly's mission
by being appointed Haytian Commissioner of Emigration in the United
States by the Haytian Government, but with the express injunction
that Rev. Holly should be called to cooperate with him. On Red-
path's arrival in the United States, he tendered Rev. Holly a Commis¬
sion from the Haytian Government at $1,000 per annum and traveling
expenses to engage emigrants to go to Hayti. The first shipload of
emigrants were from Philadelphia in 1861.
"Not more than one-third of the 2,000 emigrants to Hayti re¬
ceived through this movement, permanently abided there. They proved
to be neither intellectually, industrially, nor financially prepared to
undertake to wring from the soil the riches that it is ready to yield up
to such as shall be thus prepared; nor are the government and in¬
fluential individuals sufficiently instructed in social, industrial and
financial problems which now govern the world, to turn to profitable
use willing workers among the laboring class.
"The Civil War put a stop to the African Emigration project by
Dr. Delaney taking the commission of Major from President Lincoln,
and the Central American project died out with Whitfield, leaving the
Haytian Emigration as the only remaining practical outcome of the
Emigration Convention of 1854."
THE EARLY CONVENTION MOVEMENT
45
The Civil "War destroyed many landmarks and the National
Colored Convention, restricted to the free colored people of the
North and the border States, was a thing of the past.
Just after one of the darkest periods of that strife, when the
dawn was apparent, there assembled' in the city of Syracuse,
the last National Colored Convention in which the men who
began the movement in 1830, their successors and their sons had
the control. The sphere of influence even in that had some¬
what increased, for southeastern Virginia, Louisiana and Ten¬
nessee had some representation. Slavery was dead; the coloniza-
tionists to Canada, the West Indies and Africa had abandoned
the field of openly aiming to commit the policy of the race to what
was considered expatriation.
Reconstruction, even in 1864, was seen in the South peering
above the horizon. The Equal Rights League came forth dis¬
placing the National Council of 1854, yet with the same object
of the Legal Rights Association organized by Hezekiah Grice in
Baltimore in 1830. John Mercer Langston stepped in the arena
at the head of the new organization, but under more favorable
auspices than was begun in the movement of 1830. A study of
its rise, progress and decline belongs to another period of the
evolution of the Free Negro.
These four facts appear from a study of this movement:
1. The Convention Movement begun in 1830, demonstrates the
ability of the Negro to construct a platform broad enough for a
race to stand upon and to outline a policy alike far-sighted and
statesmanlike, one that has not been surpassed in the eighty years
that have elapsed.
2. The earnestness, the enthusiasm and the efficiency with
which the work aimed at was done, the singleness of purpose,
the public spirit and the intrepidity manifested, encouraged and
inspired such men as Benjamin Lundy, "William Lloyd Garrison,
Gerrit Smith, S. S. Jocelyn, Arthur and Lewis Tappan, William
Goodell and Beriah Green to greater efforts and persistence in
46 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
behalf of the disfranchised American, accomplishing at last the
tremendous work of revolutionizing the public sentiment of the
country and making the institution of radical reforms possible.
3. The preparatory training which the convention work gave,
fitted its leaders for the broader arena of abolitionism. And it
can not be regarded as a mere coincidence that the only colored
men who were among the organizers of the American Anti-
Slavery Society in 1833, Robert Purvis and James G. Barbadoes,
were both promoters and leaders in the Convention Movement.
4. The importance of industrial education in the growth and
development of the Negro-American is no new doctrine in the
creed of the representative colored people of the country. Be¬
fore Hampton and Tuskegee reared their walls—aye, before
Booker T. Washington was born, Frederick Douglass and the
Colored Convention of 1853 had commissioned Mrs. Stowe to ob¬
tain funds to establish an Agriculture and Industrial College.
Long before Frederick Douglass had left Maryland by the Under
Ground Railroad, but for the opposition of the white people of
Connecticut, and within the echo of Yale College, would have
stood the first institution dedicated to our enlightenment and
social regeneration.
Copies of this picture 17"x2'2" may be obtained by addressing Mrs. E. E. Cooper, owner of
the copyright from whom permission is obtained, by inclosing $1.00 to her address, 1331
U St., N. YV. Washington, D. C.
XII
reconstruction fails
From 1865 to 1870 the Equal Eights League had a respectable
existence. The chief value of this body was that it brought to¬
gether colored men from different sections and created the com¬
mittee of colored men stationed in Washington during the winter
immediately after the war, pending the fight between Congress
and Andrew Johnson and the enactment of the Reconstruction
Acts. This fight also paved the way for the framing and passage
of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
This law and amendments were followed by the readmission of
the States of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia,
Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
With the elective franchise safeguarded by the presence of the
United States Army and the federal statutes there was a revolu¬
tion in the personnel and political administration of the South.
In local and State offices colored men were chosen under the new
constitutions. Negro magistrates and police officers in the towns
and cities; members of the legislatures by the score; a half a
dozen judges, secretaries of state in Florida, Mississippi, and
South Carolina; and lieutenant governors in Louisiana, South
Carolina and Mississippi. As Members of Congress, there were
two Senators, Hiram R. Revels, who filled an unexpired term,
and Blanche K. Bruce, the full term of six years from 1875
to 1881, both from Mississippi. Virginia had one colored Mem¬
ber of Congress, John M. Langston, who served one term; North
Carolina, John A. Hyman, one term, James E. O'Hara, two
terms; Henry P. Cheatham, two terms, and George H. White,
47
48
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
two terms. From South Carolina, Joseph H. Rainey who served
in five Congresses, Rev. (later Bishop) Richard H. Cain, in two,
Robert C. DeLarge, in one, Alonzo J. Ransier, in one, Thomas
E. Miller, one term, Robert Brown Elliott, in two, George W.
Murray, in two, Robert Smalls, in five. Georgia had Jefferson
Long in part of a term. Florida sent Josiah T. Walls two
terms. From Alabama came Jere Haralson, Benjamin S.
Turner and James T. Rapier, one term each. Mississippi, John
R. Lynch, two terms, and Louisiana, Charles E. Nash, one
term.
The withdrawal of the last contingent of United States sol¬
diers from the South during the Administration of President
Hayes, and the opinion of the U. S. Supreme Court that the
Enforcement Act was unconstitutional, as well as similar opin¬
ions as to other Reconstruction Legislation, were followed in
1877 by the collapse of the last reconstructed governments of
Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana.
Hope was indulged in, nevertheless, that the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments to the National Constitution in the South
would be recognized and enforced by local sentiment. . In Vir¬
ginia, the "readjuster" movement led by William Mahone
triumphed in 1881 and gave a fair interpretation to the U. S.
Constitution, and a combination between the Populists and the
Republicans in North Carolina obtained control of the govern¬
ment of this State with a somewhat kindred result. In Ala¬
bama a union between the same elements gave promise of the
same results. But all these successes were temporary. Begin¬
ning with Mississippi in 1890, South Carolina, Alabama, North
Carolina, Virginia and Louisiana have revised their constitu¬
tions so ingeniously that while not violating the letter of the
Fifteenth Amendment they have placed the power of admitting
to the elective franchise entirely in the hands of local officers.
These officers having full discretion have uniformly admitted
all white men but disfranchised nearly all colored men, re-
RECONSTRUCTION FAILS
49
gardless of whether they do or do not conform to the State
law. Several attempts have been made to have the U. S. Su¬
preme Court rule on the constitutionality or unconstitutionality
of these revised constitutions. But thus far these attempts
have been in vain.
The elective franchise is now quite as much in control of the
State as before the Civil War. One of the problems of the
twentieth century is either the complete nullification of the war
amendments or their enforcement in letter and spirit.
XIII
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER
1652-1781
As early as 1652 the Negro trained in the Virginia Militia and
was found in the French and Indian "War. Crispus Attueks, the
mulatto, was one of the first to fall March 5, 1770, in the Boston
Massacre, in which the first blood of the Revolution was shed.
From the very earliest days of the Revolution the free Negro
enlisted as a soldier in common with other men. As such he
was found in the service of nearly all the colonies.1 Their pres¬
ence created objection and led to a council of war, held October,
1775, composed of three major generals and six brigadiers,
presided over by General George Washington, in which any
further Negro enlistments were unanimously condemned. Ten
days later this action was approved by a conference participated
in by Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, "Washington, and
the deputy governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The
British took advantage of this policy of the Revolutionists, and
Lord Dunmore, in a proclamation dated November 7, 1775,
offered freedom and equal pay to all slaves who would join
their army. Before the year closed, in fact on December 30,
1775, "Washington issued orders authorizing the enlistment of
free Negroes as soldiers, and as such they continued until the
close of the war.
The connection of the Negro soldier in the Continental Army
was not without incident. Some achieved honorable mention
i Arnold's History State of It. I, p. 428.
50
Battle of Bunker Hill.
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER
51
and distinction. Salem Poor was the subject of a memorial to
the General Court of Massachusetts for his soldierly bearing
and bravery. To Peter Salem belongs the distinction of killing
Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill, and Jordan Freeman killed
Major Montgomery at the storming of Fort Griswold. At the
battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778, a battalion of 400
Negroes withstood three separate charges from 1,500 Hessians
under Count Donop. In his description of this battle Arnold
says: "It was in repelling the furious onset, that the newly
raised black regiment under Colonel Green, distinguished itself
by deeds of desperate valor. Posted behind a thicket in the
valley, three times they drove back the Hessians who charged
repeatedly down the hill to dislodge them; and so determined
were the enemy in these successive charges, that the day after
the battle the Hessian Colonel who had led the attack, applied
to exchange his command and go to New York, because he
dared not lead his regiment again to battle lest his men should
shoot him for having caused them so much loss."
1812-1814:
In the War of 1812 the Negro was one-sixth of the naval
forces of the young republic. Captain Oliver H. Perry, subse¬
quently Commodore, in the early part of the struggle com¬
plained because of the large number of Negro recruits sent
him, but later he applauded them for their bravery and effi¬
ciency.
A popular gathering was held in New York to honor Com¬
modore Decatur at which Hull, Jones and Decatur were present.
Shortly after dinner was given, the crew, of which one-third
was colored, mulattoes and full blacks, walked side by side
with the white soldiers in the parade. Commodore Decatur re¬
viewed them. Some gentlemen seeing the Negro element ex¬
pressed their surprise to the Commodore and inquired if such
men were good for anything in a fight. The Commodore re-
52 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
plied: "They are as brave men as .ever fired a gun. There
are no stouter hearts in the service.''2 Incidents of the valor
of the colored sailors in that struggle are abundant. John
Johnson, struck by a twenty-four-pounder in the hip, which
took away the lower part of his body, exclaimed while in this
condition, "Fire away, my boys; no haul a color down." An¬
other, John Davis, just as seriously wounded, begged to be
thrown overboard because he said he was in the way of others.
In the east Senate stairway of the Capitol at Washington,
and in the rotunda of the Capitol at Columbus, Ohio, Art has
rescued from oblivion, by the celebrated picture of Perry's
Victory on Lake Erie, the contribution of the Negro sailor to
a place among the heroes of that engagement.3
General Andrew Jackson, President from 1829 to 1837, issued
a stirring appeal for aid to the free colored people of Louisiana,
September 21, 18.14. It runs as follows: '' Through a mistaken
policy you have been deprived of a participation in the glorious
struggle for National rights in which our country is engaged.
This no longer shall exist." Two battalions were recruited
and did splendid service in the battle of New Orleans. New
York enrolled two battalions and Pennsylvania enrolled 2,400
soldiers. Still another was ready for service when peace was de¬
clared. So highly pleased was General Jackson with the service
of the colored soldiers at the battle of New Orleans that he issued
a proclamation containing these words: "To the men of color,
soldiers! From the shores of Mobile, I called you 'to arms.
I invited you to share in the perils and to divide the glory of
your white countrymen. I expected much of you; for I was
not uninformed of those qualities which must render you so
formidable to an invading foe. I knew you could endure hunger
and thirst and all the hardships of war. I knew that you
<2 Am. Hist. Record, Vol. I, p. 115.
s There were one hundred and nine dauntless colored heroes who fought
on the Battle of Lake Erie.—Centennial Address of Rev. A. J. Carey.
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER
53
loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves, you
had to defend all that is most dear to man. But you surpass
my hopes. I found in you, united to those qualities, that noble
enthusiasm that impels to great deeds.
"Soldiers, the President of the United States shall be informed
of your conduct on the present occasion, and the voice of the
representative of the American Nation shall applaud your valor
as your General now praises your ardor. The enemy is near.
His sails cover the lake, but the brave are united, and if he
finds us contending among ourselves, it will be for the prize of
valor, and fame its noblest reward."
In Louisiana a special act of the legislature authorized free
Negro troops to be raised during the second war with England,
but only those residing in the parish of Natchitoches, who pos¬
sessed real estate of the value of one hundred and fifty dollars,
were eligible. This was the only instance of the enrolment of
Negro troops in the half-century (1800-1850). Respecting this
regiment, General Jackson wrote, in a letter to President Mon¬
roe describing the battle of New Orleans, "I saw General
Packenham reel and pitch out of his saddle. I have always
believed that he fell from the bullet of a freeman of color, who
was a famous rifle shot, and came from the Attakapas region
of Louisiana.,'4
Commenting on this belief Thorpe, the historian, says: "If
war be man's most glorious occupation, and the death of the
enemy's commander-in-chief be desirable, America should erect
a monument to this forgotten free Negro who on a property
qualification of a hundred and fifty dollars served so faithfully
at the battle of New Orleans. Was not this almost as great a
service as to command a Negro regiment?"5
4 Century Magazine, January, 1897.
s Constitutional History of the American People, page 361.
XIV
the negro as a soldier
1861-1865
In the spring of 1862, the second year of the war which main¬
tained the supremacy of the Union and preserved the flag, Gen¬
eral David Hunter raised and equipped a regiment of Negroes
in South Carolina. His action, which provoked censure and
the offering of a resolution in the House of Representatives
demanding the authority for this step, was ultimately approved
by President Lincoln and by Congress. Negro soldiers thence¬
forth were recruited with enthusiasm until the total number
was 178,975 in 138 regiments of infantry, six of cavalry, four¬
teen regiments of heavy artillery and one battery of light artil¬
lery.
The record of the bravery of "The Colored Volunteer" in
defense of- the flag has inspired alike the poet and the orator
to some of the most eloquent tributes to the valor, the courage,
the daring of the bronze boys in blue. The names of Milliken's
Bend, Port Hudson and Port Pillow are as familiar as Bull
Run, Antietam, Shiloh and Gettysburg.
When the Second Louisiana Native Guards, one of the three
colored battalions mustered in the Union cause at New Orleans,
were leaving for service, Colonel Stafford, their commander,
thus concludes an address, turning over the regimental colors:
"Color-Guard: Protect, defend, die for, but do not surrender
these colors.''
Plancianos, the gallant flag-sergeant, replied: "Colonel, I
will bring back these colors to you in honor, or report to God
the reason why."
54
THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER
55
At Port Hudson, May, 1863, six times the battalion unsuccess¬
fully charged against the foe, Captain Cailloux, so black that
he was proud of his color, leading on and refusing to leave the
field, though wounded, until killed by a shell. The colors re¬
turned, but dyed with the blood of the brave Plancianos, who
had reported to God from that bloody field. George H. Boker,
the poet, immortalizes the engagement in "The Black Regi¬
ment."
At Milliken's Bend, garrisoned by the Ninth and Eleventh
Louisiana and the First Mississippi, Negroes, and about one
hundred and sixty of the Twenty-third Iowa, white, about eleven
hundred fighting men in all, defended themselves against a force
of six Confederate regiments from 3 a.m. to 12 noon, when
rescued by a Union gunboat.
On July 18, 1863, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment,
under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, in their charge against Fort
Wagner, won undying fame. It was here that Flag-Sergeant
William H. Carney, though wounded, bore the flag back in
safety, though falling exhausted from the loss of blood, and
exclaiming, "Boys, the Old Flag never touched the ground."
In Virginia in the armies of the James and the Potomac, the
prowess of the Negro soldier elicited praise from commanding
officers as well as from an admiring world. Major C. A. Fleet¬
wood,1 with pardonable pride, says: "The true metal of the
Negro as a soldier rang out its clearest notes amid the tremen¬
dous diapason that rolled back and forth between the embattled
hosts!"
It was September 29, 1864, at New Market Heights and Fort
Harrison, that only one of a color guard of the 4th U. S. C. T.,
twelve men, came off the field on his own feet. This gallant
flag-sergeant, Hilton, the last to fall, cried out as he went down,
"Boys, save the colors," and they were saved. It was at New
i Fleetwood was a medal of honor man; for other Colored Honor Men, see
Appendix.
56
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Market Heights that owing to the loss of their commissioned
officers, six non-commissioned officers, Milton M. Holland, James
H. Branson, Powhattan Beatty, Robert Pinn, Edward Ratcliff
and Samuel Gilchrist, led their men so nobly, so bravely, so
skillfully, that they were given special medals of honor. It was
of this engagement that Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, a Represent¬
ative in Congress, thus spoke ten years after:2 " There in a
space not wider than the clerk's desk, and three hundred yards
long, lay the dead bodies of 543 of my colored comrades, slain
in the defence of their country, who had lain down their
lives to uphold its flag and its honor as a willing sacrifice. And
as I rode along, guiding my horse this way and that lest he
should profane with his hoofs what seemed to me the sacred
dead, and as I looked at their bronzed faces, upturned in the
shining sun, as if in mute appeal against the wrongs of the
country for which they had given their lives, and whose flag
had been to them a flag of stripes, in which no star of glory
had ever shone for them. Feeling I had wronged them in the
past, and believing what was the future duty of my country to
them, I swore a solemn oath, 'May my right hand forget its
cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I
ever fail to defend the rights of the men who have given their
blood for me and my country that day and for their race
forever.' And, God helping me, I will keep that oath."
2 January 7, 1874.
XV
the spanish-american war
The sinking of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana,
Cuba, on the night of February 15, 1898, wrought the American
people to such a pitch that war between the United States and
Spain was inevitable. This was declared April 21, and a block¬
ade of the Cuban ports effected the next day. Cessation of
hostilities was announced by a proclamation of President Mc-
Kinley, August 12, 1898, and peace concluded by treaty ratified
February 6, 1899. Cuba became a Republic, independent of
Spain; Porto Rico was annexed to the United States and the
Philippines became part of our insular possessions. In short,
the United States, hitherto restricted in authority to the conti¬
nent of North America, became a world-wide power.
In this struggle between the United States and Spain, com¬
pressed within an active period of less than four months, the
Negro soldier won a distinction surpassing, if possible, that of
his fame in the Revolution, the War of 1812 or that for the
preservation of the Union.
At the beginning of hostilities four regiments of colored sol¬
diers in the regular army establishment, the Twenty-fourth, and
Twenty-fifth United States Infantry, and the Ninth and Tenth
Cavalry comprised the entire representation of the Negro in
the army; but during the brief progress of the war this quota
was increased by one company, of the Sixth Massachusetts In¬
fantry, the Ninth Ohio Battalion,1 companies A and B of the
i Major Chas. Young, a Negro graduate of West Point Academy.
57
58 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
First Indiana, the Eighth Illinois regiment, two battalions of
the Twenty-third Kansas, the Third North Carolina regiment,
the Second South Carolina, the Third Alabama and two bat¬
talions of the Sixth Virginia. To these must be added what are
otherwise known as the immunes, for service in the Philippines,
the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth U. S. Volunteers. The
officers in the Eighth Illinois, the Twenty-third Kansas and the
Ohio battalion, line and field, were colored; only the line officers
in the other commands were colored men.
No regiment South of Mason and Dixon's line was actually
engaged on the fighting line in Cuba during the short conflict,
but all the four colored regiments from the immunes of the
colored volunteers saw service on the island of Cuba.
There was nevertheless no hesitation in the response of the
South to the call for troops; but before their troops were
mustered in the service and could reach the front the real work
had been accomplished. There were, however, white commis¬
sioned officers that had seen service on the Confederate side dur¬
ing the Civil War, who distinguished themselves in the Spanish
American War. Among these were Generals Fitzhugh Lee of
Virginia and Joseph Wheeler of Alabama. Sons of veterans of
Federals and Confederates alike received lieutenancies and
higher commissions, but no such honor was given the son of
a Negro veteran. The Negro officer had once more to win his
spurs and demonstrate his fitness for the honors grudgingly
awarded him by State and Nation. President McKinley, it is
reported, had declared his intention of promoting to a brig-
adiership some Negro soldier before the end of the struggle, and
the prospect seemed assured when there were brigaded regiments
in Cuba; but on the eve of the retirement of its commanding
officer, the officer next in line, being Major Charles Young, the
brigade was suddenly disbanded by order of General Henry A.
Corbin, who though he had commanded colored troops in the
Civil War, is held responsible for the failure of the colored
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 59
soldier to receive high commissions during the Spanish-American
War.
At the Battle of El Caney the capture of the stone fort was
due to the gallantry of the Twenty-fifth Infantry; at San Juan
the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry regiments distinguished them¬
selves, as did the Twenty-fourth Infantry. The surrender of
the Spanish forces followed shortly afterwards and as indi¬
cated, the war speedily came to an end.
Another correspondent thus expresses the situation :
'' American valor never shone with greater luster than when
the Twenty-fifth Infantry swept up the sizzling hill of El Caney
to the rescue of the Rough Riders. Two other regiments came
into view, but the bullets were flying like driving hail, the enemy
were in trees and ambushes with smokeless powder, and the
Rough Riders were biting the dust and were threatened with
annihilation." *
There are many thrilling incidents testifying to the bravery
of the colored soldiers in this war. Stephen Bonsai, a news¬
paper correspondent, expresses what was well nigh the universal
opinion. This is what he said: "It is a fact that the services
of no four white regiments can be compared with those rendered
by the four colored regiments—the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry,
and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry. They were
to the front at La Guasima, at Caney and at San Juan, and in
what was the severest test of all that came later in the yellow
fever hospitals.
"L" Company is the oldest military organization among the colored
people of this country. It dates back to 1782, when the Bucks of
America was formed in Boston and was so far as authentic history
points out, the first independent military company of America. This
military company was made up of Negroes living in or near Boston,
* Theodore Eoosevelt was with the Rough Eiders. In saving them,
these black regiments saved for New York a governor and for the United
States a president.
60
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
who had fought in the Revolutionary War. It was over 100 strong
and under the command of one Colonel Middleton. It was presented
with a set of colors by John Hancock, signer of the Declaration of
Independence, and then Governor of Massachusetts. The flag is now
in the custody of the Massachusetts Historical Society. In course of
time this company applied to become a part of the Militia of Massa¬
chusetts, but was not only refused but they could not bear arms. In
1812 they again applied to the State to form an artillery regiment, but
were refused. About 1837 they became the Boston Blues and shortly
after the Massasoit Guards. A few years later they adopted the name
of Liberty Guards and were upon certain occasions permitted by State
authorities to bear arms. This name was held down to 1863, when
this company became the nucleus of the Fifty-fourth Infantry Massa¬
chusetts Colored Volunteers. Those who remained at home were taken
into the Massachusetts home guard, and were the first colored com¬
pany in the country to be recognized as a part of a State provisional
armed force.—R. T. in New York Age. Also "Nell's Colored Patriots"
and Livermore's "Researches."
XVI
the negro church
The existence of the Negro church has been incidentally referred
to. Such is its importance, however, that it deserves more de¬
tailed treatment. The original colored churches in different
sections of the country came about in one of the following
ways:
1. They were in some cases the result of special missionary
effort on the part of the whites;
2. They were brought about by direct discrimination against
the blacks made by the whites during divine worship;
3. They were the natural sequence, when on account of increase
in numbers it became necessary for congregations to
divide; whereupon the blacks were evolved as distinct
churches, but still under the oversight, if not the exclu¬
sive control, of the whites;
4. They were, in not a few cases, the preference of colored com¬
municants themselves, in order to get as much as possible
the equal privileges and advantages of government denied
them under the existing system.
The establishment of many of these churches took place at
substantially about the same time, in sections more distant at
that period than now, it was before the time of the railroad, the
use of the steamboat or the telegraph; so it can easily be de¬
termined whether their coming into existence at the same time
can be attributed to similar causes.
The first regular Church organization was a Baptist Church,
61
62 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
at Williamsburg, Virginia, formed in the year 1776, and recog¬
nized as such in 1790.1 Following it were two Baptist Churches,
one in 1788 in Savannah, and the other in 1790 in Augusta,
Georgia.2 These three precede the Episcopal Church, St.
Thomas in Philadelphia in 1791; Bethel Church, Philadelphia,
in 1794; Zion Methodist Church, New York City, in 1796; Joy
Street Baptist Church, Boston, in 1805; Abyssinian Baptist
Church, New York, in 1803; First Baptist, St. Louis, 1830. So
far as the establishment is concerned of the colored Methodist
Churches which evolved the A. M. E. and A. M. E. Zion denomi¬
nations, persecution by the whites was the moving cause. They
were compelled to protect themselves against the yoke sought
to be imposed on them, by worshiping among themselves. The
one movement in Philadelphia, the other in New York, moved in
parallel—often in rival lines. New York and Philadelphia were
soon in free States and their methods were those of freemen,
in name at least, while the establishment of colored Methodist
Churches in the South, as in Maryland under the direction of
the whites, illustrated one of the instances of special missionary
effort. The colored Baptist Churches in the South came mostly
into existence mainly through the third cause indicated. The
Presbyterian Church, as found among the colored people, is due
to the operation of two causes; the desire of the colored people
to be by themselves and that of the whites to strengthen their
denomination among this class1. The first colored Episcopal
Churches, both in New York and Philadelphia, resulted directly
from causes similar to those which produced the colored Meth¬
odist Churches in these localities.
A word as to the men mainly instrumental by reason of their
position as pioneers in organizing these first churches in the
different colored denominations, may not be out of place.
The first colored pastor of which there is authoritative state-
1 Semple's Rise of the Virginia Baptists.
2 History of the Baptists, David Benedict. Infra W. J. White.
THE NEGRO CHURCH
63
ment was Andrew Bryan, a convert to the preaching of George
Liele by whom he was baptized. By Abraham Marshall, a noted
pioneer Baptist (white), he was ordained in 1788 as the pastor
of an African Baptist Church at Savannah, Georgia.
Rev. W. J. White, D.D. of Augusta, Ga., the veteran editor
of the Georgia Baptist in a letter dated September 6,
1893, writes as follows: 4'The Springfield Baptist Church in
this city is the only individual church that has a hundred years
of undisputed existence in Georgia among colored Baptists, and
I think the only colored Baptist church in the country having
at this time 103 years of undisputed and uninterrupted history.
Rev. Jacob Walker who died in 1845 and had been pastor twenty-
seven years was succeeded by Rev. Kelly Lowe who served six¬
teen years, till 1861, and Rev. Henry Watts succeeded Rev.
Kelly Lowe, serving to 1877, sixteen years. These three men
served together nearly sixty years and are all buried in the
yard of the church. The pastorate prior to 1818 had been
filled by Caesar McCradey who was also buried in the church¬
yard but the spot has been lost, and Ventor Golphin whose
history is obscure. In 1888 we celebrated in Savannah the
centennial of our denomination, which dates January 20, 1788,
when the first church was organized. But in Savannah there are
two churches claiming the paternity. One of these churches is
the First African and the other is the First Bryan. While
there may be dispute as to which of these churches is entitled
to the honor of being the very church organized in 1788, there
is no dispute with reference to the spot upon which the first
church was organized and the date of the organization. My
impression is that at even an earlier date than this a colored
church was in existence upon some island not far distant from
Savannah.''3
3 In the "Silver Bluff Church" by Rev. Walter H. Brooks this divine
says "the Negro Baptist Church at Silver Bluff, S. C., was organized not
earlier than 1773, not later than 1775."
64
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
The Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Portsmouth, Vir¬
ginia (white), known as the Court Street Baptist Church, was
Reverend Josiah Bishop, a Negro. He succeeded Reverend
Thomas Armstead (white), a commissioned officer of high rank
in the Revolutionary War. "While Mr. Bishop's ability was not
questioned, his pastorate for obvious reasons, was not of long
duration. He went North and organized the Abyssinian Bap¬
tist Church in New York in 1803, the first colored Baptist
Church in the free States. From this church the other colored
Baptist Churches of the North and East sprang.
Of the churches in the North, first was Richard Allen, one
of the leaders in the Free African Society, from the members
of which came the leaders, almost the organization itself, both
of the Bethel Methodist and the St. Thomas Episcopal Churches
in the city of Philadelphia. He was born February 12, 1760, a
slave in Philadelphia. At an early age he gave evidence of a
high order of talents for leadership. He was converted while
quite a lad and licensed to preach in 1782. In 1797 he was
ordained a deacon by Bishop Francis Asbury, who had been
entrusted by John Wesley with the superintendence of the work
in America. He possessed talents as an organizer of the high¬
est order. He was a born leader, an almost infallible judge of
human nature and was actively identified with every forward
movement among the colored people, irrespective of denomi¬
nation.
Absalom Jones, next in historical importance, was born a
slave at Sussex, Delaware, November 6, 1746. At the age of
sixteen he was taken to Philadelphia. He was married in 1770,
purchased his wife and afterwards succeeded in obtaining his
own liberty.
James Varick was born January 10, 1768, at Newburg, New
York. He was licensed to preach in 1803 in New York, and was
elected and consecrated the first Superintendent of the A. M. E.
THE NEGRO CHURCH
65
Zion Church in June, 1821. He died after a brief administra¬
tion June 9, 1827. He was one of the colored men members of
the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York who were per¬
mitted to hold meetings under their own auspices in 1796, and
was one of the first elders elected when the first steps looking
to a separate and independent organization of the colored mem¬
bership in New York was taken.
Rev. John Gloucester, the first colored minister to act as
pastor of a colored Presbyterian Church, possessed a fair English
education which he received from private sources. He was a
pioneer of Presbyterian ministers, as four of his sons, Jeremiah,
John, Stephen and James, became Presbyterian ministers, and
from the Sunday School of his church three other well-known
ministers went forth, Rev. Amos to Africa, Rev. H. M. Wilson
to New York and Rev. Jonathan C. Gibbs, who died in Florida,
after having been Secretary of State and State Superintendent
of Schools. Like Allen and Jones, Mr. Gloucester was born a
slave, in Kentucky about the year 1776. Such was his intelli¬
gence that he was purchased by Rev. Gideon Blackburn, of the
Presbyterian denomination also of Kentucky. The records show
that when Mr. Gloucester was ordained Dr. Blackburn was the
moderator of the presbytery, who on the appointment of Rev.
Gloucester to the First African Presbyterian Church liberated
him. He died May 2, 1822, after fifteen years of service in the
church, during which time it rapidly increased in numbers from
twenty-two to three hundred. With the increase of the colored
population and its distribution to other centers, other religious
societies sprang up, so that wherever you find any number of
these people in the earlier decades of the Republic you will
find a church, often churches, out of all proportion to the popula¬
tion.
In the West, it may be stated, that colored churches were
not the result of secessions or irregular, wholesale withdrawals
66 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
from the white churches as in the East. They sprang up di¬
rectly in the path of the westward migration of colored people
from the South and the East.
In the South, the whites were in complete and absolute con¬
trol, in church as in State. Colored people attended and held
membership in the same church as the whites; though they did
not possess the same rights or privileges. They either had
special services at stated times or they sat in the galleries.
When this colored membership increased to very large numbers
separate churches for rather than of the colored people were
established. In the South as in the North, this membership was
principally in the Baptist and Methodist Churches, and to these
denominations did these separate colored churches belong, with
exceptions so rare that they may be named as to cities or dis¬
tricts where it was otherwise. Outside of the few ministers of
the A. M. E. and the A. M. E. Zion Churches in the border
States, it is doubtful if there were a score of colored pastors in
full control of colored churches in the South before the Civil
"War.
There were a few other colored ministers not pastors of any
historic churches yet who were so very conspicuous by their
work as pioneers as to deserve special notice. There were Harry
Hosier, who accompanied Bishop Asbury, frequently filling ap¬
pointments for him, Rev. Daniel Coker of Baltimore and Rev.
Peter Spencer of Delaware who organized the (<Protestant"
branch of colored Methodism. There was the Rev. George Liele,
a native of Virginia, the slave or body servant of a British officer
during the Revolutionary "War. Throughout that struggle he
preached in different parts of the country. Rev. Andrew Bryan
whom Liele had baptized became pastor of the Savannah Church.
Compelled to leave the United States at the close of the war,
Liele went to Jamaica, in which he organized in 1783 a church
with four members. By 1790 he had baptized more than four
hundred persons on that island. In 1793 he built there the very
THE NEGRO CHURCH
67
first non-Episcopal religious chapel, to which there were belong¬
ing in 1841, 3700 members. That white Baptist missionaries
subsequently went to the West Indies is to be attributed to Rev.
Liele's work, for they were brought there as a direct result of
his correspondence with ecclesiastical authorities in Great Brit¬
ain.
Next we have Lott Carey, also a native of Virginia, born a
slave in Charles City Co., about 1780. In 1804 Lott removed
to Richmond where he worked in a tobacco factory and from
all accounts was very profligate and wicked. In 1807, being
converted, he joined the First Baptist Church, learned to read,
made rapid advancement as a scholar and was shortly afterwards
licensed to preach. After purchasing his family in 1813, he
organized in 1815 the African Missionary Society, the very first
missionary society in the country, and within five years raised
seven hundred dollars for African Missions. He was a man of
superior intellect and force of character with a wide range of
reading. When he decided to go to Africa his employers offered
to raise his salary from eight hundred to one thousand dollars
a year. Carey was not induced by such a flattering offer, for
he was determined. His last sermon in the Old First Church
in Richmond was compared by an eye-witness, a resident of
another State, to the burning, eloquent appeals of George White-
field. He was the leader of the pioneer colony to Liberia, where
he arrived even before the agent of the Colonization Society.
In his new home he was made the Yice-Governor of the colony,
and became Governor in fact while Gov. Ashmun was tempo¬
rarily absent in this country. Carey did not allow his position
to betray the cause of his people, for he did not hesitate to
expose the duplicity of the Colonization Society and even defy
their authority, it would seem, in the interests of the people.
While casting cartridges to defend the colonists against the
natives in 1828, the accidental upsetting of a candle caused an
explosion that resulted in his death.
68
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Special reference must also be made to the Rev. John Chavis
of North Carolina, the first colored man ordained to the Presby¬
terian ministry. Dr. Alexander, subsequently professor at
Princeton College, had urged his selection as pastor at the church
in Philadelphia. There is a conflict of statement as to where he
obtained his education, but it is certain, as the sequel showed,
that it must have been thorough and universally recognized
by the whites as being the very best.
Several years ago an elderly lady, the niece of Rev. Chavis,4
gave the writer the information that he attended or graduated
from the Hampden Sidney College, Va., during or shortly after
the Revolutionary War. Elsewhere the statement is given that
he was once at Princeton Seminary, New Jersey, and the fact
that Dr. Alexander urged his claims for the church in Phila¬
delphia to which Rev. Gloucester was appointed, gives color to
the statement as to his stay at Princeton, but it is not conclusive
as to his status in that institution. In the History of Education
in North Carolina, published by the U. S. Bureau of Education,
four octavo pages are given to a biographical sketch of this same
Rev. John Chavis, for he was the principal of the best academy
in the State of North Carolina for the training of white youth.
Many of the most eminent men in the service of the State and
the Nation of the sons of North Carolina were trained by this
Negro, and they boarded at his house too while they were being
educated. In the historical publications of the University of
North Carolina is quite an interesting biographical account of
Rev. Chavis and his school. He preached frequently in the white
churches throughout the State, during which time he was often
a guest at the firesides of the most aristocratic families of that
noble State, not staying in the kitchen, but eating at the same
table with them. His last sermon, preached about 1837 when he
formally retired from public life, was published in pamphlet
form and had a wide sale.
4 Mrs. Thomas James, Sr., Washington, D. O.
THE NEGRO CHURCH
69
Although the colored churches sprang up individually, since
similar causes operated on them, they could not long remain
apart. Accordingly in 1816 the A. M. E. denomination as
previously stated, was organized by a convention in Philadelphia,
with Richard Allen as the first bishop. Those Methodist
Churches which followed the leadership of Zion Church in New
York City, in 1820 held a convention and organized the A. M. E.
Zion Church and after having first had a white superintendent,
in 1822 elected one of their number, Rev. James Varick, as their
Superintendent. These two organizations organized conferences
and pushed their work throughout the North, so that up to the
war they were found in nearly every State in which there were
any considerable number of colored people.
The Presbyterian and Baptist Churches for two reasons con¬
tinued isolated much longer. In the first place the former de¬
nomination was exceedingly weak numerically, and so was the
latter denomination in the North as compared with the Meth¬
odists, and their form of government being congregational, each
church was a law to itself and there was less necessity for co¬
operation. The Episcopalians were fewer still.
In 1837 the Louisiana Baptist Association was organized by
Rev. Joseph Willis, termed a mulatto, and in 1838 the Wood
River Association was organized in Illinois. From this body in
1853 there was organized the Western Baptist Convention, which
in 1864 developed into the Northwestern and Southern Baptist
Convention.
The Civil War over, a great impetus was given to the establish¬
ment of colored churches North as well as South. There was
an opening at the South for hundreds to fill pulpits. Thousands
of the race at the South left for the North, giving new life and
vigor to the old churches and organizing new ones. At the
South churches were organized in large numbers. Among the
Baptists, associations and conventions sprang up everywhere to
promote their denominational interests. Conferences came into
70 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
being as pioneer bishops, A. M. E. and A. M. E. Zion, strode
through the Southland "to seek their brethren." Nor were
other interests idle. Schools were established by charitable and
religious organizations of the North and in their wake came
Congregational, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches.
'' The first State Convention of colored Baptists was organized
in North Carolina in 1866; the second in Alabama and the third
in Virginia in 1867; the fourth in Arkansas in 1868 and the
fifth in Kentucky in 1869. To-day (1890) there are colored con¬
ventions in fifteen states."
As an illustration of the growth and development of the
national organization among the Baptists under the condition
of freedom, the American National Baptist Convention was
organized August 25, 1866, the Baptist African Missionary Con¬
vention of the Western States and Territories organized January
15, 1873, the Baptist Foreign Missionary Convention of the
United States, organized December, 1880; last but not least, the
Baptist Educational Convention in 1892.
Under the fostering influences of these organizations, associ¬
ations and conventions among the Baptists, conferences, annual
and general, among the Methodists, presbyteries and synods
among the Presbyterians, congresses of the colored Catholics and
Episcopal churches, we have a showing as phenomenal as that
of the growth of the American Negro in education and the
accumulation of property.
XVII
retrospect and prospect
The failure of the Republican Party in the administration of
Benjamin Harrison to safeguard the exercise by the Negro of the
right of franchise in the South, followed by the revision of
the Constitution of Mississippi in 1890, was notice to the op¬
ponents of Negro citizenship especially in view of the adverse
decisions of the United States Supreme Court, that they could
have a free hand in dealing with the interpretation of the 14th
and 15th Amendments and the legislation based thereon.
They did not as a rule openly avow a purpose to attack the
amendments, but pretended that their sole object was to raise
the standard of the electorate by rescuing it from the control of
the vicious and the ignorant. Following the Mississippi plan
other Southern States revised their constitutions until to-day
the Fifteenth Amendment is a dead letter in the States South
of the Potomac River. Laws establishing separate cars on the
common carriers, popularly known as "Jim Crow" ear laws,
were enacted throughout the same section.
Inferior educational facilities in the schools for the Negro were
still further curtailed, going even so far in the city of New
Orleans, as to make no provision for colored youth beyond the
fifth grade. The extent of the disparity between colored and
white schools is difficult to prove by the record, because the
absence of separate statistical reports of the costs of each race
prevents a comparative showing of the per capita cost, salaries
and equipment for colored and white education. The propa¬
ganda which has accomplished these results has included such
71
72 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
men as Thomas Dixon in private life, Benjamin Tillman, Hoke
Smith and J. A. Vardaman in the political arena. The press of
many metropolitan newspapers, through men of Southern birth,
training and traditions and by means of bold headlines, exag¬
gerating the weaknesses of the Negro and concealing and ignoring
his commendable progress, except where it is absolutely impos¬
sible to do otherwise, is a most important factor.
For a long time there was no voice raised in protest which
the Nation could or would hear. Some organizations in which
Southern whites have leadership have aimed to promote the
educational interests of the race, but scarce a voice of protest
was raised against the prevailing and popular tendencies when
the second Mississippi plan was introduced.
Frequent lynchings, many of them by burning at the stake
were chronicled in the newspapers of the country, and directly
and by innuendo the charge of rape was held against the Negro.
Public sentiment gradually became, from being sympathetic,
hostile to the Negro; even the great Republican Party became
indifferent and at times seemed to indorse the Southern reaction¬
ary plan. Finally President W. H. Taft announced in his in¬
augural address, March 4,1909, a line of policy which was a com¬
plete surrender to the Southern view respecting the equal citizen¬
ship of the Negro. This was an avowed public policy in the
centennial year of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the Emanci¬
pator.
This also illustrates how perplexing are the problems of the
evolution of Negro citizenship at the close of the first decade of
the 20th century. The era of safeguarding his rights and privi¬
leges by the agencies of constitutional amendments and statutory
provisions, it has been cited, passed with the close of the nine¬
teenth century, so far as there are present indications. But
such constructive tendencies for the amelioration of his social,
material, even his political condition, as the Business Men's
League, the National Medical Association and Educational Con-
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
73
ventions, and organized sociological movements, give a rift in the
sky. Under the advancement of these movements there are more
than a score of men—women too—destined to have as salutary
an influence in the progress and advancement of the race as the
men and women who became eminent before the Civil War and
the Reconstruction period when there was a sympathetic body of
white men and women that could be relied on to advance the
growth and maintenance of a public sentiment that promoted
freedom and enfranchisement.
In the profession of medicine and surgery, Dr. Daniel H.
Williams of Chicago, Dr. Marcus F. Wheatland of Newport, R. I.,
Dr. Solomon C. Fuller of the Hospital for the Insane of Massa¬
chusetts and Dr. C. V. Roman of Nashville, Tenn., have more
than a local recognition as experts in their chosen profession.
In law, Ashbie W. Hawkins of Baltimore, who has thus far
demonstrated his capacity in the highest courts of Maryland; Ed¬
ward H. Morris in the leading bar of the West, and William H.
H. Hart of the District of Columbia and Josiah T. Settle of Mem¬
phis, Tenn., have demonstrated the ability of the Negro lawyer
in the higher realms of the profession. As educational adminis¬
trators with independent institutions, Dr. John Hope of More¬
house College, R. R. Wright of Georgia State College, Inman
E. Page of Langston University, JSishop George W. Clinton,
William A. Joiner of Wilberforce University, W. S. Scarborough,
and Joshua H. Jones, now an A. M. E. Bishop, have demonstrated
the executive ability of which successful college Presidents are
made. Two women have displayed in this same field capabilities
which spell academic success—Lucy Laney, who founded the
Haines Institute at Augusta, Ga., and Nannie H. Burroughs, who
created the Girls' National Training School at Lincoln Heights,
almost within the shadow of the National Capitol and the axis
of the great National Lincoln Monument.
In the business of publishing, R. H. Boyd of Nashville, Tenn.
and Ira T. Bryant have achieved flattering success. In pure
74 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
science, E. E. Just of Howard University has a distinction as a
biologist in a field in which the lamented Prof. Earl Finch
of Wilberforce University was winning international reputa¬
tion. As a journalistic controversialist, John E. Bruce, Presi¬
dent of the Negro Society for Historical Research, has a reputa¬
tion that is conceded wherever the Negro race has a conscious
influence.
The sermons of Rev. Francis J. Grimke on National topics are
great headlights exhorting to higher living and rebuking national
hypocrisy. In his brother, Archibald H. Grimke, President of
the American Negro Academy and Kelly Miller, of Howard Uni¬
versity, the race has two masters of criticism and controversy,
both of offense and defense, sterling champions of the integrity
and destiny of the American Negro. In the field of letters there
are Stanley G. Brathwaite, the poet, Charles W. Chesnutt, the
novelist, and Dr. "William E. Burghardt DuBois, sociologist and
editor; R. R. Wright, Jr., and M. N. "Work, sociologists and stat¬
isticians. In journalism, John Mitchell is unique—publisher
and banker. As a business genius, Charles Banks amid the
bayous of Mississippi, and W. R. Pettiford, of Birmingham, have
solved the problem of industrial credits.
T. Thomas Fortune and William Monroe Trotter diametrical in
methods and manners are both exemplifications of the power of
Negro journalism.
But even the array of such a coterie of capable men and
women seems futile in the face of the unanimity of the ruling
classes of the South and the acquiescence of the North in the
policy and program of the South. Fortunately, over and against
the politicians of the South as represented by those who have
infused the poison of their pernicious principles in the body
politic, retarding, postponing the realization of the blessings of
liberty to all regardless of race, there has been a quiet band of
white Southern thinkers who have introduced the leaven of hu¬
mane principles in accord with the Federal Constitution, the
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
75
brotherhood of man and true Christianity. They deserve es¬
pecial mention here. There was Atticus G. Haygood who in
"Our Brother in Black" made a stirring appeal to the white peo¬
ple of the South for fairness of treatment. George W. Cable,
native and to the manner born, while still a resident of Louisiana,
in magazine articles and books, in the "Freedmen's Case in
Equity," and "The Silent South," and Lewis H. Blair of Rich¬
mond, Virginia, a representative business man, in '' The Prosper¬
ity of the South dependent upon the elevation of the Negro'' took
the most advanced ground for identical treatment by the State
and National Government to all classes of citizens. Rev.
Quincy Ewing, an Episcopal clergyman, in more than one
sermon delivered in the heart of the South and published in
Metropolitan newspapers, with fiery eloquence, masterly and
fearlessly has contended for the equal citizenship of the Negro.
So many others there are who have pleaded for the extension of
educational advantages at the expense of the property of the
State that to make personal mention of a few would do injustice
to all.
But the operation of these forces to transform civil and politi¬
cal conditions necessarily would be slow and unsatisfactory.
Unsatisfactory, because they do not attack the vital weakness of
the situation, the moral cowardice of the Republican Party when
in power, and the aggressive policy of the Democratic Party as
shown by their advocacies when in control, in the matter of Negro
citizenship, which is the crux of the whole Southern problem.
It all depends on whether or not the Negro is an equal citizen
that there is any real difficulty at issue, anything requiring ad¬
justment.
The Constitutional League took a step in advance of other
movements in raising funds for the enforcement of the laws
through an appeal to the Federal Courts, and in carrying to a
final issue without the heralding of trumpets, tests to invoke
the Federal Constitution for the Negro's protection.
76 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
The National Society for the Improvement of the Colored Peo¬
ple, however, has the most comprehensive program. By means
of a national organization with affiliated branches located at
various centers of population and a bureau of publicity, a syste¬
matic attempt is made to secure a recognition of the rights of the
Negro through the courts and friendly legislation and the liber¬
alization of public sentiment. In method it closely follows the
spirit of the Anti-Slavery Society which eighty years ago began
the aggressive work against the existence of chattel slavery; a
work which it kept up for thirty years until the Emancipation
Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln was issued and the Thirteenth
Amendment to the National Constitution was assured. "With this
definite cause of action followed with the intelligence, vigor, and
persistence of the movement of which William Lloyd Garrison is
the central figure, History may repeat itself, and it is among the
possibilities that the apostle of this new movement may be Os¬
wald Garrison Villard.
XVIII
phttj.ts wheatley
"While the United! States of America were subject to Great
Britain the descendants of Africa in America were either slaves
or the children of slaves, and, except in rare cases, were Negroes,
that is, they had little or no traces of white blood in their veins.
Only a few generations prior to the Revolutionary War a min¬
ister of the gospel of respectable ability (Morgan Godwyn), had
actually written a book to prove that the Negro should not be
used as a beast of burden without causing remorse of con¬
science.
It was at this period that the intellectual and social circles
of both New and Old England had a revelation in the person of a
native of Africa of pleasing personal appearance, of charming
conversational qualities, an easy and accomplished correspondent,
one who could write pleasing verses of poetry that were compli¬
mented for their grace and elegance, if not for their depth and
profundity of thought.
This phenomenon was Phillis Wheatley who was brought to
this country from Africa in 1761, when about seven years of age
and sold in the streets of Boston as a slave to Mr. John Wheatley,
a prosperous tailor and the owner of several other slaves. He
desired her as a personal attendant of his wife, as a maid to
wait on her in her old age. It was the humble and modest de¬
meanor, especially the pleasing expression of the young child,
that attracted Mr. Wheatley's attention.
As she had been torn from her home, ten thousands of miles dis¬
tant, it was not to be expected that she had a very elaborate
77
78 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
wardrobe—in fact, she had the scantiest of clothing, an old piece
of carpet forming her only dress.
When installed in Mr. Wheatley's home the uncommon intelli¬
gence of the slave girl was displayed in her frequent attempts to
make letters upon the wall with pieces of chalk or charcoal. A
daughter of Mrs. Wheatley observing her precocity undertook
her education and was astonished by her intelligence, and by
the ease and rapidity with which Phillis learned. She mastered
the language in sixteen months; carried on with her friends and
acquaintances an extensive and elegant correspondence while but
twelve years of age; composed her first poem at fourteen, be¬
came a proficient Latin scholar at seventeen, and an authoress at
nineteen, when we are told that she published her first collection
of poems.
Although originally intended for menial pursuits, she was
reared as a member of the family and not permitted to associate
with the other family servants. "With her growth in years her
mind expanded and such was her progress in her studies that she
drew the attention of a large circle of the most cultured people of
Boston, who encouraged her by their association and their com¬
panionship.
At the early age of sixteen she was admitted by baptism into
the membership of the Old South Church of which Rev. Samuel
Sewall was pastor. Her record as a church member accorded
with her reputation in society, in which her humility of charac¬
ter, her elevated tone of thought and her consistent life made
her a shining light. Her devout Christian character displayed
itself not only in some of her poems, but in her private corre¬
spondence. In one of her early poems she says—
" 'Twas Mercy brought me from my pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too;
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew,
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
79
Some view our sable race with seornful eye—
'Their color is a diabolic dye.'
"Remember, Christians, Negroes black as Cain,
May be refined and join th' angelic train."
Unlike very many persons who suddenly become famous in
literary circles, she was not given to moods or sullenness. On
the other hand, she was accommodating, ever ready and willing
to receive all who called on her and to give an example of her
marvelous gifts.
The subjects on which she wrote showed not only a wide range
of reading, but an originality of treatment that established her
right to be considered as one of the famous women of her time.
The opinion is well supported that her knowledge of composition
and the use of a correct style was the result of a familiarity with
the "best English writers and her association with the most culti¬
vated people of the time, rather than as the result of any sys¬
tematic instruction in English composition. Frequent classical
allusions in her poems display fondness for early Roman and
Grecian history. Readers of Virgil may note the influence of the
Bard of Mantua in her "Ode to "Washington."
In his "Colored Patriots of the Revolution," published more
than fifty years ago, William C. Nell, himself a colored author,
says: "There is another circumstance respecting her habits of
composition. She did not seem to have the power of retaining
the creations of her own fancy for a long time in her mind. If
during the vigil of a wakeful night she amused herself by weav¬
ing a tale she knew nothing of it in the morning—it had vanished
in the land of dreams. Her kind mistress indulged her with a
light, and in the cold season with a fire in her apartment, dur¬
ing the night. The light was placed upon a table at her bedside,
with writing materials so that, if anything occurred to her after
she had retired, she might without rising or taking cold secure
the swift-winged fancy ere it fled.''
80 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
In the winter of 1773, at the age of twenty, a sea voyage being
advised, owing to her declining health, she accompanied a son
of Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley to England. She was then at the
height of her fame. Her reputation had preceded her. She was
cordially received by Lady Huntingdon, George Whitefield, the
great evangelist, Lord Dartmouth, after whom Dartmouth Col¬
lege is named, the Lord Mayor of London and other persons of
the highest social position; but this popularity did not turn her
head. During her stay in England the first bound volume of her
poems was published and dedicated to the Countess of Hunting¬
don. A copper-plate engraving of the authoress appears, show¬
ing her in the attitude of meditation with her writing materials
at her side. So true to life was this picture that when Mrs.
Wheatley first saw a copy of the book she exclaimed: "See!
look at my Phillis—! Does she not seem as though she would
speak to me?" Arrangements had been made for the formal
presentation of Phillis to George III, the reigning monarch, on
his return to his court at St. James, but she was hurried home
from Europe because of the tidings of the declining health of her
mistress and benefactor, whose eyes after the return of Phillis
were soon closed in death. Mr. Wheatley survived his wife by
nine days.
In the next month Phillis entered on another experience.
Shortly after her return from Europe she had received an offer
of marriage from John Peters, said to be a handsome and at¬
tractive gentleman of color who kept at one time a grocery, later
was employed as a journeyman baker, and also tried to practice
law and medicine, but who was utterly unworthy of so rare and
precious a human jewel as Phillis Wheatley. The marriage seems
to have proven, it is written, an unfortunate if not an unhappy
one. Another source thus speaks of John Peters: "He was a
man of talents and information; that he wrote with fluency and
propriety, and at one period read law. It is admitted, however,
that he was disagreeable in his manners, and that on account of
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
81
his improper conduct Phillis became entirely estranged from the
immediate family of the Wheatleys. They were not seasonably
informed of her suffering condition or of her death."
Regarding these two estimates, it is a most reasonable in¬
ference that the devotion of his wife to him and the death of both
Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley, as well as the personal pride which Mr.
Peters as a freeman of color naturally possessed, may have had
not a little to do with these opinions.
Three children were born to the young family, and all of them
died in infaney. Unknown to her large circle of friends Phillis
passed quietly away December 5, 1784. The Independent
Chronicle gave the news to the world in the following para¬
graph:
"Last Lord's Day died Mrs. Phillis Peters (formerly Phillis
"Wheatley) age 31, known to the literary world by her celebrated
miscellaneous poems. Her funeral is to be this afternoon at
four o'clock from the house lately improved by Mr. Todd nearly
opposite Dr. Bulfinch's at "West Boston, where her friends are de¬
sired to attend." The house thus referred to was situated on or
near the present site of the Revere House on Bowdoin Square,
formerly known at times as a portion of Cambridge Street and
sometimes as the westerly end of Court Street.
As an early American poet Phillis Wheatley has been sneered
at these later years; but in her time her name was on every
tongue and her merits freely acknowledged by competent judges.
In the edition of her poems published in Boston in 1774 the fol¬
lowing card, issued to silence criticism and objectors, speaks for
itself: "We whose names are underwritten do assure the world
that the poems specified in the following pages were as we readily
believe, written by Phillis, a young Negro girl who was, but a few
years since, brought an uncultivated barbarian from Africa, and
has ever since been and now is under the disadvantage of serv¬
ing as a slave in a family in this town. She has been examined
by some of the best judges and is thought qualified to write
82
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
them." Among the signatures are those of Thomas Hutchinson,
then Governor of Massachusetts, Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant-
Governor, John Hancock, of Revolutionary fame, and John
Wheatley, her master. The influence of her name and fame upon
the rapidly growing anti-slavery sentiment in America was con¬
siderable, for the friends of the people of color took pleasure in
pointing to her career as an illustration of the possibilities of the
Negro under kind and considerate treatment and a fair oppor¬
tunity for education. She was the very first of her race in
America to attract attention because of her intellectual and moral
character. Benjamin Banneker, who was twenty years her
senior, had not compiled and published the almanac which
brought him to general notice until nearly ten years after Phillis
had died. Richard Allen who laid the foundation of the great
A. M. E. Church and Absalom Jones, the founder of the first
African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, as well
as George Liele, the colored Baptist revivalist to whose activities
the colored Baptist Churches at Savannah and Augusta, Georgia,
owe their origin, were all later than Phillis Wheatley to be singled
out as examples of the possibilities of the African in America.
James Durham, the celebrated Negro physician, a native of
Philadelphia, and whose fame was established by his professional
success in New Orleans, though about the same age as Phillis
Wheatley did not rise to eminence there until after her death.
The most notable fact is that she was a native of Africa and—a
woman. As woman is the mother of the race, Phillis Wheatley's
preeminence among the representatives of her race stands un-
assailed and unassailable, suggestive and significant, a faet both
pregnant and prophetic.
Though she had received marked attention while in England,
at a time when the two countries, America and England, were
on the eve of war, Phillis Wheatley was loyal to the colonies.
That she shared in their general admiration for George Washing-
PHILLIS WHBATLEY
83
ton this correspondence abundantly proves. In a letter written
to him from Providence, Rhode Island, under date of October
26,1775, she says—
Sir:
I have taken the freedom to address Your Excellency in the enclosed
poem, and I entreat your acceptance, though I am not insensible of its
inaccuracies. Your being appointed by the Grand Continental Con¬
gress to be generalissimo of the Armies of North America, together
with the fame of your virtues excite sensations not easy to suppress.
Your generosity, therefore, I presume, will pardon the attempt.
Wishing Your Excellency all possible success in the great cause
you are so generously engaged in, I am Your Excellency's
Most Obedient Humble Servant,
Phillis Wheatley.
Washington's reply was characteristic of the man. He
writes as follows:
Cambridge, February 2, 1776.
Miss Phillis:
Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hand 'till
the middle of December. Time enough, you say, to have given an
answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of important occurrences
continually interposing to distract the mind and to withdraw the at¬
tention, I hope, will apologize for the delay and plead my excuse for
the seeming, but not real neglect. I thank you most sincerely for
your polite notice of me, in the elegant lines you enclosed, and how¬
ever undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style
and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical talents, in honor
of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have published
the poem, had I not have been apprehensive that while, I only meant to
give the world this new instance of your genius, I might have in¬
curred the imputation of vanity. This and nothing else determined
me not to give it place in the public prints.
If you should ever come to Cambridge or near headquarters, I shall
84
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
be happy to see a person so favored by the muses, and to whom Nature
has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations.
I am, with great respect,
Your obedient humble servant,
George Washington.
Jared Sparks, the biographer of Washington, thought that this
poem was lost, and George W. Williams, the Negro historian,
author of the History of the Negro in America, being unable to
produce it arrived at the same conclusion. Fortunately, how¬
ever, Washington's modesty in refusing it publicity lest his ene¬
mies might charge him with vanity did not succeed in concealing
the poem from the world; for it appeared in the Pennsylvania
Magazine or American Monthly for April, 1776, a publication of
which there are very few copies extant.
Thus runs the poem:
Celestial choir, enthroned in realms of light,
Columbia's scenes of glorious toils I write,
While Freedom's cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See Mother Earth her offspring's fate bemoan,
And Nations gaze at scenes before unknown;
See the bright beams of heaven's revolving light
Involved in sorrows and the veil of night!
The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel binds her golden hair;
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumbered charms and recent graces rise.
Muse! bow propitious while my pen relates
How pour her armies through a thousand gates;
As when Eolus heaven's fair face deforms
Enwrapped in tempest and a night of storms;
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
Astonished ocean feels the wild uproar,
The refluent surges beat the sounding shore;
Or thiek as leaves in autumn's golden reign,
Such, and so many, moves the warrior's train.
In bright array they seek the work of war,
Where high unfurled the ensign waves in air.
Shall I to Washington their praise recite?
Enough thou know'st them in the fields of fight.
Thee, first in peace and honors, we demand
The grace and glory of thy martial band.
Famed for thy valor, for thy virtues more.
Hear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!
One century scarce performed its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia's fury found;
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of Freedom's heaven-defended race!
Fixed are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails,
Anon Britannia droops the pensive head,
While round increase the rising hills of dead.
Ah! cruel blindness to Columbia's state;
Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late.
Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side
Thy every action let the goddess guide,
A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine
With gold unfading, Washington, be thine!
XIX
benjamin banneker
A little more than one hundred years ago a black prince
arrived on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. He came by
compulsion, not by choice; he was brought here a slave. That
he was no ordinary black is attested by the fact that he clung to
his heathen gods and refused to work for those who had him in
control; yet, he was of noble mien, dignified and possessed rare
intelligence, even retaining to the last the name which he brought
with him from Africa—Banneker.1
In the same year in which William Penn established his colony
on the banks of the Delaware, an. English peasant woman having
accidentally spilled a can of milk—so the story goes—was charged
with and found guilty of stealing. As her punishment she was
transported to Maryland where she was bound to service for seven
years, a mild sentence for the offense, because she could read. A
thrifty woman she was and bought a small farm on which she
subsequently placed Banneker, the exiled black African prince.
Though he would not work, Banneker touched the heart of
Molly Welsh who liberated and married him.
Four children was the result of this union, one of whom, Mary
Banneker, was married about the year 1730 to Robert, a native
African who on being baptized in the Episcopal faith, was for¬
mally given his freedom. Robert, like many a one of his race of
whom there is unfortunately no record, did not take the name of
the white people who had claimed him a slave, but called himself
Banneker, after his wife, the daughter of the African prince.
i Banaky.
86
BENJAMIN BANNEKER
87
Their oldest offspring, Benjamin Banneker, was born November
9, 1731, just about three months before George "Washington. In
the year 1737 Robert Banneker, his father, purchased for the sum
of seventeen thousand pounds of tobacco a farm of one hundred
acres. It was in a primeval wilderness, though only ten miles
from Baltimore, then a village of less than thirty houses. Roads
were few, houses were miles and miles apart, schools and churches
were exceedingly scarce, the steam whistle had not yet echoed
through the valleys nor across the plains of that primitive coun¬
try, yet there were a few private schools, and to one of these the
lad Benjamin was sent.
Here he was a most apt student and had received instruction
as far as '1 double position," as it was then called, proficiency in
which even a century later, was regarded as a test of arithmetical
skill, and to-day, as compound proportion, by which name it is
now known, it is a source of great perplexity to pupils in our ad¬
vanced grammar schools. This was the limit of the educational
advantages which Banneker received, but it must have been most
thorough, for as the sequel proved, it was the foundation upon
which he built so well as to take rank with the greatest scientific
men of his times, to achieve a world-wide distinction for skill as
mathematician and astronomer that one hundred years have not
obliterated. Apart from his studies, his life was not eventful,
yet it is deserving of all emulation. The oldest and only son
among four children, he assiduously gave his service on his farm
even after he had attained his majority. Upon the death of the
father, in 1757 (which fact is learned from an entry in Benja¬
min's Bible), the full responsibility of the management of the
farm fell upon him, the household duties being performed by
Benjamin's mother whose vigor of body remained until she was
quite advanced in years. It is said of her agility that even when
over seventy years of age it was a common thing for her to run
down the barn yard fowls which were desired for the table or for
market.
88
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
In those days the country stores were the centers of informa¬
tion and social contact. Here the planters brought their corn,
their wheat, their tobacco, for sale or for exchange; here the latest
intelligence from London, Boston or Philadelphia was obtained.
The country store also contained the post-office at which letters
were received or dispatched at the weekly or monthly mail. Here
the weekly newspaper, of which there were only two at that
time in the colony, was read by the most intelligent and the af¬
fairs of the day discussed. Banneker, himself a landed pro¬
prietor, was frequently at the store during these gatherings at
which his intelligent conversation, his quiet and dignified man¬
ner, and his accurate information on current affairs made him a
unique but welcome visitor. He did not resort there to the neg¬
lect of his farm, for it was thoroughly well-kept, his orchards
abounded in fruit, his cattle were sleek and fat, his storehouse
was well filled with grain and tobacco.
It was in his early manhood about 1753 that Banneker having
only seen a watch, with it for a model constructed a wooden
clock all the parts of which—the wheels, the springs, the bal¬
ances—were the result of his own ingenuity, skill, patience and
perseverance. This is said to be the first clock ever constructed
in America all the parts of which were made in this country.
For more than twenty years it kept good time, an example of the
cunning workmanship of the sable artificer.
An event of very great significance in the quiet neighborhood
of Banneker's home was the erection in 1772 of the flour mills at
what is now Ellicott City. The machinery, so crude and anti¬
quated by present standards, was more than a nine days' wonder
in these far-off days. Among others, Banneker, delighted even
after the novelty had worn off, lingered to study it, to understand
its philosophy and to enlarge the sphere of his knowledge of
mechanics. The establishment of these mills was not only an
event deigned to advance the material interests of this neighbor¬
hood. It was a means to him of great intellectual development.
BENJAMIN BANNEKER
89
The proprietors, the Ellicotts, became warmly attached to him,
especially because of the strong personal friendship that grew tip
between him and George Ellicott. Mr. Ellicott saw in Banneker
an . intellect that not only was ever grasping after the truth, but
one capable of an almost infinite development. Though Ban¬
neker was black he was to Ellicott, to use a favorite expression of
Frederick Douglass—"a kinsman, a clansman, a brother be¬
loved. ''
One day in 1787 Mr. George Ellicott loaned Banneker Mayer's
Tables, Ferguson's Astronomy, Leadbeater's Lunar Tables and
some astronomical instruments, which only those far advanced in
mathematics could comprehend—telling Banneker at the time
that at the earliest opportunity he (Ellicott) would explain them
to him. Banneker took them and retired to the seclusion of his
cottage where without any aid save that which God had given,
he made himself so familiar with the contents of the volumes as
to detect errors in their calculations. You can imagine Mr. Elli¬
cott's surprise to find on next meeting the philosopher that his
services as instructor were not needed. Banneker possessing11 the
cunning-warded keys" that open every door in one's pursuit of
knowledge, at the mature age of fifty-six entered zealously upon
the study of astronomy, closely observing all the natural phenom¬
ena of his neighborhood, as well as the movement of the heavenly
bodies, making records, still in existence, that spread his fame
far and wide.
The time required for his study and investigations so trenched
upon that required for the work of the farm that the necessity of
utilizing his scientific knowledge led him in part to consider the
feasibility of compiling an ephemeris or almanac for the States of
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. For this work
he had advanced far towards the construction of tables of loga¬
rithms for the necessary calculations when Mr. Ellicott presented
him with a set.
Many observers who saw Banneker asleep during the day in his
90 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
cottage which on a knoll commanded a fine view of the surround¬
ing country, declared him to be a worthless, good-for-nothing
fellow, a victim to an old propensity for intoxicating liquors;
but it was untrue, for when,
"Nature let her curtain down,
And pinned it with a star,"
they might have seen Banneker enveloped in the ample folds of
his cloak reclining on the ground, his eyes watching the heavenly
bodies and determining their laws. In these days of observation
this would be unnecessary; but Banneker was his own observa¬
tory and telescope—he built the roadbed on which he trod to suc¬
cess.
His patience and determination won. He solved the problems
confronting him, if not to his own satisfaction, at least to that
of mankind. When his almanac was nearly ready for publica¬
tion he was prevented from carrying out his purpose by a most
fortunate combination of circumstances.
The United States Government had begun with Washington's
inauguration in 1789, but there was yet no permanent official
home. In keeping with a provision of the Constitutional Conven¬
tion, Maryland and Virginia had ceded to the central government
certain territory, known as the Federal Territory, to be used as
the Nation's Capital, but its exact boundaries had not been fixed.
Mr. Andrew Ellicott was commissioned to survey the boundaries
and Benjamin Banneker was invited as a man of scientific attain¬
ments and professional skill to assist in the work. He accepted
the invitation and shared in fixing the boundaries of the District,
in the selection of the site of the Capitol Building, in locating an
eligible spot for the Executive Mansion, the Treasury and other
buildings. So satisfactory was his work and so agreeable a com¬
panion was he that despite prevailing customs the Commissioners
invited him again and again to a seat during their meals at the
BENJAMIN BANNEKER
91
same table with themselves, but he was content to occupy a seat
at a side table in the same dining room.
Banneker having completed his engagement at the Federal
Territory with which he was very well pleased as he recounted to
his friends, addressed himself to the publication of his almanac.
That I may not be accused of exaggeration or giving an undue
praise, I quote from Mr. J. H. B. Latrobe's Memoir before the
Maryland Historical Society:
"The first almanac which Banneker prepared fit for publica¬
tion was for the year 1792. By this time his acquirements had
become generally known, and among others who took an interest
in him was James McHenry, Esquire. Mr. McHenry wrote a let¬
ter to Goddard and Angell, then the almanac publishers in Balti¬
more. . . .
"In their editorial notice Messrs. Goddard and Angell say,
'they feel gratified in the opportunity of presenting to the pub¬
lic, through their press, what must be considered as an extraor¬
dinary effort of genius; a complete and accurate Ephemeris for
the year 1792 calculated by a sable descendant of Africa.' And
they further say, that 'they flatter themselves that a philanthropic
public in this enlightened era, will be induced to give their pat¬
ronage and support to this work, not only on account of its in¬
trinsic merits (it having met the approbation of several of the
most distinguished astronomers of America, particularly the cele¬
brated Mr. Rittenhouse), but from similar notices to these which
induce the editors to give this calculation the preference' [mark
the words—the preference] 'the ardent desire for drawing modest
merit from obscurity and controverting the long-established, ill-
bred prejudice against the blacks.' ''
This Mr. McHenry referred to was a division surgeon of the
Revolutionary War, a trusted friend of General Washington, a
member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and a Cabinet
officer under both Washington and John Adams. David Ritten-
92
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
house was the celebrated astronomer and statesman who wrote
the constitution of Pennsylvania, and a professor of the Uni¬
versity of Pennsylvania. Like Banneker he had at an early age
constructed a clock and for several years was the most noted clock
maker in America.
The endorsement of two such men standing in the very first
professional and political rank is sufficient to establish the stand¬
ing and claim of this great, this monumental work of Banneker.
For ten years this almanac was the main dependence of the
farmers of Maryland, Delaware and the adjacent States, which
demonstrated its utility, in fact it was discontinued only with the
inability of Mr. Banneker, on account of old age to undergo the
intellectual labor incidental to its further publication.
In the publication of his almanac, Banneker was not unmind¬
ful of the service rendered to the race of which he was a part.
It was an opportunity that he did not shrink from seizing and
improving. Before the first copy was received from the printers,
he prepared a complete autograph copy and sent it accompanied
by a letter to Thomas Jefferson, then U. S. Secretary of State—a
most remarkable letter, a most manly appeal through Jefferson
to the American people on behalf of a class of people who had
rendered most valuable service to the country. The entire letter
deserves to be read again and again for its courteous manner, its
nobility of thought, its dignified utterances as well as for its elo¬
quence. We have space only for a few extracts:
"Sir, I hope I may safely admit in consequence of the report which
hath reached me, . . . that you are measurably friendly and -well-dis¬
posed toward us and that you are willing to lend your aid and assist¬
ance to our relief from those many distresses and numerous calamities to
which we are reduced. ... I apprehend you will readily embrace
every opportunity to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas
and opinions which so generally prevail with respect to us; and that
your sentiments are concurrent with mine, which are, that one Universal
Father hath given being to us all; that He hath not only made us all
BENJAMIN BANNEKER
93
of one flesh, but he hath also, without partiality, afforded to us all
the same faculties, and that however variable we may be in society and
religion, however diversified in situation or color, we are all of the
same family and stand in the same relation to Him."
He next makes an argument that it is the duty of all who pro¬
fess the obligations of Christianity to extend their power and
influence for the relief of every part of the human race.
Notwithstanding the privileges freely accorded to him person¬
ally, Banneker keenly felt the force of the prejudice against the
race as a class. He says:
I freely and cheerfully acknowledge that I am of the African race,
and in that color which is natural to them, of the deepest dye, and it is
under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of
the universe, I now confess I am not under that state of tyrannical
and inhuman captivity to which many of my brethren are doomed, but
that I have abundantly tasted of the fruition of those blessings which
proceed from that free and unequalled liberty with which you are
favored, and which I hope you will willingly allow, you have received
from the immediate hands of that Being from whom proceedeth every
good and perfect gift.
And so he makes argument after argument, and then apologiz¬
ing for the length of the letter he concludes as follows:
I ardently hope that your candor and generosity will plead with
you in my behalf when I make known to you that it was not originally
my design; but that having taken up my pen in order to direct to you
as a present a copy of an almanac which I have calculated for the
succeeding year, I was unexpectedly and unavoidably led thereto.
This calculation, sir, is the product of my arduous study in this my
advanced stage of life; for having long had unbounded desire to be¬
come acquainted with the secrets of nature, I have had to gratify my
curiosity herein through my own assiduous application to astronomical
study, in which I need not recount to you the many difficulties and
disadvantages which I have had to encounter.
And although I had almost declined to make my calculations for
94
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted
therefor being taken up at the Federal Territory, by the request of Mr.
Andrew Ellicott, yet finding myself under engagements to printers of
this State, to whom I had communicated my design on my return to
my place of residence, I industriously applied myself thereto which I
hope I have accomplished with correctness and accuracy, a copy of
which I have taken the liberty to direct to you and which I humbly
request you will favorably receive; and although you may have the
opportunity of perusing it after its publication, yet, I chose to send it
to you in manuscript previous thereto, that thereby you might not only
have an earlier inspection, but that you might also view it in my own
handwriting.
Jefferson's reply is brief, but characteristic.
Philadelphia, August 31, 1791.
Sir: I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th instant and
for the almanac it contained. Nobody wishes more than I do to see
such proofs as you exhibit that nature has given to our black brethren
talents equal to those of the other colors of men and that the appear¬
ance of a want of them is owing only to the degraded condition of
their existence both in Africa and America. I can add with truth, that
no one wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for rais¬
ing the conditions, both of their body and mind to what it ought to be,
as fast as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circum¬
stances which cannot be neglected, will admit.
I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de
Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of Science at Paris, and mem¬
bers of the Philanthropic Society, because I considered it a document
to which your color had a right, for their justification against the
doubts which have been entertained of them.
I am, with great esteem, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
Thomas Jefferson.
What of Banneker as a social being? He never married. So
thoroughly devoted was he to science that the tender passion,
love, never gained the mastery. He lived by himself, prepared
BENJAMIN BANNEKER
95
his own food and washed his own clothes and in other domestic
necessities his wants were supplied by his sisters who lived
near by.
A few anecdotes will shed a light on other traits in his char¬
acter.
When he was no longer actively engaged in agriculture, he di¬
vided his holdings into smaller tenancies, but since tenants were
not regular in their payments and they considered it a personal
affront when he called on them for his rent; nevertheless, he was
determined to provide for his maintenance, so he sold his land
for an annuity based on the market value of his land and his ex¬
pectancy of life, reserving a residence for himself for life. He
lived eight years longer than his calculations, and therefore got
not only the value of his land but a handsome advance on it.
Reference has been made to his abundant orchards. His pear
trees were especially noted, and the smaller boys of those days,
the great-grandfathers of those who live in our midst to-day,
would steal them while the old gentleman was intent on his
astronomical calculations. Once when some boys were more per¬
sistent or bolder than usual he arose, left his table and coming to
the door said, "Boys, you are perfectly welcome to one-half of
the fruit if you will leave me the other." With that he re¬
turned to his room and resumed his studies. When he had oc¬
casion to come once more to the door he found that the boys
had left him—the leaves.
He was a musician. Like that other great son of Maryland of
three generations later, Frederick Douglass, he was quite a violin¬
ist. Nothing was more common than to find him under his
favorite tree at evening tide playing his violin.
He was not a member of any church but the spirit of reverence
for the Father of all pervades much of his writings. He fre¬
quently attended the meetings of the Society of Friends during
which he leaned on his staff in the spirit of humility and de¬
votion.
96
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
There was nothing to indicate the slightest trace of white blood
in his appearance. '' In size and personal appearance,'' says one
who remembered him as he appeared in the later years of his life,
"the statue of Franklin at the library in Philadelphia as seen
from the street is a perfect likeness of him. This likeness is
heightened because he wore a superfine drab broadcloth suit made
in the old style, plain coat with a straight collar, and long waist¬
coat and a broad-brimmed hat.''2
The excessive mental application kept up with intensity for
a score of years told on his vigorous constitution and he became
a victim to a complication of disorders, but his indomitable will
added years to his life. He could not forego the pleasure of com¬
muning with nature under the open sky. It was during one of
his walks one bright autumnal Sunday afternoon of 1804 that he
complained of not feeling well—he returned to his cabin, became
speechless and in a few hours passed from contemplation of the
terrestrial to an enjoyment of prospects celestial.
His surviving relatives promptly carried out the injunction
he had given, of taking over to Mr. Ellicott all his books, mathe¬
matical instruments and papers including the oval table on which
he made his calculations—almost as soon as the breath had left
his body.
Two days later the last funeral rites were held. While these
were in progress a fire consumed his house and everything that
remained in it, including the wooden clock that first evidenced
his mechanical skill and inventive genius.
To-day his name is not more than a tradition; no headboard or
other monument marks his final resting place, if even it be known.
In the Chautauqua for September, 1899, Gabriella M. Jacobs in
winding up an article on "The Black Astronomer," says:
"Neither the site of his birthplace nor his grave was ever
marked by a memorial. He was buried on a hillside near to his
2 J. H. B. Latrobe's Memoir.
BENJAMIN BANNEKER
97
own property, but by the strange irony of fate, the exact loca¬
tion of his grave is now unknown.'' 3
She says in concluding:
"A public school building for colored pupils in Washington,
D C., known as the Banneker school is believed to be the only
monument to the genius of the Negro who at the dawn of the
nineteenth century foreshadowed the advancement of his race
which marks the century's close."
3 See also Bishop Payne, Infra.
XX
paul CUFFE5, navigator and philanthropist
Paul Cuffe was born in 1759 on the island of Cutterhunker
near Westport, Massachusetts. There were four sons and six
daughters of John Cuffe, who had been stolen from Africa, and
Ruth, a woman of Indian extraction. Paul, the youngest son,
lacked the advantage of an early education, but he supplied the
deficiency by his personal efforts and learned not only to read
and write with facility, but made such proficiency in the art
of navigation as to become a skillful seaman and the instructor
of both whites and blacks in the same art.
His father, who had obtained his freedom and bought a farm
of one hundred acres, died when Paul was about fourteen. When
he was sixteen, Paul began the life of a sailor. On his third
voyage he was captured by a British brig and was for three
months a prisoner of war. On his release he planned to go into
business on his own account. With the aid of an elder brother,
David Cuffe, an open boat was built in which they went to sea;
but this brother on the first intimation of danger gave up the
venture and Paul was forced to undertake the work single-
handed and alone, which was a sore disappointment. On his
second attempt he lost all he had.
Before the close of the Revolutionary War, Paul refused to
pay a personal tax, on the ground that free colored people did
not enjoy the rights and privileges of citizenship. After con¬
siderable delay, and an appeal to the courts, he paid the tax
under protest. He then petitioned to the legislature which
finally agreed to his contention. His efforts are the first of
98
*
From an Old Print,
PAUL Cl'lTE, REVOLUTIONARY PATRIOT
PAUL CUFFEi
99
which there is any record of a citizen of African descent making
a successful appeal in behalf of his civil rights. On reaching
the age of twenty-five, he married a woman of the same tribe
as his mother, and for a while gave up life on the ocean wave;
but the growth of his family led him back to his fond pursuit
on the briny deep. As he was unable to purchase a boat, with
the aid of his brother he built one from keel to gunwale and
launched into the enterprise.
While on the way to a nearby island to consult his brother
whom he had induced once more to venture forth with him,
he was overtaken by pirates who robbed him of all he possessed.
Again Paul returned home disappointed, though not discouraged.
Once more he applied for assistance to his brother David and
another boat was built. After securing a cargo, he met again
with pirates, but he eluded them though he was compelled to
return and repair his boat. These having been made he began
a most successful career along the coast as far north as New¬
foundland, to the south as far as Savannah and as distant as
Gottenburg.
In carrying on this business, starting in the small way in¬
dicated, he owned at different times, besides smaller boats, The
Banger, a schooner of sixty or seventy tons, a half interest in
a brig of 162 tons, the brig Traveller, of 109 tons, the ship
Alpha, of 268 tons and three-fourths interest in a larger vessel.
A few noble incidents may illustrate his resourcefulness, dif¬
ficulties and success over all obstacles. "When engaged in the
whaling business he was found with less than the customary
outfit for effectually carrying on this work. The practice in
such eases was for the other ships to loan the number of men
needed. They denied this at first to Cuffe, but fair play pre¬
vailed and they gave him what was customary, with the result
that of the seven whales captured, Paul's men secured five, and
two of them fell by his own hand!
In 1795 he took a cargo to Norfolk, Virginia, and learning
100
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
that corn could be bought at a decided advantage, he made a
trip to the Nanticoke River, on the eastern shore of Maryland.
Here his appearance as a black man commanding his own boat
and with a erew of seven men all of his own complexion, alarmed
the whites, who seemed to dread his presence there as the signal
for a revolt on the part of their slaves. They opposed his
landing, but the examination of his papers removed all doubts
as to the regularity of his business, while his quiet dignity
secured the respect of the leading white citizens, with one of
whom he accepted an invitation to dine. He had no difficulty
after this in taking a cargo of three thousand bushels of corn,
from which he realized a profit of $1,000. On a second voyage
he was equally successful.
Although without the privilege of attending a school when
a boy, he endeavored to have his friends and neighbors open
and maintain one for the colored and Indian children of the
vicinity. Failing to secure their active cooperation, he built in
1797 a schoolhouse without their aid.
Because of his independent means and his skill as a mariner,
he visited with little or no difficulty most of the larger cities
of the country, held frequent conferences with the representative
men of his race, and recommended the formation of societies
for their mutual relief and physical betterment. Such societies
he formed in Philadelphia and New York, and then having
made ample preparation he sailed in 1811 for Africa in his
brig The Traveler, reaching Sierra Leone on the "West Coast
after a voyage of about two months. Here he organized the
Friendly Society of Sierra Leone and then went to Liverpool.
Even here one of his characteristic traits manifested itself in
taking with him to England for education a native of Sierra
Leone. "While in England, Cuffe visited London twice and
consulted such friends of the Negro as Granville Sharp, Thomas
Clarkson and William "Wilberforce! These men were all in¬
terested in a proposition to promote the settlement on the "West
PAUL CUFFE
101
Coast of Africa of the free people of color in America, many
of whom had come into the domains of Great Britain as an
outcome of the Revolutionary War. This opinion was at this
period the prevailing sentiment of England respecting what
was best for the Negro. Sir J. J. Crooks, a former governor
of Sierra Leone, in alluding to its origin says: "There is no
doubt that the influence of their opinion was felt in America
and that it led to emigration thence to Africa before Liberia
was settled. Paul Cuffe, a man of color . . . who was much
interested in the promotion of the civil and religious liberty
of his colored brethren in their native land, had been familiar
with the ideas of these philanthropists, as well as with the move¬
ment in the same direction in England.''1
This explains Cuffe's visit to England and to Africa—a
daring venture in these perilous days—and the formation of the
Friendly Societies in Africa and in his own country, the United
States.
When his special mission to England was concluded, he took
out a cargo from Liverpool for Sierra Leone, after which he
returned to America.
Before he had made his next move, Cuffe consulted with the
British Government in London and President Madison at Wash¬
ington. But the strained relations between the two nations,
as well as the financial condition of the United States at the
time, made governmental cooperation impracticable if not im¬
possible.
In 1815 he carried out the ideas long In his mind. In this
year he sailed from Boston for Sierra Leone with thirty-eight
free Negroes as settlers on the Black Continent. Only eight
of these could pay their own expenses, but Cuffe, nevertheless,
took out the entire party, landed them safe on the soil of their
forefathers after a journey of fifty-five days and paid the ex¬
pense for the outfit, transportation and maintenance of the re-
i History of Sierra Leone, Dublin, 1903, p. 97.
102 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
maining thirty, amounting to no less than twenty-five thousand
dollars ($25,000) out of his own pocket. The colonists were
cordially welcomed by the people of Sierra Leone, and each
family received from thirty to forty acres from the Crown
Government. He remained with the settlers two months and
then returned home with the purpose of taking out another
colony. Before, however, he could do so, and while preparations
were being made for the second colony, he was taken ill. After
a protracted illness he died September 7, 1817, in the fifty-ninth
year of his age. At the time of his death he had no less than
two thousand names of intending emigrants on his list await¬
ing transportation to Africa.
As to his personal characteristics: Paul Cuffe was "tall,
well-formed and athletic, his deportment conciliating yet digni¬
fied and prepossessing. He was a member of the Society of
Friends [Quakers] and became a minister among them. . . .
He believed it to be his duty to sacrifice private interest, rather
than engage in any enterprise, however lawful ... or however
profitable that had the slightest tendency to injure his fel¬
low men. He would not deal in intoxicating liquors or in
slaves.''
A current newspaper speaking of him says, "A descendant of
Africa, he overcame by native strength of mind and firm ad¬
herence to principle the prejudice with which its descendants
are too generally viewed. Industrious, temperate and prudent,
his means of acquiring property, small at first, were gradually
increased; and the strict integrity of his conduct gained him
numerous friends to whom he never gave occasion to regret the
confidence they had placed in him. His mercantile pursuits
were generally successful and blessed with competence if not
with wealth. The enlarged benevolence of his mind was mani¬
fested not only in acts of charity to individuals and in the pro¬
motion of objects of general ability, but more particularly, in
PAUL CUFFEl
103
the deep interest he sought for the welfare of his brethren of
the African race.''2
That he became a successful navigator, crossing the Atlantic
in the path of the slave ship, thence journeying to England, re¬
turning to the United States and actually carrying the first
American Negroes to the land of their ancestry, the cost of
which was borne almost entirely by himself, and before the
settlement of Liberia or even the organization of the American
Colonization Society by white men—is sufficient reason to con¬
nect Paul Cuffe with the history of two continents and to make
him an example worthy of emulation for his persistence and his
pluck, his philanthropy and his patriotism.
2 A Tribute for the Negro. Wilson Armistead.
XXI
sojourner truth
Isabella, known to history as Sojourner Truth, and without
a rival in the annals of the American Negro, was born a slave
of one Col. Ardinburgh in Hurley, Ulster County, New York,
sometime during the latter part of the eighteenth century.
Her experiences and those of her parents as to the cruel, harsh
and brutal treatment received at the hands of those who claimed
their service, the many whippings for alleged disobedience and
their abandonment when no longer able to be profitable as
laborers and the sale of others of her kindred on the auction
block by which family ties were broken, made it clear that
slavery in the North1 at that distant day was not unlike what
it was two-thirds of a century later south of Mason and Dixon's
line.
Up to the time she was ten, Isabella spoke principally the
Low Dutch, while those for whom she was employed were Eng¬
lish. Constant blunders were inevitable and whippings as in¬
evitably followed.
The death of both father and mother occurred while Isabella
was quite young. The details of their death are pathetic in the
extreme. Isabella's troubles were of the common lot of the
slave. In course of time she married and became the mother
of several children. Among these was a son whose abduction
i Her age "is approximately fixed because she was liberated under the
act of 1817 which freed all slaves who were forty years old and upward.
Ten thousand slaves were then set at liberty. Those under forty years
of age were retained in servitude ten years longer, when all were eman¬
cipated.
104
SOJOURNER TRUTH
105
and sale beyond the boundaries of the State, contrary to law,
fired her soul and she began that vigorous protest against the
.common practices of the day and appeal for justice that
subsequently made her fame national and opened up a career
that is not only unique but deserving of perpetual remembrance.
At an early period she became sensible of the influence of
Christianity in her own life. She became a Methodist and on her
removal to New York she joined the John Street Church, the
mother of American Methodism and later she attached herself
to the Zion Church in the same city, the mother of the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion denomination. By the purest accident
she learned that a sister whom she had never known had been
a member in the same church, but Sojourner did not obtain
this knowledge until after that sister's death, when she re¬
membered having met this sister frequently in class meetings.
The circumstances leading to Isabella's removal from the city
of New York was her connection with what is known as the
Mathias delusion about the year 1837-1840. This led to her
giving up her own name and assuming that of Sojourner, to
which she added Truth.
From New York she went to New England where she ulti¬
mately became an Anti-slavery lecturer. "Wholly without edu¬
cation, advanced in years, her influence as a public speaker is a
marvel. Nature had given her a very acute mind. She was
quick at repartee, was thoroughly in earnest and her judg¬
ments were shrewd. Her belief in God and that in due time
He would deliver her people from bondage was phenomenal.
These facts had much to do with the very strong hold she
had on all who heard her lectures. Many of the predictions
which she made became true in manner and form as she had
uttered them.
In those dark days at a meeting of anti-slavery men held at
Boston, Frederick Douglass struck in the minor key a most de¬
spairing song. At his conclusion Sojourner Truth rose in the
106
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
audience and stretching forth her arms in a shrill voice ex¬
claimed, "Frederick, is God dead?" The effect was electrical.
By a flash the sentiment of the house was changed to one of hope
and assurance.
Sojourner did not hesitate to call on anyone whom she desired
to see, whether she had received an introduction to them or not.
Thus it was that she called to see Harriet Beecher Stowe, the
authoress of "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Mrs. Stowe who had company at the time evidently did not care
to be bothered with the quaint old woman, but she was no sooner
in Sojourner's company than she realized the superior character
of her visitor. Instead of abruptly tearing herself away from
Sojourner or rudely dismissing her as a bore she requested the
privilege from Sojourner of calling in her guests. This was
granted and all were made to feel the superior moral power
of this untutored black woman of the North.
During the Civil War Sojourner spent a protracted period at
"Washington in alleviating the sufferings of our sick. Sometimes
she was at the hospitals; at other times the "contraband" camps
then numerous about the National Capital, found her an angel
of mercy. While here she called on President Lincoln, who
received her kindly. It was not merely to gratify curiosity
nor to express her gratification that such a broad-minded presi¬
dent was in the White House, but to receive his commendation
on her mission as counselor to the freedmen that were assembled
by the thousands in and around Washington. In this capacity
she visited them in their slab houses, instructing women in
domestic duties, preaching the gospel of cleanliness and how to
maintain their liberty, the shackles of slavery having been struck
from their limbs.
In those days "Jim Crow" street cars prevailed in Washing¬
ton, and it was with difficulty at times that colored people could
get seats even in them. Restive under this treatment, Sojourner
complained to the president of the street railroads and the
SOJOURNER TRUTH
107
''Jim Crow" sign was ordered to be taken off, yet everything
was not plain sailing. The following incident deserves atten¬
tion.
"Not long after this, Sojourner having occasion to ride sig¬
naled the car, but neither conductor nor driver noticed her.
Soon another followed, and she raised1 her hand again, but they
also turned away. She then gave three tremendous yelps, '1
want to ride! I want to ride!! i want to ride///' Conster¬
nation seized the passing crowd; people, carriages, go-carts of
every description stood still. The car was effectually blocked
up, and before it could move on, Sojourner had jumped aboard.
Then there arose a great shout from the crowd, 'Ha! Ha! Ha!!
She has beaten him, etc.' The angry conductor told her to go
forward where the horses were, or he would put her out.
Quietly seating herself, she informed him that she was a
passenger. 'Go forward where the horses are, or I will throw
you out,' said he in a menacing voice. She told him that she was
neither a Marylander nor a Virginian to fear his threats; but
was from the Empire State of New York, and knew the laws
as well as he did. Several soldiers were in the car and when
other passengers came in, they related the circumstance and
said, 'You ought to have heard that old woman talk to the
conductor.' Sojourner rode farther than she needed to go;
for a ride was so rare a privilege that she determined to make
the most of it. She left the car feeling very happy, and said,
'Bless God! I have had a ride.' "
Another incident is equally suggestive: "She was sent to
Georgetown to obtain a nurse for the hospital, which being
accomplished they went to the station and took seats in an
empty car, but had not proceeded far before two ladies came
in and seating themselves opposite the colored woman began a
whispered conversation, frequently casting scornful glances at
the latter. The nurse, for the first time in her life finding
herself on a level with poor white folks and being much abashed,
108
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
hung her poor old head nearly down to her lap, but Sojourner,
. nothing1 daunted, looked fearlessly about. At length one of
the ladies called out in a weak, faint voice, 'Conductor, con¬
ductor, does "niggers" ride in these cars?' He hesitatingly
answered 'Yes—yes—yes,' to which she responded, "Tis a
shame and a disgrace. They ought to have a "nigger" ear on
the track.' Sojourner remarked, 'Of course colored people
ride in the cars. Street cars are designed for poor white and
colored folks. Carriages are for ladies and gentlemen. There
are carriages/ pointing out of the window, 'standing ready to
take you three or four miles for a sixpence, and then you talk
of a "nigger" car!!!, Promptly acting upon this hint, those
white women critics arose to leave. 'Ah!' said Sojourner,
'Now they are going to take a carriage. Good-by, ladies.' "
There are many anecdotes told that indicate her quickness at
repartee, humor, sarcasm, her original and quaint philosophy.
"As Sojourner was returning to the home of Amy Post in
Rochester, one evening, after having delivered a lecture in
Corinthian Hall, a little policeman stepped up to her and de¬
manded her name. She paused, struck her cane firmly upon
the ground, drew herself up to her greatest height, and in a
loud, deep voice deliberately answered, 'I am that I am.' The
frightened policeman vanished, and she concluded her walk
without further questioning.
"During the war Sojourner met one of her Democratic friends,
who asked her, 'What business are you now following?' She
quietly replied, 'Years ago, when I lived in the city of New
York, my occupation was scouring brass door knobs but now
I go about scouring copperheads"2
At a temperance meeting in one of the towns of Kansas, So¬
journer, whilst addressing the audience, was much annoyed by
frequent expectorations of tobacco juice upon the floor. Pausing
and contemplating the pools of liquid filth, with a look of
2 Northern sympathizer with Confederates during the Civil War.
SOJOURNER TRUTH
109
disgust upon her face, she remarked that it had been the custom
of her Methodist brethren, to kneel in the house of God during
prayers, and asked how they could kneel upon these floors. Said
she, speaking with emphasis, "If Jesus was here He would
scourge you from this place."
Previous to the war, Sojourner held a series of meetings in
northern Ohio. She sometimes made very strong points in the
course of her speech, which she knew hit the apologists of
slavery pretty hard. At the close of one of these meetings a
man came up to her and said, "Old woman, do you think that
your talk about slavery does any good? Do you suppose peo¬
ple care what you say? Why," continued he, "I don't care
any more for your talk than I do for the bite of a flea." "Per¬
haps not," she responded, "but, the Lord willing, I'll keep you
scratching.''
Sojourner was invited to speak at a meeting in Florence, Mass.
She had just returned from a fatiguing trip, and not having
thought of anything in particular to say, arose and said, '4 Chil¬
dren, I have come here to-night like the rest of you to hear what
I have got to say." Wendell Phillips was one of the audience.
Soon after this he was invited to address a lyceum, and being
unprepared for the occasion, as he thought, began by saying,
"I shall have to tell you as my friend, Sojourner Truth, told an
audience under similar circumstances, 'I have come here like the
rest of you to hear what I have to say.' "
After the close of the Civil War, when more than four score
years and ten, Sojourner Truth, unlike others who had labored
for the abolition of slavery, discerned by intuition what men like
Phillips, Garrison and even Douglass, seemed not to compre¬
hend—that the protection and elevation of the Negro lay not
through the exercise of the elective franchise alone, but through
the ownership of the soil and industrial education. She advo¬
cated the location of the newly emancipated masses of. the South
on the public lands of the West. To that end she addressed
110 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
meetings urging this course, in different parts of the North, the
West and the South, circulating petitions to Congress, and even
visiting Washington and endeavoring to create public sentiment
in this behalf.
It was during one of these visits to Washington, while U. S.
Grant was President, that the writer listened to her lecture at
the First Congregational Church of this city, where, in her
quaint and original style, she drew crowds to hear her, many
of whom had heard her in their youthful days in New York or
in New England.
Sojourner had foreseen that the cities of the North and East
would attract large numbers of colored people from the South,
and that the over-crowding of the labor market would react
upon the race in increasing the criminal element and in weak¬
ening their physical stamina. But if they were settled on the
public lands of the West, there would follow careful economy,
regular habits of life, thrift, wealth, and ultimately political
power. She had, however, lived more than her three score
years and ten and was reaching the century mark. It was not
among the possibilities for her to take up successfully the work
of the new era which emancipation and its new conditions had
created. Her work belonged to another epoch, that of the
anti-slavery era, in which her service was as unique as her
personality.
Speaking of her death which occurred at Battle Creek, Nov.
26, 1883, where she had spent her last years, the Detroit Post
and Tribune says, "The death of Sojourner Truth takes away
the most singular and impressive figure of pure African blood
that has appeared in modern times." A most positive and re¬
markable declaration, yet as true as it was emphatic and sweep¬
ing.
Another authority says, "Her mysterious communings with
what she believed to be a supernatural power, her strange and
weird appearance, her solemn demeanor, with her wit and elo-
SOJOURNER TRUTH
111
quence, her boldness, her unselfishness, her deep religious feel¬
ing, that colored all her life and conversation, her earnestness
and truthfulness, make up a character at once curious, admirable
in many respects, and certainly unique. We shall not look upon
her like again."
This review of her career was made in an influential news¬
paper :
"The labors of this woman in behalf of the slaves and of
every class and condition of men and women who appealed
to her sympathy for help are too familiar to the people of
Michigan to need recapitulation here. She was the most interest¬
ing of all the peculiar people of her race who have come in¬
to prominence from the conditions of slavery. . . . Sojourner
Truth was too old and too much occupied by other matters to
set about learning to read when the time came that she might
have done so. Her learning was of a kind not to be found in
books, and neither her oratory nor her religion was fashioned in
the schools. Quaint in language, grotesque in appearance and
homely in illustrations, she was nevertheless a power in a meet¬
ing, and there was no tongue whose teachings were more feared
than hers. There was a native nobility about her which broke
down all barriers. 'People ask me,' she once said, 'how I came
to live so long and keep my mind; and I tell them it is because
I think of the great things of God; not the little things.' Has
any learned philosopher said a better thing than that? She
was brave enough to face ordeals that were almost worse to
her than death. On one occasion, while pleading the cause
of the slaves, the effect of her eloquence was in danger of
being overcome by a charge made by one of the audience that
she was an impostor, a man in woman's clothes. Her tall,
bony form, and heavy voice gave support to the charge and
the current was turning against her. She stepped to the front
of the platform and bared her breast to the assembly, telling
them it was their shame and not hers that such a sacrifice was
112
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
made necessary for her vindication. This is not so poetical as
the story of Lady Godiva, but is it less honorable to woman¬
kind?
"There is not in all the annals of eloquence a more striking
passage than one in the speech made by Sojourner at a "Woman's
Rights convention at Akron, Ohio, in 1857. The cause was un¬
popular and one of the male speakers took pains to ridicule
women for their feebleness, helplessness and general uselessness.
The meeting was in a church, and at the conclusion Sojourner
rose up in her white turban from her seat on the pulpit steps,
moved slowly and solemnly to the front, laid her old sunbonnet
at her feet, opened with words that were thus repeated in a
local paper:
" 'Well, chillen, when dar is so much racket dar must be
something out of kilter. But what's all dis yer talkin' about?
Dat man over dar say dat a woman needs to be helped into
carriages and lifted over ditches and to have the best places
everywhere. Nobody ever helped me into carriages or over mud
puddles or gives me any best place, and ain't I a woman? Look
at me! Look at my arms' (and she bared her right arm to the
shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power). 'I have
plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no one could
head me off, and ain't I a woman? I could work as much and
eat as much as any man (when I get it) and bear the lash as
well, and ain't I a womanf Den dey talk about dis ting in de
head—what is it dey calls it?' ('Intellect,' whispered someone
near.) 'Dat's it, honey. What's dat got to do with woman's
rights? If my cup would hold but a pint and yourn hold a
quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half
measure full? Don't dat little man in black dar say woman
can't have as many rights as men 'cause Christ wa'n't a woman.
Whar did your Christ come from?' (Raising her voice still
louder, she repeated:) 'Whar did your Christ come from?
From God and a woman. Man had nothing to do with Him!' "
A SJlff irjL.
EWGHAOTI) <BT E.W STOBART, FROM THE STATUE BY TOilAM W- STOHY.
Art Masterpiece inspired by Sojourner Truth.
SOJOURNER TRUTH
113
W. W. Story, the great American sculptor, first learned from
the lips of Mrs. Stowe the story of Sojourner Truth, and dubbed
her The Libyan Sibyl. The artist seemed impressed by it and
after his "Cleopatra" had been finished he told the authoress
of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," some years after, that the conception of
another type of beauty in which "the elements of life, physical
and spiritual, were of such excellence that the dark hue of the
skin should seem only to add an appropriate charm," had never
left him. In one of the "World's Exhibitions he has a statue in
which these ideas are worked out. It is called "The Libyan
Sibyl" and was a companion to his "Cleopatra." The London
Athenaeum, thus described them :
"The 'Cleopatra' and the 'Sibyl' are seated, partly draped,
with the characteristic Egyptian gown, that gathers about the
torso and falls freely around the limbs; the first is covered to
the bosom, the second bare to the hips.
'' Queenly Cleopatra rests back against her chair in meditative
ease, leaning her cheek against one hand, whose elbow the rails
of the seat sustain; the other is outstretched upon her knee,
nipping its forefinger upon the thumb thoughtfully, as though
some firm wilful purpose filled her brain, as it seems to set these
luxurious features to a smile as if the whole woman 'would.'
Upon her head is the coif, bearing in front the mystic urceus, or
twining basilisk of sovereignty, while from its sides depend the
wide Egyptian lappels, or wings, that fall upon her shoulders.
The Sibylla Libyca has crossed her knees—an action universally
held among the ancients as indicative of reticence or secrecy
and of power to bind. A secret-looking dame she is, in the
full-bloom proportions of ripe womanhood, wherein choosing to
place his figure the sculptor has deftly gone between the dis¬
puted point—whether these women were blooming and wise
in youth, or deeply furrowed with age and burdened with the
knowledge of centuries. Her forward elbow is propped upon
one knee; and to keep her secret closer, for this Libyan woman
114
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
is the closest of all the sibyls, she rests her shut mouth upon one
closed palm, as if holding the African mystery deep in the
brooding brain that looks out through mournful, warning eyes,
seeing under the white shade of the strange-horned (Ammonite)
crest that bears the mystery of the Tetragrammaton upon its
upturned front. Over her full bosom, mother of myriads as she
was, hangs the same symbol. Her face has a Nubian cast, her
hair wavy and plaited, as is meet.''
Another critic says:
"The mission of the Sibyl ... is not to lure men on to
destruction—she is the custodian of secrets, the secrets of Africa
and the African race. And how close she keeps them, with her
locked lower limbs, her one hand pressing her chin as if to keep in
the torrent of words that threatens to burst forth, while the
other grasps a scroll covered with strange characters, which
would recall much could we be permitted to decipher it."
As such, Art immortalizes the ideals which Sojourner Truth
suggested to America's greatest author-sculptor, W. W. Story,
whose Libyan Sibyl he considered his best work.3
3 "Story and Ms Friends," by Henry James, Vol. II, p. 70.
XXII
daniel a. payne
Daniel A. Payne, eminent as a pioneer educator, advocate for
an educated and consecrated ministry, first president of a
Negro college and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church, was born of London and Martha Payne, both free, in
Charleston, South Carolina, February 24, 1811. The father was
a native of Virginia, kidnapped to South Carolina, but subse¬
quently ransomed. Like Samuel of old the parents dedicated
their infant child to the service in which he grew to be so
conspicuous and so distinguished. Before the lad was ten, they
died and Daniel was eared for by a relative. The father had
taught his son his alphabet and easy words of one syllable be¬
fore he was five years old. The first school in which he was a
pupil was that of the Miner's Moralist Society, established as
early as 1803 by seven free colored men, for the education of
orphan or indigent colored children. Young Payne remained
here for two years. The "Columbian Orator," a self-interpret-
ing Bible, and the '1 Scottish Chiefs'' were favorite books.
He served a shoemaker's apprenticeship a few months, but
spent four years at carpenter's trade and nine months with a
tailor. He early manifested a love for study. At this tender
age he was anxious to learn both French and Latin and he was
determined to study them without a teacher. "When his day's
work was at an end he would study until near midnight and,
rising early the next morning, would be at his books from four
to six. His early religious impressions were lasting. He joined
church on probation at fifteen and was converted at eighteen.
115
116
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Three years later he began a day school with three pupils :
whom he received fifty cents each. At night he taught 1
adult slaves, realizing three dollars a month. The next yea
had a plain building erected in which he taught until A
1835. For fifty years this building stood a witness of the la
of his early manhood. Young Payne taught himself geogrj
and six months after, having meanwhile obtained an atlas
was constructing maps and teaching these subjects in his sc]
He had not as yet known anything of English grammar, bu
mastered Murray's Primary Grammar after going over it t
oughly three times. He then added this study to the cours
his school. The subjects of botany, chemistry, natural
losophy and astronomy next engaged his attention. He stu(
not only the best books, but made original investigations. W
zealously pursuing his scientific studies, his ambition for
languages did not abate. The discipline acquired in his mast
of English grammar showed itself, for three days after enter
upon the study of Greek he was able to translate the f
chapter of Matthew into English. Latin and Freneh were n
taken up with the same success.
His method of the study of zoology is thus illustrated:
"I bought a live alligator and made one of my pupils prov<
him to bite, and whenever he opened his mouth I dischargee
load of shot from a small pistol down his throat. As soon
he was stunned I threw him on his back and cut his thrc
ripped open his chest, hung him up and studied his viscera
they ceased to move."
Such enthusiasm on the part of the teacher was sure to insp
the pupils, and the popularity of his school overcame all pre,
dices and doubts as to his ability as an instructor.
Such, investigations led some of his students into the count
to buy a live moccasin snake. There they met the owners of t
slaves from whom the snake was to be obtained. Their curiosi
was aroused, inquiry followed and the discovery was made ti
DANIEL A. PAYNE
117
Payne's pupils in Charleston were engaged in such studies and
with such thoroughness that great danger to slavery was in¬
evitable. This was in the early part of 1834. That winter the
legislature passed a rigid law forbidding the continuance of any
schools whatever for colored children. Payne's work in Charles¬
ton was thus brought to an untimely end, and May 9, 1835, after
a sad parting from the city of his birth and the burial place of
his parents and friends, he turned his face northward.
On his arrival in New York he called on Rev. Peter Williams,
the Rector of St. Philip's P. E. Church. While there "a lad
of dark complexion entered, with step quick and elastic, eyes
beaming with the light of superior intellect and an aspect of
one possessed with more than ordinary mental power." This
youth was Alexander Crummell.
It was the opinion and adviee of those to whom young Payne
had brought letters of commendation that he should engage in
the work of the ministry. With this purpose he went as advised
to the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Lutheran Seminary, matric¬
ulated as a student, and remained for two years. While there
he cut wood, blacked and cleaned boots and shoes, acted as
barber and did other work to help himself along.
Owing to a prejudice against educated ministers which at that
time existed in the A. M. E. Church, he did not at first enter
that denomination, but was licensed in 1837, and in 1839 or¬
dained, by the Franklin Synod of the Lutheran Church. There
was demand for his services; he was immediately invited to
serve a Presbyterian church in East Troy, N. Y., and he received
another invitation from the Second Colored Presbyterian Church
in Philadelphia. He accepted the former. He was also offered
three hundred dollars a year and traveling expenses as agent of
the American Anti-slavery Society, but bitterly opposed as he
was to slavery, he declined the offer because it was not in har¬
mony with his work as a preacher pure and simple.
The same earnestness and energy which he had displayed in
118
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
the schoolroom, he carried into the pulpit. So rigorous were
his utterances that he soon ruptured the left gland of his throat
and lost the use of his voice for about a year. He was com¬
pelled to take a slate and pencil with him to carry on the
slightest conversation. But though he could not preach, Payne
was not idle. In 1840 he opened a private school in Phila¬
delphia, beginning, as in Charleston, with three pupils and
taught with such success that before giving it up in 1843 he had
enrolled sixty pupils. In the winter of 1841 he joined the
Bethel A. M. E. Church of that city and was received in the
Philadelphia Conference of the same denomination as a local
preacher in 1842. The next year he was received into full
membership and joined the traveling ministry.
Rev. Payne's first appointment was Israel Bethel (A. M. E.
Church) in Washington, D. C., then located on South Capitol
Street, immediately south of the Capitol. Before he could begin
his work, he had to give a bond of $1,000.1 As the church was
too poor to put seats in the basement, his apprenticeship as
carpenter in Charleston became of service, for he pulled off
his coat and with a plane and other carpenter's tools constructed
the pews for the basement of the church.
His first year was a very active one. Besides his labors in
the pulpit he organized the first colored pastors' association in
the District of Columbia, possibly in the country, though there
were only two other members besides himself, Rev. John P.
Cook, organizer of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church,
and Rev. Levi Collins. The next year, 1844, he attended the
General Conference, the legislative body of the church, and as
Chairman of the Committee on Education secured the adoption,
though not without stubborn opposition, of a course of studies
for young preachers. He also laid the foundation for the Home
i Slavery in the District of Columbia—Tremain, also Special Report
U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1870; Ordinance supplementary to that
of 1827, October 29, 1836.
DANIEL A. PAYNE
119
and Foreign Mission Society. After two years at Washington
during which he published Education of the Ministry—the
development of letters originally contributed by him when
at Baltimore to a monthly magazine the organ of the A. M. E.
Church—he went to Baltimore where he remained five years.
It is notable among other things that Rev. Payne delivered a
lecture on Benjamin Banneker and personally located the burial
place of the black astronomer2 beneath two tulip trees so grown
as to seem one and had planned a fitting design for a monu¬
ment to mark Banneker's last resting place.
The interest which Rev. Payne manifested in the cause of
education of the young soon found him as at Philadelphia, at
the head of a school. This it was not his original purpose to do,
but he yielded to the urgent request of one of his members by
consenting to instruct her elder children in his private study;
but before a year had passed there were fifty children under
his instruction. Such was the growth and development of this
school that it fixed his stay in Baltimore two years beyond the
time which a preacher could under the rules and regulation of
his denomination remain in one city.
As an example of his energy and executive ability a brief
statement of the work accomplished by him seems incredible.
He rose daily at five o'clock, took his regular morning walk,
studied from six to nine, was in the schoolroom from nine to
two p. m., after which he made five to ten pastoral visits—he
had a membership from one thousand to fifteen hundred—and
retired regularly at ten o'clock. Bethel, Ebenezer and Union
Bethel were his ministerial charges.
The Evangelical Alliance was organized in London in 1846
and Rev. Payne was sent as a delegate by his church. A stormy
voyage compelled his return to America, but there are storms
on land as well as on sea, and he was the victim of one of the
former. A church mob that was opposed to his straightfor-
2 Supra, Banneker.
120
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
ward, upright manner, and his opposition to the noisy worship
of those times, led to his refusal by Ebenezer Church as pastor.
A special reason was because he lived in too grand style and
would not take tea with them. But this refusal gave him op¬
portunity to render a most invaluable service for the entire con¬
nection. The General Conference of 1848 had appointed him to
write the history of the connection, so he visited every church in
all the Eastern and Western States, collecting material for the
work—going as far South as New Orleans and even extending
his journey through the villages, towns and cities of Canada,
meanwhile supporting himself by delivering lectures on edu¬
cation. He had about completed the tour when the General
Conference of 1852 drew nigh. At this Conference he was,
against his opposition, elected a bishop, which must be regarded
as the most important step up to that time taken by the grow¬
ing church. When the outspoken opposition to educated preach¬
ers is considered, and the very few there were who had even
elementary qualifications, the election of a man of Bishop
Payne's capabilities can only be accounted for on the ground
that it was providential.
With his election and that of his colleague, Rev. Willis Nazrey,
there were three bishops. The work was divided between them
and the first bishops' council was held.
Bishop Payne was a most active and energetic worker in the
first twelve years of his service in this higher office. He traveled
far and wide—to New Orleans, St. Louis and Washington, all
slave territory and at peril to his safety. He also visited Canada,
the home of thousands of fugitive slaves. At several of these
places he lectured the people on education and established liter¬
ary and historical associations to improve the ministry and peo¬
ple. During these years he also organized mothers' associations
thereby showing his interest in home training.
The Civil War came on apace, and in 1862 he was in Washing¬
ton where he consulted with such statesmen as Elihu B. Wash-
DANIEL A. PAYNE
121
burne, the friend of General U. S. Grant, Carl Schurz, the
brilliant orator, Charles Sumner, the statesman, and more than
once saw President Lincoln.
The following in Bishop Payne's own words gives what took
place at one of these interviews: '' The following Monday night,
April 14, 1862, I called on President Lincoln to know if he in¬
tended to sign the bill of emancipation and thereby exterminate
slavery in the District of Columbia. Having been previously
informed of my intention to interview him, and having on my
arrival at the White House sent in my card, he met me at the
door of the room in which he and Senator Washburne were
conversing. Taking me by the hand, he said: 'Bishop Payne,
of the African M. E. Church?' I answered in the affirmative;
so with my hand in his he led me to the fireplace, introduced
me to Senator Washburne, and seated me in an arm chair be¬
tween himself and the Senator. At that moment Senator Carl
Schurz entered the room and seated himself on the right of
Senator Washburne. ... I said: 'I am here to learn whether
or not you intend to sign the bill of emancipation?' He an¬
swered and said: ' There was a company of gentlemen here to¬
day requesting me by no means to sign it.' To which Senator
Carl Schurz replied: 'But, Mr. President, there will be a
committee to beg that you fail not to sign it, for all Europe is
looking to see that you fail not.' Then said I: 'Mr. President,
you will remember that on the eve of your departure from
Springfield, Illinois, you begged the citizens of the Republic to
pray for you.' He said: 'Yes.' Said I: 'From that moment
we, the colored citizens of the Republic, have been praying, "O
Lord, just as Thou didst cause the throne of David to wax
stronger and stronger, while that of Saul should wax weaker
and weaker, so we beseech Thee cause the power at Washington
to grow stronger and stronger, while that at Richmond shall
grow weaker and weaker." ' Slightly bending his head, the
President said! 'Well, I must believe that God has led me
122
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
thus far; for I am conscious that I never would have accom¬
plished what has been done, if He had not been with me to
counsel and to shield.' But, neither Carl Schurz nor I could
induce him to say 'Yes' or 'No' to our direct question."
The most important act, however, of Bishop Payne was his
purchase, March 10, 1863, of Wilberforce University, an insti¬
tution started in 1856 by the Methodist Episcopal Church at
Xenia, Ohio, for the instruction of colored youth. This power¬
ful religious body found such an undertaking far beyond their
disposition to maintain. What to do with this was a most
serious problem. It was burdened with a heavy mortgage which
those in charge did not feel themselves able and willing to wipe
out. At a critical moment Bishop Payne bought it for the
African Methodist Episcopal Church for the sum of ten thou¬
sand dollars, although he did not have a single dollar in his
possession, the property of the A. M. E. Church, with which to
make good the obligation. He thus narrates the circumstances
of its purchase: "I met the trustees who urged me to purchase
the property of Wilberforce for the A. M. E. Church. I begged
for three months' time in which I could consult the spring con¬
ferences in order that I might secure their sanction and co¬
operation. But the trustees refused for the reason that the
State of Ohio desired the property for one of its asylums, that
the legislature then in session demanded an answer by noon on
the 11th. Still I hesitated and begged for time to consult and
secure the pledge of the spring conferences. Said they: 'Now
or never.' Then immediately I threw myself on the strong arm
of the Lord, and said: 'In the name of the Lord, I buy the
property of Wilberforce for the African Methodist Episcopal
Church.' The brethren (all white men) cried out, 'Amen,
Amen, Amen,' then fell on their knees and prayed for my
success.''
United in his early effort for Wilberforce were the late Bishop
James A. Shorter and Rev. John G. Mitchell. The wife of the
Some Wilberforce University Buildings.
DANIEL A. PAYNE
123
former gave the first hundred dollars. Within three months the
first payment of $2,500 was made and the title deeds were
handed the three, Payne, Mitchell, and Shorter, as agents of
the A. M. E. Church. Bishop Payne was elected to its presi¬
dency, which made him the first Negro college president in the
United States. Within eighteen months $5,000 more of the
purchase-money was paid.
By a remarkable coincidence, on the day when the Nation was
mourning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, April 15, 1865,
the main building was destroyed by fire, believed to be the
work of an incendiary. Bishop Payne was then in Baltimore
holding a conference.
In the sixteen years in which the bishop was president of
Wilberforce his work was tremendous. As bishop he .exacted of
all applicants for the ministry that they should give considerable
time to systematic study and lead exemplary lives; as an edu¬
cator in this critical period, the first ten years of the Negro
after emancipation and through the Keconstruction Period, he
trained scores of young men and women to usefulness, both in
the pulpit and the schoolroom. They and the result of their
work are found all over the country.
Bishop Payne had frequently visited President Lincoln dur¬
ing the last two years of the Civil War. He had also visited
Andrew Johnson while governor of Tennessee and among others
had looked in the large schools for freedmen under the instruc¬
tion of white teachers from New England and the West at
different points of the South. Such a school was on the plan¬
tation of former Governor Henry A. Wise in Princess Anne
County, near Norfolk, Ya. But the greatest satisfaction of all
was his return to Charleston, South Carolina, reaching there
exactly thirty years to the day and hour from that at which he
was forced to leave it by the laws of the State. He found a few
old friends, preached with eloquence to the sons and daughters
of those who knew him as their wonderful teacher of a gener-
124
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
ation past, but the crowning work of this visit was the organi¬
zation of the South Carolina Conference, May 15, 1865. From
this as a center the A. M. E. Church was carried into North
Carolina, to the remotest corner of the Palmetto State, and
throughout Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
Service similar to that rendered by him twenty years before
throughout the North and West, Bishop Payne now performed
in the South. Bright-eyed boys and girls were encouraged
through his influence to pursue their studies to the point where
as teachers or preachers they could help lift burdens of ignorance
and immorality in the way of the elevation and progress of their
race.
He twice visited Europe. In 1867, going out in the same
steamer with William Lloyd Garrison, the American, and George
Thompson, the English abolitionist. Both in England and
France he received much social attention. Fourteen years later
he was delegate to the First Ecumenical Conference of the Meth¬
odist Church, a world-wide federation that met in London, where
his dignified, refined and consecrated manner, added to his
splendid abilities, gave a very high place to the work of the
A. M. E. Church. On the 17th of September, 1881, he presided
over this body.
When he resigned the active management of the university
he gave his principal energies to his religious work and his
literary labors. Among his published works are, "Domestic
Education," "Poems," "Education of the Ministry," "A. M.
E. Semi-Centenary," "Recollections of Seventy Years" and
"History of the A. M. E. Church."
The literary associations connected with the A. M. E. Churches
throughout the country and indirectly the lyceums of other de¬
nominations is a part of the fruitage of the seed sown by Bishop
Payne in his early years.
During the last ten years of his life his work as a bishop was
comparatively nominal, as he gave much of his time to literary
DANIEL A. PAYNE
125
work and spent his winters in Jacksonville, Florida. In no
organization, not strictly denominational, was he more success¬
ful than in the establishment and fostering care of the Bethel
Literary Association at the National Capital, whose reputation
is world-wide.
In the World's Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in
connection with the Columbian Exposition of 1893, Bishop
Payne was a most striking figure. No one commanded more
respect. At the celebration of the liberties of the American
Continent, held September 22, the bishop presided, a fitting
recognition of his eminence as a prelate and a representative
of the "despised race" whose liberties had been but lately en¬
larged.
The bishop shortly afterwards left Chicago for his home at
Wilberforce where he made his usual preparation for his fall
and winter sojourn in Florida, but November 20, the day be¬
fore the time fixed for his departure for Jacksonville, his spirit
took its flight.
The appearance of Bishop Payne was that of chronic invalid¬
ism; thin almost to emaciation, below the average height; feat¬
ures sharp; keen, penetrating eyes; voice, sharp and shrill, but
with an ample forehead indicating intellectual strength and re¬
finement.
XXIII
henry highland garnet
The Convention Movement developed a leadership among the
American Negroes that exerted a wide influence upon the race
throughout the North and on the Nation. Among the foremost
stands Henry Highland Garnet, whose address to the slaves of
the country, while it stirred the Convention held in 1843, at
Buffalo, to a degree of enthusiasm unequaled by any other
single deliverance in the thirty years of the Movement, never¬
theless was so bold and aggressive that the Convention
actually refused to adopt it. They feared the consequences of
giving sanction to so revolutionary and radical a doctrine.
Garnet, however, was not playing to the galleries. The same
defiant, militant spirit exhibited when he learned on his return
to New York fourteen years before, that slaveholders from
Maryland, tracing the flight of the family to New York had
dared to attempt to apprehend, seize and return them to slavery;
the spirit which had actually taken the offensive against the
New Hampshire mob that had closed the Academy at Canaan in
which he, Alexander Crummell and Thomas S. Sidney were
students—this spirit before the chosen delegates of the freemen
of the North threw down the gage to slaveholding America. It
was a command for the slaves to rise in their might and strike
a blow for freedom. Though the Convention refused to adopt
the address, it was nevertheless published. John Brown, who
sixteen years later led the insurrection at Harper's Ferry, pub¬
lished and circulated Garnet's address at his own expense.
No extract from this address can give a clear idea of its logic,
126
HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET 127
its aptness of statement, its indignant protest against slavery, its
eloquence. It deserves to be printed and preserved as a docu¬
ment of like character as Magna Charta and the Declaration of
Independence.
"Brethren, arise, arise! Strike for your lives and liberties.
Now is the day and hour. Let every slave throughout the land
do this and the days of slavery are numbered. You can not
be more oppressed than you have been. You can not suffer
greater cruelties than you have already. Rather die freemen
than live to be slaves. Remember that you are four millions!
It is in your power so to torment the God-cursed slaveholder that
they will be glad to let you go free. If the scale was turned, and
black men were the masters and white men the slaves, every de¬
structive agent and element would be employed to lay his op¬
pressor low."
"Rather die freemen than live to be slaves," the keynote of
the address was more than a mild protest against the pro-slavery
prosecutions to which freemen of color were subjected through¬
out the North seventy years ago.
Garnet was born December 23, 1815, at New Market, Kent
County, Maryland. At the early age of ten the family left by
the Underground Railroad for the North and stopped in New
York City. Here he availed himself of the meager educational
advantages which the metropolis gave colored youth. Aspiring
for higher education, he went first in vain to New Hampshire as
indicated and subsequently to Oneida Institute, Whitesboro, New
York, of which Beriah Green, a very capable educator, was
principal. In 1840 he graduated and shortly afterward entered
the Presbyterian Ministry, founded a Presbyterian Church at
Troy, New York, meanwhile editing a weekly newspaper called
The Clarion.
The school attended by Garnet included among other boys,
Ira Aldridge, who became the great actor, Patrick H. Reason, the
splendid engraver, who twenty-five years afterwards engraved
128
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
the massive coffin plate of Daniel Webster, Ms brother, Prof.
Charles L. Reason, Rev. Alexander Crummell, Dr. James Mc-
Cune Smith and Samuel Ringgold Ward, "the ablest thinker on
his legs."
Garnet was a natural born orator. He had keen wit, was
fond of the poets, possessed a lively imagination, was quick
at repartee and was endowed with a sympathetic voice that alike
reached the child of tender years, the man in his prime and those
past the meridian. He was also combative. Few were the men
at that time who would dare to meet him in debate before an
audience. On the platform in behalf of the slave, or in the pul¬
pit as a champion of Christianity, his voice once heard echoed
and reechoed throughout the chambers of memory, carrying its
message and fulfilling its mission.
In the darkest hour of the anti-slavery struggle, from 1855
to 1864, and after the Civil War, he was in charge of Shiloh
Presbyterian Church in New York City, where his voice was
heard not only by his congregation but his sermons and addresses
reported in the press of that city, found their way throughout
the country. For a time he was pastor of the 15th Street Pres¬
byterian Church in Washington, D. C., a position now filled by
Rev. F. J. Grimke. Here Members of Congress and other dis¬
tinguished men in the war time listened to his voice. After
the adoption by Congress of the Thirteenth Amendment abolish¬
ing slavery, at the request of Representatives, the Chaplain of
the House of Representatives, Rev. William H. Channing, ex¬
tended to Dr. Garnet an invitation to preach in the House of
Representatives a sermon in memorial of the triumph of the
Union Army and the deliverance of the country from chattel
slavery. The contrast was the more remarkable that no colored
person was permitted to have access to the Capitol grounds.
Dr. Garnet rose to the occasion. A memorial volume was pub¬
lished with a biographical sketch by Dr. James A. McCune Smith
of New York, the foremost literary Negro of that period.
HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET
129
From the National Capital lie went to Avery College, Alle¬
gheny, Pennsylvania, as its president, but although he was a
great admirer of youth, the position of college president was not
to his taste and he returned to his old pulpit in New York.
The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment which removed the
restriction against the use of the elective franchise, gave to the
Negro in the North a potential political influence, and power
to men who could sway the multitude by their eloquence
and oratory. Henry Highland Garnet in addition to being the
magnetic pulpit orator became in emergencies the popular polit¬
ical leader. In 18i72 Frederick Douglass was chosen elector in
the Presidential canvass that reelected Ulysses S. Grant as Presi¬
dent, and in 1880 when James A. Garfield was chosen, the Em¬
pire State was honored in the nomination and confirmation of
Henry Highland Garnet, as Minister Resident and Consul Gen¬
eral to Liberia. He was now sixty-six years old and his personal
friends advised against the acceptance of the new position, which
required residence in a treacherous and unhealthy climate, but
worn out by long, unrequited service in behalf of his people,
broken in health, with his domestic circle no longer the ideal
home of his prime, Garnet gladly accepted the honor. The
author recalls this language from Garnet's lips expressed during
a dinner tendered him during his last visit to the Capital: '' Oh,
Alexander," addressing his host, Dr. Crummell, "if I can just
reach the land of my forefathers and with my feet press her
soil, I shall be content to die.'' This was a prophecy shortly ful¬
filled'. Dr. Garnet reached Monrovia late in the year 1881, and
before two months had passed away, his proud spirit was re¬
leased. He was given a public funeral, honors befitting his high
station were given his remains. Edward W. Blyden who had
known him for two decades, delivered the eulogy.
XXIY
alexander crummell
Alexander Crummell was born in New York City March 3,
1819. His father, Boston Crummell, was the son of a Timanee
Chief in West Africa, and his mother and her ancestors for sev¬
eral generations were free New Yorkers. One of his earliest
recollections was the sight of the landing in New York of several
refugees who had escaped in an open boat from Southampton
County, Virginia, the scene of the Nat Turner Insurrection.
They disappeared almost as suddenly as they came.
Among his companions at a school established by Quakers were
Henry Highland Garnet and Thomas S. Sidney, who like him¬
self were bent on obtaining an education beyond the meager
facilities offered in the public schools. They went in 1835 to
Canaan, New Hampshire, where an academy had been opened by
some abolitionists, without restriction as to race or sex. Though
welcomed by the principal, the ruling sentiment of the neighbor¬
hood was against such an institution for the higher education of
Negroes. On the fourth of July, Crummell, Garnet and Sidney
took part as speakers at the National Holiday Celebration.
This added fuel to the smoldering flame, and in the next month,
August, a mob assembled and with the aid of ninety-five yoke of
oxen and two days' hard labor, removed the academy from its
site to a swamp.
"When the young lads were leaving the community the mob cele¬
brated their departure by a salute of many guns from an old
field piece. At Hanover, New Hampshire, the seat of Dartmouth
College, and only five miles from Canaan, these three began their
130
ALEXANDER CRUMMELL
131
journey homeward, which occupied a day and a night, across the
border of the State, through Vermont to Albany, New York, on
the top of a stage. There was no railroad communication and
colored travelers were not permitted to ride inside.
The next year the three entered Oneida Institute at which
Rev. Beriah Green was president where young Crummell re¬
mained three years.
In 1839 he applied for admission to the General Theological
Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church at New York as a
candidate for holy orders on the recommendation of his rector,
Rev. Peter Williams of St. Philip's Church, in that city.
Notwithstanding the rules of the Seminary provided for the
admission of any candidate who presented himself thus recom¬
mended, the application was referred to the trustees and their
committee reported that " having deliberately considered the said
petition they are of opinion that it ought not to be granted."
This report was adopted. Pending action, however, Mr. Crum¬
mell was advised to withdraw his petition, but he declined to do
so or to accept the private instruction by the faculty which, he
was assured, they were perfectly willing to give. The conven¬
tion also passed a canon prohibiting admission to one of the de¬
spised race.
He then went to Boston where he was more fortunate, for here
he was ordained to the diaconate in 1842 by Bishop Griswold.
Two years later, after due preparation under Dr. A. II. Vinton of
Providence, Rhode Island, he was ordained priest by Bishop Lee
of Delaware at St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, December, 1844,
and given work. But owing to poverty and ill health his lot was
a hard one. He conducted a private school for boys, which
though patronized by some of the best citizens did not yield him
adequate support.
Failing to obtain the necessary financial support for his mis¬
sionary work and advised by friends, he went to England. There
he was cordially received; he preached throughout England and
132
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
laid the foundation for friendship with many representative
citizens that continued through his life. In 1851 he entered
Queen's College, Cambridge University, from which he took his
A. B. degree in 1853. His purpose was then to return to America
and renew his ministerial work, but owing to failing health
he went to Africa and there began his missionary career.
For twenty years he labored both as clergyman and educator,
visiting different parts of Liberia and Sierra Leone, delivering
speeches and addresses without taking any active part in poli¬
tics.
During this time he made two visits to the United States, re¬
turning here permanently in 1873 when he was put in charge of
the St. Mary's P. E. Mission in Washington. He took hold of
the work with such energy and zeal that at once a flourishing
congregation was built up and the St. Luke's P. E. Church sub¬
sequently erected. During his nearly twenty-two years of serv¬
ice, Dr. Crummell made extensive trips to the leading cities of
the country, North, South, and "West, delivering sermons, lec¬
tures and addresses to colleges and religious conventions on a
variety of topics, attracting large and interested audiences by
his charm of manner, his choice diction, his broad scholarship,
his wide range of information and his splendid optimism.
One of his most striking traits was the championship of the
cause of his race, his readiness and eagerness to defend it from
vicious assaults. The topics for his popular addresses were sug¬
gested by some racial weakness, his exalted ideals, or in opposi¬
tion to some popular fallacy. His productions, from his early
days, when not thirty he delivered in New York the eulogy on
Thomas Clarkson, the great English abolitionist, throughout his
career in Liberia and since his return from abroad to round out
his activities here, stamp him as thinker, ripe scholar, able advo¬
cate and eloquent defender. "While a citizen of Liberia he pub¬
lished in 1862 "The Future of Africa," a volume of ten addresses
sermons and lectures, which was well received in America, Eng-
ALEXANDER CRUMMELL
133
land and Africa. This was followed in 1882 by "The Greatness
of Christ and Other Sermons," a book of three hundred and fifty-
two pages, published in response to the request of many literary
friends. It also met with a large sale, but as it did not include
many secular addresses of surpassing excellence, another work
"Africa and America" of four hundred and sixty-six pages fol¬
lowed in 1891.
In 1882 Rev. J. L. Tucker, D.D., a well-known white Protes¬
tant Episcopal clergyman of Mississippi, made a most libelous
attack on the Negro race before the Church Congress of that de¬
nomination at Richmond, Virginia. The purpose of this attack
was to close all Northern and Negro agencies for the promotion of
Church work at the South. To this Dr. Crummell replied at
length in a pamphlet entitled "A Defence of the Negro Race
in America," with such directness, crushing logic and ability
that its publication created a sensation equal to Dr. Tucker's in¬
dictment, which it completely demolished. It may be pertinent
to add that Dr. Tucker never subsequently entered the lists,
especially against the Negro. With "The Black "Woman of the
South; Her Neglects and Her Needs," as his theme, Dr. Crummell
delivered a most remarkable address before the Freedmen's Aid
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Ocean Grove, New
Jersey, August 15, 1883, and repeated it at various other places
throughout the country. It had a circulation of 500,000 copies
and brought more than a million of dollars into the coffers of
that society for which it was specifically prepared.
Dr. Crummell was for many years president of the Colored
Ministers' Union of Washington, an undenominational organi¬
zation and a member of the "Commission for Church Work
Among Colored People." But his latest and by many con¬
sidered the crowning work of his life was the founding by him,
March 5, 1897, of the American Negro Academy, "an organiza¬
tion of authors, scholars, artists, and those distinguished in other
walks of life; men of African descent, for the promotion of let-
134
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
ters, science and art; for the promotion of scholarly work, the
aiding of youth of genius in the attainment of the higher culture
at home and abroad and the gathering into its archives of valu¬
able data." A brief extract from his inaugural address will best
give the idea of the scope of this institution and at the same
time his faith in the future of his race in the United States.
"What then, it may be asked, is the special undertaking we
have before us, in this Academy ? My answer is the civilization
of the Negro race in the United States, by the scientific processes
of literature, art, and philosophy, through the agency of the cul¬
tured men of this same Negro race. And here, let me say, that
the special race problem of the Negro in the United States is his
civilization.
"I doubt if there is a man in this presence who has a higher
conception of Negro capacity than your speaker; and this of
itself, precludes the idea, on my part, of race disparagement.
But, it seems manifest to me that, as a race in this land, we have
no art; we have no science; we have no philosophy; we have
no scholarship. Individuals we have in each of these lines; but
mere individuality cannot be recognized as the aggregation of a
family, a nation, or a race; or, as the interpretation of any of
them. And until we attain the role of civilization, we can not
stand up and hold our place in the world of culture and enlight¬
enment. And the forfeiture of such a place means despite, in¬
feriority, repulsion, drudgery, poverty, and ultimate death!
Now, gentlemen, for the creation of a complete and rounded man,
you need the impress and the molding of the highest arts.
But how much more so for the realizing of a true and lofty race
of men. What is true of a man is deeply true of a people.
The special need in such a case is the force and application of the
highest arts; not mere mechanism; not mere machinery; not
mere handicraft; not the mere grasp on material things; not
mere temporal ambitions. These are but incidents; important
indeed, but pertaining mainly to man's material needs, and to
ALEXANDER CRUMMELL
135
the feeding of the body. And the incidental in life is incapable
of feeding the living soul. For "man cannot live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
And civilization is the secondary word of God, given for the
nourishment of humanity.
"To make men you need civilization; and what I mean by
civilization is the action of exalted forces, both of God and man.
For manhood is the most majestic thing in God's creation; and
hence the demand for the very highest art in the shaping and
molding of human souls.
"What is the great difficulty with the black race, in this era,
in this land? It is that both within their ranks, and external
to themselves, by large schools of thought interested in them,
material ideas in divers forms are made prominent, as the master-
need of the race, and as the surest way to success. Men are
constantly dogmatizing theories of sense and matter as the salv-
able hope of the race. Some of our leaders and teachers boldly
declare, now, that property is the source of power; and then,
that money is the thing which commands respect. At one time
it is official position which is the masterful influence in the ele¬
vation of the race; at another, men are disposed to fall back upon
blood and lineage, as the root (source) of power and progress.
"Blind men! For they fail to see that neither property, nor
money, nor station, nor office, nor lineage, are fixed factors, in so
large a thing as the destiny of man; that they are not vitalizing
qualities in the changeless hopes of humanity. The greatness of
peoples springs from their ability to grasp the grand conceptions
of being. It is the absorption of a people, of a nation, of a race,
in large majestic and abiding things which lifts them up to the
skies. These once apprehended, all the minor details of life fol¬
low in their proper places, and spread abroad in the details and
the comfort of practicality. But until these gifts of a lofty
civilization are secured, men are sure to remain low, debased and
groveling.''
136
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Of the many occasions which brought to his feet the culture
of the Capital, none will be longer remembered than when he cele¬
brated, December, 1894, the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination
as a priest in the Episcopal Church. It was thus described by
an occasional correspondent1 in the New York Age. "Sunday
morning witnessed a scene as replete with interest to all colored
Episcopalians as it should be to Christians regardless of denomi¬
national or racial ties. Rev. Alexander Crummell, D.D., rector
of St. Luke's P. E. Church of this city celebrated the fiftieth an¬
niversary of his consecration to the priesthood of the Protestant
Episcopal Church of this country. The church was filled by a
congregation in which representatives from all the different
denominations of our city could be found, and such men as
Hon. Frederick Douglass, C. H. J. Taylor, H. C. C. Astwood,
John F. Cook, members of the faculty of Howard University,
principals and subordinate teachers of our public schools were
numbered among the worshipers.
"The sermon which followed held entranced the entire congre¬
gation from its beginning to the end. It was based on Leviticus
xxv, 10: 'And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year. It shall be a
year of jubilee to you.' The topic selected was ' The Lights and
Shadows of a Ministry of a Half a Century.' Three priests of
color had antedated him in this country, Absalom Jones of Phila¬
delphia, Peter Williams of New York, and William Levering of
Baltimore, and all had been ordained on condition that they
would never apply for membership in their dioceses.
"The lessons which the eloquent divine drew from this half-
century of service convinced him of two facts thus summarized:
First, that the age of chivalry had not gone; that great men and
true, now as in the past, spring up to aid a worthy cause or
succor an honestly deserving, struggling individual; next, that the
providence of God has not deserted the Negro, but that there need
be no doubt of the manifestations of his power.
i The author.
ALEXANDER CRUMMELL
137
"Conspicuous among these who championed the cause of the
right of a Negro to be admitted to holy orders at the time of Dr.
Crummell's application were Honorable "William Jay, John Jay,
Charles King, Manton Eastburn, George W. Doane of New Jer¬
sey, Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Rev. Thomas M. Clark, Alexander
Vintin and Rev. William Croswell, all of whom became distin¬
guished in their communion. Dr. Whittingham, dean of the
General Theological Seminary at the time and whose counsels
first led Dr. Crummell to apply for holy orders, by a singular
coincidence was the Bishop of Maryland on Dr. Crummell's re¬
turn to Washington in 1873."
Dr. Crummell was easily the ripest literary scholar, the writer
of the most graceful and faultless English and the most brilliant
conversationalist the race has produced in this country. More
than this, his life was without reproach. In his manner he was
austere, fearless and dignified, yet he was as easy to approach as
a child. Tall, erect, majestic and noble in his carriage, he was
a distinguished man in any social gathering, and on the public
highway; his natural stride, and his commanding appearance
gave him a most striking individuality, pointing him out in any
assemblage. Unlike many of the representative men of his race
gathered unto their fathers, the reputation and influence of
Alexander Crummell will be greater with each revolving year.
As an instance of his mental vigor almost up to the last, in a
letter to the author written just five weeks before his death, are
these optimistic and prophetic words: "I don't believe the
Negro is going to the devil. That disease and penury are carry¬
ing off a large contingent, is doubtless true. This is the inevi¬
table incident in all revolutions of society; and our change of
condition is a revolution, a long continued revolution just as the
French Revolution of '98 is still on, and still producing its re¬
sults and influences. But neither one of these revolutions is
death. Fully one-third of our people are going up—vitally, in¬
dustrially, religiously and monetarily. Another third are at a
138
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
standstill, and still another third are going rapidly to destruc¬
tion, through, unthrift, dissipation, disease and deviltry and it is
a shame on our ministers and churches that they are allowed to go
to ruin."
In his last year, as stated in a letter to his friend, J. E. Bruce,
he said: "I work daily six to seven hours at my desk when I am
able to write. But time tells on me, and at times I have to sit
and do nothing and wait upon the Lord. Some day ere long He
will call me away; but I trust through. Jesus, my Lord and
King, to be numbered with the just."
On his return from Europe which he visited in 1807 to witness
the Queen's Diamond Jubilee he wrote the following to the same
friend:
'' I am inclined to think we have a severe battle before us . . .
I have one or two things I am thinking of doing, of which more
anon; but I shan't be surprised if you laugh, in your sleeve at an
old man, nigh four score, projecting new work. I can't help it.
Work is life. Nevertheless, not a day passes in which I do not
call to remembrance the fact that I am right on the threshold of
eternity; and strive to open my eyes to behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sins of the world."
The next year, September 10, 1898, while sojourning at Point
Pleasant, New Jersey, he passed away.
His last days were calm and peaceful. Though physically
weak, he dictated within a few hours of his demise, without a
break in the connection, a letter to Paul Laurence Dunbar on the
philosophy of poetry, also one to a well-known clergyman presag¬
ing the outcome of the debate on divorce in the Triennial Epis¬
copal Convention held the next month at Washington.
XXV
frederick douglass
Frederick Douglass stands easily the foremost American of
Negro descent, during the nineteenth century. His career is
typical of the history of the race in the times in which he lived.
Other men may have excelled him in some special activities, but
he stands preeminent in the estimate of the American people
and of the world.
He was born in an out-of-the-way plantation on the eastern
shore of Maryland, far from any large town and city and at a
time when the whole country was almost a primitive wilderness.
Although like nearly all other slaves he did not know the year or
time of his birth, he had good reason for believing that it was in
February, 1817.
His first recollections are of his grandmother to whose care his
master, Aaron Anthony, entrusted the care of the slave children
in their youngest years. He remained with her until his seventh
year, when after traveling twelve miles on a rough road he was
left with other children—brothers, sisters and kin on the planta¬
tion of this master. Here the tenderness of his grandmother
was supplanted by that of an unkind woman, Aunt Katy, who
was often coarse and cruel. "While here he saw at infrequent in¬
tervals his own mother, a woman of attractive personal charms
and the only one of the race for miles who could read. She
came a distance of twelve miles after the day's work was done to
see her darling boy and then hurried back before the rising of
the n6xt day's sun.
To this mother he ran for protection one night after being
139
140 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
threatened by his cruel persecutor. This was the mother's last
visit, for shortly afterwards she died, long, long before her son
grew up to be a fine specimen of manliness and to have his name
on every tongue in three continents, as the great orator and re¬
former.
Douglass' lot was a hard one. His supply of food was so
scant that often he fought with the dog Nep for the crumbs of
the table, and his clothes consisted only of a plain tow shirt.
He had neither hat nor shoes.
As early as ten years of age he was sent to Baltimore where
lived Hugh Auld, a brother of Thomas Auld, the husband of
Lucretia, the daughter of Captain Anthony. In this new home
there was a boy whom he had to watch and protect. Mrs. Auld
who was not herself a slaveholder was fond of Frederick, and so
assured was the slave boy of it that he asked her to teach him to
read. She readily assented and was so proud of the rapid prog¬
ress he was making that she told her husband of it. He was
alarmed and forbade her to give him any other lessons. ''It will
never do to teach a 'Nigger.' It unfits him for slavery, makes
him discontented and is of no benefit whatever to him." The
lessons were stopped, but Frederick, who overheard the conver¬
sation, was more determined than ever to learn.
He paid fifty cents for a copy of "The Columbian Orator," a
popular school book of that time. His mind and soul were fired
by the literary, patriotic and philanthropic selections contained
therein. They also added to his learning and fixed a strong basis
for his future culture. He used the boys with whom he played
to help him to write. It was at this period that the first religious
impressions were deeply stamped on his mind. Charles Lawson,
a religious exhorter, was a great help to him as was also Beverly
Waugh, the class leader of Mrs. Auld, who subsequently became
one of the bishops of the M. E. Church.
The idea of running away as a means of obtaining his free¬
dom first came to his mind from the suggestion of two Irishmen
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
141
whom he had assisted in unloading a boat of ballast. How could
he escape without a pass? How could he get a pass unless he
could write? By this the idea of writing as well as reading
leaped into his mind. His shrewdness gave him teachers in
learning how to write. He observed the marks placed on timber
in shipyards and thus in one way found out the names and form
of certain letters of the alphabet. After having satisfied himself
that he could make a few letters, he learned to make words and
thus the way was opened. As in the matter of reading, the boys
of his own age were the teachers whose aid he secured.
But the course of a slave's life may be changed at any time
by incidents in the life of others. The death of Richard An¬
thony and his father caused Frederick's return to the Eastern
Shore where it was necessary for him to be during the settlement
of the estate.
Fortune favored him and Frederick fell to Lucretia Auld and
his return to Baltimore removed the anxiety and fear that were
on his mind. But the wheel of fortune turned. His new mis¬
tress, Lucretia, died. Two years thereafter her husband remar¬
ried and shortly after this time it was that owing to a quarrel
between Thomas and Hugh Auld, Frederick was returned to the
Eastern Shore.
Thomas Auld belonged to what were known as poor whites—in
fact he had never owned any slaves, and these who were now his
came by his marriage to the daughter of Captain Aaron Anthony.
He was a severe and cruel man who determined to let his slaves
feel his authority. Frederick soon experienced this; the con¬
version of his "master" gave the slave boy a hope that mercy
would temper his dealing with the unfortunate blacks, but in this
he was mistaken. Frederick's hope that he could engage in a
colored Sunday school started by a white man named Wilson
was shattered, for on the second Sunday they had not more than
begun when a crowd of whites, among them two class leaders, his
"master" Thomas at the head, armed with whips and switches
142
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
broke up their assembly. Shortly afterwards Frederick was sent
to Edward Covey, whose eminence was that he was a successful
breaker of stubborn young Negroes. Frederick's experience with
Covey was by no means a bed of roses, it lay over thorns which
pierce and lacerate the flesh, inflicting wounds that one carries
through life. Frederick was now sixteen years old, in the pos¬
session of a strong, manly frame; he was determined, high-
spirited, and longed to be free, yet he knew the power of author¬
ity and was ready to yield it a willing obedience. He had not
been a field hand and therefore was not prepared to render the
service such as Covey exacted. He was put to breaking in a
yoke of oxen during his first month's experience. This led to
his receiving injuries that threatened his life; but Covey received
no explanations nor excuses. This gave the pretext he was seek¬
ing, for he proceeded to administer a very severe flogging, leav¬
ing welts on Frederick's back as large as a finger. This was
followed with increasing frequency by whippings just as severe.
Frederick's spirit was at last broken. He despaired of free¬
dom, took no interest in reading or writing,—in short, he was
being reduced to the level of a beast. Covey then tried another
tack, and worked his hands late and early—as late as eleven
and twelve o'clock at night, when he would remain out with
them urging them on, either by blows or words as best suited his
convenience. His method to get all the work possible out of his
hands was to pretend to go to some distance, when he would
suddenly reappear from behind a tree or rear his head above the
banks of a ditch. Because of these characteristics he was known
as the snake.
One hot day in August while threshing wheat, Frederick over¬
come by heat, fell, and could do no more. Covey on observing the
cessation of the work and ascertaining the cause, ordered him to
get back to his work. Frederick tried once or twice in vain, and
failing to respond was knocked on the head and kicked most
brutally in the side by Covey. This stunned him and caused the
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
143
blood to flow copiously. Frederick determined upon escape and
ran away. Covey called for and pursued him, but Frederick took
to the woods. After several hours in hiding Frederick went to
Mr. Auld and told him of the brutal treatment he had re¬
ceived; but his master, instead of sympathizing with him, justi¬
fied Covey and ordered Frederick to return at once.
It was Sunday morning when as he approached home he found
Covey and his wife on their way to church. Frederick was
agreeably surprised to find, instead of a severe countenance be¬
tokening brutality, one more in harmony with the holy day and
its duties. He considered this a good omen and felt compara¬
tively at ease. The next morning as if nothing had happened
Covey ordered Frederick to perform some work which caused the
lad to go to the stable. He had no more than fairly got to work
at it, when he spied Covey endeavoring to catch his leg in a
noose so as to hold him securely and whip him, but the boy was
too alert and again ran away. In a day or so he returned when
Covey once more attempted to whip him, whereupon the boy
showed fight to the surprise of the slave-breaker. Covey called
first on one and another of the hired slaves and even his own
slave Caroline, but all refused to assist, so the struggle fierce
and relentless was between the two. Frederick was more than a
match for Covey. From that time to the end of the year Covey
frequently threatened but made no more attempts to whip Fred¬
erick.
The next two years was spent with another master, during the
last of which he was the leader of a plot to run away with other
slaves. They were betrayed before attempting to run away, put
in prison and released. Frederick was ordered to return once
more to Baltimore where he was apprenticed by Hugh Auld to
the trade of calker. Here everything went on smoothly until
he was set upon and beat almost to death by four white boys,
but nothing could be legally done to punish the boys because no
white man could be induced to testify and no Negro's word could
144 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
be taken. During these years at Baltimore, Frederick found
time to cultivate his love for music by joining a choir and ex¬
horting in churches and Sunday schools. Mr. Douglass has fre¬
quently in public addresses and private conversation referred to
this diversion. Preferable as his lot as apprentice was in Balti¬
more, it was not like being free, so he planned for his escape from
bondage. At last, disguised as a sailor, with a certificate of pro¬
tection, he succeeded in escaping from Baltimore and reaching
New York. Here he was married by Rev. J. W. C. Pennington2
to Anna Murray, a free woman of Baltimore. They did not re¬
main in New York but continued their journey to New Bedford,
Massachusetts. Upon arriving in this place Frederick found
many friends, among them Mr. Nathan Johnson, who suggested
as he must have some other name beside Frederick, that it be
Douglass, taken from a favorite character in Scott's Lady of the
Lake.
Mr. Douglass found employment in doing such odd jobs as
shoveling coal, carrying out ashes, as a common laborer at work
in an oil refinery and in a foundry. Race prejudice prevented
his finding employment as a calker. For three years he thus
supported his family and frequently on Sunday he exhorted
in the meetings of the local A. M. E. Zion Church. He became a
reader and regular subscriber to The Liberator, the paper edited
by William Lloyd Garrison in the interest of the abolition cause.
He approved its sentiments for they were those of his own heart.
He was invited to attend an anti-slavery convention at Nan¬
tucket, in August, 1841. To his surprise he was called on to ad¬
dress it. After much solicitude he reluctantly consented and
did so with such earnestness that he drew from Mr. Garrison one
of his most eloquent and passionate appeals. As a further re¬
sult of the effect of this address, Mr. Douglass was invited to
2 One of the most scholarly Negro clergymen of the 19th century, a
man who himself had escaped from slavery in Maryland and who had
secured the degree of D.D. from the university of Heidelberg, Germany.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
145
travel as the agent of the society and to advocate its principles.
He promised to undertake the work for three months only be¬
cause he distrusted his ability to interest them for a longer
period. But, his success was marvelous and his engagement con¬
tinued.
That this speech was not only a turning point in the career
of Mr. Douglass but in the anti-slavery movement, the follow¬
ing account taken from the "Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles"
page 327, by Parker Pillsbury, an eyewitness, leaves little room
to doubt: ""When the young man (Douglass) closed, late in the
evening though none seemed to know nor to care for the hour,
Mr. Garrison rose to make the concluding address. I think he
never before nor afterwards felt more profoundly the sacredness
of his mission, or the importance of a crisis moment to his
success. I surely never saw him more deeply, more divinely
inspired. The crowded congregation had been wrought up al¬
most to enchantment during the whole long evening, particularly
by some of the utterances of the last speaker, as he turned over
the terrible Apocalypse of his experiences in slavery. But Mr.
Garrison was singularly serene and calm. It was well that he
was so. He only asked a few simple direct questions. I can re¬
call but a few of them, though I do remember the first and
the last. The first was: ' Have we been listening to a thing, a
piece of property, or to a man?' 'A man! A man!' shouted
fully five hundred voices of women and men. 'And should such
a man be held a slave in a republican and Christian land?'
was another question. 'No, no! never, never!' again swelled up
from the same voices, like the billows of the deep. But the last
was this: 'Shall such a man ever be sent back to slavery from
the soil of old Massachusetts?'—this time uttered with all the
power of voice of which Garrison was capable. . . . Almost the
whole assembly sprang with one accord to their feet, and the
walls and roof of the Athenaeum seemed to shudder with the 'No,
no!' loud and long-continued in the wild enthusiasm of the scene.
146
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
As soon as Garrison could be heard lie snatched the acclaim, and
superadded: 'No!—a thousand times no! Sooner let the light¬
nings of heaven blast Bunker Hill Monument till not one stone
shall be left standing on another!' "
He rapidly developed into the most effective advocate of the
Anti-slavery Movement that had yet appeared. By its friends
he was cordially welcomed as the most valuable contribution to
the movement made, but by others he was pronounced a fraud.
They said he had never been a slave, for his appearance, his man¬
ner and his language were those of a man of education. He de¬
cided to convince them that he was, as he said, a fugitive from
slavery, so he prepared for publication, against the advice of
friends, an account of his life in slavery entitled "Douglass' Nar¬
rative."
From New England he extended his work in 1843 to New
York, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania, speaking in public halls,
in churches, in public parks, wherever occasion presented it¬
self with uniform success, so far as interest goes, but at times
with great opposition. He was "rotten-egged," and set upon by
a mob in Indiana, in encountering which his arm was broken.
The extension of his reputation by his protracted tour and the
publication of his "Narrative" fixed his identity with the slave
lad who on the eastern shore of Maryland had successfully re¬
sisted Covey and who in Baltimore, while ship-calker and ex-
horter, had suddenly and mysteriously taken flight by the Under¬
ground Railroad.3 To continue traveling thus advertised as a
fugitive slave whose personality was known would be to defy
the law of the land and to result in his capture and return to
slavery. Because of these facts and to further the Anti-slavery
Cause, in 1845 he set sail for England.
On shipboard he was the victim of the same race prejudice that
confronted him in America. Some Southerners on board actually
threatened to throw him overboard because they were stung by
s See Underground Railway, Appendix.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
147
his eloquent attacks against slavery. At this time Negroes in
many parts of the North could ride only in Jim Crow cars.
They were denied entrance in menageries, circuses, theaters, in
many churches, and at lectures. On steamboats they were re¬
stricted to certain places, and to the top of stage-coaches.
In England Mr. Douglass felt at once the happy contrast. As
in America he lectured against slavery, everywhere creating the
greatest enthusiasm and enlisting on behalf of the cause, friend¬
ship and aid. Though the enemies of freedom were here as in
America, with a fair field against them, he overcame them one
and all. The sympathies of the English people for Mr. Douglass
manifested itself in their raising a fund with which his legal
freedom was effected. Mrs. Ellen Richardson and her sister,
Mrs. Henry Richardson, both Quakers, conceived and managed
the plan by which this was done.
He heard such orators as Cobden, Bright, Brougham,
0 'Connell, Disraeli, and Peel, and met Hans Christian Andersen,
the great story writer, Andrew Combe, the philosopher, and the
last of the great English emancipators, the venerable Thomas
Clarkson. The English people were first averse to his return¬
ing to America, a country in which he would be subjected to so
many humiliations and persecutions, and it was because he had
determined to cast his lot among his own people that the one
hundred and fifty pounds sterling was paid Thomas Auld and
in addition two thousand five hundred dollars raised with which
he could publish a paper devoted to the interest of his race.
In 1847 after having remained abroad for nearly two years he
returned to America. After much hesitation and conference
with friends, and looking over the field he decided to publish his
paper in Rochester, whither he removed his family. In 1848 he
published The North Star and afterwards Frederick Douglass'
Paper nnt.il 1863, every issue of which was an arsenal of am¬
munition against slavery and' proscription. His most effective
work is during this period. Its circulation ran up into the thou-
148
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
sands. It was not only read throughout the North, but in the
halls of Congress its power was recognized.
As an anti-slavery lecturer he was more fearless than ever
before. He was not only feared and hated as an engine of de¬
struction against the evil of slavery; but he was recognized as
a thinker and orator of the highest intellectual gifts. This was
seen in his frequent appearance in the lecture bureaus of New
England and the Middle States and his addresses before learned
societies and colleges. As a leader of his people, his voice in
their conventions, which developed and drew together their
representative men and women, was recognized by the wisdom
of his counsel. He had a definite line of policy which he advo¬
cated with all the energy and eloquence of his nature. He was
the dreaded foe of colonization, which aimed at the emigration of
the entire free colored population to Africa and the West Indies
as the only road by which they could enjoy the sweets of free¬
dom and the blessings of citizenship. He advocated self-reliance
and the independence of the people. He advised them to go on
the farms and to teach their sons trades.4 Long before Booker
T. Washington was born he outlined a plan for an Industrial
College for colored people in a letter addressed by request to
Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of44Uncle Tom's Cabin."
The colored convention that assembled at Rochester in 1853
enthusiastically endorsed the views of Mrs. Stowe and she went
abroad and collected funds for this purpose. How much was
received, what disposition was made of it, is a mystery never
solved by Mrs. Stowe in her lifetime, nor by her friends since,
for she was its sole custodian and to Mr. Douglass she acknowl¬
edged in a conversation with him a change in her plans, though
for reasons that were never satisfactory to him, and respecting
which the public were never enlightened. Had the author of
"Uncle Tom" carried out this trust in the spirit in which it was
entrusted to her, the Hampton and Tuskegee Normal and In-
4 My Life and Times.—Douglass.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
149
dustrial Institutes would have been followers of tlie ideas and
the experience of Frederick Douglass.
"When he began his work as a reformer, Frederick Douglass
followed "William Lloyd Garrison. But as his own powers were
developed by his own active labors and the range of his informa¬
tion was extended by his contact with men and books, he grew
to have views which differed materially from those of Garrison,
especially with respect to the Constitution of the United States.
Garrison believed it to be a pro-slavery document and that aboli¬
tionists should not recognize its binding force by voting in com¬
pliance with the laws thereof. Douglass, on the other hand,
reading it in the light of the Declaration of Independence and
its own preamble, construed it to contain no guarantees for
slavery and oppression. The advocacy of these views which be¬
gan to develop after the publication of The North Star brought
him in a debate in 1849 with Reverend Samuel Ringgold "Ward,
one of the very greatest debaters and orators the Negro race has
yet produced; a man of whom it is alleged by such an authority
as Daniel "Webster that "he (Ward) is the ablest thinker on his
legs before the American people."
A frequent visitor at the home of Mr. Douglass in Rochester
was Old John Brown of Osawatomie, as he was known. They
were great friends, between whom there were frequent consulta¬
tions as to the best means by which slavery could receive the
greatest injury. Mr. Douglass knew the plans of John Brown
that were attempted at Harper's Ferry. While Mr. Douglass ad¬
mired Brown, especially for his intense hatred of slavery and
his willingness to make himself Freedom's martyr he could not
follow Brown in the hazardous attack made on Harper's Ferry.
When the outbreak came off at Harper's Ferry that memorable
day in October, 1859, Mr. Douglass was in Philadelphia. In the
mad excitement of the hour a requisition for his arrest was
issued by Governor Henry A. Wise of Virginia, which but for
remarkable combination of circumstances would have cut short
150
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
the career of Mr. Douglass by his arrest and execution on the
scaffold with Brown and his confederates among whom were two
other colored men, John Copeland and Shields Green.
Mr. Douglass went to Canada, thence once more to England,
where he remained until the Harper's Ferry excitement had died
out to be supplanted by the greater excitement over the presi¬
dential struggle of 1860 and impending Civil War.
The Civil War began in 1861 shortly after the inauguration
of Abraham Lincoln; in fact, it had begun earlier by the seizure
of the fort and navy yards of the United States authorities by
the governments of the States that seceded.
There was henceforth less necessity for agitation by the aboli¬
tionists. Slavery had its main support in the States that went
into the rebellion to uphold slavery. From the first Frederick
Douglass advocated a vigorous prosecution of the war which was
a legitimate consequence of his belief that the Constitution is an
anti-slavery document. His theme was now "union and emanci¬
pation." He advocated the enlistment of the colored soldier.
He came to Washington and conferred with President Lincoln
who esteemed him very highly. At one time a commission as As¬
sistant Adjutant-General in the United States Army was prom¬
ised him by Secretary of War E. M. Stanton, which however Mr.
Douglass never received.
Notwithstanding this personal disappointment and the atti¬
tude of the nation discriminating against colored soldiers, Mr.
Douglass labored zealously in the work of colored enlistments
and in upholding the Union cause. An almost forgotten speech
was one at a colored mass-meeting in Philadelphia held when Lee
was at Chambersburgh threatening the former city.
With the close of the war, the assassination of Lincoln and
the inauguration of Andrew Johnson, the civil status of the
Negro became an all important question. The abolitionists were
divided as to their future policy. Garrison's influence caused
the abolition of the anti-slavery society, the discontinuance of
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
151
their newspapers and the cessation of their various missions.
Andrew Johnson set his face as flint against the recognition of
the Negro as a citizen in the work of reconstruction. Frederick
Douglass first took issue with him at the head of a delegation
of colored men at the White House, February 7, 1866. The
electric wires carried the news throughout the country and the
issue of the elective franchise for the Negro was then first defi¬
nitely raised. The meetings of the National Loyalist Convention
at Philadelphia in 1866 emphasized the issue, and Frederick
Douglass was no insignificant factor in that body, having been
elected by the citizens of Rochester to represent that community.
There was a strong protest of white Republicans especially, all
over the country against his taking a seat in that convention.
On his way to Philadelphia, Mr. Douglass was waited on by a
delegation who advised him not to attempt to occupy a seat in
the Convention; but the manly reply of Mr. Douglass announcing
his decision, and exposing the weakness, inconsistency and hy¬
pocrisy of their objection, ceased their opposition. Even rumors
of personal violence to him if he attempted to walk in the pro¬
cession to be made through the streets of Philadelphia on the
morning of the meeting of the Convention, did not daunt him.
When the critical time arrived and it seemed as if he would have
to walk alone, Theodore Tilton, the brilliant editor of the New
York Independent, came forward, offered Mr. Douglass his arm
and the two thus walked amid the applause of the bystanders.
A most interested witness of the ovation tendered him was the
daughter Amanda, of his former mistress Lucretia Auld, now
married to a Mr. Sears, a coal merchant of Philadelphia.
Time brings many strange revenges. The next year, 1867, the
reconstruction measures of Congress were passed. Mr. Douglass,
July 4, 1867, delivered a masterly oration for the Negro's right
to vote before thousands of freedmen, in the presence of both
federal and ex-confederate privates and generals, at Portsmouth,
Virginia. This was his first utterance in'' the enemy's country,''
152
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
and the first political address in tlie South, by a colored man
of national reputation where blacks and whites were present in
large numbers.
With the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870, the first
direct outcome of the reconstruction act upon the status of the
American Negro North iand South, the active career of Mr.
Douglass may be said to have nearly closed; but abundant honors
were in store for him.5 He was at the head of the New National
Era, which his three sons, Lewis H., Frederick, Jr., and Charles
R. edited and published. He occasionally contributed to its col¬
umns. He was in 1870 made secretary of a commission ap¬
pointed by President Grant to San Domingo. He was nominated
and confirmed as member of the Legislative Council of the Dis¬
trict of Columbia, which he held only for a short time. He was
one of the presidential electors of New York, in 1872, and was
appointed the messenger of its electoral college to bear its vote
for U. S. Grant to be President, to "Washington. In 1874 he
was elected president of the Freedmen's Bank, an institution
chartered by Congress in 1865 to receive the deposits of the
freedmen of the South.
He purchased a tract of land near Anacostia, in the District
of Columbia, which he made his home, called Cedar Hill. A
very remarkable coincidence is that this place belonged to one
of the aristocracy in slavery days who in his will stipulated
that no Negro, mulatto nor Irishman should ever become owner
of a foot of his possessions. In this mansion Mr. Douglass spent
the last twenty years of his life, surrounded by his books, letters,
and other souvenirs of his busy life and travels. His home was
s The New York Independent edited at the time by Theodore Tilton, is
authority for the statement that Mr. Douglass by his silence until after
the confirmation of Minister Ebenezer D. Bassett, prevented his own
nomination for the same post. The editor quotes from a private letter as
follows: "It is quite true that I never sought this or any other office;
but is equally true that I have never declined it, and it is also true that I
would have accepted, had it been offered."
Douglass Statue. Rochester, N. Y.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
153
always open and few there were interested in the cause of the
Colored American who visited the National Capital without
visiting the Sage of Anacostia at Cedar Hill.
Among the honors bestowed on him was the U. S. Marshalship
by President Hayes in 1877, the Recorder of Deeds by President
Garfield in 1881, and the U. S. Ministership to Haiti in 1889,
by President Harrison. In 1893 he was Haitian Commissioner
at the World's Exposition at Chicago, and for several years
one of the trustees of Howard University. He died February
20, 1895, at his home after having attended a Woman's Suffrage
Convention in session.
The intelligence of his death occasioned sadness and sorrow
throughout the land, memorials were held in his honor and the
expression was unanimous that one of the greatest men of the
century had passed away. His funeral ceremonies were held
at the Metropolitan A. M. E. Church in Washington, of which
he was a worshiper, where his remains were viewed by thousands.
Tens of thousands of the city's population lined the sidewalks,
as the funeral procession made its way to the depot, thence to
Rochester his former home, where his remains were deposited
in Mount Hope Cemetery by the side of his former wife, Anna
Murray Douglass.
In 1899 a monument erected in his honor was unveiled in
Rochester in one of the most conspicuous parts of his city. The
Republic of Haiti appropriated $1,000 towards its erection. The
only other monument in Rochester is one to Abraham Lincoln.
A bust of Mr. Douglass occupies a niche in the University of
Rochester, placed there during his life by act of the municipal
council and on one of the pillars of the State House at Albany,
are the lineaments of the great orator and reformer.6
• Visitors of . . . will be attracted by the grand stairway of the majestic
Capitol at Albany that leads to its legislative chambers. Ascending to
the third floor, they will behold on a line with the entrance to the State
Library four finely executed heads handsomely carved in Scottish sand-
154
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
A corporation has been formed to preserve Cedar Hill as a
historical memorial to be visited by millions as the years go
by in grateful acknowledgment of the work of a man who more
than any other made the abolition movement a vital issue in the
history of the country.
stone and forming one of the capitals of its massive pillars; a rock of
brownish hue, more durable than granite and capable of better artistic
effect. Here you behold the rugged lineaments of Abraham Lincoln, the
martyred emancipator president; there, that of U. S. Grant, the silent sol¬
dier who immortalized Appomattox; in a third you recognize Gen. Philip H.
Sheridan, the hero of Winchester, bold, defiant, invincible; while the fourth,
near the entrance to the assembly chamber, is the leonine countenance of
Frederick Douglass. Not far distant on the same floor carved on similar
pillars are busts of men famous in their country's history and all oppo¬
nents of slavery.—The author, before the Bethel Literary.
XXVI
john mercer langston
John Mercer Langston, slave and son of Captain Ralph
Quarles, veteran of the Revolutionary "War, and Lucy Langston,
whom he had manumitted in 1806, first saw the light in Louisa
County, Virginia, December 14, 1829. Captain Quarles was a
large landed proprietor with peculiar views as to the manage¬
ment of his slaves. No white man was allowed by him to over¬
see them, this work being done by his own men. On his death
in 1834, Captain Quarles manumitted all his slaves and ap¬
pointed trustees to remove them to Ohio with liberal provisions
for the education of those recognized by him as his children.
In those days it was not uncommon for free Negroes to be
kidnapped in the Northern States and be sold into slavery.
John, when quite a lad, was being taken away from Chillicothe,
Ohio, by Colonel William D. Gooch, his guardian, under circum¬
stances that made it appear as if he were to be the victim of one
of these attempts. Had it not been for the forethought of an
elder brother and the legal skill of the lawyer, Allen G. Thur-
man, afterwards Senator from Ohio, Langston might have been
sold into slavery. In due time young Mercer entered Oberlin
College, living meantime in the family of George "Whipple, one
of the professors and later better known as Secretary of the
American Missionary Association which did such phenomenal
work in the normal and higher education of the Negro at the
South. While in college he spent a vacation as a teacher in a
country school at a salary of ten dollars a month and board, the
salary being paid in five-cent and ten-cent pieces. Fifty dollars
155
156
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
was the sum realized from this service. Langston graduated
from the college in 1849; but he aspired to be a lawyer and with
this end in view he made an application to the Albany Law
School and was frank enough to let it be known that he was in
part of Negro blood. This caused his refusal, but it was in¬
timated that if he were to claim other than African blood he
could enter. Langston scorned to sail under such false colors.
He returned to Oberlin and took up a course there in theology
for its disciplinary effect and graduated once more in 1853. He
also pursued legal studies in the law office of Philimon Bliss
and was admitted to the bar in 1855 after an examination in
open court, and was the first of his race to pursue that vocation
in the West. Thus he began his remarkable career. He filled
several elective township offices, was twice elected to the Oberlin
council and for eleven years was a member of the board of
education. During these years he diligently practiced his pro¬
fession and was a factor in the events of that epoch which
include the election of Lincoln, the Civil "War and Emancipation.
When the policy of Negro enlistments was settled, he became
a successful recruiting officer for these regiments, and his first
visit to Washington was to suggest the propriety of obtaining
a colonel's commission in one of these regiments. Gen. James
A. Garfield, subsequently President, accompanied him to the
White House and introduced him to President Lincoln.
At the National Convention of colored men held at Syracuse
in 1864, he was chosen head of the Equal Rights League, the plan
for which had been adopted by that body. Mr. Langston entered
upon the work of organizing the league with enthusiasm and
energy, contributing very largely to the success of this first
movement among colored men, which embraced the South as
well as the North. Upon the undertaking by the Freedmen's
Bureau of the work of assisting in the maintenance of colored
schools in the South, Langston was, at the suggestion of Chief
Justice Chase, appointed its Inspector-General, with the duty of
JOHN MERCER LANGSTON
157
visiting the schools under its control for the colored youth of
the South, and reporting their condition from time to time to
General 0. 0. Howard, the head of the Bureau.
In the discharge of this work he found opportunity to arouse
the recently emancipated with respect to education. The pop¬
ularity and strength he developed led Andrew Johnson, Presi¬
dent, to tender Langston the position then held by General
Howard, but it was courteously declined as was also the minister¬
ship to Haiti. "When Howard University was established and
a law department opened, the task of organizing it was imposed
on Mr. Langston, and he was equal to the emergency.1 Young
men came from different sections of the country and the West
Indies and began the study of the law, an opening denied colored
youth twenty years before. He gave all his energy to this new
opportunity, resigned from the Oberlin Board of Education and
brought his family to Washington.
In 18*71, the year of the first commencement, the presence of
Charles Sumner as the orator attracted wide attention, as he
had made it a rule to refuse all such invitations. His accept¬
ance was an act of courtesy to Langston and an encouragement
to colored men to study law. Through the good offices of Sen¬
ator Sumner the presence of Ralph Waldo Emerson was secured
in one of the Sunday morning course of lectures on Ethics, given
to the law students.
President Grant appointed Mr. Langston a member of the first
Washington Board of Health, a position held by him for seven
years. This Board of Health had plenary, almost absolute,
powers in the sphere of municipal sanitation and hygiene. The
only lawyer on the board, Mr. Langston's abilities were called
into constant use.
Shortly after their organization they visited several Northern
i He was admitted to practice in the U. S. Supreme Court, Jan. 17, 1867,
on motion of General J. A. Garfield. The first Negro was John A. Rock
of Massachusetts.
158
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
cities to get the benefit of the experience of other local health
boards. The following story displays Mr. Langston's wit and
repartee: "You have a Negro on your board?" "Yes,"
answered Professor Langston, "And he knows as much of sani¬
tation as any of them; he has as much common-sense, is as elo¬
quent and"—turning to the darkest one in the party, said—
"Allow me to introduce him, Dr. Bliss." Taking the joke, Dr.
Bliss said, "I may be darker than you, Professor Langston, but
your hair is not so straight as mine."
Professor Langston was also a trustee of the Freedmen's Sav¬
ing and Trust Company 2 until it went out of business in 1874.
On the resignation of General Howard from the presidency
of the University, Professor Langston was chosen vice-president
and acting president. This was in 1873. On his failure to be
elected to the presidency Langston retired from the institution
in 1875 and the law department suspended operations for two
years.
In 1877 President Hayes tendered Mr. Langston the position
of Minister Resident to the Court of Port au Prince. It was
accepted and held for eight years, when he promptly resigned,
as there was a change of administration, Cleveland having suc¬
ceeded Arthur in the Presidency. President Cleveland sent for
Minister Langston and asked him to remain Haitian Minister.
"With characteristic promptness, Mr. Langston replied: "Mr.
President, I actively opposed your election and cannot, there¬
fore, conscientiously remain in your administration."
He was, however, not left long a private citizen. "While per¬
forming a special mission to Haiti for the merchant, John
"Wanamaker, he was chosen president of the Virginia Normal
and Collegiate Institute at Petersburg. Here his college train¬
ing, his experience as educator in Ohio and at Howard, his
service as Inspector-General of Schools for Freedmen and in the
diplomatic service, with his high ideals, chivalrous disposition
2 See Appendix.
JOHN MERCER LANGSTON
159
and superb courage, inspired his race in Virginia to such a
degree that they developed manliness and political independ¬
ence to an extent hitherto unknown. After a memorable canvass
for the nomination, in which he had the opposition of the polit¬
ical organization headed by the most astute manager the Re¬
publican party ever had in the South, General "William Mahone,
Langston was elected to the Fifty-first Congress, but he had to
contest his right before Congress, for the election certificate had
been awarded to his opponent, although his election was con¬
ceded. He received his seat in the last days of the first session.
He was defeated for reelection, after which he resumed his
practice and continued it until his death in Washington, Novem¬
ber 15, 1897.
In his family life Mr. Langston was singularly fortunate.
Upon the completion of his professional course at Oberlin, he
led to the marriage altar Miss Caroline M. "Wall, like himself,
a graduate of Oberlin. Three sons and a daughter helped to
make his fireside an ideal home.
The traditional influence of the family for education may
be seen in these coincidences: In 1849, in his twenty-first
year, he graduated from Oberlin College. Nearly thirty years
after, his eldest son, then twenty-one, took the same degree,
A.B., from the same spot, and, following their examples, the
grandsons, John Mercer Langston, Second, and Carroll Napier
Langston, in turn, when twenty-one, followed in the steps of
their immediate predecessors. This is an example unique in the
history of the colored race in America where three generations
have graduated from the same college and at the same age.
The encouragement that he ever gave young men striving for
education and a career, his dignity, his courtesy and his manliness
were traits of character which commanded universal admiration.
He was much in demand on emancipation occasions, in political
campaigns and as a popular platform orator. Many of the best
of his addresses on these occasions are published in book form
160
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
under the title "Freedom and Citizenship." They are intro¬
duced by a sympathetical biographical sketch written by Dr.
J. E. Rankin, the poet-preacher, and are able, eloquent, scholarly,
exemplifying Mr. Langston at his best. An autobiography
"From the Virginia Plantation to the National Capital" gives in
detail the principal events of his life.
There were two dramatic situations in his career that became
great oratorical triumphs—his appearance at Louisa Court
House, near the place of his birth in the dawn of Reconstruction
not long after the Civil War.
An army officer who was stationed at Gordonsville, Virginia,
and had charge of Reconstruction affairs reported the incident in
the Washington Star while Mr. Langston was Minister to Haiti
as follows: "It was given out that John M. Langston the colored
orator . . . would speak at Louisa Court House. The result was
an unusually large attendance of colored people, so that the
town was full. . . . Although a long while free, and honorably
distinguished there never had been a time before when Mr.
Langston could safely visit his native county. Now he was to
come back, a leading man of his race, to speak in public,
and to revisit the scenes and recall the memories of his
childhood. It was therefore a great occasion for him and
for the freedmen of Louisa County. The white people, how¬
ever, took little note of it or interest in it, although I had
tried among the lawyers and some of the merchants, and
other principal citizens, to convey the impression that Langston
was a man they should recognize and respect. I remember par¬
ticularly trying to convince General Gordon, then County At¬
torney, and an excellent man, that he might be pleased with
Langston, and would be interested if he came over and heard him
talk. The feeling that the Negro was, in all cases necessarily in¬
ferior and totally uninteresting was however, too strong and the
General and several others manifested impatience, if not a little
indignation at my commendatory observation about Langston.
JOHN MERCER LANGSTON
161
They would not have it that any 'nigger' could talk law, politics,
reconstruction or anything else with a degree of ability and in¬
telligence to merit their attention; and they could not imagine
that they themselves were soon to attest in a remarkable manner
the folly of settled enmity or contempt of an entire race or class
of men.
'' Of course, Langston would not be received at any hotel in the
village, but I managed to get over that difficulty by engaging a
room for myself at the American, inviting him into it, and quietly
ordering a private luncheon for two, of the best the house af¬
forded. "With less difficulty a pleasant green, where shade trees
and a speaker's platform, was secured for Langston's address, and
after luncheon when a crowd of colored people had assembled, I
walked with him and a few white Republicans, objects of intense
detestation to the mass of people to the platform. I noticed
General Gordon and a few of the prominent citizens around the
outskirts of the crowd within hearing of the speaker, but none
seemed to be really attending the meeting. Langston began by
referring to old Virginia and Louisa County as the place of his
birth, and spoke in the happiest vein and with all the eloquence,
elegance and oratorical art that distinguished him of the genuine
affection he felt for his native State and town, and of the pleasure
it gave him to come back again to the home of his boyhood. In
a few minutes he had the mastery of every man within his
voice. He pictured the greatness of the State in its earliest
days, referred to its distinguished men, and its history and
national influence, spoke touchingly of its present temporary
depression and distress, and most hopefully and glowingly of
its future promise and possibilities as a free state. Then with
admirable taste and tact he fell naturally into a discussion of
the living questions of the day, avoiding all irritating points
and expressions. In a little while I looked about me and saw
the platform and all avoidable space near it and around it
packed with white people. The blacks accustomed to yielding
162 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
precedence had given up all the best places and a white man was
wedged into every one. More eager interest I never saw in the
faces of any audience. There was General Gordon crowding
near Langston with irrepressible confession of homage springing
from his eyes and pouring down his cheeks, while the beautiful
periods, paying honor to Old Virginia, fell from the orator's
lips. The address continued for two hours with unflagging
interest on the part of the audience, and closed with an admirable
peroration. Then followed a scene of spontaneous enthusiasm
that is seldom witnessed.
"It was my purpose to introduce several white citizens to
Langston at the close of his speech, but the excitement among
them was too great. They crowded upon him, as many as could
get near, and fairly overwhelmed him with the warmth and
energy of their unconstrained greetings and compliments. He
was borne by the pressure into the dining room of the hotel, and a
grand dinner was forthwith ordered in his honor, at which Gen¬
eral Gordon presided, and many of the best citizens sat at the
board. He was at once a guest of the town, and no attention
of honor seemed too great for its good people to bestow upon
him. All prejudice against his color was totally extinguished.
After dinner, the white ladies sent a committee to wait on him
to invite him to address them at the principal church in the even¬
ing. He accepted the invitation and the auditorium was more
than crowded by the best people of the place. Even the windows
and doors were packed. General Gordon escorted him to the
pulpit and introduced him to the audience. The best room in
the hotel was now opened to him, and the next morning carriages
were provided, and in company with a numerous escort to visit
the homestead and tomb of his father, and . . . the humble grave
of his dark-hued mother.''
The other was his dashing campaign for the nomination for
Congress, when he displayed superior generalship to General
JOHN MERCER LANGSTON
163
William Mahone, and the army of federal politicians, State and
National.
Dr. J. E. Rankin draws this pen picture of Langston:
4' With less massive movement of mind and dignity of address
than the great orator Douglass, for platform speech he is keener
and more magnetic. In person he is little above the medium
stature, slender and straight as an arrow. For suavity and grace
of person he might he taken for a Frenchman, and sometimes
as you look at his features you think he may be of Spanish or
Italian descent. But to-day he makes his boast that he has
some of the best blood of the three races, so historic in the great
events of the continent: the Indian, the Negro, and the Anglo-
Saxon."
XXVII
blanche kelso bruce
B. K. Bruce was the most successful political leader that the
American Negro has yet produced. Though born a slave in
Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia, March 1, 1841, he
rose to an official position in the legislative and executive service
of the United States next below that of Vice President and
Cabinet Officer. Branch Bruce was the name given him in
childhood, but as he approached manhood he changed it to
Blanche Kelso. In this respect he was not unlike Booker "Wash¬
ington, Frederick Douglass and Grover Cleveland.
The family were taken first to Mississippi, thence to Bruns¬
wick, Mo. In this town when quite a small boy he was a printer's
devil. All his odd moments were spent in reading books and
newspapers. Thus, like many another man who has become
eminent, he laid the foundation of a good English education.
Speaking of Mr. Bruce's early attempts to educate himself,
his friend, Mr. George C. Smith, to whom the author is indebted
for much data not otherwise obtainable, says: "It was not until
'83 that I got an insight into how he acquired the rudiments
of an education while yet a slave. Strange I had never asked
him to tell me. At the time referred to I spent an evening
with Congressman Cosgrove, of Missouri, at Willard's Hotel in
Washington, who told me much of Mr. Brace's boyhood. He
said that many years before the war he (Cosgrove) was learning
the printer's trade at Brunswick, Mo., and that Mr. Bruce was
the 'devil' on the press, and whenever he was wanted, he was
always found with his head buried in a book or a newspaper,
164
BLANCHE KELSO BRUCE
165
that it was a difficult job to keep Mm at work. Having learned
the trade of printer he (Cosgrove) left Brunswick and did not
return until '82—nearly thirty years thereafter—when he
thought he would visit the printer's office, where he found the
same old man publishing the same little sheet, and said almost
the first question he asked, was, 'Where is that colored boy—the
"devil"? When the old man said, 'why, have you never seen or
heard of him since?' and taking from his pocket a dollar bill,
the old man pointed to the lower left-hand corner to the name
'B. K. Bruce, Register' and said: 'Not only is he the Register
of the United States Treasury, and no bonds or paper money
issued by this great government is valid without his name, but
he has become a United States Senator and to-day stands as not
only the recognized leader of his race, but one of the great men
of this nation. Even you, Mr. Cosgrove, cannot get to Washing¬
ton, to be sworn in, unless you have a "pass" from this "devil"
of ante-bellum days.' "
During the early days of the Civil War he escaped to Lawrence,
Kansas, and opened there the first school for colored children.
In 1864 the first school for colored children in Missouri was
taught by him at Hannibal. In 1866, he entered Oberlin where
he remained only one year. The next year found him at St.
Louis, an employe on the Steamer Columbia, which plied between
St. Louis and Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The political reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion
having been fairly begun, Mr. Bruce left the steamboat service,
went prospecting, first to Arkansas, thence to Tennessee, finally
remaining in Mississippi. Shortly afterwards he was appointed
by Military Governor General Adelbert Ames, conductor of elec¬
tions for Tallahatchie County. On the assembling of the legis¬
lature in the winter of '69-'70, Mr. Bruce appeared at Jackson
as a candidate for sergeant-at-arms in the senate and was elected,
serving during the entire session. In 1871 he was appointed by
Governor Alcorn as assessor of Bolivar County, and in the
166
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
same year was elected sheriff and tax collector. He took charge
in January, 1872. He was next appointed member of the levee
board and cotton tax collector. These offices required a bond
of $200,000, which was made in the county and principally by
Democrats who had confidence in his integrity and business
capacity.
He was also appointed by the State Board of Education the
county superintendent of the schools in Bolivar County.
All these offices were discharged with marked efficiency. His
next step upward, to the United States Senate, was a prodigious
one. His election to it was no accident, but the outcome of a
campaign planned three years before and begun in the United
States Senate chamber itself.
While returning from the National Republican Convention
to which they were both delegates, James Hill, the foremost
Negro leader of the State, and Mr. Bruce visited Washington.
Among other places was the Capitol where they strolled in the
Senate, sought and sat in the seats of Alcorn and Ames.
"How would you like to occupy that seat?" said Hill to
Bruce.
'1 What do you mean?" said Bruce.
"Occupy it as Senator from the State of Mississippi," was
Hill 's answer.
"It is out of the question," was Bruce's reply.
"I can and will put you there; no one can defeat you," added
Hill with vigor.
Hiram R. Revels had been elected to the United States Senate
for an unexpired term which had lapsed ten years before by
the resignation of Jefferson Davis to become president of the
Southern Confederacy. In popular esteem Revels had not
proven a success. He had incurred the displeasure of Senator
Sumner because of a certain vote and his reelection was out
of the question. Mr. Bruce, on the other hand, had attracted
increasing attention because of his businesslike methods of
BLANCHE KELSO BRUCE
167
transacting public affairs and his executive ability. The Florey-
ville Star, a weekly published in Bolivar County made sentiment
for the election of a colored Senator for the full term of six
years, but named no candidate, though its incidental references
to Mr. Bruce were that he was too valuable a man to be spared
from the county and also that he could not be induced to accept.
At the time of the election of Revels some of the colored mem¬
bers of the legislature thought that they should have had the
full term of six years instead of the short one. Governor Ames
who had left the Senate and been elected governor mainly to
promote his chance for the term beginning March 4, 1875, an¬
nounced his candidacy; but Hill was equal to the occasion and
defied the governor. When the legislature met, the white and
the colored Republicans held first, separate, then joint caucuses
for the senatorial nomination. Several colored men aspired for
the honor, and the white Republicans sought to divide the colored
forces by the candidacy of one or more of these aspirants, but
59 of the 60 colored members stood firm. Bruce was nominated
and was elected. Hill's pledge made in the United States Senate
Chamber three years before was redeemed. The Floreyville Star
ceased to shine and its proprietor and editor-in-chief took his
seat as the first and only Negro in the United States Senate to
serve a full term of six years. His term ended with the inaug¬
uration of James A. Garfield as President.
A very interesting incident connected with Mr. Bruce's induc¬
tion into office is told in the Senator's own language.
"When I came up to the Senate I knew no one except Senator
Alcorn who was my colleague. When the names of the new
Senators were called out for them to go up and take the oath, all
the others except myself were escorted by their colleagues. Mr.
Alcorn made no motion to escort me, but was buried behind a
newspaper, and I concluded I would go it alone. I had got
about half-way up the aisle when a tall gentleman stepped up
and said:
168
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
1' ' Excuse me, Mr. Bruce, I did not until this moment see that
you were without an escort, permit me. My name is Conkling,'
and he linked his arm in mine and we marched up to the desk
together. I took the oath and then he escorted me back to my
seat. Later in the day, when they were fixing up the committees,
he asked me if anyone was looking after my interests, and upon
my informing him that there was not, and that I was myself
more ignorant of my rights in the matter, he volunteered to at¬
tend to it, and as a result I was placed on some very good com¬
mittees and shortly afterwards I got a chairmanship. I have
always felt very kindly towards Mr. Conkling since, and always
shall."
Four years later the Senator, who married in 1878, named his
son Boscoe Conkling Bruce.
Although disappointed in his ambition to return to Oberlin,
Mr. Bruce pursued by private study its full college course. He
allowed nothing to interfere with his plan, and even after his
entrance upon his duties as Senator he employed a distinguished
educator under whose tutelage he broadened his mental train¬
ing.
While in the Senate he occasionally presided over its deliber¬
ations. He served on these standing committees: Education
and Labor, Manufactures, Pensions, Improvement of the Missis¬
sippi River and its Tributaries, besides being Chairman of the
Select Committee on the Levees of the Mississippi and of the
Freedmen's Saving and Trust Company. In this last-named
committee, appointed to investigate the affairs of this corporation,
he rendered special service by making public the wrongs perpe¬
trated on the masses of his race, saving thousands of dollars to
the depositors in winding up its affairs and by paving the way
for governmental aid.
At the expiration of his term in the Senate he was nominated
May 19, 1881, as Register of the Treasury by President Gar¬
field. He served four years, and discharged the duties of this
BLANCHE KELSO BRUCE
169
office with entire satisfaction to the Administration of which
he formed a part. This appointment of a Negro to a place
where his signature was necessary on all the United States Cur¬
rency and Securities to make them legal, was the first of the
kind in our history.
At an early period of the administration of Cleveland, in 1885,
Mr. Bruce retired to private life and carved for himself a
new career. He went on the lecture platform, spoke far and
wide, rapidly developing a facility and power of speech that
made him one of the best-equipped men of the race in the public
eye, so that his services, next to those of Frederick Douglass and
John M. Langston, were in constant demand as orator on an¬
niversary and other special occasions.
A severe test of his ability in this respect was when he ap¬
peared on the same platform in a symposium on the Race Prob¬
lem with such a master of controversy as Dr. (now Chaplain, re¬
tired) T. G. Steward, such a scholar as Dr. J. W. E. Bo wen,
and Mrs. Anna J. Cooper. This came off in the Metropolitan
A. M. E. Church in Washington. Here his lucid, exhaustive,
masterly presentation of the subject gave him preeminence in
the discussion.
On the return of the Republicans to power in 1889, Mr. Bruce
was named as Recorder of Deeds, succeeding Mr. James Monroe
Trotter of Massachusetts, also a colored man and a veteran of the
Civil War, whose independence in politics had commended him
to the favorable consideration of President Cleveland, especially
as a Republican Senate had failed to confirm for the same
position James C. Matthews, a colored lawyer of Albany, N. Y.,
who had acted with the Democratic Party since the Liberal Re¬
publican Movement of 1872. Mr. Bruce served as Recorder of
Deeds until May 25, 1894, Cleveland having in the meanwhile
been elected President the second time.
During his term as Recorder Mr. Bruce was appointed trustee
of the public schools of Washington. He served in this capacity
170
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
for seven years or up to his appointment as Register of the
Treasury by President MeKinley. He began his term of office
December 2, 1897, on the 38th anniversary of the martyrdom of
John Brown. Mr. Bruce had completed but three months of offi¬
cial duty when he fell a victim of diabetes, which for several years
had made insidious attacks on his otherwise vigorous system.
Mr. Bruce was elected trustee of Howard University in Jan¬
uary, 1894, succeeding Bishop John M. Brown. Howard had
conferred on him the degree of LL. D. He was a planter on a
large scale, beginning in 1891 and continuing up to the time of
his death.
He was delegate to the National Republican Conventions of
1872, 1876, 1880 and 1888. In the Convention of '80 he was one
of the "306'* to vote for U. S. Grant for more than thirty
ballots, after which Garfield was nominated President.
As Commissioner General of the "World's Cotton Exposition,
Department of Colored Exhibits, held in New Orleans, from
November, 1884, to May, 1885, Mr. Bruce afforded the country
and the world the first opportunity of showing what the Negro
could do in the arts, invention and many lines of handicraft.
He secured the sum of fifty thousand dollars from the manage¬
ment and with this he installed exhibits from colored people all
over the United States. These exhibits received most favorable
comments from representative journals whose correspondents
had visited the Exposition.
Physically Mr. Bruce was a splendid type of the American
Negro. He was above the average height, broad-shouldered and
erect. His countenance and manner provoked no antagonisms,
yet indicated one who while not eager to enter a contest could
bear himself manfully when in it. His entire personality har¬
monized with his repeated political successes achieved in the Era
of Reconstruction in Mississippi, his career on the Board of Edu¬
cation, as an Executive officer and in the United States Senate in
Washington.
Bird's-eye View of Livingstone College, Salisbury, N. C.
XXVIII
joseph c. price
It is doubtful if the nineteenth century produced a superior or
more popular orator of the type that enlists the sympathies,
entertains and compels conviction than Joseph C. Price. In little
more than a brief decade he was known in Great Britain and
the United States, both on the Pacific and the Atlantic, as a
peerless orator. In 1881 he first rose to eminence as a platform
speaker; in 1893 his star sank below the horizon. Yet he was
more than orator: he was a recognized race leader; a most
potential force in politics, though not a politician; a builder of
a great school—a most conspicuous object lesson of "Negro
Capabilities."
His fame rests not alone upon his popularity within his own
church or his own race, for the evidence is conclusive that though
unmistakably identified with the Negro, Democratic whites and
whole communities recognized his worth, highly esteemed him,
honored him in life and mourned him in death.
Joseph C. Price was born February 10, 1854, in one of the
darkest decades of the nineteenth century, at Elizabeth City,
North Carolina, while the law of the land and its administration
were in the complete control of the Slave Power. Webster and
Clay who had largely influenced the politics of the country, had
passed off the stage of action. Stephen A. Douglas and Jeffer¬
son Davis were molding the pro-slavery sentiment of the Nation.
The father of Price was a slave, and though the son followed
the legal status of the mother, a free woman, yet his lot was
that of the average slave child of this period. The Emancipation
171
172 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Proclamation had not been issued when Price accompanied his
parents to Newbern, the rendezvous of thousands of freedmen.
Reverend Thomas H. Battle says: "It was in the year 1862,
when I was superintendent of the Sunday school of St. Andrew's
Chapel that I was led by Providence on a bright Sunday morn¬
ing to the church door. There I stood for several minutes, and
while standing there I saw a little black barefooted boy coming
stepping along on the railroad track. When he got opposite
the church door I halted him and invited him in the Sabbath
school. He liked the services so well that he was constrained to
come again. At last he joined the Sabbath school and became
a punctual scholar. Prom his stern, yet pleasant looks, his nice
behavior, and other virtuous elements that were maintained
in him, Sunday after Sunday, he attracted my attention more
than any other scholar. "While other scholars would laugh at
him because of his boldness of speech and his eagerness to
answer the questions that were put forth.
'' One Sunday in the midst of these abuses which he received,
I was compelled to lay my hand upon his head and exclaim
these words: 'The day will come, my dear scholars, when this
boy Price will shake the whole civilized world, and some of you
will be glad to get a chance to black his boots.' Little did I
think my prediction would come to pass so exact, but so it did.''
In 1866 he attended the St. Cyprian Episcopal School under
the control of a Boston philanthropic society, as all schools in
the South for colored children then were. Here he advanced
so rapidly that in 1871 he became a teacher at Wilson, North
Carolina. At the end of four years he entered the Shaw Uni¬
versity at Raleigh, remaining there only a short time, during
which he made an open profession of religion, joined the A. M. E.
Zion Church, and entered the Lincoln University at Oxford, Penn¬
sylvania. While at Lincoln Congressman John A. Hyman who
then represented the Newbern district offered Mr. Price a $1200
clerkship in the Treasury Department at Washington. Nine hun-
JOSEPH C. PRICE
173
dred and ninety-nine out of a thousand would have accepted the
position and left college, but Price refused the offer without
hesitation. He entered upon his studies with assiduity. His
abilities were promptly recognized. He took the first medal in
an oratorical contest in his freshman year, was also first in the
junior prize oration contest and graduated with the valedictory
in 1879. During his senior year in college he took the studies
of the junior theological department and graduated from this
course in 1881. He was a delegate to the A. M. E. Zion general
conference that met in Montgomery in 1880, in which, because of
his rare oratorical gifts and his promise of distinguished service,
he was ordained an elder before he had received his degree in
theology. He was also chosen a delegate to the Ecumenical Con¬
ference of Methodism, held in London in 1881. Here he was
brought in touch with the representatives of all the branches of
Methodism, attracting attention to himself as one of the most
popular orators and exponents of Negro Methodism. On the
adjournment of the Conference he was induced to lecture through¬
out the British Isles on the condition of the American Negro
and in the behalf of the interests of his church. By this means
he raised $10,000, from the proceeds of which, with the assistance
of $1,000 donated by the white merchants of Salisbury, the pres¬
ent site of Livingstone College was purchased.
On his return to America he was no longer Eev. Joseph C.
Price, the popular orator of his denomination, but he was hailed
as a new leader, verifying the prophecy of Frederick Douglass
made in 1867, of "men rising up under the fostering wings of
freedom and education all over the South, surpassing in elo¬
quence and oratorical power" himself who "had been compli¬
mented as the great black man of the North.''
During the remaining twelve years of his life no other Negro
enjoyed greater popularity nor seemed destined by the consent
of the people to be their acknowledged leader.
In the winter of 1883 the Bethel Literary of Washington,
174
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
D. C., then at the height of its fame, arranged a symposium which
included among others Frederick Douglass, Fanny Jackson
Coppin, Isaiah C. Wears and Mr. Price, at that time unknown ex¬
cept to a few personal friends from North Carolina or former
students of Lincoln University. Lincoln Hall, now the Academy
of Music, at which the exercises were held was thronged. For
an hour and a half the audience had been held spellbound by the
eloquence of Douglass, the glowing rhetoric of Mrs. Coppin and
the pungent wit and irony of "Wears.
As the hour of ten approached interest flagged, and although
in expectancy very many remained, it was with difficulty that
they were held in their seats to hear Price, the next and last
speaker. His friends had grown restive and were solicitous at
the outcome of this severe test. When he arose and uttered his
first sentence the effect was electrical. As he developed his sub¬
ject, illustrating first by jest then by anecdote, swaying his
audience to laughter and to tears at will, he completely captured
as well as captivated them. No one left the hall, although it was
nearly eleven o'clock when he stopped speaking. The following
Sunday he preached to the Plymouth congregation and many
were unable to gain admittance. On the following Tuesday
night, when Dr. 0. M. Atwood read the paper on " Individual
Development," Mr. Price was the lion of the hour in the dis¬
cussion following the reading of the paper. Frederick Douglass
and Mr. Wears were among the other disputants. Thenceforth
Price never failed to draw an audience in Washington.
At the Centenary of American Methodism held in Baltimore in
1884, he was a delegate and had a prominent place on the pro¬
gram. In the following year he was chairman of the A. M. E.
and A. M. E. Z. Church commission held in the city of Wash¬
ington to consider the question of union between these two de¬
nominations. In 1890 he was elected president of two national
conventions within brief intervals. The first was held in Chicago
and the Afro-American League was formed. The second met in
JOSEPH C. PRICE
175
Washington and chose Bishop Alexander W. Way man as its pre¬
siding officer, but because of factional differences between Bishop
Wayman and former Lieutenant-Governor P. B. S. Pinchback
of Louisiana, Mr. Price, who had not arrived when the Conven¬
tion was called to order, was subsequently elected president
amidst great enthusiasm.
In 1891 Mr. Price was appointed Commissioner-General of
what was to be the Grand Southern Exposition to be held at
Raleigh. In the discharge of this duty he traveled extensively
through the South, journeying in the interior as well as in the
larger cities, and learned much at first hand of the material con¬
ditions of the masses at the South.
While he delivered addresses on invitation all over the country
and participated in some prohibition campaigns, he took no part
in party politics. He refused the Liberian Mission, even after
his name had been sent to the Senate by President Cleveland.
He would not allow his name to be considered in connection with
the bishopric at any of the A. M. E. Z. General Conferences,
from 1884 to 1892, though he could have been elected at any
time practically without opposition. His one ambition was the
upbuilding of Livingstone to the growth and development of
which all his energies were given.
The history of Livingstone for the first ten years of its ex¬
istence forms a most interesting chapter in the career of this re¬
markable man. At its Quarter Centennial1 Exercises held in
1907 all the speakers honored Joseph C. Price as the one man
who had made its success possible. Beginning in the fall of 1882,
with five students in one building of two stories and forty acres
of land, the total cost of which was $4,600, its progress was mar-
i At its quarto-centenary it had real estate valued at a quarter of a
million dollars, had enrolled during its existence 6,500 students represent¬
ing twenty-six States, and a large faculty of graduates from the collegiate
department, scores from the theological, 291 from the normal of whom one
bishop, presiding elders, nearly two-score ministers, 75 teachers and
scores of physicians and other professionals.
176
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
velous. Btefore tlie end of the year there were one new build¬
ing and ninety-three students. At the end of the second session
the enrollment was 120 and during the summer the new building
was enlarged to 91 x 38 and to four stories, including the base¬
ment. In 1885 Dr. Price visited the Pacific Coast in the in¬
terest of Livingstone and succeeded in raising nearly $9,000 which
with $5,000 pledged by William E. Dodge2 and from other
sources he created a fund of $25,000 with which the Dodge and
Hopkins Halls were erected. These donors whom Dr. Price
brought to the aid of Livingstone, Collis P. Huntingdon, William
E. Dodge and Leland Stanford were among the greatest philan¬
thropists of the nineteenth century. They were no less swayed
by the eloquence of Dr. Price than they were by their confidence
and belief in him as a man.
Like most born leaders Mr. Price was tall and majestic, pos¬
sessing a physique and personality noticeable in any gather¬
ing.
His friend, John C. Dancy, in describing his oratory says:
"He was logical and argumentative, and never lost sight of these
in his grandest flights. Simplicity of statement marked every ut¬
terance, and like Wendell Phillips, in order to judge him, you had
to hear rather than to read him. To a most resonant and musical
voice he added a personal charm and dignity which made him a
general favorite and at home in any presence. Whether speak¬
ing for Mr. Beecher at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, or Mr.
Spurgeon in London, or before the most aristocratic classes in
Boston, or in the Nineteenth Century Club in New York, he was
always, and in every place the same strong and forceful per¬
sonality who won esteem, admiration and regard by his forcible,
earnest and sincere expression of his honest convictions in a
manly, dignified and winsome way."
A few instances of the electrical effect which the oratory of
Mr. Price produced may give some slight idea to those who never
2 Mr. Price's benefactor at Lincoln.
JOSEPH C. PRICE
177
witnessed an exhibition of Ms wonderful power before an
audience.
"It was in 1881 when only twenty-seven years old," says
Bishop J. "W. Hood, "Dr. Price began to be known—first by his
speeches in North Carolina under the prohibition campaign, and
no speaker made a better impression. White ladies who had
never listened to a Negro orator before, were so pleased that they
lavished bouquets of flowers upon him, and the best men of the
State were proud to occupy the same platform with him."
The same prelate says, "When he made his first great speech
before a white audience in Raleigh in 1881 a man present, who
hardly would have put himself to the trouble of going to hear a
Negro speak, said, 'After several of the distinguished orators of
the State had spoken before this convention composed largely of
the best men and women of the Old North State, there were sev¬
eral calls from all parts of the house for "Price, Price! Price!"
You may imagine my surprise as the speaker stepped on the
platform to find a great big black Negro with very white teeth.
"Now Webster will catch it," this gentleman said, "and as for
the ladies what will become of them ?" I was almost beside my¬
self with fear that something uncouth or unbecoming would be
heard.' His suspense, however, was of very short duration, for
the speaker had not uttered half-a-dozen sentences before the
fear . . . had given place to astonishment. The black speaker
was delivering in the best of English one of the most eloquent
discourses to which it had ever been his privilege to listen.''
As to his impress on the Ecumenical Conference of 1881 the
bishop in his eulogy says: "In a five-minute speech he secured
that attention of the world for which he was called 'the world's
orator.' The wonder to people was that, while he was a stranger
to nearly all the delegates, the audience seemed to know him. A
few days previous he had captured an audience of two thousand
people at the town of Hastings, and possibly a hundred of those
who had heard him there had come to London hoping to hear
178 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
him again. They were scattered about in the galleries and hence
when he arose there were calls for 'Price' from all parts of the
house. When his clear voice rang out over that vast assembly in
most polished English he was heard in all the committee rooms,
and committees breaking off from their work stopped and asked
each other, 'who is it that is creating such extraordinary en¬
thusiasm'? The committee rooms were soon deserted; he set the
conference wild with pleasing emotions. He was the favorite of
the audience and the sound of his voice was the signal for the
wildest enthusiasm, no matter how dull the session before he
began to speak. At a grand reception given in Bristol to the
delegates from abroad on the eve of their departure, Price was
kept for the last speaker so as to hold the audience. Bishops
Peck and Walden of the M. E. Church were among the speakers
and it was ten o'clock when Price arose. You would have
thought that the roof was coming off the house. Those who had
started out turned back, and when he stopped they cried go on
though it was nearly eleven o'clock."
His death October 25,1893, in his fortieth year, was universally
mourned. He left a widow and four small children bereft of
his fatherly care. Untimely as his death, his life nevertheless
was a complete and successful one. He had founded and es¬
tablished the foremost institution for the higher education of the
Negro in the Southland controlled entirely by his own race.
His race leadership was conceded by affirmative action more
than once in church and civic bodies. He had won the good
opinion of the white South during his life.3 At his death four
of the leading white lawyers of Salisbury asked and were per¬
mitted to act as pallbearers, while the mayor and the city council
were present in a body.
3 At Spartanburg, South Carolina, lie was invited to speak before the
students of a white institution. So delighted were they at his address
that they voted him a gold cane, raised the money, purchased it and hur¬
ried to the train, which Mr. Price had rushed to meet, and presented it to
him there.
XXIX
robert brown elliott
Robert Brown Elliott as scholar, lawyer, orator and politician
loomed up above all those of the Negro race whose public career
began and closed in the Reconstruction Era.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, March 15,1842, of West
Indian parents. His educational training was begun in the
schools of his native city, continued in Jamaica, where he resided
with relatives, and ended in England, in which in 1853 he entered
the High Holborn Academy; in 1855 he was admitted to Eton,
one of the colleges of the University of London, graduating there¬
from in 1858. He next began the study of law with Sergeant
Fitzherbert, but shortly afterwards returned to Boston.1
During his early manhood he followed the sea, which enabled
him to visit Ireland, Scotland, several of the West Indies and
South America. He entered the U. S. Navy while the Civil War
was in progress and during an engagement received a wound that
made him slightly lame. The year 1867 finds him a resident and
printer in Charleston, S. C., working on the Charleston Leader,
subsequently the Missionary Record, edited by Rev. subsequently
Bishop Richard H. Cain. Elliott's ability gave him such influ¬
ence that his election to the Constitutional Convention authorized
i Thia biographical sketch follows the conventional account found in the
Congressional Directory, but is challenged as to some details. A very high
authority who knew Elliott intimately says, he was born of South Caro¬
linian, not West Indian parentage, and gives Hon. T. McCants Stewart
for his authority that the extent of Elliott's legal training was a six
months' close study of the South Carolina Code, on which before experi¬
enced eminent lawyers he sustained a very rigid examination, as a result
of which he was admitted to the bar.
179
180
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
by the plan of reconstruction, easily followed. In this body the
Republican Party had full sway and there were many Negro mem¬
bers. Among these were J. H. Rainey, R. H,. Cain, Robert C.
DeLarge, A. J. Ransier, and Robert Smalls, who all became mem¬
bers of the national House of Representatives, Francis L Car-
dozo, later state Treasurer and Secretary of State, W. J. Whip-
per, and J. J. Wright, who were elected state judges.
Elliott's appearance did not mark him as one destined to be at
all prominent in the proceedings of the Convention, nor did the
fact that he was silent the first fourteen days of the session,
while there was oratory in abundance, but when he did take the
floor his words at once challenged attention and foretold his
eminence.
A measure which seemed to countenance payment to slave
owners for their erstwhile slaves was up when he arrested its
passage by saying among other things:
4'The importance of this subject overcomes my reluctance to
obtrude my feeble opinion, but as this subject has been presented
here, I deem it the duty of every gentleman in this Convention
to express himself candidly. ... I am aware that it is urged that
contracts made in the traffic of slaves were bona fide contracts,
that Congress sanctioned them. But if Congress did sanction
them it does so no longer. I contend there never was nor never
can be any claim to property in man. I regard the seller of the
slaves as the principal and the buyer as the accessory. A few
years ago the popular verdict of the country was passed upon the
slave seller and the buyer, and both were found guilty. The
buyer of the slave received his sentence, and we are now here to
pass sentence upon the seller. I hope we will vote unanimously
to put our stamp of condemnation upon this remnant of an
abominable institution which was such a stigma upon the justice
of this country. I hope we will do away with everything con¬
nected with this bastard of iniquity."2
2 T. J. Million in the A. M. E. Review.
ROBERT BROWN ELLIOTT
181
The measure failed to pass and Elliott became known as one
of the leading members, justifying his assignment to the Com¬
mittee of the Bill of Rights.
At the first election held under the constitution he was elected
to the legislature. In this body he soon became the leader. He
was chosen chairman of the Republican State Executive Com¬
mittee, a position which he held until 1876. March 25, 1869 he
received the appointment from Governor Robert K. Scott as As¬
sistant Adjutant-General of the State Militia, whence the title
of general by which he was familiarly greeted.
He is thus described as a popular leader: "A Toussaint, com¬
manding in appearance, and yet by his easy manner and his kind
words inspiring love, confidence and respect, receiving these
humble yeomen, who have come to claim his attention on some
matter of interest to themselves or their friends. Wherever
he would go you would see the smile of recognition and the dof¬
fing of the hat as a token of respect to the black chief. In
traveling, around the car window they would gather for a word
of recognition and a hearty shake of the hand."
After a spirited contest he was nominated and elected to the
42d Congress and reelected to the 43d Congress from the dis¬
trict which had sent to Washington Preston S. Brooks, the as¬
sailant of Charles Sumner, nearly twenty-two years before.
During the canvass for his first nomination, an opponent in a
crowded hall in Columbia, at a time when Mr. Elliott was sup¬
posed to be at a distant part of the State, bitterly attacked his
record and made several personal reflections. "Mr. Elliott ar¬
rived while the meeting was in progress and heard much that was
charged against him. He rose to reply to the consternation of
his assailant; there was no disposition on the part of the tumul¬
tuous audience to hear him. Shouts of disapprobation were heard
from all parts of the house, and in such a demonstrative and
threatening manner as to have deterred most men from the at¬
tempt to reply. For the space of a quarter of an hour no sound
182 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
of his voice could be heard. But he persisted until a few words
caught the ear of the mob, attracted their attention, and held
them until riot gave way to reason. From unwilling hearers they
became enthusiastic listeners. Outspoken disapprobation, jeers
and hisses gave place to vociferous applause and at the close of
his reply he had captured the meeting and put his assailant to
flight."
The appearance of Elliott was most opportune. Such ques¬
tions incident to reconstruction as civil rights, general amnesty
and the Ku Klux Klan were among the political matters in which
his constituents were vitally interested. Among the Republican
leaders may be named, Benjamin F. Butler, James G. Blaine,
George F. Hoar, William D. Kelley and James A. Garfield in
the House; Oliver P. Morton, Charles Sumner, Roscoe Conkling,
Zachariah Chandler, John A. Logan, John Sherman, Matthew
H. Carpenter in the Senate. In the debate on all these ques¬
tions Mr. Elliott bore a conspicuous part; but it was in the civil
rights discussion that had been pending for three years that he
won a name and a fame greater than that associated with any
other colored Congressman. The debate on these questions was
bitter and exhaustive. Two new elements were now present in
Congress who were not represented in the forum of debate when
citizenship and the franchise had been conferred seven years be¬
fore. These were the ex-slaveholder and the freedman. The
South had sent such of her ablest men as Alexander H. Stephens,
of Georgia; James B. Beck, of Kentucky; and John T. Harris, of
Virginia, to contest every inch of ground in any further attempt
to enlarge the liberties and privileges of the new citizen or to
make these more secure. The Negro was represented in the 43d
Congress by seven men as follows: James T. Rapier, Alabama;
Josiah T. Walls, Florida; Joseph H. Rainey, Robert B. Elliott,
A. J. Ransier, and R. H. Cain of South Carolina and John R.
Lynch of Mississippi.
By his legal training and legislative experience in the consti-
ROBERT BROWN ELLIOTT
183
tutional convention and the legislature of his State, Elliott was
the foremost and was eminently fitted to take a prominent part in
these discussions. The constitutionality of the Civil Rights Bill
was sharply attacked, and the prejudice of race was made a plea
against a measure alleged to be fraught with so much danger
to the Republic. It was at this juncture that Elliott ob¬
tained the floor in reply to Alexander H. Stephens and delivered
a most masterly speech, answering the constitutional questions
and other objections raised, rebuking with scathing argument
and merciless criticism the untenable position on which other
opposition was based. He championed the cause of his con¬
stituents and his race with an appeal which stands unsurpassed.
Thus speaks one comment:
"All who heard his eloquence in debate and his learning felt
that the ability, eloquence and learning of Hayne, Rutledge, Cal¬
houn and McDuffie had been revived and transformed in a
Negro," while General B. F. Butler of Massachusetts said on the
floor of the House, ''1 should have considered more at length the
constitutional argument, were it not for the exhaustive presenta¬
tion by the gentleman from South Carolina, of the law and the
only law quoted against us in this case, that has been cited, to
wit, the Slaughter House cases. He with the true instinct of
freedom, with a grasp of mind that shows him to be the peer of
any man on this floor, be he who he may, has given the full
strength and full power of that decision of the Supreme Court.''
Elliott's concluding words in this speech were:
"Technically, this bill is to decide upon the civil status of
the colored American citizen; a point disputed at the very
foundation of our present government, when by a short-sighted
policy, a policy repugnant to true republican government, one
Negro counted as three-fifths of a man. The logical result of this
mistake of the framers of the Constitution strengthened the
cancer of slavery, which finally spread its poisonous tentacles
over the southern portion of the body politic. To arrest its
184 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
growth, and save the Nation we have passed through the har¬
rowing operation of intestine war, dreaded at all times, resorted
to at the last extremity, like the surgeon's knife, but absolutely
necessary to extirpate the disease which threatened with the
life of the nation the overthrow of civil and political liberty on
this continent. In that dire extremity the members of the race
which I have the honor in part to represent; the race which
pleads for justice at your hands to-day, forgetful of their in¬
human and brutalizing servitude at the South, their degradation
and ostracism at the North—flew willingly and gallantly to the
support of the National Government. Their sufferings, assist¬
ance, privations, and trials in the swamps and in the rice fields,
their valor on the land and on the sea, is a part of the ever-
glorious record which makes up the history of a nation pre¬
served, and might, should I urge the claim, incline you to respect
and guarantee their rights and privileges as citizens of our
common republic. But I remember that valor, devotion and
loyalty are not always rewarded according to their just deserts,
and that after the battle some who have borne the brunt of the
fray, may through neglect or contempt, be assigned to a subordi¬
nate place, while the enemies in war may be preferred to the
sufferer.
"The results of the war, as seen in reconstruction, have set¬
tled forever the political status of my race. The passage of this
bill will determine the civil status, not only of the Negro, but of
any other class of citizens who may feel themselves discriminated
against. It will form the capstone of that liberty, begun in this
continent, under discouraging circumstances, carried on in spite
of the sneers of monarchists and the cavils of pretended friends
of freedom, until at last it stands in all its beautiful symmetry
and proportions, a building the grandest which the world has
ever seen, realizing the most sanguine expectations and the
highest hopes of those who, in the name of equal, impartial, and
universal liberty, laid the foundation stones.
ROBERT BROWN ELLIOTT
185
"The Holy Scriptures tell us of an humble handmaiden who
long, faithfully and patiently gleaned in the rich fields of her
wealthy kinsman; and we are told further that at last, in spite of
her humble antecedents, she found complete favor in his sight.
For over two centuries our race has 'reaped down your fields.'
The cries and woes which we have uttered have 'entered into the
Lord of Sabaoth' and we are at last politically free. The last
vestiture only is needed—Civil Rights. Having gained this,
we may, with hearts overflowing with gratitude, and thankful
that our prayer has been granted, repeat the prayer of Ruth:
'' Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after
thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I
will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the
Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee
and me."
Two months after this speech Charles Sumner, the author of
the Civil Rights measure, died. Memorial meetings were held
North and South. A unique tribute was that by L. Q. C. Lamar
in the House, but a rare honor was that accorded Elliott by the
citizens of Massachusetts to pronounce the eulogy on Sumner
in Faneuil Hall, the cradle of liberty. The following extract is
a contemporary tribute to the ability of the South Carolina Con¬
gressman in response to that invitation:
"Greater than the civil rights speech or any other effort ever
made by Elliott was that at Faneuil Hall. It was a distin¬
guished occasion. The wealth and culture of that city, repre¬
sentatives of the national, state and municipal governments
were all there assembled within this hallowed place, whose walls
have echoed the most brilliant oratory of America to hear a
Negro's tribute to Charles Sumner in consonance with the dear¬
est sentiments of every Negro the world over, whether in the
rice swamps of Carolina or in the levels of Mississippi." "The
press of Boston placed it in the highest rank of American oratory,
186
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
classing it with the best efforts of Adams, Warren, Hancock,
Sumner or Phillips.''3
Shortly afterwards Elliott resigned from Congress in order
to stem the tide then beginning to set in against the Southern
Negro in politics because of charges of corruption against the
party and the race in his State. He was elected once more to the
State legislature and became Speaker. He was subsequently a
candidate for the United States Senatorship, but failing to get
his party's support he was not elected.
In 1876 he was nominated and elected Attorney-General of
South Carolina, the only one of his race ever to receive that dis¬
tinction. He entered upon his duties, but with the remainder of
the Republican ticket he was forced to retire from this office,
and to resume the practice of his profession. The Hampton ad¬
ministration which succeeded in obtaining control of the State
government of South Carolina that year worked a complete
revolution in the affairs of the State. Many officers under former
administrations, both white and black, fled the State; others who
remained were prosecuted, some fined and imprisoned. But al¬
though no one had been more prominent as a Republican poli¬
tician than Elliott, he was never arrested on any charge of
malfeasance in office or political corruption; yet he did not hesi¬
tate to defend with vigor many who were accused.
As a lawyer, he was frequently associated as counsel in many
of the most important cases before the State court of last resort,
for his legal abilities were conceded by the best lawyers of the
State. His arguments before the State Supreme Court in the
mandamus against the State Board of Canvassers, in conjunction
with United States District-Attorney Corbin and ex-Attorney-
General Akerman, ex parte Tilda Morris, and State vs. Samuel
Lee, are models of forensic oratory and legal learning.
In 1873 Elliott was chosen chairman of the National Conven¬
tion of colored men assembled in Washington to urge upon
3T. J. Minton, Supra.
ROBERT BROWN ELLIOTT
187
Congress the passage of the Civil Rights Bill. He was a member
of the National Republican Convention of '7$, '76 and '80. In
the last-named he seconded the nomination of John Sherman for
the presidency. He was subsequently a special agent of the
Treasury Department. Upon his resignation from this service
he resumed his practice, with his main office in New Orleans and
a branch in Pensacola, Florida. But he did not linger long
after his removal to New Orleans for he died there August 9,
1884. The day after his death a commission appointing him to
represent the United States as its agent for the Kongo Free
State was received at his residence.
Elliott was a close student and had a working knowledge of
the French, German, and Spanish languages, as well as a
classical acquaintance with the Latin, and his familiarity with the
Bible shows itself in his speeches. He was temperate in his habits,
but extremely prodigal with his means.
Frederick Douglass, who had most excellent opportunity to
meet and know all the foremost Negroes of the last fifty years of
his life, said: " I have known but one black man to be com¬
pared with Elliott, and that was Samuel Ringgold Ward, who,
like Elliott, died in the midst of his years.''
XXX
paul l. dunbar
It is a sign of extraordinary talent or genius when one before
he reaches his thirtieth year is recognized in representative
journals as "being among the literary men of his times, yet Paul
Laurence Dunbar enjoyed this proud distinction.
The story of his life should be an inspiration to the millions of
young Negroes throughout the land, although not one of them
may, like him, seek and find a literary career. He was the son
of Joshua and Matilda Dunbar and was born at Dayton, Ohio,
June 27, 1872. His parents were both former slaves. His
father had escaped from Kentucky to Canada and remained there
until the Civil "War, when, returning, he enlisted as a private in
the 55th Massachusetts Regiment. After the war he made his
home in Dayton, Ohio, and married Matilda Murphy, a young
widow.
Paul was a delicate child who did not care for such outdoor
sports as kites, tops or marbles. He preferred to read, to write
and debate such questions as were within the comprehension of
his childish mind with great vigor and earnestness. His zeal and
ability in mastering these topics excited both the surprise and the
alarm of his mother, who at the time of his graduation at
the age of eighteen from the Dayton high school, was his sole
surviving parent. He not only debated and discussed topics,
but he was always writing pieces which he treasured up with
great tenderness. These he placed in the possession of his
mother with the request that she save them, for some day he
would make a book of them. Although his mother thought this
was but a childish fancy, she saved these papers.
188
PAUL L. DUNBAR
189
On the death of his father he obtained employment as elevator
boy and supported both himself and his mother, but he did not
stop studying. Although he could not go to college he made up
the deficiency by private study, and in this way steadily in¬
creased his information and strengthened his mind. He wrote
from time to time for the papers in his native city; he acquired
some reputation in the West and did some work for Eastern
magazines whose editors did not dream that their brilliant Day¬
ton, Ohio, contributor was a black elevator boy not yet out of his
teens.
With his constant experience, he acquired literary confidence.
One day he said to his mother, "Give me all my papers. I am
going to make a book." Naturally credulous at such an am¬
bitious undertaking for one so young, she replied:
"A book! You can't, my son; you have no money."
'' But I will make a book.''
Paul took his papers to a publishing house in Dayton, but the
head of the firm threw cold water on the enterprise by refusing
to print the book without an advance payment of one hundred
dollars to cover expenses. But the manager who saw literary
merit in the poems and promise in the lad said, "Leave your
poems with me, I will print your book and you can pay me after
you have sold them.''
Paul, thus encouraged, left with a lighter heart and followed
his usual work in the elevator awaiting the issue of his first
book, "Oak and Ivy," from the press. One day a box of books
was delivered to him in the elevator where he sold them all, in a
very short time.
A copy interested Dr. H. A. Tobey, superintendent of the
State Asylum at Toledo, who gave an order for a dozen, then for
twenty copies which he distributed among many friends both
within and without the State. All were captivated with "The
Voice of the New Singer," and were anxious to learn more of
him personally. Dunbar was sent for, to entertain some of these
190
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
friends by recitals from his poems. A second invitation fol¬
lowed and a reception in his honor was given at which Dunbar's
mother was present to witness the honors which her son had
won.
During the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893,
Dunbar, whose reputation had begun to spread, was a familiar
sight at the Haitian Building where the stalwart and historic
form of Frederick Douglass welcomed all who came to view ex¬
hibits of the island republic, Haiti, the Queen of the Antilles.
Dunbar's second book, "Majors and Minors" published in
1895 made him known to a larger public. William Dean Howells,
the novelist, for many years editor of the Atlantic Monthly and
subsequently of Harper's Magazine, wrote very kindly of Dun¬
bar's genius in reviewing the new book. He said this:
"Dunbar is the first black man to feel the life of the Negro
esthetically and to express it lyrically." Richard Watson
Gilder, editor of the Century, commended him and his work most
heartily, and Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, sister of President
Cleveland, was as unstinted and cordial in her criticism and
praise. "Lyrics of Lowly Life," dedicated to his mother, came
next and sold rapidly. Other works that followed were "Folks
from Dixie," "The Uncalled," "Lyrics of the Hearthside,"
"Poems of Cabin and Field," "The Strength of Gideon," "The
Love of Landry," "The Fanatics," "The Sport of the Gods,"
"Lyrics of Love and Laughter," and "Candle Lighting Time."
"The Uncalled" which was Mr. Dunbar's first novel, appeared
first in Lippincott's Magazine and all critics pronounced it "A
strong character study," with such attention to details of plot,
personages and construction as to prove that Mr. Dunbar thor¬
oughly understood the literary art and had the power to produce
a novel in which the interest can be kept up to the end.
He was without a rival in dealing with the dialect of his race
found on the plantations and among its illiterate members. In
this he is so true to nature; there is no artificial copying. His
PAUL L. DUNBAR
191
humorous and dialect pieces demonstrate his ability as a first-
class story teller, the pathos shows his deep insight in the work¬
ings of the human heart. His sketches show him to be an artist
whose models are life itself, which he has studied with close ob¬
servation and seen in their true relations. His characters live
and move with all the elasticity, spirit, tone and naturalness with
which they are found from day to day; and exhibit a correct
knowledge of human nature.
It is also a proof of the high rank which Dunbar had taken
to find his "Conscience and Remorse" in the "Library of the
World's Best Literature," completed in 1898, when his fame
was just beginning to be made known. It is quite sure had this
publication been delayed a couple of years later more of his pro¬
ductions would have been selected, together with an analytical
sketch of his work.
Among the most popular of his poems are "When Malindy
Sings," "When the Co'n Pone's Hot," and "The Party."
"The Poet and His Song" has been cited as example of his ease,
his sincerity, sensitiveness to the outer world, his philosophy of
life and the sweetness and pathos in the temper of his race.
In an interview given a few years before his death speaking of
the development of his literary career and his preparation for it,
Mr. Dunbar said:
"My mother who has no education except what she picked up
herself, taught me to read when I was four years old, and my
parents being both fond of books, used to read aloud to us in the
evening as we sat around the fire. To this I owe a great deal,
but, generally speaking, the early influences surrounding me
were not conducive to growth, and any development in myself
came from fighting against them.
'' Through the evening readings I was introduced to Robinson
Crusoe, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and many other things. The former
I have never read for myself, but I did run over the latter and
192
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
was disappointed in it. The author saw things through the lens
of her own intense feeling, and they were magnified. I was edu¬
cated in the public schools of Dayton, graduating at the high
school, and afterward having two years' study.
"My first attempt at rhyming was made when I was six years
old. I came across a verse from "Wordsworth and a gentleman
living in Dayton happening to have that name, I thought it was
written by him. This impressed upon my mind, and as I crossed
the railroad track, in going home from school, I remember trying
to put words together having a jingling sound. After that I
rhymed continually, my mother writing down my productions
and preserving them in pasteboard boxes. My father used to
tell her that I was not an ordinary boy, and one of my regrets
is that he did not live to realize any of his hopes in regard to
me.
1 'What I may call my first poetical achievement grew out of
an Easter celebration at the Sunday School to which I went,
when I composed the verses I had been asked to recite. I was
then thirteen years old, and at the same time, Mr. Samuel Wilson,
a teacher at the intermediate school which I attended, did much
to shape and influence me. He was himself a writer of verse,
and refined, traveled and wonderfully well read, he criticised my
work and encouraged me both to compose and recite.
"After I entered the high school the fact of my being the only
Negro in my class was a great spur to my ambition.
"The boys were very kind to me, however, and during the
second year, I was admitted to their literary society, of which
I afterward became president. At this time I contributed fre¬
quently to the high school paper, later being the editor.
"The first literary work for which I was paid was a prose
composition, brought out by a syndicate, my patrons taken in the
order in which they came being the Chicago Record, Detroit Free
Press, Boston Green Bag and New York Independent."
PAUL L. DUNBAR
193
Dunbar made a trip to England in 1897, where his popularity
as a reader of his own poems and sketches became as marked as
in his native land. In London he was given a number of re¬
ceptions, he was the guest at many clubs and his books were re¬
published in handsome editions. He returned home the same
year and was appointed to a position in the Library of Con¬
gress which he retained only for a short time, his literary en¬
gagements being such that he found his time fully occupied with
literary work. In 1898 he was married to Miss Alice Ruth
Moore, a native of New Orleans, a young lady not only of literary
tastes, but a considerable success as a writer. The story of their
courtship and marriage is as romantic as we would naturally ex¬
pect of two poets.
A poem entitled 4'The Haunted Oak," published in The
Century for December, 1900, tells in a pathetic way the story of
an oak tree beneath whose shadow one of his own race was
lynched and on which thereafter no leaves grew. This poem with
its weird and uncanny imagery, its faithful representation of
disgraceful scenes, which neither the law nor the civilization of
our land has proven itself able to prevent, appeals to millions
and is destined to be one of the most striking of his pro¬
ductions. It voices the verdict of posterity in its denunciation
of lynching. Its literary merit brought forth unmistakable evi¬
dences of appreciation from its publishers.
After the receipt of a check from the publishers, a second check
was sent him by the publishers, an exceptional and unusual evi¬
dence of merit.
Mr. Dunbar was an excellent type of his race. There was no
other than Negro blood coursing through his veins. He was
slender of build, slightly above the average height and with
regular features. He dressed in faultless style and was what he
looked to be, a true gentleman in black.
After a most brilliant career he died at the early age of thirty-
194
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
four at the home of his mother in Dayton, Ohio, February 9,1906.
Telegrams and letters of condolence came to the stricken family
from all parts of the country and the last sad funeral rites were
such as might have been given to one of the first citizens of the
Republic.
XXXI
booker t. washington
Booker T. Washington was born about 1858 or 1859, a slave
near Hale's Ford, Franklin County, a few miles southwest of
Lynchburg, Virginia. He knows little of his ancestry save that
his mother was an earnest Christian woman whose simple de¬
votion made a lasting impression on his childish mind. He
speaks with becoming indifference of his father, whom he sus¬
pects to be a white man, resident of a plantation not very far
distant from that on which he was born.
There is a striking similarity in the description of his early
life and that of Frederick Douglass. No slave boy knew more
of the deprivations of food and clothing than he. His ward¬
robe was exceedingly scant; a plain shirt at times made of flax,
so cheap, coarse and rough as to torture the one who first put it
on, was all that he wore. As for a hat, he never possessed one
until he was about ten years old, and it was made of some
coarse cloth. His first pair of shoes was made of rough leather
on the top, with heavy wooden soles about an inch thick. A
bed was out of the question. He never slept in one until after
emancipation. A pallet made on a dirt floor of old rags was
his customary resting place. A cabin with openings in the side
to let in the light, a dirt floor, a deep opening in the center
covered with boards and used as a storehouse for sweet potatoes
and other vegetables was his home. Some idea of what there
was for a slave boy six years old to do may be learned in his auto¬
biography, as follows: "I was not large enough to be of much
195
196
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
service, still I was occupied most of the time in cleaning the
yard, carrying water to tlie men in the fields, or going to the
mills to which I used to take the corn once a week to be ground.
The mill was about three miles from the plantation. This work
I always dreaded. The heavy bag of corn would be thrown
across the back of the horse, and the corn divided about evenly
on each side; but in some way almost without exception on these
trips the corn would so shift as to become unbalanced and would
fall off the horse, and often I would fall with it. As I was not
strong enough to reload the corn upon the horse, I would have
to wait sometimes for many hours till a chance passer-by came
along who would help me out of my trouble."
Booker first learned of the Civil War by overhearing the
prayers of his mother for the success of Union arms and the de¬
liverance of her children and race from slavery.
An incident in his early life was the journey of the family
several hundred miles to "West Virginia where his stepfather
had found employment in salt mines. The-journey was overland,
largely by foot across the mountains and the rough country
roads. During this trip one night the family camped near an
old log cabin. The thoughtful mother thought to make it more
comfortable by building a fire in the cabin and making a pallet
therein, instead of out in the open, but the dropping of a large
black snake nearly five feet long from the chimney, caused them
to abandon that resting place.
After weeks of this outdoor life they reached their destina¬
tion, Maiden, about five miles from Charleston, the capital of
West Virginia. The new home was not more comfortable than
the old, for it formed one of a settlement of an ignorant and de¬
based gang of white and black laborers. Quarrels, fights,
carousals, gambling and all the grossest forms of vice and im¬
morality prevailed. During his employment here Booker gained
his first book knowledge. The number "18." by which his father
was known as a part of the working force, was his first lesson.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
197
He learned it so thoroughly that he knew it wherever seen. He
had always a desire to learn to read and his mother sympathiz¬
ing with him in his ambition succeeded in gratifying her son's
ambition, by procuring in some way for him a copy of Webster's
blue-back speller known all over the country two generations
past. Within a week he had, through his own efforts, mastered
all the alphabet for there was no black person to teach him and
he was afraid to approach any white one on the subject. The
appearance of a colored boy from Ohio who could read was hailed
with delight. At the close of the day's work this boy would read
the newspaper to the miners, to their very great satisfaction.
He would have been employed as a teacher, but he was too young
to act in that capacity. Fortunately a colored soldier, also from
Ohio, came to the community and he was induced to teach, each
family agreeing to pay a certain sum each month and to board
him by turns at their different homes.
Booker thought, of course, that he was about to realize his am¬
bition, but not yet, for his stepfather could not spare him from
work at the mines. What to do he did not know. He studied
his blue-back speller more perseveringly, secured lessons from the
teacher at night but finally was permitted to attend school in
the day, provided, he would work at the furnace until nine o 'clock
and for two hours after the closing of school in the afternoon.
But the schoolhouse was not near the furnace, it opened promptly
and Booker's class had frequently recited when he got there.
This presented another perplexing problem which Booker solved
by turning the office clock a half an hour ahead every morning.
He could thus leave his work and reach school on time. He justi¬
fied his conscience without much of a struggle.
Booker's appearance at the school for the first time marks an
important era in his life in two more respects. He had no cap;
all the other pupils had theirs and there was no money with
which to buy one. He never had worn any cap—in fact he had
never possessed or felt that he needed any; his mother got two
198 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
pieces of homespun cloth, sewed them together, and thus hg
proudly became the owner of his first cap.
But children at school must have a name. He had been called
"Booker," but then knew of no other. So when the school¬
master called on him for his name he replied, ''Booker Wash¬
ington," as if that had always been his name. "When he was
much older he learned that his mother had named him soon after
his birth, "Booker Taliaferro." He rescued the name from ob¬
livion and thus we know him as "Booker Taliaferro Washing¬
ton."
It was at this period that he first learned of the existence of
the Hampton Institute by overhearing a conversation between
some men in the mines. He learned of its location, its char¬
acter, the conditions of the admission of pupils and the means
by which they could be supported during their education. He
was fired with the desire, but his circumstances were against its
gratification. About this time he entered into the employment
at five dollars a month of one Mrs. Ruffner, a Northern white
woman known as one very difficult to be pleased by her servants,
because of the manner in which she required her work to be
done. Booker by doing everything in a thorough manner found
no trouble in continuing in her employment and in securing her
as a friend who fully sympathized with him in his aspirations
for an education.
After much planning he decided in the fall of 1872 to enter
Hampton. The distance from his home was nearly five hundred
miles. He had only a cheap satchel in which to carry his few
articles of clothing. He began his journey sometimes walking,
at other times begging a ride; now in the old-fashioned stage¬
coach, then a few miles in the steam cars until having covered
more than four hundred miles he reached Richmond long in the
night, a perfect stranger and without a cent in his pocket. To
use his language, "I must have walked the streets till long after
midnight—I could walk no longer. I was tired. I was hungry.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
199
I was everything but discouraged. Just about the time when
I reached extreme physical exhaustion I came upon a portion of a
street where the board sidewalk was considerably elevated. I
waited for a few minutes till I was sure that no passers-by
could see me and then crept under the sidewalk and lay for the
night upon the ground with my satchel of clothing for a pillow.''
Next morning he found work in unloading a vessel in the
James near the "Rocketts" laden with pig iron. In this way he
somewhat relieved the stern plight to which his pioneering trip
over the mountains in West Virginia and down the hillsides
of the Old Dominion had reduced him. It was in this con¬
dition that with fifty cents in his pocket he presented himself
for membership in the Hampton Normal and Agricultural In¬
stitute.
The large and imposing buildings, the finely kept grounds, the
benignant countenance of the officers and teachers, the con¬
tented faces of the students, gave him new inspiration and de¬
termined him more than ever to get an education at all hazards.
Without proper food, unkempt, ill-clad, his appearance did
not inspire confidence; so when he informed the teacher in
charge of his desire to enter as pupil there was no reply. She
looked on her inquirer as she might on a loafer or tramp, and
seemed uncertain what to do in his case, although other ap¬
plicants were received with little or no delay. Finally she
said: "The adjoining recitation room needs sweeping. Take
this broom and sweep it."
He seized this opportunity with eagerness. He swept the
room three times, then got a dusting-cloth and dusted it four
times. When Miss Mary F. Mackie inspected it by taking her
pocket handkerchief and rubbing it on the woodwork and
over the table and walls, she quietly said: "I guess you will
do to enter this institution." This he called his college entrance
examination.
His experience in Hampton was one of constant self-denial.
200
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
While lie made a favorable impression upon General S. C. Arm¬
strong, the principal, and other officials, he had to meet the same
requirements exacted of all the students by labor for board and
tuition. His mother and brother assisted him from time to
time, though it was extremely limited and at distant intervals.
In these first days at Hampton he was initiated in the virtues
of the daily bath, the use of a napkin, the toothbrush and the
mysteries of a pair of sheets on his bed. With reference to
these he says: "The sheets were quite a puzzle to me. The
first night I slept under both of them and the second I slept on
both of them, but by watching the other boys I learned my
lesson in this, and have been trying to follow it ever since and
to teach it to others."
He was given the position of janitor which compelled him to
rise as early in the morning as four o'clock to build the fires,
after which he would prepare his lessons, and it was late at
night before he could retire to bed. The expense for his board
was ten dollars a month and he counted it a great privilege that
he was allowed to work this entirely out. As was the custom,
his tuition was provided by some Northern patron. Mr. S. G.
Morgan of New Bedford, Massachusetts, has the distinguished
honor of having provided the means for the intellectual training
of this future leader.
Notwithstanding these—his own strong arm, his inflexible will
and the philanthropy of his patron—Booker found himself six¬
teen dollars in debt to the school at the close of the first year.
H!e had no means with which to go home like other pupils or
to any watering place. So he found himself compelled to re¬
main at Hampton—he got work in a restaurant, where an in¬
cident reveals how unsophisticated he was. Fortress Monroe,
then as now, was quite a summer resort for many who do not
care for the glitter and glare of such places as Saratoga, New¬
port, or Long Branch. Not a few of these guests are both
wealthy and liberal. Booker's earnestness and industry had
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
201
its reward. He was surprised to find one day a crisp ten-dollar
bill under the plate of one of his patrons. The green country
boy took it to the proprietor for instruction as to what to do. He
quickly pocketed it, but Booker was much disappointed. At the
close of such a season Mr. Washington was no more able to wipe
out that sixteen dollars indebtedness than at the beginning; but
by frankly explaining his condition and purpose he was per¬
mitted to enter upon his second year.
In this year his study of the Bible and his experience in de¬
bating societies was a marked feature. He had the satisfaction
of being able at its close by the assistance of a brother to visit
his West Virginia home. Here, everyone was glad to see him,
and his presence in every hamlet and at every concourse of
people was a benediction, and a great intellectual uplift. One
of the saddest incidents of his visit was the sudden death of his
mother. It was she who had first encouraged him in his youth¬
ful ambition for an education; it was she who had denied her¬
self and aided him while at school. It was she who had been
rejoiced more than all others on his visit. He returned to Hamp¬
ton at the opening of school and graduated in the class of 1875
as one of the honor students. He had worked to be one of the
orators and he had succeeded.
During the summer after graduation he was successful in
getting employment at a summer hotel in Connecticut. It was
a new experience. He was given some people to wait on, but
such was his success that he was made a dish carrier instead
of a waiter. His spirit quailed, but by perseverance he was re¬
stored to his former position. In later years as a guest in the
same hotel at which he was first waiter, next dish carrier and
waiter again, he must have indulged in hearty laughs over in¬
cidents a quarter of a century before.
His first position as teacher was at his home at Maiden, West
Virginia. He labored here with marked success for two years,
meanwhile sending first his brother, then an adopted brother to
202
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Hampton. Other pupils were sent by him and all were so
thoroughly qualified on their entrance that they were enabled
to enter above the usual place given to beginners. He spent
his next eight months at Wayland Seminary, in Washington,
now a part of Union University at Richmond, Virginia. The
contrast between prevailing conditions at Washington and those
at Hampton did not impress him favorably, so he returned to
Maiden and took up his work as teacher with renewed zeal.
In 1879 he delivered a commencement address at Hampton on
"The Force that Wins." In his journey thither he went over
the same route as that by which he entered Hampton, seven
years previously. The success of his address may be estimated
from his invitation by General Armstrong to take charge of the
Indian students, whom Hampton for the first time received
within its borders. He was known as their "House Father."
Notwithstanding the novelty and the difficulties of their position,
he won their confidence and respect. The next year, 1880, he
was charged with the organization of Hampton's first night
school. Such was its success that it is to-day one of the at¬
tractive features of Hampton to youth desirous of obtaining an
education.
In May, 1881, in one of his talks to students, General Arm¬
strong spoke of an application he had just received for someone to
take charge of what was to be a normal school like Hampton at
Tuskegee, a town in Alabama. That night he sent for Booker
Washington and asked him whether he would be willing to
undertake the work. Mr. Washington said he would. The
Alabama people were not looking for a colored man for the
place, and there was some delay after General Armstrong had
notified them. Finally there was received this telegram:
"Booker T. Washington will suit us. Send him at once."
Washington lost no time in going to his new field. On his
journey he had many mental pictures of his new school,—its
location, size, appointments, equipment, etc. On his arrival he
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
203
was surprised to find no building, no pupils, nothing provided
—only the State appropriation.
The colored people hearing of the great work that Hampton
had done appealed to the legislature and they had provided an
annual appropriation of $2,000. It was located at Tu&kegee be¬
cause it was in the midst of a large colored population and was,
besides, an educational center.
The first work was to get a place for his school. After much
labor he found the only available place was an abandoned
church building and a shanty. In order to give public notice of
his school and acquaint himself with the condition of those for
and among whom he was laboring, he visited the people in their
homes and found a condition of poverty, ignorance and im¬
providence that startled him. They lived usually in one-room
cabins, with little or no household furniture, yet cabinet organs,
costing sixty dollars, sewing machines of ancient make and fancy
clocks—often out of order—all bought on the installment plan,
were frequently met with. Sometimes he was invited to eat.
Here their humble condition was apparent. Once he noticed
five at a table and only one fork in the entire number. The
family were assembled around a table very seldom. The father
would get a piece of meat and bread in his hands which he would
eat while on the way to his work. The small children would con¬
sume their food while playing about the skillet in which the meal
had been prepared. The clothing of the people cannot be classi¬
fied. That of the men was like Joseph's coat of many colors,
the women were not much of an improvement, while the younger
members of the family frequently were perfectly nude.
The humble beginnings of Tuskegee Institute were in har¬
mony with the primitive condition of the people. The school
was opened July 4, 1881, in the old shanty and the abandoned
church, with thirty pupils, mostly from the immediate vicinity.
Some had been teaching for years, others had received but little
previous instruction. Their ages varied from fifteen years to
204
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
forty. Pupils and some former teachers were grouped together,
and their advancement showed many surprises.
"Washington, displayed rare tact in the very beginning by
getting as his advisers two men who were types of the best of
both races. One, the most influential man in the entire com¬
munity, a white banker; the other a colored man, the ablest local
leader along those lines of activity in which his race desired to
move. For more than twenty-five years they remained on the
board of directors. The first assistant, Miss Olivia A. Davidson,2
proved a most worthy helpmeet in this work. She was a native
of Ohio, in which she had received her preparatory training.
She had taught in Mississippi and at Memphis, Tennessee,
nursing to health at the former place a boy with smallpox whom
all others had neglected, and voluntarily tendering her services
during the raging of the yellow fever epidemic in Memphis.
After her graduation at Hampton, friends had made possible
her training in the State Normal School at Framingham, Massa¬
chusetts.
The discomforts in these early days were disagreeable alike to
both teachers and pupils. The building leaked to such an extent
that when it rained it was necessary for one of the older pupils
to hold an umbrella over their teachers, and his landlady was
compelled to do the same thing for them at their meals. But
these discomforts did not dimmish the ardor or lessen the energy
of their instructors, for at the end of the first month there
were fifty pupils. This rapid increase served only to emphasize
the necessity for a permanent place. An abandoned plantation
one mile from the town consisting of one hundred acres of land,
he learned, could be purchased for five hundred dollars, one-half
cash and the balance on short time. Had its cost been $500,000,
its purchase would have seemed just as impossible. In this per¬
plexity he wrote to Mr. J. F. B. Marshall, treasurer of Hampton,
to know if that institution would not advance the two hundred
2 Married to Mr. Washington in 1886 and died in 1889.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
205
and fifty dollars. His former teacher and benefactor replied
that he could not use the funds of Hampton in this way, but he
would gladly loan two hundred and fifty dollars from his private
funds. The purchase was at once made and preparations for the
use of the property purchased for the school begun.
The place had become overgrown with young trees and bushes,
and hard outdoor work was necessary. The pupils objected to
doing this work, but "Washington set the example by pulling
off his coat, rolling up his sleeves and taking his ax in hand.
Their false pride at once departed and they worked with en¬
thusiasm, clearing the ground and putting in their first crop.
An old cabin, a dilapidated kitchen, a stable and a hen house
were all the buildings on the place. The stable was used as a
recitation room, the hen house subsequently for the same pur¬
pose. In three months the loan to General Marshall was repaid,
and in a few more months the place was clear of all incum¬
brances. Nearly all of this money came from the citizens of
Tuskegee, Miss Davidson's entertainments and personal solicita¬
tions furnishing the methods. An old blind horse given by a
white citizen was the first animal owned by the school. Now
more than two hundred horses, colts, and other live stock, in¬
cluding hundreds of hogs and pigs would be found in the in¬
ventory.
Porter Hall was the name of the first building erected. It
was built on faith. At a certain time an obligation of four
hundred dollars stared them in the face, and not a dollar in
hand with which to meet it, when the mail brought in a check
for four hundred dollars. With the progress of the work, finan¬
cial perplexities were many, but the embarrassments were all
met. General Armstrong in one of these emergencies gave all of
his savings.
A great family sorrow came to Washington at this stage. Miss
Fanny N. Smith, also a graduate of Hampton, whom he had mar¬
ried in the summer of 1882, died before two years of their married
206 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
life had passed, leaving one daughter, Portia M. Washington.
Mrs. Washington had not lived long enough to realize the im¬
mense possibilities of the school and the world-wide fame that
was to come to her husband because of his connection with it.
Washington's determination from the first was to have his
students do not only the agricultural and domestic but the
mechanical work connected with the school, its growth and de¬
velopment. A very peculiar experience was their failure in
brickmaking. Three times there was a failure. All his money
was gone, but an old watch was pawned for the money with
which to begin another experiment. This time they succeeded.
Since then brickmaking has been one of the leading industries,
as many as a million and a quarter being produced in one
school year. Objections to industrial education confronted him,
troubles about the dining-hall, about cooking stoves, table uten¬
sils, etc., rapidly pressed on him for solution—"not even water
to drink"; but all these problems were solved.
To supply the necessities of the school it became Washington's
duty to travel through the country and place before philan¬
thropists the condition and the needs of his school. It is rather
remarkable as one incident of his journeyings that he never re¬
ceived a personal insult from the whites while traveling in the
South. Once he entered a Pullman palace car, in Georgia, when
to his surprise he found present some white ladies from New
England who invited him to a seat by their side. He endeavored
to excuse himself, but they insisted. Next they ordered supper.
This added to his embarrassment, for he knew the custom of the
South. But he was further in it when one of the ladies pre¬
pared and served some tea. At the first opportunity he excused
himself to go to the smoking car to test the effect of this novel
sight in a Southern State. He was agreeably surprised to find
man after man come forward, introduce himself and commend
him for his work.
The circumstances that led to the appearance of Washington
Industries and View of Tuskegee.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
207
before Northern audiences to promote his work at Tuskegee
is unusually interesting. About 1885 General Armstrong invited
"Washington to accompany him North and to speak. When he
accepted he found that the General had planned a series of meet¬
ings with a quartet of singers and that they were to be held in
the interest of Tuskegee, though the Hampton Institute was to
bear all the expenses.
This was the beginning of a phenomenal tour which first
brought the attention of the nation and the world to the re¬
markable work carried on at Tuskegee under Washington's di¬
rection and management. It was not a path strewn by roses
that he was to tread; there were many thorns, and rough stones
he had to encounter on his way. After walking miles in the
country to meet some special individual he often met little or no
encouragement. Such was his first meeting with Andrew Car¬
negie and Collis P. Huntingdon, the great railroad king. Later
these men gave their thousands. Once he found himself in
Providence, Rhode Island, hungry and without a dollar to pur¬
chase a meal. On crossing a street he found a twenty-five-cent
piece. With this he obtained a breakfast and afterwards secured
a liberal donation for his work.
It was in an address delivered before the National Educational
Association at Madison, Wisconsin, that he first attracted the
attention and gained the general approval of the South. Four
thousand persons were present, among them quite a number
from Alabama, even from Tuskegee. They were surprised to
hear the Southern people given credit for the part they had con¬
tributed to the education of the Negro. But it was in a five-
minute speech delivered before the International Meeting of
Christian Workers at Atlanta that he had his first opportunity
to talk face to face with a Southern audience. He was in Boston
when this meeting assembled, with pressing engagements taking
up all the summer. To make that five-minute speech he must
travel two thousand miles and within one hour after the delivery
208
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
be on his way back to Boston. He did it so acceptably that in¬
vitations came pouring upon him to make other speeches.
In the spring of 1895 he was invited to form a part of a com¬
mittee from Atlanta to secure Congressional aid for the Cotton
Exposition to be held in that city the following fall. Two other
colored men, Bishops Abram Grant and Wesley J. Gaines were
members of this committee. They both made speeches. When
Washington made the final speech of twenty minutes it was so
timely, so pertinent, and so eloquent that the committee of
Congress decided by a unanimous vote to recommend the aid
desired, and in a few days the act giving it was a law. This
signal aid rendered by the colored members of the committee
was appreciated by the management of the Exposition to the
extent of deciding to have a Negro Building designed and erected
wholly by Negro mechanics, and when the time for opening the
Exposition arrived, to hav6 a Negro as one of the speakers.
Washington was selected as that representative. This was the
first time in the entire history of the Negro that a member of
this race had been asked to speak from the same platform with
Southern men and women on any important occasion of na¬
tional significance.
The opportunity, responsibility and significance involved in
this acceptance may be illustrated by two stories told by Mr.
Washington in his "Up from Slavery." "While en route a
white man living near Tuskegee thus accosted me, 'Washington,
you have spoken before the Northern white people, the Negroes
of the South, and to us up-country white people in the South;
but in Atlanta to-morrow, you will have before you the Northern
whites, the Southern whites, and the Negroes altogether. I am
afraid you have got yourself into a tight place.' " The other
relates to a scene after his arrival at Atlanta: "Dat's de man
of my race wat's gwine to make a speech at de Exposition to¬
morrow. I'se sho gwine to hear him." Pointed out at every
station on the way, "the observed of all observers," the great
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
209
responsibility of the occasion impressed Mm and as was his
custom before the crucial moment, he sought a quiet place,
kneeled down and implored God's blessing upon his effort.
At last the hour arrived. "Washington was introduced. The
scene was one which some artist—some Tanner—will transfer
with genius to canvas. All his mother's tears and prayers, the
struggles of his race, their hardships, their opportunities, came
pressing before him. He, their advocate, stood before the most
typical American audience yet assembled on the American con¬
tinent. Though in Atlanta, the blue blood of Boston was
present; Southern and Northern man; black and white. No
wonder that though the sun shone forth in his face he without
flinching delivered the burden of his soul. When he closed a
great moral victory had been won. White men native and to
the manner born applauded. Fair white men of the South waved
their handkerchiefs. Negro patriarchs, men who had "come
down from a former generation,'' wept and wept. Clark Howell
was certainly prophetic in his declaration, "This man's speech
has wrought a moral revolution."
Booker T. Washington went forth a famous man. Seven
months before, Frederick Douglass had died in the harness, plead¬
ing for the equality of rights for every man and woman, the
foremost black man of the nineteenth century. That day the
prophecy of Douglass, written in 1867, was realized, Booker
T. Washington forged to the front as the foremost American
Negro in the new dispensation of freedom through industrial
opportunity.
Because of the attention focused on Washington after his
Atlanta speech, he became the one man in the eye of the Ameri¬
can public regarded as the leader of his race. Greatness was
literally thrust upon him and he conducted himself in a manner
that proved that he was not averse to this conspicuous position.
Philanthropists like Carnegie, heads of educational institutions
and politicians like McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft, accepted him
210
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
as their chosen agent to deal with the ten million American
citizens of African descent.
Alexander H. Stephens in writing of U. S. Grant after the
meeting at Hampton Roads, said, that the silent soldier seemed
to be ignorant of the immense opportunity for good or evil
that would come to him in the country's history. Booker T.
Washington hardly could have dreamed of the power to be
wielded by him simply by becoming the great apostle of in¬
dustrial education for the Negro. Whether the result of his
prominence was foreseen and planned by him or not, his claim
to real eminence can not be gainsaid.
Washington's subsequent career can be briefly summarized:
Honors came thickly upon him. He was almost immediately
invited by Dr. D. C. Gilman, then president of Johns Hopkins
University, to be one of the judges of award in the department
of education at the Exposition. Offers were made from Lyceum
Bureaus to lecture for as high a sum as fifty thousand dollars a
season, with countless invitations to deliver addresses on all con¬
ceivable subjects and places. He has spoken before such col¬
leges as Yale, Williams, Amherst, Fisk, University of Pennsyl¬
vania, University of Michigan, in the North, and quite as well
known institutions in the South. Harvard conferred on him the
degree of A.M., "the first of his race to receive an honorary
degree from the oldest university in the land and this for the
wise leadership of his people."3 When Boston unveiled the
Shaw Monument on Boston Common in 1897 he was the orator of
the occasion. During the Jubilee week at Chicago after the
war with Spain, at which President McKinley was the guest
of honor, the speech of Washington was the prelude to an ova¬
tion placing him on a pedestal as elevated as that of the Na¬
tion's Chief Magistrate.
The next year some friends insisted on a trip for Mr. Wash¬
ington to Europe. They arranged all the details, the steamer,
3 C. W. Eliot, President of Harvard.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
211
the incidental expense and the provision for Tuskegee in the
meanwhile. In Europe he received distinguished consideration
from such eminent Americans then abroad as President Har¬
rison, Archbishop Ireland, General Horace Porter, "Mark
Twain," Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, Justice John M.
Harlan of the U. S. Supreme Court, U. S Ambassador Joseph
H. Choate, and such Englishmen as James Bryce, M. P., author
of "The American Commonwealth," Mrs. T. Fisher Unwin,
daughter of Richard Cobden, Mrs. Clark, daughter of John
Bright, and Joseph Sturge, the son of the great abolitionist who
was the colleague of Whittier and Garrison, also Henry M.
Stanley, the African discoverer.
The organization of the Negro Business League at Boston in
1900 may be accounted as one of the most important acts of
Mr. Washington, because of its possibilities. It aims to bring
the business men of the Negro race together and by the power
of example stimulate the growth and development of their busi¬
ness activities as well as to lead to new ventures in pursuits
hitherto neglected and untrodden.
"The Story of My Life," "The Future of the Negro," "Up
From Slavery," "Character Building," "Working with the
Hands," and "The Negro in Business" are among his published
works.
He has not yet reached the heights of his achievements as a
leader of his people and one of the foremost men of his country
and times without regard to race.
The Tuskegee Institute began with one teacher and thirty
pupils. It has now, thirty-two years after, more than 2,300
acres of land, 900 of which are cultivated, 86 buildings valued
at $874,943, and a productive endowment fund of nearly two
million dollars. There is also in its possession several thousand
acres of mineral land that yield no income. At the beginning
its operating expenses were $2,000 annually granted by the State
212
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
of Alabama. The cost of operating averages more than a quar¬
ter of a million dollars annually. The student body is now com¬
posed of more than 1,600 students instead of 30 pupils, coming
mainly from the lower South, but in all 36 States and Territories
and 18 foreign countries.
No sketch of Mr. Washington would be complete or im¬
partial which ignores the antagonisms and the criticisms of his
policy as a leader. It is not within the purview of a biographical
sidelight to assume a partisan role Aside from his successful
advocacy of the claims of industrial education, the establish¬
ment of the Business Men's League, which has maintained an
uninterrupted existence since 1900, is a work of constructive
statesmanship to speak for itself.
In 1898, on the same platform with President McKinley, he
recounted the military service of the Negro in all the wars of
the Republic and then made a most impassioned appeal to the
country for justice.
At "Wilberforce University at the celebration of its fiftieth an¬
niversary in the presence of the Bishops, he made an argu¬
ment for the union of the different branches of Methodism that
must commend itself to all thinkers as a piece of foresighted
statesmanship which all should recognize. "Whatever his mis¬
takes, these two addresses loom out and emphasize the claim
we make for him as the great organizer, promoter, and execu¬
tive of the last decade of the nineteenth and the first decade of
the twentieth century.
XXXII
fanny muriel. jackson coppin
One of the first colored women to graduate from a recognized
college in the United States was Fanny M. Jackson Coppin, the
wife of Bishop Levi J. Coppin, 30th bishop of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. But this is her smallest claim to
distinction, for hers is excellence as educator, public speaker,
and for her notable achievements as a public-spirited citizen.
She was born a slave in the city of Washington, District of
Columbia, late in the fourth decade of the nineteenth century.
Her maternal grandfather was a Mr. Henry Orr, a free man
of color; but his wife was a slave, and according to the laws
of the times, their six children took the legal condition of
the mother. A few years after the passage of the Fugitive Slave
Law of 1850, Mrs. Sarah Clark, her aunt, discovering that
Fanny was a child of promise, saved up one hundred and
seventy-five dollars and secured the girl's freedom, according to
the forms of law, by paying this sum of money to the District of
Columbia slaveholders, so as to incur no risk, should it be neces¬
sary to move to another community.
At fifteen she went to Newport. There began the struggle.
She was not willing to depend upon her aunt. Speaking of
this period she says:
41 So I went to service. Oh, the hue and cry there was, when
I went out to live! Even my aunt spoke of it; she had a home
to offer me; but the 'slavish' element was so strong in me that
I must maJce myself a servant. Ah, how those things cut me
then! But I knew I was right, and I kept straight on. . . .
213
214 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
The lady with whom I lived allowed me one hour every other
afternoon to go and recite to a person whom I paid to teach
me. For this I was not allowed to go out at any other time. . . •
I remained there six years, using my seven dollars a month to
pay for my instruction."
She obtained employment as maid in a very distinguished
family—the Calverts of Baltimore, who were then living in
Rhode Island. The home of the Calverts was the resort of all
the literati of Boston—here she acquired or rather deepened that
craving for education that followed her all her life. Surrounded
constantly by the most refined culture, the young servant girl
sought for opportunities to study. One hour each week was given
her to use as she would, and it was during these driblets of
time that she studied vocal and instrumental music and that
she prepared herself to enter the State Normal School, then
under the principalship of Dana P. Colburn, author of the well-
known series of arithmetics. Mrs. Calvert had no children
and soon the ability, tact and graciousness of the young servant
commended her to the mistress. "When she was about to leave
the Calvert service to enter the Normal School, Mrs. Calvert
said to Fanny: "Will money keep you?" "No," replied
Fanny, "I want to fit myself to help to educate my people."
This dedication to her people's service became and remained the
one purpose of her life, giving it a singular coherence and
unity of aim.
It was a rare thing for a young colored woman to show such
an ambition to obtain an education and to demonstrate her
capacity for academic honors, as did Fanny Jackson. This was
in the dark days before the Civil War when Kansas was a
battle-ground between the friends of freedom and slavery, and
the land was echoing the dictum of the Dred Scott Decision, that
"A Negro had no right which a white man is bound to respect."
It was then that Bishop Daniel A. Payne, whose zeal for educa¬
tion was well known, heard of this ambitious girl and obtained
FANNY MURIEL JACKSON COPPIN 215
her a scholarship which enabled her to attend Oberlin College.
The young student did not rely on this aid entirely, for she
taught music to the children of the college professors and thus
helped to pay her way through college.
When a student at Oberlin she became more and more im¬
pressed with the gravity of her chosen work. "Whenever I
stood up to recite," said she, "I felt the whole responsibility of
my people resting on my shoulders. My failure was my people's
failure.''
It was customary at Oberlin to employ members of the ad¬
vanced classes to teach students in the preparatory depart¬
ment. While all, colored and white, were treated alike at Ober¬
lin, yet never was a colored pupil-teacher sent to take charge
of classes where all were white. We must remember too that
many of the members of the classes in the preparatory depart¬
ment were the children of slaveholding parents. Fanny was
given a class as an experiment. Said President Finney to her:
'' In giving you this class, Fanny, I do not hold myself responsi¬
ble for the order, or that the pupils will sit under your instruc¬
tion. I send you; you must make your own way." She made
her way. The class was a brilliant success. The success was
the more pronounced, because former white pupil-teachers had
signally failed in the management of this very class. Its num¬
bers gradually increased to one hundred young white men and
women and consequently became too large for the young teacher.
When President Finney proposed to divide it the students re¬
fused to leave. Visitors, those friendly as well as those op¬
posed to the race, were in daily attendance to see this novel
sight. The London Athenceum of that time mentions the event
as a noteworthy fact.
The Civil War came on apace. For a time the outcome seemed
doubtful. When the tide of battle turned and freedom to the
bondman was seen to be inevitable, Fanny M. Jackson and Mary
M. Patterson were called to the Institute for Colored Youth,
216 THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
an. academy of almost college grade in the city of Philadelphia,
maintained by a legacy left more than a quarter of a century
previously by Richard Humphreys, a Quaker. Miss Jackson
received the appointment as principal of the female depart¬
ment, and when, four years later, in March, 1869, President
Grant appointed its principal, Ebenezer D. Bassett, Minister to
Haiti, the vacancy in the Institute was filled by the promotion
to the head position of the once slave girl, who first saw the
light of day within the borders of the District of Columbia.
For thirty-five years her career in Philadelphia was one of
intense activity, acknowledged ability as educator, and distinc¬
tion as a leader in every good cause for the promotion of the
betterment of the colored people of her city and the country
at large. No voice was more potent than hers outside of the
schoolroom; no educator shaped to better advantage more youth¬
ful minds.
Among some of the things accomplished by Mrs. Coppin, aside
from her class-room work as an educator, may be credited the
organization of the Colored Woman's Exchange, by means of
which opportunity was given for the first time, for the public
exhibition of specimens of the artistic and mechanical workman¬
ship of the colored people of Philadelphia. Many orders for
supplies and work in all of the varied lines of skill exhibited
were received. The "Home for Girls and Young Women," a
house which gave to young women engaged in domestic service the
comforts of a home, maintained for a number of years largely
by her enterprise and energy, was another practical result of her
many-sided activities.
But the establishment of an Industrial School as a feature
of the Institute for Colored Youth, of which she was principal,
may be classed, possibly, as her most important work.
As an orator she is entitled to a very high place, indeed. A
contemporary, who had ample opportunity for gauging her
work in this respect, says: "Her appeals in behalf of the
FANNY MURIEL JACKSON OOPPIN 217
colored people of her city and country have been as direct, as
soul-stirring, as eloquent, as those by any man in the same be¬
half." "When it is remembered that she had frequently ap¬
peared on the same platform with Isaiah C. Wears, John M.
Langston, Robert Purvis and Frederick Douglass, such a tribute
can be estimated at its true valuation. Her lectures and public
addresses delivered in principal cities were given, not for pe¬
cuniary gain, but in response to a call to service. Her personality
would have won her high civic recognition had she been of the
other sex and race.
At a political gathering in Philadelphia . . . the mayor of
the city was one of the speakers on the platform. She made
one of her soul-stirring, effective speeches that those who heard
her will long remember. The mayor was so touched by her
earnestness and cultured mind that he purposely sought some
means of showing his appreciation and appointed her—the first
instance of its kind—a member of a Board of City Examiners
for clerical officers.
She has acted as an interpreter of French in court, and was
for a time one of the directory of the "Old Folks' Home," lo¬
cated in West Philadelphia.
In 1888 she visited England to attend the Missionary Con¬
gress as a representative of the Sarah Allen Mission. So elo¬
quently did she plead the cause that the Duke of Somerset arose
and commended her in glowing terms for her eloquence and the
cause that she so ably represented.
In 1881 at the height of her career, she was married to Rev.
Levi J. Coppin, formerly a student at the school. The service
was performed in Washington at the Nineteenth Street Baptist
Church, in which many of her girlish days were spent, and of
which Mrs. Clark, her aunt, then a resident of Washington, was
an influential member. Besides the reception tendered there by
friends and a host of former pupils identified with the life of
Washington, there were receptions held in Baltimore, in which
218
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Rev. Coppin was a pastor, and in Philadelphia, the scene of and
center of the activities of the bride and groom for so many
years.
In 1900 her husband was elected bishop and assigned to work
in South Africa. There was no hesitation in her mind as to
her duty, although well-meaning friends doubted whether it was
wise for her to risk her health in journeying 11,000 miles to the
Dark Continent. But she resigned her connection with the
Institute at Philadelphia and began as ardently in South Africa
the work of laying the foundation of Bethel Institute at Cape¬
town, as at the Institute in the "City of Brotherly Love" thirty
years before.
As an evidence of the world-wide influence she wielded as
teacher in the Institute for Colored Youth, on her arrival in
South Africa, she, to her unbounded surprise, met those who had
been under her tutelage 11,000 miles away.
She did not write out her speeches and lectures, but it being
her purpose to publish a work on the Science of Teaching, for
which her ample notes made for her class-room work afforded a
basis unlike that of the average text-book in pedagogics. She
spent the last months of her life in preparing "Reminiscences
of School Life and Notes on Teaching."
Certain it is that no career is more encouraging to the deserv¬
ing colored woman than that of Fanny M. Jackson Coppin, so
basis unlike that of the average text-book in pedagogics, she
passed away January 21, 1913, at her home in Philadelphia.
XXXIII
henry osawa tanner
In an address by Rev. "William Henry Channing, dedicatory of
the Miner School Building at the National Capital, the possi¬
bilities of the Negro race in the Fine Arts were foretold with
all the perfect confidence of one divinely intrusted with the
secrets of the future. Those who listened to this remarkable
address must have been not only charmed and thrilled, but
reconciled to all the galling and disheartening conditions of
proscription and persecution as this seer took a peep into the
future when musicians of power, poets of recognized beauty,
and painters of marvelous touch would be among the heritage of
this race.
At that time Paul Laurence Dunbar was clinging to his
mother's skirts in Dayton, Ohio; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was
prattling in London within echo of Dr. Channing's sermons, and
Henry Osawa Tanner, born at Pittsburg, June 21, 1859, when
Old John Brown, for whom he was named, was prospecting
near Harper's Ferry,—had just overcome his struggles between
love and duty in determining his future career.
His father, Bishop Benjamin T. Tanner, editor of the Chris¬
tian Recorder, lived near Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.
One day while accompanying his father the sight of an artist
painting from nature greeted their sight. "Oh, papa," ex¬
claimed the boy, "I can do just what that man is doing!" "I
know I can," he repeated with ecstasy.
This was one of the earliest revelations of the bent of the
boy's mind. Paint, brushes and canvas were given him and he
219
220
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
became busy. One of his first sketches, still preserved in the
family, was a landscape in which conventionalities of color, per¬
spective and grouping were subordinated for other striking
indications of unusual artistic talent.
Other evidences of the boy's penchant were exhibited in his
fondness for mathematics and drawing. To such a degree was
this shown that he was one of the few school pupils named to
receive instruction in drawing.
Delicate of frame and constitution, studious at school and
being the oldest child, considerable solicitude was manifested by
both parents as to his future career. Quite naturally they urged
him to look to the ministry; but obedient as he was in all other
respects, Henry had made up his mind to be an artist and
nothing else. He told his parents that though he could not
gratify their wish for him to be a minister, he would do as
much for their religion with his brush as he ever could do by
his voice. And so the sequel has proven.
To accomplish his ambition to be an artist he was perfectly
willing to make any struggle or endure any hardship. He would
even wear clothes long after they should have been replaced by
others,—not because he was at all slovenly in dress, but because
of his independence.
He had a few or no companions except his artist friends
whom he would meet at the Academy of Fine Arts while in the
pursuit of his studies or his visits to the art galleries.
Sculpture strongly appealed to him and the boy frequently
spent many an hour at the Zoological Park modeling from ani¬
mals. So excellent was this work that it secured him privileges
denied except to artists and art students.
It was at Atlantic City late in the eighties where the public
first learned of his artistic talent.
After receiving instructions from such celebrated artists as
Thomas Eakins and Thomas Hovenden, and having realized
several hundred dollars from the sale of his pictures and bits of
HENRY OSAWA TANNER
221
sculpture, he went to Paris in 1891 where, under the tutelage of
Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant, he made steady
progress in his art studies to such a degree that he became
known to the art world as one of the foremost of American
artists.
During his life in Paris his earliest studies partook there as
in America largely of his environment, as a glance at their titles
shows, but these are not those on which his reputation as a painter
will rest. They were nevertheless training his powers in a direc¬
tion and in a field in which he stands out as one of the first artists
of France and Europe.
A canvas bearing his name "The Music Lesson" was admitted
to the Salon in 1894 and when he gained an entrance the next
year, with "The Young Sabot Maker," his picture was given an
obscure position, but it met the eye of Gerome, the great artist,
who insisted and secured for it a position on the line. After¬
wards Gerome, who had not met Mr. Tanner, saw him and told
the rising artist what he had done.
In 1896 Mr. Tanner won an honorable mention. Before that
honorable mention another American artist strolling through the
Salon with some friends pointed out excellences that the jury
later confirmed. That artist accordingly raised himself in their
estimation.
The next year, 1897, found Mr. Tanner at the Salon with the
"Raising of Lazarus," a painting that at once attracted the
attention of the public and the critics for its dramatic power, its
unconventional, yet graphic treatment. It is thus described by
the Paris correspondent of the New York Times:
"He places the scene of his painting in the dark cavern of
Bethany, the immediate foreground at the right showing Lazarus
himself, half reclining on the stone floor, as he struggles back to
life. The mark of death is upon him, and the grave clothes
show white and livid in the gloom of the little cavern at Bethany.
Without being theatrical or sensational, the representation of
222
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
this miracle is powerful and appealing. The conception of
Christ is reverent, strong and tender. The light that falls on
His breast and on His face makes Him stand out prominently.
The figures of Mary and Martha are skillfully placed in con¬
trasting attitudes. The surrounding throng of Jews and
apostles grouped with admirable clearness and simplicity, offers
further evidence of Mr. Tanner's powers and especially of the
completeness of his enthusiasm in the subject he chose. The
mysterious light that envelops the spot altogether heightens the
effect of the painting."
The picture received the Gold Medal, was purchased by the
French Government and placed in the Louvre. Mr. Tanner had
now "arrived" in the vestibule of the Temple of Art the portals
of which will swing back as he passes from the ideals of life
to the border and limitless vistas of eternity.
His next celebrated picture, "The Annunciation" was exhibited
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1898 and was pur¬
chased for the Wilstach Collection in the Memorial Building at
Fairmount Park. This picture excited quite as much interest
as his "Lazarus." It was of a subject that has frequently been
treated by artists, but his interpretation of the theme gave.it
new life. The criticism in the Springfield (Mass.) BepuMi-
can is a specimen. It runs thus:
" 'The Annunciation' in the hands of Mr. Tanner is as new
as if the world had never seen it before. There is no sign of
the conventional angel bearing a lily, no idealized woman in a
floating robe with her hands crossed and her eyes cast down.
There is only the plain interior of an ordinary cottage in
Palestine. A young girl, evidently a typical representative of
the poorer class of her country, is seated on the edge of the bed,
from which she has been roused. She has folded a long, loose
gown of some dark stuff around her, and is looking very intently,
with a listening expression, across the room to where a bright
light is shining out of the gloom. The general tone of the pic-
Christ and Nicodenms, by H. 0. Tanner.
HENRY OSAWA TANNER
223
ture is a rich, glowing brown, suggestive of Rembrandt, yet dif¬
ferent. It makes all the other pictures in the room look hard
and glaring. It is impossible to put into words the beauty and
strength of this picture of Mr. Tanner."1
"Judas" was next exhibited at and purchased by the Carnegie
Institute in Pittsburg, and in the same year, 1899, "Nicodemus"
having won the Walter Lippincott prize of $300 was added by
purchase to the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts. This picture was painted from a housetop in Jerusalem.
At the Universal Exposition at Paris, in 1900, he received a
second-class medal: a second-class medal the next year at the Pan-
American Exposition at Buffalo for "Daniel in the Lion's Den,"
and also a second-class medal for the same canvas at the Louisi¬
ana Exposition at St. Louis. In the catalogue of the Art De¬
partment this picture is described as follows:
" 'Daniel in the Lion's Den' shows a large subterranean apart¬
ment dimly lighted by square openings in the roof, through which
the daylight illumines square patches on the floor and portions of
the wall. Daniel stands in the principal light space, the lower
portion of his body in the light, the upper part, including the
upturned face, being in deep shadow. A lion standing near the
prophet is partly in light; the other beasts are in shadow except
where a further opening in the roof gives another small square
of light. The attitude of the man expresses faith and confidence
that no harm can come to him. The gleaming eyes and nervous
expressions of the lions indicate an unwilling restraint which
they cannot understand but are powerless to overcome. In
the treatment of this low-toned composition, the artist has
been singularly fortunate in keeping his color clear and his
shadows transparent. There is just enough definition, just
enough mystery. The shadows are luminous, and the coloring is
neither heavy nor muddy."2
1 Springfield (Mass.) Republican.
2 The Art Department 111. Univ. Exposition, St. Louis, 1904.
224
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
"The Disciples at Emmaus," described as a work in which,
the mingled joy and bewilderment of the two disciples, the super¬
natural personality and divine authority of their Master are de¬
picted with wonderful power, was awarded the Second medal at
the Salon of 1906, purchased by the French Government and also
placed in the Luxembourg Gallery. In the same year when the
annual exhibition at Chicago was opened it was found that the
award for the best painting on exhibition, the N. "W. Harris prize
of $300 was given to Henry 0. Tanner for "The Disciples at
the Tomb," described as the most impressive and most distin¬
guished work of art which had been produced that season.
But "The "Wise and Foolish Virgins" at the Paris Salon in
1908 has elicited from the art critics the most unstinted praise
of his work and acknowledgment as to his place in the forefront
of living artists. This is a picture ten feet by fifteen feet in
which appear twelve life-size figures. The New York Herald,
Paris edition, says: "The viewpoint of the critics has been di¬
verse, but none of them fails to commend Mr. Tanner's work,
and some of them do so in unmeasured terms, going so far as
to pronounce it the best picture that has been seen at the an¬
nual exhibition for several years." The Herald also adds that
"it is noteworthy that the Tanner painting has a position in
the Salon second to none except the place which is held by De-
taille, who has the place of honor." It is also characterized as
"the work of a sincere artist whose sentiment has always pre¬
vailed over his technique, with subtle power, great purity of
line and thorough charm."
The Echo de Paris goes more into detail than the Herald. It
says, speaking of the human figures, "they are exquisite, espe¬
cially the foolish virgins. The drapery, airy, gay, white gar¬
ments which undulate in innumerable folds at every step is all
full of exquisite and very picturesque details. The necklace of
red coral, the green scarf, a blue shade in the silky paleness of
the scarf, and such easy, free and harmonious treatment."
HENRY OSAWA TANNER
225
The Matin brings to its criticism a freedom from the precon¬
ceived impressions of one familiar with Tanner's work, for the
writer says, 44Where does he come from? He is certainly odd
in his way. Note how he makes the costumes undulate with an
expression peculiar to themselves. Some may comment on him
lightly. For my part, I find this unknown astonishing."
But L'Intransignent pays him possibly the highest tribute.
It says: '' His palette is somber with golden half tints. He al¬
ways brings out of his works an admirable dramatic sentiment
given full value and fully expressed. He could illustrate
Shakespeare better than any. In his middle ground are seen
secondary scenes that greatly augment the interest of the prin¬
cipal. The faces express exactly the idea of the subject. The
atmosphere gains much thereby. An impression is given that
something is taking place before the eyes and something of a
vital character. 'The Wise and Foolish Virgins' is a theme
that has often been treated, but Mr. Tanner has given it a new
aspect in making it melodramatic.''
All these notices should be sufficient to show his eminence as
an artist among artists in the very center of the art world.
His popularity is assured, for no sooner is a picture from his
brush ready for exhibition than there are eager and competing
buyers. It would be impossible for our artist to give an exhibi¬
tion of his paintings, for they are scattered in the galleries of
the Old and the New World. At the present writing "The Wise
and Foolish Virgins" is the only one of his celebrated pictures in
his possession. Several years ago he painted for The Ladies'
Home Journal a series of four pictures called the "Mothers of
the Bible,'' Sarah, Mary, Hagar and Rachel, which will be found
reproduced in that monthly.
Among the earlier works to attract the attention of his home
town may be named "The Bagpipe Lesson," which portrays a
workman seated on a wheelbarrow watching the struggles of a
youth to produce music from that instrument. '' The Banjo Les-
226
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
son,'' now in the Cleveland Library at Hampton and familiar to
all visitors to that famous school, similar in subject but different
in race and type, illustrates the artist's versatility. Other noted
products of his brush are: "Ruth," "Judas after the Be¬
trayal," "Christ at Home of Mary and Martha," "Return of
the Holy "Women," "The Jews' Wailing Place," "The Flight
into Egypt," "He Vanished out of Their Sight," "Christ before
the Doctors," "Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet," and "Job
and his Three Friends." The themes of Mr. Tanner are by no
means original, but unlike the average artist he has visited the
Holy Land again and again and made himself familiar with its
customs, its people and country, so that in all his later pictures
and his major pieces drawn from biblical history, he has given
world-wide types, but the scenes and background are strictly
Oriental. He spent the winter of 1907-08 in Algiers.
Some of the distinctive characteristics of his art are the at¬
mosphere of his pictures, their reverent tone, and the subtle
power that makes one feel the thoughts he portrays. His pic¬
tures are so clean-cut, thorough and pure that to use another's
words, "we gaze upon them with a grateful sense of refreshment.
The luminous quality of his paint removes us quickly from
commonplace crudity and garishness like the difference between
the rich vegetable dyes of the Oriental rug and the miserable
aniline colors which we see in cheap carpet.''
America and the Negro claim Mr. Tanner because, though a
resident of France, he received his first inspiration and instruc¬
tion in the United States, where his kindred still live. On his
father's side he is Pennsylvania to the core. Through his
mother, he traces his ancestry to the immediate neighborhood of
Virginia where John Brown paid the penalty of his life be¬
cause of aggressive detestation of slavery. By a singular coin¬
cidence Thomas Hovenden, one of his early instructors, has seized
the scene where John Brown kisses a colored child on his way
to the gallows for one of his celebrated pictures, and his other
HENRY OSAWA TANNER
227
early teacher, Thomas Eakins, was singularly noted for his suc¬
cess as a delineator of Negro types. These two men and their
ideals must have fired Mr. Tanner's soul, and when he did not
receive appreciation from those of his own race that should have
been given him, he determined to go abroad where his facilities
and his scope would not be handicapped by color or race. In
France, he is not at all fettered, either by race indifference, race
depreciation, or race prejudice. He stands on his merits, and
on these he has risen to world-wide eminence. He is a member
of a number of art societies and a corresponding member of the
American Negro Academy.
XXXIY
john francis cook, second
The location and organization of the Federal Government of the
United States early occupied the attention of the new Nation.
It was in 1792 that Andrew Ellicott, a surveyor of Maryland,
succeeding to the authority given to Pierre L'Enfant super¬
vised the laying out of the ten-miles-square over which as the
Capital of the New Nation by Article I, Section VIII, para¬
graph 17, of the Federal Constitution, Congress was to have ex¬
clusive jurisdiction.
In the second census taken in 1800, there was a population of
14,093 in Washington, of which 4,027 were colored, and of these
783 were free persons. One of the first considerations of the
New Government of the District of Columbia, as it was called,
was the establishment of a system of public education. This
provision was not contemplated for the entire population of
school age, but only for the whites. In 1804 this system was in¬
augurated. Notwithstanding the colored youth were ignored,
there was at that early day public spirit and forethought on the
part of three colored men which gave opportunity for the in¬
struction of colored youth. In 1807 these men, George Bell,
Nicholas Franklin and Moses Liverpool, all formerly slaves, out
of their own earnings erected a building for the instruction of
these youth. This building was located where the present Provi¬
dence Hospital now stands, and was used for the purpose of its
succeeding to the authority given to Pierre L'Enfant, super¬
vised the laying out of the ten-mile square over which as the
slave population. "With varied success and under differ-
228
JOHN FRANCIS COOK, SECOND 229
ent leadership, first by individuals and then by organizations,
the education of the colored people of the District of Columbia
was continued for more than half a century. The difficulties
were many in the way of their education. Colored youth were
compelled to journey to and from their homes through back
streets and across the commons of the Capital to evade the phys¬
ical and prejudiced opposition which daily confronted them.
Washington was also a storm center of the anti-slavery agita¬
tion.
The debates in Congress over the Missouri Compromise in
1819-1820, and the discussion in the public press owing to the
Denmark Yesey conspiracy of 1822, the Nat Turner outbreak
of 1831 and the organization of the American anti-slavery So¬
ciety of 1833 were reflected in local mobs and riots.
The Resolute Beneficial Society in 1818 organized for the
specific purpose of promoting the education of their race. They
used the Bell Schoolhouse built in 1807. Then came a school by
an Englishman, next one by Mrs. Anne Maria Hall, at one time
in Israel Church. In Georgetown in 1810 was one by Mrs. Mary
Billing, an Englishwoman. Then Henry Smothers, a pupil of
Mrs. Billing, opened a school and subsequently erected a building
for the purpose on Fourteenth and H Streets, Northwest. John
W. Prout succeeded him in 1825 and conducted there a school
which, governed by a board of trustees, was virtually a free school
for two or three years. It was then called the Columbian Insti¬
tute. John F. Cook came in charge of this school in 1834 and
with the exception of a brief interval as the victim of a riot, con¬
tinued it until his death in 1855.
In the sixty years intervening between 1807 and 1862, when
by act of Congress, provision was made for colored youth, this
man, John Francis Cook, stands forth the most conspicuous
figure. His leadership was not alone manifested in the educa¬
tion of a talented group; it was exhibited both in religious mat¬
ters and in secular affairs. He was one of the organizers of
230
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Union Bethel Church in 1838, which, nearly fifty years later, be¬
came the Metropolitan A. M. E. Church; organizer and first
pastor in 1841 of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, one
of the foremost churches of that denomination in the country; he
was one of the charter members of Union Friendship Lodge
No. 891, Grand United Order of Odd Fellows and of the Har¬
mony Cemetery Association, and was also one of the first Min¬
isters' Council organized by Daniel A. Payne.
At his death, the mantle as educator which fell from his
shoulders, was taken up by his two sons, John F. and George
F. T. Cook, who had been trained at Oberlin and gained their
experience as his assistants.
For half a century these two men were scarcely less con¬
spicuous than their sire for their personal dignity, their conse¬
crated public service, their lofty ideals, and their unimpeachable
character, all of which combined commanded for them respect
by all classes of citizens and by both races. While these traits
were common to the two, they carved out such distinct careers
that separate and independent treatment is a desert to their
work.
John F. Cook, Second, was born in Washington, September
21, 1833. His early years were spent without special incident.
After teaching for some years in the school established by his
father, he taught for a brief period in New Orleans and until
the outbreak of the Civil War.
In 1867 he accepted a clerkship in the office of the Collector of
Taxes in his native city. The next year he became a member of
the Board of Aldermen and in 1868 he was elected Register of
the City. In 1874 he was nominated to the Collectorship of
Taxes by President Grant and confirmed by the Senate, a posi¬
tion held by him through the administration of Grant, Hayes,
Garfield and Arthur, until the accession of the Democratic Party
by the election of Grover Cleveland caused his resignation.
JOHN FRANCIS COOK, SECOND 231
Other positions held by him included the Grandmastership of
the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for ten
terms, eight of them in succession, and a trusteeship of Howard
University for thirty-five years, during part of which he was a
member of its Executive Committee. Three times he was chosen
as delegate to the National Convention of the Republican Party.
He served also as a member of the Board of Trustees of the
National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women
and Children and of the Board of Trustees of the Harmony Ceme¬
tery. After having reached threescore years and ten, he was
appointed a member of the local board of education, from its re¬
organization in 1906, until his resignation on account of failing
health a few months before his death in 1910. His public spirit
was further shown by his presidency of the Samuel Coleridge-
Taylor Choral Association, a musical organization which has
rendered with great success "Hiawatha" and "The Atonement"
by that eminent Africo-English composer.
George F. T. Cook was not attracted by the allurements of
politics, but he remained in the service of education first as in¬
structor, then as superintendent.
The next month after the abolition of slavery in the District
of Columbia on May 21, 1862, Congress enacted a law calling for
ten per cent of the taxes levied on the property of colored per¬
sons, to be set apart for the purpose of initiating a system of
primary education for the colored youth of the District of
Columbia. After a lapse of two years, one teacher, Miss Emma
V. Brown, who became Mrs. Henry P. Montgomery, was ap¬
pointed teacher at a salary of $400. This sum proving insuf¬
ficient to develop the system, additional legislation was secured
July 26, 1866, giving a pro rata of all municipal school funds
to a board of colored trustees. This at once gave the schools an
impetus.
Upon the inauguration of the public school system and his
installation therein as superintendent, a number of his former
232
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
pupils were among his assistants as a nucleus of tlie corps of
teachers. Under this superintendence which with an interval of
one year, began in 1868 and continued to June, 1900, the system
grew to be the largest and best for the colored race in the United
States. In 1869 there were 50 teachers, 25 of whom were white
and 25 colored with an average attendance of 2,532.
In the school year 1899-1900, his last year of service, there
were under his independent superintendence, in the cities of
Washington and Georgetown, 352 teachers with 112 pupils in
the Normal School, 700 in the high school, 3,307 in grammar
grades, 8,233 in the primary departments, and 392 in the kinder¬
gartens, a total of 12,748 pupils. These were housed in 23 owned
and 3 rented buildings in which there was an aggregate of 227
class rooms.
No other colored educator anywhere in the United States has
enjoyed or wielded such an influence, and no white instructor has
molded the education of as many colored youth as he. For the
more than thirty years his position as superintendent was an in¬
dependent and responsible one. The appropriations for the
schools being based on his estimates and largely in accordance
with his recommendations. As a matter of fact he was the first
and only colored superintendent of the colored schools of Wash¬
ington and Georgetown.
A most interesting fact in the evolution of these schools is their
separate management until the beginning of the twentieth cen¬
tury. This became essential, if not indispensable to their growth,
and development; for at the commencement of these schools,
there were both indifference and open hostility towards them on
the part of the white school trustees. In the winter of 1868-69
after the legislation for a pro rata division of the school fund
had assured their expansion, a bill was passed without debate
in both houses of Congress repealing the provision for the sepa¬
rate management by the colored trusteees, who at that time were
appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, and vesting their
JOHN FRANCIS COOK, SECOND 233
authority in the board appointed by the Municipality, which had
the management of the white schools. The colored people were
alarmed by the passage of this bill, especially because of the
method by which the measure was rushed through Congress.
They held public meetings in different churches and expressed
most emphatically their opposition to the change. The first
meeting held at Israel A. M. E., now C. M. E., Church, was pre¬
sided over by John F. Cook and the final one at the Fifteenth
Street Presbyterian Church was addressed among others, by Rev.
J. Sella Martin, the pastor, one of the most talented orators the
colored race has developed.
The resolutions adopted took unusually high ground. They
called for free schools and equal school rights. They deprecated
any legislation that did not abolish in toto the existing system
built on distinctions in race and color. Especially was the op¬
position focused on the bill under consideration that transferred
the powers of the board of colored trustees to those of the Munici¬
pality, because it would be optional with the white trustees to
continue colored schools and subject them to distracting in¬
fluences.
When the measure came to the President, Andrew Johnson,
he gave the matter such consideration that he submitted the pre¬
amble and resolutions to Congress without affixing his signature
to the bill. And the scheme to take the control of the colored
schools from their own trustees failed until the reorganization
thirty-one years later in 1900.
Mr. John W. F. Smith for several years closely associated with
Mr. Cook in the administration of the schools thus sets forth Mr.
Cook's unique work in the cause of education.
'' Scarcely had the smoke of battle lifted than he was called to
the grandest work ever given to man—the establishment upon
firm and sure foundation of a system of education here. 'The
hour and the man' met in Mr. Cook. Years of actual teaching
in elementary schools well fitted him to lay hold wisely and
234
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
skillfully upon school problems. The practical trend of his ef¬
forts actuated his teachers, and solid substantial training and
teaching resulted.
"During the public school period he was associated with such
efficient superintendents as J. Ormond Wilson and W. B. Powell,
respectively superintendents of the white schools of the District
of Columbia. Mr. Wilson, as is well known, was a great or¬
ganizer; Mr. Powell, a great thinker, and through his addresses
a stimulator of the teachers. Mr. Cook was both an organizer
and thinker, but not a talker. By intimate relationship with
the teachers in the schoolroom and by frequent conferences with
them in his office, he stimulated and inspired them. His execu¬
tive ability was notable as witnessed by the successful manage¬
ment of a rapidly developing system of schools. The selection
of sites for new schools, all financial matters, requisitions for all
books and supplies, and innumerable other details devolved upon
his office. Thus he was both business manager and educator."
George F. T. Cook Normal School No. 2, Washington, D. C.
XXXV
edward wilmot blyden
The career of Edward Wilmot Blyden, who died February 7,
1912, at Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, illustrates very
graphically several facts. First, the difficulties which the
American Negro had to encounter in the last half of the nine¬
teenth century; Second, how these frequently stimulated the
activities of the individual who is determined to make the best
of his opportunities; Third, how they become at times like withes
of straw as handicaps either to dwarf the intellectual, moral or
physical growth of the individual.
Blyden was born August 3, 1832, on the Island of St. Thomas
in the Danish West Indies. His parents were of pure Negro
stock, of the Eboe tribe and were members of the Dutch Re¬
formed Church. Rev. John P. Knox, Blyden's teacher, an
American Missionary of the same denomination perceiving that
the youth had unusual intellectual capacity, advised him to pur¬
sue a collegiate course in the United States. To fulfill this de¬
sign the youth came in 1850 to New York but found admission
to the colleges to which he applied denied him on account of race.
This was just after the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law
when public excitement was at fever heat, manifesting its opposi¬
tion in many ways against the individual as well as the class.
It had been Blyden's purpose on the completion of his studies
to settle in Africa, but the denial of the opportunity determined
him to go at once to that distant land.
He landed in Liberia, January 26, 1851, and became a pupil in
the Alexander High School at Monrovia. Such was the as¬
siduity with which he applied himself to study that he soon be-
235
236
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
came one of the instructors and in 1858 its principal. "When
Liberia College was started in 1862, lie was made professor of
languages. In this year he visited the United States. Dr. Crum-
mell, then a Missionary in Liberia, was also in America. "While
in this country, Blyden published his first work, "Liberia's
Offering." The author recalls a visit by Blyden to the Institute
for Colored Youth upon which the young African scholar in the
course of an address to the pupils expressed in unmistakable
language his contempt for the attitude of the American Negro
with respect to his servile condition and the popular indifference
in which he was held. Said Blyden: "I would make my mark.
I would do something to demand the attention of the American
people, if I had to burn the Astor House down." Benjamin
Coates, the Quaker merchant, a trustee of the school and a friend
of Liberia, interrupted and attempted to rebuke the speaker, but
Blyden in his calm manner rejoined, "I don't mean to make
marks like they do down South." Another incident was a con¬
firmation in the Church of the Crucifixion, Right Reverend
Alonzo Potter, Bishop of the diocese of Pennsylvania, officiated
while in the chancel, though of a different communion, Dr. Bly¬
den was honored with a seat.
In 1864 because of his influence in Liberian politics, which
the world-wide traveler, Sir H. H. Johnston, said was almost
from the beginning of his citizenship and a result of his ex¬
ceptionally good education, Blyden was appointed Secretary of
State, the duties of which he performed in addition to his educa¬
tional work at the college. He was not successful, nevertheless, in
a movement to amend the Liberian Constitution of 1847 which
made Liberia an independent nation. With a view to improve
his knowledge of the Arabic language, Dr. Blyden made a
journey to Egypt, Syria and Palestine. His experiences in this
tour he published in '' From West Africa to Palestine.'' In 1871
he resigned his college professorship and spent two years in
Sierra Leone. While here he was entrusted by the British Gov-
EDWARD WILMOT BLYDEN
237
eminent with two important diplomatic missions to native chiefs,
one result of which was the negotiation of treaties that added to
the territory of the province. Upon the completion of this
special work, he returned to Liberia to accept an appointment
as the Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Liberia at the
Court of St. James. 1880 once more finds him in America,
this time as a representative to the Presbyterian General As¬
sembly at Madison, Wis. On his way thither he visited Chicago
during the meeting of the Republican National Convention
which nominated James A. Garfield for the Presidency. Here
Blyden met representative Negroes from the South, an oppor¬
tunity which opened the way for visiting many cities in this sec¬
tion and for invitations to preach and lecture on the relation of
the American Negro and Africa. His appearances were before
large and appreciative audiences who listened to him with pro¬
found respect if not with enthusiasm and admiration. Several
of these addresses were collected in '' Christianity, Islam and the
Negro Race," which is regarded as his most important literary
work. The American Colonization Society at this period elected
him as Vice President and on not a few occasions he aimed to
convince his audiences that it was the duty of the American
Negro to return to Africa and there build up an independent
civilization.
On his return to assume the duties of the college presidency,
the call to which was extended to him during his stay in America,
he took with him two of the most thoroughly trained and strong¬
est intellects of the race, Hugh M. Browne and T. McCants
Stewart, shortly after their graduation from Princeton Seminary.
Their connection with Liberia and its college was of the briefest
period.
In 1884 Dr. Blyden resigned from the college to take up edu¬
cational work among the Mohammedans. In 1892 he was
again appointed Liberian representative at the Court of St.
James.
238
THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY
As linguistic scholar, Dr. Blyden ranked deservedly high, for
he possessed a working knowledge of the French, German, Italian
and Spanish among modern languages and of Hebrew, Greek
and Latin among the classics, to which must be added a critical
familiarity with the Arabic.
"While in London, he was elected Honorary Member of the
Athenseum Club, Fellow of the American Philological Society
and Corresponding and Honorary Member of the Society of
Sciences and Letters of Bengal. Several colleges conferred on
him honorary degrees, among them D.D. by Lafayette and
Hamilton Colleges and LL.D. by Lincoln University. On the
organization of the American Negro Academy in 1897, he was
elected one of its first corresponding members.
Some of the most distinguished scholars of both continents,
such as Gladstone, Lord Brougham, Herbert Spencer, Lord Salis¬
bury, R. Bosworth Smith, Charles Dickens, Stafford Brooke, the
Earl of Derby and Charles Sumner included Dr. Blyden among
their correspondents. Lord Brougham during a speech made
June 25, 1860, before the House of Lords referred to a letter in
his possession from Dr. Blyden that contained a high estimate of
the eminent qualities of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who
was then no less than the great commoner, William Ewart Glad¬
stone.
Other works bearing the authorship of Dr. Blyden besides those
elsewhere mentioned were '' The African Problem and Other Dis¬
courses," "West Africa before Europe," and numerous mono¬
graphs. Because of his services in the field of literature, he en¬
joyed a pension in his declining years.
James Carmichael Smith, Esq. (retired), who is familiar with
conditions in the West Indies, the United States and the West
Coast of Africa, says:
"The life and work of the late Edward Wilmot Blyden, D.D.,
have attracted the attention of Europeans and Africans as one
of the most conspicuous expressions and manifestations of the be-
EDWARD WILMOT BLYDEN
239
lief that a man of unmixed African ancestry possesses the mental
capacity, the intellectual and imaginative power of acquiring and
assimilating alike the literary culture of the ancient civiliza¬
tion of the Greeks, the Bomans, and the Hebrews; and of the mod¬
ern civilizations of the Anglo-Saxons, the Latins and the
Arabs. ... He must be regarded as one of the first fruits of a
maturing literary harvest which in the fulness of time will be in-
gathered and which will then reveal to all mankind the view¬
point, the outlook, and the ideals of the "Westernized Africans
of America and the West Indies; and also of the Westernized
Africans of the Continent of Africa who have lived throughout
all of their generation in Africa, governed and surrounded
mainly by Pagan and Mohammedan religious influences and by
African laws and institutions."
APPENDIX A
Holly
The death of Bishop Theodore Holly, March 22, 1911, at Port-au-
Prince, Haiti, recalls the career of Washington's most distinguished
Negro. He was born in 1829 of Roman Catholic parents. His father,
a native of Saint Mary's County, Maryland, was one of the laborers
employed in the building of the Capitol. Young Holly learned the
shoemaker's trade, found his way north and finally became ordained
in 1850 priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was at one
time rector in a western New York parish, then in Michigan and in
Canada, ultimately becoming rector of Saint Luke's P. E. Church at
New Haven, Connecticut. He was active in the conventions regularly
held by the colored men of the North in these dark days. The enact¬
ment of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 threw the colored people of
the North in a spirit of unrest and the burning question was, What must
we do to better our condition—migrate to Canada, to Africa, the West
Indies or Central America ?
In 1874 he was consecrated Eight Reverend Bishop of Haiti by Rt.
Rev. John Williams, D.D., in Grace Church, New York. He worked
with singular zeal to advance the cause of Christianity in his adopted
home, visiting his native city at rare intervals, where relatives still
reside, preaching both at St. Luke's and St. Mary's P. E. Church. His
last visit to Washington was in 1901.
The distinguished prelate was also a recognized Masonic author whose
contributions appeared in some of the leading fraternal periodicals of
the United States, although the editors had not the slightest suspicion
that their brilliant contributor was a Negro.
On the occasion of his one visit to Great Britain to attend the Second
Lambeth Conference, the bishop, by invitation of the late Dean Stanley,
preached in Westminster Abbey on St. James Day, a most eloquent
sermon, extracts from the peroration of which went the rounds of the
English-speaking world:
241
242
APPENDICES
"And now on the shores of Old England, the cradle of that Anglo-
Saxon Christianity by which I have been in part at least illuminated,
standing beneath the vaulted roof of this monumental pile redolent
with the piety of by-gone generations during so many ages; in the
presence of the 'Storied urn and animated bust' that hold the sacred
ashes and commemorate the buried grandeur of so many illustrious
personages, I catch a fresh inspiration and new impulse of the divine
missionary spirit of our common Christianity; and here in the presence
of God, of angels and of men, on this day sacred to the memory of an
apostle whose blessed name was called over me at my baptism, and as
I lift up my voice for the first, and perhaps the last, time in any of
England's sainted shrines, I dedicate myself anew to the work of God,
of the Gospel of Christ and of the salvation of my fellow-men in the
far-distant isle of the Caribbean Sea that has become the chosen field
of my special labors.
"0 Thou Savior Christ, Son, who when Thou wast spurned by the
Jews of the living race of Shem, and who when delivered up without
cause by the Romans of the race of Japhet, on the day of Thy
Crucifixion hadst Thy ponderous cross borne to Golgotha's summit on
the stalwart shoulders of Simon, the Cyrenian, of the race of Ham; I
pray Thee, 0 precious Savior, remember that forlorn, despised and re¬
jected race, whose son bore Thy cross, when Thou shalt come in the
power and majesty of Thy eternal kingdom to distribute Thy crowns
of everlasting glory! And give to me then, not a place at Thy right
hand or at Thy left, but the place of a gatekeeper at the entrance of
the Holy City, the Holy Jerusalem, that I may behold my redeemed
brethren, the saved of the Lord, entering therein to be partakers with
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of all the joys of Thy glorious and ever¬
lasting Kingdom."
APPENDIX B
An Early Incident op the Civil War
Robert Smalls of Beaufort, S. C., achieved the greatest distinction
of any Negro during the Civil War by turning over to the United
States the Steamer Planter. The facts of this incident are set forth in
reports by committees of several Congresses as follows:
APPENDICES
243
On May 13, 1862, the Confederate Steamer Planter, the special dis¬
patch boat of General Ripley, the Confederate post commander at
Charleston, S. C., was taken by Robert Smalls, under the following cir¬
cumstances from the wharf at which she was lying, carried safely out
of Charleston, N. C. harbor, and delivered to one of the vessels of the
Federal fleet then blockading that port.
On the day previous, May 12, the Planter, which had for two weeks
been engaged in removing guns from Cole's Island to James Island, re¬
turned to Charleston. That night all the officers went ashore and slept
in the eity, leaving on board a crew of eight men, all colored. Among
them was Robert Smalls, who was virtually the pilot of the boat, al¬
though he was only called a wheelman, because at that time no colored
man could have, in fact, been made a pilot.
For some time previous he had been watching for an opportunity to
carry into execution a plan he had conceived to take the Planter to the
Federal fleet. This, he saw, was as good a chance as he would ever have
to do so, and therefore he determined not to lose it. Consulting with
the balance of the crew, Smalls found that they were willing to co¬
operate with him, although two of them afterwards concluded to re¬
main behind. The design was hazardous in the extreme. The boat
would have to pass beneath the guns of the forts in the harbor.
Failure and detection would have been certain death. Fearful the
venture, but it was made. The daring resolution had been formed,
and under command of Robert Smalls wood was taken aboard, steam
was put on, and with her valuable cargo of guns and ammunition, in¬
tended for Fort Ripley, a new fortification just constructed in the har¬
bor, about two o'clock in the morning the Planter silently moved off
from her dock, steamed up to North Atlantic wharf, where Smalls'
wife and two children, together with four other women and one other
child, and also three men, were waiting to embark.
All these were taken on board, and then at 3:25 A. M., May 13, the
Planter started on her perilous adventure, carrying nine men, five
women, and three children. Passing Fort Johnson, the Planter's steam
whistle blew the usual salute and she proceeded down the bay. Ap¬
proaching Fort Sumter, Smalls stood in the pilot house leaning out of
the window, with his arms folded across his breast, after the manner of
Captain Relay, the commander of the boat, and his head covered with
244
APPENDICES
the huge straw hat which Captain Relay commonly wore on such oc¬
casions.
The signal, required to be given by all steamers passing out, was
blown as coolly as if General Ripley was on board, going out on a tour
of inspection. Sumter answered by signal, "All right," and the
Planter headed toward Morris Island, then occupied by Hatch's light
artillery, and passed beyond the range of Sumter's guns before any¬
body suspected anything was wrong. When at last the Planter was
obviously going toward the Federal fleet off the bar, Sumter signaled
toward Morris Island to stop her, but it was too late. As the Planter
approached the Federal fleet, a white flag was displayed, but this was
not at first discovered and the Federal steamers, supposing the Con¬
federate rams were coming to attack them, stood out to deep water.
But the ship Onward, Captain Nichols, which was not a steamer, re¬
mained, opened her ports, and was about to fire into the Planter, when
she noticed the flag of truce. As soon as the vessels came within hail¬
ing distance of each other, the Planter's errand was explained. Cap¬
tain Nichols then boarded her and Smalls delivered the Planter to him.
From the Planter Smalls was transferred to the Augusta, the flagship
off the bar, under the command of Captain Parrott, by whom the
Planter, with Smalls and her crew, were sent to Port Royal to Rear
Admiral DuPont, then in command of the Southern Squadron.
Smalls was made pilot and did service on the Crusader, the Planter
also, and the Monitor Keokuk on which he was during the memorable
attack on Fort Sumter, April 7, 1863. The Keokuk was struck ninety-
six times, nineteen shots passing. Feeling very keenly the sting sus¬
tained in the loss of the Planter, the Confederates made a very hot fire
upon her. The same report from which the findings are extracted says:
"Upon one occasion Captain Nickerson became demoralized and left
the pilot house and secured himself in the coal bunker. Smalls was on
the deck and finding out that the Captain had deserted his post, entered
the pilot house, took command of the boat and carried her safely out of
the reach of the guns. For this conduct he was promoted by order of
General Gilmore, commanding the Department of the South, to the
rank of Captain of the Planter, which was used as a supply boat along
the coast until the end of the war. In September, 1866, he carried
APPENDICES
245
his boat to Baltimore, where she was put out of commission and
sold."
House of Representatives
55th Congress 2d Session
Report No. 120.
APPENDIX C
The Somerset Case
In 1771, a slave, named James Somerset, was taken by his master
from Virginia to England. The slave refused to serve his master there.
A writ of habeas corpus was issued by Chief Justice Mansfield, and the
question whether Somerset was free or slave was finally brought before
the full court. The court declared him free, and held that slavery was
contrary to the laws of England, because positive law was necessary to
establish a condition of slavery1 and England had made no such law.
This decision inspired Cowper's lines:
Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country and their shackles fall.
"The Story of the Slave," see, also, "Slavery and Anti-Slavery," William
Goodell, for an elaborate discussion of this case.
APPENDIX D
The Amistad Captives
About the last of April, 1839, a cargo of three or four hundred men
and boys, and two hundred women and children kidnapped as African
slaves were landed in Havana where they were sold. Joseph Ruiz
bought forty-nine, and Pedro Montez bought the children, three little
girls, and put them on the schooner, The Amistad, and sailed June 27th,
for Puerta Prince, Cuba, a few hundred miles from Havana. When two
or three days out they were beaten severely and threatened with death.
i Constitutional History and Government of the United States. J. S.
Landon, p. 176.
246
APPENDICES
On the fifth night the slaves under the leadership of Joseph Cinquez
or Cinque attacked and slew the captain and cook with knives such as
were used to cut sugar cane and took charge of the further direction
of affairs. They spared the lives of Ruiz and Montez on condition
that they would return them to Africa, their native land. The Span¬
iards agreed. They steered the ship for Africa by day, but at night
the ship's course was turned towards America. In this way after a
couple of months, during which they were boarded several times by
different vessels, once by a schooner from Kingston, Jamaica, they
were finally boarded by Lieutenant Gedney of the United States brig
Washington, off the coast of New London. On being captured Cinque
leaped overboard, but was finally induced to return to the ship. The re¬
port of their capture created a sensation throughout the country. The
case was brought before the United States courts, and for a couple of
years it occupied public attention. Among the lawyers that appeared
in the case were the venerable John Quincy Adams and Roger Sher¬
man Baldwin, both in the behalf of the captives, who were finally re¬
leased by a decision of the United States Supreme Court that they were
not pirates.' The release of the captives was the occasion of much re¬
joicing by the abolitionists. Cinque and his principal men appeared
before large and enthusiastic audiences in several northern cities, in
which large sums of money were raised for the benefit of the captives.
They were finally sent at the expense of the United States Govern¬
ment to their African home, sailing November 25, 1841, and with five
missionaries landing at Sierra Leone January 15, 1842. The Mendi
Mission was established and supported by The American Missionary
Association. Cinque died in 1878, while the Rev. Albert P. Miller, a
well-known Congregational minister and more recently an elder in the
A. M. E. Zion Church, had charge of the mission.
APPENDIX E
The Underground Railroad
The abolition of slavery in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York
and other States in the North was followed by unceasing attempts of
the slave in the South to escape from bondage. He could not always
use the well-established routes of travel, the public stage, the steam-
APPENDICES
247
boat or, later, the railroad, for this would have invited attention and
facilitated detection and apprehension to be followed by a return to
more oppressive forms of bondage. In the first administration of
President Washington, in 1793, a Fugitive Slave Law was passed which
"empowered the owner, his agent or attorney, to seize the fugitive and
take him before a United States Circuit or District judge within the
State where the arrest was made, or before any local magistrate within
the county in which the seizure occurred."
But this law was ineffectual, for slaves in increasing number con¬
tinued to escape to the North and to Canada. The time of their de¬
parture, and the route were not only not within the public eye, but
beyond detection. The route was as much a secret as though under¬
ground, hence the term "Underground Railroad" was understood to in¬
clude all the agencies and instrumentalities by which the slave received
the direction and aid that enabled him to obtain his freedom.
The number aided and escaping by means of the Underground Rail¬
road has been placed as high as fifty thousand by Rev. W. M. Mitchell,
one who was an active agent in this work, author of The Underground
"Railroad; and J. H. F. Claiborne, biographer of John A. Quitman,
places the number as high as one hundred thousand.
The most comprehensive history of the movement is The Underground
Railroad by Wilbur H. Siebert, professor of history in Ohio State
University. There are others which treat of the movement in special
sections, but this work is very exhaustive and as it contains a bibli¬
ography that is encyclopedic, it is commended without reserve to any
student who seeks to investigate the subject in any and all of its phases.
A more stringent Fugitive Slave Law than the Act of 1793 was one
of the provisions of the compromises of 1850, and it, more than any
other legislative measure, crystallized the voice of protest against the
aggressive demands of the Slave Power and organized the forces that
determined the issue between slavery and freedom, and in the crisis of
the Civil War ended in Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the
enactment and incorporation of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Na¬
tional Constitution.
248
APPENDICES
APPENDIX F
The Freedmen's Bureau
The Freedmen's Bureau was created by Act of Congress, passed
March 3, 1865, and signed by President Lincoln, one of the last acts
prior to his second inauguration. General Oliver O. Howard was named
as Commissioner. Although not put in operation until after the cessa¬
tion of hostilities, it was the evolution of plans employed by different
commanding general army officers and the outcome of legislative effort
on the part of Congress made for nearly two years, to provide for the
solution of problems affecting the labor, the health, the education and
legal and property rights of the many millions of blacks that the
fortunes of war had brought within the Union lines and national con¬
trol. General Howard proved to be the man for the position, and
his choice of Assistant Commissioners displayed comprehensive knowl¬
edge of the conditions prevailing in the South and the men and methods
equal to the unique situation.
Through the agency of the Bureau, tribunals were established for
the trial of minor disputes and crimes where the freedman was a party.
Landed estates were in many instances leased and labor given to the
Negro, who hitherto was without either experience or knowledge in such
matters. Elementary schools were established in nearly all the larger
towns and cities in cooperation with the religious and benevolent asso¬
ciations in which all the Protestant denominations were represented, and
the foundation for the colleges and normal schools at such places as
Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville, Raleigh, Richmond and Washington
were laid. Although the Freedmen's Bureau, according to the statute
was to terminate one year after the close of the War, it was continued
until June 30, 1872.
Opinions differ as to the value of the Bureau in this transitional
period, when the North and South had just left the battlefield and
there was the need for adjustment and patience, as well as a wider out¬
look for the freedmen, but its work in the founding of the schools and
colleges must remain its greatest monument.
Grant's Memoirs.
Autobiography. O. O. Howard.
The Freedmen's Bureau. Paul Skeets Peirce, Ph.D.
APPENDICES
249
APPENDIX G
Medal of Honor Men
The following men received medals of honor from the United States
Government. The reasons assigned are in every instance those given in
the official records:
civil war
Christian A. Fleetwood.—Sergt. Major 4th U. S. Colored Troops.
Chapin's Farm, Virginia, Sept. 29, 1864. Seized the colors, after
two color-bearers had been shot down, and bore them nobly
through the fight.
Alfred B. Hilton.—Sergt. Co. "H." 4th U. S. C. T. (Regimental
Color-Sergeant) Chapin's Farm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. In the
charge when his associate sergeant was killed, caught up his flag
also, and carried both until himself shot down, when he held up
the flags and shouted: "Boys, save the colors!"
Charles Veal.—Corpl. Co. "D," 4th U. S. C. T. (Regimental Color-
Guard) Chapin's Farm, Va., Sept. 29,1864. Seized the regimental
colors after two color-bearers had been shot down, close to the
enemy's works, and bore them through the remainder of the battle.
Milton M. Holland. Sergt. Co. "C," 5th U. S. Colored Troops.
Chapin's Farm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. Took command of Co. "C,"
after all the officers had been killed or wounded, and gallantly led
it.
James E. Bronson.—First Sergt. Co. "D," 5th U. S. C. T. Chapin's
Farm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. Took command of his company, all
the officers having been killed or wounded, and gallantly led it.
Powhattan Beatty.—First Sergt. Co. "G," 5th U. S. C. T. Chapin's
Farm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. Took command of Co. "G," all the
officers having been killed or wounded, and gallantly led it.
Robert A. Pinn.—First Sergt. Co. "I," 5th U. S. C. T. Chapin's
Farm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. Took command of Co. "I," after all
the officers had been killed or wounded, and gallantly led it in
battle.
Thomas R. Hawkins.—Sergt. Major 6th U. S. Colored Troops, Deep
Bottom, Va., July 21, 1864. Rescued the regimental colors.
250 APPENDICES
Alexander Kelly.—First Sergt. Co. "F," 6th U. S. C. T. Chapin's
Farm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. Gallantly seized the colors which had
fallen near the enemy's line of abattis, raised them and rallied the
men at a time of confusion and in a place of great danger.
Miles James.—Corporal Co. "B," 36th U. S. Colored Troops.
Chapin's Farm, Va., Sept. 30, 1864. Having had his arm mu¬
tilated, making immediate amputation necessary, he loaded and dis¬
charged his piece with one hand and urged his men forward, this
within thirty yards of the enemy's works.
James Gardiner.—Private Co. "I," 36th U. S. Colored Troops.
Chapin's Farm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. Rushed in advance of his
brigade, shot a rebel officer who was on the parapet, and then ran
him through with his bayonet.
Edward Ratcliffe.—First Sergt. Co. "C," 38th U. S. Colored Troops.
Chapin's Farm, Ya., Sept. 29, 1864. Commanded and gallantly
led his company after the commanding officer had been killed.
Was the first enlisted man to enter the enemy's works.
James H. Harris.—Sergt. Co. "B," 38th U. S. Colored Troops.
Chapin's Farm, Ya., Sept. 29, 1864. Gallantry in the assault.
William H. Barnes.—Private Co. "C," 38th U. S. Colored Troops.
Chapin's Farm, Va., Sept. 29, 1864. Among the first to enter the
enemy's works, though wounded.
Decatur Dorset.—Sergt. Co. "B," 39th U. S. Colored Troops, Peters¬
burg, Va. (mine explosion). Bravery while acting as Regimental
Color-Sergeant.
William Harvey Carney.—Sergt. Co. "C," 54th Mass. Enl. Volun¬
teers, Fort Wagner, S. C., July 18, 1863. When color-sergeant
fell, threw away his rifle, seized the colors and led the assault.
Planted the colors on the parapet and kept them flying there for
half an hour. Retreated under a storm of shot and shell, be¬
ing three times wounded, but refused to be sent to hospital or
to surrender the flag, until it could be placed in the hands of the
survivors of his own regiment, and when they cheered him in doing
so, simply replied: "Boys, I only did my duty. The old flag
never touched the ground."
APPENDICES
251
regular army
John Denny.—Sergt. Troop 9th U. S. Cavalry. Los Animas Canyon,
New Mexico, Sept. 18, 1879. Removed a wounded comrade under
a. heavy fire to a place of safety.
Brent Woods.—Sergt. Troop "B," 9th U. S. Cavalry. New Mexico,
Aug. 19, 1881. Saved the lives of his comrades, and the citizens
of the detachment.
Thomas Boyne.—Sergt. Troop "C," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Mimbus Moun¬
tain, New Mexico, May 29, 1879. Cuchillo Negro, New Mexico,
Sept. 27, 1879. Bravery in action.
Clinton Greaves.—Corpl. Troop "C," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Florida
Mountains, New Mexico, Jan. 24, 1877. Gallantry in a hand-to-
hand fight.
Henry Johnson.—Sergt. Troop "D," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Milk River,
Colorado, Oct. 2,1879. Voluntarily left fortified shelter and under
heavy fire at close range made the rounds of the pits, to instruct
the guards. Fought his way to the creek and back to bring water
to the wounded.
Emanuel Stance.—Sergt. Troop "F," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Kickapoo
Springs, Texas, May 20, 1870. Gallantry on scout after Indians.
Moses Williams.—First Sergt. Troop "I," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Foot
Hills of the Cuchillo Negro Mountains, New Mexico, Aug. 16,
1881. Rallied a detachment, skillfully conducted a running fight
of three or four hours, and by his coolness, bravery and unflinch¬
ing devotion to duty in standing by his commanding officer, in an
exposed position, under a heavy fire from a large party of Indians,
saved the lives of at least three of his comrades.
William 0. Wilson.—Corpl. Troop "I," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Sioux
Campaign, 1890. Bravery.
Augustus Walley.—Private Troop "I," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Cuchillo
Negro Mountains, New Mexico, Aug. 16, 1881. Bravery in action
with hostile Apaches.
George Jordan.—Sergt. Troop "K," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Carrizozo
Canyon, New Mexico, Aug. 12, 1881. While commanding the
right of a detachment of nineteen men, stubbornly held his ground
in an extremely exposed position and gallantly forced back a
252
APPENDICES
much superior number of the enemy, preventing them from sur¬
rounding the command.
Thomas Shaw.—Sergt. Troop "K," 9th U. S. Cavalry. Carrizozo
Canyon, New Mexico, Aug. 12, 1881. Forced the enemy back
after stubbornly holding his ground in an extremely exposed posi¬
tion, and prevented the superior numbers from surrounding his
command.
William McBryan.—Sergt. Troop "K," 10th TL S. Cavalry. Arizona,
March 7, 1890. Bravery in action with Apache Indians.
Dennis Bell.—Private Troop "H," 10th U. S. Cavalry. Tayabacoa,
Cuba, June 30, 1898. After a force had succeeded in landing and
had been compelled to withdraw to the boats, leaving a number of
killed and wounded ashore, he voluntarily went ashore in the
face of the enemy and aided in the rescue of his wounded com¬
rades, who would otherwise have fallen into the hands of the
enemy; this after several attempts had been frustrated.
Fitz Lee.—Private Troop "M," 10th U. S. Cavalry. Tayabacoa, Cuba,
June 30, 1898. Record same as that of Dennis Bell.
William H. Thompkins.—Private Troop "M," 10th U. S. Cavalry, and
George Wanton, same troop and record as two preceding.
Isaiah Mays.—Corpl. Co. "B," 24th U. S. Infantry. Arizona, May 11,
1898. Gallantry in fight between Paymaster Wham's escort and
robbers.
Benjamin Brown.—Sergt. Co. "C," 24th U. S. Infantry. Arizona,
May 11, 1898. Although shot in the abdomen in a fight between
a paymaster's escort and robbers, did not leave the field until again
wounded in both arms.
John H. Lawson.—Landsman TJ. S. S. Hartford. Mobile Bay, Aug.
5, 1864. Was one of the six men stationed at the shell whip on
the berth deck. A shell killed or wounded the whole number.
Lawson was wounded in the leg and thrown with great violence
against the side of the ship, but as soon as he 'recovered himself,
although begged to go below, he refused and went back to the
shell whip, where he remained during the action.
Aaron Anderson.—Landsman, U. S. S. Wyandank. Mattox Creek,
March 17, 1865. Rendered gallant assistance, loading howitzer
APPENDICES
253
while lying on his back, and then firing with such care and pre¬
cision as to kill and wound many of the rebel party.
Robert Blake.—Contraband1 TJ. S. S. Marblehead, in engagement
with the rebel batteries on Stone River, December 25, 1862, serving
as a powder boy, displayed extraordinary courage, alacrity and
intelligence in the discharge of his duty under trying circumstances
and merited the admiration of all.
Clement Dees.—Seaman on the Pontoosuc. Cape Fear River, N. C.,
Dec. 24, 1864. Personal valor.
Joseph B. Neil.—Seaman, TJ. S. S. Powhatan. Norfolk, Virginia,
Dec. 26, 1873. Saved Boatswain J. G. Walton from drowning.
Joachim Pease.—Seaman, The Kearsage, in action with Alabama off
Cherbourg, France, June 19, 1864. For marked coolness and good
conduct during the engagement.
Daniel Atkins.—Ship's cook (first-class) Torpedo Boat Cushing.
Feb. 11, 1898. Saved from drowning Lieut. Joseph C. Brecken-
bridge.
Robert Penn.—Fireman (first-class) the Iowa. Guantanamo, Cuba.
He hauled the fires of two boilers while standing on a board
thrown across a coal bucket above one foot of boiling water, and
while the water was still blowing from the boiler under 120 pounds'
pressure.
APPENDIX H
The Freedmen's Bank
The Freedmen's Savings and Trust Co. was a corporation chartered
by Congress, March 3, 1865. It proposed the establishment of a cen¬
tral bank in Washington, with branches at different centers in the
South for the deposits of the lately emancipated class. There had
been army banks for the deposits of the freedmen in some of the mili¬
tary divisions. These gave the suggestion for the organization of the
corporation.
During the nine years in which it was in operation with thirty-four
branches, it "received in the aggregate deposits amounting to $57,000,000
i Slave who had escaped to the Union forces, not an enlisted man.
254
APPENDICES
and taking hold of the earnings of more than 70,000 depositors." To
safeguard its funds the original policy to invest deposits only in Gov¬
ernment bonds commended itself to citizens other than the Negro; ac¬
cordingly many whites deposited.
The first misstep was when in May, 1870, the charter was amended
so that instead of requiring two-thirds of the deposits to be invested
exclusively in United States securities, one-half was subject to invest¬
ment at the discretion of the trustees "in bonds or notes secured by
mortgage on real estate in double the value of the loan." There were,
however, no penal clauses providing for the infidelity or bad faith of
the officers. Neither were the trustees required to invest any money
in the enterprise nor was any bond imposed upon them except in a few
limited cases.
The trustees construed the discretion given them to permit the trans¬
action of a general banking business, and immense sums were loaned
on worthless securities. Following the panic of 1873, the bank by a
vote of the board of trustees was closed. By special act of Congress
its affairs were placed in the hands of three commissioners. The af¬
fairs of the bank occupied a conspicuous place in the political cam¬
paigns to the purport that the Negro had been robbed right under the
eye of the Government by men, many of them agents of the Freed-
men's Bureau and leaders of the Republican Party in the South.
Two Congressional investigations probed the affairs of the bank.
That of the Senate by a committee of which B. K. Bruce was chair¬
man, simplified the machinery and decreased the expense of winding
up its affairs.
At the time of the closing of the bank there were due to depositors
$2,999,214.33, less special depositors $35,224.22, making subject to
dividends $2,963,990.11 of which 61 per cent have been declared.
APPENDIX I
Prudence Crandall Incident
Prudence Crandall in 1833 admitted a colored girl as a student to
her Girls' Boarding School at Canterbury, Conn. Notwithstanding
opposition by whites to her retention Miss Crandall refused to ex-
APPENDICES
255
elude her, and on the withdrawal of white patronage she defiantly
opened a school for colored girls. This intensified opposition and
caused the enactment of a law making such a school illegal under
penalty of fine and imprisonment. Miss Crandall was arrested, tried,
convicted and sentenced. She refused to pay the fine or permit friends
to do so. She was thrust into jail, but was subsequently released.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Libraries consulted: Hampton, Virginia, Institute, Howard University,
Library of Congress, Public Library, Washington, D. C.
Allen, William G Wheatley Banneker & Horton
American Historical Record I..
Anderson, Osborn, P. B Voice from Harper's Ferry, Pamphlet
Anglo-African Magazine, N. Y.Vol. I, 1859
Appleton's Cyclopedia Amer¬
ican Biography Vol. VI
Armistead, Willson ..Tribute for the Negro
Armstrong, S. C., Biograph¬
ical Study Ed. Armstrong Talbot
Ballagh, J. C Slavery in Virginia, Johns Hopkins
Bancroft, George United States, Vol. I
Barnes, Albert Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of
Slavery
Benedict, David General History of the Baptist De¬
nomination in America and other
parts of the world
Barney, J araes G. and His
Times William Birney
Black Astronomer The Chautauquan, 1899
Bledsoe, A. T Essay on Liberty and Slavery
Brodhead, John Romeyn History of New York
Brooks, Rev. Walter H The Silver Bluff Church
Brown, William Wells The Black Man, Rising Son
Bruce, John E Defense of Colored Soldiers
Burke, Edmund European Settlements in America
257
258 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cable, George W .Freedmen's Case in Equity
Catto, William T Semi-Centenary
Chambers, William American Slavery and Labor, 115-
181 App. I
Cheever, G. B Guilt of Slavery
Child, Lydia Myria The Oasis
Clarke, James Freeman Anti-Slavery Days
Cobb, Thomas R. R Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery
Cochin, A Results of Emancipation
Cook, George W Frederick Douglass
Cooley, Henry S Slavery in New Jersey
Crooks, J. J History of Sierra Leone, London, 1903
Crummell, Alexander Africa and America
Crummell, Alexander Future of Africa
Cuffe, Paul Brief Account of the Colony of
Sierra Leone, N. Y., 1812
Curry, J. L. M. Education of Negroes since 1860
Dawson's Historical Magazine
XVIII 98
Debates 20th Congress, House
of Representatives 2 Session, 20, No. 60
Delaney, M. R ^.Condition, Elevation of Colored Peo¬
ple of U. S. since 1852
Douglass, Frederick ...Life and Times
Douglass, Rev. William Annals of St. Thomas
DuBois, William E. Burghardt. Suppression of African Slave Trade
Dunlop, William History of New York (Vol. I, p. 58)
Easton, H. .Treatise on the Intellectual Charac¬
ter of the Colored People of the
United States
Eaton, John Grant, Lincoln and The Freedmen
Evrie (J. H. Van) Negroes and Negro Slavery, N. Y.,
1863
Fiske, John
Critical Period of American History
BIBLIOGRAPHY
259
Garrison and His Times Oliver Johnson
Garrison, Win. Lloyd By his Sons
Goodell, William American Slave Code
Goodell, William Slavery and Anti-Slavery
Grant, U. S Personal Memoirs
Greeley, Horace History of the American Conflict
Gregorie, Abbe An Inquiry concerning the Intellectual
and Moral Faculties and Litera¬
ture of Negroes, 1804
Grimke, Archibald H "Right on the Scaffold"
Grimke, Rev. Francis J Pamphlets
Guide to American History E. Channing and A. B. Hart
Hart, Albert Bushnell Abolition and Slavery
Heming, William Waller Virginia Statutes at Large, Vol. I-
VIII
Higginson, Thomas W Army Life in a Black Regiment
Hildreth, Richard! Despotism in America
Holmes, Abdiel.. American Annals, Vol. I
Howe, S. G Refugees from Slavery in Canada
West
Hurd, John C Freedom and Bondage
Jay, William Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery
Johnston, Alexander.... Labor's Cyclopedia of Science
Johnston, Alexander High School History, United States
Julian, George W ...Joshua R. Giddings
Langston, John M Freedom and Citizenship
" " " From a Virginia Plantation
Latrobe, John H. B Memoirs of Benjamin Banneker
Liberator, The W. L. Garrison, Editor, Vols. I, II,
III, IV, V, VI, VII
Livermore, George Historical Research Opinions of the
Founders of the Republic on Ne¬
groes as Slaves, as Citizens and as
Soldiers; Boston, 1862
260
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MacDougall, Marion G Fugitive Slaves
Mathews, C. Y His Life and Letters, Andrew Ellicott
May, S. J Catalogue of Anti-Slavery Publica¬
tions
May, S. J Recollections of Our Anti-Slavery
Conflict
Merriam, G. S Nation and the Negro
Metcalfe, J. S .The American Slave
Nell, William C Colored Patriots of the Revolution
New York, Historical Society
Collection
Nicolay and Hay Abraham Lincoln
Niles Register XXXIV, 191
North Star, The Vol. I, Vol. Ill
O'Callaghan History of New Netherlands, pp.
384, 385
Payne, Daniel A Recollections of 70 years
Pennsylvania Magazine Philadelphia, p. 1776
Phillips, Archdeacon Henry L. Black Man in Colonial Times
Ramboin's Mass., Colonial
Records II, 115, 129, 136, 168, 176; III, 13,
46, 58, 69, 84
Renfro, Gloster Herbert Phillis Wheatley, A. M. E. Review
Rhode Island, Colonial Records. Vol. V
Rhodes, J. F History of the United States, Vol. I
Seabury, Samuel .American Slavery Justified
Senate Documents 24th Congress, 2 Session, 176; 25th
Congress, 3 Session, 216; 27th Con¬
gress, 2 Session, 51; 3 Session, 137
Sherman, H Slavery in the United States
Siebert, Wm. H Light on the Underground Railroad
Slavery in North Carolina
BIBLIOGRAPHY
261
Smedes, Susan A Memorials of a Southern Planter
Smith, Captain John General History of Virginia
Smith, J. MeCune Garnet Memorial Discourse
Sojourner Truth, Narrative of
Stowe, Harriet Beecher Sojourner Truth the Libyan Sibyl,
Atlantic Monthly
Steiner, Bernard C History of Slavery in Connecticut
Stephenson, G. T Race Distinction in American Law
Stevens, William Slave in History, London, 1904
Steward, Austin Twenty-two years a Slave and Forty
years a Freeman
Straker, D. A Eulogy, R. B. Elliott
Stroud, Geo. M. Slave Laws
Tanner, Benj. T Outlines of Government
Tappan, Lewis Life of Arthur Tappan
Tappan, Lewis Arthur Tappan
Thorpe, Francis Newton Constitutional History of the Ameri¬
can People, Vol. I
Tremain, Mary Slavery in District of Columbia
Trimble, Robert The Negro, North and South, London,
1863
Tyson, Mary E Benjamin Banneker
Villard, Oswald Garrison..... .Negro in Regular Army, Atlantic
Monthly} June, 1903
Yon Hoist Constitutional History, 2 vols.
Ward, Samuel Ringgold Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro
Washington, Booker T Up From Slavery
Williams, George W History of the Negro in America
Williams, George W History of Negro Troops in Rebel¬
lion
Williams, Rev. Peter, Jr Eulogy, Paul Cuffe, in 1817
Wilson, Henry Rise and Fall of the Slave Power
Wilson, Joseph T Black Phalanx
Wise, Henry A Seven Decades
REPORTS
Cleveland National Emigration Convention of Colored People,
Aug. 24-26, 1854
Cincinnati Convention Colored Freemen of Ohio, Jan. 14-19, 1852
Pennsylvania Society for Promotion of Abolition of Slavery,
Philadelphia, 1838
Michigan Minutes State Convention, Detroit, 1843
Freedmen of Dept. of Gulf to N. P. Banks, Thomas W. Conway, 1864
Spring, Lindley, Negro at Home; Inquiry into Capacity for Self-
Goverament, N. Y., 1868
262
CHRONOLOGY
1501. (a) Letter of Columbus in existence referring to Negroes in
Guinea, (b) Instruction given to the effect that Negroes born
in the power of Christians to be permitted to pass to the
Indies and royal revenue (Spain) to receive money for the per¬
mits. Sir Arthur Helps' Spanish Conquest.
1505. King Ferdinand of Spain wrote to Ovando, "I will send more
Negro slaves to you."
1510. He informed Don Diego Columbus that he had given orders to
the officials at Seville that they should send 50 Negroes to work
in the mines at Hispaniola. See Antonio de Herrera royal his¬
toriographer to Philip II.
1511. "I do not understand how so many Negroes have died; take
much care of them."
From the accession of Charles Y of Spain the importation of
Negroes in the West Indies became a considerable industry.
1523. Monopoly given to Cortez who in the previous year had with
him 300 Negro slaves.
1528. Nearly 10,000 in the New World.—Herrera.
1539. Francisco de Montego of Honduras sent a Negro to burn a
native village.
1554. In Peru 30 Negroes accompanied a military force of 70 Span¬
iards and Francisco Hernandez.
1559. The Town Council of Santiago de Chile granted the petition of
Tome Yasquez a free or enfranchised Negro to possess a lot of
land in the town.
1526. St. Luke's day, Oct. 18, Lucas Yasque de Oyllon among the first
to bring Negroes to the present territory of the U. S. (authority
of Navarrete). He had explored our Eastern Coast and at¬
tempted to form a colony at San Miguel de Gualdape, since
known as Jamestown, Va. Under his successor, a Porto Rican,
the Negroes rebelled and broke up the settlement. This ended
263
264
CHRONOLOGY
the first introduction of slavery in the Continental Territory
of the United States.
1513. Yasco Balboa was assisted by 30 Negroes in building the first
ships on the Pacific Coast.
1530. Before this time there were enough Negroes in Mexico to war¬
rant an effort to liberate themselves and establish a Govern¬
ment in the City of Mexico. See H. H. Bancroft.
1570. The followers of Bayamo, a Negro insurgent, who was cap¬
tured and sent back to Spain, founded Santiago del Principe.
1540. A Negro slave of Hernando de Alarcon is mentioned as being
the only one to undertake to carry a message from the Rio Col¬
orado across the country to the Zunis in New Mexico.
1527. Estevanico or Estevanillo, a native of Azamon was one of
the few survivors of the expedition of Narvaez. In 1539 with
Friar Marcos de Niga they started out from Estevan, started
out alone and discovered Cibola, one of the seven cities.
Clements R. Markham says, "This is one instance of a Negro
having taken an important part in the exploration of the con¬
tinent. Estalevan was the discoverer of Cibo."
IMPORTANT EVENTS SINCE ABOLITION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE
War of 1812: Enlistment of Negroes in Navy; Gen. Jackson's Proclama¬
tion at Battle of New Orleans.
1816. Organization African Colonization Society.
1816. A. M. E. Church Connectional organization.
1817. Convention of colored men to protest against American Coloniza¬
tion Society.
1820. Missouri Compromise. A. M. E. Zion Church forms connec¬
tion.
1822. Denmark Vesey Insurrection, Charleston, S. C.
1827. Freedom's Journal, first Negro newspaper.
Emancipation in New York completed.
1830. First National Colored Convention.
1831. Nat Turner Insurrection.
1833. American Anti-Slavery Society.
1834. Prudence Crandall Incident.
1835. Mobbing of Garrison by "Broadcloth Mob."
CHRONOLOGY
265
1839. Amistad Captives.
1841. Advent of Frederick Douglass.
1847. "The North Star."
1850. Fugitive Slave Law.
1852. "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
1853. National Convention at Rochester, N. Y.
1854. Kansas-Nebraska Law, 1853.
1857. Dred Scott Decision.
1859. John Brown Raid.
1860. Nomination and Election—Abraham Lincoln.
1862. Opinion Edward Bates, Attorney General.
1863. Emancipation District of Columbia.
1863. Emancipation Proclamation, Jan. 1.
1863. Attack Port Hudson.
1863. Attack on Fort Wagner, July.
1865. Fall of Richmond; 13th Amendment passes Congress.
1866. Civil Rights, April 9; adoption of 13th Amendment.
1867. Organization of Howard University, March 2; Atlanta Uni¬
versity, Nov. 15.
1868. Fourteenth Amendment; adoption of 14th Amendment.
1869. First U. S. Officer appointed by President Grant.
1870. Election of H. R. Revels; Seating of Rainey; Adoption 15th
Amendment, March 30.
1874. Death of Charles Sumner.
1874. Failure Freedmen's Bank.
1875. Seating of B. K. Bruce, full term in U. S. Senate.
1877. Inauguration of Hayes; withdrawal of U. S. Troops from
South.
1883. Unconstitutionality of Civil Rights Bill pronounced by U. S.
Supreme Court.
1890. Mississippi Convention to nullify 15th Amendment.
1892. Second Election of Grover Cleveland.
1893. Death of D. A. Payne; Jos. C. Price.
1895. Death of Frederick Douglass; B. T. Washington at Atlanta.
1897. Organization American Negro Academy.
1898. Spanish-American War.
INDEX
INDEX
Abyssinian Baptist Church, 61
Africa, 77, 86, 98, 132, 235, 237,
238, 239
Adams, John Quincy, 21
African Baptist Church, Williams¬
burg, Va., 17
Society, Free, 17
Methodist Episcopal Church, 20
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church,
20
Masonic Lodge, 17
Missionary Convention, 70
Emigration, 44
Afro-American Council, 40
Alabama, Third Regiment, 58
Albany Law School, 156
Alexander High School, 235
Alexander, Dr., 68
Allen, Richard, 17, 28, 29, 30, 64,
68, 69
America, South, 2
National Baptist Convention, 70
American Colonization Society, 19,
30, 237
Anti-Slavery Society, 21, 76, 117
Negro Academy, 13, 133, 227, 238
Philological Society, 238
Amendments to Constitution, 13th,
24; 14th, 24, 71; 15th, 24, 71
Ames, Gen. Adelbert, 165
Amistad Captives, 21, Appx.
Anglo-Saxon Christianity, Appx.
Antietam, 54
Arkansas, 47
Armistead, Rev. Thomas, 64
Armstrong, Gen. S. C., 200, 202,
205, 207
Atlanta, Ga., 208, 209
Atlanta University, 25
Appropriation* Congressional, 208
Arnold, the historian, 51
Asbury, Rev. Francis, 64
Attakapas, 53
Attempts to have United States Su¬
preme Court rule on revised
constitutions, 49
Augusta, Ga., 63
Avery College, 128
Bannekeb, Benjamin, birth and
ancestry, 86; early education,
87; constructs clock, 88; self-
instruetor, 89; plans almanac,
89; as social being, 94; sur¬
veyor, 90; observes flour mills,
88; George Ellicott, 89; An¬
drew Ellicott, 90; mathematical
genius, 89; resemblance to
Franklin, 96; musician, 95; let¬
ter to Thomas Jefferson, 92;
Latrobe's memoir, 91; last
days, 96
Banks, Charles, 74
Baptist Educational Convention, 70
270
INDEX
Barbadoes, James G., 44
Bearcroft, Dr., 7
Beatty, Powhattan, 56
Battleship, Maine, 57
Bethel (A. M. E.) Church, 62, 64
Bias, Dr. J. J. Gould, 40
Bibb, Henry, 43
Bishop, Hosea (Josiah), 64
Black Regiment, The, 55
"Black Women of the South," 133
Black Laws of Ohio, 37
Blackburn, Rev. Gideon, 65
Blair, Lewis II., 75
Blyden, Edward Wilmot, birth,
235; educational ambitions,
235; visits United States, 235;
disappointed, goes to Liberia,
235; Alexander High School,
235; revisits United States—
"Liberia's Offering," 235; would
burn Astor House down, 236;
admired by Rt. Rev. Alonzo
Potter—Sir H. H. Johnston's
estimate—visits Egypt, Syria
and Palestine—returns to
Sierra Leone, 236; looker-on at
Republican National Conven¬
tion of 1880—'"Christianity,
Islam and the Negro Race"—
Hugh M. Browne and J. Mc-
Cants Stewart, 237; educational
work among Mohammedans—
Liberian representative at
Court of St. James, 237; lin¬
guistic accomplishments—ac¬
corded literary honors—distin¬
guished correspondents—James
Carmichael Smith's tribute may
be verdict of posterity, 238; ad¬
mitted to pension roll because
of distinguished service, 238
Boker, George H., 55
Bonsai, Stephen, 59
Boston Blues, 60
Massacre, 50
Bowdoin College, 27
Bowen, Dr. J. W. E., 169
Boyd, R. H., 73
Brougham, Henry Lord, 238
Brown, John, 22
Brooks, Rev. Walter H., 63
Bryant, Ira I., 73
Browne, Hugh M., 237
Brown, W. G., 26
Brathwaite, S. G., 74
Bronson, James H., 56
Butler, Gen. Benjamin F., 56
Bucks of America, 60
Bull Run, battle of, 54
Bruce, Blanche K., changes name—
printer's devil—ex-Congress¬
man's surprise, 164; delegate to
Republican National Conven¬
tion of 1872—'Hill's prophecy—
unique campaign, 166; election
and qualification as United
States Senator—Roscoe Conk-
ling's courtesy—how remem¬
bered—Senatorial service, 168;
pioneer teacher in Kansas—at¬
tends Oberlin—steamboat hand
—drifts to Mississippi, enters
politics, 165; career since
1881—Register of Treasury,
168; Recorder of Deeds, 169;
lyceum lecturer, 169; trustee
Howard University, 170; trus¬
tee of public schools, Washing¬
ton, D. C., 169; commissioner
World's Cotton Exposition—■
once more Register of Treas¬
ury—personality, 170
INDEX
271
Bruce, John E., 74
Burroughs, Nannie H., 73
Business League, 72, 211
Bryan, Andrew, 63, 66
Cable, George W., 75
Cailloux, Captain, 55
California, 21
Cardozo, Thomas W., 26
Francis L., 180
Carey, Lott, 67
Carney, Sergeant William H., 55,
appx
Cavalry, Ninth, 57, 59
Tenth, 57, 59
Charles V, 2
Chase, Salmon P., 37
Chavis, John, 68
Chatham, Canada, West, 44
Clark, Howell's Prophecy, 209
Clark, Peter H., 36
Clarkson, Thomas, 100
Chesnutt, Charles W., 74
Charleston Leader, 179
Cibola, Seven Cities of, 1
"Cleopatra," 11
Clay, Henry, 19
Clinton, Bishop George W., 73
Colored Ministers' Union, 118
Civil rights Law enacted, 23
Eights Congress, 23
Cleveland, President, 158
Collins, Henry M., 43
Levi, 118
Colored men in Congress—
Blanche, K. Bruce, 47, 164, etc
Cain, Richard H., 48, 179
Cheatham, Henry P., 47
DeLarge, Robert C., 48
Elliott, Robert B., 47, 179, etc
Haralson, Jeremiah, 48
Hyman, John A., 47
Langston, John M., 47, 155, etc.
Long, Jefferson, 48
Lynch, John R., 48
Miller, Thomas E., 48
Murray, George W., 48
Nash, Charles E., 48
O'Hara, James E., 47
Ransier, Alonzo J , 48
Revels, Hiram R., 47
Rainey, Joseph H., 48
Rapier, J. T., 48
Smalls, Robert, 48, appx.
Turner, Benjamin S., 48
Walls, Josiah T., 48
White, George N., 47
Colburn, D. P., 214
Secretary French Academy, 94
Congressional appropriation, 208
fight against Andrew Johnson, 23
emancipation constitutional enact¬
ments, 23
Conkling, Roscoe, courtesy W. B. K.
Bruce, 168
Constitutional compromises, 18
League, 75
Connecticut, slavery in, 4
deputy governors, 50
Cooper, Mrs. Anna J., 169
Cosgrove, Representative, 164-5
Coker, Rev. Daniel, 66
Colver Institute, 25
Corbin, Henry S., 58
Carney, William H., 55, appx.
Orandall, Prudence, 31, appx.
Coppin, Fanny M. J., freedom pur¬
chased—enters IX A. Payne's
domestic service, 213; Colbun
instructor, 214; Oberlin College,
at, gives scholarship, 215 ; Pres¬
ident Finney gives special op¬
portunity, 215; instructor at
272
INDEX
Institute for Colored Youth,
215; principal; Colored Wom¬
en's Exchange, 216; Home for
Girls and Young Women; po¬
litical factor; orator; services
recognized, 217; Old Folks'
Home, 218; visits England;
marriage, 217; goes to South
Africa, 218; work in America,
greets her there; "Reminis¬
cences," 218
Cook, John F. (first), conspicuous
figure in education of colored
Washington, 229; Andrew Elli-
cott, Pierre L'Enfant, 228;
George Bell, Nicholas Franklin
and Moses Liverpool, pioneer
philanthropists, 228; Provi¬
dence Hospital, 228; Columbia
Institute, 229; Resolute Bene¬
ficial Society, 229; Henry
Smothers, John W. Prout, 229;
Missouri Compromise, 229;
Harmony Cemetery, 230; Union
Bethel and Fifteenth Street
Presbyterian Church, 230;
Grand United Order of Odd
Fellows, Ministers' Council, 230
John F. (second), early teacher,
New Orleans, political activ¬
ity, collector of taxes, city reg¬
ister, 230; Republican National
Convention, 231; relief of des¬
titute colored women and chil¬
dren, 230; Grand Master of
Masons, 231; Grant, Hayes,
Garfield and Arthur recognize
his ability, 230; trustee Howard
University, 231; Coleridge-Tay¬
lor Choral Society, 231; mem¬
ber Board of Education
George F. T., distinctive educa¬
tional career, Oberlin College,
first legislation, law amended,
people defeat hostile amend¬
ment, Rev. J. Sella Martin,
233; Emma V. Brown, 231; J.
Ormond Wilson and W. B.
Powell, 234; J. W. F. Smith,
233
Cuff6, Paul, ancestry, protests tax
payment, 98; studies naviga¬
tion, early experiments, re¬
sourcefulness, 99; sails for
Africa, 100; visits England,
sees Liverpool, Granville
Sharpe, Thomas Clarkson and
Wilberforce, 100; organizer re¬
lief societies, pioneer American
colonists, his contribution,
visits President Madison, takes
cargo for Sierra Leone, 101;
personal appearance, 102; over¬
comes many racial prejudices,
102; religious character, per¬
sonal example
Cornish, Rev. Samuel E., 27
Council of war, 50
Crummell, Alexander, birth and an¬
cestry, 130; in convention
movement, 34, 39; early edu¬
cation, Canaan, New Hamp¬
shire, 130; Beriah Green,
Oneida Institute, 130; General
Theological Seminary, 131;
Bishops Griswold and Lee, 131;
goes abroad, 131; visits and
matriculates at Queen's College,
Cambridge, England, 132; Afri¬
can missionary, 132; returns to
United States, 132; Bishop
Whittingham, 137; St. Mary's,
INDEX
273
St. Luke's P. E. Church, 137;
lecturer, controversialist, au¬
thor, 132; Rev. J. L. Tucker,
D.D., 133; Ministers' Union,
133; Church Work among Col¬
ored People Movement, 133;
Negro Academy, 134; visits
Queen's Jubilee, 138; system¬
atic habits of work, 138;
optimism and prophecy, 138;
ripest literary scholar, 137
Cuban independence, 15, 57
Coates, Benjamin, 236
Davis, John, 52
Day, William Howard, 39, 42
Decatur, Commodore, 51
Declaration of Independence, 10
Delaney, Martin R., 38, 39, 42, 44
Denmark, Yesey, 12, 21
abolition slave trade, 18
District of Columbia, 23
Dixon, Thomas, 72
Dodge, William E., Price patron,
176
Donop, Count, 51
Douglass, Frederick, earliest recol¬
lections, mother's visits, Hugh
and Thomas Auld, Columbia
orator, 140; Richard Anthony,
141; ETdward Covey, 142-143;
apprenticed as caulker, 143;
Beverly Waugh, 140; Sunday
Schools, disguise as fugitive,
"Lady of the Lake," gives
name, 144; first visit to anti-
slavery meeting, 144; begins
career as orator, S. R. Ward,
l<*-9; "My Narrative," 146;
visit to Europe, 146; incident
on shipboard, 146; emancipa¬
tion affected, 147; returns to
United States, starts North
Star, meets foremost English
statesman and philanthropist,
147; presides over Rochester
Convention, 38; in colored con¬
ventions, Mrs. Stowe and in¬
dustrial education, 148; oppo¬
nent of colonization, meets John
Brown, narrow escape from ar¬
rest by Governor Henry A.
Wise, 149; second visit to Eu¬
rope, return to America, advo¬
cates Negro enlistments, 150;
assassination of Lincoln, 150;
repudiates Andrew Johnson,
delegate to Loyalist Conven¬
tion, 151; advocates recon¬
struction in enemy's country,
151; first colored appointment
by President Grant, 152; re¬
moves to Washington and edits
New National Era, 152; secre¬
tary Commission San Domingo,
152; Presidential elector and
president Freeamen's Bank and
trustee Howard University,
152; becomes United States
marshal, recorder of deeds,
United States Minister to
Haiti, Haitian commissioner
Columbian World Exposition,
153; death and funeral cere¬
monies, 153; memorials, statue
Rochester, medallion State
Capitol, Albany, N. Y., Cedar
Hill, a prophecy realized, 153
Douglass, Robert, 28
Douglas, Stephen A., 22
Dred Scott Decision, 22
DuBois, W. E. B., 73
274
INDEX
Dykes, Mrs. Charles Bartlett, fore¬
word
Dutch relaxation of slavery, 8
Dunbar, Paul Laurence, birth and
parentage, 188; early habit of
writing, 188; defect of advanced
training remedied, contributor
to magazines, first book pub¬
lished, Dr. H. A. Tobey early
patron, 189; voice of the new
singer, first reception in honor,
World's Columbian Exposition,
Frederick Douglass as patron,
W. D. Howells, excels in dia¬
lect and plantation stories, 190;
Library World's Best Litera¬
ture, 191; trip to England, Li¬
brary of Congress, marriage,
193; The Haunted Oak, 193;
early demise, 193; tells story of
his work and recognition, 191
Dunmore, Lord, 50
Durham, Dr. James, 82
Early incident of Civil War, 242
Ellicott, Andrew, friend of Banne-
ker, 90
George, patron of Banneker, 89
Elliott, Robert Brown, West Indian
ancestry, British training,
printer, editor Charleston
Leader, legal training, 179;
reconstruction legislation, de¬
feats proposition to pay slave
owners' claims, becomes power
in Palmetto State politics, 180;
Congressional career, 48, 182;
answers Alexander H. Stephens
and other Democrats, 182; as
lawyer, 183, 186; eulogist of
Charles Sumner, 185; resigna¬
tion from Congress and highest
political aspirations defeated,
186; linguistic accomplish¬
ments, 187; Douglass' high es¬
timate, 187; premature death,
187; ex parte Tilda Morris,
State vs. Samuel Lee, 186;
chairman National Civil Bights
Convention Colored Men, 186;
civil rights discussion, 182;
attorney general for State,
186
Estevan, 1.
Establishment of Ante-bellum Col¬
lege for Colored Men, 39
El Caney, 59.
Ecumenical Conference, 173.
Emancipation Proclamation, 23.
Equal Rights League, 45, 156.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 157.
Ewing, Rev. Quincy, 75.
Faustin, Emperor of Haiti, 44.
Federal territory, 90.
Finney, Charles G., 215.
Finch, Earl E., 74.
First Baptist Church, St. Louis, 61.
Bryan Baptist Church, 63.
Independent Military Company,
59.
Presbyterian Church organized,
65.
Mississippi Regiment, 55.
Teachers, 25.
Baptist Church (white), Ports¬
mouth, Va., 64.
Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regi¬
ment, 55
Fitzherbert, Sergt., legal instructor
of Elliott, 179
INDEX
275
Fleetwood, Maj. Christian A., 55 &
Appx.
Fisk University, 25
Floreyville Star, 167
Forten, James, 28
Fort Griswold, 51
Fort Harrison, 55
Fort Pillow, 54
Florida, readmission, 47
Fortune, T. Thomas, 74
France Abolishes Slave Trade, 18
Franchise, first given, 24
Franchise, Elective present control,
49
Franklin, Benjamin, against Slavery
10
Resemblance of Banneker, 96
Free African Society, 17
Freedom's Journal, 27
Freeman, Jordan, 51
Freedmen's Bank, Appendix, 253
Freedmen's Bureau, Appendix, 248
Free Labor Stores, 33
Freetown, Sierra Leone, W. A., 100,
101, 102
French and Indian War, 50
Fuller, Solomon C., 73
Fugitive Slave Law, 12
Gabbiel, General, 11
Gardiner, Peter, 25
Garfield, President, 157
Garnet, Henry Highland, 227
Convention Address to Slaves,
126; Magna Charta of princi¬
ples, 127; Birth and Ancestry
—U. G. R. R*—Early educa¬
tional aspirations—founder of
Presbyterian Church and Edi¬
tor, 127; Boyhood companions
who became famous—natural
orator; pastor of Washington
pulpit; preaches in House of
Representatives; Memorial vol¬
ume, 128; becomes College
president; returns to N. Y.
pastorate; potential political
leader; honored by nomination
and confirmation as Liberian
Minister; last visit to Wash¬
ington and ominous prophecy
—The End, 129
Garrison, William Lloyd, 33
Mission to Europe, 28; Passen¬
ger with Bishop Payne, 124;
Aroused by Douglass, 144
Germans and Slavery, 4
Germantown Quakers' Protest
against Slavery, 4
General Educational Board, 26
Theological Seminary, 131
Georgia, readmission, 47
Gettysburg, 54
Gibbs, Jonathan C., Superintendent
of Schools, 26, 65
Gilchrist, Samuel, 56
Gladstone, Wm. Ewart, 238
Gloucester, Rev. John, 28, 65
Gold Coast, West Africa, 34
Golphin, Rev. Ventor, 63
Great Britian abolishes Slave Trade,
18
Green, Beriah, president of Oneida
Institute, 45, 127, 131
Green, Rev. Augustus R., 41
Green, Colonel, 51
Grice, Hezekiah, convention, pro¬
moter, 28, 30, 45
Grimkfc, Archibald H., 13, 74
Rev. Francis J., 74
276
INDEX
Griswold, Bishop, ordains Alex.
Crummell, 131
Havana, 57
Hawkins, Sir John, Slave Trade
Pioneer, 2
Ashbie W., 73
Haiti, Bishop of, Appx.
J. T., 44
Haitian Emigration, 44
Hall, Prince, 17
Hampton, Wade, revolutionizes S.
C. politics, 186
Normal and Agricultural Insti¬
tute organized, 25
B. T. Washington enters, 199
Hayes, President, 153, 158
Hancock, John, 60
Hand Fund, 26
Harper's Ferry, 44
Harvard, 210
Hart, Wm. H. H., 73
Hardwicke, Lord, 6
Haygood, Rev. Atticus G., 75
Harrison, Benjamin, widow, 7
Fort, 55
Hayne, Governor of S. C., 15
High Holborn Academy, 179
Hill, James H., 166
Hilton, Flag Sergeant, 55 and Appx.
Holland, Milton M., 56 and Appx.
Holly, James Theodore, 43, Appx.,
241
Hood, James W., Supt. of Schools,
N. C.,
Bishop A. M. E. Zion Church, 26
Eulogy on J. C. Price, 177
Hopkins, Johns, 210
Hope, John, 73
Howard, F. O., 156, 157, 158
University, 25
Hosier, Harry, 66
Howells, William D., 190
Hudson, Port, 54
Hull, I., 51
Hunter, Gen. David, 54
Hunt, Gov. Ward, 42
Huntington, Collis P., 176
Huntingdon, Lady, 80
Hyman, John A., 47
Hyppolite, President, 44
ilmnois, 58
Immunes, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th
Regiments, 58
Indian House, Father, 202
Indiana, First, 58
Infantry, Twenty-fourth, 57, 59
Twenty-fifth, 57, 59
Institute, Colored Youth—Blyden,
236
Iowa, Twenty-third, 55
Iron Chest Co., 37
Jennings, Thomas L., 29
Joiner, William A., 73
Jones, Absalom, 17, 28, 64
Jones, Joshua H., 73
Johnson, President, 23, 151, 157,
233
Just, E. E., 74
Jackson, President, 52, 53
Kansas, Twenty-third, 58
Knox, Rev. J. P., 235
La Bees a., 2
La Guasimas, 59
Lake Erie Victory, 52
Lane Seminary, 34
Laney, Lucy, 73
Langston, John M., in Congress, 45,
47, notable speech, 37; Ances-
INDEX
277
try, revolutionary—sent to
Ohio—Allen G. Thurman pre¬
vents kidnaping, 155 ; enters
and graduates from Oberlin;
George W. Whipple, Albany
Law School, 156; Admission to
bar, 156; Preliminary career;
war recruiting officer—Gen. J.
A. Garfield—President Lincoln,
156; Inspector General Freed-
men's Schools—Gen. O. 0.
Howard—Chief Justice Chase,
156; Moves to Washington;
Heads Equal Eights League,
156; Howard University Law
School — Charles Sumner —
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 157;
Board of Health, 158; John¬
son's Tender, 157; Minister to
Haiti, 158; Antagonized by
Mahone, Virginia, N. & C., In¬
stitute, 158; Candidate for
Congress, 159; Subsequent ca¬
reer; Family Life and Coinci¬
dences, 159; Dramatic Situa¬
tion, 160; Dr. Rankin's pen por¬
trait, 163
Langston, Charles H., 41
Lawrence, Kansas, 165
Latrobe, John H. B., 96
Lee, Bishop and Alex. Crummell,
131
Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, 58
Levering, William, 136
Liberator, The, 11
Liberia Mission refused, 175
Liberty Guards, 60
Libyan Sibyl, 113
Leile, George, 17, 66
Lincoln, President, 122, 156
Lincoln University, 172
Liverpool, visited by Paul Cuffg,
100, 101
Livingstone College, 173, 175
Louisiana Ninth, 55
Eleventh, 55
Baptist Association, 69
Second Guards, 54
Lowe, Rev. Kelly, 63
Lynch, John R., 48
Lundy, Benjamin, 28
Mabshall, Rev. Abraham, 63
McCradey, Caesar, 63
Maiden, West Virginia, 196, 201
Madison, President, 101
Wisconsin, 207
Monroe, President, 53
McKinley, President, 57, 58
Maryland, 3
Massachusetts, recognition of
slavery, 4
Manual Training School, 31
Mason and Dixon's Line, 25, 58
Maine, 7
Missouri Compromise, 27
Morgan, S. C., 200
Mansfield, Lord, 6
Massasoit Guards, 60
Massachusetts Historical Society,
60
Mahone, William, 163
McHenry, James, 91
Mental Feasts, 33
Milliken's Bend, 54, 55
Mutual Relief Societies, 100
Miner Moralists' Society, 115
Mitchell, John G., 122
John, Jr., 74
278
INDEX
Mississippi, B. K. Bruce, consti¬
tutional revision, 71
Montgomery, Major, 47
Morell, Junius C., 29
Morris, Edward H., 73
Maine, battleship, 57
Mohammedan religion, 237
Monroe, Rev. William, 43
New Orleans, 5
New York
New Market Heights, 56
North Carolina, 3
Narvaez, 1
National Association Advancement
Colored People, 76
Council, 1853, 1895, 40
Medical Association, 72
New York, Greater, land holdings,
41, 42
North Star, 39
New Haven, 11
Newburg, 64
New Jersey abolishes slavery, 10
New York abolishes slavery, 10
New Hampshire abolishes slavery,
10
New Mexico organized, 22
Nat Turner Insurrection, 13, 27
New York Draft Riots, 34
Plpt, 12
Entry of slavery in, 4
New Jersey, 4
New England, size of farms, 5
Negro population, distribution in
1775, 5
Negro Insurrections (see also
Slave), 15
Appearance after nightfall, 6
freedom by statute, 6
Niger Valley, West Africa, 44
Negro in colonial militia, 50
enlistments, Revolutionary War,
50
New York claim on Vermont, 10
New Hampshire, second recognition
of slavery, 4
Northampton, Mass., white con¬
stituency in negro convention,
39
Nash, Charles E., 48
Northway River (see Slave Insur¬
rections), 15
North Carolina, readmission, 47
New England Convention, 36
North Star, 35, 39, 147
New National Era, 152
Ohio Equal Rights League, 37
Oberlin College, Langston, 155, 156,
159
Bruce, 165; Mrs. Coppin, 215
Packenham, Gen., killing of, 53
Page, Inman E., 73
Payne, Daniel A., birth and par¬
entage, 115; early training, in¬
tellectual precocity, 115; fa¬
vorite books, begins teaching,
erects building, self-instructor
in Geography, English Gram¬
mar and Natural Sciences, 116;
an investigator who inspires
pupils, rapid progress in Latin,
French and Greek, 116;
thorough instruction of pupils
causes dread, all schools for
colored children forbidden by
law, leaves for North, 117; re¬
ception by Rev. Peter Williams
and Alex. Crummell in New
York, enters Gettysburg Semi¬
nary, 117; licensed in 1837, or-
INDEX
279
dained in 1839, accepts call to
Presbyterian Church in Troy,
refuses offer of American Anti-
Slavery Society, 117; energy
brings physical disability; opens
private school in Philadelphia,
joins A. M. E. Church, enters
Philadelphia Conference and
the Itinerancy, 118; "Domestic
Education," "Education of
Ministry," "A. M. E. Semi-Cen¬
tenary," "Recollections of
Seventy Years," "History A.
M. E. Church," 124; first pas¬
tor Israel, Washington, D. C.,
and gives bond $1000, forms
first pastors' association, at¬
tends General Conference of
1844, chairman Committee of
Education, course of study,
118; founds Home and Foreign
Missionary Society, pastorate
in Baltimore, Benjamin Ban-
neker a study, 119; establishes
school in Philadelphia, 120;
starts to Louisiana in 1846,
appointed church historian,
travels throughout country,
elected bishop, establishes first
bishops' council and organizes
literary and historical associ¬
ations, 120; secures Mrs. Cop-
pin scholarship to enter Ober-
lin, 120; visits President
Lincoln, consults Grant and
Sumner, interview with Presi¬
dent Lincoln on Emancipation
in District of Columbia, pur¬
chase of Wilberforce, 122; first
Negro College president, 123;
Andrew Johnson, visits Henry
A. Wise farm near Norfolk,
Va.; organizes South Carolina
A. M. E. Conference, May 15,
1865; repeats in South labors
of twenty years previous in
North and West, 124; twice
visits Europe in 1867; Garrison
and George Thompson compan¬
ions, attends 1881 Ecumenical
Conference, literary work of
later years, 124; Bethel Liter¬
ary, Washington, D. C., 125;
establishes winter residence in
Florida, World's Parliament of
Eeligion at Chicago, 1893, 125;
last days, personal appearance,
125
Pennsylvania, 4, 5
Peabody Board, 26
Perry, Oliver H., 51
Pennington, James W. C., 30, 144
Parrott, Russell, 11, 28
Pettiford, W. R., 74
Pinn, Robert, 56
Philippines, 57, 58
Phillips, Wendell, 109, 176
Philadelphia, 44
Phoenix Societies, 33
Pitcairn, Major, 51
Poor, Salem, 51
Plancianos, 54
Portugal, slave pioneer, last to
abolish institution, 18
Portsmouth (First Baptist, white),
Josiah Bishop, pastor, 64
Porter Hall, Tuskegee, first build¬
ing erected, 205
Port Hudson, 55
Price, Joseph Charles, a born
leader, his legal status,
meteoric career, school builder,
280
INDEX
popularity not measured by
race or church; refuses $1200
clerkship, 172; enters Lincoln
University, 173; attends Ecu¬
menical Conference in 1881,
173; raises $10,000 and Living¬
stone College begun, 173; debut
at Bethel Literary gives impe¬
tus to career, 173; centenary
of American Methodism, 174;
presides at two national con¬
ventions held same year, 175;
visits Pacific coast, results of
influence with C. P. Hunting¬
ton, W. E. Dodge and Leland
Stanford, 176; Commissioner
General Southern Exposition,
refuses Liberian mission, 175;
thrice refuses candidacy as
bishop, 175; Livingstone Col¬
lege chief monument, 176;
oratory compared to that of
Wendell Phillips; Bishop Hood
tells of his success in England,
rare and universal tribute at
death, 178; Spartanburg Col¬
lege (white), S. C., estimate,
178; prophecy of teacher ful¬
filled, 173
Porto Rico, 57
Poyas, Peter, 13
Purvis, Robert, 34, 46
Princeton Seminary, 237
Proctor, Walter, 35
Qttatrefages, African lineage of
early inhabitants conceded, 1
Queen Elizabeth, slave trade, pa¬
tron, 2
Quinn, Rev. William Paul, 34
Ratcliff, Edward, 56
Rankin, J. E., makes pen sketch
of Langston, 163
Ray, Charles B., 41
Rittenhouse, David, 91
Rhode Island, first act for abolition,
4
abolishes slavery, 10
Richmond, Virginia, provides orig¬
inal for B. T. Washington, 198
Rochester Convention meets, 40
Roosevelt, Theodore, at San Juan
Hill, 59
Russwurm, John E., first colored
graduate, 27
Roman, Dr. C. V., 73
Ruby, Reuben 35
Rush, Rt. Rev. Christopher, 34
Revels, H. R., elected Senator, 47
Revolution, 10
Recorder of Deeds, held by B. K.
Bruce, 169
Held by Fred Douglass, 153
Register of Treasury, Bruce, 165,
168
Redpath, James, 44
Reconstruction of South, 44
Savannah, Church at, 62, 82
Sallem, Peter, battle of Bunker Hill,
51
San Juan, 59
Saint Thomas, West Indies, 235
Saint Thomas P. E. Church, 62, 82
Saint Philips, 29, 117
Scarborough, W. S., 73
Scott, R. K,., Governor of South
Carolina, 169
School building erected by Bishop
Payne, 116
Sherman, John, nomination for
INDEX
281
President, seconded by Elliott,
187
School for Slaves, Charleston, S. C.,
7
"Selling of Joseph," 5
Sewall, Justice Samuel, 5
Shiloh, 54
Stephens, Alexander H., 183, 210
Shaw University, 25
Shaw, Col. Robert Gould, 55
Sharp, Granville, 100
Shorter, James A., 122
Shaw Monument, Boston, 210
Shadd, Abraham D., 30, 32
Silver Bluff Church, 63
Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, Co.
L, 57, 59
Slaves not free accompanying mas¬
ters, 6
Slave owners' claims repudiated by
Elliott, 181
Stealing Negroes a felony, 7
Slater Fund, 26
Slave Code reenactment, 23
Slave trade prohibited in District of
Columbia, 22
abolished by England, 18
Portugal, 18
Spain, 18
Slaves forbidden to administer
medicine, 8
Smith, Hoke, 72
Smith, James Carmichael, retired,
238
Gerritt, 45
Societies, Phoenix, 33
Sojourner, Truth, birth and early
experience, 104; what stirred
her protest, 105; joins Mother
of M. E. Church and Zion
Methodism, 105; the Mathias
delusion, 105; becomes so¬
journer, 105; heartens Frederick
Douglass, 105; meets Harriet
Beecher Stowe, 106; Jim Crow
cars, 106; nurse during Civil
War, 107; calls on President
Lincoln, 106; street car experi¬
ence, 107; scours "Copper¬
heads," 108; "Just like a flea,"
109; her philosophy of longev¬
ity, 111; Lady Godiva rivaled,
112; eloquent argument for fe¬
male suffrage, 112; last trip to
Washington, 110; belief in set¬
tling freedmen on Government
lands, 110; impresses W. W.
Story, 113; genesis of the
"Libyan Sibyl," 113; the Sibyl's
mission, 114; constant menace,
number before Revolution in
Virginia, in South Carolina,
New York, New York plot;
"Gen." Gabriel; Denmark
Vesey; right on the scaffold;
Nat Turner, birth and early
environment; dreams, visions,
presentiments; Jerusalem ob¬
jective point; Virginia Legis¬
lature; Henry Wilson's opin¬
ion; trial and conviction.
Somerset case, 7
South Carolina, 3, 54
Regiment, 58
readmission, 47
Southern Educational Board, 26
Spencer, Rev. Peter, 66
Spain, 1
Sparks, Jared, 34
Springfield Baptist Church, 63
St. James, Court of, 237
Stafford, Colonel, 54
282
INDEX
Stewart, T. MeCants, 179, 237
Steward, Austin, 29
Theophilus G., 169
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 41, 106,
113, 148
Stroud's Slave Laws, 9
Straight University, 25
Story, W. W., 113
Stanford, Leland, 176
Stanley, Dean, Appx.
State conventions planned, 36
State vs. Samuel Lee, 186
Sumner, Charles, 157
Swedes, 3
Syracuse Convention, 44
Sibyl, Libyan, 113
Taft, W. H., President, 72
Talbot's, Lord, ruling, 6
Tappan, Arthur and Lewis, 31
Thurman, Allen G., 155
Turner, Benjamin S., 48
Tuskegee, humble beginnings, first
buildings, phenomenal growth,
development, 211
Thorpe, Francis N., 53
Toussaint, Elliott, compared to, 181
Tilton, Theodore, at Loyalist Con¬
vention, 151
Texas, 47
Trotter, William Monroe, 74
Tobey, H. A., early patron of Dun¬
bar, 189
Tanner, Henry 0., prophecy Wil¬
liam H. Channing, early en¬
vironment, 219; youth's vs.
parents' aspiration; self-denial,
sculpture and photography;
Eaken and Hovenden, 220; goes
to Paris, some early subjects,
special field, at the salon;
"Raising of Lazarus," 221;
"Nicodemus," "Daniel in Lions'
Den," 223; "Disciples at Em-
maus," 224; "Mothers of the
Bible," "Wise and Foolish Vir¬
gins," 225; some other themes,
226.
Thompson, George, English aboli¬
tionist, 124
Tillman, Benjamin, 72
Union University, 202
United States Commissioner to
Congo, 187
Commissioner of Haiti, 153
Minister to Haiti, 153, 157, 158
Supreme Court, 49, 71
University of London, Elliott, 187,
of Leland Stanford, Jr., Foreword,
of North Carolina, 68
Upper Canada, 30
Vaedaman, J. A., 72
Varick, Rev. James, 64, 69
Vermont, never slave colony, 10
Virginia, 1
tobacco, 5
readmission, 47
Sixth, 58
Vesey, Denmark, 12, 21
Vogelsang, Peter, 29
Villard, Oswald Garrison, 76
Ward, Samuel Ringgold, 36, 128,
149, 187
Waring, Arthur M., 29
Walker, Rev. Jacob, 63
Watts, Rev. Henry, 63
Washington, Buahrod, Colonization
Society, 19
INDEX
283
George, sentiments against slav¬
ery, 10, 79
Phillis Wheatley, 82, 83, 84
Negro enlistments, 50
Watkins, William, 35
Washington, Booker T., time and
place of birth, also ancestry,
points in common with Doug¬
lass, 195; journey to West Vir¬
ginia, Maiden as a center, 196;
early desire to learn, some early
teachers, difficulties in attend¬
ing school, first appearance at
school, cap and name, 197;
learns of Hampton, journey
thither, arrival at Richmond,
unique lodging place, unloads
vessel, 198; arrives at Hamp¬
ton, interview with Miss M. F.
Mackie, college entrance exami¬
nation, 199; favorably im¬
presses Gen. S. C. Armstrong,
personal hygienic habits, posi¬
tion of janitor; S. C. Morgan,
patron, his first vacation, 200;
mother suddenly dies, gradu¬
ates as honor student, experi¬
ences at summer hotel in Con¬
necticut, first school at his
former home, 201; student at
Way land Seminary, new part
of Union University, "The
Force that Wins," 202; becomes
Indian house father, the call
to Tuskegee, school opened,
203; first assistant, Olivia A.
Davidson, J F. B. Marshall to
the rescue; sets examples to
students in physical labor;
Miss Davidson's entertain¬
ments, 205; Porter Hall first
building, erected on faith; ex¬
tent of Gen. Armstrong's as¬
sistance, loss of Washington's
first wife great bereavement;
marries Miss Davidson; experi¬
ence in brick making, success
follows persistence; Pullman
palace car experience through
Georgia, 206; first opportunity
to speak North; the beginning
of a series of phenomenal
tours; greets Carnegie and
Huntington; at Providence,
hungry and without money,
207; first obtains general ap¬
proval of the South by address
before National Educational
Association at Madison, Wis.;
first opportunity to face South¬
ern audience came at Atlanta
meeting of Christian Workers;
travels 2000 miles to make five
minute speech, 207; speech be¬
fore a committee of Congress
to secure aid for Cotton Expo¬
sition a turning point in efforts
to appropriation, 208; Negro
building by Negro mechanics
result of that speech; chosen
one of the opening day ora¬
tors, 208; speech echoed
throughout the country; great¬
ness thrust before him; Alex.
Stephens' estimate of Grant
compared to the potentiality of
Washington, 209; visits Eu¬
rope, all expenses arranged;
organized Business Men's
League in 1900; two stories in
"Up from Slavery" show op¬
portunity, responsibility, and
284
INDEX
significance involved in accept¬
ance of the Atlanta speech,
208; scene for historic paint¬
ing; Clark Howell's prediction,
209; at Johns Hopkins, before
Lj«eum Bureaus, Colleges, Har¬
vard confers A. M. degree, ora-
tor at Shaw monument un¬
veiling; shares honor with
McKinley during Jubilee Week
at Chicago, 210; at Wilberforce
^ University; as political leader,
212.
Waugh, Beverly, M. E. bishop, class
leader of Frederick Douglass,
140
Wesley, John, 64
Westminster Abbey, appx.
Webster, Daniel, opinion of S. R.
Ward, 36
Webb, Rev. William, 41
Welsh, Molly, 86
Wilberforce, William, English abo¬
litionist, 100
University, 122
Williams, Rev. Peter, 117, 136
George W., 84
Williamsburg, 17, 62
Williams, Dr. Daniel H., 73
Wise, Henry A., attempts arrest of
Frederick Douglass, 149
"Will," emancipated by General
Assembly of Virginia, 7
Wheatley, Phillis, stolen from
Africa, sold in Boston, John
Wheatley purchaser, 77; mas¬
ters English in 16 months,
rapid progress in studies, joins
church at sixteen, 78; shows
fondness for the classics, com¬
posed frequently at night, 79;
first edition of poems published
and authorship vouched for by
John Hancock, 81; goes to Eng¬
land, meets nobility; returns to
America, patroness dies, mar¬
ries John Peters, 80; dedicates
ode to Washington; precedes
Dr. James Durham and Banne-
ker, 82; death recorded, 81.
Wheatland, Dr. Marcus F., 73
Wheeler, Gen. Joseph, 58
Whipper, William, advocates aban¬
donment of word "colored"
and "African," 35, 42
Whitman, A. A., Dedication
Whipple, George, American Mission¬
ary Society, 155
Whittingham, Bishop, 137
White, Jacob C., Sr., 35
Rev. William J., 63
George H., 47
Whitefield, Rev. George, 67
John M., 41, 43
Willis, Rev. Joseph, 69
Wilson, William J., 42
Henry, "Rise and Fall of Slave
Power," 16
Wright, Theodore S., 34
Richard R., Jr., 74
Major Richard R., 73
Work, M. N., 74
Ximines, Cardinal, 2
Young, Major Charles, 58
Zion Methodist Episcopal Church,
62
Sojourner, Truth, joins, 105