by DR. LEROY VAUGHN, MD, MBA, HISTORIAN is now available on
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AFTER 1776
SLAVE CHILDREN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
PAUL CUFFEE
DAVID WALKER
RICHARD ALLEN AND THE A. M. E. CHURCH
WAR OF 1812
THE JOHN BROWN TEST
BLACK PEOPLE OF THE OLD WEST
BLACK WOMEN OF THE OLD WEST
AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CIVIL WAR
.
SLAVE CHILDREN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
In the 1860 census in the South, there were 500,000 mulatto or mixed race slaves and 350,000 slave owners. Thus, every slave owner had on average produced more than one slave child. The slave children of former President Thomas Jefferson, and their direct descendants, are among the most carefully studied families in the history of
America because of their outstanding achievements up to and including Chairman of the Board of DuPont Chemical Corporation.
Thomas Jefferson is considered the greatest and most brilliant statesman this country has ever produced. Moreover, among the founding fathers, he was the one who was the most vocal opponent of slavery and did the most to contribute to its abolition. He wrote the Declaration of Independence with a clause opposing slavery, which was taken out at the insistence of the other signers. He wrote the Northwest Ordinance in 1783, and included a clause that prohibited slavery in the new areas of
Ohio,
Indiana, and
Illinois. Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from
France in 1803, and included a provision, which prohibited the introduction of slavery into these new areas. While president, Thomas Jefferson pushed through Congress a bill in 1808, which prohibited the importation of slaves and authorized the U.S. Navy to seize and confiscate ships containing slaves on the high seas. Thomas Jefferson was married to Martha Wayles, the daughter of John Wayles, for 10 years before she died in 1776. Upon the death of Martha Wayles and her father,
Jefferson inherited 11,000 acres of land and 135 slaves. Sally Hemmings was one of the slaves inherited. She was also a daughter of John Wayles and an African slave, and thus his wife's half sister. Jefferson fell in love with this mulatto slave after she accompanied his daughter to
France, where he was U.S. Ambassador in 1787. Their first son "Tom" was born in 1789. Sally Hemmings produced Beverly Hemmings in 1798, while Thomas Jefferson was Vice President, and three other children while Jefferson was President, including Harriet in 1801,
Madison in 1805, and Eston in 1808.
Beverly and Harriet Hemmings were allowed to run away in 1822. Harriet married a White person and never acknowledged her parents.
Beverly ended up in
England where he also passed for White. His great-grandson, Edward Graham Jefferson, migrated back to the
U.S. and became a naturalized American citizen. He subsequently became CEO of DuPont Chemical Corporation, retiring in 1986 and was a member of the Board at AT&T Corporation, Chemical Bank, and Seagram Corporation.
Sally Hemming's first son, Tom, eventually married Jemima, the slave daughter of a master named Drury Woodson, and changed his name to Tom Woodson. He became the distributor of an abolitionist newspaper and a leader in the Black community. Federal Judge Timothy Lewis in 1991, became the first prominent person to admit publicly that he was a descendant of Sally Hemmings and son, Tom Woodson. This was only after his Senate confirmation hearings. Most descendants were ashamed of their slave ancestry.
Frederick Madison Roberts, the grandson of Madison Hemmings, became the first Black man ever elected to the State Assembly of California. He also became a close friend of Earl Warren and helped found UCLA, that is, the
University of
California at
Los Angeles. Sally Hemming's last born son, Eston, had a son named John Wayles Jefferson who founded the Continental Cotton Company, which was very successful.
Thomas Jefferson was the most vocal opponent against slavery and spent his entire life working for the abolition of slavery. He strongly believed that “all men are created equal” and that they could achieve equally if only given the opportunity.
Jefferson would be proud to know that his slave children confirmed his theory about racial equality by their outstanding achievements.
SLAVE CHILDREN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adler, D. (1987) Thomas Jefferson: Father of Our Democracy. New York: Holiday House.
Bakhufu, A. (1993) The Six Black Presidents. Washington, D.C.: PIK2 Publications.
Bear, J. & Betts, E. (1987) Thomas Jefferson’s Farm Book, University Press of Virginia.
Bennett, L. (1988) Before the Mayflower. New York: Penguin Books.
Brodie, F. (1974) Thomas Jefferson, An Intimate History. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Erickson, E. (1974) Dimensions of a New Identity:
Jefferson Lectures.
New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Jefferson, I. (1951) Memoirs of a
Monticello Slave.
University of Virginia
Kane, J. (1981) Facts About the Presidents: From Geo. Wash. to Ronald Reagan. NY: H. W. Wilson Co.
Malone, D. (1981) Jefferson and His Times: The Sage of
Monticello.
Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
Mapp, A. (1987) Thomas Jefferson: A Strange Case of Mistaken Identity: New York: Madison Books.
Reuter, E. (1969) The Mulatto in the United States. Haskell House.
Sloan, S. (1992) The Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson. Berkeley: The Orsden Press.
Sullivan, M. (1991) Presidential Passions: Love Affairs of Am’s Pres. - Wash. - John. NY: Shapolsky Pub.
Tinsell, C. (1964) The Secret Loves of the Founding Fathers.
New York: Devin-Adair Co.
PAUL CUFFEE
America’s Richest African American
Paul Cuffee (1759-1817) was the richest African American in the
United States during the early 1800’s, but never stopped championing the cause of better conditions for his people. At the age of 19, he sued the
Massachusetts courts for the right to vote stating that taxation without representation should be illegal. He built on his own farm,
New Bedford’s only school for the children of “free Negroes” and personally sponsored their teachers. He authored the first document of its kind addressed to the New Jersey Legislature asking that body “to petition the Congress of the United States that every slave be freed and that every Colored man that so desired be allowed to leave America.” By 1811, Paul Cuffee finally concluded that if the richest Black person in
America was considered a second class citizen, then emigration back to
Africa was the only answer for Black social, economic, and political self-determination. On December 12, 1815 Cuffee personally sponsored and transported nine families (38 people) back to
Africa in what he hoped would be the first of many such voyages.
Paul Cuffee was one of ten children born to a slave father, Saiz Kufu (later, Cuffee) and an Indian mother. The father was freed by his Quaker master in 1745, and earned enough money working for ship owners to buy a 116-acre farm in
Dartmouth, Mass. in 1766. Paul left the farming to his siblings and chose a maritime life and by age 14 was working full time on whaling ships. By age 18, he had become so thoroughly self-taught in mathematics, navigation, and other seafaring skills that he decided to built his own boat for self-employment. During the Revolutionary War, he made enough money smuggling goods pass British blockade patrol ships that he was able to purchase a shipyard and construct three small whaling boats between 1787 and 1795. During one season alone, Cuffee and his crew captured six whales and Cuffee proved his courage and commitment by asking his crew to lower him to the side of the boat where he personally harpooned two whales.
Paul Cuffee’s early activity was fraught with danger as he purchased and delivered freight along the Atlantic seaboard. Pirates were a constant threat and on more than one occasion his ship was captured and all of his merchandise stolen, but he never stopped pursuing his dream. The Fugitive Slave Act was also a constant threat, especially since Cuffee exclusively staffed his businesses and ships with Blacks to demonstrate their equality and to reinforce their self-confidence and sense of racial pride. The Fugitive Slave Act legalized the seizure of any Black person suspected of escape from slavery by any White person. Since African Americans could not testify in court, “the Black accused would have to find and persuade a White person to appear at his trial and convince the authorities that the accused was free” or risk being resold into slavery. Moreover, Paul Cuffee was once arrested for several days and his boat seized during a delivery to
Vienna, Maryland by Federal Collector of Customs, James Frazier. In 1796,
Maryland had passed a law “requiring any ‘suspicious’ free Black to six months of servitude.” Since a vessel owned and operated by Blacks was unprecedented, it was certainly “suspicious”. Whites were also concerned about what this demonstration of Black achievement might have on otherwise obedient slaves. However, Cuffee had “impeccable mercantile credentials, proof of registry at
Bedford, Massachusetts, and receipts from such reliable merchant houses as William Rotch and Sons.”
As the Cuffee commercial enterprises continued to prosper, he expanded by purchasing a 200-acre farm, a gristmill, and by building ships large enough to enable him to purchase and deliver freight internationally. In 1800 Cuffee built the 162-ton “Hero” which sailed around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope eight times while delivering merchandise from Portuguese East Africa to
Europe. Paul Cuffee’s largest ship was the 268-ton “Alpha” which Cuffee and nine Black crewmembers sailed from
Savannah,
Georgia to
Gothenburg, Sweden with a large cargo in 1806.
Despite the fact that Paul Cuffee was the richest Black man and largest Black employer in
America, he was convinced that no amount of wealth would make a Black man socially acceptable in
America and that Blacks would always be “resident aliens.” He felt the only answer was to develop a strong Black African nation. Cuffee declared: “Blacks would be better off in
Africa, where we could rise to be a people.” When William Rotch told him of a British program to repatriate unwanted Blacks living in
London to
Sierra Leone, he immediately sailed to
England for more information.
Cuffee hoped that a strong Black nation could trade with
Great Britain and the
United States and that educated “free Negroes” from
America could provide the much needed technology. American technology was needed because a British law (1731) forbid any White person from teaching any Black person a trade, thus reducing
London’s “Black Poor” to unemployable beggars whom the government wanted sent to
Africa.
While traveling to
England and
Sierra Leone, Paul Cuffee used an introductory letter from President Thomas Jefferson to help him gather data on manufacturing, operating costs, threatening colonial practices, and available trade opportunities. Cuffee found the residents of
Sierra Leone very receptive to his prescription for reviving Black industry. They also hoped that a strong economic and social return of
Africa to its past glory would help dissuade the slave trade. A large percentage of the population of
Freetown were former American slaves who had fought with the British during the Revolutionary War and then were evacuated to
Nova Scotia,
Canada with the White British Loyalists. Both severe racism and severe climate encouraged the Black Nova Scotians to leave en-mass for
Sierra Leone in November 1792. Paul Cuffee hired Aaron Richards, a Black settler in
Freetown as the captain’s apprentice “to prepare the road to progress,” and before leaving, Cuffee founded the “Friendly Society for the Emigration of Free Negroes from
America”. After his return to
America, “Cuffee began a speaking tour to introduce free Blacks to the notion of nation building in
Africa.”
The War of 1812 interrupted Cuffee’s trade and emigration plans until 1815, at which time he paid $4,000 from personal funds to transport 38 African Americans to
Sierra Leone, and he successfully secured homesteads for all of his Black American brethren at his expense. Failing health prevented any future trips and Cuffee died on September 9, 1817. Paul Cuffee’s legacy is not as a wealthy Black man but as a wealthy Black man who fought for the betterment of his people and was always willing to back his convictions with self-sacrifice, discipline, determination, and financial resources.
PAUL CUFFEE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, R. (1969) Great Negroes: Past and Present. Chicago: Afro-Am Publishing Co. Inc.
Al-Mansour, K. (1993) Betrayal by Any Other Name. San Francisco: The First African Arabian Press.
Appiah, K. & Gates, H. (eds.) (1999) Africana. New York: Basis Civitas Books.
Aptheker, H. (1951) A Documentary History of the Negro People in the US: NY: Macmillan Pub. Co.
Aptheker, H. (1968) To Be Free. New York: International Publishers
Asante, M. & Mattson, M. (1991) Historical & Cultural Atlas of African Ams. Nzzzzy: Macmillan Pub. Co.
Bennett, L. (1975) The Shaping of Black America. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Co.
Bennett, L. (1988) Before the Mayflower. New York: Penguin Books.
Franklin, J. (1988) From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
McIntyre, C. (1992) Criminalizing a Race: Free Blacks During Slavery.
Queens, NY: Kayode Publications.
DAVID WALKER
In 1829, David Walker published the first of four articles that he called “
Walker’s Appeal.” In it he encouraged all slaves to become free by killing their masters. The South exploded in anger and offered a reward for
Walker of $10,000 dead or alive. Laws were passed threatening to hang anyone with “
Walker’s Appeal” in their possession. Anti-slavery leaders of both races in the North and South rejected the violence advocated in
Walker’s publication and forced him to circulate it at his own risk and expense.
David Walker proclaimed to the slaves: “…it is no more harm for you to kill the man who is trying to kill you than it is for you to take a drink of water.”
Walker hated slavery despite the fact that he was born free as the product of a free mother and slave father. Afraid that his stirring publication meant eminent danger,
Walker’s wife and friends urged him to flee to
Canada but he refused.
Walker said: “I will stand my ground. Somebody must die in this cause. I may be doomed to the stake and the fire or to the scaffold tree, but it is not in me to falter if I can promote the work of emancipation.”
Despite the great efforts of both the North and South to stop its publication, “
Walker’s Appeal” became one of the most widely read and circulated books ever written by a Black person. David Walker was considered a hero by most abolitionists, who considered his book the boldest attack ever written against slavery.
Although the violent aspects of
Walker’s Appeal are most emphasized, he also offered Whites an olive branch if they would end slavery: “Treat us like men, and there is no danger but we will all live in peace and happiness together. For we are not like you: hard hearted, unmerciful, and unforgiving. What a happy country this will be if Whites will listen.”
Walker viewed his publication as a religious document giving Blacks an obligation from God to eradicate the evils of slavery.
Walker said: “…answer God Almighty, had you not rather be killed than to be a slave to a tyrant who takes the life of your mother, wife, and children?”
He told the White slaveholders: “You may do your best to keep us in wretchedness and misery to enrich you and your children, but God will deliver us from under you.”
David Walker was born in
Wilmington, North Carolina on September 28, 1785. He was self-taught and read extensively the literature on slavery - especially on the history of resistance and oppression. In 1820, he moved to
Boston, Massachusetts where he opened a second hand clothing store. He began writing for a Black newspaper called “The Freedom Journal” in 1827.
David Walker published “
Walker’s Appeal” on September 28, 1829. The full title is “Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles: Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America".
Walker created such fear among slaveholding states that governors and city officials alike held emergency meetings to deal with its obvious implications. True to his word,
Walker did not flee the country and was murdered in 1830. The “Appeal” was the inspiration for several slave rebellions including the terrifying slave rebellion of Nat Turner about one year after
Walker’s death.
David Walker’s selfless devotion to the liberation of his people and his revolutionary spirit also served as an important model for future militants like Henry Highland Garnet who published Walker’s “Appeal” and his own work entitled “Address to the Slaves of the United States” in a single volume in 1848.
From David Walker's Appeal—ARTICLE I
OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF SLAVERY
MY BELOVED BRETHREN: THE INDIANS OF NORTH AND OF SOUTH AMERICA-THE GREEKS-THE IRISH, SUBJECTED UNDER THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN-THE JEWS, THAT ANCIENT PEOPLE OF THE LORD-THE INHABITANTS OF THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA-IN FINE, ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH, (EXCEPT HOWEVER, THE SONS OF AFRICA) ARE CALLED MEN, AND OF COURSE ARE, AND OUGHT TO BE FREE. BUT WE, (COLOURED PEOPLE) AND OUR CHILDREN ARE BRUTES!! AND OF COURSE ARE, AND OUGHT TO BE SLAVES TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THEIR CHILDREN FOREVER!! TO DIG THEIR MINES AND WORK THEIR FARMS; AND THUS GO ON ENRICHING THEM, FROM ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER WITH OUR BLOOD AND OUR TEARS!!!!
I PROMISED IN A PRECEDING PAGE TO DEMONSTRATE TO THE SATISFACTION OF THE MOST INCREDULOUS, THAT WE, (COLOURED PEOPLE OF THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) ARE THE MOST WRETCHED, DEGRADED AND ABJECT SET OF BEINGS THAT EVER LIVED SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN, AND THAT THE WHITE AMERICANS HAVING REDUCED US TO THE WRETCHED STATE OF SLAVERY, TREAT US IN THAT CONDITION MORE CRUEL (THEY BEING AN ENLIGHTENED AND CHRISTIAN PEOPLE,) THAN ANY HEATHEN NATION DID ANY PEOPLE WHOM IT HAD REDUCED TO OUR CONDITION. THESE AFFIRMATIONS ARE SO WELL CONFIRMED IN THE MINDS OF ALL UNPREJUDICED MEN, WHO HAVE TAKEN THE TROUBLE TO READ HISTORIES, THAT THEY NEED NO ELUCIDATION FROM ME. BUT TO PUT THEM BEYOND ALL DOUBT, I REFER YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE TO THE CHILDREN OF [OLD TESTAMENT HEBREW PATRIARCH] JACOB, OR OF
ISRAEL IN
EGYPT, UNDER [EGYPTIAN KING] PHARAOH AND HIS PEOPLE. SOME OF MY BRETHREN DO NOT KNOW WHO PHARAOH AND THE EGYPTIANS WERE-I KNOW IT TO BE A FACT, THAT SOME OF THEM TAKE THE EGYPTIANS TO HAVE BEEN A GANG OF DEVILS, NOT KNOWING ANY BETTER, AND THAT THEY (EGYPTIANS) HAVING GOT POSSESSION OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE, TREATED THEM NEARLY AS CRUEL AS CHRISTIAN AMERICANS DO US, AT THE PRESENT DAY. FOR THE INFORMATION OF SUCH, I WOULD ONLY MENTION THAT THE EGYPTIANS, WERE AFRICANS OR COLOURED PEOPLE, SUCH AS WE ARE-SOME OF THEM YELLOW AND OTHERS DARK-A MIXTURE OF ETHIOPIANS AND THE NATIVES OF EGYPT-ABOUT THE SAME AS YOU SEE THE COLOURED PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE PRESENT DAY…..
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT
APPROVED, SEPTEMBER 18, 1850—SECTION 6
And be it further enacted, That when a person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the United States, has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing, acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory in which the same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant from some one of the courts, judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by taking, or causing such person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be taken and certified by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to administer an oath and take depositions under the laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate of such magistracy or other authority, as aforesaid, with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by affidavit, of the identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to be due as aforesaid, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory from which such fugitive may have escaped as aforesaid, and that said person escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate setting forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates in this and the first [fourth] section mentioned, shall be conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted, to remove such fugitive to the State or Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever.
DAVID WALKER BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, R. (1969) Great Negroes: Past and Present. Chicago: Afro-Am Publishing Co. Inc.
Al-Mansour, K. (1993) Betrayal by Any Other Name. San Francisco: The First African Arabian Press.
Appiah, K. & Gates, H. (eds.) (1999) Africana. New York: Basis Civitas Books.
Aptheker, H. (1951) A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States. NY: Citadel Press.
Aptheker, H. (1968) To Be Free. New York: International Publishers.
Bennett, L. (1975) The Shaping of Black America. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Co.
Bennett, L. (1988) Before the Mayflower. New York: Penguin Books.
Franklin, J. (1988) From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Litwack, L. & Meier, A. (1988) Black Leaders of the Nineteenth Century. Chicago: Univ. of Illinois Press.
Low, A. & Clift, V. (eds.) (1983) Encyclopedia of Black America. New York: Neil Schuman Publishers.
McIntyre, C. (1992) Criminalizing a Race: Free Blacks During Slavery.
Queens, NY: Kayode Publications
Sally C. (1993) The Black 100.
New York: Carol Publishing Group.
Wiltse, C (ed.) (1965) David Walker’s Appeal. New York: Hill & Wang.
Zinn, H. (1980) A People’s History of the
United States.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
RICHARD ALLEN AND THE A. M. E. CHURCH
The African Methodist Episcopal Church (A. M. E. Church) was one of the first Black organizations dedicated to Black self-improvement and Pan-Africanist ideals.
The A. M. E. Church was also distinguished by its commitment to political agitation,Black education, and social activism. The interest in education initially culminated in the founding of
Wilberforce University in 1863, as the first Black college founded by Blacks. Numerous other A. M. E. Colleges soon followed. A. M. E. pastors were also responsible for numerous lawsuits against public school segregation, which eventually led to the 1954 case: “Brown vs. Board of Education.” During the Civil Rights movement, the A. M. E. Church was very active, and in addition to a pragmatic gospel, the church addressed the housing, welfare, and unionization issues of new immigrants to northern cities. However, nothing more completely captures the spirit and embodiment of the A. M. E. Church than its founder and first bishop, Richard Allen.
Richard Allen was born into slavery in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania on February 14, 1760 and shortly thereafter his entire family was sold by a Philadelphia lawyer, Benjamin Chew, to a
Delaware plantation owner, Stokely Sturgis. Although the slave master was unconverted, he allowed Richard Allen to attend Methodist meetings. In addition to their antislavery beliefs, Allen was especially impressed by their emphasis on a simple set of virtues including honesty, modesty, and sobriety and converted to Methodism at age 17. By age 20, Allen was able to convert his slave master and to convince him that slaveholding was wrong. Allen was allowed to buy his freedom for $2,000 by working a variety of odd jobs over the next five years. Once freed, “Allen traveled widely on the Methodist circuits, preaching, holding prayer meetings, and giving religious counsel to groups of White and Black Christians in the small towns and rural settlements of
Maryland,
Delaware,
Pennsylvania, and
New York.” While in
Philadelphia, Allen was asked by the elders at St. George Methodist Church to preach to their Black members. After the Black membership increased dramatically, Richard Allen determined that his calling was to minister to the “uneducated, poor, and un-churched community” and that he could best reach them in a separate Black church. However, the White Methodist elders ridiculed the whole idea with “very degrading and insulting language.”
St. George’s Black membership became so large that the church was forced to build a new seating gallery. When church authorities demanded that Blacks sit in the rear of the gallery, Allen and others decided they had been insulted enough: “We all went out of the church in a body and they were no more plagued with us.” The Black Methodists agreed to purchase a blacksmith shop and to move it to a lot Allen had purchased with his own savings. Carpenters were hired to make the building suitable for church meetings and on April 9, 1794, Bishop Asbury dedicated the structure as “
Bethel African Church.” Bishop Asbury also ordained Allen as the first Black Methodist deacon and within four years the
Bethel membership increased from 45 to 457 members. Richard Allen’s success was the inspiration for many other Black Methodist groups to form African Methodist Churches throughout the Northeast especially in
New York,
Delaware, and
Maryland.
Since
Bethel African Church was still under White Methodist ecclesiastical jurisdiction, White Methodists sued for legal control of
Bethel, but in 1807 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in Allen’s favor. In 1816, Allen organized a national convention of Black Methodists, since many of them had similar White Methodist challenges. The convention delegates resolved that the churches they represent “should become one body under the name ‘African Methodist Episcopal Church’ in order to secure their privileges and promote union and harmony among themselves.” Richard Allen became the new denomination’s first Bishop and retained that title until his death in 1831.
Richard Allen dedicated his entire life toward uplifting his fellow African Americans. He felt that true Christians had to stretch out their hands beyond the circle of family and friends “to comfort the poor neighbor, the stranger, the widow, and the orphan.” He helped establish the Free African Society, the Bethel Benevolent Society, and the African Society for the Education of Youth “in order to support one another…from a love to the people of our complexion whom we behold with sorrow.”
Bethel Church became the scene of numerous Black conventions to discuss the abolition of slavery and racial discrimination, and Richard Allen was commonly recognized as the leader of free Northern Blacks. Allen also published “An Address to Those Who Keep Slaves” in which he attacked slavery and the arguments for it.
Allen spent the final years of his life vehemently opposing the American Colonization Society, which Whites organized in 1817 to support the emigration of free Blacks from
America to
Africa. The American Colonization Society argued that free Blacks would have to leave this country to find true freedom, since the Fugitive Slave Act allowed any White person to call a free Black a fugitive slave. Since African Americans could not testify in court and therefore could not defend themselves, they had to find someone White who could speak in their behalf or they would become enslaved. Richard Allen himself was once called a fugitive slave, but fortunately, he was so famous that he not only won his case but had his accuser thrown into jail for three months. The American Colonization Society also argued that African Americans could help civilize and convert their less fortunate African brothers. However, Allen angrily responded that American Blacks could not convert or civilize anyone since they were mostly illiterate and uneducated themselves. He felt the real purpose of the colonizationists was to expel the most vociferous opponents of slavery. Allen told the American Colonization Society: “We will never separate ourselves voluntarily from the slave population in this country; they are our brethren and we feel there is more virtue in suffering privations with them than fancied advantage for a season.”
Richard Allen propelled the A. M. E. Church to the center of Black institutional activity during his lifetime. Allen’s life, as much as his sermons, remained an effective example for the future leadership of the A. M. E. Church. Moreover, his leadership direction is responsible for the continued proliferation of A. M. E. membership throughout the 19
th and 20
th century, which today has more than 3,000,000 million members world wide.
RICHARD ALLEN AND THE A. M. E. CHURCH BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, R. (1969) Great Negroes: Past and Present. Chicago: Afro-Am Publishing Co., Inc.
Appiah, K. & Gates, H. (eds.) (1999) Africana, New York: Basis Civitas Books.
Aptheker, H. (1951) A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States. NY: Citidel Press.
Asante, M. & Mattson, M. (1991) Historical & Cultural Atlas of African Ams. NY: Macmillan Pub. Co.
Bennett, L. (1975) The Shaping of Black America. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Co.
Bennett, L. (1988) Before the Mayflower. New York: Penguin Books.
Franklin, J. (1988) From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Handy, J. (1902) Scraps of African Methodist Episcopal History.
Philadelphia: A. M. E. Book Concern.
Litwack, L. & Meter, A. (1988) Black Leaders of the 19th Century. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Low, A. & Clift, V. (eds.) (1983) Encyclopedia of Black America. New York: Neil Schuman Publishers.
MyIntyre, C. (1992) Criminalizing a Race: Free Blacks During Slavery.
Sally, C. (1993) The Black 100.
New York: Carol Publishing Group.
Wesley, C. (1935) Richard Allen: Apostle of Freedom. Washington, DC.
WAR OF 1812
African American soldiers and sailors played a tremendous role in helping
America defeat the British during the Revolutionary War. Most northern states were so grateful for the contributions of Black soldiers that they abolished slavery shortly after the war. Even
Virginia passed a law freeing all slaves who had participated in the Revolutionary War. However, peacetime produced a total amnesia to the contributions of Blacks in the military and a request for their participation was not made again until the War of 1812 (June 18, 1812-December 24, 1814).
After the Revolutionary War, southerners were determined to never again allow African Americans, neither free nor slave, to “gain dignity and prestige by fighting for the
United States.” They were instrumental in the passage by Congress of the Military Act (May 8, 1792), which called for the enrollment of “each and every able-bodied White male citizen between the ages of 18 and 45.” When the Marine Corps was established by a congressional act on July 11, 1798, Secretary of War Henry Knox issued a directive that “No Negro, mulatto, or Indian is to be enlisted,” and this directive was followed for the next 150 years. Only World War II manpower shortages forced the Marine Corps to change its 150-year policy and recruit African Americans. Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert followed the lead of the Army and Marine Corps and instructed his recruiters in August 1798 “…no Negroes, mulattos, or Indians.”
During the early 1800s, the British had the most powerful Navy in the world, especially after defeating
France’s Napoleonic Navy. Still at war with Napoleon, a British naval blockade from
Maine to
Georgia was used to prevent American trading with French merchants. Moreover, because of a tremendous shortage of sailors, the British not only boarded and searched merchant vessels on the high seas but would frequently claim that American sailors were British deserters and force them to work on British ships (called impressment).
The impressment of three African American sailors from the American frigate “
Chesapeake” on June 22, 1807 is called the first major incident leading to the War of 1812, and is frequently compared to the killing of Crispus Attucks which was called the first major incident leading to the Revolutionary War.
A group of expansionist congressmen called “War Hawks” convinced President James Madison to sign a declaration of war against
Great Britain on June 18, 1812. In addition to conquering the British on the high seas, they hoped to expel the British from
Canada, since most British troops were still fighting Napoleon. However, extreme racism left
America ill prepared for this unpopular war. Not only did White men fail to enlist, but New England Whites also started a separatist movement and held a convention in
Hartford, Connecticut in December 1814 to further solidify their demands. Moreover, the Canadian invasion was a total failure, and the British continued to defeat American Whites until they occupied
Detroit and most of
Ohio. J. A. Rogers states that the British practically wiped out American sea-borne trade and captured
Florida and much of the South with Black volunteers whom they promised freedom. On August 24, 1814 the British Army captured
Washington D.C. and burned many public buildings to the ground including the White House and Capital. The Encyclopedia Britannica says
America was thoroughly defeated in this war while gaining none of the avowed aims and that only legend has converted defeat into the illusion of victory. Military historian Gary Donaldson states that only after the
United States was brought to the edge of losing its independence were African Americans allowed in the military.
White residents of both
Pennsylvania and
New York now welcomed Blacks into the military to defend their cities from the advancing enemy and even promised slaves freedom after three years of service. General Andrew Jackson begged Blacks in
New Orleans to fight the British and promised them equal pay with Whites, 160 acres of land, and participation in all Black battalions led by Black officers to avoid White prejudices.
Jackson said: “Through a mistake in policy, you have heretofore been deprived of participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in which our country is engaged. This no longer shall exist. As Americans, your country looks with confidence to her adopted children for a valorous support.”
On March 3, 1813 the Navy officially authorized the recruitment of Blacks because of the severe manpower shortage, thus reversing their official exclusion since the congressional act of 1798. Experienced Black sailors who had previously worked on whaling boats and as merchant marines flocked to the Navy and were credited with much of
America’s success in defeating the British Navy in the
Great Lakes region. Commodore Thomas McDonough said the accuracy of his Black gunners was responsible for his victory on
Lake Champlain. Commodore Isaac Chancey said he had fifty Black crewmembers that were among his very best.
On September 10, 1813, Commodore Oliver Perry defeated the British fleet on
Lake Erie after a savage three hour battle and acknowledged the contributions and individual bravery of his 100 Black seamen in his Battle Report and also noted: “They seemed to be absolutely insensitive to danger.” Military historian Michael Lanning states: “The American naval victories in which Black sailors played such a critical role, finally forced the war-weary British to agree to a peace treaty.” The “Treaty of Ghent” was signed on December 24, 1814 in
Belgium restoring pre-war conditions.
Unaware that the war had ended, sixty British ships containing 12,000 men sailed up the Mississippi River on January 8, 1815 in an attempt to capture
New Orleans. The men of the “Louisiana Battalion of Free Men of Color” were in the front line of American soldiers who dealt the British their worst defeat of the war, inflicting 4,000 casualties compared to only sixty of their own. After the battle, General Andrew Jackson praised the Black soldiers: “I was not ignorant that you possessed qualities most formidable to an invading enemy…the President of the
United States shall hear how praise worthy was your conduct in the hour of danger.”
Jackson kept his promises of $124 and 160 acres of land to both White and Black soldiers. However, glory faded quickly for the “Louisiana Battalion of Free Men of Color”; they were soon disbanded and again faced pre-war prejudices. In city celebrations of the “Battle of New Orleans” for the next 100 years, not a single Black person was allowed to participate in the festivities.
White America, again, quickly forgot the contributions of Blacks in the military. A War Department memorandum on March 3, 1815 discharged all Blacks from the military stating: “A Negro is deemed unfit to associate with the American soldier.” The Navy issued orders in 1839 restricting Black enlistments to less than 5% and only in positions of cooks, mess boys, and servants, and this was signed by the same Isaac Chauncey who had highly praised his Black sailors during the War of 1812. Peacetime again became the chief promoter of racial exclusion in
America and as always, when African Americans were no longer needed, they were also no longer wanted.
WAR OF 1812 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Donaldson, G. (1991) History of African-Americans in the Military. Malabar, FL. Krieger Pub. Co.
Foner, J. (1974) Blacks and the Military in American History. New York: A New Perspective Pub. Co.
Greene, R. (1974) Black Defenders of America: 1775-1973. Chicago: Johnson Publishing.
Langley, H. (1967) Social Reforms in the US Navy: 1798-1862. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
McConnell, R. (1968) Negro Troops of Antebellum Louisiana.. Baton Rouge, LA: LA State Univ. Press.
Moebs, T. (1994) Black Soldiers Black Sailors Black Ink….. Chesapeake Bay, MD: Moebs Publishing Co.
Mullen, R. (1973) Blacks in America’s Wars. New York: Pathfinder.
Nalty, B. (1986) Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military.
Rogers, J. (1989) Africa’s Gift to
America.
St. Petersburg, FL: Helga Rogers Publishing
Wilson, J. (1977) The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldier ... Wars of 1775-1812, 1861-1865
Zinn, H. (1980) A People’s History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
THE JOHN BROWN TEST
Dr. Leonard Jeffries recommends that before you call a White person a “true friend,” that person should pass the “John Brown Test.” Since history records numerous John Browns the question is, exactly which John Brown does Dr. Jeffries consider a good role model for White friendship?
Rhode Island College changed its name to
Brown University in 1804 to honor one person named John Brown. However, this John Brown made his fortune exchanging rum for slaves, so he couldn’t possibly be the White friend role model. John Robert Brown (1909-1993) was Chief Justice for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and played a pivotal role in championing and enforcing civil rights legislation in the South. He is most noted for ordering in 1962 that African-American James Meredith be enrolled in the all-White University of
Mississippi. Most Black people would be happy to have a White friend like John Robert Brown, but Leonard Jeffries says the “real” John Brown died at Harper’s Ferry,
West Virginia in 1859.
The “real” John Brown had an entire book written about him in 1909 by W. E. Burghardt DuBois which was reprinted in 1996 by International Publishers. One of the greatest women in African American history, Harriet Tubman, regarded this John Brown and not President Abraham Lincoln as the true emancipator of her people.
The “real” John Brown was born in
Torrington,
Connecticut on May 9, 1800 about four months before the attempted insurrection of slaves under Gabriel in
Virginia in September of the same year. He was raised in
Hudson, Ohio where his family migrated in 1805. By the age of 16, he had already joined the church and soon became such an experienced bible student that “when any person was reading he would correct the least mistake.” His love for religion was exceeded only by his love for family where he fathered 20 well-disciplined, hard-working children. After seven of his children died before adulthood, he concluded that in some way his own sin and shortcomings were bringing upon him “the vengeful punishment of God.” He felt his greatest sin was not doing enough “to increase the amount of human happiness.”
In 1839, a turning point occurred in Brown’s life when he was visited by a Black preacher named Fayette. Fayette described slavery as “the foulest and filthiest blot on 19th century civilization.” He added: “as a school of brutality and human suffering, of female prostitution and male debauchery; as a mockery of marriage and defilement of family life; as a darkening of reason, and spiritual death, slavery has no parallel.” John Brown fell to his knees and “implored God’s blessing on his purpose to make active war on slavery, and he bound his family in solemn and secret compact to labor for emancipation.”
John Brown was convinced that the first step toward emancipation was education. He noted that all pro-slavery states were vehemently opposed to educating slaves and made this a capital offense. John was also aware that slaveholders actively pursued African American schools and churches and burned them to the ground after Nate Turner’s slave revolt on August 21, 1831. Brown felt that once the master-slave relationship was broken, Black people deserved their own state and educated Blacks would be needed for self-government. He actively campaigned for the establishment of African American schools and even tried to establish a school himself in
Hudson, Ohio. When
Oberlin College opened its doors to “Negroes” in 1839, and appointed his father as a trustee, John Brown was overjoyed.
On August 1, 1846, Gerrit Smith, a wealthy
New York abolition leader, offered free Blacks 100,000 acres of his land in North Elba, New York for farms. Because of the bleak climate and harsh soil, Black farmers found it very difficult to succeed until John Brown volunteered to help. He went to Gerrit Smith at Petersboro, New York in April 1848 and said: “I am something of a pioneer…I will take one of your farms myself, clean it up and plant it, and show my Colored neighbors how such work should be done. I will look after them in all needful ways and be a kind of father to them.”
In 1854, the government announced that
Kansas would become a slave-free state open for settlement. Consequently, five of Brown’s sons moved to
Kansas in October 1854 but were appalled at what they discovered. Large pro-slavery gangs were traveling throughout
Kansas killing anti-slavery farmers and burning their properties. When John Brown’s sons informed him what was happening, he loaded a wagon full of weapons and headed for
Kansas. In May 1856, shortly after John Brown’s arrival in
Kansas, two thousand pro-slavery Missourians surrounded
Lawrence, Kansas, the capital city, and brutally killed many of the anti-slavery settlers and sacked and burned half the town. On the same day, Senator Brooks killed Senator Charles Sumner by a crushing blow to the head in the U.S. Senate Chamber for telling the truth about
Kansas. John Brown was angry and “indignant that there had been no resistance; that
Lawrence was not defended; and denounced the men as trembling cowards, or worse.” In retaliation, Brown and his sons entered
Missouri at night and dragged five of the pro-slavery ringleaders out of their cabins and hacked them to death with swords. This blow, called the Pottawatomie Murders, is said to have freed
Kansas by plunging it into civil war, and compelling men to fight for freedom, which they had vainly hoped to gain by political diplomacy.
Kansas’s anti-slavery settlers repelled
Missouri’s pro-slavery settlers’ last invasion on September 15, 1856, and
Kansas was finally declared a slave-free state. John Brown was now free to return to the East to resume his plan to free southern slaves by force.
Between 1857 and 1859, John Brown visited the homes of Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman (pictured left), Henry Highland Garnet, Martin Delaney, and many other leading African American abolitionists to gain their support for his plan to free all southern slaves by force. All of the abolitionists were extremely impressed by John Brown’s intense desire to end slavery. Although they believed in John Brown, most did not believe his plan was humanly possible. Nevertheless, only sickness prevented Harriet Tubman from joining John Brown on his southern invasion after she had actively recruited soldiers for his cause.
When told that he might die executing his plan, Brown exclaimed: “Did not my Master Jesus Christ come down from Heaven and sacrifice Himself upon the altar for the salvation of the race, and should I, a worm, not worthy to crawl under his feet, refuse to sacrifice myself?” On October 16, 1859, John Brown with an armed band of 16 Whites (including 2 of his sons) and 5 Blacks attacked the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry,
West Virginia. He had hoped that by capturing the armory arsenal, escaped slaves would join his rebellion, forming an “army of emancipation” with which to liberate their fellow slaves. Unfortunately, he was surrounded by U.S. Marines and overpowered. He was tried and convicted of slave insurrection and hanged on December 2, 1859. Many believe that Brown’s attack helped immortalize him and hasten the Civil War, which did bring emancipation.
If Leonard Jeffries could find a single friend, Black or White, who even comes close to passing the “John Brown Test”, he should consider himself truly blessed. The truth is, only one person in this country’s history, either Black or White has ever passed the John Brown Test, and he was the “REAL” John Brown.
JOHN BROWN TEST BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aaron, D. (1973) The Unwritten War. New York: Oxford University Press.
Appiah, K. & Gates, H. (eds.) (1999) Africana. New York: Basis Civitas Books.
Aptheker, H. (1951) A Documentary History of the Negro People in the US. New York: Citadel Press.
Aptheker, H. (1969) American Negro Slave Revolts, New York: International Publishers.
Asante, M. & Mattson, M. (eds.) (1991) Historical & Cultural Atlas of Afr. Ams. NY Macmillan Pub. Co.
Bennett, L. (1988) Before the Mayflower. New York: Penguin Books.
DuBois, W. (1972) John Brown - New York: International Publishers.
Franklin, J. (1988) From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans, NY Alfred A. Knopf.
Loewen, J. (1995) Lies My Teacher Told Me, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Low, A. & Clift, V. (eds.) (1983) Encyclopedia of Black America. New York: Neal Schuman Publishers.
Oates, S. (1970) To Purge This Land With Blood. New York: Harper & Row.
Scheidenhelm, R. (ed.) (1972) The Response to John Brown.
Belmont,
CA:
Wadsworth.
Stavis, B. (1970) John Brown: The Sword and the Word. New York: A.S. Barnes.
Warch, R & Fanton, J. (eds.) John Brown. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Zinn, H. (1980) A People’s History of the United States. New York HarperCollins Publishers.
BLACK PEOPLE OF THE OLD WEST
President Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, the day
Pearl Harbor was bombed, as a day that will forever be recorded in infamy. For Black pioneers in the old west, February 2, 1848 will forever be recorded in infamy. This is the day the peace treaty was signed which ended the Mexican War and gave to the United States the territories of Texas, California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.
The African Americans who arrived with the earliest Spanish expeditions to
California helped create a culture that accepted them as equals. Blacks purchased large segments of land and became successful businessmen with the establishment of hotels and trading centers.
Los Angeles was founded by 26 people of African ancestry and only two Caucasians. Maria Rita Valdez, whose Black grandparents were among the founding members of
Los Angeles, owned Rancho Rodeo de Las Aguas, today called
Beverly Hills. Francisco Reyes, another Black resident, owned the
San Fernando Valley. In the 1790's, he sold it and became mayor of
Los Angeles. Pio Pico, whose grandmother was listed as mulatto in the 1790 census, was governor of
California from 1845-1846 when the Mexican War started.
Pico Boulevard in
Los Angeles is named after this Black governor.
William Leidesdorff (pictured left) is one of
San Francisco's most famous citizens. He was born in St. Croix,
Virgin Islands to a Danish planter and his African wife. He sailed for
California in 1841, after becoming a wealthy businessman, aboard his 160-ton schooner called "Julia Ann." He shortly thereafter became a landowner, having purchased a 35,000-acre estate in
San Francisco and soon became treasurer of the San Francisco City Council. He helped set up the first public school system which was open to everyone, regardless of race, creed, or color. Leidesdorff opened the first hotel in
San Francisco, introduced the first steamboat to the city, and organized its first horse race. Today a street in downtown
San Francisco bears the name of this remarkable early Black citizen.
Things changed rapidly after February 2, 1848, when the
United States assumed control of
California. President Polk announced the discovery of gold in
California in 1849, and the population soared ten fold within two years. Although racial lines had been ignored before
California became American territory, Black hatred and discrimination moved westward with the White wagon trains. Most White Californians were convinced that no matter how honest, reliable, hard working or wealthy a Black neighbor might be, he ought not be granted any rights a White man was bound to respect. In 1852, the legislature of
California passed a law, deeply hated by Blacks, which prohibited any Black person from testifying in court. This prevented Black men from supporting their land claims, Black women from identifying rape assailants, and Black businessmen from suing those who had cheated or robbed them. Other anti Black laws produced segregated schools and prohibited Blacks from voting as well as from serving in the military.
In addition, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1852 by a 14 to 9 vote, which also permitted a slave owner to remain an indefinite time in the state, thus institutionalizing slavery despite its prohibition in the state constitution.
A Black exodus from
California to
Canada occurred in 1858, when the
California legislature tried to pass a bill banning Black immigration. Blacks were terrified because
Oregon's legislature passed a law the previous year, which provided for the expulsion of all Black people within three years. Any Black remaining after three years would be whipped every six months or forced into labor without pay.
Oregon's exclusion provision was passed in 1857 and was not repealed until 1927.
Our Black ancestors in the old west could only dream about how wonderful their lives may have been if the Mexican government had won the war and had not signed the peace treaty on the infamous day of February 2, 1848.
BLACK PEOPLE OF THE OLD WEST BIBLIOGRAPHY
Appiah, K. & Gates, H. (eds.) (1999) Africana New York: Basis Civitas Books.
Aptheker, H. (1951) A Documentary History of the Negro People in the US. New York: Citadel Press.
Beasley, D. (1919) The Negro Trail Blazer of CA, Los Angeles: Times Mirror Printing and Binding House.
Billington, M. & Hardaway, R. (eds.) (1998) African Ams. on the West. Front. Niwot, CO: Univ. Pr. of CO
Graebner, N. (ed.) 1968) Manifest Destiny. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
Jay, W. (1849) A Review of the Causes and Consequences of the Mexican War. Boston: B. B. Mussey & Co.
Katz, W. (1992) Black People Who Made the Old West, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press
Lapp, R. (1977) Blacks in Gold Rush California. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
Pelz, R. (1989) Black Heroes of the Wild West. Seattle: Open Hand Publishers.
Ravage, J. (1997) Black Pioneers: Images of the Black Experience.. Salt Lake City: Univ. of Utah Press.
Savage, W. (1976) Blacks in the West. Westport: Greenwood Press.
Schroeder, J. (1973) Mr. Polk’s War: Am. Opposition and Dissent 1846-1848. Madison: Univ. of WI Press.
Smith, G. & Judah, C. (eds.) (1966) Chron. of the Gringos: U. S Army ... 1846-1848. Albuq.: Univ. of WI Pr.
BLACK WOMEN OF THE OLD WEST
Although our novels and movies are filled with heroes from the old west, African American heroes are virtually never mentioned. Moreover, historians have also contributed to this unjust and unbalanced recording of our glorious western saga by completely ignoring the many accomplishments of Black men and women, despite the fact they were accurately reported in newspapers, government records, military reports, and pioneer memoirs. As members of a double minority, Black women have suffered an even greater historical injustice, although they were an integral part of the western fabric. Nothing more clearly demonstrates the contributions of Black women to the western tradition than the biographies of Biddy Bridget Mason, Clara Brown, and Mary Ellen Pleasant.
Biddy Bridget Mason (1815-1891) was born into slavery and given as a wedding gift to a Mormon couple in
Mississippi named Robert and Rebecca Smith. In 1847 at age 32, Biddy Mason was forced to walk from
Mississippi to
Utah tending cattle behind her master’s 300-wagon caravan. After four years in
Salt Lake City, Smith took the group to a new Mormon settlement in
San Bernardino, California in search of gold. When Biddy Mason discovered that the California State Constitution made slavery illegal, she had Robert Smith brought into court on a writ of habeas corpus, and the court freed all of Smith’s slaves. Now free, Mason and her three daughters (probably fathered by Smith) moved to
Los Angeles where they worked and saved enough money to buy a house at 331 Spring Street in downtown
Los Angeles.
Knowing what it meant to be oppressed and friendless, Biddy Mason immediately began a philanthropic career by opening her home to the poor, hungry, and homeless. Through hard work, saving, and investing carefully, she was able to purchase large amounts of real estate including a commercial building, which provided her with enough income to help build schools, hospitals, and churches. Her most noted accomplishment was the founding of First African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) Church, now the oldest church in
Los Angeles, where she also operated a nursery and food pantry. Moreover, her generosity and compassion included personally bringing home cooked meals to men in state prison. In 1988, Mayor Tom Bradley had a tombstone erected at her unmarked gravesite and November 16, 1989 was declared “Biddy Mason Day”. In addition, the highlights of her life were displayed on a wall of the
Spring Center in downtown
Los Angeles, an honor befitting
Los Angeles’ first Black female property owner and philanthropist.
Clara Brown (1806-1888) is another who dedicated her life to the betterment of others. She was born as a slave in
Virginia and then sold at age three to the Brown family in
Logan, Kentucky. At age 35, her master died, and her slave husband, son, and daughter were sold at auction to different owners. After 20 additional years in slavery, she was able to buy her freedom and immediately headed west to
St. Louis. At age 55, she agreed to serve as cook and laundress in exchange for free transportation in a caravan headed for the gold mines of
Colorado. Clara Brown established a laundry in Central City and as her resources expanded, she opened up her home, which served as a hospital, church, and hotel to the town’s less fortunate.
Under her direction, the first Sunday school developed, and moreover, the whole town turned to her during illness because she was such a good nurse. Frequently, she even “grubstaked miners who had no other means of support while they looked for gold in the mountains and was repaid handsomely for her kindness and generosity by those who struck pay dirt.” Far and wide, she was known as “Aunt Clara” and as “the Angel of the
Rockies”.
By the end of the Civil War, Clara Brown had accumulated several
Colorado properties and over $10,000 in cash. Since slavery was over, she used her fortune to search for relatives in
Virginia and
Kentucky and returned with 34 of them including her daughter. She continued her philanthropy among the needy for the rest of her life and also spent large sums of money helping other Blacks come west. Upon her death at age 82, the Colorado Pioneers Association buried her with honors, and a plaque was placed in the St. James Methodist Church stating that her house was the first home of the church.
Mary Ellen Pleasant (1814-1903), a former slave, moved to
San Francisco in 1849 where she opened a successful boarding house, famous for cards, liquor, and beautiful women. She was also a partner of Thomas Bell, cofounder of the first “Bank of California.” As a businesswoman, she was called mercurial, cunning, cynical, and calculating, but personally she was softhearted and had a passion for helping the less fortunate who called her “the Angel of the West”. She was a leader in
California for the protection of abused women and children and helped build and support numerous “safe havens” for them. Mary Ellen Pleasant hated slavery and frequently rode into the rural sections of
California to rescue people held in bondage. Because of Pleasant, the entire Black community of
San Francisco received a warning from one judge for “the insolent, defiant, and dangerous way that they interfered with those who were arresting slaves.” Mary Ellen Pleasant used most of her fortune to aid fugitive slaves. “She fed them, found occupations for them, and financially backed them in numerous small businesses.” In 1858, she gave $30,000 to John Brown to help finance his raid at Harper’s Ferry,
Virginia. This White abolitionist had hoped to capture the national armory and distribute the weapons to slaves for a massive insurrection. During the Civil War, Pleasant raised money for the Union cause and continued to fight for civil rights. Her tombstone epitaph read: “Mother of Civil Rights in
California” and “Friend of John Brown”.
Brief biographies of Biddy Bridget Mason, Clara Brown, and Mary Ellen Pleasant serve to illustrate the enormous contributions and accomplishments of Black women in the old west. Era Bell Thompson in “American Daughter” clearly states the problem: “Black women were an integral part of the western and American tradition. It both impairs their sense of identity and unbalances the historical record to continue to overlook the role of Black women in the development of the American west.”
BLACK WOMEN OF THE OLD WEST BIBLIOGRAPHY
Billington, M & Hardaway, E. (eds.) (1998) African Ams on the West. Front. Niwot, CO: Univ. Pr. of CO.
Bruyn, K. (1970) Aunt Clara Brown: Story of a Black Pioneer - Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Co.
James, E. & James J. (eds.) (1971) Notable American Women. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Katz, W. (1992) Black People Who Made the Old West, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Lerner, G. (1979) The Majority Finds Its Past: Placing Women in History. NY: Oxford University Press.
Myres, S. (1982) Westering Women: The Frontier Experience. 1880-1915. Albuquerque: Univ. of NM Press.
Pelz, R. (1989) Black Heroes of the Wild West. Seattle: Open Hand Publishers.
Ravage, J. (1977) Black Pioneers: Images of the Black Experience….Salt Lake City: Univ. of Utah Press.
Riley, G. (1981) Frontierswomen: The Iowa Experience. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
Savage, W. (1976) Blacks in the West. Westport: Greenwood Press.
Sterling, D. (1984) We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the 19th Century. NY: W.W. Norton & Co.
Thompson, E. (1986) American Daughter. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society.
AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CIVIL WAR
In a 1928 biography of Ulysses S. Grant, historian W. E. Woodward disavowed any contributions made by Black Americans in the Civil War. He wrote: “The American Negroes are the only people in the history of the world, that ever became free without any effort of their own. The Civil War was not their business.” Woodward dismissed the 200,000 African Americans who served in the war and the 28,000 who died fighting. White historians have always diminished the wartime contributions of African Americans (who have served honorably in every war since this country’s inception), but no period seems more blatantly ignored than the Civil War. Freedom for Blacks was the lasting legacy of the Civil War, yet most history textbooks would have us believe that Black slaves sat around playing banjoes and awaiting Yankee soldiers to set them free. Nothing could be further from the truth!
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when the Confederate Army attacked
Fort Sumter. The North initially thought they would easily crush the South because of their 23,000,000 able-bodied White males verses only about 6,000,000 White males available to the South. The North was so certain of victory that they absolutely refused to allow any Black people (free or slave) to participate. President Lincoln, however, had considerable difficulty in obtaining volunteers. Poor White men refused to fight in a war which, they believed, would liberate slaves who would take their jobs. They also felt that neither saving the
Union nor ending slavery was adequate reason for risking their lives. In July 1862 President Lincoln asked for 300,000 men, but in five weeks less than 30,000 volunteered. On March 1, 1863, Congress passed the nation’s first draft bill, the National Conscription Act, which was so unpopular that anti-draft riots broke out in several northern cities. Primarily, recently immigrated poor White males vented their anger against local defenseless African Americans. The New York Times wrote that people of African descent were “literally hunted down like wild beasts and when caught either stoned to death or hung from trees and lamp posts.”
In addition to a manpower shortage, General Sherman told President Lincoln that “our men are not good soldiers. They brag but they don’t perform.” The New York World newspaper reported that “when the Confederate Calvary charged at Bull Run the Union soldiers ran in panic, leaving artillery, guns, ammunition, wagons, and equipment behind.” Sir William Howard Russell, war correspondent of the London Times wrote: “Such cowardly scandalous behavior on the part of soldiers I should never have considered possible.” The North was decisively defeated in its first three major battles at Bull Run,
Wilson Creek, and Balls Bluff. Horace Greeley of the New York Tribute wrote
Lincoln that “the larger part of the army is a confused mob, entirely demoralized.” He further added that
Lincoln should “make peace with the rebels at once and on their terms.” Conceding victory to the Confederacy,
Greeley published that “so short-lived has been the American Union that men who saw its rise may now see its fall.”
In July 1862,
Lincoln convinced his Cabinet that all was lost unless he could “win over the slaves of the South and have them fight on his side by offering them freedom.” Lincoln himself wrote the original draft of the Emancipation Proclamation and called a special Cabinet meeting for its presentation. The Cabinet agreed that the proclamation was their last resort, but Secretary of War Seward asked
Lincoln if he could wait for some type of Union victory prior to its release. Otherwise, Seward said: “It will be viewed as the last measure of an exhausted government; a cry for help; the government stretching forth its hands to
Ethiopia, instead of
Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the government.” The opportunity came with the marginal Federal victory at Antietam Creek in
Maryland on September 17, 1862. One week after the Battle of Antietam,
Lincoln released the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that all slaves in the Confederacy (or areas still in rebellion) would be “henceforth and forever free.” In addition, this document also permitted for the first time, the recruitment of Black men into the army. As a result of these actions, large numbers of newly emancipated slaves all over the South began joining Federal forces as soldiers and laborers.
When it became clear to the Confederate forces in 1863 that their armies would be facing Black soldiers in the field, they responded with a threat of death to all African Americans and their White commanding officers. These were not idle threats. At
Fort Pillow, Tennessee in April 1864 about 300 Black Federal soldiers were massacred under the direction of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest (who later founded the Ku Klux Klan). The
Fort Pillow incident caused Black soldiers to fight more desperately throughout the remainder of the war. They either feared that capture meant certain death, or they intended to exact some revenge for the
Fort Pillow atrocities or both.
On June 7, 1863 at Milliken’s
Bend, Louisiana, the Ninth and Eleventh Louisiana regiments won the Civil War’s first significant battle secured by African Americans. Assistant Secretary of War Charles Dana reported that “a Confederate force of three thousand attacked the camp and initially forced the Negro troops to give way, but once reminded that those of their number who were captured were killed, they rallied with great fury and routed the enemy.”
Although the
Louisiana regiments fought the first major battles by African American soldiers in the Civil War, the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts regiment gained the most widespread and lasting fame of the war during its assault on Confederate Fort Wagner in
South Carolina. Most of the men of the Fifty-Fourth regiment were killed while attacking
Fort Wagner, yet northern politicians, newspapers, and military leaders hailed the Fifty-Fourth as a symbol of the country’s greatest example of valor in combat. In 1989,
Hollywood honored the Fifty-Fourth regiment in a feature film entitled “Glory” which earned an Oscar nomination for best picture.
Black soldiers participated in virtually every major battle once they were allowed to join the military and earned 23 Congressional Metals of Honor. Senior Union commanders including Generals Daniel Ullman and Nathaniel Banks testified that “the brigades of Negroes behaved magnificently and fought splendidly, and they were far superior in discipline to the White troops and just as brave.” On August 15, 1864 in an interview with John T. Mills,
Lincoln defended the use of Black troops by stating that if the 200,000 Black soldiers had decided to fight for the Confederacy instead of the
Union, he would have been “compelled to abandon the war in three weeks.”
In summary, history textbooks should record that African American soldiers fought gallantly during the Civil War to end over 200 years of bondage. The Thirteenth Amendment (freeing all slaves) was only another testimony to the magnificent accomplishments of the Black soldiers on the Civil War’s battlefields.
THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT
Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the
United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863
By the President of the
United States of America
A Proclamation
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the
United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of
Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the
Independence of the
United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State
AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CIVIL WAR BIBLIOGRAPHY
Donaldson, G. (1991) The History of African-Americans in the Military. Malabar, FL: Krieger Pub. Co.
Foner, J. (1974) Blacks and the Military in American History. New York: A New Perspective Pub. Co.
Greene, R. (1974) Black Defenders of
America: 1775-1973.
Chicago: Johnson Publishing.
Langley, H. (1967) Social Reforms in the
United States Navy: 1798-1862.
Urbana,
IL:
University of IL Press.
Lanning. M. (1977) African-Am. Soldier from Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub.
McConnell, R. (1968) Negro Troops of Antebellum Louisiana:.. Baton Rouge, LA: LA State Univ. Press.
Moebs, T. (1994) Black Soldiers - Black Sailors - Black Ink: Research Guide…….
Mullen, R. (1973) Blacks in America’s Wars. New York: Pathfinder.
Nalty, B. (1986) Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military. NY: Free Press.
Rogers, J. (1989) Africa’s Gift to
America.
St. Petersburg, FL: Helga Rogers Publishing.
Wilson, J. (1977) Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldier ... 1775-1812, 1861-1865. NY: Arno Press.
Zinn, H. (1980) A People’s History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins Publishers
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